Daily Digest: Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Happy Wednesday! Or, as we used to call it in the cube farm, Hump Day. Here’s today’s edition of must-reads –

1. If you listen to the rising tide of discussion about the cost of care, one of the things that’s -supposed- to help curb that hockey stick upward trajectory is technology. So we found it interesting when we tripped over this piece asking if patients have to pay for portal access. I (Casey) say “no” – you? “Should providers charge patients for portal access?“
2. Man the battle stations – the White House wants Medicare to be able to negotiate pricing with pharma. Since the introduction of Medicare Part D, CMS has been specifically prohibited to negotiate drug pricing with pharmaceutical companies. This could get loud. “Obama administration seeks to negotiate Medicare drug prices“
3. The Disneyland measles outbreak, suspected to be accelerated by parents who have refused the MMR vaccine for their children, has raised a lot of heated discussion all over everywhere. I (Casey) almost died from measles when I was 9 years old, the same year (1962) that Roald Dahl, the author of “Charlie & the Chocolate Factory” and other classics, lost his 7 year old daughter, Olivia, to measles. In 1988, he begged parents to avoid the heartache he himself had suffered by vaccinating their kids against measles. “Read Roald Dahl’s Powerful Pro-Vaccination Letter (From 1988)“
4. Speaking of science, both Dave and I are big fans of evidence based medicine. We both believe, and work toward daily, the idea that health and science literacy is a core piece of helping improve patient experience, and patient participation, in the healthcare system. So we’re big fans of the Cochrane Collaboration, which analyzes and publishes scientific evidence aplenty. Here’s their 2014 “greatest hits” page: “Best of the Cochrane Library: 2014 in review“
5. I (Casey) produce a podcast series for the Society of Hospital Medicine, which gives me the chance to talk to smart hospital clinicians every month. SHM has a great blog, The Hospital Leader, which I recommend to anyone interested in healthcare. Here’s a recent post, pointing up the idea that we all have to think differently, sometimes at the drop of a stethoscope. “The Shield“
6. From the “how surprising … well, not really” desk, here’s a recent piece by Elisabeth Rosenthal in the New York Times about the snowbirds of Florida, and the growing savviness that retirees are starting to display when it comes to “doctor’s orders.”  “Medical Costs Rise as Retirees Winter in Florida“
7. And here’s today’s humor break, what we’re calling “Doc Rob vs Dr. Oz, film at 11” – it’s from our good friend Dr. Rob Lamberts’ “Musings of a Distractible Mind” blog, and it tells the story, in tweets, of how Rob responded to the “Dr. Oz’s Inbox” tweetchat (that turned into something of a PR disaster for Oz) last November. “Dr. Rob’s Inbox“