Health Law

Health Care Social Media Legal Issues and Strategy Webinar

Posted on November 18, 2009
Today's HIPAA and Your Social Media Strategy webinar, which I presented together with Jamie Verkamp of (e)Merge, was a success. We had a good turnout, interesting questions and engaging discussion. Here is a version of the slide deck I used...

An ounce of prevention

Posted on November 18, 2009
Today's Boston Globe reports on a feature of the Massachusetts universal health care law that may be replicated at the national level: MassHealth -- the Massachusetts Medicaid program -- has been covering the costs for smoking cessation counseling and medications...

Son of HIPAA Breach Notification Rules and Business Associate Requirements: Who's Ready?

Posted on November 17, 2009
HIMMS Analytics surveyed about 250 hospital and business associate representatives, and came up with some figures to back up what we all knew in our hearts: Most hospitals are gearing up for compliance with the HITECH Act / Son of...

Social Media Session at Oklahoma Hospital Association Annual Meeting

Posted on November 13, 2009
Yesterday I had the pleasure of sharing the podium -- at least virtually -- at the Oklahoma Hospital Association's annual meeting with two leaders in the health care social media sphere, Ed Bennett of the University of Maryland Medical System...

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Son of HIPAA Breach Notification Rules

Posted on November 11, 2009
Health care providers: If your patient records aren't already stored digitally, they are likely to be digitized soon. There is a tremendous push by the federal government -- as well as by some private payors and self-insured employers -- to...

David Harlow quoted in "Social Networking 101 for Physicians" piece in Mass Medical Law Report

Posted on November 08, 2009
More and more physicians are exploring the use of social media in their practices, and the Massachusetts Medical Law report ran a piece on Social Networking 101 for Physicians recently, quoting Kevin Pho of KevinMD, Jim Tobin of Ignite Health...

HIPAA and your social media strategy - Webinar November 18, 2009

Posted on November 05, 2009
Physicians, practice managers and other health care providers and managers considering a foray into social media, you are invited to join The Harlow Group and (e)Merge for a webinar discussing this timely and important topic. Here is the (e)Merge announcement:...

FDA and social media: The regulated community's current obsession overlooks off-label promotions by the advocacy community

Posted on November 02, 2009
This morning I received a tweet exhorting me to learn about Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) for autoimmune diseases. (Naltrexone, by the way, is approved by the FDA only to treat alcoholism.) Within a few clicks, I found claims that LDN...

Health Law Basics Plus: Two-day seminar in Boston this week

Posted on November 02, 2009
Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education puts on its annual two-day extravaganza introduction to health law this week (November 4-5). I'll be speaking on post-acute care, and there is an all-star panel of speakers filling out the entire two days. If you...

Connected Health Symposium 2009 Wrap-up

Posted on October 26, 2009
I attended the Connected Health Symposium last week in Boston and got a healthy dose of the past, present and future in health care connectivity, connectedness and connections. As always, I enjoyed connecting in person with a whole host of...

PHR Panel at Connected Health Symposium 2009

Posted on October 22, 2009
Another very interesting panel at Connected Health Symposium 2009 - this one on PHRs, with Peter Neupert from Microsoft, Roni Zeiger from Google Health and Phil Marshall from WebMD, moderated by John Moore of Chilmark Research (post linked to is...

Connected Health Symposium 2009 - One interesting panel ...

Posted on October 22, 2009
Here's the audio of a very interesting panel discussion at the Connected Health Symposium. The audio quality isn't the greatest, but the content is terrific. Listen/Download. Moderator: Robert Hanscom, JD, Vice President, Loss Prevention and Patient Safety, CRICO/Risk Management Foundation...

Connected Health Symposium 2009

Posted on October 20, 2009
Here's the tweetstream for the Connected Health Symposium 2009, happening October 21-22 in Boston. Check back throughout the conference to see what's going on, and jump in on twitter if you like; the hashtag is #cch09. Hope to see you...

Blog Carnivals this week

Posted on October 15, 2009
Please be sure to check out this week's editions of Blawg Review at Popehat, Grand Rounds at Survive the Journey and Health Wonk Review at InsureBlog. Of special note, this week's edition of Grand Rounds is a participatory medicine edition,...

H1N1 Response Center - Microsoft launches interactive tool

Posted on October 07, 2009
Microsoft has just launched its H1N1 Response Center online, and I had the chance to speak this morning with David Cerino, General Manager of Microsoft Health Solutions Group (the man from HealthVault) and Arthur Kellermann, MD, Professor of Emergency Medicine...

Comments on HITECH Act breach notification rule - from Capitol Hill

Posted on October 06, 2009
Regulations are written to implement legislation. If all legislation were perfectly clear and easily understood by all, there would be little need for regulations. In late August, HHS issued an interim final rule, effective late September, with a 60-day comment...

Massachusetts health care payment reform hearings set to begin this week

Posted on October 05, 2009
For the health wonk going through legislative hearing withdrawal now that the Senate Finance Committee has wrapped up hearings on its bill, there is hope: The Massachusetts legislature will turn to global payment legislation later this week. The Massachusetts health...

David Harlow featured in Fierce Healthcare piece recommending nine health care bloggers: read 'em all

Posted on October 01, 2009
I'm honored to be featured by FierceHealthcare this week as one of Nine Healthcare Bloggers Worth a Click. (There are certainly more than nine worth a click, but if you haven't been reading any of these, please take a look.)...

Blog carnivals this week

Posted on October 01, 2009
Legally Unbound hosted Blawg Review this week. I was fortunate enough to watch the sidewallks get rolled up on Beacon Hill with Blawg Review's anonymous editor, "Ed.," who was in Boston last weekend; he then hightailed it to Vegas to...

Whither meaningful use of the certified, interoperable EHR?

Posted on September 30, 2009
Paul Roemer asks: Have you ever been a part of a successful launch of a national IT system that: required a hundred thousand or so implementations of a parochial system? has been designed by 400 vendors? had 400 applications based...

Blawg Review Bucket List Tour Hits Beantown

Posted on September 27, 2009
"Ed." -- the anonymous editor of Blawg Review -- is on the road again. Criss-crossing the continent, Ed. has been popping up here and there. Follow his peregrinations via @blawgreview on twitter and at Blawg Review. Jay Shepherd (@jayshep), Chris...

HITECH Act security breach rules now effective; federales give a six-month pass. Now's the time to kick compliance efforts into high gear

Posted on September 25, 2009
Two key Son of HIPAA rules mandated by the HITECH Act are now effective. Both the FTC and HHS have finalized their security breach notification requirements and have assured the regulated community that they have six months to get their...

David Harlow quoted on retail clinics' future direction in Supermarket News

Posted on September 22, 2009
The future of retail clinics was the subject of a recent article in Supermarket News. In speaking with managing editor Christina Veiders, I noted that there is a real need to diversify the services offered by retail clinics -- in...

Large molecules, biosimilars, patent protection, and the cost of health care reform

Posted on July 09, 2009
As may be expected, interested parties are hard at work in our nation's capital lobbying key health care committee members and their staffs. Today I want to share a small window into this usually closed-off world, informed in part by...

2010 MPFS: CMS proposes 21.5% physician pay cut (yes, really)

Posted on July 02, 2009
Let's go down the rabbit hole with the federales. Remember the Sustainable Growth Rate, that congressional hedge against inflation of health care costs, specifically payments under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule? Well, the CY 2010 MPFS went on display yesterday,...

David Harlow and John Moore talk with Gregg Masters about HITECH Act, Certified EHRs and Meaningful Use on Blog Talk Radio

Posted on June 25, 2009
John Moore and I spoke with Gregg Masters on Blog Talk Radio today about the HITECH Act provisions in ARRA, certification of electronic health records systems, and the meaning of "meaningful use." The Meaningful Use "matrix" laying out the five-year....

A Declaration of Health Data Rights: Can't argue with it, but it's only a first step

Posted on June 24, 2009
I'm joining the party a day or two late, and am supporting: A Declaration of Health Data Rights In an era when technology allows personal health information to be more easily stored, updated, accessed and exchanged, the following rights should...

America's Agenda: Health Care For All - Conversation with Dick Gephardt on bipartisan business-labor-payor coalition prodding policymakers into action

Posted on June 23, 2009
I had the opportunity to speak with Dick Gephardt and Mark Blum yesterday, courtesy of America's Agenda: Health Care For All. Mark is the organization's Executive Director. Dick Gephardt is a board member and is also . . . Dick...

#hcsm means Healthcare Communications and Social Media: Last night's legal edition was fast and furious

Posted on June 15, 2009
Tom Stitt and Dana Lewis host a weekly "tweetchat" on healthcare communications and social media, known as healthsocmed or hcsm. Last night, Daniel Goldman, legal counsel at The Mayo Clinic, aka @danielg280, and I, aka @healthblawg, were lawyers-on-the-spot for a...

Carnivalia at the intersection of law and medicine

Posted on June 15, 2009
Blawg Review is up at Family Lore, across the pond. Grand Rounds is up at ACP Internist. Enjoy! David Harlow The Harlow Group LLC Health Care Law and Consulting

Peter Neupert and the latest on Microsoft HealthVault

Posted on June 12, 2009
I had the opportunity to speak with Microsoft SVP Peter Neupert today, on a conference call with a few other health care bloggers. He was wrapping up the Microsoft connected health conference (check out the tweetstream at #msftchc, which this...

Health Care Reform edition of Health Wonk Review is up

Posted on June 11, 2009
Joe Paduda does a great job pulling together the best of recent policy posts from the health blogosphere -- and tops it off with some insightful wonkishness of his own -- in today's edition of Health Wonk Review at Managed...

Blog Talk Radio: David Harlow featured in health care reform discussion on Gregg Masters' Net Health Reform

Posted on June 11, 2009
I had the pleasure of discussing the current crop of health care reform policy options with Gregg Masters and a number of callers today on Blog Talk Radio. The hour-long show is available for your listening pleasure here (streaming or...

Health Care Reform: Two out of Three Ain't Bad?

Posted on June 08, 2009
Folksy ads for a local furniture store chain 'round these parts proclaim "quality, comfort and price; that's nice." In the continuing saga of slouching towards health care reform, we need to deal with quality, access and cost. The problem is,...

Nursing home arbitration agreements under fire

Posted on June 05, 2009
An Illinois law bars the use of pre-dispute arbitration agreements signed at the time of admission. This law was upheld by the Illinois appellate court. The Supremes refused this past week to hear an appeal, letting the lower court ruling...

Grand Rounds Vol. 5, No. 37: The June Is Bustin' Out All Over Edition

Posted on June 02, 2009
June is bustin' out all over . . . . Lord knows my nose knows it, thanks to all the pollen in the air these days. Check out the classic movie rendition of this set piece (well worth the eight-minute...

Physician recruitment and contracting column published in ACHE Journal of Healthcare Management

Posted on June 01, 2009
The American College of Healthcare Executives' bimonthly journal has a column I wrote with my colleague, Ken Cohn, in the current issue: Field-Tested Strategies for Physician Recruitment and Contracting. Please let us know what you think. David Harlow The Harlow...

Health Wonk Review is up

Posted on May 28, 2009
Fellow Bostonian Tinker Ready hosts the current edition of Health Wonk Review at Boston Health News. Her nod to The Boss reminds me that I'll inevitably be heading to the Jersey shore this summer. David Harlow The Harlow Group LLC...

Retail Health Clinic Summit: Can we get there from here?

Posted on May 28, 2009
At one of the pre-summit workshops yesterday, Tom Charland (ex-MinuteClinic exec and now consultant) channeled Clay Christensen (Mr. Disruptive Innovation) for a while and laid it on the line: unless retail clinics find a way to beef up off-season volume...

Grand Rounds is up at See First; next week's edition right here at HealthBlawg

Posted on May 26, 2009
This week's edition of Grand Rounds is up at Evan Falchuk's See First. Welcome to the party, Evan. Next week's "June Is Busting Out All Over" edition will be right here at HealthBlawg. Please write your post's URL on the...

FY 2010 IPPS: Federales sucker punch the hospital industry

Posted on May 24, 2009
CMS published the FY 2010 IPPS (hospital inpatient prospective payment system) rule and rates on Friday May 22. I'll offer just some highlights of the 608-page monstrosity here, focusing on the short-term acute care portion; the long term acute care....

Yeah, the GOP has a health reform plan, too

Posted on May 22, 2009
Surprise! The latest and greatest Republican health reform plan has tax credits in it to replace tax deductions for employment-based health insurance, has a great-sounding name -- The Patients' Choice Act, and details "core concepts" that (except for the whole...

Baucus and health care reform primer

Posted on May 18, 2009
Here's your reading assignment: Today, the Senate Finance Committee released the third of three health care reform "description of policy options" papers. The papers are available on the committee's web site: Transforming the Health Care Delivery System: Proposals to Improve...

Dr. Ben Kruskal, Director of Infection Control at Harvard Medical Associates: Conversation with David Harlow about Swine Flu / H1N1

Posted on May 15, 2009
My conversation with Ben Kruskal, MD, PhD, HVMA Director of Infection Control, about swine flu / H1N1 continues. In today's installment we discussed incidence of new cases, their concentration among children, chances for emergence of a more virulent strain of...

Health Wonk Review is up

Posted on May 14, 2009
Have a helping or two of wonkish goodness at the Health Wonk Review smorgasbord, tastefully hosted this week by Julie Ferguson at Workers' Comp Insider. And, not to cause indigestion or anything, but ... did you hear the one about...

Health care industry stalwarts step up to the plate to help Obama save money (Yawn)

Posted on May 12, 2009
AHA, AMA, AHIP, SEIU, AdvaMed and PhARMA told Obama yesterday that over the next ten years they stand ready to "do our part to achieve your Administration's goal of decreasing by 1.5 percentage points the annual healthcare spending growth rate...

Blawg Review #211

Posted on May 11, 2009
See Cartoons by John Darkow - Courtesy of Politicalcartoons.com - Email this Cartoon President Barack Obama has completed his first 100 days in office, and while we passed that marker a week or so ago, now it's time for a...

The Virginia prescription record security breach: The big picture, and using this case as a learning experience

Posted on May 07, 2009
The Virginia Department of Health Professions is having a bad week. Apparently, a hacker downloaded personal health information of eight million individuals, including 35 million prescription records, and then replaced the information on the state website with a crude "ransom"...

David Harlow speaks about swine flu with Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates Director of Infection Control Dr. Ben Kruskal

Posted on May 04, 2009
I've been following a lot of updates on swine flu (or, as we're now supposed to call it, H1N1), found everywhere from The Daily Kos to the swine flu feeds "blokcast" set up by Tom Stitt. To get a handle...

Blawg Review is up at China Law Blog; Next week's First 100 Days edition will be here at HealthBlawg

Posted on May 04, 2009
China's May 4th movement is marked today by Blawg Review # 210, up at China Law Blog. Dan Harris tried to bring on world peace through his last outing as BR host, but it didn't work, so he's fired up...

Health Wonk Review is up

Posted on April 30, 2009
Bob Laszewski hosts the current edition of Health Wonk Review at Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review -- check it out if you're ready for a dive into all things health care: health care reform, IT, payment, congressional jockeying, social...

David Harlow quoted in Boston Business Journal column on lawyers and twitter

Posted on April 27, 2009
I spoke last week with Lisa van der Pool at the Boston Business Journal about twitter, now the hot trend in social media for lawyers. See her Legal Briefs column in the current issue. I know newspaper websites have policies...

Health 2.0 conference today and tomorrow in Boston: follow along here via CoverItLive

Posted on April 22, 2009
Health 2.0 begins today in Boston. Follow along here or elsewhere via twitter hashtag #health2con. a href="http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php?option=com_mobiletask=viewaltcastaltcast_code=c82d4d693d" Health 2.0 Boston/a David Harlow The Harlow Group LLC Health Care Law and Consulting

HealthCamp Boston / SocialPharmer Boston Twitterstream via Cover It Live

Posted on April 21, 2009
HealthCamp Boston and SocialPharmer Boston are taking place today. For those of you on site, please live tweet using hashtags #hcbos or #socpharm. For those of you following along at home, please follow those hashtags in your reader of choice,...

Blawg Review goes green

Posted on April 20, 2009
Today's edition of Blawg Review at Green Patent Blog celebrates Earth Day by examining the EPA's stance on greenhouse gases, the carbon footprint of spam, a lawsuit involving the appropriation of Woody Allen's image (dressed as a hasid in Annie...

HealthCamp Boston April 21 - Come join in the fun, or follow along at home

Posted on April 20, 2009
HealthCamp Boston and SocialPharmer Boston are happening tomorrow, April 21. If you can't make it in person and would like to follow the events of the day, check back here at HealthBlawg for CoverItLive windows: one will be set to...

MGH pediatric heart surgery: Volume, volume, volume, or, How low can you go?

Posted on April 17, 2009
Today's Boston Globe reports that Massachusetts General Hospital has voluntarily suspended operation of its pediatric cardiac surgery program, following two significant negative outcomes. MGH is conducting an internal investigation, much as UMass Memorial suspended its heart surgery program while investigating...

Draft guidance on rendering PHI unusable or indecipherable posted; comment period runs through May 21

Posted on April 17, 2009
The federales posted today, for a brief comment period, proposed guidance on how to render PHI unusable, unreadable or indecipherable to unauthorized individuals. (This keys into the FTC's proposed interim breach notification rule, released yesterday, as well...

Health Wonk Review is up

Posted on April 16, 2009
The collective self-delusion edition of Health Wonk Review is up at Glenn Laffel's Pizaazz. Read all about "progress" in health care and get ready to pitch in and change it all. For those of you in the Boston area, come...

All the blawgs that fit, we print

Posted on April 13, 2009
A tribute to journalism not being dead yet, the current edition of Blawg Review is up at Jordan Furlong's Law21. Amazingly, this edition marks the end of the first four years of Blawg Review. The HealthBlawger will be hosting in...

Blog Rally to Help the Boston Globe

Posted on April 06, 2009
We have all read recently about the threat of possible closure faced by the Boston Globe. A number of Boston-based bloggers who care about the continued existence of the Globe have banded together in conducting a blog rally. We are...

CVS and Google Health: adding lots of prescription data to PHRs

Posted on April 06, 2009
Users of Google Health can now import their CVS prescription data into their PHRs. Not the first pharmacy to hook up with Google Health, but perhaps the largest. The more info there is in a PHR, the better; incomplete records...

Library of Congress blawg collection is up and includes HealthBlawg

Posted on April 05, 2009
The Library of Congress "harvested" snapshots of about a hundred blawgs over the past couple of years and has now posted them to the Library of Congress Blawg Web Archive. The HealthBlawger is honored to have HealthBlawg included in the...

The Leapfrog Group's hospital safe practices scores don't correlate with inpatient mortality figures

Posted on March 31, 2009
A study published in the current issue of JAMA concludes that self-reported Leapfrog hospital safe practices scores just don't correlate with risk-adjusted inpatient hospital mortality rates. Better Leapfrog scores don't mean lower risk-adjusted mortality rates...

Health insurance mandates: Geez, good thing Obama isn't pushing them, 'cause he'd get tied up in litigation for forever

Posted on March 31, 2009
San Francisco's municipal health insurance mandate is in the news again this week. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the mandate in September (after sturm und drang and litigation over the San Francisco health insurance mandate going back almost...

David Harlow quoted on OIG Advisory Opinions in Part B Insider

Posted on March 30, 2009
I spoke last week with Torrey Kim, editor of Eli's Part B Insider, to offer some practical advice about seeking an OIG advisory opinion. See the story on page 3 of the current issue. The lead story in this issue...

HealthCamp Boston - April 21

Posted on March 27, 2009
Together with Mark Scrimshire, Shwen Gwee, and Joe Cerro, I am working on planning an upcoming un-conference: HealthCampBoston, to be held April 21, 8:30-4:30 in Cambridge, MA (the day before Health 2.0 - Boston). Contact me or any of the...

David Harlow reprises Social Media for Lawyers presentation at Boston University

Posted on March 23, 2009
I'm proud to be a part of the Massachusetts Bar Association Law Practice Management section which, under the leadership of co-chairs Alan Klevan and Rodney Dowell, has set a high bar for programs and publications. I've been involved in a...

Health Wonk Review: Spring has just about sprung

Posted on March 19, 2009
Welcome to Health Wonk Review, where everyone is above average. We enjoy above-average health care costs per capita, above-average uninsured rates, and above-average obsession with health care reform. That's what it's like today in America. Our president has said, Change...

Massachusetts Code of Conduct finalized for Pharma, device manufacturers, health care providers

Posted on March 13, 2009
The code of conduct adopted in Massachusetts is the most restrictive set of rules in the nation, crows the Department of Public Health, and mutters the industry. The final MA pharma and medical device conflict of interest rule is posted...

Steven Lash, CEO of Satori World Medical, speaks with David Harlow about medical tourism

Posted on March 11, 2009
Steven Lash, President and CEO of Satori World Medical, spoke with HealthBlawg last week about Satori's take on medical tourism, including its method of sharing cost savings with consumers who use Satori's services through employer-sponsored health plans...

David Harlow quoted in FierceHealthcare on physician-hospital collaboration

Posted on March 08, 2009
I spoke with Anne Zieger at FierceHealthcare last week about a variety of strategies for hospitals to engage with their affiliated physicians in order to hunker down and improve short-term finances and also prepare for future growth. The strategies can...

The broken health care system; the White House summit; prospects for the future

Posted on March 08, 2009
We all have war stories about negotiating the health care (non) system. Today's installment is courtesy of Jeff Krasner, health care reporter for the Boston Globe. Jeff, like the readers of this blog (I would hazard to guess), is better-equipped...

David Harlow quoted in Medicare Compliance Alert on pre-employment background checks

Posted on March 06, 2009
Take some advice from the HealthBlawger in screening new employees. Check out some specifics in the current edition of DecisionHealth's Medicare Compliance Alert, offered in point-counterpoint format with tips from my friend Bill Mandell.David HarlowThe Harlow Group LLCHealth Care Law...

Health Wonk Review: Watchmen edition, up at MedicaidFrontPage

Posted on March 05, 2009

Dan Greden, head of eHealth Product Management at Aetna, speaks with David Harlow about PHRs and patient engagement

Posted on March 04, 2009

Bad idea: proposed nullification of pre-dispute arbitration agreements affecting nursing facility residents

Posted on March 04, 2009

Grand Rounds is up at Health Business Blog

Posted on March 03, 2009

Slouching towards HITECH Act implementation

Posted on March 01, 2009

Grand Rounds is up at The Blog That Ate Manhattan . . .

Posted on February 24, 2009
. . . and the HealthBlawger's post is served up at TBTAM's Grand Rounds as part of the main course. The Blog That Ate Manhattan . . . sounds like a monster movie from my home town. But it's not:...

200: Blawg Review's Milestone

Posted on February 23, 2009
The HealthBlawger always enjoys a good jazz funeral, and appreciates the tip of the hat from the anonymous editor of Blawg Review in today's Blawg Review #200. This isn't the end of the line, Ed.; come join the second line...

Nurse union merger: Will mandated nurse-to-patient ratios make it to Massachusetts?

Posted on February 19, 2009
The Massachusetts Nurses Association, United American Nurses and California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee announced yesterday their merger, creating a 150,000-member-strong force to be reckoned with. While improved terms of employment for nurses should be welcome, it will be important...

Meta-analysis of stimulus package news coverage

Posted on February 16, 2009
In the past week, CNN's Elizabeth Cohen quoted a right-of-center source who badmouthed the evidence-based medicine piece of the health care piece of the stimulus legislation, claiming that it would lead to the federales' restricting treatment options...

HITECH Act part of stimulus package headed to President's desk: Steady, boys!

Posted on February 15, 2009
Some of us have now had a moment or two to read parts of the stimulus bill. One of the many stimuli included is the HITECH act, a $19 billion electronic health records funding provision. This sort of action by...

Transforming Healthcare Summit in Boston February 26

Posted on February 09, 2009
I hope to see local readers February 26 at the Transforming Healthcare Summit. On the program: Jim Roosevelt (Tufts Health Plan), Charlie Baker (Harvard Pilgrim Health Care), John Glaser (Partners Healthcare), Jonathan Bush (Athena Health) and more. Check out the...

Live tweeting Health 3.0 for Health Plans and Retail Clinic conferences

Posted on January 29, 2009
A tale of two conferences (in Las Vegas, no less) and twitter. I posted my presentation slides and a link to my live tweeting of a conference on retail health clinics yesterday. I also attended a conference this week focused...

David Harlow speaks at retail clinic conference

Posted on January 27, 2009
I am at the Retail Based Health Clinics Congress in Las Vegas. I tweeted yesterday's proceedings (tomorrow's should be available at the same link) -- that is, except for my own presentation, which is posted below for your viewing pleasure....

Health Wonk Review is up at Disease Management Care Blog

Posted on January 22, 2009
Jaan Sidorov hosts a post-inaugural Health Wonk Review. Trying to keep the party going, he's paired each wonk's post with a popular song. Somehow, he linked mine with a Madonna tune. No matter. Enjoy the posts. Enjoy the tunes.David HarlowThe...

Marketing Your Legal Practice Using Social Media

Posted on January 21, 2009
At an open meeting of the Law Practice Management Section of the Massachusetts Bar Association this afternoon, I gave a presentation on social media as a set of tools for marketing a legal practice, focusing on blogging, twitter, LinkedIn and...

Pan-Mass Challenge 2009: The training and fundraising begin

Posted on January 20, 2009
While it may be hard to believe given the amount of snow on the ground right now, I've just registered to ride this summer in the 30th Pan-Mass Challenge. It's the granddaddy of all athletic fundraisers, and last year (my...

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts and Tufts Medical Center reach agreement

Posted on January 19, 2009
Drawing a line in the sand seems to be working.Thanks in large part to the current environment (I'm referring to the chill brought on by the recent Boston Globe spotlight series), Tufts Medical Center has apparently improved its position and...

Is American Well the disruptive innovation to unseat retail based health clinics?

Posted on January 13, 2009
To paraphrase Mark Twain, are rumors of the death of the retail based health clinic highly exaggerated? There have been widely-reported dips in retail clinic growth, and growth has not kept pace with optimistic projections from an earlier, happier time...

The Massachusetts provider-payor ultimatum: deja vu all over again

Posted on January 06, 2009
Today's Boston Globe reports that Tufts Medical Center will not accept Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts insurance after the end of this month, saying the rates and contract offered would yield continuing losses. The Blues say it's a negotiating...

Twitter for lawyers

Posted on January 02, 2009
Today's post is a simulcast of a column I wrote on the uses of Twitter as a legal marketing tool (with live links to useful resources), published in the Massachusetts Bar Association Lawyers Journal December/January issue. Lawyers in the Boston...

No ambulance diversion rule takes effect in Massachusetts

Posted on January 01, 2009
Massachusetts' no diversion rule took effect today. This is a change long prepared for, but not likely felt immediately in area hospitals -- after all, New Year's Day is not a big day for elective surgeries and hospital discharges, and...

Partners Healthcare, competition, regulation, and the redeeming virtues of robust quality and cost data

Posted on December 22, 2008
The Boston Globe Spotlight Team had another installment of its Partners Healthcare saga in Sunday's paper. The general gist: Partners horning in on community hospitals in their home commmunities, Jack Connors (board chair at Partners) extolling the virtues of the...

Jacob Hacker makes the case for public plan choice in national health reform

Posted on December 17, 2008
Jacob Hacker, at UC Berkeley, who has previously laid out the Medicare-for-all (plus some employer-based insurance) concepts that have been at the core of several Democratic presidential candidates' health reform plans (including the President-elect's), released a paper today demonstrating the...

HIPAA faces the music: New OCR Guidance on the HIPAA Privacy Rule and the Electronic Exchange of Health Information

Posted on December 16, 2008
HIPAA guidance for the world that followed HIPAA (finally): HIEs, PHRs, etc., and how they may be brought under the big tent of HIPAA.OCR release from late yesterday:The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR)...

Massachusetts Health Care Quality and Cost Council: Quality and cost transparency or veils?

Posted on December 15, 2008
One of the much-ballyhooed (and predictably delayed and diluted) innovations of the 2006 Massachusetts health care reform and universal access law is the development of an online resource providing cost and quality data in a consumer-friendly format. MyHealthCareOptions debuted last...

Just the wonks, ma'am

Posted on December 11, 2008
Vince Kuraitis, channeling Joe Friday, brings us the latest edition of Health Wonk Review at his e-CareManagement Blog. Somehow, the HealthBlawger was corralled with "the usual suspects and hippies." But I know my rights . . . .David HarlowThe Harlow...

Grand Rounds is up at Sharp Brains

Posted on December 10, 2008
Call it crowdsourcing, transparency, or whatever else you like, but the Obama transition team has been hard at work opening the door to the policymaking process. Sharp Brains lends a hand this week, with a Q&A-format edition of Grand Rounds....

Stay Smart Stay Healthy: Humana's adventures in YouTube for the short of attention span

Posted on December 09, 2008
Humana purports to cut through all the jargon and traditional media with a new series of faux naif video clips on YouTube accessible through the managed care giant's Stay Smart Stay Healthy web site, which tells us:In the old world,...

Blawg Review of the Ancient Mariner

Posted on December 08, 2008
Since his last outing as host of Blawg Review, Colin Samuels, of Infamy or Praise, has had, shall we say, an albatross around his neck: three towering achievements based on a literary trilogy, and the need to persevere despite Dante's...

Caritas Christi $100m infusion from Ascension Health on hold

Posted on December 05, 2008
Caritas Christi, the Boston-area Catholic health system, has been through the wringer and was looking forward to some capital improvements to be financed by issuing bonds. $100m of the bonds were to be acquired by Ascension Health -- one of...

UnitedHealthcare: Stranger than fiction

Posted on December 05, 2008
Uninsurance insurance. Yep, that's the latest arrow in the quiver of health care insurance giant UnitedHealthcare. As it loses covered lives thanks to layoffs of folks insured through employer-sponsored plans, UHC is looking to pick up a few bucks by...

Constabulary notes from all over

Posted on December 05, 2008
The ever-vigilant law enforcement community meets the health care system:Item: Massachusetts state trooper pulls over woman in labor; asks "what's under your jacket?" while writing ticket for driving in breakdown lane en route to hospital.Item: New Hampshire state trooper pulls...

Interoperable EHRs: elusive grail or within our grasp?

Posted on December 03, 2008
The indefatigable John Halamka makes a convincing case that "interoperability is implementable today with harmonized standards, appropriate security, and a service oriented architecture using the internet," and that the only thing barring the way to a fully interoperable national EHR...

Convergence of Health 2.0 and medical home?

Posted on December 01, 2008
Two items that entered my consciousness this morning: group medical appointments as a manifestation of the medical home and order-your-own labs as a manifestation of Health 2.0. At 700-plus-doctor Atrius Health here in the Boston area, CEO Gene Lindsey still...

Engage With Grace

Posted on November 26, 2008
As patients, as family members, as friends, as health care providers, we have all faced end-of-life issues at one time or another, and we will face them again. And again. This weekend, the "Engage With Grace" message is being broadcast...

Health 2.0 roundtable webcast on Read Write Web; HealthBlawg on twitter

Posted on November 25, 2008
Listen in on some Health 2.0 luminaries chatting at Read Write Web. The live podcast was yesterday afternoon. Tip of the hat to Scott Shreve (twitter: @scottshreve) and Unity Stoakes (twitter: @unitystoakes). Scott, and Unity's colleague Steven Krein, were two...

Grand Rounds is up at Canadian Medicine

Posted on November 25, 2008
Check out this week's edition of Grand Rounds, hosted by Sam Solomon at Canadian Medicine.David HarlowThe Harlow Group LLCHealth Care Law and Consulting

Legal eagles on the Beagle

Posted on November 24, 2008
A survival-of-the-fittest-themed Blawg Review is up at LawyerCasting (insert Darwin/lawyer joke here) and host Joshua Fruchter, on the masthead, looks like he's winking at me (just as Sarah Palin did that night she was debating the man formerly known as...

Medicare managed care, high costs, and the blame game

Posted on November 23, 2008
Robert Pear's piece in Sunday's NY Times is about the bajillionth article or MedPAC report recounting the fact that Medicare Advantage and Medicare fee-for-service plans cost the federales more than traditional Medicare -- 12% more and 17% more, respectively --...

Patient Safety Organization regulations finally finalized

Posted on November 21, 2008
PSO regulations under the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005 have finally wended their way through interminable process and have made it to publication as final regulations in today's Federal Register, effective January 19, 2009.The introductory commentary on...

MGH prepares for its next Joint Commission survey

Posted on November 18, 2008
The fact that a hospital has a Joint Commission survey due within the next year or so is not ordinarily newsworthy. However, the Boston Globe spilled some ink today on the Massachusetts General Hospital's upcoming survey and the General's preparations...

Grand Rounds coming to a billboard near you

Posted on November 18, 2008
Dr. Deb has cued up the iPod playlist edition of Grand Rounds. No DRM issues to be concerned with . . . put on your headphones and enjoy. David HarlowThe Harlow Group LLCHealth Care Law and Consulting

CMS imaging efficiency measures released for public comment

Posted on November 17, 2008
The latest comment period for imaging appropriateness measures is underway. CMS announced last week that through The Lewin Group and its subcontractors, the National Imaging Associates, Inc., (NIA) and Dobson | DaVanzo & Associates, LLC, it is developing a preliminary...

Health Wonk Review is up

Posted on November 14, 2008
The post-election edition of Health Wonk Review is up at Colorado Health Insurance Insider.David HarlowThe Harlow Group LLCHealth Care Law and Consulting

Grand Rounds is up at Musings of a Distractible Mind

Posted on November 11, 2008
. . . wherein Dr. Rob offers some llama-inflected job advice for an anonymous correspondent (rhymes with "no llama").David HarlowThe Harlow Group LLCHealth Care Law and Consulting

DNV senior execs speak with David Harlow about new hospital accreditation authority

Posted on November 06, 2008
Yesterday I had the opportunity to chat with several members of the executive leadership team from DNV Healthcare, the "new kid on the block" for hospital accreditation. DNV was recently granted deeming authority by CMS -- the first time the...

Early returns point to Nurse Ratched's Place . . .

Posted on November 04, 2008
. . . for a presidential-history-filled edition of Grand Rounds. Read, learn and enjoy.David Harlow The Harlow Group LLCHealth Care Law and Consulting

New Massachusetts identity theft regs overlap with HIPAA, FTC Red Flag rule

Posted on November 03, 2008
Massachusetts identity theft regs take effect January 1, 2009. Any business that does no more than keep a copy of a personal check from a client or customer on file is subject to these new rules, which require implementation of...

Don Berwick, CEO of the Institute of Healthcare Improvement, speaks with David Harlow about the 5 Million Lives Campaign and more

Posted on November 02, 2008
Don Berwick, CEO of the Institute of Healthcare Improvement, spoke with HealthBlawg last week, as IHI comes close to wrapping up its 5 Million Lives Campaign.The audio file of my interview with Don Berwick (about 20 minutes long) is available...

Don Berwick, CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, speaks with David Harlow about the 5 Million Lives Campaign and more

Posted on November 02, 2008
Don Berwick, CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, spoke with HealthBlawg last week, as IHI comes close to wrapping up its 5 Million Lives Campaign.The audio file of my interview with Don Berwick (about 20 minutes long) is available...

2009 MPFS final regulations

Posted on October 31, 2008
The 2009 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule regulation was released in final form yesterday (on display), and will be published in the Federal Register on November 19. It is chock full of payment and policy changes, detailed in three CMS fact...

Health Wonk Review: Samhain edition

Posted on October 30, 2008
All Hallow's Eve (celebrated around these parts tomorrow night) incorporates traditions tied to the earlier Celtic holiday of Samhain, which marks the beginning of winter -- as the great (swing) state (or should I say Commonwealth) of Pennsylvania knows only...

Ascension Health buys $100m in Caritas Christi bonds: Phase I of an acquisition?

Posted on October 28, 2008
A year or so ago, Ascension Health wanted nothing to do with Caritas Christi. The national Catholic health care system considered buying the Boston-based Catholic health system after it put itself on the block, but backed away given the toxic...

Health 2.0 coast to coast

Posted on October 28, 2008
Last week saw the most recent Health 2.0 conference in San Francisco. While I did not make it out to the left coast for the event, I got a tiny taste in advance, at the second Health 2.0 Northeast confab...

A really wonky Health Wonk Review is up at Managed Care Matters; spooky edition right here in a fortnight

Posted on October 16, 2008
Check out the latest election season edition of Health Wonk Review at Joe Paduda's Managed Care Matters. The upcoming Halloween edition will be right here at HealthBlawg.David Harlow The Harlow Group LLCHealth Care Law and Consulting

David Harlow quoted in Radiology Today on HIPAA compliance reviews

Posted on October 10, 2008
I spoke last month with Radiology Today on the question of HIPAA compliance, in light of increased, or at least more public, enforcement. HIPAA security compliance audits are underway, and providers need to be aware of what to expect. The...

David Harlow quoted in Health Plan Insider piece on physician shortage in Massachusetts

Posted on October 09, 2008
The Massachusetts Medical Society released a report this week -- the Physician Workforce Study -- highlighting physician shortages including -- but also well beyond -- primary care. This issue was picked up by Les Masterson in the current issue of...

DNV: New kid on the (deeming) bløck

Posted on October 07, 2008
The organization formerly known as JCAHO finally has a little competition, after a 30-year-plus lock on the deeming business. While the Joint Commission has changed with the times (looking more at process, not just at outcomes), its hospital survey process...

Swapping arrangements, other issues, addressed in OIG supplemental compliance program guidance for nursing facilities

Posted on October 02, 2008
A recurring issue I see in my practice, regarding nursing facility contracts with suppliers and providers (e.g. clinical labs and ambulance services), has been addressed yet again by the OIG. This time, it's in the OIG Supplemental Compliance Program Guidance...

Health Wonk Review: The $700 Billion Edition

Posted on October 02, 2008
Jason Shafrin, The Health Care Economist, hosts this week's edition of Health Wonk Review, and wonders who in the health care arena could use a $700b shot in the arm.David Harlow The Harlow Group LLCHealth Care Law and Consulting

Doug Brown, UMass Memorial Health Care's General Counsel, speaks with David Harlow about transparency and systems improvement

Posted on October 01, 2008
I spoke with Douglas Brown, General Counsel of UMass Memorial Health Care in Worcester, Massachusetts earlier this week about his institution's experience with reinventing its cardiac surgery program. The Medical Center voluntarily suspended operations of the program in 2005 after...

DRA advanced imaging cuts examined by GAO; MIPPA accreditation rules welcomed by industry

Posted on September 29, 2008
Advanced diagnostic imaging reimbursement (i.e., payment for MRI, CT and nuc med) has taken a beating under the DRA (Deficit Reduction Act of 2005), and last week's GAO report looking at the impact of the legislation on this slice of...

EHR adoption incentives: $700 million and counting

Posted on September 26, 2008
Well, it isn't $700 billion but, then again, it doesn't involve getting down on bended knee before Nancy Pelosi.CCHIT is taking an ongoing inventory of public and private incentives nationwide intended to promote adoption of CCHIT-certified EHRs. Thus far, CCHIT...

Ambulance diversions to be banned in MA

Posted on September 23, 2008
As reported in the Boston Globe earlier this month, The state has ordered Massachusetts hospitals to stop turning away ambulances when their emergency rooms are overcrowded, a decades-old practice that can delay treatment and has upset patients denied care at...

Blawg Review says register to vote

Posted on September 22, 2008
Well, not exactly, but stick with me here. Aussie law prof Peter Black is hosting this week's Blawg Review at Freedom to Differ in honor of One Web Day. This year's theme for One Web Day is online participation in...

The doctor will see you . . . maybe before next spring

Posted on September 22, 2008
From today's Boston Globe: The dearth of PCPs as newly insured folks in MA have tried to find them has been frustrating to many. The new Massachusetts law alluded to in the Globe article takes some baby steps towards ameliorating...

David Harlow quoted in article on Medicare and telehealth

Posted on September 19, 2008
CMS is slowly but surely adding some codes for payment of limited telehealth services -- this year, it's certain consultations to follow up on patients the remote physician has seen in person. I spoke with the editor of Physician Compensation...

CVS Minute Clinics: First Massachusetts sites open this week

Posted on September 19, 2008
Minute Clinic opened for business in Massachusetts this week.Check out the HealthBlawg archive on Minute Clinics.David HarlowThe Harlow Group LLCHealth Care Law and Consulting

Where does HIPAA go? Wherever it wants.

Posted on September 18, 2008
The GAO just issued another assessment of HHS's and ONCHIT's progress in identifying and addressing key HIPAA and other health IT related privacy issues, and developing an overall approach to HIT privacy. The federales -- not known for nimbleness --....

Health Wonk Review, political convention style

Posted on September 18, 2008
We recognize the gentleman from the great state . . . er, Commonwealth . . . of Pennsylvania.Check out Jaan Sidorov's political convention edition of Health Wonk Review, up at his Disease Management Care Blog.David Harlow The Harlow Group LLC...

Grand Rounds is up at Nurse Ratched's Place

Posted on September 17, 2008
This week's edition of Grand Rounds, at Nurse Ratched's Place, is a paean to the old patent medicines -- with nifty ingredients like cocaine -- and the ads that sold them. Put that in your BPA water bottle and suck...

Obama & McCain proxies duke it out over health care at Harvard School of Public Health

Posted on September 15, 2008
David Cutler and Gail Wilensky spoke about health care reform on behalf of Obama and McCain, respectively, at a Harvard School of Public Health forum last week here in Boston. Martha Bebinger at WBUR's Commonhealth summarizes the discussion of the...

The Medical Home: Primary care panacea or the next doughnut hole?

Posted on September 12, 2008
The news on the medical home model this week is good: A Commonwealth Fund-funded Geisinger study published in Health Affairs demonstrates the extent to which development and implementation of a medical home model can actually prevent those preventable hospitalizations we...

Two-day seminar on Health Law Basics Plus in Boston next week

Posted on September 10, 2008
Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education puts on its annual two-day extravaganza introduction to health law next week (September 17 and 18). I'll be speaking on post-acute care, and there is a bang-up panel of speakers filling out the entire two days...

Bloomsday Blawg Review

Posted on June 16, 2008
Molly says yes, but Ireland said no (to the EU) last week. Read all about it and much, much more at Eoin O'Dell's cearta.ie. -- David Harlow

(A) Walk and chew gum? (B) Whistle and eat crackers? (C) Promote a Medicare payment fix and diss the folks across the aisle?

Posted on June 13, 2008
Which of these three things do you think Sens. Grassley and Baucus did today? If you chose (C) Promote a Medicare payment fix and diss the folks across the aisle, you would be correct. The six-month reprieve for the formula-driven...

Score one more for Google Health at the Hub of the Universe

Posted on June 13, 2008
Another Hub health care worthy has signed up with Google Health -- today's Boston Globe reports that Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts joins Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center -- see John Halamka's GeekDoctor post -- in facilitating the download...

Washington week wrap-up for health wonks

Posted on June 12, 2008
Health Affairs hosts the current edition of Health Wonk Review. A wonderful Washingtonian window on the weltschmertz we wear while winnowing through the past weeks' wealth of health wonkery. -- David Harlow

Health IT: Is it worthwhile, and will the government screw up a good thing?

Posted on June 12, 2008
Item: CBO says EHRs don't really save money after all. Item: DoD is hard at work undermining VistA (developed over years at taxpayer expense and now in the public domain) and replacing it with a zillion-dollar military-industrial complex "solution." Item:...

MS 1.20: Has the Joint Commission comes to its senses on medical staff bylaws?

Posted on June 05, 2008
Let's not break out the bubbly quite yet, but this week the Joint Commission (the organization formerly known as JCAHO) has slowed down the process of implementing a revised MS 1.20. This standard would otherwise have become effective July 1,...

Six degrees of Grand Rounds

Posted on June 03, 2008
The Happy Hospitalist celebrates the interconnectedness of it all in this week's edition of Grand Rounds. -- David Harlow

Sustainable Growth Rate: an unsustainable saga

Posted on June 03, 2008
The SGR -- a zero-sum game for physician reimbursement under Medicare which guarantees year-over-year lower unit prices -- has got to go. Time has run out on the last stopgap measure, and el presidente promises to veto the current fix...

What!? You haven't devised your own health care reform plan yet!?

Posted on June 01, 2008
Hey, everyone's doing it. In the past week, two new entrants in the health care reform plan derby are AHIP and Ezekiel Emanuel. AHIP's potpourri includes a bunch of stuff that's happening anyway (e.g., better management of chronic conditions), a...

Pan-Mass Challenge 2008: Please help me support the Dana Farber Cancer Institute's Jimmy Fund

Posted on May 30, 2008
It's that time of year again: Spring in New England, when a young man's fancy (OK, a middle-aged man's fancy) turns to long-distance bicycling (or, at least, to long-distance bicycling without balaclavas and booties). It's time to get more serious...

CMS contractors seek to bring evidence-based medicine to diagnostic imaging

Posted on May 28, 2008
In last week's mail bag: L&M Policy Research, LLC, and its partners, the National Imaging Associates and the Lewin Group, have been contracted by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to develop imaging efficiency measures. In preparation for additional...