joeflower, Author at Joe Flower Healthcare Futurist https://imaginewhatif.com/author/joeflower/ Healthcare Speaker, Consultant Tue, 11 Apr 2017 15:55:02 +0000 en-US hourly 1 Healthcare Economics: Why this stuff doesn’t work the way you think it does — and how to fix it https://imaginewhatif.com/healthcare-economics-why-stuff-doesnt-work-way-you-think-how-to-fix/ https://imaginewhatif.com/healthcare-economics-why-stuff-doesnt-work-way-you-think-how-to-fix/#comments Sat, 18 Mar 2017 00:12:33 +0000 https://imaginewhatif.com/?p=3816 Healthcare economics are weird, opaque, and convoluted. The business of healthcare is unlike any other business. The politicians and pundits arguing about how to fix healthcare in the United States don’t understand what they are trying to fix. Neither do you, probably, because almost no one does. So let me help with this explainer, your best eight minutes on healthcare economics, why healthcare economics are different, and what would work.

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]]> https://imaginewhatif.com/healthcare-economics-why-stuff-doesnt-work-way-you-think-how-to-fix/feed/ 1 Healthcare: Where’s the Bin Marked “Productivity”? Where’s the Lever Marked “More”? https://imaginewhatif.com/healthcare-wheres-the-bin-marked-productivity-wheres-the-lever-marked-more/ Tue, 01 Nov 2016 14:48:41 +0000 https://imaginewhatif.com/?p=3104 Healthcare costs too much, and we don’t get enough of the healthcare that we need. This is our core problem in one word: “productivity.” The obvious difficulties of healthcare in the U.S., where we can’t seem to take care of everyone, millions are saddled with coverage that is too expensive for them to really use, Medicaid […]

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]]> Blockchains: Turbo-charging Healthcare Transactions https://imaginewhatif.com/blockchains-turbo-charging-healthcare-transactions/ Thu, 06 Oct 2016 14:18:58 +0000 https://imaginewhatif.com/?p=3135 What It is: You’ve heard of bitcoin, that magical digital money not attached to any national economy or banking system? Blockchain is the technology behind it. It’s a clever extension of existing encryption techniques that enables trusted, secure transactions of any type, even with total strangers, even without knowing the identity of the counterparties — […]

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]]> Neural Dust: the blind see, the lame walk? https://imaginewhatif.com/neural-dust-the-blind-see-the-lame-walk/ https://imaginewhatif.com/neural-dust-the-blind-see-the-lame-walk/#comments Thu, 18 Aug 2016 22:21:11 +0000 https://imaginewhatif.com/?p=3097 What it is: A tiny encapsulated bit of circuitry, with sensors and a chip, that can be inserted into your brain (or actually, anywhere in your body), to check out the local conditions and report back. Here’s the actual paper in Cell from the UC Berkeley scientists and here’s a bit about it on the […]

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]]> https://imaginewhatif.com/neural-dust-the-blind-see-the-lame-walk/feed/ 1 Follow the money. Then follow the trust. https://imaginewhatif.com/follow-the-money-then-follow-the-trust/ https://imaginewhatif.com/follow-the-money-then-follow-the-trust/#comments Wed, 20 Jul 2016 23:12:57 +0000 https://imaginewhatif.com/?p=3057 How will healthcare be distributed in the future? In ways that bear only some resemblance to the way it is distributed today. The changes will be driven by the new economics of healthcare embedded in the “volume to value” movement, based as it is on “provider-sponsored risk,” the basic, obvious and yet startlingly opaque logic […]

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]]> https://imaginewhatif.com/follow-the-money-then-follow-the-trust/feed/ 3 Trust. Partners. The Secret Sauce of the Next Healthcare https://imaginewhatif.com/trust-partners-the-secret-sauce-of-the-next-healthcare/ https://imaginewhatif.com/trust-partners-the-secret-sauce-of-the-next-healthcare/#comments Wed, 20 Jul 2016 19:17:32 +0000 https://imaginewhatif.com/?p=3053 The double doors to the ambulance bay slide open, and one more patient on a gurney is hauled across the threshold of your Emergency Department. This one’s in diabetic shock. Stop the picture right there and ask yourself: Is this a medical success, because you can do something for this person? Or a medical failure, […]

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]]> https://imaginewhatif.com/trust-partners-the-secret-sauce-of-the-next-healthcare/feed/ 3 Why Did Healthcare Inflation Slow Down? Why Does It Matter? https://imaginewhatif.com/why-did-healthcare-inflation-slow-down-why-does-it-matter/ Thu, 30 Jun 2016 18:07:25 +0000 https://imaginewhatif.com/?p=3039 The costs of healthcare turned a corner in 2009. You can see it on any graph of National Health Expenditures, whether by dollars or dollars per capita or percentage of the economy. There is a decided downward bend in the trend line between 2008 and 2009. The line then stays nearly flat, close to or […]

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]]> Artificial Intelligence Picks Up Speed https://imaginewhatif.com/artificial-intelligence-picks-up-speed/ Wed, 22 Jun 2016 13:54:51 +0000 https://imaginewhatif.com/?p=2992 What it is: Pundits, start-ups, and marketing firms right now are throwing the term “Artificial Intelligence” like confetti on a parade. It’s the new “greenwashing.” What makes an AI system different from a really good program with massive computing power and a monster database is that the computer will only do what you program it […]

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]]> Republican State Struggles To Keep Obamacare Alive https://imaginewhatif.com/republican-state-struggles-to-keep-obamacare-alive/ Wed, 22 Jun 2016 13:00:40 +0000 https://imaginewhatif.com/?p=3005 What it is: Alaska’s GOP-dominated legislature has passed and Sarah Palin endorsed Governor Bill Walker has signed a bill to bail out the state’s one remaining Obamacare insurer, using $55 million in tax money. Take a look: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/alaska-obamacare-collapse-224149 What it is not: A sign that Republican states are just caving in to the inevitability of […]

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]]> Are We Ready for Augmented Reality in Healthcare and Medicine? https://imaginewhatif.com/are-we-ready-for-augmented-reality-in-healthcare-and-medicine/ Wed, 15 Jun 2016 16:09:37 +0000 https://imaginewhatif.com/?p=2969 What it is: Keiichi Matsuda created a video to simulate an “augmented reality” or “hyper-reality” future, in which the real world around you is “augmented” with all kinds of information feeds. Take a look below, it’s a little over 6 minutes long and it is more than a little astonishing. HYPER-REALITY from Keiichi Matsuda on Vimeo. […]

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