Why is it so difficult to engage physicians?
One way to analyze this question may lie in exploring the dual meaning of the word engagement.  The yang, or positive aspect, involves interfacing with another person in a pleasant fashion, as in, “She engaged him in conversation,” or “They are engaged to be married.”  The yin, or [...]

I confess to being a fan of Maggie Mahar’s Health Beat posts.  In  Health Care Spending: The Basics; Spending on Physicians’ Services-Do We Spend Too Much? Part II, she detailed meticulously what lies behind the 22% of the $2.1 million spent last year on physician services.  I agree with her that income disparities between general [...]

I grew up in Buffalo, NY, where I saw some of the first Bills’ games at my father’s side.  I sincerely hope that my writing about the Patriots in an admiring way does not cause him to turn over in his grave.
I cannot help wondering whether having an 18-0 record has as much to do [...]

I enjoyed Christopher Cornue’s writing about how to engage physicians in his post, Physician Integration- What Does This Mean?  He talked about the need to marry physician and administrative leadership as supportive rather than exclusive managing (and leadership) styles.
In healthcare, as in academics, a group of independent professionals whose loyalties rest with colleagues and subject [...]

At my birthday dinner in downtown Boston, my 17-year old daughter surprised me at the end of the meal with, “So old man, what have you learned in half a century?”
Knowing that we had only one car and that I had the keys, I mused, “First, when I finished my residency, I was consumed about [...]

During residency, I was called to the Operating Room in the middle of the night.  As I entered the room, I noted that an anesthesiologist was not present.  I had been summoned to remove the corneas of a patient who had died, so that they could be available for corneal transplant before the body was [...]

The thinking behind this category is to link current events in the news to topical issues affecting healthcare collaboration.
Even the President commented that one cannot run for election without claiming to be an agent of change.  All the publicity about change made me wonder why most of the images regarding healthcare change are so negative.
A [...]