Is the “greater fool” theory alive in the hospital world?

Paul Levy, of new (old) blog fame “Not Running a Hospital” thinks the private-equity acquisition of not-for-profit hospitals trend is bubblicious. Sound reasoning.

Is the “greater fool” theory alive in the hospital world?

Number one on social science’s to do list

1. How can we induce people to look after their health?

Amen. nature news via Herd

Consumer technology in hospitals!

Several big-name Silicon Valley corporations have donated monies to a new Stanford University hospital. While one might think that healthcare organizations are brimming with new gadgetry, the reality is that the majority of it focuses on procedural technology (operating room tools, huge back-end data crunchers, etc.). Very little attention is actually paid to consumer technology in these settings.

But consumer technology holds magnificent power to make healthcare awesome and that is, truly, what is exciting about the Stanford partnership. From Fierce:

The six philanthropic companies involved–Apple, eBay, HP, Intel, Intuit and Oracle–are members of the hospital’s new corporate partners program. The companies will do more than just donate money, though; they also plan to work with SHC to develop new approaches to patient access, information, education and navigation.

via Kottke: “This is a piece called Operators Are Standing By by Jean Bevier.”

Don’t Call It Quality

How can healthcare organizations help decision makers understand quality metrics? They shouldn’t. Organizations should signal quality through experience instead.

Don’t Call It Quality