Toluu

The Healthcare Information Systems Blog

I found my calling in healthcare accidentally, after spending nearly ten years spinning my wheels as a systems analyst and project management consultant for Detroit's "Big Three." This blog is about how I try to use my skills and experiences to help people - and myself - live happier, healthier lives.

Election Results and Their Healthcare ImplicationsNovember 5 2008

Last night's historic election of Barak Hussein Obama as the 44th President of these United States isn't just a watershed moment in American history, the U.S. civil rights movement, and world affairs; it also signals the turning of a new page in the realm of U.S. healthcare policy.

How many pages will be turned remains to be seen at the federal level, but here in Michigan two ballot proposals passed that will have immediate implications for those of us with an interest in health and wellness.

• Proposal 1, legalizing medical marijuana use at the state level passed with more than 60% of the vote.
• 
  
• Proposal 2, which would allow the donation of unused embroyos from fertility clinics, passed by a more narrow margin, but passed nevertheless.
  

Both proposals were met with stiff and frequently hysterical and baseless opposition. Proposal 2 opponents wanted to see

That Was the Week that Was (Aug. 24 - Aug. 30)September 8 2008

File this one under "Better Late Than Never," I guess, which is a recurring theme around here...!

In all honesty, not a lot happened the week of the 24th that is all that noteworthy.

PERSONAL

Graduate School

I went to the campus bookstore at Wayne State University and spent nearly $300 on two text books - one new, the other used - which I immediately reordered from Cocomartini.com for one-sixth the price and promptly returned.

My replacement books are both brand-spanking new Southeast Asian editions, which means that they're written in English but have notes in the margins in Sanskrit and Mandarin. They're also soft-covered and the paper is about the same grade as what you find in a telephone directory, but when all was said and done I still saved more than $200 after shipping and handling.

Someone explain to me again how I, who do not yet have my MBA, can manage this but Barnes and Noble with its oligopoly power in the book retail business cannot?

Ah, that's right: it's because of Barnes and Noble's oligopoly power in the book retail business that they can and do

Google Reader Gets Political. Which, in America, Doesn't Mean a Whole Hell of A LotSeptember 2 2008

This morning when I opened my recently created Google Reader account, I found the following:

A look at what's new
New! Subscribe to shared items and reading
lists from Barack Obama, John McCain and political pundits.

Click-through on the link lead me to a page full of links to articles allegedly subscribed to, and presumably read by, John McCain, Barack Obama, and a host of other political heavyweights (and not-so-heavyweights; I'm looking at you, Sarah Palin!).

What struck me most about this is how absolutely unrevealing the reading lists of the two candidates are.

John McCain
Barack Obama

Arizona Cardinals

Arizona Diamondbacks

Arizona Republic

That Was the Week that Was (Aug. 17 - Aug. 23)August 25 2008

Well, it's the end of the first week of my 36th year on this planet, and in keeping with my previous post here's a rundown of the highlights:

WORK

Revitalized Corporate Affinity Discount Program
My first project in my new position at work was to breathe new life into my organization's old affinity discount program. It started out as one of many of the things on my plate when I took my position at the end of May, but became my top priority project shortly after I returned from my Fourth of July vacation at home.

In less than eight weeks, the program's membership grew from just three affinity discount providers to sixteen, with another half-dozen or so in-the-pipeline and a new program management process in place to keep adding local and national vendors. I have set an informal target of 75 affinity discount partners by July 4, 2009, to coincide - roughly - with the anniversary of the program revitalization effort.

Here's the old partner list:

• GlobalFit
• [People's

SeachangeAugust 15 2008

When I first started this blog, I hoped to contribute something useful to the ongoing conversation in healthcare technology circles, specifically as to how information systems that automate proven processes can help people to live happier, healthier lives.

Sometimes this has been easy, and sometimes it has been difficult; more and more it's been difficult, partly for personal reasons, but mostly because the opportunity to stay on the edge of technological innovation at the organization I work for wasn't there.

I believe in managed care, and I believe in the mission of my employer, and as luck would have it, I was given the opportunity to take a much more direct role in fulfilling that mission this past May when I took on the position of Market Research Manager for our product development group.

I applied for the position because I had come to realize that even if I had had the opportunity to work with the latest, greatest technology; what I really want is to learn the business of healthcare.

For better or for worse, healthcare is a business first and foremost in United States, even for non-pr