Today is the deadline to sign up for #ObamaCare … nag, nag, nag!

The tiniest state in the nation has a brilliant idea to get those healthy "kids" to sign up for ObamaCare.

Nag them!

From HealthSourceRI: 

Your kids don’t want to get health insurance. They also don’t want to get nagged. Let’s find out which one they want less. Help us get your kids insured by nagging them about health insurance where they least expect it.

It's the Nag Toolkit from HealthSourceRI, Rhode Island's health insurance exchange. Use the handy tools to nag your kids on the social networks they use every day — SnapChat, OKCupid, Tinder, Twitter and Vine.

And if that's too hard to figure out, they'll do the work for you — just give them your kids' email addresses.

Everyone else, go to HealthCare.gov and sign up — today!

Need your health records? Click the blue button

There's an effort underway to make all of your online health records easier to find.

Blue Button Connector is a new beta site launched this week from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (yes, that's a mouthful). Suffice it to say, it's the federal government's attempt to make health records more accessible.

The site is teaming with insurers, hospitals, physicians, pharmacies, labs and others to create a central clearinghouse for your health records — a one-stop download destination.

It's voluntary, and so far some of the biggies have signed up — from Aetna, Blue Cross, Humana and United Healthcare on the insurance side to CVS, Rite Aid and Walgreens on the pharmacy side. 

There are fewer hospitals and physicians involved. In Massachusetts, four providers are connected — Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Children's Hospital Boston, Harbor Health Services and Partners Healthcare — while there are none in neighboring Rhode Island.

The immunization registry is even scarcer — it is only available for residents of Indiana, Louisiana and Washington state.

But Blue Button Connector is a step in the right direction!

From restaurant manager to OR nurse, a guy who gets it

Registered nurse Paul McGourty. Photo source: Boston Globe

"It's all about making the customer feel welcome and special."

That's a quote from Paul McGourty comparing his two careers — first as a marketing manager for Au Bon Pain restaurants to his new career as a registered nurse in the OR at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Milton, Mass.

McGourty was profiled by The Boston Globe ("Live and learn: Relating to People," October 6, 2013) in a series about people who have transformed their lives through education and training.

But McGourty has transformed more than just his own life — he is among the new generation of health care workers who "gets it" when it comes to building a better patient experience.

Too many organizations think patient experience is about raising HCAHPS scores or offering hotel- and spa-like amenities. 

It's not. 

It's about building a trusting and communicative environment where caregivers, patients and their families are actively involved in creating and executing care plans.

Because feeling "welcome and special" is just the start. Feeling "activated and heard" is where the real magic happens.