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.

This New Year I am experimenting, instead of resoluting. (I know, it’s not a real word. But it just sounded right.) I’m interested in how technology can play a role in behavior change, how to eat less, drink enough water, exercise more, and sleep better.

Six months after starting my exploration of health care reform, I am struck by how Indian Country is both a part of the health care debate and yet absent from its larger discussion.

The IHS does ration care – but that’s because it has only so much money in its budget. And, the IHS isn’t perfect with its spending, but is that also a reflection of its limited budget?

What do we want in a health care system? It’s a question Dr. Donald Berwick asked an audience of 5,000-plus people at the Institute for Health Care Improvement’s National Forum on Tuesday.

The month of December promises to be full of drama: Will the Senate pass health care reform? Is there enough time to debate the hundreds of expected amendments before Christmas? And at the top of the wish list, are there really 60 votes to pass a bill?

Say what you like about health care reform, the fact is that Indian Country is included in a big way this time around. If either the House or the Senate bill becomes law, there will be a significant boost in resources for the Indian Health system.

Every president is challenged by the nature of bureaucracy, and the agency that best reflects that power is the Office of Management and Budget.

Health care reform will be high on the list of topics for President Barack Obama’s meeting next Thursday with representatives of the nation’s 564 federally recognized tribes.

Health care reform will be high on the list of topics for President Barack Obama’s meeting next Thursday with representatives of the nation’s 564 federally recognized tribes.

How long will the health care reform debate drag on? The Hill newspaper says "deep into December and possibly beyond by a lengthy floor debate." If that seems like a long time, consider that the reauthorization of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act has been pending since 1999.

The idea that American Indians should be exempted from any mandate to purchase health insurance has almost become a given in the debate about health care reform.

There is clearly consensus to do something – but any agreement breaks down when the specifics are spelled out. It’s likely there will not be a single Republican vote in the House and at best only one or two Republican votes in the Senate.

Members of Congress receive effortless health care. Like all government employees, there is a federal benefit plan with a basket of insurance options. But that’s Plan B. The better deal is the full service clinic staffed by Navy doctors.

This week the Senate Finance Committee continues what’s called an “open executive session,” the process of weeding through hundreds of amendments to the America’s Healthy Future Act of 2009.

At the National Indian Health Board Consumer Conference last week several members of the U.S. Senate and House were critical of the historic under-funding of IHS.

Requiring everyone to buy health insurance would be difficult in Indian Country. Already Indian Country reflects the highest number of Americans who do not sign up for Medicare.

'Poor old grandma' is a reason opponents say they will fight health care reform. Grandma will lose services, her Medicare will be less than it is, and some bureaucrat far away will decide when it's her time to die.

The late Sen. Edward Kennedy saved the Indian Health Care Improvement Act by stepping aside at a critical moment.

Here's an irony: The federal government, which is demanding that all employers offer health care benefits to workers, does not offer health care benefits to all its employees.

There are only three segments of the U.S. population that now receive direct "government-run" health care, including Native Americans. Yet in the health-care debate, the programs that the federal government already operates are not part of the discussion. Go figure. Then this was the way it was when Medicare was created, too.