New test pinpoints deadliest prostate cancers

 

LONDON, England (Reuters) -- Scientists have found a new way to identify a particularly deadly form of prostate cancer in a breakthrough that could save tens of thousands of men from undergoing unnecessary surgery each year.

In contrast to many cancers, only certain prostate tumors require treatment. Many are slow-growing and pose little threat to health. But separating the "tigers" from the "pussycats" -- as oncologists dub them -- is tricky.

Now that is set to change with new research showing how a genetic variation within tumour cells can signal if a patient has a potentially fatal form of the disease.

"This will provide an extra degree of certainty as to whether a cancer is going to be aggressive or indolent, and that's really what we want to know," Colin Cooper, professor of molecular biology at Britain's Institute of Cancer Research, told Reuters

New test pinpoints deadliest prostate cancers - CNN.com

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Microchip implants raise privacy concern - hospital CIO trying one out for size with medical records...

Good reading about chipping....privacy is a huge issue as the article points out...and a lifetime of 15 years for the chip?  That is a long time, and loss of identity...read the comments and decide for yourself.  There are benefits, but is it worth giving up some of your privacy...I'm not ready for that myself and probably won't be at any near time in the future as long as there is no additional security in place to guarantee that my chip couldn't be hacked and scanned at will...I could disappear and my identity could live on...BD

CityWatcher.com, a provider of surveillance equipment, attracted little notice itself — until a year ago, when two of its employees had glass-encapsulated microchips with miniature antennas embedded in their forearms.

"To protect high-end secure data, you use more sophisticated techniques," Sean Darks, chief executive of the Cincinnati-based company, said. He compared chip implants to retina scans or fingerprinting. "There's a reader outside the door; you walk up to the reader, put your arm under it, and it opens the door."

"It feels just like getting a vaccine — a bit of pressure, no specific pain," says John Halamka, an emergency physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.

He got chipped two years ago, "so that if I was ever in an accident, and arrived unconscious or incoherent at an emergency ward, doctors could identify me and access my medical history quickly." (A chipped person's medical profile can be continuously updated, since the information is stored on a database accessed via the Internet.)

Halamka thinks of his microchip as another technology with practical value, like his BlackBerry. But it's also clear, he says, that there are consequences to having an implanted identifier.

"My friends have commented to me that I'm 'marked' for life, that I've lost my anonymity. And to be honest, I think they're right."

Microchip implants raise privacy concern - Yahoo! News

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Feds shut down HMO's plans for seniors - South Florida

More patients needing to perhaps change physicians in the midst...sad that seniors were caught in the middle.....Medicare cited the plan was not meeting federal standards..BD

Federal officials Friday terminated Medicare health insurance plans run by America's Health Choice in Florida because of delays and denials of medical care, the first termination ever made for poor health coverage.
The Vero Beach company has about 12,000 members in seven Florida counties, including 3,600 in Broward and Palm Beach counties, said Abby Block, director of Medicare's Center for Beneficiary Choice. All members were switched automatically into another health plan, Secure Horizons.

Seniors in the health plans received letters Friday explaining they were moved to Secure Horizons, a subsidiary of United Healthcare that Block said was chosen because its costs and benefits were closest to AHC plans.
Secure Horizons will cover seniors' medical bills at AHC prices until Sept. 30. Members have until then to switch to any other health plan or back to regular Medicare. Coverage for members will continue seamlessly, Block said.

This is not AHC's first run-in with Medicare. In August 2005, the government temporarily banned the company from taking new customers or advertising, saying its doctor and hospital networks, grievance procedures, quality assurance plan and claims systems did not meet federal standards at the time.

Feds shut down HMO's plans for seniors -- South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com

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Quest Diagnostics Announces New Testing Technique For Improved Diagnosis Of Metabolic And Nutritional Disorders

 

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE: DGX), the nation's leading provider of diagnostic testing, information and services, today announced a new, proprietary diagnostic testing technique to help physicians diagnose genetic metabolic disorders, such as phenylketonuria (PKU) and homocystinuria. Genetic metabolic disorders can impair a child's mental and physical development. The new technique measures amino acids in blood plasma, urine or cerebral spinal fluid by employing a combination of liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry.
Physicians may also use amino acid quantitation tests on individuals whose ability to process nutrients may be impaired, such as those undergoing chemotherapy treatments for cancer, the elderly, and individuals with gastrointestinal illnesses.

Quest Diagnostics Announces New Testing Technique For Improved Diagnosis Of Metabolic And Nutritional Disorders

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HMO won't pay for hospital care for summer residents-New York

 

Harris – Each summer, Sullivan County’s population grows with thousands of summer vacationers, many of whom are from the Orthodox Jewish community and the county’s only hospital, Catskill Regional Medical Center, is being financially hurt by their healthcare plan, said the hospital’s Chief Financial Officer Nicholas Lanza.

The Medicaid Managed Care Plan won’t cover their hospital care when they come from the five boroughs of New York to vacation in the Catskills, he said. And, every summer, that costs the hospital $10,000 to $20,000.

Covering the Hudson to the Catskills!

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Michigan Hospital adds wireless Internet

 

ESCANABA — Patients and visitors at OSF St. Francis Hospital & Medical Group may now access the Internet with their wireless-equipped laptop computers, allowing them to stay connected with family and loved ones, check e-mails or surf the Web while in the hospital.
Wireless access is available throughout the hospital and medical office building, including physician practice waiting rooms, the emergency department, walk-in clinic and patient rooms.

“Having access to the Internet is important to many of our patients and visitors,” said Lanna Scannell, community relations manager at OSF. “When patients are hospitalized for an extended period of time, having access to a computer to e-mail friends and family, play games or look up health information can be a great way to pass the time.

Hospital adds wireless Internet

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Hospitalist movement moves into OB - the Laborists

 

Ob/gyn Andrew Vincent doesn't wear a beeper. When he's off work, he's really off, spending uninterrupted time with his three kids.

That's unusual for someone in his specialty, but then Vincent works exclusively inside Legacy Salmon Creek Hospital in Vancouver, WA, pulling seven or eight 24-hour shifts per month. The biggest part of his job is delivering the babies of uninsured women who appear in the emergency department without having received prenatal care. Less commonly, he delivers the babies of patients under the care of an office-based ob/gyn who's tied up in traffic or catching a baby at another hospital.

A growing number of hospitals are hiring a new breed of ob/gyns such as Vincent who are called laborists or ob/gyn hospitalists. Resembling hospitalists drawn from the ranks of internal medicine, these clinicians are at a patient's bedside in a jiffy. This onsite presence is critical in obstetrics, when a baby in fetal distress demands immediate action. Besides improving patient care, a laborist can lower a hospital's malpractice liability and insurance premiums, says Louis Weinstein, ob/gyn department chair at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia.

Laborists reap rewards, too—predictable schedules, relief from running a practice, and competitive compensation. And with hospitals paying for malpractice coverage, ob/gyns driven from obstetrics by sky-high premiums find it feasible once more to deliver babies.

Hospitalist movement moves into OB - These inpatient ob/gyns make life easier for office-based colleagues. - Medical Economics

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Hospital goes to court to block disclosure of employee salaries

 

The Davis County Hospital will go to court next week to block public disclosure of its employees' salaries.
Responding Thursday to a request from The Des Moines Register, hospital attorney Thomas Reavely of Des Moines said documents showing workers' pay at the taxpayer-supported hospital "are public records," but he added that "there is no public purpose in releasing the requested information."
In a letter to the newspaper, Reavely also said release of the salary information would "substantially and irrevocably damage its employees."

DesMoinesRegister.com

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Is Restless Leg Syndrome Real? Is it in our genes?

 

Imagine being stung by 20 mosquitoes and having that burning need to scratch, but your hands are tied behind your back.
That's how some people describe the irresistible urge to move, or kick associated with restless leg syndrome, or RLS, a condition so odd that some within the medical community think the pharmaceutical industry made it up just to sell us drugs.
But for the estimated 20 million Americans suffering with it, compelling new research suggests it's not in your head, but rather in your genes.

CNN.com - Paging Dr. Gupta Blog

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A California P4P program's experiment may be the beginning of a national trend

All eyes appear to be on the California IPA plans to see if the procedures for P4P brings about the win-win of saving money along with better health care.  Thus far as the article indicates the evidence doesn't indicate any real savings, thus the jury on P4P is still out.  BD

The pay-for-performance program of California's Integrated Healthcare Association—the largest, most successful P4P program in the country—was founded on the premise that paying physician groups and IPAs extra for meeting certain quality targets could improve the overall quality of healthcare. Payers bought into this idea, and were willing to fork over roughly $50 million a year to the physician groups, partly because they believed that better quality would eventually save them money.

So far, however, there's no evidence that P4P has saved money in California. And, as healthcare spending continues to soar, employers and health plans are seeking a way to obtain those savings more directly. As a result, the IHA recently announced that it would test a number of efficiency measures that may someday count toward determining whether physician organizations receive P4P rewards.

While this is occurring only in California, it parallels health plan programs elsewhere that use efficiency measures to "tier" physicians by placing the less costly ones in preferred networks. (See "What 'tiered networks' will mean to you," Sept. 17, 2004). Moreover, the IHA pay-for-performance program has helped spur the national movement toward "value-based purchasing" by CMS and private payers. So what happens in California over the next year or two could be a turning point in pay for performance and could indicate how physicians all across the country will be reimbursed in the future.

Is P4P getting tougher? - A California P4P program's experiment may be the beginning of a national trend. - Medical Economics

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United Health Sicker Than It Looks

In a related discussion we had posted a video interviewing the 20-30 age group here and those folks are targeted by all payors, and yet are the most resistant to purchase health care Insurance.  BD

Unfortunately, she says, investors must wait until early 2008 to find out whether UnitedHealth has properly estimated costs for its commercial products -- particularly consumer-driven plans with high year-end use -- and escaped the pitfalls that burned the company so badly this year.

Even if the company succeeds, Skolnick still worries about UnitedHealth's deteriorating business mix. Notably, she points out, the company continues to lose lucrative risk-based commercial accounts and rely on lower-margin fee-based accounts -- plus its explosive Medicare business -- for growth.

"It's getting tougher and tougher to make a buck in the commercial business, and that is UnitedHealth's core business," she stresses. "Consumers are saying, 'You know what? This is too expensive. No more.'

UnitedHealth Sicker Than It Looks - News & Analysis - Health Care - HUM - UNH

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Give patients their visit notes - You can gain better compliance and more-accurate records. The risk is minor, as long as you're careful

With an EMR this is fairly simple to handle and reports generated for patient use can easily be printed as a hand out.  As the article states, patients forget half of what is discussed unless they too are actively making their own notes during an office visit.  I do this with a tablet, but I am not the average patient either, kind of a role reversal here sometimes, the patient with the tablet instead of the MD....BD

Physicians began giving chart notes to patients long before anyone had electronic health records or even photocopiers. Indeed, cardiologist Edward Gosfield Jr., who opened a solo practice in Philadelphia in 1950, dictated his progress notes, as well as letters to referring physicians, in front of patients. He then sent the notes to a transcription service that made multiple carbon copies, one of which Gosfield sent to the patient.

Physicians who have EHRs, however, can generate multiple copies of progress notes cheaply and easily.  He then prints the note himself and hands it to the patient. Or if he needs to work on the note a bit longer, a staffer gives the patient the note after the patient takes care of business at the checkout desk.

Other physicians give patients select portions of progress notes, or reports that they think patients will find helpful. Tacoma, WA, family physician Richard Waltman, for one, gives patients printouts of their labs and meds, as well as graphs of how they're doing with weight, blood pressure, HbA1c, and other measurements.

Give patients their visit notes - You can gain better compliance and more-accurate records. The risk is minor, as long as you're careful. - Medical Economics

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Exubera TV Ad

Read the latest review on Exubera and watch the news coverage from Pharma Marketing Blog...It does appear to be a good solution for some from the video and states it will work for both Diabetes 1 and 2 patients...BD

Pharma Marketing Blog: Exubera TV Ad Lacks Bong, er, I mean Bang!

Hat Tip:  Kevin, MD

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Web Site To Provide Quality And Safety Information For Patients Is Unveiled - Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital

Great site to view and see how some hospitals are making information available in a fairly simple format to quickly review.  As a short note, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center was listed as one of the "Most Wired" hospitals recently.  Their IT manager made the recent list of top 100 CIOs in all information technology.... and...their CEO is also an avid Internet blogger who brings a lot of human interest and general happening information to his blog as well.  It appears everyone here is making the effort to reach out and communicate in the effort of better health care.  If you have not see the blog from Paul Levy, you can click here to take a look.  A+ for effort all the way....BD 

As health consumers across the country demand better and more detailed information about their physicians and hospitals, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) is stepping up to detail its own performance efforts ranging from the percentage of clinicians who clean their hands to the number of times physicians take the proper steps in treating heart attack patients.
A new section of BIDMC's web site, "The Facts: Putting Ourselves Under A Microscope," (http://www.bidmc.harvard.edu/thefacts) offers the public a chance to see how BIDMC measures up with hospital-wide programs, such as reducing infections and patient satisfaction, as well as in specific areas of clinical care. Initially, there are measurements for heart, pneumonia, surgical and orthopedic care, although the site will be expanded over time to include a longer list of clinical departments.

Web Site To Provide Quality And Safety Information For Patients Is Unveiled

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ERISA Exempts Many Indiana Employer Health Plans From State Law Requiring Insurers To Cover Workers' Adult Children up to age 24

 

An Indiana state law that took effect July 1 and requires health insurers to cover policyholders' children until age 24 "surprised Indiana lawmakers" and residents by leaving certain employer plans exempt from the law because their plans are exempt from state regulation, the Indianapolis Star reports. The measure was part of legislation that increased the state's cigarette tax to fund health programs. According to state Rep. Charlie Brown (D), the legislation was approved close to the end of the General Assembly's session, and legislative services did not have much time to research the provision.

ERISA Exempts Many Indiana Employer Health Plans From State Law Requiring Insurers To Cover Workers' Adult Children

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Orthopedic Procedures Increase Dramatically In Seven Years, USA

  
The data indicate that that between 1997 and 2005:
-- The number of knee surgeries climbed by 69 percent from 328,800 in 1997 to 555,800. Hip replacements rose 32 percent from 290,700 to 383,500 procedures, and spinal fusion operations rose 73 percent from 202,100 procedures to 349,400.

Orthopedic Procedures Increase Dramatically In Seven Years, USA

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California Health Care Coalition Selects Blue Shield of California as Exclusive Health Plan Partner to Improve the Quality and Cost of Health Care for Its Members

More plans and choices on the way or perhaps consolidation to make the selection easier?  More access to physicians with more contracts?  Hopefully contracts the physicians will acknowledge and be able to afford.  BD

SAN FRANCISCO, July 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- After a competitive process, the California Health Care Coalition (CHCC) announced today that it has selected Blue Shield of California as its exclusive health plan partner to improve the quality and affordability of hospital and physician care in California. CHCC currently represents 43 public and private sector employers, unions and trust fund member organizations, with a combined membership of 3 million Californians (see attached list of CHCC member organizations).

Blue Shield and CHCC will work together to develop HMO and PPO networks that meet purchaser expectations for health care that is safe, effective, efficient, patient-centered, and fairly priced. Blue Shield will also provide access to wellness and other prevention and care management programs that improve health and help to reduce costs. CHCC member organizations will be able to decide if, when and how to offer these HMO and PPO networks to their own plan beneficiaries.

California Health Care Coalition Selects Blue Shield of California as Exclusive Health Plan Partner to Improve the Quality and Cost of Health Care for Its Members

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Who owns these health records anyway...and who else has access?

If you use a web based product, read the fine line carefully to find out exactly who owns the records, the vendor or the practice.  If you have your own client/server software and server and store your records locally, then you have the physical records on premise at the practice.  The same holds true for PHR (personal health records) if you store the records on a usb drive, then you have control over who can view, copy and use them, on the web, it's only as good as the vendor's word, and be sure to check out thoroughly who the vendor is and where they receive funding for their products and that you are not agreeing to having your information mined by any outside sources at best.  Use of data mining has already had some affects on both quality and cost of today's healthcare.  BD

"There are certainly large and small vendors that I have seen contracts of that do" that, Tang said. "Some people (vendors) say they have ownership to data. There are contracts that say they will have real-time access to the database, that they will have exclusive access to the data, that they can resell the data. I think it would be unlawful that covered entities abide by that."

PHR vendors are even more problematic, because many are not covered organizations, and if HIPAA applies to them at all, it is only indirectly through "business associate" agreements with the covered groups who hired them."What we're struggling with is how to control the bad apples, because the misuse of health data could hurt the good use of health data," he said.

Robert Gellman, a Washington, D.C.-based lawyer specializing in privacy issues, said he has little use for what he called "commercial, advertising-supported PHRs," calling them "the moral equivalent of a scam." "They get the patient to sign an authorization. That's how they get the data in the first place. Why any patient would agree to do this, I have no idea whatsoever."

Bria said that he has no data on how widespread the practice of data ownership is, but, "Am I shocked by this? No. Do I think it is an issue? Of course it is. I have been approached, as I think everybody has over the years, by pharma and they said they would like to have access to your data and there would be payment because they would like to use that for marketing and research."

Modern Healthcare Online

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Health experts: E-health records privacy rules needed

Good article with a lot of good points.  Data mining is big business and much of the mining that is done for information has nothing to do with better healthcare but rather the business of big business.    BD

The U.S. needs new medical privacy rules as the country moves toward greater use of IT to store health records, a group of health-care experts said Wednesday.

"Thousands" of databases that contain U.S. residents' health records exist, and patients don't have any way to keep their personal information from being shared with third parties, said Dr. Deborah Peel, a psychiatrist and founder of the Patient Privacy Rights Foundation. Private companies have been data-mining prescription records for years, she added.

HIPAA gave many organizations with ties to health-care vendors, including offshore transcription vendors, insurance brokers and credit bureaus, authorization to use health care-records, she said. "Because of this confusion that HIPAA engendered, data is being exchanged and used for reasons that have nothing to do with people getting well," she said. "People think this is the wild west because of HIPAA, and every piece of data that's not nailed down can be used for some other purpose."

Health experts: E-health records privacy rules needed - washingtonpost.com

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Want a healthy scare? Check out the cost of medical insurance

 

Most of us have no clue what insurance costs the self-employed, or the person without coverage at work.

The Internet can be a frightening place, and I do not mean winning the Miss New Jersey crown and then having your embarrassing photos distributed in cyberspace.

Exactly how scary it can be can be found on a Web site that provides health-insurance quotes, should you be in the market. I tried one, inserting an imaginary family from my ZIP code. My imaginary dad is 39, mom is 37, their son is 12 and their daughter is 7.

The cheapest — cheapest! — policy with a major health-insurance provider for my imaginary neighbor is $808.67 a month. But there's a catch. You have to pay up to 30 percent of any hospital bill, and hospital bills can be a bear. You also have to go to a doctor of the health insurance company's own choosing.

The most expensive of the 12 quotes is $1,909.14 a month. The only catch is the co-payment of $15. The median average is $1,414.63.

Want a healthy scare? Check out the cost of medical insurance | Home News Tribune Online

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The Healthcare Industry's First Fully Integrated Digital Meal Ordering For Patients

Meal ordering in the hospital goes paperless....BD 

Rather than stocking paper menus in patient rooms, and directing hundreds of daily calls to the diet office, patients can now view meal choices on their in-room TV and use their remote control to place an order any time they like. Patients may place meal orders anytime from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., seven days a week. "One of the other significant benefits of the system is ease of use. Patients can make their selections at their own pace without having to wait on the phone to talk to a live person, or asking nursing to assist them," added Stephenson.

The system also provides vital on-screen nutritional analysis for each menu item selected, providing meaningful health information to patients, including calorie, fat, sodium and carbohydrate counts. "Our nutrition staff now have quantitative data in every patient room that can be used to reinforce teaching about healthy food choices", said Betty Ann Stephenson, Scottsdale Healthcare's Director of Hospitality.

Scottsdale Healthcare Launches The Healthcare Industry's First Fully Integrated Digital Meal Ordering For Patients

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Wearable Device Warns Hospital of Heart Attack

Something to look forward to, another use for your cell phone, it can send a text message on your behalf in case of a heart attack by using Blue tooth technology.  Add a little GPS functionality and this may end up being a real winner to help find your location as well. 

WEDNESDAY, July 18 (HealthDay News) -- A new device linked to a user's cell phone can text message an alert to a local hospital, warning staff that the patient is about to suffer a heart attack.   The trick is getting medical help quickly enough.

That's where the new device comes in. Reporting in the International Journal of Electronic Healthcare, Thulasi Bai and S.K. Srivatsa from Sathyabama University in Tamil Nadu, India, have developed a wearable cardiac "telemedicine" system for post-cardiac patients.

The prototype Bluetooth heart monitor periodically records an electrocardiogram (ECG) of the wearer's heart and transmits the information via radio frequency signals to his or her modified mobile phone. If signs of imminent heart failure are detected, the phone analyzes the ECG signal and sends a message via the SMS text service to the nearest medical center.

This device was designed to give patients who have already had one heart attack a much greater chance of receiving life-saving treatment within the so-called "golden hour" -- the period during which it is most important to receive medical care.

Wearable Device Warns Hospital of Heart Attack - Forbes.com

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Diabetes Doctors In Demand

Where will the patients go?  Sad to see as we need more of these types of facilities.  BD

Over the past three years, some 3,000 people have come to the Diabetes and Endocrine Center at Brittonfield for their treatment.

Low reimbursements from health insurance companies are blamed for putting the practice out of business.

A letter to patients says the center will be closing on October 31st. What now for all those patients?    Letourneau says, “We've called some insurance companies and said, ‘hey, we can't keep this thing going, what do you want us to do, kind of tongue in cheek, where do you want us to send a patient who needs to be sent out’, and they don't have an answer for us.”

The bad news is posted at the door, and sent directly in this letter to patients. It says "The current state of the healthcare system has made it impossible for us to make the center work from a business standpoint." "The diabetes and endocrine center will be closing on October 31st.”

So come October, they'll have to remove the diabetes and endocrine specialty from the CNY Family Care family of services. They say this specialty is no longer making enough money to keep it in business.

Diabetes Doctors In Demand - NewsChannel 9 WSYR

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Bush: No Deal On Children's Health Plan

 

President Bush yesterday rejected entreaties by his Republican allies that he compromise with Democrats on legislation to renew a popular program that provides health coverage to poor children, saying that expanding the program would enlarge the role of the federal government at the expense of private insurance.

The president said he objects on philosophical grounds to a bipartisan Senate proposal to boost the State Children's Health Insurance Program by $35 billion over five years. Bush has proposed $5 billion in increased funding and has threatened to veto the Senate compromise and a more costly expansion being contemplated in the House.

The 10-year-old program, which is set to expire on Sept. 30, costs the federal government $5 billion a year and helps provide health coverage to 6.6 million low-income children whose families do not qualify for Medicaid but cannot afford private insurance on their own.

Rep. Rahm Emanuel (Ill.), the House Democratic Caucus chairman, said he is "bewildered" that Bush is fighting the expanded funding for a program supported by Republicans and Democrats alike. "This is the chance for him to finally be a uniter and not a divider," Emanuel said. "You have consensus across party and ideology, and a unity on the most important domestic issue, health care -- except for one person."

Bush: No Deal On Children's Health Plan - washingtonpost.com

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Most Wired Hospitals Criteria 2007

This is the type of rating I like to see, those hospitals using technology for better health care.  This is the link to the criteria page and links to the lists are listed below.  BD

The annual Hospitals & Health Networks' Most Wired Survey and Benchmarking Study asks hospitals to report on their use of information technology in five key areas: business processes, customer service, safety and quality, workforce, and public health and safety.

Best Wired Hospitals

Most Wired Small and Rural Hospitals

Most Improved Wired Hospitals

Health: Most Wired Hospitals Criteria 2007 - US News and World Report

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Pfizer Profit Tumbles As Lipitor Scripts Plunge

 

The drugmaker’s second-quarter profit fell 48 percent, thanks to the loss of patent exclusivity for its Zoloft antidepressasnt and Norvasc heart drug, but in particular, due to plunging sales of Lipitor, which has been the world’s best-selling med. Now, though, US sales are down 25 percent and worldwide sales fell 13 percent. Why? Competition, primarily from generic Zocor.

Pharmalot » Pfizer Profit Tumbles As Lipitor Scrips Plunge

Hat Tip:  Kevin, MD

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Medtronic Receives FDA Panel's Recommendation for Approval of The Bryan® Cervical Disc

 

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – July 17, 2007 – Medtronic, Inc. (NYSE: MDT) today announced the Bryan® Cervical Disc has received a recommendation for approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Orthopedic and Rehabilitation Devices advisory panel.

The panel recommended a variety of conditions that will be considered by the FDA during its ongoing review process.

The panel’s decision was based in part on a successfully conducted prospective, randomized controlled clinical trial that showed substantial improvements in several major outcome measures of the study. The panel’s recommendation will next be considered by the FDA in its review of the Premarket Approval (PMA) application for the implant. Upon final FDA approval of the PMA application, the Bryan Cervical Disc will be available to patients in the United States.

Medtronic Receives FDA Panel's Recommendation for Approval of The Bryan® Cervical Disc

Hat Tip:  Medgadget

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New 'Roll-On' Male Testosterone Lotion

 

Acrux has announced the results of an 8-month clinical trial conducted in the United States, demonstrating that its Testosterone MD-Lotion™ applied to the armpit of men with low testosterone was able to effectively and safely restore testosterone levels into the normal range, with no adverse side effects.
The completion of the phase 2 trial, carried out across nine different centers in the US, now paves the way for the phase 3 trial -- the final step needed prior to Acrux seeking marketing approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other regulatory bodies in Europe and Australia.

Acrux is on track to commence the phase 3 trial in the first half of 2008. Subject to successful completion of phase 3, the company will then submit a marketing application to the FDA in the second half of 2009 with product launch in the US market and beyond expected in late 2010.

New 'Roll-On' Male Testosterone Lotion

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The Bionic Hand - Touch Bionics

Truly state of the art technology - fascinating web site with a lot of information.  Nice story on the war veteran being fitted with the device.  BD

The worlds first fully articulating and commercially available bionic hand.
Touch Bionics is a leading developer of advanced upper-limb prosthetics (ULP). One of the two products now commercially available from the company, the i-LIMB Hand, is a first-to-market prosthetic device with five individually powered digits. This replacement hand looks and acts like a real human hand and represents a generational advance in bionics and patient care.

The Touch Bionics i-LIMB Hand was developed using leading-edge mechanical engineering techniques and is manufactured using high-strength plastics. The result is a next-generation prosthetic device that is lightweight, robust and highly appealing to both patients and healthcare professionals.

Advanced Design
The modular construction of the i-LIMB Hand means that each individually powered finger can be quickly removed by simply removing one screw. This means that a prosthetist can easily swap out fingers that require servicing and patients can return to their everyday lives after a short clinic visit. Traditional devices would have to be returned to the manufacturer, often leaving the patient without a hand for many weeks.

Touch Bionics

Press Release:  http://www.touchbionics.com/news2.php?section=8&newsid=23&site=/professionals.php

Hat Tip:  Medical News

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CMA Calls For Parity In Funding Of Medicare

 

The California Medical Association joined the American Medical Association in renewing its call for fiscal neutrality between Medicare Advantage HMOs and traditional Medicare, pointing out the gross inequity in payments between the two Medicare programs.

"There is no advantage to Medicare Advantage. Patients have been led to believe that if they pay to be in these for-profit, HMO-run programs, they will have access to more physicians and get better access to care. That is simply not the case," said Anmol S. Mahal, M.D., president of the CMA. "The government should not be subsidizing for-profit health insurance companies."
Medicare HMOs are paid, on average, 12% more than traditional fee-for-service physicians under Medicare. In some cases, the rates are up to 150% of what Medicare fee-for service physicians are paid.

CMA Calls For Parity In Funding Of Medicare

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HMO care to replace contract docs in Michigan prisons

 

But, she added, "prisoners are virtually the only people in our society with a constitutional right to health care."

DETROIT -- Michigan will switch to HMOs to provide health care to the state's about 50,000 prisoners, Corrections Director Patricia Caruso says.

Caruso said she understands public resentment over free health care for prisoners when many honest people go uninsured.

WOODTV.com & WOOD TV8 - Grand Rapids news, weather, sports and video - HMO care to replace contract docs in Michigan prisons

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Trapped In The Private Medicare Maze, If You Get Roped In By A Commission-Seeking Salesperson, It's Not Easy To Get Out?

 

Keteyian told her: "We got a woman in Kentucky who had to call 9-1-1 to get the salesman out of her house. We have another case where agents are signing up dead people in Georgia. We have another case in Mississippi where 100 people whose IDs were stolen, they turned up on Medicare Advantage. I mean, when you hear things like that..."

Trapped In The Private Medicare Maze, If You Get Roped In By A Commission-Seeking Salesperson, It's Not Easy To Get Out? - CBS News

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The ABCs (and D) of Medicare confusion

The story on the day to day assistance given to seniors with Medicare coverage.  BD

ON AN ALMOST DAILY BASIS we receive calls at Senior PHARMAssist from folks who say, "I signed up for something when this nice man came to my door, and now my Medicare card doesn't seem to work. Can you help?"

DURHAM - At our pharmaceutical care clinic for older adults in Durham we have spent an inordinate amount of time trying to help Medicare beneficiaries understand "Medicare Advantage" plans and how they relate to their medication coverage. This has been a big challenge.

newsobserver.com | The ABCs (and D) of Medicare confusion

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Personal Health Records and Dossia - many questions still not answered relative to privacy

 

"PHRs will never truly be safe, secure or private until federal law protects the privacy of Americans' health information wherever it is stored and no matter what databank holds it," Peel said. "Currently PHRs are being designed and given to millions of employees and people with health insurance to facilitate the data-mining and sale of their electronic medical records. The privacy of PHRs depends on whatever promises your insurer or employer makes to you—not on law. This makes them very dangerous. It is possible to design PHRs that have ironclad privacy protections due to multiple levels of encryption and public key infrastructure that prevent data-mining no matter which databank they are stored in. But ironclad privacy-protective PHRs are not what Aetna, Dossia, and most others are offering."

Modern Healthcare Online

Also be sure to look at this related story below, two thirds of Americans don't even know what a PHR (personal health record) is....BD

But when Aetna (NYSE:AET) and the Financial Planning Association^® (FPA^®) surveyed more than 2,100 adults 18 and older, 64 percent said they do not know or are unsure about what a PHR is. Among the group of Americans who are familiar with PHRs, 83 percent acknowledge that the online record personalizes their experience with their health care provider, but only 11 percent currently use one to keep track of their medical and health history.

--  When asked why they didn't use a PHR, respondents had varying
    reasons, indicating a need for education:

    --  Have their own system for maintaining records (35 percent)

    --  Concerned with the security of personal information (26
        percent)

    --  Don't know how to use and manage a PHR (18 percent)

http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20070717005676&newsLang=en

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Medical Tourism - Hip Replacement at 1/10th of the cost

In the world of outsourcing today, I can't help but stop and think of how this effort could get organized as time goes on with chartered aircraft leaving the US full of patients being taken to an "outsourced" hospital, simply due to cost.  Like most other Americans, I would prefer to be taken care of in my own country and not have the added trip to another country added on to my care simply because of cost. 

Of course this type of activity also opens up other areas of sales and marketing too.  Will we someday see an airline named "Osteo Express" dedicated to transporting US citizens to foreign countries for surgical healthcare?  Would insurance companies be the prime funding source due to cost and yet create another new type of health plan that would encompass a discount for the "medical tourism" option, "plan MT"? 

I know some of this may sound a little far fetched, but think about it with today's current trends...are we in fact moving in this direction and what impact this will this have on our own US Healthcare.  As in any business, you almost have to ask the question, how far can outsourcing go.  Some insurance companies have already outsourced call centers to other countries and is this the next plateau?  I have read stories too where the surgeon on some occasions also takes the trip to provide the surgical procedure in another country too, again simply due to cost.  The sad thing about all of this is that we have the best doctors and best diagnostic equipment in the world right here at home...where do we go from here?  BD

St. Petersburg, Fl. - From watching Bobbie Berger walk, you wouldn't know she's had both hips replaced. Surgery on her left side was only seven months ago, but she's not in pain and she's walking well.

Berger had her right hip replaced at Tampa General Hospital in 2000 when she had insurance through her employer. But when she needed her left hip replaced in 2006, Berger was self-employed without insurance. She says surgery at TGH was estimated to cost her between $95,000 and $110,000.

But Berger didn't have that kind of money, she was in pain and it was hard for her to walk.

So Berger checked into surgeons and hospitals overseas and chose an orthopedic surgeon at Gleneagles Medical Center in Malaysia. Berger flew to Malaysia for hip replacement surgery in November 2006 and recuperated for nine days at a resort. A combination of surgery and vacation called medical tourism.

But Berger says the most fascinating part of her trip, and the biggest reason she went, was the cost. The total hospital bill was $7,821.69.

Airfare and the hotel bill brought Berger's total cost to about $10,000-thousand dollars, about one-tenth the cost of hip replacement surgery in the United States.

Local & State News - Tampa Bay's 10 - tampabays10.com

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Surgeon general nominee defends himself

 

WASHINGTON — President Bush's candidate for surgeon general, facing an uphill struggle to win confirmation, told the Senate on Thursday that he's committed to science and would resign if pressured to slant his recommendations for ideological reasons.
"I would use the science to attempt to educate the policymakers," said Dr. James W. Holsinger Jr., a prominent Kentucky physician, medical educator and former government official. "Quite candidly, if I were unable to do that and I was being overridden … I would resign."
Still, no Democrats indicated they would support him, and fewer than half the members of the Senate panel holding the hearing on his nomination attended.

Surgeon gen. nominee defends himself - Los Angeles Times

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Psoriasis Treatment Launched, Free Samples Offered

 

Relieva - a clinically proven, steroid-free treatment for mild-to-moderate-plaque psoriasis - has been launched by Apollo Pharmaceutical Inc., which is offering free samples to the first 10,000 people requesting it in the U.S.
A homeopathic product available without prescription, Reliéva was proven safe and effective in a 200-patient, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical study, says Douglas J. Weiland, M.D., founder and CEO of Apollo Pharmaceutical Inc. (Apollo USA), headquartered in Clearwater, Fla. Results of the study were published in the April 2006 issue of the American Journal of Therapeutics.

Psoriasis Treatment Launched, Free Samples Offered, US

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Hackers steal govt, corporate data from PCs

 Stolen data story of the week....

BOSTON (Reuters) - Hackers stole information from the U.S. Department of Transportation and several U.S. corporations by seducing employees with fake job-listings on ads and e-mail, a computer security firm said on Monday.

Hackers steal govt, corporate data from PCs - Yahoo! News

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Is the relationship between the physician and patient extinct?

Dear Patient...this is your doctor writing you today to let you know that I will no longer be able to continue your medical care due to insurance contract changes and your carrier just does not allow adequate payment for the services I provide. 

Almost sounds very similar to a "Dear John" letter...is this a continuing sign of the times for our physicians?  BD

One of the joys of being a family doctor is the relationships that I've developed with my patients over the last 10 years. It's the source of energy that keeps me going after a night up delivering babies or a day of business hassles. The sense of being needed and contributing to the fabric of the community is the best job satisfaction there is.

The relationship between physician and patient, like the family farm, is endangered. In some places, I'd say it's already extinct.  And that's unfortunate. For starters, a relationship with a doctor can help provide a safety net when you lose your job and your insurance, or become disabled.

Now primary-care doctors are pressured to churn patients through the office, to the detriment of relationship-building and possibly the health of their patients. At the same time, patients may have to switch doctors because of changes in their insurance.

Some programs have interfered more with my care of patients than I bargained for when I signed up -- referral processes and the hoops the patients and I have to jump through to get basic things done are ridiculous and can undermine patients' confidence in me. I wouldn't sign up again for such programs knowing what I do now.

As much as I hate to do it to my patients, I've had to turn insurance contracts down because of inadequate reimbursement and let some patients find a new doctor.

The Doctor's Office - WSJ.com

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Older diabetes drugs as effective as newer ones

 

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Older oral agents for type 2 diabetes, such as sulfonylureas and metformin, control blood sugar levels at least as well as newer, more expensive agents, such as the thiazolidinediones (Actos, Avandia), findings from a review study suggest.

Thiazolidinediones were the only drugs that increased HDL "good" cholesterol levels, but they also increased LDL "bad" cholesterol levels. Metformin reduced LDL cholesterol levels, while the other agents appeared to have no effect on cholesterol levels.

Older diabetes drugs as effective as newer ones | Health | Reuters

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HMO's forte is high maintenance

HMO with Caseworkers on the job....

The company, known as iCare, is an HMO designed for people who are disabled or elderly and who depend on the Medicaid program - or a combination of the Medicaid and Medicare programs - for health care.

They include some of the most vulnerable people in our society. Roughly half of the people in the health plan have mental illness, and 30% have a history of drug and alcohol abuse. Many of them have been disabled for most or all of their lives.

People with severe disabilities have far more complicated and costly health problems. They also can be much more difficult to manage.

ICare is owned by Humana Inc. and the Milwaukee Center for Independence, a non-profit agency for the disabled.

When people enroll in iCare, the health plan does an initial assessment on their needs. The company then closely monitors their care - for example, tracking whether they are following up on referrals to specialists or frequently visiting hospital emergency departments.

The company's care managers sometimes must go to a patient's home because he or she doesn't have a working phone.

Daase, the intervention specialist, refused to leave until one person in the health plan came to the door. The woman had been smoking crack cocaine that day. Daase was able to persuade the woman to get treatment, and she stayed sober for 10 months before a relapse.

JS Online: HMO's forte is high maintenance

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Medical Marijuana -- A Progress Report

Quite a lengthy article that discusses enforcement and legal issues surrounding whether or not it is considered legal as the DEA and State governments continue with separate agendas.  BD

A little more than a decade after California voters passed Proposition 215 in 1996, making it the first state to approve the use of medical marijuana, the movement continues its slow spread across the country. Now, medical marijuana is legal in 12 states (with varying degrees of protection), and roughly 50 million people -- or about one out of six Americans -- live in those states.

On the Pacific Coast, medical marijuana is legal from the Canadian border to the Mexican border (Washington, Oregon, California), as well as in Alaska and Hawaii. In the intermountain West, Colorado, Montana, and Nevada were joined this year by New Mexico as states where medical marijuana is legal. The other regional medical marijuana hotbed is the Northeast, where Maine, Rhode Island, and Vermont allow its use, and only a veto from Republican Gov. Jodi Rell kept Connecticut from joining those ranks this year.

But at the same time, the federal government remains staunchly opposed to medical marijuana. The Justice Department and the DEA continue to harass patients and providers, especially in California, where a loosely-written Prop. 215 has led to the most wide-open medical marijuana scene in the country. While the DEA, sometimes working with recalcitrant state and local law enforcement officials, has been raiding dispensaries for years, this week the agency unveiled a new tactic against them: It sent letters to dozens of Los Angeles area landlords who rent to dispensaries, threatening them with civil forfeiture and possible criminal action if they continue to rent to what the DEA considers criminal drug trafficking organizations.

Medical Marijuana -- A Progress Report - California Progress Report

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UCLA Medical Center ranked No. 3

 

For the 18th consecutive year, the UCLA Medical Center was ranked as one of the top hospitals in the nation and the best hospital in the western United States by U.S. News and World Report.

Out of 5,462 medical centers that were screened this year, rankings were compiled for 16 medical specialties, like cancer, psychiatry and neurology. While 173 hospitals made it into the rankings, only 18 qualified for the honor roll, a list of the hospitals that excelled in at least six of the specialties.

Ranked in the top 20 for 15 out of the 16 specialties, UCLA Medical Center was among the top three hospitals along with John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

The Daily Bruin - UCLA Medical Center ranked No. 3

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Heart Imaging Technologies, LLC. - Web Based PACS Imaging.....

Web based PACS imaging system, press release today announces the ability to also view images on an IPhone.  The system uses a standard web browser.  Amazing how far this technology has come.  Even if you are not an MD, this page is well worth looking at, even from a patient's standpoint.  BD

 
The WebPAX^® is HeartIT's scalable solution for all of your image management needs. WebPAX^® eliminates the need for expensive workstations by using Heart IT's patented processes to integrate the data from your disparate DICOM-compliant imaging devices into a single system based entirely on World Wide Web (WWW) standards. Attending physicians, referring physicians, and patients can review any imaging study from the comfort of their office, a computer in the nurses' station, or a laptop at home using nothing more than a standard web browser such as Firefox, Internet Explorer, or Netscape.

Only HeartIT's WebPAX^® system is specifically designed for web viewing from the ground up, and uses proprietary, patent-protected processes to ensure that the images appear on the web exactly as physicians want to see them.

For the first time physicians can avoid shuffling through multiple pull-down menus in order to simply view two movies playing simultaneously, side-by-side, and at physiologic frame rates. And no more fumbling to adjust the window/ level for each movie.

 

Significant savings over traditional PACS

Eliminates need for expensive, proprietary hardware and software

No client licenses!

FDA 510(k) Approved

HIPAA Compliant

HL7 Messaging

Click here to view a sample page.

HeartIT - Heart Imaging Technologies, LLC.

Hat Tip:  Mobility Site

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There's no real choice of doctors with HMO care

Good point about bringing your own medical records to each doctor's office as we all hate repetition and filling out that same form at every office we go go. "Musical doctors" seems to be more prominent these days as well with HMOs and we have several older archived features on the same issue.  It' is not a matter of what doctor you want to see, it is more like what doctor can you see that fits the contract.  BD 

I have multiple sclerosis, and I saw an excellent doctor for eight years until he informed me he was dropping all his MS patients because he didn't think the HMO was reimbursing him sufficiently for their care. This left three available neurologists who see MS patients from whom to choose. In this situation, using The Times' suggestions for choosing a doctor is an unattainable luxury.

I had to laugh at some of the advice in your essentially helpful article. Helpful in some other country, perhaps. In my HMO, I have very few choices. I like my primary care physician, who has been my PCP for more than 10 years, but the penalty is that I'm stuck with specialists in the same medical group.

Doctors' staffs, in my experience, are always delighted when you tell them they can keep the list and put it directly in your chart, as you have it on the computer at home. Whether a doctor's office is computerized or not, patients should also take responsibility for keeping their own basic "medical records."

The HMOs' bureaucrats basically dictate which doctors are available. So far, I have not felt free to choose my doctors.

There's no real choice of doctors - Los Angeles Times

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Three-Doctor Practice Saves $30,000-40,000 a Year on Paper Charts

Nice story on the transition to paperless and a lot of good points made here...and the employees are much happier.  I can almost instantly tell when I walk in to a paper office these days too, with the mad scramble going to the the fax machine and the sense of urgency with running paper files all over the office.  You don't have this in a true electronic office and with accuracy, you no longer have to live with "under coding" as all the specific data is in place with the patient chart and patients really appreciate it.  Never sell yourself short with any EMR vendor with training, take all you can get.  BD

ROHNERT PARK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Five years ago, Dr. Andrew Roudebush says he was computer naïve. That was just before he and two other doctors started Capital Family Care, a primary care practice in Jefferson City, Missouri. “I could write email and that’s about all,” he says. “I didn’t even know how to make copies.”

Now everyone in the practice uses electronic medical records and he calculates that saves $30,000 to $40,000 a year in just the cost of not having paper charts. “That’s only the basic costs – transcription, pulling charts, storage and so on. It doesn’t cover all the other savings that come with it.”

But to patients the most obvious gain is the quiet efficiency with which the busy office runs. Unlike other practices with two or three doctors, there are no hurried searches for charts or scribbled messages being passed between staff members and an absence of the distracting noise of phone conversations to sort out information that has gone astray.

“The reduced level of frustration makes for a happier and smooth-running office and there’s no doubt that carries over into better patient care. All of us – nurses, receptionist, my partners, even one staff member who previously was computerphobic – say we would never go back to traditional charting.”

The system has proved especially valuable in a three-doctor office, Roudebush says, because with doctors having to cover for each other, they have instant access to each other’s records, even if they are at home. “I can tell emergency room doctors in the middle of the night exactly what medications one of my partner’s patients is on or just about any other information they are likely to want.”

Three-Doctor Practice Saves $30,000-40,000 a Year on Paper Charts

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Top heart centers, docs stung by bypass study

Are the so called ratings affecting the ability of a patient to have access?  For fear of bad publicity are the top notch surgeons turning away individuals with health concerns that will make the statistics look bad?  Sad indeed to put some of the best we have in medicine in this position to have to pick and choose patients with a projected better outcome, to be able to keep their names visible on the "deans's list" of surgeons.  Everyone seems to be coming out with their own system of raking these days, whether it be physicians, hospitals, etc.  Comparing equipment and emergency response criteria cannot be in the same ball park with surgeon skills and ability as they are 2 separate items, humans and processes and the 2 should not be in the same arena.  The doctor makes a very good point here.  BD

California health authorities on Thursday released a study showing for the first time how many heart bypass patients die after surgery, the names of their surgeons and the hospitals where the operations were performed.

Surprisingly, the state-mandated survey gave the worst ratings to some hospitals that have been regarded as among the best in the business.

Also earning a "worse" rating was Dr. Ismael Nuno, chief of cardiac surgery service at Los Angeles County USC Medical Center.

Nuno was furious with the rating. "I've had a very illustrious career, and when my name comes out tomorrow I might just retire," he said in a phone interview. "Nobody in the state is going to write right next to your name that Dr. Nuno tried really hard to keep this patient alive. All it's going to say is Dr. Nuno is a terrible surgeon."

Nuno warned that some surgeons already are turning away patients with poor outcomes for fear they'll get tagged as bad doctors. "People are dying because of what the state of California is doing. Surgeons are walking away and saying, 'Tough, it's either my career or your death.' ''

CALIFORNIA / Top heart centers, docs stung by bypass study

Hat Tip:  Kevin, MD  Running a Hospital

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N.Y. Attorney General Objects to Insurer’s Ranking of Doctors by Cost and Quality

Good point here, does the list show quality or cost?  BD

In a sharply worded letter, the New York State attorney general’s office asked a health insurance company yesterday to halt its planned introduction of a method for ranking doctors by quality of care and cost of service, warning of legal action if it did not comply.

The letter was addressed to Thomas J. McGuire, a senior lawyer in Hartford for UnitedHealthcare, a unit of UnitedHealth Group in Minneapolis.

Ms. Lacewell said patients might be steered toward doctors based on flawed data and UnitedHealthcare’s “profit motive.” She wrote, “Consumers may be encouraged to choose doctors because they are cheap rather than because they are good.”

He added: “It was dishonest. They were telling people that it was a quality metrics program when they were really just measuring cost.”

And, he said, his criticism was not just sour grapes. “I had a star next to my name; I was preferred,” he said. “But it didn’t mean anything.”

N.Y. Attorney General Objects to Insurer’s Ranking of Doctors by Cost and Quality - New York Times

Hat Tip:  Kevin, MD

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Lab Corp Cuts Forecast as Aetna Ends Contract

July 1, 2007 Aetna insurance moves to Quest.  BD 

CHICAGO (Reuters) Mar 01 - Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings said on Thursday No. 3 U.S. health insurer Aetna Inc. terminated its LabCorp contract, which will likely cut LabCorp's 2007 earnings by about 4 to 12 cents a share, sending LabCorp shares down by as much as 11 percent.

LabCorp Cuts Forecast as Aetna Ends Contract

Aetna is making a change in its national lab network contract and has negotiated a new agreement with Quest Diagnostics. Quest is the nation's leading provider of diagnostic testing, information and services. They are communicating this change to physicians so that your doctor will have the latest procedures on how to refer you properly.

Quest will be Aetna’s preferred provider of laboratory services for all products, effective July 1, 2007. They also will continue to contract with local, hospital and specialty laboratories, augmenting the extensive Quest network for your convenience.

http://www.betterbenefitsolutions.com/updates/aetna_chooses_quest.htm

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Health Insurance, Overseas Customer Service and Outsourcing - Bad Rx?

Blue Cross/WellPoint would like to have the choice to move customer service centers over seas in Virginia, but the corporation commission is still not moving since allowing the buy out of Trigon in 2002.  If you are outside of Virginia, some of your routine customer service calls to Well Point may already be handled via overseas outsourced call centers.  BD

An array of medical societies, physicians and dentists urged Virginia state regulators last week to continue barring the state's largest health insurer from moving some of its customer services out of state or overseas.

The top executive of the parent company of Anthem Health Plans of Virginia complained, however, that the requirement is impeding efforts to provide medical insurance more efficiently.

"Our company absolutely needs to keep changing," said Angela Braly, president and chief executive of WellPoint, which insures 34.8 million people nationwide. "We have an obligation to fix the health care system . We have an obligation to provide better services at lower cost."

WellPoint has "no current plan" to move services outside of Virginia but offered no guarantees about the future should the State Corporation Commission decide in her company's favor, Braly said. "Certainly, we would consider the opportunity to have provider services increased in efficiency," she said.

In other states, Well Point directs routine services such as insurance verification  to the Philippines, Jamaica and Argentina. More complicated questions, she said, always are answered by operators inside the United States -- although not necessarily from the state where the inquiry originated.

CRM News: Healthcare: Health Insurance, Customer Service and Outsourcing - Bad Rx?

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CMS won't tap reserve fund to ease Medicare physician pay cuts; money marked for reporting bonuses ...

The last 2 years this has been waived by Congress at the last minute sessions at the end of the year and who knows what may happen between now and then, but the difference this year is the Quality Reporting Initiative that has not been present the last couple of years.  BD

Physicians would miss out on the chance to see their Medicare payment cuts shaved by two percentage points next year under a Bush administration proposal that opts against using a special reserve fund to lessen the reimbursement hit.

The proposed Medicare payment rule issued July 2 by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services projects that next year's across-the-board physician cut will be 9.9%, the same as the previous estimate. The rule also announced for the first time that a $1.35 billion reserve fund Congress set aside last year to address physician payment and quality of care will not go toward decreasing that percentage.

So instead of reducing the 9.9% cut to about 7.9% for all physicians, CMS will use the additional money to pay an estimated bonus of less than 2% to doctors who participate in the Physician Quality Reporting Initiative when the agency renews it next year. The PQRI launched July 1, and its initial phase runs for the last six months of 2007. Physicians who are participating this year are eligible for a 1.5% bonus -- payable in the middle of 2008 -- on all of their Medicare claims during that 2007 time period.

AMNews: July 23/30, 2007. CMS won't tap reserve fund to ease Medicare physician pay cuts; money marked for reporting bonuses ... American Medical News

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Don't Miss the Point on "Sicko": Americans are Dying

I know there are numerous reviews of Sicko, but this one in particular seemed to bring the real points home as it leaves the politics behind and pretty much stays with the facts.  BD

“Sicko’s” timing could not be more fortuitous as health care costs erode the fortunes and diminish the lives of more and more people in the great American middle class. Recent stats show that 50 percent of personal bankruptcies are due to health care costs.

It is a knock on the head that can penetrate all but the thickest of skulls, a defribillator that can jolt all but the falsest hearts.

FayObserver.com - Displays the Comments for a Specific Entry

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Internet Drug Death A Warning To Canadians

 

Canada's first confirmed death from counterfeit drugs purchased over the internet reinforces long-stated concerns of the Canadian Pharmacists Association (CPhA). A BC Coroner's report has concluded that pills bought from a fake online pharmacy are to blame for the March death of a Vancouver Island woman. These drugs were later determined to be contaminated with extremely high quantities of metal.

Internet Drug Death A Warning To Canadians

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Aetna Cuts Payments

It continues to get more complicated when you might need an ambulance these days.  Do we need to check a data base for compliance in the case of an emergency?  If this were a life and death urgent situation, do we have time to always check for compliance?  Just a couple questions that come to mind...I appears you need to have a contract with Aetna in order to get paid, even if you are non-profit...BD

Aetna is cracking down on reimbursement to ambulance services, and it's sounding a siren.
The company is lowering payments to certain ambulance services around the nation, adding to the financial pressure on some that are already struggling with pay cuts from other insurers, including Medicare.
Hartford-based Aetna says it merely started on June 1 to strictly enforce a company rule it hadn't always followed, but that's little comfort to ambulance officials.

The crackdown affects only ambulance providers that don't have contracts with Aetna, and those are often the smaller, volunteer, nonprofit, or municipal ambulance services.

Aetna Cuts Payments -- Courant.com

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