May 16, 2013, 8:00 AM, Posted by
Steve Downs
New York State Commissioner of Health Nirav Shah is the Billy Beane of health care.
Let me explain.
Billy Beane—the general manager and minority owner of the Oakland Athletics—and made famous in the book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis, was made even more famous when Brad Pitt portrayed him in the movie adaptation. (Generally speaking, having Brad Pitt portray you is a good way to get famous.)
For those who aren’t familiar, Moneyball is about how, under Beane’s unconventional leadership, “the Oakland Athletics achieved an amazing winning streak while having the smallest player payroll in Major League Baseball. (Short answer: creative use of data.)” (Thank you, New York Times.)
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Apr 18, 2013, 8:00 AM, Posted by
Pioneer Blog Team
In this video, Helen Darling of The National Business Group on Health explains how employers will benefit from the Global Cardiovascular Risk (GCVR) score, a new quality improvement tool aimed at reducing the risk of heart disease and stroke.
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Apr 12, 2013, 11:00 AM, Posted by
Nancy Barrand
In a recent post in The Health Care Blog, Archimedes Founder David Eddy, MD, makes a strong case for the new Global Cardiovascular Risk score (GCVR), because it will keep providers more focused on preventing disease and give them a more accurate and meaningful target to shoot for to keep patients healthy. This project, to test the merits of a new way to measure the health outcomes of patients with heart disease and diabetes, is an example of a truly disruptive innovation that could be a real game-changer for measuring quality. Read Dr. Eddy’s full post below.
-Nancy Barrand
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Apr 9, 2013, 4:18 PM, Posted by
Beth Toner
Wall Street Journal reporter Laura Landro’s recent interview with a front-line doctor underscores why we need more meaningful ways to measure quality. Mayo Clinic’s Dr. Victor Montori, who specializes in treating people with chronic illnesses, says health care systems and doctors are not being rewarded for preventing disease and instead pressured to satisfy measures that mean little for patients or health.
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Jan 24, 2013, 11:30 AM, Posted by
Brian C. Quinn
In December, we asked our readers to tell us about the health care problems they felt were most in need of innovation—the tough problems, the crucial ones, maybe even those they’d seen firsthand. The number of comments we received was encouraging. It has also challenged our thinking, and generated a great deal of discussion on our team.
One thing is certain: The conversation that ensued from that post confirmed that our team needs to do more listening—listening to patients, caregivers, health care professionals, innovators, thought leaders—the list goes on and on.
We saw some common themes in the problems you shared. A few of them are reflected in areas in which the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is already working. Clearly there are problems that, despite the intensive efforts of many really smart people, resist conventional solutions. Other themes showed us how important it is to always be examining what we’re doing from perspectives other than our own.
So where do we go from here?
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Dr. Nirav Shah, New York Commissioner of Health
