Steve Rohleder, chief executive of Accenture’s Health & Public Service Operating Group, writes that the US perception of health care delivery has more in common with their international counterparts than one might think. According to a 16-nation, 16,000 person survey, common beliefs about the need for health care access and public engagement in health care spending decisions exist in almost every country. more»

Nyaya presented on their work at the 7th World Health Care Congress in Washington D.C. earlier this month. The poster presentation – “Transparent operations to enhance accountability and collaboration WHCC Schwarz et alwithin global health” – discussed Nyaya’s work to develop a transparent organizational model. more»

Dennis Cortese, MD, president and chief executive of the Mayo Clinic, says that since healthcare reform has become law, now would be a good time to start thinking about the one thing that should have been, but wasn’t, the basis of any sensible reform: value. more»

A report from the 7th Annual World Health Care Congress more»

As the final meaningful use rules under the federal HITECH Act are being worked out, many hospital CIOs are paying attention to how much quality reporting they will be required to do. So the relationship between quality reporting and electronic health records (EHRs) was a timely focus of last week’s World Health Care Congress meeting held in Washington, D.C. more»

A new wireless technology is being touted as the missing link needed to join patients, providers and the health IT that promises to transform healthcare across the globe. Last week, in a session at the 7th Annual World Health Care Congress in Washington D.C., Patrick Soon-Shiong, M.D., included Toronto-based Ideal Life's solutions for managing chronic disease as part of the "full response medical bag" that he sees as the solution to today's fragmented, expensive health care delivery system. more»

Menzie Chinn has provided a follow-up graph to the one that I mentioned on Friday in a post about the total cost to the public of the health care reform bill. more»

The National Cancer Institute plans to release a lightweight electronic health record designed to capture data specific to a cancer patient’s office visit. more»

Here's a new strategy to help health plans build relationships with small physician practices for their provider networks: connect the practices with regional health IT extension centers. more»

If going green has helped companies win a lot of public support and beef up profits, then health can be an equally effective consumer engagement tool. This is the finding of a new global survey by public relations firm Edelman, which was released on 13 April at the 7th Annual World Health Care Congress in Washington, DC. more»

Last week I attended the 7th Annual World Health Care Congress in Washington, D.C. The World Health Care Congress convenes global thought leaders and key decision-makers to discuss trends and best practices in an influential networking forum resulting in an exchange of valuable strategies to improve quality and cost-effectiveness. more»

Grameen Bank pioneered the idea of microcredit in Bangladesh, giving small loans to very poor people to help them start businesses. It’s now a world-wide movement with over 150 million borrowers. And Grameen has recently started operations in three U.S. cities, with plans to expand. So how will it work here? We speak with economist and Grameen Bank founder Mohammed Yunus. He won the Nobel Peace Prize for putting the idea of microcredit into practice and is now expanding the model to issues like health care. more»

There’s a straw that purifies water when you drink from it, an ultrasound that links to your cell phone and a hearing aid powered by batteries you can charge in the sun. They are innovative, low cost medical devices on display at the 7th Annual Global Health Congress this week. The event was a three-day conference held at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Md. more»

The general public expects businesses outside the health industry - such as retail, entertainment and consumer technology - to be involved in health in ways that go well beyond the health of their employees, according to the Edelman Health Engagement Barometer 2010. more»

The Hawaii Medical Service Association will expand its online care offering with a doctor-to-doctor feature that will help primary care physicians consult with specialists. more»

David Cordani, who became Cigna's chief executive in January, says quite enough time and effort was been spent on the recently signed health legislation, even if he doesn't like the results. "It took a year of the country's energy. It's now time to move on," he said in an interview more»

George Halvorson, the longtime chief of Oakland, Calif.,-based Kaiser Permanente, is not your average HMO executive. He's written a half-dozen books on how to improve health care delivery. One was called "Health Care Reform Now!"--and came out three years ago. more»

While he's no fan of federal health reform, Utah House Speaker Dave Clark is urging states to work with D.C. officials as they start to turn the complicated law into workable rules that will govern a new health care system. more»