Health Law

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...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

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

Bloggers, promote your law blog by nominating your blog for inclusion in USLaw.com's Law Blog Directory and RSS Reader. Benefits described.