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• Glenn Steele at CMS?

  If you’re in healthcare, the most important announcement today will not be Steve Jobs’ introduction of the iPad (thrilling as that is). Rather, it will be President Obama’s expected announcement of the appointment of Dr. Glenn Steele as the new director Read More... Posted Thu, Jan 28 2010 1:38 AM by Bob Wachter | 1 Comments Filed under: Quality Improvement, Health Policy, Media/Press Coverage

• Not So Fast, Schwartz

  Every family has a favorite joke or two. One of ours went this way – unsurprisingly, given my dad’s interests and pedigree, it is Borscht Belt meets US Army. Here goes:An army drill sergeant receives word that both parents of one of his enlisted men have Read More... Posted Thu, Jan 21 2010 5:52 AM by Bob Wachter | 6 Comments Filed under: Health Policy, Media/Press Coverage

• Rainy Day Interviews, Oscar Winners’ Mortality, and a Randomized Trial of Niceness in the ER: The Extraordinary Mind of Don Redelmeier

  One of the great joys of a life in academic medicine is the opportunity to work with lots of very smart people. But one regret is that there is something about academia that tends to homogenize – faculty learn that, when it comes to competing for the Read More... Posted Mon, Dec 21 2009 3:53 PM by Bob Wachter | 9 Comments Filed under: Hospital Care, Medical Education/Academia, Diagnosis/Clinical Reasoning, Health Policy, Media/Press Coverage

• December 1, 2009: The Patient Safety Field Turns Ten

  On December 1, 1999, the Institute of Medicine released a report entitled To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System. Although its authors hoped to spark a national movement, they had little cause for optimism. After all, early efforts by advocates Read More... Posted Tue, Dec 01 2009 7:22 AM by Bob Wachter | 4 Comments Filed under: Hospital Care, Information Technology, Patient Safety/Medical Errors, Health Policy, Media/Press Coverage

• Jail Time for a Medical Error, Redux: The Case of Eric Cropp

  Two years ago, I wrote about the case of Julie Thao, the Wisconsin nurse sent to prison for a medication error. I argued then that – although Julie bypassed some safety rules – she most certainly did not deserve jail time.Along comes another case involving Read More... Posted Thu, Nov 26 2009 4:47 AM by Bob Wachter | 22 Comments Filed under: Patient Safety/Medical Errors, Health Policy, Media/Press Coverage, Medical Ethics

• NY Times Magazine on Brent James’ Quest to Transform Healthcare Quality

  Just a quick heads up on an article in next weekend’s New York Times Sunday Magazine by my friend David Leonhardt. David profiles Intermountain Healthcare’s Brent James, capturing Brent’s (and Intermountain’s) unique and increasingly influential philosophy Read More... Posted Thu, Nov 05 2009 6:16 AM by Bob Wachter | 4 Comments Filed under: Quality Improvement, Quality Measurement, Information Technology, Patient Safety/Medical Errors, Media/Press Coverage

• "This American Life" on Why the Healthcare System is Out of Control

  If you can spare 2 hours, do yourself a favor by listening to the two-part healthcare series on NPR's extraordinary show, This American Life. By using examples that are memorable for their simplicity and lack of hyperbole, the series (the episodes are Read More... Posted Wed, Oct 21 2009 5:22 PM by Bob Wachter | 2 Comments Filed under: Hospital Care, Efficiency, Industry/Pharma, Health Policy, Media/Press Coverage

• Stephen Colbert’s Riotously Funny Interview of a Lobbyist for Universal Healthcare

  In the 9th installment of his 35,000 part series, “Better Know a Lobby,” Colbert interviews the head of “Health Care for America Now,” Richard Kirsch. The whole thing is hilarious, but the funniest portion comes at 3:45, when Colbert asks Kirsch to choose Read More... Posted Mon, Oct 12 2009 4:16 AM by Bob Wachter | 0 Comments Filed under: Health Policy, Media/Press Coverage

• Could This Be What He Planned All Along?

  A conventional look at the The Speech: Obama over-learned the lessons of Hillary-care; he gave Congress too long a leash; he lost control of the message; the wacko’s attacked with a barrage of Socialist/Nazi/Plug-Pulling-on-Grandma-isms; not only was Read More... Posted Fri, Sep 11 2009 6:55 AM by Bob Wachter | 8 Comments Filed under: Health Policy, Media/Press Coverage

• Death Panels, Palliative Care, and the Dangers of Modern McCarthyism

  It’s time to fight back. The “death panel” nonsense is not a harmless and amusing political canard – it is modern McCarthyism: the shameless, heinous use of lies and distortions to scare and confuse people. The tide will only turn if all of us begin speaking Read More... Posted Thu, Aug 20 2009 6:06 PM by Bob Wachter | 13 Comments Filed under: Hospital Care, Health Policy, Media/Press Coverage, Medical Ethics

• Healthcare Rationing: Why Stalin Had it Right

  Princeton ethicist Peter Singer’s article in this week’s NY Times Sunday Magazine is creating lots of buzz. It is a classic utilitarian description of the case for rationing – QALYs and all – and a plea for a mature national dialogue about the dreaded Read More... Posted Sat, Jul 18 2009 11:26 PM by Bob Wachter | 13 Comments Filed under: Transparency and Reporting, Efficiency, Health Policy, Media/Press Coverage

• A Health Policy Addict's Summer Reading List

  If you’ve been following health policy for a generation, as I have, these past few weeks have been the Olympics, the U.S. Open, the Super Bowl, and a Clarence Clemons sax solo during a Springsteen encore rolled into one. With the moment of change upon Read More... Posted Sat, Jun 20 2009 9:38 AM by Bob Wachter | 3 Comments Filed under: Efficiency, Diagnosis/Clinical Reasoning, Health Policy, Media/Press Coverage

• Budget Director Orszag Takes Gawande's Baton and Brings It Home

  Thanks to Brad Flansbaum for pointing me to Peter Orszag's blog on Atul Gawande's article (the subject of my previous post) on McAllen, Texas's staggering healthcare costs. I'm not sure what's more astonishing: the fact that Orszag read the Gawande New Read More... Posted Tue, Jun 09 2009 2:47 AM by Bob Wachter | 6 Comments Filed under: Transparency and Reporting, Efficiency, Health Policy, Media/Press Coverage

• Gawande Nails It on Healthcare Costs

  I just finished reading Atul Gawande’s June 1st New Yorker piece – it's the Talk of the Health Policy Town – on healthcare’s “Cost Conundrum.” Like most of Atul’s work, the article is lyrical, powerful, insightful, and correct.As you’ve probably heard, Read More... Posted Fri, Jun 05 2009 10:55 PM by Bob Wachter | 4 Comments Filed under: Quality Improvement, Hospital Care, Efficiency, Health Policy, Media/Press Coverage, Medical Ethics

• Is Hospital Peer Review a Sham? Well, Mostly Yes

  Dr. Sidney Wolfe, healthcare’s answer to Ralph Nader, spends most of his days unhappy with somebody. Pragmatic, see-both-sides types like me naturally recoil from Wolfe’s reflexive indictment of institutions ranging from the FDA to Medicare. But Wolfe’s Read More... Posted Mon, Jun 01 2009 4:25 AM by Bob Wachter | 16 Comments Filed under: Hospital Care, Transparency and Reporting, Patient Safety/Medical Errors, Health Policy, Media/Press Coverage, Medical Ethics