Google has been thought to be considering working on ways in which people could store their health records on Google and have them readily available for personal needs. It has been quite careful about letting outsiders in on its plans but has just taken action that could suggest this idea is gaining traction.
Google recently appointed its new Health Advisory Council and it is comprised of some 22 very heavy hitters:
Dean Ornish, Founder and President, Preventive Medicine Research Institute
Douglas Bell, Research Scientist, RAND Health, RAND Corporation
Delos M. Cosgrove, CEO, Cleveland Clinic
Molly Coye, CEO, HealthTech
Dan Crippen, Former Congressional Budget Office Director & Reagan White House Asst.
Linda M. Dillman, EVP, Risk Management, Benefits & Sustainability, Wal-Mart
John Halamka, CIO, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center & Harvard Medical School
Bernadine Healy, Former NIH Head, Health Editor & Columnist, U.S.News & World Report
Bernie Hengesbaugh, COO, American Medical Association
Douglas E. Henley, EVP, American Academy of Family Physicians
David Kessler, Former FDA Commissioner, Vice Chancellor-Medical Affairs & Dean, School of Medicine, UCSF
John Lumpkin, Sr. VP, Director of Health Care Group, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
John Rother, Group Exec. Officer of Policy & Strategy, AARP
Anna-Lisa Silvestre, VP, Online Services, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc.
Greg Simon, President, FasterCures
Mark D. Smith, President & CEO, The California HealthCare Foundation
Paul Tang, Internist & VP, Chief Medical Officer, Palo Alto Medical Foundation & Chairman, Board of Directors, American Medical Informatics Association
Sharon Terry, President & CEO, Genetic Alliance
John Tooker, EVP & CEO, American College of Physicians
Doug Ulman, President, Lance Armstrong Foundation
Robert M. Wachter, Professor of Medicine, UCSF, Assoc. Chairman, UCSF Department of Medicine, Chief – Medical Service, UCSF Medical Center
Matthew Zachary, Founder & Executive Director, The I’m Too Young for This! Cancer Foundation for Young Adults
The private sector is stepping up its game!
Google is among the most innovative organizations in the world and should not be undersold as to the potential for success in this undertaking…if that’s what it is.
Friday, June 29, 2007
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Americans Living in Canada Comment on Health Care...
A recent survey of some 310 Americans who have experienced use of health care services in both the U.S. and Canada produced expected results. The full survey results are available here.
The overall result had 74% rating the overall quality of U.S. health care as excellent or good, while 50% of the same group gave Canadian health care a similar rating.
The nod was given to U.S. health care in the areas of accessibility, timeliness, quality, and available technology. Canada scored higher in the areas of personal cost of both health care and pharmaceuticals. Obviously, the government pays the costs of permissible care in Canada, so it was expected that personal financial exposure would be limited.
Wait times in Canada were comparatively quite long with people citing too few specialists and too little government funding.
As government funding was exhausted in Canada, services were rationed by imposition of longer wait times and cancelled surgeries.
This group had experienced U.S. health care within two to five years of the time of the survey and had been covered by Canadian health care since the time of their arrival in that country. The respondents were scattered across the provinces with higher concentrations where the population was greater.
The overall result had 74% rating the overall quality of U.S. health care as excellent or good, while 50% of the same group gave Canadian health care a similar rating.
The nod was given to U.S. health care in the areas of accessibility, timeliness, quality, and available technology. Canada scored higher in the areas of personal cost of both health care and pharmaceuticals. Obviously, the government pays the costs of permissible care in Canada, so it was expected that personal financial exposure would be limited.
Wait times in Canada were comparatively quite long with people citing too few specialists and too little government funding.
As government funding was exhausted in Canada, services were rationed by imposition of longer wait times and cancelled surgeries.
This group had experienced U.S. health care within two to five years of the time of the survey and had been covered by Canadian health care since the time of their arrival in that country. The respondents were scattered across the provinces with higher concentrations where the population was greater.
Monday, June 25, 2007
Senate Dems Use Interesting Tactic to Mount Health Plan...
Senate Democrats used an embargo of the press as they pushed an 11th hour health plan proposal out front of every other proposal. They scheduled an informational hearing for 11:00AM today (Monday), but refused to release details of their health plan proposal until Monday morning.
That seems a very strange way to encourage true debate on this most critical subject. Why, if your health plan is a genuine proposal and worthy of debate, would you keep the information to yourselves. How can we even think of this plan as worthy given the manner in which it is being exposed to public scrutiny?
It appears to be an extension of the Wisconsin Employee Trust Fund package of health plans with provisions for taxes on both employers and employees to pay for the program. The tax rates proposed appear, at first glance, to be low considering that the coverage is quite extensive with minimal co-payments and small deductibles. The plan would be made mandatory for all citizens of Wisconsin except those who are covered under existing federal plans or BadgerCare.
We encourage debate on all proposals…but we need to know the details of each well before the debate begins. These same Senate Dems plan to vote on the Budget Bill on Tuesday, and this plan is now going to be part of that Budget Bill. It appears to be simply a ploy! They cannot be sincere in this effort using such tactics.
That seems a very strange way to encourage true debate on this most critical subject. Why, if your health plan is a genuine proposal and worthy of debate, would you keep the information to yourselves. How can we even think of this plan as worthy given the manner in which it is being exposed to public scrutiny?
It appears to be an extension of the Wisconsin Employee Trust Fund package of health plans with provisions for taxes on both employers and employees to pay for the program. The tax rates proposed appear, at first glance, to be low considering that the coverage is quite extensive with minimal co-payments and small deductibles. The plan would be made mandatory for all citizens of Wisconsin except those who are covered under existing federal plans or BadgerCare.
We encourage debate on all proposals…but we need to know the details of each well before the debate begins. These same Senate Dems plan to vote on the Budget Bill on Tuesday, and this plan is now going to be part of that Budget Bill. It appears to be simply a ploy! They cannot be sincere in this effort using such tactics.
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