Posted in Healthcare reform
03/12 2010

What’s Wrong With This Picture?

Behold, the pyramids of federal food subsidies and federal nutrition: (Click image at right to enlarge.) The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine uses these pyramids to illustrate why a salad costs more than a Big Mac. Through 2005, roughly 85% of subsidies have gone toward what should be no more than 22% of our nutrition. [...] Learn More →
Posted in Healthcare reform
03/12 2010

Water Lilies

At the conclusion of the Phoenix Open professional golf tournament last week, course managers found their facility all dressed up with 1,200 healthy water lilies but nowhere to go. Word got around about their availability, but no takers emerged. Like, what would you do with 1,200 water-rooted plants in the middle of an [...] Learn More →
Posted in Wellness
03/12 2010

The Voice of God

Over fifty years ago in the deepest jungles of the Amazon, a group of anthropologists came upon an Indian tribe that had never before had contact with the outside world. They were amazed by the strange objects the scientists brought with them: matches, steel knives, watches, guns, a shortwave radio – signs of [...] Learn More →
Posted in Healthcare reform
03/12 2010

Inequality Matters

That’s the message in a recent book, The Spirit Level, which argues that economic inequality, not overall wealth, level of poverty or cultural differences, is the chief reason for societal breakdown. The authors present a wealth of data, much of it showing the U.S. near the top of the charts among OECD countries for [...] Learn More →
Posted in Healthcare reform
03/12 2010

The Discomfort Zone

Going it alone is not an option in fostering healthy communities, and it is certainly not an option in fostering a Healthy Arizona. Yet the structure of much of the nonprofit sector, including philanthropy, encourages fragmentation into a series of functional one-trick ponies: we do health, you do housing, another helps victims of [...] Learn More →
Posted in Healthcare reform
03/12 2010

The Budget Crisis: Opportunities Abound

Recently the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association released a study calculating the economic impact of proposed massive cuts to AHCCCS (Medicaid) and the Arizona Department of Health Services. It’s devastating. We got here by spending too much money and not taking in enough revenue. We got here by letting the good times roll and [...] Learn More →
 
Posted in Healthcare reform
03/12 2010

HIE/HIT Assessment

Does Arizona have the governance and collaborative capacity in place to maximize both external and internal investments in health information technology and health information exchanges? To address that question in an independent and objective way, SLHI is sponsoring an HIE/HIT Governance and Collaborative Capacity Assessment. If you’re involved in HIE/HIT efforts in Arizona, we invite [...] Learn More →
Posted in Out Loud
02/12 2010

The Death of Wisdom

There's an old story about the history of civilization that goes like this: In the beginning, humans sought wisdom. Wisdom proved hard to obtain, however, so we turned our attention to seeking knowledge. But even knowledge became elusive, so we sought information instead. Now information itself is questionable. All that's left is to look at the data. Learn More →
 
Posted in Healthcare reform, Out Loud, Wellness
02/12 2010

Ruby, Don’t Take Your Cake to Work

Join your company’s wellness program instead. If your employer doesn’t have one, get them to start one. A recent meta-analysis of the literature on costs and savings associated with workplace disease prevention and wellness programs found that medical costs fell by $3.27 for ever dollar spent on these programs, and absenteeism costs fell by $2.73 for every dollar spent. Learn More →
Posted in News, Out Loud
02/12 2010

Compliance You Can Stomach

If all goes well (and with your permission), in 2011 Proteus Biomedical will be emailing reports on prescription drug performance and compliance from your stomach directly to your doctor. It works like this: patient swallows a pill with both medicine and a tiny sensor chip (where stomach acid acts as a battery for the chip), chip transmits to a skin patch, the skin patch to a cell phone, and the cell phone to your doctor. Learn More →