April 2009 - Posts

• Hilarious Medical Transcription Snafus: My Faves and Yours

  This is my 100th blog posting, so it seemed like a good time to get a bit frivolous. The NY Times recently ran a front page story about websites that collect user-submitted triviata – such as “Pets Who Want to Kill Themselves” (pictures of bulldogs wearing Read More... Posted Tue, Apr 21 2009 8:15 AM by Bob Wachter | 26 Comments Filed under: Hospital Care, Information Technology

• On Quality Measurement, Babies, and Bathwater

  Quality Measurement mavens are reeling these days, as a result of the air being let out of high-profile measures such as tight glucose control, door-to-antibiotic time, and beta-blockers. Some critics have even suggested that we put a moratorium on new Read More... Posted Thu, Apr 16 2009 7:17 AM by Bob Wachter | 6 Comments Filed under: Quality Improvement, Hospital Care, Pay-for-performance, Transparency and Reporting, Quality Measurement, Health Policy, Media/Press Coverage

• “Mr. Obama, Tear Down These (Hospital) Walls”: Readmissions in Context

  I like readmissions. Well, that didn’t come out quite right, did it? What I mean is that I like focusing on readmissions as a potentially actionable quality measure. I believe that it’s possible to prevent many readmissions, thereby improving quality Read More... Posted Sat, Apr 04 2009 12:36 AM by Bob Wachter | 10 Comments Filed under: Quality Improvement, Hospital Care, Transparency and Reporting, Quality Measurement, Efficiency, Hospitalists/Hospital Medicine, Information Technology, Ambulatory/Primary Care, Patient Safety/Medical Errors, Health Policy