After what seems like too long a time confined to my Microsoft office in Redmond, next week I will hit the road to visit with some of our customers and partners in the greater Louisville area. The reason for my visit is an invitation to provide a breakfast...

Fellow doctors, if the current crop of popular slate tablet computers have been letting you down; if you have been loving the form factor but frustrated by what you can’t do with it or run on it; if you or your IT department are increasingly worried about...

I came across a report that has me shaking my head. A new Commonwealth Fund report provides the following information on projected average family health insurance premiums as a percentage of median family income 2013 to 2021.  Here’s the data: Projected...

Two articles, both in Healthcare IT News, caught my attention today. The first was an article by Erin McCann that reports on the results of a new survey. It suggests that the use of electronic health records (EHRs) by family physicians in America could...

If you work in healthcare, you’d have to have been living under a rock not to know about HIPAA, the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Among other things, HIPAA specifies how doctors, hospitals, clinics and anyone else who is...

Earlier this week I had the opportunity to attend a lecture on the Microsoft campus given by visiting author, Matthew May ( The Elegant Solution, In Pursuit of Elegance, The Shibumi Strategy ). Matthew May’s (left) latest book is titled, The Laws of Subtraction...

Happy New Year to HealthBlog readers around the world. I hope you had a wonderful holiday. As evident from this post, I’m now back in the saddle after enjoying more than two weeks away with family and friends.  It seems that the blogosphere is exploding...

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the thousands of loyal HealthBlog readers around the world for your continued encouragement and support. When I started this blog in 2006, blogging was still a novelty. The idea for starting HealthBlog was suggested...

For more than 20 years, I practiced Family Medicine in the greater Seattle area. Although I was always affiliated with large, multispecialty  organizations during that time, many of my professional friends and colleagues are other primary care physicians...

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), tuberculosis is a global health emergency. Every year there are an estimated 9 to 10 million people who become infected with TB. Experts say our greatest risk for becoming infected is just breathing in...

  The Holidays are coming at us fast.  Are you looking for the perfect gift to give the doctor, nurse or other clinician in your life?  Oprah may have her favorite things list, but I have one too; only mine is much shorter.  Here are...

HealthBlog readers will find frequent references on this blog to the importance of communication and collaboration in patient care and clinical workflow. As a former practicing physician, and knowing what I know about modern communication and collaboration...

Earlier this month I was on a business trip in Europe. I met with healthcare leaders in the UK, Sweden and Holland. In the UK, there was a lot of discussion about the ramifications of the decision to decentralize budgeting for the National Health Service...

As I’ve traveled the world this past year meeting with Microsoft customers and partners and speaking with clinician colleagues, I frequently get asked, “So what’s the big deal about Windows 8 and why does it matter to the healthcare industry?” It’s a...

After spending the last two weeks traveling in Europe on business, it feels really good to be home again. Watching the US elections play out on international television while in a time zone 9 hours ahead of home was a particularly memorable part of the...

I’m writing this from Amsterdam where I am halfway through an extended business trip in Europe. I started my journey in London (by way of Paris).  In the UK, I traveled from Southampton to Northampton and all around London proper to visit various...

Next week I’ll be visiting with healthcare customers and partners in Europe, specifically in the UK, Sweden and Holland. I frequently come back from these trips marveling over some of the innovation I see in clinical practice and healthcare delivery....

After a very long day of flying, I arrived home unscathed from last week’s trip to Puerto Rico.  Although my visit was strictly business, at the encouragement of my Microsoft colleagues, I did take time to walk the city of Old San Juan just prior...

I guess you’d have to be living under a rock not to know that big things are happening at Microsoft.  The official launch of Windows 8 is just around the corner. And today, just like everyone else, I am learning details about pricing for our Surface...

Last June, Drs. Kenneth Mandl and Isaac Kohane contributed a thought-provoking op-ed article in the New England Journal of Medicine . The article, Escaping the EHR Trap – The Future of Health IT , provides a realistic assessment of currently available...