As I looked out the window in Massachusetts this morning, everything seemed the same. But, from what I read and hear, everything changed on Tuesday night. That's confusing.

The confusion started as a red Republican, Scott Brown, threatened to take Ted Kennedy's bluest-of-blue, Democratic Senate seat. Then, on Tuesday,...

Recently, The New York Times identified a surprising group that may lose, and lose big, under health care reform - large urban medical centers. The Boston Globe ran a similar story two weeks ago on Boston Hospitals.

What's unusual is that the big losers are not just gritty, inner...

"Markup" time is politics in action as Chairman Max Baucus' healthcare reform bill faces a barrage of amendments in the Senate Finance Committee. Politics in action equals deal making in action, and as I watch, it makes me nervous.

Here's politics in action:

• Bloomberg News...

President Obama said last week his health care reform plan requires about $1 trillion in health care savings over the next 10 years. In all the acrimonious debate around health care, we can all agree that saving that $1 trillion is vital. Without it, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO)...

I am going to be watching as President Obama addresses Congress tomorrow evening on his health care reform initiative. If his speech moves us closer to more care at lower cost, I'm on board. But how will I know? Perhaps I need a scorecard.

The inspiration for a health...

The health care reform debate moved into a new phase over the weekend when Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said a public insurance option was "not the essential element" of any overhaul, and non-profit cooperatives could also fulfill the White House goal of creating more competition on insurance....

Health care reform in America is possible. In fact, four eminent physician leaders wrote an intriguing editorial in the New York Times on Aug. 12 offering the opinion that, in places, it has already been done.

Authors Atul Gawande, Donald Berwick, Elliot Fisher and Mark McClellan -- who...

I share President Obama's commitment to healthcare reform and greatly value his leadership. I have been a physician, healthcare executive, academic scholar, advisor, author and, most importantly, a patient once deeply immersed in our healthcare system with a critical injury. In all those roles, I have consistently seen the need...

Last week, Alex MacGillis of The Washington Post and David Brooks of The New York Times both identified the crucial flaw in the current efforts at government-driven health care reform -- the failure to control health care inflation.

MacGillis admitted President Obama acknowledges there are limits to what we...

Given the $47 billion awarded in stimulus funding, it's clear the government's assumption is that healthcare information technology (IT) will deliver better care at lower cost. The IT industry and all the healthcare IT mavens are waving the flags and beating the drums.

But can current IT deliver?

I...

As President Obama makes it increasingly clear we are going to reform health care this summer, the parties are drawing lines in the sand and everyone is choosing sides for the long-haul. For the Democrats, the public health insurance option is a key part of the agenda. Meanwhile, the Republicans...

When it comes to healthcare, bigger isn't necessarily better -- not even in Texas. In a recent New Yorker article, Dr. Atul Gawande examines the healthcare system of McAllen, TX, also known as one of the most expensive places in American healthcare. Despite the latest and greatest technologies and...

As physician, healthcare executive, academic scholar, author, advisor and, most importantly, a patient, I propose the answer to our current healthcare dilemma starts with a laser-like focus on getting patients exactly what they need at continually lower cost. But current healthcare proposals are offering more of the same.

Over...