Thanksgiving Traditions: Turkey, Black Friday, Diet . . .

Clinical Cases and Images looks at the predictability of humans courtesy of Google Trends. Below is an example of the traditions of turkey (blue), Black Friday (red) and diet (orange). Advice for the holidays from my dad, a retired family physician from Wetzel County, "everything in moderation." Please remember to think about and share with each other why you are thankful. Happy Thanksgiving!

Should Hospitals Blog?

Practical advice from Tony at Hospital Impact on the question of "should hospitals blog?" Good advice for anyone thinking about starting a health related or business blog.

I regularly follow both Nick Jacobs at Nick's Blog and Paul Levy at Running a Hospital cited in Tony's post. Both are examples of extremely successful blogging hospital CEOs who understand the Live Web medium. Take for example the fact that Paul commented on Tony's post four hours after it was published (see the post comments).

I agree with Tony's perspective and warning when he says:

It's a lot of work and there is no hard-core ROI, but for the right type of person, it pays off in other ways. Both of these CEOs can probably point to examples where their blog put out a PR fire before it could start. They've built trust and credibility through the blog. They've humanized the hospital through the blog. So when fires do come (and of course, they will), they're well positioned to engage authentically. We are entering an age where proactive transparency is rewarded and reactive transparency is lame.

One word of warning. Don't blog if your organization:
* Doesn't trust their employees.
* Doesn't want to hear bad news.
* Wants absolute control over their message and reputation (this isn't happening anymore anyways)
* (the kicker) Doesn't have someone who's really wired to do it.

Music From The Mountains: Who was Johnnie B. Good?

West Virginia has always had a rich music history and is still creating a rich musical history through Mountain Stage (and Newsong), Vandalia, Appalachian String Band Music Festival, All Good Music Festival, and from every nook, cranny, hill and holler.

Last week the first annual West Virginia Music Hall of Fame inductions occurred in Charleston. It was a all star night event and all the living inductees made it to the event. In attendance were For more on the inductees check out the Virtual Hall of Fame. Also read the insight from The West Virginia Music Hall of Fame at LA Woman by emcee for the evening and West Virginia native, Ann Magnuson.

Included in the class was pianist, Johnnie Johnson (wikipedia entry)who is considered by many to be the father of rock 'n' roll piano. He played with Chuck Berry and was the inspiration for the classic, "Johnny B. Goode."

Create WV Conference Wrap Up

Due to prior commitments and client demands I wasn't able to attend the Create West Virginia Conference held this week at Stonewall Resort.

Over the past two days I received a number of emails and facebook comments from friends and colleagues about the quality of the content and expressing excitement about the event. If you didn't attend and want to get a flavor for the sessions be sure to check out some of the presentations on the Create WV website and wrap up comments and photos on the Create WV Blog. For more read what other are saying about the conference.

I was particular interested in the presentation by Anthony Salcito, General Manager U.S. Education for Microsoft, after reading the live blogging notes by Lee Kraus who blogs about learning and technology issues out of central West Virginia. Read through Mr. Salcito's presentation for some eye opening facts about what we all face as a result of the growing global community. His slides remind me a bit of the video, Shift Happens - Globalization.

Photo courtesy of one of West Virginia's most creative artists, Charleston Jupiter Hamilton.

WVHCA Issues Proposed Amendments to Cardiac CatheterizationStandards

The West Virginia Health Care Authority issued and approved on November 14, 2007, proposed amendments to the Cardiac Catheterization Standards.

The Notice of Public Comment Period indicates that comments must be submitted to the Authority by December 14, 2007.

WVHCA Approves New Certificate of Need CT Standards

Eric Eyre of the Charleston Gazette reports on the board decision by the West Virginia Health Care Authority approving new Computerized Tomography (CT) Standards under West Virginia's Certificate of Need Program. The proposed standards will now be sent to Governor Manchin for final approval.

Eyre reports:

A state agency cleared the way Wednesday for doctors across West Virginia to put diagnostic imaging equipment in their offices, a move hospital executives predict will drive up health costs and force them to raise rates.

West Virginia Health Care Authority members voted unanimously to approve standards that doctors’ offices must meet before the state allows them to buy and use computed tomography machines, also known as CT scanners.

The authority wrestled with the standards for nearly a year. “We tried to strike a balance between all of the competing interests,” said board chairwoman Sonia Chambers. “We tried to keep the best interests of the citizens of West Virginia in mind.”

The authority plans to send the standards to Gov. Joe Manchin, who has 30 days to give them final approval. . .

For more background information check out my previous post. Additional background information, including comments by various groups on the proposed standards, can be found on the the Authority's CT Services Workgroup Meeting site.

Spread The Word: World Diabetes Day

Fellow health care blogger, Amy Tenderich of Diabetes Mine asked that I help spread the word about National Diabetes Month (November) and World Diabetes Day on November 14. Here is her post, Diabetes Mine: World Diabetes Day Agenda Grows, and Grows...

On November 14 landmarks around the world (including the Empire State Building) will be lighting up using the color of the World Diabetes Day logo.
Why don't we light up something in West Virginia to show support? Why not the WV Capitol?

Why should West Virginians care about this? West Virginia ranks #1 in Adult's with Diabetes in the United States at 11.1% (U.S. Average is 7.4%). For more information check out the WV Diabetes Prevention and Control Program (note: the summary info indicates WV rate in 2006 at 12.1%).