Thursday, February 12th, 2009 at 9pm Eastern Time (0200 GMT)
Join us tonight for The Doctor Anonymous Show where we will be talking with Angelo Mandato from Podcamp Ohio 2 which will be June 20th, 2009 in Columbus. In addition to updating us on the current plans of Podcamp Ohio, Angelo will also let us know how it is to be a new dad.
If you do listen live, you can even take part in the chat room. It is truly "The show within the show." You can even call in and say hello. A great opportunity to interact with medbloggers you've only read about. And, you will be able to see me on the live webcam during the show! See you tonight!
For first time Blog Talk Radio listeners: *Although it is not required to listen to the show, I encourage you to register on the BlogTalkRadio site prior to the show. I think it will make the process easier.
*To get to my show site, click here. As show time gets closer, keep hitting "refresh" on your browser until you see the "Play/Chat" button. Then, of course, press the "Play/Chat" button.
*You can also participate in the live chat room before, during, and after the show. Look for the green "Chat Now" button. If you are registered with the BTR site, your registered name and picture will appear in the chat room.
*You can also call into the show. The number is on my show site. If you have a headset microphone, you can "call" into the show by looking for the "Click To Talk" button at the top of the chat box to try out the BTR VoIP option. Hope these tips are helpful!
Do the terms "National Coordinator of Health Information Technology" or "Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research" sound familiar to any of you? Well, especially if you're a physician working in the US Health Care system, you better get to know these terms very quickly, because they will soon be a part of our lives. What am I talking about?
Unless you've been following this story very closely, you may have missed the health care provisions that are in the stimulus bill. Everyone knew it was coming, but the federal government has - on paper - established another way of regulating health care in this country.
One of the hot articles that has been passed around on twitter over the past 2 days or so is a commentary by Betsy McCaughey on Bloomberg.com called "Ruin Your Health WIth the Obama Stimulus Plan." This article is so specific that it had page reference numbers to the House Bill itself (which I heard is over 1000 pages). The article makes reference to a new bureaucracy of the federal government.
One new bureaucracy, the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology, will monitor treatments to make sure your doctor is doing what the federal government deems appropriate and cost effective. The goal is to reduce costs and “guide” your doctor’s decisions (442, 446).
Upset yet? Well, read that again and let me know how you interpret that. I know! Now, you're really upset - or should be. The article goes on to say that this will be determined by something called the "Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research." Huh?
The other article which has good information on this is from the Wall Street Journal. The writer is Alicia Mundy and the article is entitied, "Drug Makers Fight Stimulus Provision." According to the article, "$1.1 Billion in research funding would be doled out to the National Institutes of Health and other government bodies." Did you read that closely? It said government entities.
The grassroots opposition to this is a coalition called the "Partnership to Improve Patient Care" which includes "lobbying arms of drug, device, and biotechnology industries as well as patient-advocacy groups and medical-professional societies." (I can just imagine the press saying things like patients and docs have gotten in bed with big pharma - yeesh).
Anyway, the reason I bring this up now is because this bill is in it's most critical phase. This bill is in the House/Senate conference committee where it's final form will take place. If you're not already, try to keep up with this story as much as you can.
The WSJ article states that the Senate language removed the cost provisions but the House version really emphasizes that cost is a prime component as to whether a medical treatment is deemed appropriate by the federal goverment. So, well just see what happens in the conference committee.
I'm really hoping that - especially physician bloggers and podcasters - begin really talking about this story and spread the word to our colleagues. Even though this is pretty much a "done deal," at least we can educate our peers on what's happening in Washington right now. Also check out my comments above in my video post. Good luck to us all!
Update: Let the games begin! The counter media campaign has begun. Check out the CNN report below and Media Matters is starting to weigh in on the situation. These reports were just completed today.
The Doctor Anonymous Show is happy to welcome back Angelo Mandato from Podcamp Ohio 2. In case you haven't heard, Angelo and his wife Heather welcomed Melanie Gail Mandato on January 10, 2009. There is a full report on his blog. And, I know the proud papa will be more than happy to update us on how things are going.
In addition to that, we'll be talking about Podcamp Ohio 2 which will be taking place on June 20, 2009 in Columbus, Ohio. At the end of January there was a meetup in Columbus and they talked about topics like finding sponsors, sessions & attendee regustration, block hotel rooms, event swag, and viral marketing. In addition, there will be a New Media Cincinnati meetup this Saturday and they already have 60 people registered.
So join Angelo and me on Thursday, February 12th, 2009 at 9pm Eastern Time on BlogTalkRadio. And, hey, if you cannot catch us live, that's ok. All my shows are archived and available for download. So, can you listen anytime! But, if you do listen live, you will be able to participate in our live, interactive chat room. You'll also have the opportunity to call in to join the conversation, and even see my shining face on my webcam. See you for the show!
Guess what came in the mail today? And, you cannot even imagine the flack that I'm taking about this from my office staff. I mean, most of it I bring on myself, but you know.... My staff is saying, "You know it's all airbrushed and they use tape to pat things down or raise things up." My answer, "I don't care." Yeesh. And, as a reminder, all hate mail goes to rockdog@annieburltalk.com hehe
Update: Welcome to those of you who are clicking over from Grand Rounds hosted by The Blog That Ate Manhattan. Yup, this is what can happen to you. Thanks to TBTAM for even the mention (Do you think I submitted this post to Grand Rounds - Sheesh! lol) Feel free to leave a comment below. Thanks!
I probably should not be doing this, but I'm posting this video above which I recorded after midnight when I got home from Cleveland. As I do with all my videos, this is one take and no editing. I'll probably add more text later today or this weekend to this post. But, I did want to get this out as soon as I could so I could share my experience during the Med City News Launch party. Enjoy!
Thanks so much to MedCity News for the invitation to broadcast live from the Med City News Launch party. During last night's Doctor Anonymous Show, I interviewed co-founder Chris Seper and I also interviewed Lance Hill who is CEO of a company called Within3.
In the video above, I describe the technical difficulties which occurred during Show 73 (You can also download the show by clicking here). And, I admit, these made me very frustrated, because, as everyone knows, I like to try to run a flawless show. Since I didn't, I have to admit that I'm disappointed in myself a little bit for not putting out the quality of product/podcast that I usually do.
Welcome to those of you who are listening to the show for the first time - especially if you met me during the launch party tonight. With the technical difficulties, my fear is that people will not return to the show or listen to old shows. If this is the first show of mine you're listening to, all I ask is that you listen to one other show and I think you'll hear a difference.
Finally, to let everyone know, I'm on call this weekend. So, there is no "Night Shift with Dr A" show on Saturday night. The next Dr. A Show will be Thursday, February 12th, 2009 at 9pm Eastern Time (our usual time). Our scheduled guest is Angelo Mandato from Podcamp Ohio. Have a great weekend, everybody!
The Doctor Anonymous Show will be broadcasting live at the launch party for MedCity News which is a news service focusing on business, innovation and influence in health care. I'll be in downtown Cleveland, Ohio at the multimedia company called Thunder::Tech. (Please note the earlier start time for the show.)
If you do listen live, you can even take part in the chat room. It is truly "The show within the show." You can even call in and say hello. A great opportunity to interact with medbloggers you've only read about. And, you will be able to see me on the live webcam during the show! See you tonight!
For first time Blog Talk Radio listeners: *Although it is not required to listen to the show, I encourage you to register on the BlogTalkRadio site prior to the show. I think it will make the process easier.
*To get to my show site, click here. As show time gets closer, keep hitting "refresh" on your browser until you see the "Play/Chat" button. Then, of course, press the "Play/Chat" button.
*You can also participate in the live chat room before, during, and after the show. Look for the green "Chat Now" button. If you are registered with the BTR site, your registered name and picture will appear in the chat room.
*You can also call into the show. The number is on my show site. If you have a headset microphone, you can "call" into the show by looking for the "Click To Talk" button at the top of the chat box to try out the BTR VoIP option. Hope these tips are helpful!
The Doctor Anonymous Show goes on location this week! We will be broadcasting live from the launch party for Med City News which describes itself, according to the site, as "news service focusing on business, innovation and influence in health care." The event will be taking place at the multimedia company called Thunder::Tech in Cleveland, Ohio.
Chris Seper (in the video above) and Mary Vanac are the co-founders of MedCity News. I got to meet them last week when I visited Cleveland in preparation for the show. They are great people who bring a lot of experience in print media to this newly formed company.
Please note that the show will be one hour earlier this week at 8PM Eastern Time on Thursday, February 5th, 2009 on BlogTalkRadio. As you all know, Cleveland is up there on Lake Erie. So, hopefully, the weather (meaning the lake effect snow) won't be too bad on show day. I'll also be trying out some different equipment for the show. Hopefully, the technical problems can be left to a minimum. You'll just have to tune in to find out. See you for the show!
Last week, I was in Cleveland doing some prep work for my radio show this week. While there, I stopped by the Apple Store to pick up iLife 09 and iWork 09. The video above is a live recording via the viddler platform of me at the Apple store. I installed the software this weekend. The face recognition on iPhoto is very cool. Although, it did take a little while for all the pics to be loaded into the face recognition software. I'm just starting to try out the other stuff. Will keep you posted as I learn more about this new software.
Join us tonight for The Night Shift with Dr. A. Along with me, our co-host Kat, from the BTR show Llanview Lowdown, will discuss the medically relevant news of the day. At the beginning of this week, octuplets were born in California. Yes, that's right, a set of eight babies were born to Nadya Suleman.
In the CNN video above, it questions how octuplets could be born to someone who already has six children and appears to be still living at home with her parents. Just today, this person's mother has turned on her and says that her daughter had an obsession with having kids.
Do you have thoughts on this case? Well join Kat and me for The Night Shift with Dr. A tonight - Saturday, January 31st, 2009 at 9pm Eastern Time on BlogTalkRadio. There are so many other things to talk about, we'll probably run out of time. For example, if you watched Oprah this week, there was discussion on the idea of bioidentical hormones.
In other news, you may have heard of the economic stimulus package that has now made it's way into the Senate. Did you know that there is a $400 Million provision for STD prevention. How does that stimulate the economy? We'll try to figure that out. Also, what happened following Dr. A Show 71? I'll try to address those questions tonight.
Finally, President Obama's pick to head the Department of Health and Human Services, the federal agency which regulates programs like Medicare, has had tax problems and we recently learned that he accepted over $200,000 in speaking fees from health care groups that his department regulate. Is that potential conflict of interest? Will these issues derail his confirmation as DHHS Secretary? We'll discuss tonight. See you for the show!
Update: In the player above, you can listen to Show 72. (You can also download the show by clicking here). I thought it was a great show and I want to thank Sunny for calling in and sharing her thoughts on the subject.
