Maternal Depression: You Can’t Judge A Book By Its Cover

A call for universal screeningA health care professional once told me a story about her bout with postpartum depression. She talked about spending months in her pajamas, never leaving the house and struggling to function in her role as a new mother. She talked about barely being able to care for her baby and about […]

A Medical “Peace Corps�? Comes to New York State

Is Gov. Spitzer’s program the solution for New York’s looming physician-supply crisis?New York state has been in a medical crisis and Albany is just becoming aware of the issues. Despite years of warnings about looming physician shortages coming from county and state medical societies, New York legislators turned a blind eye. In their defense, constituents […]

Dossia: Under-visioned

New service moves in the right direction, but is still a long way from lifespan planning I was asked recently by an MBA student to give my impressions of Dossia. What is Dossia? In its own words: “The Dossia Founders Group is a consortium of large employers united in their goal of providing employees, their dependents, […]

Tobacco Goes Global

A cloud over planet earth When it comes to tobacco, the facts make their own case. This is true locally, as with the numbers on second-hand smoke induced disease, which have pushed most of the US indoor public space to go "smoke-free." It is also true globally. Here are a few facts: 1. There are 1.3 […]

Bloomberg Runs Out of Patience on Medical Records

City hospitals will go electronic on their own It was over a year ago, in Washington, that Michael Bloomberg went public with his own vision for a national health care system. I was there that day, and had the impression that the NYC mayor was just galled by the lack of national leadership on a […]

Health Care and The Gathering Storm

The economy appears to be floundering. What’s the meaning for health care? Here are two very interesting and frightening charts that my good friend Warren Brennan, the CEO of SMA Informatics in Richmond, passed along this AM, with this question, aimed at the CFOs of hospitals and other health care organizations: What do these mean […]

When Bad Ideas Happen to Good Companies

Does Safeway’s FoodFlex Program help consumers when it suggests replacing walnuts with almonds? I love Safeway. I am impressed with their “Eating Right” line of food. I especially like their black bean soup, which offers 14 grams of fiber and only 120 calories for about a buck. True convenience, nutrition, and economy wrapped up in a […]

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