Daily Archives: February 1, 2010

Have You Thought About Your Health Story?

Probably not, but you should. The onslaught of efforts to digitize our health system are bound to have a profound effect on the future of health care. More so, it will have a direct impact on the manner in which you, the patient, interact with not only your physician, but also the role you play in preserving your health and well-being. As such, the ability for you to read and comprehend your personal health record can and will make a difference. How do I know this? I’ve been a practicing cardiologist for 26 years and immersed myself in the futuristic digital medical record endeavor far before Barack Obama became our President.

The written patient medical record had its birth in the 19th century and as such, has remained almost entirely unchanged for well more than 100 years. During this time, literally everything else in medical care has evolved. With the computer now making inroads into the patient medical record, just as it has entered every other aspect of our lives, the patient has a tremendous opportunity before them to engage some of the more technologically novice physicians about their plans for health care IT adoption. As a patient, it’s crucial that you understand where on the adoption curve your doctor is in relation to embracing burgeoning technology. Your doctor’s adoption of critical health care IT will not only improve in-house productivity, it will also enable patients to become more active participants in the care process.

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Dear People of Haiti…

After giving to Haiti in record amounts, it’s feared that much of the U.S. population will soon face, and already may be facing, donor fatigue. This would be only natural, and thus it will be the job of all of us to keep Haiti in the public consciousness during the long rebuilding process ahead.

One sector of the population, however, is still eager to help, has boundless amounts of energy, and rarely suffers fatigue of any kind. I’m talking about the budding activists eating your food, running in your yard, playing on the computer, asking if friends can come over, calling you for a ride, or not speaking to you this week.

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The Generation That Killed Rock ‘n Roll

Ladies and gentlemen: you are witnessing the death of Rock ‘n’ Roll.

Consider this the obituary: from 2004 to 2008 album sales fell from 667 million to 428 million units, according to Neilsen SoundScan. That’s a 35% decline in just four years.

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Robin Carnahan ‘Disappointed’ In Obama’s Lack Of Fiscal Discipline

A telling indicator of President Barack Obama’s political standing comes when Democratic congressional candidates are forced to weigh in on his various proposals.

So it is not without significance that hours after the White House introduced its FY2011 budget proposal Democratic Senate candidate Robin Carnahan — Missouri’s Secretary of State and a figure well liked within the progressive community — put out a statement expressing what she called her disappointment with Obama’s lack of fiscal discipline.

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The R Word

We were trying on hats at a department store counter when my childhood friend said it.

“I never know how to wear these,” she said. “I’m such a fashion retard.”

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A Crumbling America

In arguing in favor of a surge in Afghanistan, President Obama sighted the importance of investing in the country’s infrastructure as a mechanism for strengthening democracy. Our Commander-in-Chief has currently approved the pouring of billions of dollars into Afghani schools, clinics, roads, and bridges. In addition, the United States has currently added “hundreds of US advisers including agricultural specialists, engineers and lawyers.” Yet in light of recent events, I urge our president to bring home our money, our resources, and even our engineers.

The United States is falling apart. No, I am not talking about our leadership or our standing in the world (although one could make a good case for both). I am talking about the physical infrastructure of the country. While other countries such as China and India have invested billion in creating 21st century infrastructure, America has proved content with the progress made under the Eisenhower Administration. The lessons learned from the devastating collapses of both the levees in New Orleans and the Mississippi River Bridge in 2007 had all but disappeared in the talks of the bank and auto bailouts.

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To Students Who Are Fighting Back

This is an open letter to the students of University Heights High School who are threatened with being thrown off the Bronx Community College campus; the students of Beach Channel, Christopher Columbus, Paul Robeson, Alfred E. Smith, and William Maxwell High Schools who face having their schools closed; and all the students who are fighting back against the unjust and ill-conceived policies of the Bloomberg/Klein machine that controls and misgoverns New York City schools.

I am writing this letter because my friend Pablo Muriel, a teacher at University Heights High School, asked me what he can say to students who have been working responsibly to influence public policy but who find their reasoned and evidence-based arguments ignored by government officials, like Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who make arbitrary and arrogant judgments, and the hatchet men, like Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, and political toadies, like the members of the Panel for Educational Policy, that they appoint to carry out their decisions. Pablo, and the teachers in the other schools, these are my thoughts and I hope you share them with your students.

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Con Games: The Secret Of The iPad

The mutually orgasmic chortle of the cognoscenti missed the point about the announcement of the Apple iPad by a citified mile because a preponderance of yappers were obsessed with where said tablet fell in the pluperfect Apple pantheon of digital inamorata.

Was it cellphone or laptop? Would it set the Kindle aflame? Would it render all that had come before pale paleocentric imitations of what was meant to be?

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How to Be Your Own Placebo

Published in the San Francisco Chronicle

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