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• Big Brother Arrives: Monitoring Patient Safety Compliance By Remote Video

  Today came the announcement that Suzanne Delbanco, founding director of the Leapfrog Group, has assumed the presidency of a company that tracks compliance with safety and quality practices via remote video. Big Brother, meet the Joint Commission.The report, Read More... Posted Tue, Sep 23 2008 8:18 AM by Bob Wachter | 9 Comments Filed under: Hospital Care, Transparency and Reporting, Quality Measurement, Information Technology, Patient Safety/Medical Errors, Industry/Pharma

• Why the Medical Record Needs to Become More Like Facebook

  The explosive growth of Facebook and MySpace illustrates the market for electronic tools to enhance communication and collaboration. Could there possibly be another workplace more in need of social networking tools than the modern hospital? If you are Read More... Posted Thu, Sep 11 2008 6:29 AM by Bob Wachter | 7 Comments Filed under: Hospital Care, Medical Education/Academia, Information Technology, Industry/Pharma, Nurses/Nursing

• The Latest JibJab Campaign Satire

  My Olympics addiction has been replaced by "All Conventions, All The Time." If you're a politics junkie like me, you'll love the latest hilarious campaign satire from the folks at JibJab, the ones who brought you the groundbreaking "This Land" knee-slapper Read More... Posted Wed, Sep 03 2008 6:32 AM by Bob Wachter | 0 Comments Filed under: Information Technology, Media/Press Coverage

• NPR’s “Talk of the Nation,” Featuring Don Berwick and Yours Truly

  Medicare is now reporting actual risk-adjusted mortality rates for pneumonia, MI, and heart failure. The topic must be important, since "Talk of the Nation" spent 30 minutes yesterday interviewing Don Berwick and me about it… on the day of Hillary’s speech! Read More... Posted Wed, Aug 27 2008 7:08 PM by Bob Wachter | 2 Comments Filed under: Quality Improvement, Hospital Care, Transparency and Reporting, Quality Measurement, Information Technology, Health Policy, Media/Press Coverage

• Is it “Macaca” Time in Healthcare?

  August 11th was the 2nd anniversary of the epic implosion of George Allen's presidential campaign, the first defeat at the hands of YouTube. Two recent videos of unattended patients dying in ER waiting rooms leave me wondering whether healthcare has also Read More... Posted Tue, Aug 19 2008 8:00 AM by Bob Wachter | 1 Comments Filed under: Hospital Care, Transparency and Reporting, Information Technology, Patient Safety/Medical Errors, Media/Press Coverage

• Will Knols and Blogs Upend the Cozy World of Medical Publishing?

  Yesterday, Google launched Knol, immediately branded as Google’s answer to Wikipedia. As healthcare advisor to the project, I’ll say a few words about Knol, but focus on how it – and other forms of electronic self-publishing – may signal the end of medical Read More... Posted Fri, Jul 25 2008 6:03 AM by Bob Wachter | 2 Comments Filed under: Medical Education/Academia, Information Technology, Industry/Pharma, Health Policy, Media/Press Coverage

• The Best and Worst of Times For “Infection Preventionists”

  As I mentioned in my last post, these should be the best of times for "Infection Preventionists" (formerly known as Infection Control Officers). After years of trying to get someone – anyone – to pay attention to their work, their day in the sun has finally Read More... Posted Mon, Jun 23 2008 5:51 AM by Bob Wachter | 1 Comments Filed under: Quality Improvement, Hospital Care, Quality Measurement, Hospitalists/Hospital Medicine, Information Technology, Patient Safety/Medical Errors, Health Policy

• Why Diagnostic Errors Don’t Get Any Respect… And What Can Be Done About It

  I gave a keynote yesterday to the first-ever meeting on “Diagnostic Error in Medicine.” I hope the confab helps put diagnostic errors on the safety map. But, as Ricky Ricardo would say, the experts and advocates in the audience have some ‘splainin’ to Read More... Posted Mon, Jun 02 2008 4:20 AM by Bob Wachter | 4 Comments Filed under: Quality Measurement, Medical Education/Academia, Diagnosis/Clinical Reasoning, Information Technology, Patient Safety/Medical Errors, Industry/Pharma, Health Policy, Media/Press Coverage

• The Funniest Satire on Interoperability You've Ever Seen (Trust Me)

  There is nothing better than a good satire to capture certain (uncomfortable) truths – just ask any of the presidential candidates after an episode of Saturday Night Live. So check out this hilarious spoof on information technology interoperability. As Read More... Posted Thu, May 29 2008 8:54 AM by Bob Wachter | 2 Comments Filed under: Information Technology, Industry/Pharma, Health Policy, Media/Press Coverage

• Google Health: A View From the Inside

  Google Health launched on Monday, which sent the world’s Google-watchers into a tizzy. I serve on Google Health's Advisory Council – which met all day Tuesday – and so here’s a bit of inside dish, along with my impressions of the site and the company. Read More... Posted Thu, May 22 2008 4:24 PM by Bob Wachter | 2 Comments Filed under: Information Technology, Ambulatory/Primary Care, Industry/Pharma, Media/Press Coverage

• The “Technology Hype Cycle”: Why Bad Things Happen to Good Technologies

  Fresh on the heels of my recent bar coding epiphany comes another “unintended consequences” article. It turns out that the whipsawing that accompanies the adoption of new technologies is completely foreseeable, the “why doesn’t this thing work right?” Read More... Posted Tue, May 13 2008 1:50 AM by Bob Wachter | 2 Comments Filed under: Information Technology, Patient Safety/Medical Errors, Industry/Pharma, Media/Press Coverage

• Should Hospitals Install Bar Coding or CPOE First? Why I’ve Changed My Tune

  This is one of the most commonly asked questions in IT World, and my answer has always been “CPOE first” – largely because that has always been David Bates’s (the world’s leading IT/safety researcher) answer. But I’ve changed my mind. Here’s why. Before Read More... Posted Fri, May 02 2008 9:00 PM by Bob Wachter | 9 Comments Filed under: Hospital Care, Information Technology, Patient Safety/Medical Errors, Industry/Pharma, Nurses/Nursing, Health Policy, Media/Press Coverage

• Snooping At Britney’s Chart: Why Should Docs and Nurses Have Different Rules?

  Should doctors and nurses be subject to different penalties for precisely the same infraction? Of course not. Are they? Sure. Just ask Britney Spears. Britney was hospitalized at UCLA at least twice in the past few years – once when she gave birth to Read More... Posted Sun, Apr 20 2008 8:53 PM by Bob Wachter | 2 Comments Filed under: Hospital Care, Information Technology, Patient Safety/Medical Errors, Nurses/Nursing, Media/Press Coverage, Medical Ethics

• Should Patient Satisfaction Scores Be Adjusted for Where Patients Shop?

  Last week, Medicare added patient satisfaction data to its hospital reporting website. This is progress, but it raises an interesting question: should patient satisfaction scores be case-mix adjusted? The motivation to include patient satisfaction data Read More... Posted Sun, Apr 13 2008 4:03 AM by Bob Wachter | 1 Comments Filed under: Hospital Care, Pay-for-performance, Transparency and Reporting, Quality Measurement, Hospitalists/Hospital Medicine, Information Technology, Health Policy, Media/Press Coverage

• NPR's Morning Edition Story on Physician Blogging and Patient Privacy

  Here's the link, featuring, among others, celebrity blogger Kevin, M.D., as well as yours truly, batting clean-up. Although the privacy concerns raised by the story are real, personally I thought the psychiatrist went a bit overboard when she said, "If Read More... Posted Sun, Mar 16 2008 3:27 PM by Bob Wachter | 1 Comments Filed under: Transparency and Reporting, Information Technology, Media/Press Coverage