3,000 consecutive days of running 30 minutes or more

3,000 consecutive days of running

 

Yesterday I completed 3,000 consecutive days of running 30 minutes or more .  I started this effort back on March 7, 2002.  I ran in Turkey 2002, Australia and New Zealand  2003, the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington DC 2005, the Philippines several times, and Tokyo in 2006.   I was committed to do everything I could through my behavior to cut my healthcare cost.  I am careful to complete all my annual physical exams and all preventive health activities.  I support a healthy diet and lifestyle.  I believe we all have a responsibility to our selves and our community to make a reasonable effort to support our health.    

I applied the concept of metrics to my healthcare.  When I started this current running streak I decided to count the consecutive days for motivation.  I used the approach of identifying measurements (# of consecutive days in this case) and tracking the results to define success. I used this approach many times in business.  I also defined metrics and tracked results with my diet.  I track the number of days I that I do not eat specific types of food.  I also track the number of consecutive days that I took a salad to work for lunch.  During my non-running workout I track the number of push-ups, sit-ups, and exercise wheel reps I do.  So far this year I have done over 8,000 push-ups.  Establishing goals and tracking activities that lead to the goal does work.  It creates urgency which leads to successful results.     

I belive we can apply metrics to many things such as advancing causes, supporting government reforms, and helping the environment.  I track the number of consecutive days I walk to the grocery store and take my Polly Dicta re-usable bag to carry the groceries.  You can customize your daily routine so that you track your activities and define success.    

Metrics works for me, what works for you.  I would love to hear your success stories.    

Jim Brandt, Facebook  

Healthcare and Technology

Last week I attended the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) conference in Atlanta.  This organization was created almost 50 years ago.  The nation’s top healthcare technology professionals participated in this annual conference.  Of course I sat through several sessions listening to high level speakers talk about the Obama initiatives and how those initiatives will change healthcare as we know it.  Terms like EMR (electronic medical record), CPOE (computerized physician order entry), and HIS (hospital information system) were debated endlessly.  One point that came across loud and clear was that reducing healthcare cost and improving the delivery of healthcare was much more than a government problem.  The technology leaders were confident that they do not have to wait for a government program; efficiency and cost can be improved dramatically with more advanced systems.  Using electronic medical records instead of paper will make the information available to all healthcare professionals who need the information when they need it. 

Chesley Sullenberger, the pilot who landed the US Air plane on the Hudson River was a keynote speaker.  He explained how the American medical community could learn a lesson from American aviation.  He reviewed the outstanding safety record of American aviation.  He stressed how few aviation accidents America has experienced per million flight hours.  Then he repeated the statistics spoken by many speakers before him about the track record for healthcare.  He made an interesting observation.  He said the difference between American Aviation and American Healthcare is that the FAA allows pilots and air crew members to report mistakes without penalty.  The FAA has built a database of reports from crew members for decades.  They work hard to help improve procedures from the mistakes and make sure those mistakes do not turn into injury or loss of life.  Healthcare does not work that way.  I was a pilot in the Marine Corps and I do remember the aviation culture that encouraged reporting of any situation that affected the safety of the plane or its crew.  I do not have experience in the healthcare industry so I am not sure about the comparison, but I am going to do some research and post a new blog when I know more.

Another memorable session was about Medicare fraud.  The speaker said that Medicare fraud was between 10% and 15% of the entire Medicare budget.  I was shocked to learn that people were stealing that much money from all of us.  According to The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation the 2009 Medicare budget was about $420 billion.  That means that people are stealing between $40 billion and $60 billion a year.  The link to the fact sheet from the Kaiser Family Foundation is here.  Examples of obvious claims included:  doctors who billed over 80 hours in a day, clinics who billed for doctors who had died three years earlier, and claims for women who received prostate procedures.  It is clear that technology can prevent many of these claims from being paid.  The speaker made the point that for every dollar spent on investigators the government receives $1.50 in fines and/or savings. 

Today I talk with California Assemblyman Hector De La Torre (candidate for California Insurance Commissioner).  When I asked him about the level of Medicare fraud he agreed with the estimate and mentioned that the level of Medicaid fraud in California is very high as well.  He gave me similar examples of fraud in California. 

I feel strongly that regardless of the healthcare bill from Congress, there are many things we can do to control the cost of healthcare and improve the quality.  We can all work hard to support our own health by maintaining fitness, eating properly, and exercising good judgement on preventative exams.   You should work as hard as you can to advance the healthcare bill you think will be best for America, But none of us should wait for the government.  We need to do all we can to make things better now.