By Rosemary Gibson. When we listen to experts, our brains turn off.  This is the finding from a study conducted by Greg Berns, a neuroscientist at Emory University.  Here’s what he did.  He asked 24 college students to solve a personal financial problem.  He watched their brain activity using a functional MRI and observed a lot of thinking going on.     

Next, the students listened to a financial expert who told them what they should do.  A second brain scan showed that the students’ brain activity had virtually ceased.  The lesson?  When we listen to experts, our brains shut down.      

When I heard about this study, I couldn’t resist applying the findings to how people make decisions about their health care.  Advertisements on television urge viewers, “Ask your doctor.”  In other words, don’t think for yourself.  Suspend your own thought process and do what someone advises you to do, even if it means you will be exposed to significant risks that are often glossed over.  

For optimal health, we can’t delegate the management of our health, or our health care, to someone else.  We need to own it.  This requires a shift from the notion of consent to informed choice. 

Here are 10 questions to help re-engage our brains in health care decisions.  Call it a Checklist Manifesto for Informed Choice:

1.           What is the procedure or test?
2.           What is the purpose of it? 
3.           What happens if I don’t have it or do “watchful waiting?”
4.           What are treatment options for the condition I have??  
5.           What are the risks and benefits of these options?
6.           What do the risks and benefits mean for me and my life?
7.           Do the risks exceed the benefits? 
8.           If surgery is being considered, how many of the surgeries has the doctor performed?
9.           Who will perform the surgery?  Will residents, or doctors-in-training, be involved?
10.           How many of these procedures have been done at the hospital where it will be performed?

There’s an added bonus to being fully informed.  Research shows that when people have their brains turned on and are engaged in making decisions about their health and health care, they use less intensive and costly approaches to treating their condition.  That can only be good for one’s health – and pocketbook.

By Robin Strongin. Please join me in welcoming a stellar group of women to our roster:

	Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, a health economist and management consultant who has worked with health care stakeholders in the U.S. and Europe for over two decades.
	Marcia Nusgart, a pharmacist with a deep expertise in reimbursement and coding.
	Michelle King Robson, a nationally-recognized women’s health advocate and founder, chairperson and CEO of EmpowHER, a health media company for women.
	Regina Holliday, a DC-based patient rights arts advocate, whose work became part of the recent health reform debate.
	Sally White, the executive director of Iona Senior Services in Washington DC
	Trisha Torrey, known as Every Patient’s Advocate, is a newspaper columnist, radio talk show host, About.com’s expert in patient empowerment, and a national speaker who teaches patients how to navigate the unwieldy and dysfunctional health care system.

Please read through their bios and prepare to be amazed.

By Glenna Crooks. On Sunday July 4, HealthDay News reported on a June 30 Environmental Health Perspectives item that the health benefits of cycling in an urban environment outweigh the risks. Huh? I asked myself.

I live in Center City Philadelphia and far too many cyclists – I’ll go out on a limb and say a majority – are a menace. They ride on pedestrian walkways, sometimes IPod hearing-impaired, weaving through pedestrians. They ride on the wrong side of the roads, the wrong way down one-way streets and weave between traffic lanes. They do not stop for red lights. In fact, some bikes don’t have brakes.

I’ve been nearly hit twice by cyclists running red lights, coming from between trucks and therefore not visible to a pedestrian until they appear suddenly, inches away. And, at 6:10 AM several months ago, while taking a work-out jog on a paved path along the Schuylkill River with my trainer Morris (March Man of the Month), was rammed from behind by a cyclist. Though it was clearly past dawn, he did not see me, perhaps because his head was down to lower the drag created by an upright body, going fast on a path that is frequented by walkers of all ages.

The accident has cost me nearly $500 a month in out-of-pocket expenses since, to address the back pain it caused. I’m lucky, though. Around that same time two pedestrians were killed in my neighborhood by cyclists.

I had visions – no, nightmares – of public policymakers seeing this report and encouraging more cycling in the US. Who on earth would believe that cycling was safe, I wondered? How could I change their minds? I had to read beyond the first sentence to understand. (more…)

By Joy Burwell

You’re Invited to

“Solutions To Scale: Proven Health Care Models for Primetime”

 Wednesday, June 30, 2010

 9:00 – 11:30 am

Breakfast will be served at 8:30 am

Kaiser Family Foundation

Barbara Jordan Conference Center

1330 G Street, NW

Washington, DC 20004

 Raise the Voice, a program of the American Academy of Nursing supported by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, showcases the work of “Edge Runners” – nurse researchers and experts who have developed proven care models and interventions that demonstrate significantly improved clinical outcomes and cost savings.  The Edge Runners will share their experiences to highlight what does and does not work for consideration by federal and state agencies during health care implementation.

Welcome:

• Diana J. Mason, PhD, RN, FAAN, Editor-in-Chief Emeritus, American Journal of Nursing
• The Honorable Robert Borski

Opening Remarks:

• Ken Thorpe, PhD, Department of Health Policy and Management, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University

Panel One:

• Tina Johnson, CNM, MS, Practicing Nurse Midwife
• Tine Hansen-Turton, MGA, JD, CEO, National Nursing Centers Consortium, Executive Director, Convenient Care Association, Raise the Voice Edge Runner
• Eileen M. Sullivan-Marx, PhD, CRNP, FAAN, Advisor, Living Independently For Elders (LIFE), Raise the Voice Edge Runner
• Deirdre Baggot, BSN, MBA, Administrator for Cardiac and Vascular Services, Exempla Saint Joseph Hospital, CMS ACE Demonstration Site for Bundling Payments
• Sandra Haldane, BSN, MS, RN, Chief Nurse, Indian Health Service

Panel Two:

• Randall Krakauer, MD, FACP, FACR, Head of Medicare Medical Management, Aetna
• Susan Reinhard, PhD, RN, FAAN, Senior Vice President, AARP Public Policy Institute, Chief Strategist, Center to Champion Nursing In America
• Matt Salo, Director Health and Human Services Committee, National Governors Association

Moderator:

• Scott Hensley, National Public Radio

RSVP: Joy Burwell 202-263-2971 or jburwell@amplifypublicaffairs.net

Sponsored by the American Academy of Nursing’s Raise the Voice Campaign. Raise the Voice is supported by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

By Robin Strongin. I came across this moving post and felt compelled to share it. Wishing everyone a meaningful Father’s Day—one filled with cherished memories, whether you are remembering someone special or making new memories.

Originally posted by Barry Kluger, June 14, 2010 on EmpowHER.com

“And a Happy Father’s Day to all of our dads flying with us today on Southwest Airlines.” I wondered out loud to my wife on that Father’s Day 2001, on a trip to Las Vegas, if I was still a father, and she assured me I was, that you never stop. But that past April, my daughter Erica’s life was cut too short in a car accident in Arizona. That Father’s Day was my first since her death, and my first thought was to “get out of Dodge,” avoiding the IHOPs and brunches where throngs of dads go. But this day, I thought: “There’s no one to call me on Sunday.”

I imagined I would always be a father, and that I would use every opportunity to parent, maybe not my child but someone else’s, through being the kind of person I am. Dads like us love, nurture and never stop being what we are. We are fathers.

That day in April 2001, I joined a club. It’s very select. They don’t have dues. They don’t have a clubhouse. They don’t have a secret handshake. They don’t have a membership card. But the cost to join is high, and while everyone can afford it, no one wants to be inducted. (more…)

By Robin Strongin. I am pleased to annouce our newest Disruptive Women bloggers. This amazing group of women have all in an innovative way worked to improve the lives of others. Like all of our Disruptive Women, they are committed to improving the health and well being of everyone – men, women, and children.

Take a moment to look over their bios; you will be inspired.

	Audrey Sheppard spent four years (1996-1999) directing the FDA Office of Women’s Health as a Clinton Administration Presidential appointee. Earlier in her career, Ms. Sheppard was a legislative and press assistant on Capitol Hill and a political and communications consultant.. In the 2008 general election, Sheppard and colleague Susan Wood Ph.D. spearheaded the national affinity group Women’s Health Leaders for Obama-Biden.
	Dana Alexander is the Chief Nursing Officer at GE where her focus is to ensure that GE’s solutions and technologies effectively support nursing priorities and future patient care delivery. She is an active member of the American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE), Executive Committee Member for TIGER, HIMSS Nursing Committee, Corporate Advisory Board member for Sigma Theta Tau in addition to other healthcare affiliations.
	Indu Subaiya is co-founder of Health 2.0: User Generated Healthcare, a first-of-its-kind forum showcasing leading edge digital media, web and mobile technologies in healthcare.
	Karyne Jones is President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Caucus and Center on Black Aged, Inc. (NCBA) and NCBA Housing Management and Development Corporation. She served for eight years in the Texas Legislature representing District 120 in San Antonio.
	Lisa Martinez is a consultant and educator in women’s health and was the Founder of The Women’s Sexual Health Foundation (TWSHF). She currently serves as a scientific and clinical advisor to The Alexander Foundation, and as a reviewer for the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses journal Nursing For Women’s Health.

How are you celebrating Earth Day?

By Phyllis Kritek. When I hear a story repeated in different parts of the country by persons who differ, one from another, in striking ways, I pay attention: This is no longer a story, it is a pattern. The stories preoccupying me these days are ones where parents of recent college graduates tell me that their son or daughter successfully completed college but was unable to find a job, and thus became a waitperson, the politically correct term for one who serves food in a restaurant. Usually waitpersons do not have health care coverage through their employer.  We can find these same young people in the health care insurance reform legislation: they can now stay covered by their parents’ insurance policies until the age of 26. I think this is supposed to be good news.

Watching the unfolding drama of the health care insurance reform legislative process and the citizen responses, I kept looking for the young people. They were virtually invisible, perhaps busy serving food, and their unique plight went unexplored by virtually everyone. I wondered if their concerns were embedded in the endless polls, or even if they were being polled. The mandate for individual coverage, it is anticipated, will uniquely burden these young people. The anticipated challenge of a rapidly expanding aging population with extensive health care needs is their responsibility to assume, we assume.

As a group that has been fairly well researched, the baby boomers have some descriptors they do not like, no matter what the evidence. Along with a whole raft of wonderful qualities, it is often noted that they are self-centered and self-absorbed. They tend to reject this descriptor out of hand. Their elders, in the early studies on generational characteristics, were interestingly not called the “greatest generation” but the “entitlement generation”.  I watched Tom Brokaw’s recent report on the boomers, waiting for him to ask a young person what he or she thought about the boomers. It did not happen. I watched the obsessive air time given to angry, often vitriolic people reacting to the impending health care legislation: none of them looked very young to me.

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By Robin Strongin. Allow me to introduce everyone to our newest Disruptive Women bloggers. As you can see, I once again have the privilege of announcing an amazing group of women—all of whom, in their own unique way—work to improve the lives of others. Some through art and music, some through science, some through direct patient care, and others through policy and communications. The one thing these dynamos have in common, as do all our Disruptive Women, is an unrelenting passion to improve the health and well being of everyone – men, women, and children. How they do it is where things get interesting.

Take a moment and look over their bios. You won’t be disappointed.

	Archelle Georgiou, MD conducts a twice weekly Fox TV healthcare segment in the Twin Cities where she offers viewers a practical and balanced analysis of the latest health care news headlines and translates the information into practical tips they can use to take better care of themselves. She is also a Fellow with the University of Minnesota Center for Spirituality & Healing and works collaboratively with the Center to empower consumers to navigate the health care system. All this and more after fourteen years with UnitedHealth Group.
	Candace Littell, currently serves as a Senior Advisor and Counselor to corporate clients, associations and related organizations. She is an executive with nearly 30 years of diverse experience in healthcare financing, reimbursement, policy, strategy and advocacy.
	Concetta Tomaino, PhD, not only plays a mean trumpet, but is also the Executive Director and Co-Founder of the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function and Senior Vice President for Music Therapy at Beth Abraham Family of Health Services in New York.
	Cynthia Flynn, CNM, PhD, the newly appointed General Director of the District of Columbia’s only freestanding birth center, the Family Health and Birth Center, is also the Expert Midwife on www.pregnancy.org, where she hosts a monthly live chat.
	Judy Greenberg, Director of the Kreeger Museum in Washington DC, is responsible for originating innovative programs involving art, architecture, and music such as Hear Art See Music, a program for students with learning disabilities and Conversations at The Kreeger Museum, a program for individuals with Alzheimer’s and their caregivers.
	Sheryl Flynn PT, PhD, is the Founder and CEO of Blue Marble Game Co, a serious games company that focuses design and development of video games to enhance rehabilitation for people with disabilities worldwide.

Learn more about our new bloggers, as well as all the Disruptive Women.

My name is Susan Tieh.  I am a first-year student at the Yale School of Management, and I aspire to a career in healthcare.  Before coming to business school, I worked at a global health non-profit.  I’ve since decided to direct my passion for increasing access to healthcare to the domestic realm. 

With the recent, historic passage of healthcare reform legislation, the U.S. healthcare system is experiencing its most significant transformation in the last 40 years.  Understanding reform and how it will affect the various players in the healthcare industry are critical to anyone affected by healthcare in the United States – in other words, it is critical for all Americans.

On April 9 in New Haven, Connecticut, the sixth annual Yale Healthcare Conference will provide a timely forum for understanding and discussing reform.  The conference’s theme is “Re-forming Healthcare: Excelling in a Transforming System.”  We have a number of exciting speakers, including Dr. Robert Galvin, Executive Director of Health Services and Chief Medical Officer at General Electric, and Dr. Gail Wilensky, Economist and Senior Fellow at Project HOPE.

As one of the many Yale students working on the conference, I am excited and proud to share information about it with you.  The conference will offer an amazing opportunity to think and learn about the most important healthcare issues with key leaders from multiple sectors.  I know that it will be great experience.  I hope you can join us.

The conference offers:

• Diverse Industry Representation - The conference attracts people from all parts of healthcare, including insurance, providers, pharmaceutical and biotechnology, and government.  Cross-collaboration is especially important in healthcare and this conference provides the opportunity to learn from and network with people from a diverse set of backgrounds.  
• Discussion-Based Breakout Sessions - The conference hosts 16 breakout sessions that allow for expert-led discussions.  These sessions allow you to ask the questions on your mind to experts, including business executives, academics, and providers.
• Industry Thought Leaders – Hear industry thought leaders’ take on the changes happening in our healthcare system.  This is an opportunity for you to learn more from leading pundits on the new legislation. 

 For more information about the conference, and to register, please visit http://www.yalehealthcare.com/.

By Robin Strongin.  What a night…several decades in the  making as many Representatives kept reminding us. 

Why was last night different than all other nights? 

Perhaps because for the first time there was a WOMAN Speaker of the House.  Perhaps because we have a staggering number of Americans who have no or little access to health insurance.  Perhaps it’s because the entire system(s) of care are so badly broken. 

In the final analysis, a constellation of reasons, personalities, political high jinx, and circumstances will be identified.  I can already imagine the big fat book deals professors, news commentators, journalists and  talking heads are dreaming about signing.

I hope Eric Redman is one of them. 

Don’t know Eric?  If you are a political junkie with a craving for all things health related you must read his 1973 classic The Dance of Legislation. 

Here’s how The University of Washington Press describes this little gem:

“The Dance of Legislation has long been considered a classic description of the legislative process. In it, Eric Redman draws on his two years as a member of Senator Warren Magnuson’s staff to trace the drafting and passing of a piece of legislation – S.4106, the National Health Service Bill – with all the maneuvers, plots, counterplots, frustrations, triumphs, and sheer work and dedication involved. He provides a vivid picture of the bureaucratic infighting, political prerogatives, and Congressional courtesies necessary to make something happen on Capitol Hill. In a Postscript to the 2000 edition, Redman reflects on how that process has, and has not, changed in the thirty years since the book was first published.”

I wonder what Eric would have to say now, in 2010, on the eve of passage of Health Reform? 

Why do you think we got this far?

It is my pleasure to once again roll out the welcome mat to our newest Disruptive Women bloggers.

And just in time…With President Obama and the Congressional leaders set to roll out their version of reality TV on February 25th. (Look out Jersey Shore, we’ve got Potomac Fever.) Stay tuned for the Health Care Summit Disruptive Women Debrief on the 26th.

In the meantime, please read more about these incredible women and join me in extending a warm welcome.

	Anuradha Acharya, named as one of “25 Tech Titans under 35″ by Red Herring magazine, is the Founder & CEO of Ocimum Biosolutions, a global genomics outsourcing partner for discovery, development and diagnostics.
	Becca Camp graduated with an anthropology degree from the University of Texas at Austin in December ’08. She is now finishing her pre-med coursework at Texas Christian University, with plans to apply to medical school this year.
	Lorraine Lee Friedman, JD, (aka Rainey) started her life-long commitment of advocacy for children with The National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, is the Founder and Executive Director of the DreamDog Foundation as well as an award-winning author and songwriter.
	Lynn Shapiro Snyder, Esq., a senior member of the law firm, Epstein Becker & Green, P.C., is the Founder and President of the Women Business Leaders of the U.S. Health Care Industry Foundation (“WBL Foundation”), an organization meeting the needs of more than 1,800 senior executive women and women board members worldwide who do business with the U.S. health care industry.
	Dr. Pamela Cipriano, Editor-in-Chief of American Nurse Today, the official journal of the American Nurses Association, is a distinguished nursing and hospital administrator having served as Chief Nursing Officer and Chief Clinical Officer of the University of Virginia Health System the past nine years, achieving Magnet Recognition in 2006.

Learn more about our new bloggers, as well as all the Disruptive Women.

Immediately after the snow stopped falling in Washington DC this week, another news story took DC by storm–the resignation of Billy Tauzin, effective June 30th.

Mr. Tauzin’s departure comes at a critical time for those involved with health reform efforts, not to mention PHRMA’s own thick portfolio of issues that include patents and trade, the economy, taxes (think offshore), and shrivelling pipelines, just to name a few.

The job pays well, but the applicant will surely inherit a daunting to-do list.

Job Qualifications

It’s a given that she would have impeccable bipartisan connections at the highest levels of government (both here and abroad); a robust rolodex full of private sector titans and Wall Street mavericks; a keen understanding of marketplace complexities (both here and abroad); superior people skills (it can be a b*tch managing those board room egos); not to mention a thorough grasp of and respect for the unique political and policy complexities that define health, health care, and innovation.

But that won’t  be enough.  I would love to see the next CEO take some bold action and harness the power of e-patients:  increasingly, patients (e-patients and their e-caregivers) are hungry to engage in participatory, user-generated health care, often referred to as Health 2.0.  Kaiser’s Dr. Ted Eytan explains it this way, “enabled by information, software and community that we collect or create, we the patients can be effective partners in our own health care and we the people can participate in reshaping the health system itself.”[1]

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On January 23, the Boston Globe reported that Lawrence DuBuske, M.D., Harvard Medical School Instructor, Asthma and Allergy Specialist and lecturer/consultant to pharmaceutical companies would resign his posts at Harvard and Brigham at the end of the month because remaining there would require he cease his work with industry. Failing to do so would be a violation of the Harvard/Partner’s conflict of interest policy.

If the article is accurate and he followed through on those plans, he’s gone now.

I know how carefully industry vets their speakers and consultants. That should come as no surprise. Any event planner, organization or company engaging a speaker or consultant wants just that – an expert.

I have no way of knowing how carefully Harvard Medical School vets its instructors or Brigham vets its clinicians, but I imagine both to be tailored to assure that only the best and only the experts are hired. Surely, were I a student at Harvard or a patient at Brigham, I’d want just that – an expert.

I’ve not met Dr. DuBuske, but ‘on paper’ he seems to be just that—an expert. He’s ‘passed muster’ more than once to gain – and retain – positions at elite institutions. The fact that he has associated with major, respected institutions is a credit to his qualifications.

In addition, he has achieved Fellow status in five major clinical societies: the American College of Physicians, the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, the American College of Rheumatology and the American College of Chest Physicians. I’ll forego mentioning those organizations in which he is only a member, his European affiliations and all the awards except one – 2004 Distinguished Fellow of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.

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