There was a story in the Boston Globe the other day about the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s decision to order hospitals to stop temporarily closing their Emergency Rooms, effective January 1, 2009. This is good news. I first heard about the practice of temporarily turning away ambulances from the ER — commonly called “diversion” — about ten years ago. The Globe […]

There was a story in the Wall Street Journal last week-end about how “a growing number of health plans offer specially trained case managers to help patients during a major illness…”  The story goes on to say that these people “take our very fragmented health-care system and put some glue on it to ensure that a […]

For the past year or so, I’ve been listening to and participating in a conversation in New England and nationally about the rising cost of health care. It’s a sticky wicket, to be sure, with no obvious, simple solutions. But I must say, I’ve been surprised that at least one pretty good idea hasn’t generated more […]