Two For One

OpenMedicine.ca is a brand-spanking-new "peer-reviewed, independent, open-access journal". Especially worth reading is the editorial Why Open Medicine? (The site is having some teething troubles, if it's down when you click just try again later)

The journal's mission: "... to facilitate the equitable, global dissemination of high-quality health research; to promote international dialogue and collaboration on health issues; to improve clinical practice; and to expand and deepen the understanding of health and health care."

Not only do we get to welcome an open access journal with this post, but we also get this article from the Toronto Star which reports "Health outcomes for patients in Canada are as good as or better than in the United States, even though per capita spending is higher south of the border, suggest Canadian and U.S. researchers who crunched data from 38 studies."

The cool part?

The study is in the inaugural edition of the afore-mentioned journal!

It's kind of like buy-one-get-one-free, except it's actually get-one-free-and-get-another-one-free. Gotta love open source.‎ Full story...

Tennessee Hospital Charges

The Tennessee Hospital Association today launched a Web site telling patients how much they'll pay.

Tennessee Hospitals Inform lists average prices for common procedures at the state's acute-care hospitals.
‎ Full story...

Dark Victory

Today's New York Post has a piece on hospital performance on the CMS measures.

I assume the reporter used the Hospital Profiles Web site.‎ Full story...

State Medicaid Programs P4P

In the first published nationwide survey of state Medicaid programs on "pay-for-performance" practices, more than half of all programs state that they provide financial incentives to health care providers for better quality care.

Almost 85 percent of states plan to have pay-for-performance programs within five years. Researchers also found that most current programs focus on women's, children's and adolescents' health issues. The study is published today by The Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation working toward a high-performance health system. Authors are from IPRO, a not-for-profit quality evaluation and improvement organization, and The Kuhmerker Consulting Group, LLC, a health care consulting firm.‎ Full story...

Miinor Hiatus

I lost Internet connectivity at my house a week ago, and apparently it's going to take Time Warner another week to fix it, so I'm Netless for the time being. Right now I'm sponging Internet in a hotel in DC, where I'll be until Wednesday, soI'm taking a sort of welcome forced break. In the meantime, see what Martina's writing about.

...‎ Full story...