Sometimes you just gotta geek out over what’s happening in health care even if its implications are years away.

In 2014, Google CEO, Sergey Brin, complained about “heavily regulated” health care that discouraged health care tech entrepreneurship. Last week Google emerged from secret talks with Ascension health system with a deal (Project Nightingale) to analyze and store health care and administrative data. Meanwhile, Amazon, who never shared Google’s timidity on health care, announced its third major health care venture in the last two years—the Amazon Care app. The rollout of the Amazon Care app for its Seattle-based employees comes after Amazon purchased online pharmacy PillPack in 2018 and teamed with Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase to create the healthcare company, Haven. It seems like tech companies have found a remedy for health care’s regulatory headaches, or maybe it’s the chance for health care tech glory that they can’t walk away from.

There’s A Lot of Potential In Health Care Data Tech

It’s not surprising that Google changed its mind and inked a health care data deal. Google so wants to join the list of artificial intelligence (AI) pioneers, and having access to mounds of health care data is the first step to AI glory. Seriously, most health care systems around the world currently have AI projects to analyze health care data and monitor patients. And robotic surgery and robotic-assisted surgery has been a thing for well over a decade. Future AI health care projects may include machines that perform tasks currently done by health care professionals. When you think about it, the idea that if you compile enough data from multiple sources (doctors’ notes, physical exams, diagnostic images, etc.), you can teach a computer to diagnose and treat diseases is pretty cool.

Ascension also has a lot to gain if Google can manipulate the millions of patient data records into an AI system that can diagnose and treat diseases. Imagine the savings hospitals would realize if computers could replace some of the doctors and other health care specialists they would otherwise hire to perform these tasks. And it’s not just the potential savings of using artificial intelligence in health care, AI could reduce health care errors and allow hospitals to serve more patients.

Okay, I’m obviously fascinated by the possibilities of AI in health care. And if big tech can meet the privacy and security standards set by federal laws such as HIPAA, I say bring it on. We’ve already given up a lot of our privacy when it comes to health care. We’re willing to wear activity tracking devices, fill out online health risk assessments, and use telemedicine services all in the hope of improving our health or paying less for health care.

While Individual Privacy Concerns Decreases, Regulators Remain Alert

Ten years ago when I was working in private sector Human Resources benefits departments, health care data privacy was a big deal. Many workers balked at completing health risk assessments (HRA) because they thought their employers would use any “negative” health data from the assessment to fire them. They didn’t like the idea of their employer having such personal data. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission weighed in on workplace wellness programs that charged higher health insurance plan premiums to workers that refused to complete a health risk assessment. Today, you rarely hear about health risk assessment privacy issues. But that’s not to say that privacy and security are not important in health care. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 2003 (aka HIPAA) is a reminder to anyone who has or wants to access health care data of how seriously federal regulators take health care data privacy and security.

Between April 2003 and October 2019, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) received nearly 221,000 health privacy complaints. Continue Reading...

Tags: health care , health care privacy, HIPAA, Google, Ascension, HHS

Becoming a medical doctor in the U.S. is very hard. It takes years of study. We know this because doctors are great at reminding the rest of us of the costs they incur and sacrifices they make in pursuit of their medical degrees. Also, let’s not forget, because they won’t let us, that doctors help the sick and save lives. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not trying to undervalue the efforts and commitment of doctors. However, I’m also not willing to exclude doctors from criticism for the role they play in our overpriced American health care system.

American doctors have much higher salaries than their equally qualified international peers. At least one justification for the sometimes significant salary differentials is legitimate—medical school and training costs are greater in the U.S. than in other countries. Other justifications such as the U.S. is a wealthy country that can afford to pay its doctor more or that doctors could have chosen even higher paying jobs in other industries are even weaker. No one forces you to become a doctor. And, even if you think medicine is a noble profession, there is no such thing as “nobility pay” in the world of compensation management.

If Medicine Is Noble, Not Every Doctor Is

Medicine and money go hand in hand, and so does greed and self-importance. Some doctors enter the medical profession for noble reasons—they want to alleviate illness and save lives; for others, it is a pathway to wealth and prestige. And no one exemplifies the greedy, egoism of the medical profession like Health & Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tom Price. Now a politician, Price was once an orthopedic surgeon and director of an orthopedic surgery clinic in a wealthy area of Atlanta, GA. Orthopedic surgeons are the highest paid of all medical specialists, with an average salary of nearly half a million dollars a year.

Tom Price was never shy about wanting to become a wealthy doctor. It was his goal. And even after moving into politics as an elected Congressman and now head of HHS, he continues to invest in the health care industry and lies about his corrupt investments in the medical field. Another thing Price never lies he doesn’t lie about is his views that doctors should be left alone to make as much money as they can make. At HHS, Price is looking out for doctors’ pocketbooks. In Price’s world, Medicare payments to doctors rise, quality standards and medical malpractice awards go down, and electronic health records disappear (because who wants to share data with other physicians and invite competition). And that’s not even the worst of Price’s financial activism on behalf of his fellow doctors that don’t want to change but want more money. Price wants to collaborate with doctors in letting them decide how much Medicare (taxpayers) pay for their services.

It Matters Who Becomes A Doctor Continue Reading...

Tags: Tom Price, Medicare, HHS, Doctor's pay