healthcare

'The best leaders allow themselves to be persuaded'. Steve Kelman notes that a critical leadership trait is far harder than it sounds.

Healthcare entering next wave of cyberthreats. While there's evidence that organizations are better controlling data loss, today's attackers are becoming much more targeted and sophisticated

In one of my previous posts, I referenced the Standards and Interoperability (S&I) Framework, which enables healthcare stakeholders to create standards, specifications, and implementation guidelines that facilitate effective healthcare information exchange. This will facilitate the adoption of interoperable standards.

By putting the user at the center, organizations can focus resources and initiatives on providing the best and most needed services. This “citizen-centric” approach takes citizens from passive recipients to active contributors through methods like design thinking, co-creation, and even analytics. This approach can benefit not only the system as a whole but also allows citizens to take ownership of their experience.

Since December 2010, Dr. Jonathan Woodson has acted as the principle advisor on healthcare to multiple secretaries of defense. As assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, he has lead DoD’s military health system, overseeing the Defense Department's $50 billion health budget, and shepherding this mission critical care system through major reform efforts. I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Woodson shortly after he took the reins of MHS.

Michael J. Keegan

VA and VistA: Can they be fixed? The Department of Veterans Affairs is rushing to make changes to its IT infrastructure and systems before the next administration enters the White House. And skeptical lawmakers, oversight bodies and outside experts are cautiously optimistic about the eventual outcomes.

Risk is unavoidable in carrying out an organization’s objectives. Whether government agencies or private sector hospitals the work they do -- providing services to people -- is always surrounded by uncertainty.  While organizations cannot respond to all risks, one of the most salient lessons from past crises and negative reputational incidents is that both public and private sector organizations would benefit from establishing or reviewing and strengthening their risk management practices.

Remember when businesses all kept their own ledgers, which required updates as each new business transaction occurred? How about the added expenses that had to be paid to intermediaries adding margin for services?  And what about the inefficiencies as each business in the network (supplier, buyer, seller) all recorded the same transactions in their individual ledgers? While many businesses and industries, including healthcare, still operate this way, an emerging technology has great potential to advance Healthcare IT across the economy and in the government, namely “Blockchain.”

Michael J. Keegan

Obama weighs in on VA Commission’s health care suggestions. The Obama administration said it agreed with most of the VA Commission on Care’s recommendations to improve veterans health care, adding that the department had started efforts to implement many of them already. President Barack Obama said he disagreed with three of the 18 suggestions.

The mission of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs was borne from the immortal words of Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural address: to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan.

The Veterans Health Administration embodies that promise of a grateful nation -- providing quality health care that Veterans have earned through their service and sacrifices. Although the covenant with Veterans is immutable, healthcare evolves and so must VHA.