informatics Archives

Crazy U.S. Healthcare: How Did We Get Here?

by Barry P Chaiken, MD | Jun 24, 2022 | Healthcare Policy

According to the Commonwealth Fund the U.S. has the lowest life expectancy among the ten highest income OECD countries. We have the highest chronic disease burden and our obesity rates are twice the average of other OECD countries. We also have the highest number of...

What Pop Health Needs to Learn from Consumer Marketing

by Barry P Chaiken, MD | Sep 28, 2021 | Analytics

[DISPLAY_ULTIMATE_SOCIAL_ICONS] In the US, consumers reign supreme. American retailers understand their customers and use data to influence what they buy, what they pay, and when they return for more. With more than 68 percent of the U.S. economy driven by consumer...

Why AI Needs a Reality Check

by Barry P Chaiken, MD | Mar 20, 2021 | Artificial Intelligence, Analytics

Visionary Elon Musk fears it. Astrophysicist Stephen Hawking worried about it. Microsoft’s Bill Gates embraces it. Science fiction writer Phillip K. Dick wrote about androids having the capacity to dream because of it. At HIMSS 2019, everyone talked about it. So, what...

COVID-19: Lessons from Smallpox

by Barry P Chaiken, MD | Jan 16, 2021 | Healthcare Policy

In 1980 the World Health Organization declared smallpox eliminated, a long 21 years after the start of the eradication program. Initial steps focused on mass vaccination in a quest for herd immunity. In developed countries with robust infrastructure, this proved...

Let’s Be Careful Out There

by Barry P Chaiken, MD | Aug 25, 2020 | Archives

The Sunday announcement by FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen A Hahn that convalescent plasma has received emergency approval quickly sparked much controversy and serious concern in the medical community. While stating that the treatment reduced deaths by 35%, the data does...