Can anyone share data of any kind on transportation barriers to health care (e.g., lack of affordable transportation options and missed medical appointments)? Web searches indicate that many believe transportation is a significant challenge but has anybody documented the extent of the problem?

PBS is premiering its newest documentary, U.S. Health Care: The Good News, around the country this week. Exploring communities that provide high quality care at low cost, the film is based on research by the Dartmouth Atlas Project and studies regions of the country that offer different delivery models, but value both the physical and fiscal health of their patients. Check your local listings, or watch it online at http://www.pbs.org/programs/us-health-care-good-news.

Dr. Berwick opens up about why he was pushed out of office; why the healthcare bill is so controversial; and how we can save up to a trillion dollars a year in medical spending. "The Doctor is Out" episode for $1.99

See how Target uses data to shape customers’ behavior. After shock and awe, consider the lessons in here for health behavior change / public health. (NYTimes Mag) http://nyti.ms/zUskwz

Kudos to our colleague Harold Miller, who gets a great shout out in this Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editorial for his progressive thinking on health care reimbursement.

Some breaking news: Aneesh Chopra is returning to the Advisory Board

This is big! GE is out today with an announcement that health care improvement work, piloted in Cincinnati, has been so successful, GE will roll out similar programs in Louisville, KY and Erie, PA. http://www.thestreet.com/story/11414487/1/ge-highlights-what-works-in-america-focuses-on-manufacturing-innovation-jobs-and-trade.html

Why is the consumer voice important in healthcare? Hear one perspective in this video from the Aligning Forces for Quality national meeting, featuring the incredible Betsy Stapleton of the AF4Q Humboldt County Alliance (@CHAHumboldt). bit.ly/xINO6K

Regional Health Improvement Collaboratives: Essential Elements for Successful Healthcare Reform 2nd edition provides profiles on 22 Regional Health Improvement Collaboratives (RHIC) and their leaders, including Quality Quest for Health of Illinois. Last year’s report has been downloaded 43,468 times. An average of over 100 downloads every day for the past year! I would encourage you to read this valuable and interesting report, and more importantly, to do whatever you can to support your local RHIC.

Webinar - Making IT Meaningful: How Consumers Value and Trust Health IT

The multi-stakeholder team in Western NY is moving and shaking! Many ideas from this recent visit, including using the NQF Measure Authoring Tool (an online resource to turn a 'paper' measure into eMeasure format) to create standard versions of specific measures so everyone in the region using electronic data will be calculating the measure the same way. Smart!

Not enough time to exercise? this article may have an option we could all find time to do. I for one am much more likely to do this than a long walk. What say y'all?

You might find the tweet stream from AcademyHealth's National Health Policy Conference interesting. It's at #NHPC12 We learned about health reform and especially Exchanges from a few states. Other topics included dual eligibles, new directions in reporting quality, the ACA legal challenge, investment trends in healthcare, media and health policy, and much more.

Please download the pdf of our white paper "Healther by Design: Creating Accountable Care Communities". http://www.abiakron.org/acc-white-paper www.abiakron.org/acc Hope you enjoy reading and welcome feedback and comments!! Vicki England Patton, MS

Tomorrow: Vince Kuraitis on HIT platforms and 'accountable care'. http://m.blogtalkradio.com/acowatch/2012/02/15/this-week-in-accountable-care-with-vince-kuraitis

Last week I got a new diagnosis (basal cell carcinoma - not threatening). Thinking about my wants, and my horrible experience list month trying to research the costs of shingles vaccines, I did what any responsible buyer would do: I issued an RFP. http://bit.ly/ePDaveBCC

Here is a preview of HIMSS ~ cloud, mobile and collaboration

A new RWJF-sponsored survey published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine finds that families enrolled in high-deductible health plans often delay or forgo care for chronic conditions. Compared to families enrolled in traditional plans, the families with high deductibles are three to four times as likely to wait to get the care they need, or skip it entirely.

Today's NEJM article, "Sources of Regional Variation in Medicare Part D Drug Spending" finds that selection of lower-cost generics varies widely. High cost regions like Miami, FL and McAllen, TX choose brands much more often than low cost regions like Dearborn, MI and Rochester MN. The Medicare program and beneficiaries would have saved $4.5 billion if all regions adopted the prescribing practices of low cost regions. http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa1104816?query=TOC#t=articleBackground Quality Quest for Health of Illinois reports generic prescribing by individual clinic location for seven specialties (Primary care, Pediatrics, OB/GYN, Orthopedics, ENT, Behavioral Health and Cardiology) in 55 counties of the state. Generic prescribing has increased but wide variation by clinic site and clinician remain opportunities to make healthcare more affordable. http://www.qualityquest.org/quality-reports/affordable_medications/index.php Quality Quest will begin posting Generic Prescribing reports by individual clinician in second quarter of this year.

This morning Secretary Sebelius announced Strong Start, an initiative to increase healthy deliveries and reduce preterm births. www.innovation.cms.gov/initiatives/strong-start In her remarks she cited the value of public reporting. At Leapfrog we have seen the impact of transparency in maternity care, with significant progress in reducing the prevalence of early elective deliveries since we first publicly reported on the measure last January. We are proud to support Strong Start and hope we see even more momentum next year in stopping this unsafe practice. www.leapfroggroup.org/tooearlydeliveries