Evidence Based Decision Making

The Lesson of the Cupcakes: Fix Schools by Resisting Gimmicks and Heeding Evidence

Kevin Welner | Posted 04.26.2012

Read More: Opportunity to Learn, Foundation for Excellence in Education, Evidence Based Decision Making, Vouchers, Charter Schools, Teacher Evaluation, Cyberschools, Merit Pay, Grade Retention, Education News

There are no miracle cures or magic beans. If we increase opportunities to learn, the result will be more learning; if we deny opportunities to learn, the result is equally predictable.

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I'm Biased and So Are You

Eric Korpela | Posted 04.06.2012

Read More: Quackery, Science, Evidence Based Decision Making, Crime, Bias, Evidence-Based Medicine, Scientists, Selection Bias, Science News

Biases are very important to the sciences. That's primarily that you have to understand them in order to avoid or correct for them. The most famous bias is probably the "selection bias."

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Physics, Porn, and Personal Responsibility: Isaac Newton's Laws Applied

Bethany St. James | Posted 02.05.2012

Read More: Isaac Newton, Responsibility, Life Lessons, Physics, Evidence Based Decision Making, Culture News

Every action has a consequence. If we go against the actual laws of physics, why are we surprised when the result is less than satisfactory?

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The Overzealous 10 Percent and the Ask Upon Congress

Janet Dillione | Posted 07.12.2011

Read More: Medical Imaging, Medpac, Evidence Based Decision Making, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Politics News

Last month, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) asked Congress to require prior authorization for doctors who order many diagnostic imag...

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Anecdotes Are Weak Evidence

D. Brad Wright | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Health Care Reform, Comparative Effectiveness Research, Evidence Based Decision Making, Health Care, Health, Politics News

Many things are wrong with Dr. Norbert Gleicher's piece in the Wall Street Journal. A health care expert panel would not be a "government" panel, but a panel of medical experts commissioned by the government.

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Will We Ever Hear the Message Instead of 'Shooting the Messenger?'

Deane Waldman | Posted 05.25.2011

We owe it to ourselves to consider Congressman Roe's Healthcare Reform Bill memo, as our important concern, without reference to our biases, should be the message itself, not the messenger.

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A Second Opinion About Second Opinions

Ellen Langer | Posted 11.17.2011

Read More: Decision-Making, Health, Psychology, Evidence Based Decision Making, Doctors, Second Opinion, Wellness, Social Psychology, Medical Advice, Psychological Study, Healthy Living News

The medical world encourages us to get a second opinion before embarking on expensive procedures. While getting a second opinion may seem straightforward, the process is not so simple.

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America's Health Care Addiction

Craig Bowron | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Consumer Culture, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, American Health Care, Health, Patient Satisfaction, Vioxx, Health Care Reform, Evidence Based Decision Making, Autologous Bone Marrow Transplants, Breast Cancer Treatment, Health Care, Human Life Expectancy, Per Capita Health Care Spending, Evidence-Based Medicine, Politics News

How does a country with perhaps the most innovative health care system in the world produce average health care outcomes? It's simple: much of the innovation hasn't delivered.

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Personal Responsibility: In Education? Yes! In Health Care? No!

Deane Waldman | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Health Care Is a Right, Healthcare System, Medical Malpractice, Healthcare Financing, Obamacare, Hr 3200, Morals, Evidence Based Decision Making, Medical Negligence, Medical Errors, Root Cause Analysis, Healthcare Regulations, Personal Responsibility, Obama Healthcare, Ealthcare, Hipaa, ARRA 2009, Adverse Medical Outcomes, America?S Affordable Health Choices Act, Medical Costs, Systems Thinking, Ethics, Problem Solving, Single Payer, Health Insurance, Health Care Reform, Aahca, Universal Health Care, Health Information Technology, Electronic Medical Records, Politics News

When President Obama gave his speech on health care, he spoke as though the phrase personal responsibility did not exist.

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Healthcare is an Unprincipled Non-System.

Deane Waldman | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Vision, Bill of Rights, Healthcare System, Healthcare Financing, Obamacare, Medical Negligence, Healthcare Regulations, Personal Responsibility, Declaration of Independence, Obama Healthcare, ARRA 2009, hr3200, Problem Solving, Principles, Single Payer, Aahca, Universal Health Care, Electronic Medical Records, Health Care Is a Right, Strategy, Mission, Medical Malpractice, Medical Errors, Evidence Based Decision Making, Healthcare, Root Cause Analysis, Hipaa, Adverse Medical Outcomes, America?S Affordable Health Choices Act, Systems Thinking, Medical Costs, Health Care Reform, Health Insurance, Health Information Technology, Politics News

Everyone knows that you cannot cure a sick anything -- patient or system - without a correct diagnosis. What is the diagnosis for sick, "broken" healthcare?

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Rights With No Responsibilities?

Deane Waldman | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Health Care Is a Right, Healthcare System, Medical Malpractice, Healthcare Financing, Obamacare, Evidence Based Decision Making, Medical Negligence, Medical Errors, Healthcare, Root Cause Analysis, Healthcare Regulations, Obama Healthcare, Hipaa, ARRA 2009, Adverse Medical Outcomes, America?S Affordable Health Choices Act, hr3200, Medical Costs, Systems Thinking, Problem Solving, Single Payer, Health Insurance, Health Care Reform, Aahca, Universal Health Care, Health Information Technology, Electronic Medical Records, Politics News

Do we have the right to make ourselves unhealthy? I would answer, Yes! That is part of being free.

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The Emperor Has No Clothes

Deane Waldman | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Health Care Is a Right, Healthcare System, Medical Malpractice, Healthcare Financing, Obamacare, Evidence Based Decision Making, Medical Negligence, Medical Errors, Healthcare, Root Cause Analysis, Healthcare Regulations, Obama Healthcare, Hipaa, ARRA 2009, Adverse Medical Outcomes, America?S Affordable Health Choices Act, hr3200, Medical Costs, Systems Thinking, Problem Solving, Single Payer, Health Insurance, Health Care Reform, Aahca, Universal Health Care, Health Information Technology, Electronic Medical Records, Politics News

Washington is guilty of management malpractice. Simply throwing more money into the waste of the middle will not fix health care.

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What to Ask at a Town Hall on Health Care

Deane Waldman | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Health Care Is a Right, Healthcare System, Medical Malpractice, Healthcare Financing, Obamacare, Evidence Based Decision Making, Medical Negligence, Medical Errors, Healthcare, Root Cause Analysis, Healthcare Regulations, Obama Healthcare, Hipaa, ARRA 2009, Adverse Medical Outcomes, Town Hall, America?S Affordable Health Choices Act, Medical Costs, Systems Thinking, Problem Solving, Single Payer, Health Insurance, Health Care Reform, Aahca, Universal Health Care, Health Information Technology, Electronic Medical Records, Politics News

What to ask our Representatives at town hall meeting, and in letters or emails.

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ObamaCare Is Not "a Good Start." They Are Blowing an Opportunity to fix Health care.

Deane Waldman | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Health Care Is a Right, Healthcare System, Medical Malpractice, Healthcare Financing, Obamacare, Evidence Based Decision Making, Medical Negligence, Medical Errors, Healthcare, Root Cause Analysis, Healthcare Regulations, Personal Responsibility, Obama Healthcare, Hipaa, ARRA 2009, Adverse Medical Outcomes, America?S Affordable Health Choices Act, Medical Costs, Systems Thinking, Problem Solving, Single Payer, Health Insurance, Health Care Reform, Aahca, Universal Health Care, Health Information Technology, Electronic Medical Records, Politics News

We need an extended, all-media national dialogue, not violent, partisan town hall meetings in response to a Plan devised behind closed doors.

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They Are Still Practicing Bad Medicine -- on Medicine (and Therefore on Us).

Deane Waldman | Posted 11.17.2011

Read More: Health Care Is a Right, Healthcare System, Medical Malpractice, Healthcare Financing, Obamacare, Evidence Based Decision Making, Medical Negligence, Medical Errors, Healthcare, Root Cause Analysis, Healthcare Regulations, Personal Responsibility, Obama Healthcare, Hipaa, ARRA 2009, Adverse Medical Outcomes, America?S Affordable Health Choices Act, Medical Costs, Systems Thinking, Problem Solving, Single Payer, Health Insurance, Health Care Reform, Aahca, Universal Health Care, Health Information Technology, Electronic Medical Records, Healthy Living News

Given a fundamentally flawed, unsupportable health care system, we need a new one rather than changing where some dollars flow and adding new dollars that we don't have in the first place.

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My Doctor Says: Get a Boob Job

Roni Zeiger | Posted 11.17.2011

Read More: Physicians, Advertising, Women's Health, Plastic Surgery, Health Care Reform, Doctors, Evidence Based Decision Making, Medical Costs, Patients, Medicine, Health Care, Evidence-Based Medicine, Healthy Living News

A pamphlet I received from our family doctor offering plastic surgery made my jaw drop. And it begs the question of whether the primary goal of our provider is my health or their profit.

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In Health Care, Complexity Costs and Kills. ObamaCare Will Increase Complexity: You Do the Math

Deane Waldman | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Health Care Is a Right, Healthcare System, Medical Malpractice, Healthcare Financing, Obamacare, Evidence Based Decision Making, Medical Negligence, Medical Errors, Healthcare, Root Cause Analysis, Healthcare Regulations, Obama Healthcare, Hipaa, ARRA 2009, Adverse Medical Outcomes, America?S Affordable Health Choices Act, Medical Costs, Systems Thinking, Problem Solving, Single Payer, Health Insurance, Health Care Reform, Aahca, Universal Health Care, Health Information Technology, Electronic Medical Records, Politics News

Complexity is considered bad in most business activities because it reduces efficiency and therefore costs money. In health care it is worse.

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An Objective, Evidence-Based Opposition to ObamaCare

Deane Waldman | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Health Care Is a Right, Healthcare System, Medical Malpractice, Healthcare Financing, Obamacare, Evidence Based Decision Making, Medical Negligence, Medical Errors, Healthcare, Root Cause Analysis, Healthcare Regulations, Obama Healthcare, Hipaa, ARRA 2009, Adverse Medical Outcomes, America?S Affordable Health Choices Act, Medical Costs, Systems Thinking, Problem Solving, Health Insurance, Health Care Reform, Aahca, Universal Health Care, Health Information Technology, Electronic Medical Records, Cpsia, Umra, Politics News

TennCare was a single payer approach that was tried in Tennessee in 1994. It nearly bankrupted the state, forced the governor to raise taxes, and ultimately required rationing care.

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Dialogue on Healthcare: Your Comments, My Responses and Apologies

Deane Waldman | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Health Care Is a Right, Healthcare System, Medical Malpractice, Healthcare Financing, Obamacare, Evidence Based Decision Making, Medical Negligence, Medical Errors, Root Cause Analysis, Healthcare Regulations, Obama Healthcare, Ealthcare, Hipaa, ARRA 2009, Adverse Medical Outcomes, America?S Affordable Health Choices Act, Medical Costs, Systems Thinking, Problem Solving, Health Insurance, Health Care Reform, Universal Health Care, Health Information Technology, Electronic Medical Records, Aahca, Politics News

Other countries are struggling with health care system problems as big as ours. I do not suggest that health care is insoluble.

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Government Cuts Expenditures -- Only We Can Cut Costs

Deane Waldman | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Health Care Is a Right, Healthcare System, Medical Malpractice, Healthcare Financing, Evidence Based Decision Making, Medical Negligence, Medical Errors, Healthcare, Root Cause Analysis, Healthcare Regulations, Personal Responsibility, Obama Healthcare, Hipaa, ARRA 2009, Adverse Medical Outcomes, America?S Affordable Health Choices Act, Medical Costs, Systems Thinking, Problem Solving, Health Insurance, Health Care Reform, Universal Health Care, Health Information Technology, Electronic Medical Records, Politics News

Without a totally new health care system, cutting health care costs means reducing usage -- rationing. You have to decide just one thing: who will be the rationer?

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I Oppose Obama's Healthcare Reform (and You Should Too) Because It Does Not Reform Healthcare

Deane Waldman | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Efficiency, Health Care Is a Right, Healthcare System, Medical Malpractice, Healthcare Financing, Evidence Based Decision Making, Medical Negligence, Medical Errors, Healthcare, Root Cause Analysis, Healthcare Regulations, Obama Healthcare, Hipaa, ARRA 2009, Adverse Medical Outcomes, Medical Costs, Systems Thinking, Problem Solving, Health Insurance, Health Care Reform, Universal Health Care, Turnover, Health Information Technology, Snake Oil, Nurse Shortages, Electronic Medical Records, Politics News

ObamaCare is a boondoggle, plain and simple. It is a political approach coupled with a self-proclaimed solution for a medical problem. It is snake oil, not an evidence-based treatment.

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"Anything" Is Not Necessarily Better Than the Health Care We Have Now

Deane Waldman | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Medicaid, Medicare, Healthcare System, Medical Malpractice, Healthcare Financing, Cutting Costs, Obamacare, Cost/Benefit, Evidence Based Decision Making, Medical Negligence, Medical Errors, Healthcare, Healthcare Regulations, Obama Healthcare, Hipaa, ARRA 2009, Adverse Medical Outcomes, Country Cancer Statistics, Medical Costs, Systems Thinking, Problem Solving, Health Insurance, Health Care Reform, Cost Effectiveness, Universal Health Care, Health Information Technology, Electronic Medical Records, Politics News

Health care is considered so sick in the USA that many believe anything is better than what we have now, so let's pass ObamaCare. At least, it is a ...

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ObamaCare: Robbing Peter to Pay...No One

Deane Waldman | Posted 05.25.2011

Recall the commercial: "More taste! Less Filling!" ObamaCare is "More Insurance! Less Care!"

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Stop Pay-For-Performance! Start Pay-For-Outcome.

Deane Waldman | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Healthcare System, Incentives, Evidence Based Decision Making, Medical Negligence, Medical Errors, Healthcare, Root Cause Analysis, Healthcare Regulations, Obama Healthcare, Hipaa, Pay for Performance, ARRA 2009, Adverse Medical Outcomes, Medical Costs, Systems Thinking, Problem Solving, Health Insurance, Health Care Reform, Universal Health Care, British NHS, Health Information Technology, N.I.C.E., Electronic Medical Records, Politics News

The Obama Administration is considering implementing the pay-for-performance approach initiated by the British National Health Service (NHS). But that system has flaws.

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Do You Have a "Right" to an Oil Change?

Deane Waldman | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Health Care Is a Right, Healthcare System, Medical Malpractice, Healthcare Financing, Evidence Based Decision Making, Medical Negligence, Medical Errors, Healthcare, Root Cause Analysis, Healthcare Regulations, Personal Responsibility, Obama Healthcare, Hipaa, Adverse Medical Outcomes, Medical Costs, Systems Thinking, Problem Solving, Health Insurance, Health Care Reform, Universal Health Care, Health Information Technology, Electronic Medical Records, Politics News

Can you have a "right to health care" without any responsibility: both by paying for it and by being an active partner in it?

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