Reznet

How does a health care agency listen to patient complaints in the era of social media? Well, the easiest thing to do is to ignore complaints or to explain them away. The best practice: Treat complaints as critical nuggets of information.

I didn’t figure the Indian health system would be a huge agenda item at the Blair House bipartisan meeting last week.

President Barack Obama is hosting a health care summit Thursday at the Blair House. It will be televised live. That transparency is an ideal opportunity for the president, Democrats and Republicans to put their best ideas forward and debate different approaches to solving the health care crisis.

It takes about 30 seconds of walking around the campus of the Alaska Native Medical Center to appreciate that you are in a special place. There are values communicated in every hallway.

President Barack Obama answered an important philosophical question last week: How will the federal government fully fund a starved Indian health system?

Imagine what the Indian Health Service could bring to its patients by embracing openness. Real time information, ranging from data to patient feedback, can help any organization improve results. Quickly.

Perhaps one reason why the massive health care reform legislation is in so much trouble is that few people understand the details. The bill is massive, complicated, and packed with official government jargon.

Did health care reform die at the ballot box? I’ve been reading on Twitter how pleased Republicans are with Scott Brown’s win for Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat. It’s a game changer.

The Indian health system is stuck in a world of conditional sentences. That’s a sentence with the phrase, “if … then.” If Congress passes health care reform, then …

The Indian health system has never had enough money – and therefore it’s essential to secure as many resources as possible in order to effectively treat the most patients.