Be sure to check out the most recent Health Wonk Review, highlighting the best health care

posts of the past two weeks.  David Harlow, of the Health Care Law Blog is the host, and he has done a superb job of rounding up some very interesting posts, including:

Daniel Goldberg’ piece on Medical Humanities Blog explaining the McKeown thesis.  In brief, “McKeown suggests that medicine isn’t necessarily all it’s cracked up to be — 17th-to 20th-century improvements in population health measures likely had more to do with social and economic changes (e.g., improvements in the standard of living) than with public health and medicine (e.g., drugs and shiny objects).”

Joanne Kenen’s interview with, Geisinger CEO Glenn Steele on New Health Dialogue . Geisinger has been

making the “medical home” concept work, and other hospitals and policy experts are trying to figure out how to adapt the model.

Annie, blogging at Home of the Brave, “wondering why nurses and nursing aren’t a bigger part of the discussion on health care reform, given their work in the front lines.”

Louise, of Colorado Health Insurance Insider, who agrees with HealthBeat that advanced medical technology is helping to drive healthcare costs through the roof, but takes issue with my statement that Medicare should be using its clout to negotiate for lower prices. Louise points out that Medicare “has negotiated rates that are far lower than private health insurance reimbursement amounts on many treatments—including dialysis.”  Fair enough—but I’d still like to see Medicare doing what other governments do when it comes to negotiating for discounts with drug-makers, as well as device-makers.

Roy Poses, who castigates Ascension Health for its cut and run maneuver in Detroit at Health Care Renewal, (Ascension closed an inner city hospital while building a new suburban facility).

There are just a few highlights. For the full review, see http://healthblawg.typepad.com/healthblawg/2008/10/health-wonk-review-samhain-edition.html