Private Health Insurer’s House of Cards

There is a reason we are the only advanced nation in the world with employer-based health insurance. It is the result from a defensive move by GM in the late 40’s, intended to prevent the Toledo-based union from expanding its hold on GM workers by creating health benefits.1 Within ten years, 70% of all big […]

Should Smoking be Outlawed on Pedestrian Walkways?

"Smoke doesn’t know to stop at the doorway. It fills the full capacity of every indoor location in which the cigarette is smoked," according to Harvard Medical School professor Jonathan Winickoff.1 His remarks were in response to the release of a recent study of approximately 1,800 non-smokers in New York City. The shocking findings: 57% […]

Medical Societies Embrace Water As Their Issue

On April 28th, I will be visiting the Massachusetts Medical Society and its Committee on Global Medicine & Environmental and Occupational Health. They are sponsoring the opening of my "Drops of Life" tour.1 Over the next two years, I will be visiting health organizations and universities with a dynamic, big screen, one-hour journey through the […]

How Much Should My Hospital Invest in EMRs Today?

"How much do you think my hospital should invest in electronic medical records over the next few years?” This was the question asked of me last week by a CEO of a large Health Care System, who was a member of the American Hospital Association’s Long Range Policy Committee, after I had just shared with […]