Envisioning 2.0

Last month, I attended the Health 2.0 Conference in San Francisco.  One highlight of the meeting was a video produced by my friends at Scribe Media illustrating the history of healthcare.  Great stuff.  Click here to view.

I will be taking a break from blogging until the first week of June.

Those interested in reading some of my content during this period can head over to HealthCareVox.  I’ve set up my blogging software to post a series of popular posts on social media, the biotech industry and other topics.

I’d like to take this time to thank all those who read, comment and share content posted on this blog each week.  Your ongoing support and readership is appreciated.

I’ll see you in June

I’d like to apologize to my readers for the recent problems you may have been having accessing this blog. Over the past week or so, prblogs.org has been having some server issues, which has resulted in the blog being unaccessible from time to time. Thank you for your patience and for reading this blog.

A few weeks back, I reported that influential medical blogger, Medpundit had exited the blogosphere.  Well, it turns out that she’s decided to return.  Welcome back!  I’ll be adding her back to my RSS feed library post-haste.

I’ll be taking a brief blogging break next week due to travel. I’ll be back the first week of June.

I’ve got some special events coming up that I’m pretty excited about. These include:

-The final post in my long-running interview series on race and medicine featuring NitroMed.

-More posts in my FDA and the Pharmaceutical Industry series, including an interview with John Powers, MD of the FDA.

-A new series, titled “Communicating Consumer-driven Healthcare.” In this series, I’ll be exploring the following questions:

1. What will it take to “train” the public to be better consumers of healthcare?

2. What types of communications tactics are appropriate for communicating messages about consumer-driven healthcare?

(P.S. If anyone is interested in submitting a guest article on this series for publication on Envisioning 2.0, please contact me at info [at] envisionsolutionsnow [dot] com.

Thanks to all my readers for making this blog so much fun to write!

See you in June!

Medpundit announced that she is closing the doors of her blog today. She will be missed. A few other medical bloggers have suggested or announced that they have or may stop blogging at some point, including:

-Kate Steadman, Healthy Policy
-”Maria,” Intueri
-Jacob Reider, MD, Family Medicine Notes

I included some of these wonderful bloggers in my report on healthcare blogs, published last month. Does the departure (or potential departure) of these bloggers make the report obsolete? I think not. The healthcare blogosphere will continue to expand and grow in influence with or without their voices. However, any loss is felt and their voices will be missed.

Blogging will be light this week, as I will be traveling on business over the next few days.

Welcome to the inaugural edition of You Heard It Here First, an annual compilation of the most shocking and controversial happenings in the healthcare blogosphere over the previous 12 months. Following are this year’s top five stories.

Story #5: Holt, [redacted] To Join Forces On New Blog

According to our crackpot team of investigative reporters, Matthew Holt and [name redacted at his request] will soon announce that they have joined forces to pen a new blog, tentatively titled Healthfire. Holt and [redacted] decided to start the blog after engaging in wonkish fisticuffs early last month. Each week, Healthfire will feature commentary and debate from both bloggers on controversial health policy topics such as price transparency and single-payer healthcare.

Holt is reportedly excited about the new venture, saying: “That libertarian barney [redacted] and I engaged in last month about rationing really got my juices flowing. So, I spoke him about starting a new blog and he agreed. I can guarantee that we’ll have a hell of a time.”

[redacted] could not be reached for comment before press time, but an associate of his told us that he is apparently “stoked” and ready to send Holt home “crying like a baby” each week.

No word yet on when the new blog will launch.

Story #4: Steadman To Holt: I Want R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Kate Steadman, author of Healthy Policy, is apparently considering whether to start a petition on her blog demanding that Matthew Holt stop calling her “punkette.” A close friend of Steadman’s told You Heard It Here First:

“Kate’s mad because Matt does not respect her accomplishments. She’s putting together the petition to make sure that he never calls her ‘punkette’ again. She wants him to know that her name is Kate. Matt: Her name is Kate. K-A-T-E, get it right gosh darned it!”

Holt could not be reached for comment before press time.

Story #3: NHS Blog Doctor In Flap Over English Grand Rounds Edition

Last week, the US healthcare blogosphere was in an uproar over Dr. John Crippen’s (a.k.a. NHS Blog Doctor) “adulteration” of the weekly carnival Grand Rounds. Bloggers were incensed that Crippen created a cricket-themed Grand Rounds edition.

“Listen,” one blogger commented. “We support making Grand Rounds international and all, but we can’t abide by this cricket stuff. What’s that about?” Another blogger agreed, saying: “Yeah Crippen trying to make Grand Rounds English is like an American taking over a beloved British football team. It’s just not right.”

Crippen told You Heard It Here First that his blog was deluged by comment spam after he posted the latest edition of Grand Rounds. He said: “It was very strange. All of the comments said the same thing: ‘U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!’ I just don’t understand it.”

Story #2: Pho To Take Pseudonym, Start New Blog

Sources tell us that next year, Kevin Pho, M.D., author of Kevin, M.D., will be taking a new name and starting another blog. Pho reportedly wants to take his blogging “in a new direction.” When asked why he replied: “You know, I heard of that “Strumpette” character getting lots of play because of her sexy ways. I want to bring medical blogging into the mainstream and I think that sex is the way to do it.”

Pho’s new blog, The Naked Doc, will debut in February 2007 in honor of Valentine’s Day. “I know it’s early, but I want to have plenty of time to pick my new bloging name,” said Pho. “Right now I’m leaning toward ‘The Randy Practitioner.’”

Story #1: Genes: Big Pharma’s Sponsorship Of Grand Rounds Is “No Joke”

Nicholas Genes, respected medical blogger and creator of the popular weekly blogosphere event Grand Rounds, contacted You Heard It Here First to counter rumors that he was “joking” when he said that pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline had agreed to sponsor the blog carnival.

“You know,” he said. “Everyone thought I was joking when I made that announcement. But, I wasn’t. I’ve decided to cash in on my fame. I’m into the bling bling, the fancy cars, the fur coats. I’ve got to keep myself in style and Big Pharma’s got deep pockets. Besides, I’m a genius and geniuses deserve mad cash. You know what I’m sayin’?”

That’s it for this year’s edition of You Heard It Here First. Good night and good luck.

Yesterday I wrote a post focusing on some comments that Mike Driehorst made about Strumpette’s potential link to a Chicago-based company called Forward, Inc. I mentioned this issue in an attempt to garner some much needed “link-love” for some healthcare non-profit blogs.

Well, folks it looks like I was taken in. Robert French e-mailed me last night and informed me that he contacted Driehorst to ask him about his comment. Driehorst told French that the comment was from him, but the “content of the comment was denied by the guy that was mentioned in it.” Specifically Brian Connolly of Forward Inc said that someone may have been using (or was assigned) his IP address when they made the comment.

Now, I’m not an Internet technology expert, so I’ll just say this: Driehorst made the comment, but now can’t confirm that his analysis holds water. I don’t know what to make of this, so I won’t comment on it further.

Anyway, the original intent of my post still stands. Support the healthcare non-profits listed in the post by going to their sites, critiquing their blogging efforts and telling others about them.

That’s it for now, and the last I’ll say (hopefully) about Strumpette – unless she or it starts offering up valuable scoops and content that is worth talking about. In any business, sex appeal only goes so far before people start asking for substance, you know what I mean?

You can’t make this stuff up . . .

LG Electronics, the world’s leading air conditioner maker announced last week that it will begin selling air conditioners that allegedly prevent the avian flu.

The new air conditioners feature filters coated with a substance extracted from fermented kimchi. The company will be selling these “high-tech gadgets” to countries in Southeast Asia affected by the bird flu.

According to the Korea Times, “There have been a few reports that indicate kimchi and other fermented dishes could be effective in treating avian influenza on birds, as a Seoul National University team reported last year. However, there has been no evidence of its affect on humans so far . . .”

One word: wow!

(Via Boing Boing)