There is lots wrong with the healthcare and health insurance system in the US. One can also have a rational debate of the pros and cons of the Affordable Care Act and how we might proceed from here. What should not happen, however, is pushing through poorly thought through measures just for the sake of making a change. Even more so, when there has been ample of time to come up with a something well designed. So I was glad to see that three GOP senators voted against the latest half baked atte...

There is lots wrong with the healthcare and health insurance system in the US. One can also have a rational debate of the pros and cons of the Affordable Care Act and how we might proceed from here. What should not happen, however, is pushing through poorly thought through measures just for the sake of making a change. Even more so, when there has been ample of time to come up with a something well designed. So I was glad to see that three GOP senators voted against the latest half baked atte...

Nearly 20 years ago I met a doctor who had built a diagnosis system for brain related conditions. When he showed it to me I was completely blown away. You would enter some symptoms and the system would display a list of possible diagnoses. If you then entered test results it narrowed down the diagnoses – in fact it was able to tell you which test would most help you at this differential step! The whole thing ran on a laptop. So what was the catch? Well it turned out that it had taken him year...

Nearly 20 years ago I met a doctor who had built a diagnosis system for brain related conditions. When he showed it to me I was completely blown away. You would enter some symptoms and the system would display a list of possible diagnoses. If you then entered test results it narrowed down the diagnoses – in fact it was able to tell you which test would most help you at this differential step! The whole thing ran on a laptop. So what was the catch? Well it turned out that it had taken him year...

Bijan has a post relating his recent overnight hospital stay to some of the big issues with healthcare today. Bijan rightly complains about how hospitals are a black hole for patient data. The stimulus package (PDF) contains a section 9202 titled “Investment in Health Information Technology” which states:The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall invest in the infrastructure necessary to allow for and promote the electronic exchange and use of health information for each individual in t...

Bijan has a post relating his recent overnight hospital stay to some of the big issues with healthcare today. Bijan rightly complains about how hospitals are a black hole for patient data. The stimulus package (PDF) contains a section 9202 titled “Investment in Health Information Technology” which states:The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall invest in the infrastructure necessary to allow for and promote the electronic exchange and use of health information for each individual in t...

I am generally not a big fan of strategies that involve pursuing business A now in order to pursue B in the future. I tend to believe that you should go for B right away. For example, if you are planning to disrupt textbooks I would likely prefer a strategy that figures out how to peer produce those instead of one that first tries to make the renting and exchange of existing textbooks more efficient. Why? Because there are few businesses that have pulled off the “A now, B later” trick – most ...

I am generally not a big fan of strategies that involve pursuing business A now in order to pursue B in the future. I tend to believe that you should go for B right away. For example, if you are planning to disrupt textbooks I would likely prefer a strategy that figures out how to peer produce those instead of one that first tries to make the renting and exchange of existing textbooks more efficient. Why? Because there are few businesses that have pulled off the “A now, B later” trick – most ...

Yesterday I wrote about how free or low priced online courses are beginning to put pressure on pricing in education. As a small addendum to that: the same day the New York Times ran a front page story about home schooling recognizing the growing importance of that movement (which in turn is enabled by much of the same content). Today I want take a look at what is happening to healthcare costs and whether there is any hope for technological deflation here also. If you haven’t seen this chart f...

Yesterday I wrote about how free or low priced online courses are beginning to put pressure on pricing in education. As a small addendum to that: the same day the New York Times ran a front page story about home schooling recognizing the growing importance of that movement (which in turn is enabled by much of the same content). Today I want take a look at what is happening to healthcare costs and whether there is any hope for technological deflation here also. If you haven’t seen this chart f...