I’m helping my brother-in-law get some of his previously published and as-yet unpublished works on the Kindle store. You can check his print and eBook titles out at http://amazon.com/author/mhickins His work is hilarious, often shocking, but well worth a look see. Amazon Prime members can get free stories on their Kindle. Go download! continue reading

Yes, it’s true. I wanted to build the Illinois Health Care Report Card just so I could finally write a blog post laden with Blues Brother quotes. You could say I was on a mission from God. Our Lady of Blessed Web Site Acceleration don’t fail us now. Jokes aside, the IPRO eServices team has never worked… continue reading

A bit of a departure from my usual transparency efforts, but this week we launched our Clinical Data Portal, a Web-based portal that allows physicians to upload clinical data directly from the chart or from an electronic medical record software and be assessed instantly on their clinical performance. Physicians who score high enough automatically start receiving… continue reading

Over the past six years I’ve been building consumer-oriented report health care cards pretty much non-stop. The field is young and short on evidence, but it’s interesting work with noticeable impact. However, the truth is that the largest portion of readers of these report cards are not consumers, but providers. To that end, I have… continue reading

Having received several questions about fellow Welshman Aneurin Bevan’s creation of a National Health Service in the United Kingdom, I am posting here chapter five of his book, “In Place of Fear”. In it, Nye reflects on the opposition he dealt with, questions that arose and the early years of the Service. I think much… continue reading

I am a geek. A hacker. A smart dude. I think a lot of myself, and once in awhile it’s warranted. Which is why, when my Internet phone service stopped working I called and complained, and when I didn’t get the answers I wanted, or a smart-enough-sounding tech support person on the phone, I haughtily… continue reading