Health information technology: fallacies and sober realities

Current research suggests that the rate of adoption of health information technology (HIT) is low, and that HIT may not have the touted beneficial effects on quality of care or costs. The twin issues of the failure of HIT adoption and of HIT efficacy stem primarily from a series of fallacies about HIT. We discuss 12 HIT fallacies and their implications for design and implementation. These fallacies must be understood and addressed for HIT to yield better results. Foundational cognitive and human factors engineering research and development are essential to better inform HIT development, deployment, and use.     

Case-mix grouping and DRGs: making the principal diagnosis

Labelling a hospital admission with a single disease code based on the selection of the patient's principal diagnosis poses problems for clinicians, administrators and epidemiologists. The use of a case-mix grouping classification, Diagnosis Related Groups (DRGs), allows the modification of the principal diagnosis by other factors affecting the length of stay of the patient in hospital. This system requires as its entry point a decision on which diagnosis is the principal one. The definition of principal diagnosis in Australia differs from that used in the United States where DRGs were developed. We describe a study to determine how often the use of the Australian definition leads to the allocation of a different DRG.     

DRGs与公立医院改革

在新医改方案出台,推进公立医院改革试点的新形势下,分析了疾病诊断相关组（DRGs）在我国实施的必要性,阐述了实施过程中需要注意的病案首页中,出院诊断部分应采用ICD-10编码,首页信息必须详细准确;组织专家编写常见病、多发病临床路径,并试点使用后逐步推广;制定出各疾病分组的出院标准,避免为了节约医疗费用而让患者提前出院;注意对危重患者的补偿,避免出现推诿危重患者的现象;推进患者“一卡通”服务,完善患者就诊的信息化管理,避免出现增加门诊服务费用的现象;继续鼓励医疗技术的创新等六方面的问题。     

SIDS: more facts and controversies

A more robust theory of the causation of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is needed. The asphyxial theory of SIDS, which encompasses the prone sleeping position, relies on contradictory pathological evidence and fails to explain infants with SIDS who are found in the supine or lateral position. Many of the risk factors for SIDS point to an infective cause. The relative risks of these infection-related factors differ from study to study, as does the relative risk of prone sleeping position. I present the case for an infection model for SIDS causation, which has largely been neglected by mainstream SIDS researchers.     

Professional recommendations: disclosing facts and values

It is not unusual for patients and their families, when confronted with difficult medical choices, to ask their physicians for advice. This paper outlines the shades of meaning of two questions frequently put to physicians: "What should I do?" and "What would you do?" It is argued that these are not questions about objective matters of fact. Hence, any response to such questions requires an understanding, appreciation, and disclosure of the personal context and values that inform the recommendation. A framework for considering and articulating a response to these questions is suggested, using as a heuristic the phrasing "If I were you.../If it were me..." Journal of Medical Ethics Key Words: Professional-patient relations ? informed consent ? truth disclosure ? ethics, medical     

One principle and three fallacies of disability studies

A question between John Harris and I is the degree to which lessons may be learned, and insights gained, from a life distinguished by physical differences. He argues it as the "aborting Beethoven fallacy", I insist on the evidence that what we learn from physical differences may be critical and life enhancing.     

One principle and three fallacies of disability studies

My critics in this symposium illustrate one principle and three fallacies of disability studies. The principle, which we all share, is that all persons are equal and none are less equal than others. No disability, however slight, nor however severe, implies lesser moral, political or ethical status, worth or value. This is a version of the principle of equality. The three fallacies exhibited by some or all of my critics are the following: (1) Choosing to repair damage or dysfunction or to enhance function, implies either that the previous state is intolerable or that the person in that state is of lesser value or indicates that the individual in that state has a life that is not worthwhile or not thoroughly worth living. None of these implications hold. (2) Exercising choice in reproduction with the aim of producing children who will be either less damaged or diseased, or more healthy, or who will have enhanced capacities, violates the principle or equality. It does not. (3) Disability or impairment must be defined relative either to normalcy, "normal species functioning", or "species typical functioning". It is not necessarily so defined.     

DRGs医疗保险费用支付方式在我国的应用及发展前景

总结了我国现行的按服务项目、服务单元、人头和总额预付等基本医疗保险费用结算办法中存在的问题和弊端;论述和分析了DRGs医疗保险费用支付方式在国际上的应用情况及其在保证基本医疗保险费用准确支付和控制医疗费用不合理支出等方面发挥的积极作用;对DRGs在我国的应用前景进行了展望.     

DRGs中的疾病诊断

DRGS中文译为诊断相关分组,他的实施意在探讨医疗质量的评估及医疗付费的合理性。疾病诊断的正确选择和排列,直接影响到DRGs分组。通过深入理解诊断的选择原则,分析诊断选择错误的原因,查找病历资料中的重点内容,探讨诊断选择正确的方法和步骤,从而保证诊断选择的正确性,为DRGS付费制度的改革打下坚实的基础。     

北京DRGs是与非

一向以谨慎和稳妥著称的北京医改,此次在医保领域,却少见地领全国之先。 7月26日,北京市医保中心与北京大学第三医院、北京大学人民医院、友谊医院、朝阳医院、宣武医院、天坛医院6家医院签订了《北京市医疗保险按病种分组（DRGs）付费试点医疗机构服务协议书》。按照协议,从8月1日开始,北京地区的参保患者在上述医院接受住院治疗时,将正式以DRGs付费方式来结算医疗费用。