Dan Greden, Head of eHealth Product Management at Aetna, spoke with HealthBlawg last week about Aetna's PHR system, its above-average rate of adoption by members, and the benefits that it provides to members, clinicians and ultimate payors. The audio file of my interview with Dan Greden (about 30 mi...

By Matthew Holt Last Thursday I gave a talk to a very high powered group, the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics. My old colleague Matt Quinn is now working for the soon to be very rich Agency for......

Two seemingly unrelated items: Today Hitwise reported on how Google Maps is catching up on Mapquest, which once was the king of online mapping.   Perhaps more important than just the numbers is the source of traffic:  61% of Google Maps traffic comes from links placed in organic Google Sea...

This is a question I have pondered for some time now. We all have different body types and some individuals are naturally more muscular while others are predisposed to be more rotund. So this fact got me thinking what if some of us are descendants of a cave man clan of fatties? Is the huskier portio...

As I observed earlier when writing about Emerging Trends in Healthcare, the relative knowledge levels are changing rapidly in the physician-patient relationship. In the past, the physician was clearly the expert and the patient simply accepted the doctor's judgement and counsel without question. &nb...

All Hallow's Eve (celebrated around these parts tomorrow night) incorporates traditions tied to the earlier Celtic holiday of Samhain, which marks the beginning of winter -- as the great (swing) state (or should I say Commonwealth) of Pennsylvania knows only too well.  As we enter the last lap of t...

These student nurses have just graduated, and yet they look so sad. Maybe it’s because they look like they are wearing diapers on their heads. The cap on the left isn’t bad, just needs a little more starch in the top. The one one the right could hide an emesis basin! ********************...

By THCB STAFF The Health Care Blog is working hard to bring readers more excellent content, but the downside of that is great posts and podcasts quickly get buried. Here's a quick list of Matthew's top podcasts this year....

Photo Courtesy of kpgingaz With the ever increasing gas prices (doesn’t seem like it’s going down any time soon) I figured I had better take advantage of it some how. One way that I thought of was to not use my car as much. That’s right. I have not only saved money, but gotten heal...

I read this article in the New York Times about the appropriateness of heart rate monitors. The article discusses the pros and cons of using heart rate monitors. Mainly focusing on the reasons why you do not need and should not use them. This got me thinking because I advise my clients, who can affo...