The Medical Home

The Commonwealth Fund released this study that connects having a “Medical Home” with improved health outcomes for minorities. While creating a medical home for all consumers is an important goal, I have to ask myself if this is an area where we should be putting more thought into enabling technology. The obvious items like secure e-mail and access to personal health records are one piece, but is there a way to enable even more accessible forms of communication to remind consumers when it is time for tests, exams, etc.? Let’s talk about auto dialing systems for phones, proactive data mining so we know who is not coming in and generating bulk mailings and coming up with tools to empower case managers and clinicians to work with patients remotely. For example, I remember somewhere along the way hearing about behavioral health specialists doing therapy over the phone in order to reach rural patients. We need a medical home for patients to be sure, and we have to address physical access to facilities as well, but are we leveraging technology enough?

National Federation of Independent Business Releases Small Business Health-Care Survey Results

Foremost health care issue for small-business owners is cost

http://www.nfib.com/object/IO_33464.html