Anyone who receives the holiday e-greetings from Doctor's Channel knows they are usually goofy skits featuring little dogs. This 4th of July was even more bizarre, but I think most people agree it's a worthwhile message. So, I suppose the most I can say is to suspend judgement of the message despite the messenger.

Have a great 4th of July! We are fortunate to live in the greatest country on the planet.

I would like to congratulate the iMedExchange team members driving the VitalSigns family of tools aimed at helping physicians get and stay plugged into the critical healthcare policy/reform efforts underway at the federal, state and even local levels.

Rob Coppedge is steering the VitalSigns efforts as its Executive Editor with significant contribution from Charlotte Graeber. Rob and Charlotte both have roots in Nashville, one of the central healthcare hubs in the United States, so it was only appropriate that Rob launch VitalSigns formally in Nashville this week.

I can't implore physicians strongly enough to get connected to the change underfoot. The healthcare industry, and specifically the practice environment, have the potential to change more in the next 12 months than in the last 50 years. VitalSigns isn't designed to give you access to information that's useful for cocktail party conversation. Nor is it yet another echo chamber of conversation with colleagues.

It's a series of tools to help very busy professionals stay on top of the practical elements of policy. It's intelligent conversation amongst colleagues with experts and leaders like Senator Tom Coburn, MD added to the mix. It's highlights of groups you may want to get plugged into like Docs4PatientCare. And it's tools that will allow the collective voice of physicians be heard at the highest levels of the debate...some things we are introducing today and others will follow in the coming days and weeks.

iMedExchange is built to serve physicians. VitalSigns is a quintessential example of who we are and what we do. Take two easy steps now:

1. Join iMedExchange and take advantage of the VitalSigns Resource Center on a regular basis.
2. Subscribe to the VitalSigns blog and get daily and weekly updates you need to have on your radar.

Apparently uber-cute but troubled Reese Witherspoon will be starring in a comedy about a drug rep who will likely become "enlightened" to the evils of big pharma. While I like Reese in her comedy roles, it will be interesting to see if this is actually funny or more Hollywood anti-corporate America drivel. Is Michael Moore still alive? Will he have a cameo?
Full story.

Until recently I had never heard of DNV and was under the impression that JCAHO had a virtual monopoly on accreditation. John Kreuger informed me otherwise in his new post: The Joint Commission Has Competition. Alternatives in Healthcare Accreditation

Howard Luks, MD is one of the most tech savvy physicians in the country (that's why we recruited him to be Medical Director at iMedExchange) and he is also incredibly socio-politically aware. He attended HealthCamp Boston yesterday and wrote a post today calling on his fellow physicians to get involved in the health care reform debate that is heating up by the week. Click here to read: Social Media, Health Care Reform...Where are the Physicians?

Thank you to everyone who attended the innovateHealth Capital Summit today. A special thanks to my cosponsors: Davis Wright Tremaine (Joe Whitford, Stu Campbell), Clarity Health Services (Peter Gelpi), Faultline Ventures (Rob Coppedge) and certainly my team at iMedExchange. By all accounts the event was a huge success!

Davis Wright Tremaine hosted the packed event at their HQ conference center. The logistics and coordination were flawless from the DWT organization. Most importantly, we were treated to a world class group of panelists starting with Michael Butler of Cascadia Capital and Andy Dixon of Harris Williams. Next up we were fortunate to have Al Scott of the Puget Sound Business Journal moderate a terrific panel comprised of Alan Frazier ( Frazier Healthcare Ventures ) and Gary Kaplan, MD (CEO of Virginia Mason Hospital ). The event closed with a large and lively panel mixed with capital experts and proven entrepreneurs.

Thanks to Charlotte Graeber for all her help including the "Live Blog" transcript of the event which you can review here.

Please feel free to join the innovateHealth Group on Facebook and offer suggestions for forthcoming events. We will be announcing the topic and date for our June event early next week.

From time to time I like to share great restaurant, travel or hotel experiences with readers of this blog. I hope you find them useful when you are conducting your own travels. I just returned from Dallas and experienced a relatively new hotel (almost 1 year old) that is immediately one of my top 5 favorites in the world! Regardless of price.

The Joule, owned by Tim Headington and part of the Starwood Hotel chain and is located in the middle of downtown Dallas. It's a renovated space with a 1920s neo-Gothic facade and a very hip interior. This hotel is to genuine what the W is to fake. Despite the terrific finishes, service and experience, the prices are not over the top...competitive.

Top 5 things I love about the Joule:

1. Incredibly cool design...but classy...not cheap or trying too hard.

2. Great service - from the valet to the front desk to the room service...all top rate.

3. Best functional layout I have seen in a standard shaped hotel room...EVER! Everything is where it should be and it flows. Huge multi-head shower, snazzy sink area, heavy cut class features and light dimmers everywhere.

4. Atmosphere...from a comfortable lounge to calming music in the room to the lighting...the choreography is well well done!

5. Charlie Palmer - Yes, they even pulled in a top of the line bar and steak-house. The restaurant is beautiful. You have to check out the art work...photo-shopped themes calling on classic children's stories like the "3 Little Pigs" and "Wizard of Oz." Apparently the artist is the son of the designer. Executive Chef Scott Romano puts a personal twist on classic steakhouse dishes like Poached Black Tiger Shrimp in Bloody Mary vinaigrette and Dry-Aged NY Strip Steak with bone marrow flan, and the wine selection includes an assortment of food-friendly wines such as white and red Burgundies as well as Pierre Peters- Champagne. You will also love the eWinebook list they bring to the table on a tablet computer. Slick!!!

Bottom line, I will never stay in another hotel in Dallas. It's that good. So, if you are headed to a medical conference in Dallas, book the Joule early and enjoy one of the bright spots of the city.

In good times lots of things get overlooked in the business world...some that are now getting deserved scrutiny. Over the past decade there has been little challenge to the standard venture capital model...raise as much money as possible...live well on a 2% management fee and add a nice carry to the mix. Claim you add value through a Rolodex and some semblance of operational or market expertise on the team.

As more and more of my friends began looking closely at VC portfolio returns before jumping into Fund #5, the enthusiasm to become an LP began to wane quickly. Sure there were the stellar funds...mostly carried by one or two big hits...but the long term, track record of most VCs has been dismal with those few exceptions.

Fred Wilson has been reviewing the math behind VC returns recently and to his credit was pointing out that the math didn't add up well. Azeem Azhar takes the math one step further thanks to data from Thomson Reuters...and the returns are even worse than Fred had depicted.

I don't normally post about health or nutrition per se, but an article caught my attention and I thought it worth sharing. Most everyone is probably aware that excessive sugar consumption is a problem and that sugar consumption has been on the rise for decades...there is obviously a direct link to obesity and diabetes trends.

To get some of the facts about sugar, consumption trends etc check out Sugar: 8 Shocking Facts from Yahoo's Shine.

The UK BBC News website is running a worthwhile diary of Guadalupe and Arturo...doctors working in the Mexico City area, battling swine flu and talking about how it affects the health community. Guadalupe works in cardiology and her husband works in the emergency services.

Swine flu: Doctors' diary

Dr. Kreuger and other members of iMedExchange are doing a great job of disseminating information and engaging in rational dialog about preparedness and other surrounding issues.

The Disaster Medicine Group on iMedExchange has 2 updates on swine flu cases today, and links to useful resources including a pandemic influenza risk/cost calculator, flu tracker, and educational employee video. Interested physicians can login now to access these resources, share your thoughts, and ask questions. (The Disaster Medicine Group is dedicated to the evolving medical sub-speciality of disaster medsicine. Disaster medicine is a multi-disciplinary, disaster management discipline mandated by Homeland Security Presidential Directive-21.(HSPD-21)).

Kudos to Mayo Clinic for embracing social media in a comprehensive way. Check out their own recap: 10 Ways You Can Use Mayo Clinic's Social Media Tools.

They were featured earlier on this Good Morning America Spot.

Thanks to Kevin Erwin for sending me a link to the Time.com article entitled The New Internet Start-Up Boom: Get Rich Slow. I have been meaning to write a post highlighting this article for several weeks because I couldn't agree more with its thesis.

Everyone knows the motto "buy low, sell high." And yet, most people do the opposite. We buy more real estate, stock etc when things are "booming" and we sell when things seems to be going South. This precise madness is why most people don't make squat on their investments and why most people think this is a terrible time to be starting a new venture. I am going to list 5 basic reasons why there is no better time to jump-start a new venture.

1. Commercial rents are dropping. Lease costs can be a significant line-item for an early stage business and they are lower now than in anytime in recent memory...and dropping more every month. Buy inventory (square footage) when it's cheap.

2. Labor is cheaper than even a year ago. Software Developers, for example, who thought they were worth $150/hour a year ago can be hired for less than $100/hour in most cases... and $50/hour is adequate in many cases. If not, there are plenty of options using the likes of eLance, offshore etc.

3. Larger companies are not spending on R&D. Small company acquisitions become their R&D. Build. Sell.

4. Technology enables virtual teams and more lightweight infrastructure. We ditched Microsoft Exchange for Google Apps for example, and our diminished support costs and separation from a reliance on hardware are two worthwhile benefits.

5. If you are standing at the other end of a recession...you win by attrition in many cases. Let your bloated, slow competitors with a lack of creativity fall prey to the economic climate.

BUY LOW, SELL HIGH!

Despite the fact that no one should take the rankings of schools...medical or otherwise, but the likes of with too much seriousness...they do. The 2009 rankings have just been released and the University of Washington, UNC, Oregon Health & Science, University of Colorado Denver and UCSF are the top 5 ranked programs for training primary care physicians. When it comes to research institutions, Harvard and Johns Hopkins are #1 and #2 respectively.

Click HERE to review the rankings.

If you haven't visited your medical school alumni group on iMedExchange, get take a second and do so now.

Jay Parkinson may be one of the best new media self-promoters around and he went off in his Business Insider article entitled Google Health Will Belly Flop. While I am not prepared to argue or defend Jay's position on Google's approach to the personal health record, he is certainly good at stirring up the conversation...and that's half the battle.

In related news, the company Jay is involved with, Myca Health, will officially launch at the Health 2.0 conference in Boston April 22 and 23.