by Tony Chen

Here are some random insights and tidbits that I've heard recently...

Check out this audio/visual slideshow about a day in the life of being at Newton-Wellesley Hospital in Boston. Since I recently picked up the banjo, I particularly enjoyed the background music on this!

"There are more freestanding imaging centers in Florida than there are Burger Kings" - Florida Hospital COO (note: there are 617 freestanding imaging centers in FL)

"Critics' concerns about in-store clinics' continuity of care remain unfounded" - Richard Bohmer of the Harvard University Business School in NEJM

"Health care previously has been delivered on the health care system's terms -- not the user's terms. We're meeting a need." said Peter Miller, president, CEO and cofounder of Take Care. (not a great quote to engender good relationships with health care systems, eh?)

"They're too busy" - Spokeswoman Petra Langer for Partners HealthCare in Boston on why their executives are not a blogging group.

"Eclipsys being bought by Oracle? Any truth to this rumor?" - Mulva. For more HIMSS gossip, go to this post from HISTalk.

A 3 hospital system, MediSys, just started a blog... sorta as a community newsletter.

HCA gone private, now Triad... "The decision to take the company private is the culmination of a strategic planning process initiated several months ago to explore the various options available to the company to enhance shareholder value," Triad CEO Denny Shelton (anyone else wondering what the private investors see that hospital management doesn't? Untapped value)

In 2020, half of the US population will be living with a chronic disease. Out of those, 1/4 will have 2 or more chronic diseases. Hospitals must think carefully through continuity of care, or else." - Consultant

"The next generation of retail clinics will be chronic disease screening centers. First off, for heart disease." Hospital VP

"We don't have a healthcare crisis in the United States, we have a health crisis"

"Retail Clinics are here to stay" - Sg2 Director

"I think it's absolutely incredible. The smallest detail that can change a room has been thought of. None of the places I go to are remotely like this. It's a shame they are not" - Elizabeth Edwards after visiting Nick Jacob's Planetree Hospital, WindberCare

"Redmond's intent regarding the booming health care industry is reflected in the resources it's throwing that way. The company had six health care-focused staff members in 2000; now, its Health Solutions Group numbers more than 600." - Microsoft at HIMSS