"You are as close as any region of the country at beginning to be the health system of the future," Gingrich told about 300 conference attendees. He cited regional advances in electronic prescribing and the collaboration among industry, labor, government and the health industry to improve quality and lower costs in the region's health system...

One woman, saying she was having trouble helping her 75-year-old mother make a choice, asked whether the deadline should be extended. "No, and the reason why is there's got to be a fixed time for people to sign up," the president said. "We want people to realize there is — now is the time…. Rolling back deadlines is not going to help your mom make a good decision."

It's been said that the American automobile industry is linked in one way or another to one out of every six jobs in the United States. That's roughly 17% of the entire U.S. economy. All things considered that makes the Henry Ford Health System's E-Prescribe program much more than a local success story of healthcare process improvement through automation; it makes it a model for saving jobs worthy of national study.

Health Alliance Plan and Henry Ford Medical reported Wednesday that the year-old program, e-Prescribe, already has helped avoid potential drug complications and saved money by reducing adverse drug effects and increasing the use of generic prescriptions.

You heard it here first: the initial wave of healthcare CEOs who start blogging about their organization and the goods and services it provides are all but guaranteed additional, positive media coverage while the johnny-come-lately bloggers will have to settle for being also-rans.

Healthcare is an extremely important issue that should be examined objectively and impartially; half-baked “informal business polls“ that don't even identify the polling group do a disservice to people who are actually working to address the healthcare crisis in America today.

If the cure to America's healthcare ills lies - at least partially - with the free market, why impose limitations on the availability of medical technology? Especially when it is seen as one of the pillars of the U.S. healthcare system?

The two big assumptions being made about these healthcare consumers are: 1) they're capable of making informed decisions about their healthcare needs, and 2) they'll behave rationally. However, the Commonwealth Fund study suggests that neither of these things are occuring.