Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays to all my regular readers! Wishing you, your family and friends the best over the holidays.

A Coffield family tradition is painting Christmas cookies each year. It all started with an incredible women and family neighbor, Mrs. Martin, who lived into her 100s. Mrs. Martin collected cookie cutters (and I mean collected). Most draws in her kitchen were full of cookie cutters from around the world. Each year she would invite all the neighbor kids into her house to paint cookies with brushes and decorate them with what now seems like hundreds of toppings. A wonderful childhood experience. Watching it now with my own children and others who happen to stumble into the event is the way it brings out the creativity of people. Below are a few photos of this years artwork.

WVHCA Grants Motion to Dissolve Stay in Manor Care CON

Yesterday the West Virginia Health Care Authority issued an Order Dissolving Stay. The Order granted MCHCR's (Carlyle Group) Motion to Dissolve Stay but denied the Motion to Affirm the Initial CON Decision.

The Authority set January 7 as the date for initial briefs to be submitted by both parties as a result of the Reconsideration Hearing held on December 14.

Support The Mountaineers!

The last week has been tough for all West Virginians with the untimely departure of Rich Rodriguez for what he believes is greener grass in Michigan.

Today I got the email below from my partner and friend, Chris Brumley, loyal Mountaineer Fan and all around good guy.

He is heading up a grassroots effort to allow all Mountaineer Fans to show their support for the players and the program and do something great for kids in the Glendale, Arizona area. UPDATE: Chris has made arrangements with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metropolitan Phoenix who are planning a field trip to the game. The WVU Athletic Department has agreed to allow a purchase of block seats so the kids can sit together. Also, in the works are gold t-shirts to be donated.

Think back to the first time you got to go to (old or new) Mountaineer Stadium and watch the Mountaineers. Think about giving that experience away to a kid in Arizona. Photo to the right is my son's first trip to watch the Mountaineers in 2003.

Good luck to the Mountaineer players and remaining coaches (Bill Stewart, who hails from my hometown of New Martinsville has admirably stepped in to lead the Mountaineers).

After reading the message below if you are interested in supporting the effort by buying a ticket please notify me at RCoffield@fsblaw.com or Chris via email at CBrumley@fsblaw.com. Send your check written to: Chris Brumley, 200 Capitol Street, Charleston, WV 25338. Deadline to notify via email is December 27. Chris has arranged with Boys & Girls Club to get an acknowledgment letter and will do a follow up donor letter to each donor to acknowledge their donation for tax purposes.

I will periodically update the number of ticket sponsored here - so check back:
12/21 @ 7:30am: 55
12/21 @ 12 noon: 65
12/22 @ 12 noon: 92
12/26 @ 12 noon: 98

12/27 @ 12 noon (final count): 128 tickets have been donated to the Phoenix Metropolitan Boys and Girls Club, with Gold T-Shirts to match. The donation is equivalent to a cash donation of more than $17,500.00. Way to go WVU fans!

Hello Everyone:

This email is an invitation. It is inspired by a friend of mine, Paul White, who every year at this time takes the opportunity, and dedicates his time, to benefiting others during the holiday season by coordinating a donation effort to the less fortunate. This is also a solicitation and it is not intended to distract from Paul’s charitable efforts whatsoever, and if you are not interested please do not rely as I sent this out to most every email address I have!!!!

As I have watched the last week unfold, and our football program and State take a severe hit with the Rich Rod/WVU debacle, I almost forgot about the players and the program that are most affected by all the turmoil. Obviously, these negative events have taken away from the successes of this season, the program, and the enjoyment of a BCS bowl game. With that said, it is not too late. While I doubt anyone is going to travel to the Fiesta Bowl that was not planning to before these events, we can still provide the support that WVU fans have become so renown for, and do something good for the less fortunate.

I am willing to coordinate and propose the following:

1. I propose that everyone that can email me back and pledge to buy One ticket to the bowl game through the university. ( I think they are $135 per tix, feel free to buy more if you like, I will also accept ½ tix donations and match them up, that’s $67.50 for the math impaired)

2. I will fund the purchase and collect the $ from each person individually.

3. We will donate the tickets we purchase to boy/girls clubs or other worthy charities in the area so they can attend the game. (I have family there that can identify charities, but anyone that knows of a worthy charitable group please suggest).

4. I will follow up with a letter to each person noting their purchase and subsequent donation to the charity by letter.

This is the best way I can think of to support this team, WVU, and the less fortunate during the Holiday Season, all in one act. So if you choose to, email me back and I will out the coordination into this effort. Please do not reply to this unless you are in since I sent it to most everyone on my email list and my blackberry cannot take the traffic. Also, feel free to fw this to anyone you think may be interested.

Lets Bring on the Mountaineers!!!!!!

Thanks to my fellow WV bloggers for the linking to the post and spreading the word:

• This Is Not My Blog
• Marketing Genius from Maple Creative

WV Chamber of Commerce President Calls for EHRs

In yesterday's Charleston Daily Mail, Steve Roberts, president of the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce, was quoted as calling for a statewide electronic health record system to reduce health care costs and increase the value of care.

The full article, Chamber of Commerce promotes electronic record-keeping, can be read via the Charleston Daily Mail.

For more information on the State Chamber's position check out the Chamber's 2008 Policy Paper on Health Information Technology.

Lights, Camera, Action . . . Health 2.0

Matthew Holt of The Health Care Blog sent me a message that they are close to announcing the agenda for the March 2008 Health 2.0 Spring Fling in San Diego. In preparation for the conference the planners are out seeking real life examples of Health 2.0 technologies in action.

Below is Matthew's summary of the panel format and information on how you can participate or help to locate someone using health 2.0 type technology to improve the every day care of their patients.

I plan to submit some suggestions of a couple of West Virginia providers for the Health 2.0 team to check out. If you know of someone who might fit the mold for connecting consumers to providers -- please leave a comment or send an email directly to John at the email listed below.

We are excited to announce a new panel format at our Spring Health 2.0 conference, "Connecting Consumers and Providers" in San Diego on March 3-4, 2008. In addition to spotlighting demos and reactions from industry experts, we will be capturing the user-experience of people living with health conditions as they use Health 2.0 technologies in their everyday lives.

Has the web changed your life? Does it help you deal with the isolation of a condition or improve your quality of life in some other way? We are looking for a few good consumers/patients to feature live on stage or in a video segment. Our roving video crew will be traveling the country to document interesting real-life stories showing how Health 2.0 impacts both people and the health care system.

And for those of you budding videographers, we are also accepting user-generated video clips that show how you are using Health 2.0 technologies in your daily life. Maybe it's an active online community where you've found support, a portable medical device, an online tracking tool, a blog, a video game, a virtual world, or some combination of the above. If you have something to say, we'd love to hear about it so we can help you share your stories with your peers and other members of the Health 2.0 community. We welcome you to join the conversation with some of the most progressive minds in health care including consumers, health providers, technologists and entrepreneurs. If you are a physician using health 2.0 technologies to connect with your patients or if you know of patients for whom technology has made a real difference, please drop us a line.

Email John our resident Health 2.0 web guru/talent scout at john@health2con.com.

Health Wonk Review - December 13

Check out the final 2007 edition of Health Wonk Review, a round up of the best health policy blog posts, hosted by fellow health law blogger, David Harlow at HealthBlawg.

Check out the Health Wonk Review blog for more information on how to be a host.

Physician Liability: Was Accident Foreseeable By Treating Physician?

A colleague pointed out this WSJ Law Blog post via the WSJ Health Blog reporting on a ruling made by the Massachusetts's Supreme Judicial Court. The ruling found a physician liable for failing to warn his patient about the side effects of the medications and the potential danger of driving while taking them.

The Boston Globe reports on the case and a copy of the slip opinion in the decision of Lyn-Ann Coombes, administratix v. Roland J. Florio, SJC-09869 December 10, 2007 can be found on the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts decision website.

Although I have not had a chance to read the full opinion, the legal question that comes to mind (and which depends upon the facts in each case) is whether it was foreseeable by the physician that the patient (tortfeasor driver) was likely to have an accident? Remember Palsgraff? Was a duty owed and how broad should that duty be?

The blog post indicates that Justice Cordy's dissent states that the ruling "introduces a new audience to which the physician must attend -- everyone who might come in contact with the patient."