Microsoft Research : "Innovations in Data Input and Navigation"

Great video from Dr. Crounse...must watch and what it entails is exploring input methodologies other than using a keyboard...in other words being mobile and not having to haul around a notebook looking for somewhere to "light" in order to do data input...watch the video all the way to the end too...there's another little surprise related to data input...something that may also come out of the labs. Microsoft research is the area where potential products are developed. We saw that with the new "Surface" technology...Below are a couple You Tube videos that goes in to additional detail of both technologies...there is life and data entry beyond the keyboard...BD 

In this edition of House Calls, Dr. Bill Crounse revisits the creative geniuses at Microsoft Research to take a look at InkSeine and Lucidtouch, data input and screen navigation tools that might one day help clinicians and other people around the world work more efficiently.

18 months ago, House Calls for Healthcare Professionals showed viewers something from Microsoft Research called “Play Anywhere”; a technology that allowed users to manipulate images projected on a table with nothing more than their hands. That technology has since been commercialized and is now called Surface Computing. It’s showing up in retail centers and casinos, and perhaps one day in your home or doctor’s office.

http://on10.net/Blogs/laura/a-visit-with-microsoft-research-innovations-in-data-input-and-navigation/

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The A, B, Ds of Medicare

Good article about choosing a Medicare plan that will hopefully work for you...BD 

Between Nov. 15 and Dec. 31, people on Medicare can sign up for 2008 coverage, whether they want traditional Medicare, a private drug plan, an HMO or some combination. End-of-the year signup windows began two years ago, when Medicare first offered drug coverage. Before that, you could switch Medicare plans every month, if you wanted. Now, most people are locked into a year's worth of coverage as soon as that glittering New Year's Eve ball hits the ground at Times Square.

Plans are so complicated that the only good way to compare them is on Medicare's Web site, www.medicare.gov.

50plus: The A, B, Ds of Medicare

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USB heat pad ...

Who says you can't snuggle up to your computer and get warm...only 21.99...but not a medical device as stated on the website...BD  

If you like the warmth of the sun, you have to appreciate far-infrared light. If you ever tried to use far-infrared to relief tireness, muscle strain or even pain, then we have a good product for you to try. This USB-powered Far Infra-Red Pad is a small pad that designed to relief your from tireness, strain... all the far-infra-red can do in a convenient way. Once you plug on the USB connector, the small Pad will release Far Infra-Red from and what you can feel is something warm up to 40°C ~ 45°C.

usbfever.com - Funny + Gadget + Great for USB stuffs, iPod & iPhone accessories, ...

Hat Tip:  Medgdgets

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My web rating: Oh no! - Thanks to the Web, everyone's a critic. The author describes her chilling experience with online reviews

And of course, it all depends on who is doing the ratings and the criteria used...BD

Fortunately, most people use personal recommendations to choose their physicians, so I don't think that these rating sites make much difference in the success or failure of a medical practice. Unlike that of the local restaurateur, my small business is relatively safe. Despite this, I hope that the administrators of these sites develop a means of confirming that people who rate physicians areor at least were those physicians' patients. Meanwhile, I will continue to practice medicine the best way I know how: with compassion and genuine interest in my patients' well-being. And each Sunday I will cross my fingers for my comrades in different white jackets. Who knows, I may even go to a restaurant that, according to a reviewer, overcooks the fish. After all, you just don't know unless you see for yourself.

My web rating: Oh no! - Thanks to the Web, everyone's a critic. The author describes her chilling experience with online reviews. - Medical Economics

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Is it worth it? - The author wonders why he continues to subject himself to a healthcare system that values paperwork over patients

Good perspective article...and we hope his answer doesn't change...as some have recently with all the red tape involved in health care...BD

So I, like most physicians, am lucky to be able to do what I do. Few in this world have a similar opportunity to make such a difference in the lives of others. It's sad that I should even have to ask myself, "Is it worth it?" I decide the answer is Yes. But I realize that for an increasing number of my fellow physicians, the answer is No. And sometime in the future, without badly needed change in our healthcare and legal systems, my answer may be the same.

Is it worth it? - The author wonders why he continues to subject himself to a healthcare system that values paperwork over patients. - Medical Economics

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If a patient can't pay for his prescription drugs, it can undermine your treatment. Here's how to help

Good article and we link directly to Target and a couple other sites whereby patients can get affordable medications from this site...some only $4.00...BD

One doctor's variation on the divide-and-conquer theme: Stretch the dosage period. "Crestor has a long half-life, somewhere around 19 hours," says FP Jeffrey K. Pearson of San Diego. "As such, it can be taken on an every-other-day basis, so instead of 5 mg daily, I prescribe 10 mg tiw (Monday, Wednesday, Friday). I write for Crestor 40 mg tablets and ask patients to split them into quarters of 10 mg each. A quantity of 30 tablets costs approximately $85 at Costco.com and lasts 10 months. The low doses are very effective for the vast majority of my patients and the monthly cost is roughly $8.50, far cheaper than most copays.

Making meds affordable - If a patient can't pay for his prescription drugs, it can undermine your treatment. Here's how to help. - Medical Economics

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Darpa Site Event: Update, start your Processors...

Short update on the weekend competition.  Darpa also has some very interesting artificial limb replacement study going on as well, which was covered earlier this week.  Just as a reminder, Darpa also is very involved in limb replacements too... but back to the story with the driverless cars....

Junior is in the finals...watch some of the video here to see how a car like this can function...this may be here sooner than we think....the Intel Quad Core servers are the brains of the entry from Stanford...BD 

Watch Junior quality here...

More information here...

Related Videos...VW in Germany

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When RFID merges with Wi-Fi

The combination leads to paperless, all digital hospital.....

But while it's a wireless technology, it has never really been mobile outside of a very few, limited environments. Its main limitation has been its requirement for specialized, single-purpose readers. As a result, while general-purpose Wi-Fi networks have become increasingly common, RFID has been limited for the most part to one-off applications. This is now changing with the latest advance in commercially available RFID technology: powered, attachable tags that can be read directly by commercial Wi-Fi APs. This approach, pioneered by Aeroscout Inc., changes RFID from a special-purpose infrastructure to another application on the Wi-Fi network, focusing the cost side of the implementation decision on the cost of tags alone.

When RFID merges with Wi-Fi

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The Scary Side Of Health Testing

To screen or not to screen...problems with false-positives on some procedures...BD 

The problem: Plenty of screens don't really work that well. Many yield lots of false-positive results, which lead to unnecessary (and risky) treatments. Other tests work, though not in time for patients to act, leaving them to a life of endless dread. "People forget that there are two sides to screening," says Dr. Barbara Yawn, director of research at Olmstead Medical Center and a member of the United States Preventive Services Task Force, a government-backed group of health care professionals that study and evaluate health screens. "[Screens] can be beneficial, but there are always other risks.

The Scary Side Of Health Testing - Forbes.com

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Deere retirees riles about health care

A group of salaried Deere & Co. retirees is trying to ward off changes in health care benefits planned by the company. The Flex Retirees Organization group, based in Moline, Ill., where Deere is headquartered, wants management to meet with a retiree committee to talk about the issue, but says it's prepared to go to court, if necessary.

DesMoinesRegister.com

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Woman Takes Out Ad to Sell Breast Milk

New way to earn some extra cash?  BD

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) A woman who doesn't want her breast milk to go to waste has taken out a newspaper ad in hopes of selling it. Martha Heller, 22, of Tiffin, took out the ad in The Gazette, offering 100 ounces of her breast milk for $200 or the best offer. Heller said her freezer is overflowing with breast milk that she has pumped since August. Her 4-month-old daughter won't drink from a bottle and the supply is piling up.

The Associated Press: Woman Takes Out Ad to Sell Breast Milk

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Dept of Managed Care orders Blue Cross to halt practice - Los Angeles

In the world of transparency building today...how can anyone keep things of this sort from being published or discussed...and the threat of not getting patients sent to their offices or to the hospitals?   BD 

The state stepped into a bitter battle Thursday between Blue Cross of California and the doctors, hospitals and medical labs that serve about 700,000 people covered by the state's largest health plan. At issue is the contentious financial relationship between medical providers and Blue Cross, which the state's top HMO regulator warned might worsen the plight of California's struggling hospitals.

The dispute began this year when Blue Cross sought to require hospitals, physicians and labs to sign a confidentiality agreement that would prevent them from publicly discussing fee negotiations.  But the providers balked, saying it prevented them from using lawyers and other outside consultants to represent them in fee negotiations, a routine practice.

On Thursday, the Department of Managed Health Care issued a cease-and-desist order forbidding Blue Cross to continue its efforts.  Because Blue Cross is the largest insurer in the state, the loss of its patients would put a financial strain on many hospitals, particularly stand-alone and rural hospitals.

He said UCLA's contract with Blue Cross for its area Medi-Cal patients expired in April and was not renewed because the university refused to negotiate under the terms demanded.  "For some of these physicians, particularly if they are small offices, they don't have the ability to negotiate with the most powerful insurance company in the state," he said.

Agency orders Blue Cross to halt practice - Los Angeles Times

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California among worst in providing health insurance through jobs

California employers lead the way in shedding company provided insurance..and the number of uninsured continues to grow...BD

The percentage of Californians who get health insurance through their jobs is among the lowest in the country, according to a study released Thursday. Nationwide, about 63 percent of Americans have health policies offered by their employers. But in California, only 55.7 percent of workers were covered through their jobs last year, making it the state with the fifth-lowest level of employer-sponsored coverage, according to the study by the Economic Policy Institute in Washington.

In California, the problem is worse due to the sheer size of the population and the fact a large number of residents work in jobs that typically do not offer health insurance, such as agriculture, hospitality and the service industry.  "With productivity up and profits through the roof, employers are shedding coverage," he said. "The private sector, even under positive economic conditions, is failing to provide this vital part of our lives."

"Employer-based coverage is eroding in California, and the people being hit the hardest are working families in our communities," said Sarah Muller, associate policy director of Working Partnerships USA , a nonprofit labor research group based in San Jose. "If there is no statewide health reform to address these issues, a growing number of people will be uninsured."

California among worst in providing health insurance through jobs

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Fiserv selling health care business to UnitedHealth - Milwaukee

Insurer buyouts continue...earlier publications indicate there will be more on the agenda in the upcoming year.  BD

Fiserv Inc. is selling nearly all of its health care business to UnitedHealthcare in a deal worth $775 million, the company said Friday. The cash transaction includes Fiserv Health Plan Administration, the country's largest third party self-funded health plan administrator, Fiserv Health Plan Management, an outsourcing service, and Innoviant, a prescription benefits administrator. The deal is expected to close either by the end of this year or in 2008's first quarter, pending regulatory approvals.

Fiserv selling health care business to UnitedHealth - The Business Journal of Milwaukee:

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Health insurer LifeWise to raise rates by 22.5 percent

The rate increases begin...BD

Health insurer LifeWise to raise rates by 22.5 percent By Kyung M. Song Seattle Times health reporter LifeWise Health Plan of Washington announced Thursday that premiums for its 90,000 individual health-care policies will rise by 22.5 percent Jan. 1 because of an anticipated jump in medical claims next year. LifeWise, a nonprofit subsidiary of Mountlake Terrace-based Premera Blue Cross, is one of the state's largest insurers for individual health plans. LifeWise said it expects to pay out $27 million more in medical bills in 2008. Three-quarters of that is the result of price inflation for medical services and drugs and an increase in the frequency of medical visits, said Mark Stuart, a Premera spokesman. The remaining 25 percent stems from a shift to more expensive technology such as advanced imaging equipment, he said.

Health | Health insurer LifeWise to raise rates by 22.5 percent | Seattle Times Newspaper

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Settlement charges put Health Net in the red

Class action lawsuits according to the article...BD

A set of legal settlements hurt the bottom line for Health Net Inc. in the third quarter. During the quarter, the company lost $103.8 million, or 93 cents per share, compared with earnings of $90.9 million, or 76 cents a share, in the third quarter a year ago. The current quarter's loss does include charges of $216 million to settle three class action lawsuits known as the McCoy, Wachtel and Scharfman lawsuits; the proposed resolution of regulatory issues with the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance; and other litigation matters.

Settlement charges put Health Net in the red - Sacramento Business Journal:

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In China, Brain Surgery Is Pushed on the Mentally Ill

And doing some of this for a profit...BD

NANJING, China -- Mi Zhantao, a poor 25-year-old living with his parents outside this provincial capital in eastern China, was battling depression and had trouble socializing. Doctors said he had schizophrenia. They recommended brain surgery. Mr. Mi's family spent about $4,800 -- the equivalent of four years' income, and more than their life savings -- on the operation, at No. 454 Hospital of the People's Liberation Army in Nanjing. The highly controversial procedure involved drilling tiny holes in the young man's skull, inserting a 7½-inch-long needle and burning small areas of brain tissue thought to be causing his problems.

The irreversible brain surgeries performed at No. 454 Hospital, which are all but blacklisted for mental illness in the developed world, are being done across China. They are a symptom of the problems plaguing the nation's health-care system, which has left hospitals with scant public funding and hungry for profit.

Dr. Wang, head of neurosurgery at No. 454 Hospital, defends the procedure. "There are so many mental-disease patients," he says. "In many of the mental-disease hospitals, 30% to 50% of the patients cannot be treated by medicine. And these patients have caused a great burden to their families and society."

In China, Brain Surgery Is Pushed on the Mentally Ill - WSJ.com

Hat Tip:  Kevin, MD

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Dementia Diagnosis By PET Scan

A PET scan (positron emission tomography) that measures uptake of sugar in the brain significantly improves the accuracy of diagnosing a type of dementia often mistaken for Alzheimer's disease, a study led by a University of Utah dementia expert has found. The scan, FDG-PET, helped six doctors from three national Alzheimer's disease centers correctly diagnose frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and Alzheimer's in almost 90 percent of cases in the study -- an improvement of as much as 14 percent from usual clinical diagnostic methods. FDG stands for fluorodeoxyglucose, a short-lived radioactive form of sugar injected into people during PET scans to show activity levels in different parts of the brain. In Alzheimer's, low activity is mostly in the back part of the brain; in FTD, low activity is mostly in the front of the brain.

Dementia Diagnosis By PET Scan

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Coding Cues: 2 Hospital visits..Medical Economics

How to code with modifiers...BD

Two hospital visits in a day Sometimes I see a hospital patient in the morning, but her condition deteriorates later in the day and the hospital staff calls my partner to come in for a second visit. Can we bill for both visits in the same day?

Coding Cues: Answers to your questions about... - Medical Economics

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Artificial joint makers lobby hard

The latest debate on knee and hip replacements and their contributions to physicians and hospitals...$200 million paid out this year and some manufacturers are changing the way they interact with physicians as a result..BD

MINNEAPOLIS - The hips and knees are synthetic, but it's real money changing hands. Five makers of artificial joints have paid more than $200 million this year to doctors and hospitals, often the same ones who are deciding which company's joints to buy, according to an Associated Press calculation of disclosures required this week by a settlement with federal prosecutors.

The settlements with the companies include a limit of $500 per hour for consulting services. Companies that want to pay more must get a third-party evaluation of a fair price for the consulting.  Zimmer Holdings, the biggest maker of artificial hips and knees, paid the most to doctors — $85.8 million, according to the disclosure made on its Web site on Wednesday. DePuy paid $48.8 million, Stryker paid $27.8 million, Biomet paid $19.6 million, and Smith & Nephew paid $19.3 million."The amazing thing is each doctor who is involved believes with a totally pure heart that they are immune. So the influence is silent," she said. "But we know that it affects their judgment."

AP: Artificial joint makers lobby hard - Yahoo! News

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Medicare issues rate cut for doctors

The one thing that bothers me a bit here is the comment about "reduced benefits" for participants..to continue paying the doctors...the insurers pay based on the Medicare rates by a percentage...in other words they bill Medicare around 112% of the Medicare rates...so am I wrong in the fact that insurers are also getting a cut at the same time?? So one cut for the doctors means a cut all the way around?  Again, I am trying to properly interpret this...and make sense...so why would the insurer's object to having some additional funds kept to pay the doctors?  With the insurance folks collecting 112% of the Medicare rates, and doctors getting paid at 70-80% of that amount, that leaves a bunch of money on the table, correct?  Administrative costs are on the average of 12%, so where does the rest go?  Dividends?  BD

WASHINGTON - Doctors who treat the elderly and disabled will face a 10 percent cut in their reimbursement rates from Medicare next year under a federal rule issued Thursday.  The rate cut was widely expected. It's based on a formula that takes into account spending growth. If spending growth for physician services exceeds projections, the formula dictates lower reimbursement rates. Similar cuts have been proposed every year since 2002, but Congress has stepped in every year except one to avoid them

The American Medical Association has called on Congress to reduce payments to private insurance companies that cover beneficiaries through the Medicare Advantage program, but the insurers say such cuts would reduce benefits for millions of participants.

Medicare issues rate cut for doctors - Yahoo! News

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Intel · The Dreaded Merge Test: The DARPA Urban Challenge

Robotics and car crashes...this is a little off the normal path here, but due to all the accidents treated in our hospitals this story carries some importance and interest...these are cars that drive themselves and earlier this week we had a video from You Tube so here is a little follow up on the competition this weekend..."Junior" the Intel car from Stanford University seems to be doing pretty well....BD

Now, a few words about driving and computers. It is a sobering fact that nearly 40,000 people die each  year as a result of traffic accidents in the U.S. alone. Far more are injured. But technology can help. These numbers do not have to be this high. Computer controlled vehicles have the potential to dramatically improve the way we do transportation. Computer planning and control can make better use of the roadways and reduce the congestion that so many of us spend a lot of our lives sitting in - not to mention the fact that former drivers would be free to do other things while in transit. People who have had too much to drink will be able to safely take their car home without endangering anyone. What is really going on here in Victorville is a step toward a vision of the future in which computers drive our cars with better safety and efficiency than we can ourselves. They don't get tired, they don't talk on cell phones, and they don't look down to change the radio station. In my mind there is no question that this will happen, it is only a matter of when.

Check out Junior's servers....BD

Junior has two rack-mounted computers in the trunk. Each is powered by a single socket Intel Q6600 quad-core (2.4 GHz) processor running on an Intel D975XBX2 motherboard with 2 Gb of DRAM.

 

 

And Junior has a twin....2 just in case... inside the tent...

Most noticeably, the two leading teams from the previous event, Stanford Racing Team and Tartan Racing (Carnegie Melon) have taken on the distinct look of sophisticated NASCAR track racing teams with a leaderboard of major corporate sponsors adorning their vehicles and thanks to the team’s General Motors relationship, the team now resides in the air-conditioned mobile pits which normally houses the Cadillac Racing Team. Corporate sponsors have been quick to recognize the importance of this event as a publicity machine, and the long-term historical importance of the event.

Luckily, Junior’s test was not exciting at all. Junior did not even get honked at by the human drivers. Everything went as planned except that at one intersection, Junior waited longer than expected to merge.  The Intel processors are the brains of the car....

Research@Intel · The Dreaded Merge Test: The DARPA Urban Challenge (Part 2)

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The U.S. Is Unhappy with Its Health Care - Best in Bummers..$$

One more survey about healthcare comparing different countries...US still continues to lead on the dollar page...quality of health care, once you get it is a different story...BD 

U.S. patients were the only ones to report serious problems paying bills (19%). Plus, 30% of patients paid $1,000 or more out-of-pocket over the past year, while the percentage of patients laying out that much in the other six ranged from 4% (Britain) to 19% (Australia). Nearly two out of five U.S. adults and 42% of those with chronic illnesses skipped medications or did not see a doctor when sick because of cost. Those rates are much higher in the U.S. than in any other country.

According to a survey published on Nov. 1 in the journal Health Affairs, one-third of U.S. adults believe that the U.S. health-care system has to be rebuilt completely—double the percentage who want a dramatic overhaul in the six other nations whose residents took part in the survey. The U.S. ranked dead last on the question whether more than minor system changes were needed.  Both high- and low-income respondents had similarly negative views of the U.S. health-care system, Schoen notes.

The U.S. Is Unhappy with Its Health Care

The full survey can be read at commonwealthfund.org.

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Calif. hospital automates patient tracking - West Anaheim Medical Center

Under the leadership of Prime HealthCare Service, technology is updated at this facility...the flat screen monitors are great and can easily work with Tablet PCs as well.  All of the hospitals in the Prime network have been upgraded to use this system...BD

ANAHEIM, CA-- Officials at West Anaheim Medical Center, an affiliate of Prime Healthcare Services, Inc. , announced this morning the successful installation of a patient tracking and integrated data system within its emergency department. The system tracks patients throughout their visit.

The new technology is housed within the hospital's MEDITECH system, and is called Emergency Department Management, or EDM. Flat screen monitors, mounted in central locations display just enough patient information to staff and clinicians to inform them of a patient's treatment, while keeping their patient's identity and health information private.

Clinicians can enter free text notes and report documentation into the system to add to the patient's medical record. Lab and radiology results are also sent to the system for quick delivery.

Calif. hospital automates patient tracking

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Memorial Health Services Announces Sale of Anaheim Memorial Medical Center

It appears Dr. Reddy's attempts to purchase Anaheim Memorial has not been successful and instead the hospital will become part of the IHHI network of hospitals.  IHHI current operates 4 hospitals in the Orange County area and this will be number 5 added to the group.  Notice to sale to be filed before December 1st.  BD

ANAHEIM, Calif., Oct 31, 2007 /Memorial Health Services (MHS), a not-for-profit health care system with hospitals in Los Angeles and Orange Counties, announced today that it has selected Integrated Healthcare Holdings, Inc. (IHHI) to purchase its 224-bed facility in Anaheim. IHHI, a partially physician-owned publicly traded hospital management company, owns and operates four hospitals in Orange County with a total of 770 beds, 2787 employees and 1725 active physicians. These include Western Medical Center in Santa Ana, Western Medical Center in Anaheim, Coastal Communities Hospital in Santa Ana and Chapman Medical Center in Orange. IHHI has agreed to maintain current levels of hospital services at Anaheim Memorial, as required by the California Attorney General, including the acute care hospital and emergency department. In addition, IHHI has committed to invest capital to improve Anaheim Memorial's infrastructure and technology.

Memorial Health Services Announces Sale of Anaheim Memorial Medical Center

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Centinela hospital is bought by Prime HealthCare - California

Dr Prem Reddy adds one more hospital to his network...purchase of hospital in Anaheim still pending...BD 

A growing hospital chain that has taken heat for its business practices will assume ownership of the financially strapped Centinela Hospital Medical Center in Inglewood today - a deal that surprised everyone from union leaders to county officials to patients. The 369-bed hospital was sold to Victorville-based Prime Healthcare Services Inc. for an undisclosed amount. Two other facilities run by Centinela Freeman Health System - a hospital in Marina del Rey and the Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital in Inglewood - won't be affected, officials said.

Prime Healthcare executives, however, say they will scrutinize contracts with five major HMO insurance providers to see whether the reimbursement rate they pay for services can be renegotiated. If not, the contracts may be cut, which means patients with Blue Cross, Blue Shield or other HMO insurance may not be able to use Centinela for non-emergency care in the future.

Centinela also closed its emergency room at Daniel Freeman Memorial Center in December.  Without contracts dictating reimbursement rates, the hospital can charge insurance companies full price for services until the patient is transferred or released.

Centinela hospital is bought by chain

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Health Net Records $296.8 Million in Third Quarter of 2007 Pretax Charges Relating to Class Action Litigation Settlement

Medicare enrollees almost double the amount of the commercial group...BD

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--November 1, 2007-- Health Net, Inc. (NYSE:HNT) today announced a third quarter 2007 net loss of $103.8 million, or $0.93 per share. Net income for the third quarter of 2006 was $90.9 million, or $0.76 per diluted share. Included in the results for the third quarter of 2007 is the full effect of $296.8 million pretax, or $216.0 million after-tax, charges incurred as a result of Health Net reaching an agreement in principle to settle three class action lawsuits known as the McCoy, Wachtel and Scharfman lawsuits; the proposed resolution of regulatory issues with the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance; and other litigation matters.

Third Quarter Highlights ....
Following are key highlights for the third quarter of 2007:
-- Membership in the company's commercial small group and individual segment increased by 83,000 members, or 12.1 percent, compared to the third quarter of 2006;
-- Medicare Advantage membership grew by 42,000 members, or 21.3 percent, compared to the third quarter of 2006;
-- The California Farm Bureau Federation selected Health Net of California as its underwriter for approximately 60,000 members, effective July 1, 2007;
-- Although operating cash flow was negative $131.2 million in the third quarter of 2007, it would have been positive by approximately $200 million had the company received two government payments that were due in September 2007.

Health Net Records $296.8 Million in Third Quarter of 2007 Pretax Charges Relating to Class Action Litigation Settlement, Regulatory Matters and... - - insurancenewsnet.com

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Clarian won't dock workers who fail to meet health marks

One hospital employer had second thoughts on charging back employees who failed to control certain risk factors...probably good thinking here and better to replace with a more positive program...hitting national news might have had some influence in the re-thinking here...incentives seem to always work better than penalties...BD

The Indianapolis hospital system has abruptly ended a plan which Clarian had touted on national TV just months before to dock workers up to $30 out of their paychecks every two weeks if they did not control certain risk factors such as body-mass index, high cholesterol and high blood sugar. The plan, set to take effect in 2009, featured mandatory health-risk assessments for all employees enrolling for health insurance.

Now the program, which still starts in 2009, is purely voluntary. And workers who do participate in the “wellness tract” will be paid bonuses of up to $30 per pay period if they don’t use tobacco and meet certain measurements for body-mass index, LDL “bad” cholesterol, blood glucose and blood pressure.

Clarian operates Methodist Hospital, Indiana University Hospital and Riley Hospital for Children and is one of the region’s largest employers, with nearly 12,000 employees.

Clarian won't dock workers who fail to meet health marks | IndyStar.com

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Healthcare CIO: Kill a Watt!

One very active hospital CIO...good reading at this blog for anyone in the Health IT business...he's right on the money with not only saving software and hardware costs with Virtualization, but also keep the power use down for the environment.  Don't know what this is all about?  Intel builds this technology right in to today's processors and it's there for the taking with Dual and Quad Core technology processor platforms...retiring 20 physical consoles is a huge benefit all the way around...and did I mention security here...big plus too.  More about Intel and blade servers here.  With Windows Server 2008 due out in February with the virtuals "burned in" to the operating system, this is something to really explore all the way around and have the potential to gain more bandwidth on the LAN and WAN while you are at it...BD 

Server Consolidation - Many of our computer servers in the data center support only one application. This is often requested by the application vendor. Virtualization software such as VMWare is now available that allows multiple instances of a computer operating system to exist on the same server. Each instance can be configured in a way that assures needed server resources (memory, CPU, etc) are available. We have retired over 20 servers in the past year through this technique.

Life as a Healthcare CIO: Kill a Watt!

We have also begun the extensive use of VMware, Xen and other Virtualization techniques. This means that we can host farms of Intel/AMD blades running Windows or Linux, deploying CPU capacity on demand without adding new hardware. We're connecting two geographically distant data centers together using low cost dark fiber and building "clouds" of server capacity. We create, move and load balance virtual servers without interrupting applications.

Related post:  http://geekdoctor.blogspot.com/2007/10/some-like-it-hot_25.html

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47 million Americans lack health insurance: report

Numbers continue to rise...California hit hard with children affected...employers contribute as well with new offerings that  employees can't afford....BD

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The number of Americans lacking health insurance rose by nearly 8.6 million to 47 million from 2000 to 2006, with children and workers from every income level losing coverage, a new report said on Thursday

For jobholders, this was the sixth straight year of declines in health insurance coverage. The rate fell to just below 71 percent from nearly 75 percent in 2000.

Meanwhile, in California "nearly all of the losses in employment-based coverage occurred among children," the report said, noting 600,000 fewer children had such benefits in 2006 compared with 2000.

47 million Americans lack health insurance: report - Yahoo! News

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Concord Hospital buys up practice

What happens when a practice can't see enough patients to make a profit...in this case the hospital purchased the practice...put the physicians on a salary and basically runs their business..and they still have a shortage of primary care physicians as a result...sad sign of the times with other practices potentially facing the same or a similar situation..if the compensation is lacking due to lower contracts for the physicians...do they have a choice?  BD 

This month, stymied by the tough economic realities of primary care, they have come under the wing of a different hospital. Concord Hospital purchased Pleasant Street Family Medicine in early October and now runs the practice.

"The bottom line is it's about money," Betchard said. "The expenses and costs of doing business were going up and the revenue was flat, and there wasn't anything we could do to counter that except seeing more patients, which didn't make sense."  Betchard said doctors at the practice had been cutting their salaries to stay solvent and would have needed a loan to replace obsolete billing software.

Green said the hospital hopes to recruit four to eight new physicians this summer to help fill the gaps. Green said doctors and staff at Pleasant Street will run the practice much as they had, although the hospital will help them with billing and other areas where their technology had fallen behind. The practice will become a department of the hospital, and doctors will become salaried employees. Four of the five doctors who founded the practice will continue to work together. One chose to leave when the deal closed. Dr. Mark Bardo left the practice to take a position at Frisbie Memorial Hospital in Rochester.

Concord Hospital buys up practice - A Concord Monitor Article - Your News Source - Concord NH 03301

Kevin, MD

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Bill Maher: Short Clip on Sick Kids and SCHIP

Parody on Bush's veto position...View the link below to see an actual discussion about those who are one step away from disaster...BD 

http://youtube.com/watch?v=A4lH592ZTTc

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Bush calls children's health insurance bill a 'trick'

Trick or Treat on the SCHIP bill?  BD

Halloween's an appropriate day to talk about it because there's a bill moving through Congress that's disguised as a bill to help children, but I think it's really a trick on the American people," the president told attendees of the Grocery Manufacturers Association/Food Products Association's fall conference.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush on Wednesday again vowed to veto a renewed push to expand a popular children's health care program, saying it would play a "trick" on Americans by moving the country closer to a federalized health system.

Bush calls children's health insurance bill a 'trick' - CNN.com

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FDA Approves Allergan Combo Eye Drop for Glaucoma

NEW YORK (Reuters) Oct 31 - Allergan Inc on Wednesday said U.S. regulators approved its combination glaucoma drug Combigan. The company said Combigan eye drops would combine "two strong agents in one bottle" -- brimonidine and timolol -- that work through different mechanisms to control intraocular pressure

FDA Approves Allergan Combo Eye Drop for Glaucoma

Technorati Tags: EMR

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Health Insurers Target Early Retirees

After the "cherry picking", how do you market the left overs?  The articles says that the over 50 group might be loyal, but also expensive as the aging process continues...BD

INDIANAPOLIS Health insurers trying to boost individual policy sales are making a new push into an older market _ the roughly 7 million uninsured Americans between the ages of 50 and 64. Financially stable baby boomers who either retire young or need coverage after a corporate downsizing are driving this push, experts say. Insurers also want to build ties to customers who may need Medicare-related insurance after they turn 65.

Big companies also are cutting jobs, and their former workers are less likely these days to land with another large employer that provides benefits, said John Wider, vice president of health products and services for AARP Services Inc.

"If you're an individual on your own in most states ... and you're over 50 years old, good luck trying to find health insurance," he said.

Health Insurers Target Early Retirees | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

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Doctors sue Memorial Hermann over 'bully tactics' - HOUSTON

The hospital was only open for 2 years...BD

Basically what Memorial Hermann did is they went to insurance companies like Aetna and United and said, 'If you deal with that hospital, we won't deal with you anymore,'" said Richard Zook, an attorney with Thompson & Knight, LLP, who represents some of the doctors that invested in Town & Country Hospital.

The lawsuit which alleges a violation of the Texas Free Enterprise and Antitrust Act asks for $100,000,000 in damages. “It is a crime that a hospital buys another hospital and shuts it down,” said Dr. Richard Pohil, one of 109 doctors suing Memorial Hermann Healthcare System for causing the closure of Town & Country Hospital in West Houston.  "Put simply, if you were a member of Aetna or United and you were a patient and wanted to go to this hospital, you couldn't," Zook added.

"This isn't just about doctors having lost their investment. It's about the loss of a hospital and most importantly the loss of patients on the west side of Houston to have an alternative," Zook said.

Doctors sue Memorial Hermann over 'bully tactics' | HOUSTON METRO | Breaking Houston News, Weather, Sports, Traffic, Video from KHOU.com | 11 News

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Aerial surveillance gets computer boost - Sahara Tablet PC

Follow up on Initial post :  Portable Tablets Help MSP Secure Homeland

I spoke with Gail at Tablet Kiosk to confirm that this is the Sahara i440D, and yes it is!  From the medical side of things, what a great way to locate hospitals in the case of looking for terrorist type activities.   

Now if we can just get more of these in the hands of doctors for health care. BD

"The application is called the Critical Infrastructure Inspection Management System which was developed by the MD state police in cooperation with the Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory and the department of Homeland Security."

By poking a touch-screen computer, crews aboard Maryland State Police helicopters can now calculate more efficient flight plans to add inspections of dams, bridges and other "critical infrastructure" to their daily missions. The choppers were equipped last month with hand-held tablet computers linked to navigation satellites, digital maps and databases with the locations of hospitals, chemical factories and other sensitive facilities. That allows airborne troopers to quickly find and patrol such sites looking for damage or terrorist threats.

The new system replaces the stacks of notes, photocopies and road maps that flight crews have used since Sept. 11, 2001, to identify, find and inspect installations on their critical-infrastructure patrols.  Flight crews also answer on-screen queries designed to assure the security of that facility or to address questions uploaded by public safety agencies. The crew's replies are later downloaded for analysis, eventually by the Department of Homeland Security.

Based on software developed at APL, the new FAA system will use radio-transmitted global positioning data and aircraft identification information.  "It's targeted for Maryland but designed so any law enforcement agency can use it," said Jose Latimer, who oversees the homeland protection business area for the APL. It will also be adaptable for use in cars, on boats or by personnel on foot.

Aerial surveillance gets computer boost -- baltimoresun.com

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Hands-On Nabaztag 2 Wi-Fi Rabbit to the Office..

Nice addition to the office...it will read email to you among other fun things...nice perhaps for a pediatrician or anyone who likes something out of the normal PC products...Nice for RSS feeds as he will read an update every 20 minutes..saves a little time here in hearing the headlines...BD

I've been playing with the new Nabaztag for a few weeks, and I must say, this is one rabbit that'll keep you entertained for hours. As soon as I opened it, I headed to Nabaztag.com to configure my Wi-Fi settings so it could start updating me on everything. You see, Nabaztag is a Wi-Fi enabled bunny that can gather information from around the Internet, and reads it for you.  Making friends internationally is easy, since the little genius speaks 16 languages, including Spanish, French, German, Swedish, Dutch, Portuguese, and of course English.

Since the bunny has speakers, you can easily stream music or play podcasts you find on the Web for an unlimited time.  Not only does it communicate verbally, but it also communicates physically by moving its ears or visually by lighting up.

I especially think it's great that others can send messages to your bunny via widgets (it has a Yahoo! Widget) or by signing up for a Nabaztag account.

Hands-On Nabaztag 2 Wi-Fi Rabbit : Gina Hughes : Yahoo! Tech

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Chemicals Flow Unchecked From China to US Drug Market

Do you know where all the ingredients come from with the medication you are currently taking?  How many sell ingredients to our US pharma manufacturing companies?  Will the FDA be able to protect consumers?  Much of this end up on Internet pharmacies too and China can't keep up with certifying all factories according to the article..perhaps some items should not be outsourced when it comes to the medications we rely on to keep us alive...BD

Because the chemical companies are not required to meet even minimal drug-manufacturing standards, there is little to stop them from exporting unapproved, adulterated or counterfeit ingredients. The substandard formulations made from those ingredients often end up in pharmacies in developing countries and for sale on the Internet, where more Americans are turning for cheap medicine.

China has an estimated 80,000 chemical companies, and the United States Food and Drug Administration does not know how many sell ingredients used in drugs consumed by Americans.  Because United States drug regulators require pharmaceutical suppliers to meet high standards, the American supply chain is among the world’s safest. But as China’s chemical suppliers multiply, Congressional investigators are questioning the F.D.A.’s ability to protect consumers.

Of the 37 suspect companies, all but one unnamed by the American authorities, The Times identified eight. Records show that six are uncertified chemical companies, including Hunan Steroid, which marketed its products at the Milan convention.  “It is unrealistic for us to certify all factories that make intermediates and regulate them like medicine products,” said Ms. Yan, the agency official. But if companies make active ingredients, a more refined product, then they must be regulated by drug authorities, she said.

Pharmaceutical ingredients can pass through three or four trading companies, none of which check their quality. The ultimate manufacturer may not realize the ingredients came from an uncertified chemical company.

Chemicals Flow Unchecked From China to Drug Market - New York Times

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Lizard spit and bongs - Medication Origins and Future

What is the future on diabetes treatment medications - article explores the recent number of medications, origins, and the potential future..BD

(CNNMoney.com) -- America's 20 million-plus diabetics mean dollar signs for drug companies that sell a slew of new products, including a successful drug based on the saliva of a Gila monster, and a failed inhalation device that's been compared to a "bong.

But other drugs, such as the pills Actos from Takeda and Avandia from GlaxoSmithKline, and the injectable drug Byetta from Amylin and Eli Lilly & Co., treat the disease more directly by controlling blood-sugar levels.  When Glaxo announced plans to shut down a plant in Puerto Rico and reduce staff by 250 workers, the company blamed the hemorrhaging sales of Avandia.

Januvia, a pill from New Jersey-based Merck & Co., Inc., is the newest entrant to the diabetes field. Like the other drugs, it controls blood-sugar levels and is only used by diabetics with type II diabetes, which generally emerges in adults as a result of obesity.

Diabetes drug market: Lizard spit and bongs - CNN.com

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GP pay £110,000 after a 10% rise

In contrast to what is happening to primary care physicians here in the US, pay is on the rise for GP physicians in the UK...but the patients are not happy about it...$220,000.00 a year is a nice income compared to the same type of practice here...patients can't get to them in many areas..and now there is a push to extend hours..BD

The data from the NHS Information Centre is for the year 2005-6 - the second year of the new GP contract. It comes after pay rose by 20% in the first year and means GPs have seen pay rise by about £30,000 in two years. The deal also allowed GPs to opt out of weekend and evening care, which critics say has suffered after private firms and groups of medics were taken on.

And many patients have said they are unhappy with the new out-of-hours arrangements with the number of complaints soaring as a result.

The GP contract overhauled the way doctors were paid. "We will be working with GPs to ensure that at least 50% of practices extend their opening hours and we are taking action to tie GP income more closely to patient experiences." "They are being treated, by this government, like well-paid production line employees."

BBC NEWS | Health | GP pay £110,000 after a 10% rise

Hat Tip:  Kevin, MD

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Vanishing Breed: What Happened to the Family Doctor?

Is this happening to a practice near you?  He is closing as the system is not working.  $60,000.00 a year is not much income for all the time and education invested to become a physician, yet with current contracts with HMO carriers, this is sometimes all that is left after the bills are paid.  Specialists fair better under the system, but they have had cuts as well with contracts.  In my travels, depending on the practice, it is not unusual to see family practice physicians at this level of income in California based on recent contract agreements, and they are the turnkey to our system, in other words we all need to start with a primary care physician for health care, so I ask, what is wrong with this picture?  BD

For 26 years, Dr. Joseph Lalka has been a family doctor, treating 3,000 patients in his cramped office in Chatham, N.Y., a small town nestled in the rural northern part of the state. But Lalka recently told his patients he is taking down his shingle and closing his practice. He says he no longer can afford to maintain a family practice.

“Here is a doctor who is not retiring because he wants to,” says Constance Mondel, 81, who Lalka has treated for many years. “He is leaving because the system is not working. It’s a real shame.”

Lalka, 54, says that with an income of only $60,000 last year, and little opportunity to expand his practice, he no longer is able to make ends meet.  Now Lalka will work for a company that assigns doctors to temporary work.  “Unfortunately, our health system rewards the surgeon who amputates the infected foot of a diabetic much more than the primary care doctor who discovers the preliminary symptoms of the disease and recommends ways to prevent it,” said Grumbach.

Family doctors are in an untenable position because shrinking Medicare payments often cover only 60 percent of the cost of treating a patient. Medicare also allows no adjustment for inflation, and operating expenses increase 3 percent to 5 percent annually, said Dr. Terry McGeeney, the president of TransforMed, an organization established to address the quandary faced by family doctors.

FOXNews.com - Vanishing Breed: What Happened to the Family Doctor? - Health News | Current Health News | Medical News

Hat Tip:  Kevin, MD

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Doctor? Or Druggist?

More physicians are beginning to provide prescriptions right from the office...growing trend and certain a big convenience for patients...and a small additional income area for the MD...BD

When Anne Johnson recently visited the Nighttime Pediatrics and Adult Care Too! clinic near her home in Millersville with a case of hives, the doctor told her she needed steroids and several days' worth of antihistamines. But he didn't hand her a prescription. Instead, Johnson, 46, got a dose of each drug on the spot, and the chance to buy the rest on her way out the clinic door. Given the late hour -- 11 p.m. -- Johnson gladly accepted. Some area residents are taking advantage of similar services to buy their drugs at their doctors' offices. Such "point of care" dispensing is outlawed in some states but not in Maryland, Virginia and the District, where dispensing physicians need only authorization from pharmacy boards to assume a role once held almost exclusively by pharmacists.

Commonly prescribed medications such as antibiotics, pain drugs and allergy pills make up the bulk of the drugs doctors sell, Bard says. But specialists have also expressed interest in dispensing more-targeted prescriptions, such as cancer drugs.  A recent change in clinic policy has made him rethink that decision. "Now that they're accepting insurance and only charging a co-pay," Newman says, "it might be worth my while to see the doctor and get the medicine all in one stop.

Doctor? Or Druggist? - washingtonpost.com

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Portable Tablets Help MSP Secure Homeland

Great article on using a tablet pc, and I agree here, this looks like the Sahara i440D from Tablet Kiosk...it sure is much easier to work with a tablet rather than trying to work with a notebook in the helicopter...they were checking on return trips from hospitals here...they are taking full advantage of using the touch screen in the video..Homeland security will be releasing these units to other agencies soon...the brain child here was from one currently serving in Iraq...

It didn't take Homeland Security long to figure out how efficient it is working without paper. Anyone with mobility needs (which is pretty much all of us today) can take advantage of using a tablet without having to walk around with an "open pizza box" notebook to be productive.  The tablets are at work helping to look and find terrorist type of activities.  BD

There are more than 150 places in Maryland thought to be targets for terrorists. One of the police agencies responsible for their safety is the Maryland State Police. Mike Schuh reports homegrown technology is taking those troopers down a path others will soon follow. View pictures from a Maryland State Police Homeland Security mission and you'll likely see officials checking on a potential terrorist target like the Key Bridge.

One pilot kept a paper reference file of many sites. "He looked for a safer and more efficient way," said MSP Superintendent Col. Terrance Sheridan.That safer way is a portable computer tablet with files of data about each target already installed.  It standardizes what the flight crew looks for, and alerts will be added or subtracted each day.

"The real beauty of this product is that I don't have to do any fancy integration with the airplane you carry this thing on the aircraft and you're set to go," said Boyd.

wjz.com - Portable Tablets Help MSP Secure Homeland

Hat Tip:  jkOnTheRun  (thanks for the story)

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Snoring Men Transform Into Sleeping Beauties After Surgery

According to the article, this is a fairly simple procedure to have done with a plastic surgeon...BD

Millions of men who suffer from sleep apnea may sacrifice a good night's sleep because they don't know where to get treatment, don't realize relief is available, or are too embarrassed to get help. However, comfort may be as close as their local plastic surgeon's office. Plastic surgeons at the forefront of identifying and treating sleep apnea will discuss the latest surgical advances today at the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) and American Society of Maxillofacial Surgeons (ASMS) Plastic Surgery 2007 conference in Baltimore. "Men over the age of 40 are the most common sufferers of sleep apnea due to their heavier build and shorter necks; however, women, children and overweight people are not immune," said Stephen Schendel, MD, ASPS Member Surgeon and lecture presenter. "Many men are extremely embarrassed to get help for sleep apnea even though it can lead to serious health issues.

Snoring Men Transform Into Sleeping Beauties After Surgery

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Scripps Research Team Blocks Bacterial Communication System To Prevent Deadly Staph Infections

In hopes of combating the growing scourge of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, in particular drug-resistant staph bacteria, a team of scientists from The Scripps Research Institute has designed a new type of vaccine that could one day be used in humans to block the onset of infection. The advantage of the new vaccine is that it would work not only on current bacterial resistant stains but also would not induce the potential for new bacterial resistance because, rather than killing bacterial cells, it blocks their communication system, preventing the shift from harmless to virulent, thus allowing the body's natural defenses to combat the bacteria.

Scripps Research Team Blocks Bacterial Communication System To Prevent Deadly Staph Infections

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1 in 8 veterans lacks health insurance

Sometimes a group we may not think about in the ranks of the uninsured..BD

WASHINGTON -- About one of every eight veterans under the age of 65 is uninsured, a finding that contradicts the assumption many have that all vets qualify for free health care through the Department of Veterans Affairs, says a new study. Researchers at Harvard Medical School projected that about 1.8 million veterans overall lack health coverage. That's an increase of 290,000 since 2000. The researchers said most uninsured veterans are in the middle class and are ineligible for VA care because of their incomes. Still others cannot afford their co-payments or lack VA facilities in their community.

"Like other uninsured Americans, most uninsured vets are working people -- too poor to afford private coverage but not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid or means-tested VA care," said Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, an associate professor and a physician at the Cambridge Health Alliance.

Study: 1 in 8 veterans lacks health insurance | IndyStar.com

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Many older doctors plan to phase out their practice

These are some pretty scary numbers in the survey...Marcus Welby no longer exists..and with all the additional pressures and reductions of income today...who knows what we would do in the same situation...problem though is that we need these folks...probably more now than ever...and the shortage of physicians will continue to mount...BD 

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The results of a new survey indicate that 48 percent of physicians between 50 and 65 years of age are planning to reduce or end their clinical practice in the next 1 to 3 years. The findings also suggest that many older physicians believe that their younger counterparts do not have the work ethic they do. ADVERTISEMENT The survey, which was conducted by Merritt Hawkins & Associates, a Texas-based physician search and consulting firm, suggests that many older physicians are simply unhappy with the changes that have taken place in medicine over the year

The results of the survey, which included 1,170 respondents, show that 24 percent of older physicians are planning to leave clinical practice all together in the next 1 to 3 years. Specifically, 14 percent said they were planning on retiring, 7 percent said they were looking for a medical job in a non-patient care setting, and 3 percent said they were seeking a job in a non-medical field.

When asked about the work ethic of physicians entering practice today, 68 percent of the respondents said that these younger doctors are not as dedicated or as hard working as physicians who entered practice 20 to 30 years ago.  Fifty-seven percent of older physicians said they would not recommend medicine as a career to their own children. Similarly, 44 percent said they would not select medicine as career if they were starting out today.

Many older doctors plan to phase out their practice - Yahoo! News

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Is U.S. stuck in Internet's slow lane

Might be part of the reason that Health IT is dragging as well....BD

NEW YORK - The United States is starting to look like a slowpoke on the Internet. Examples abound of countries that have faster and cheaper broadband connections, and more of their population connected to them. Part of the problem may be that people don't see fast Internet access as an essential part of modern life, and may need more of a push to get on.

What's less clear is how badly the country that gave birth to the Internet is doing, and whether the government needs to step in and do something about it. The Bush administration has tried to foster broadband adoption with a hands-off approach. If that's seen as a failure by the next administration, the policy may change. In a move to get a clearer picture of where the U.S. stands, the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Tuesday approved legislation that would develop an annual inventory of existing broadband services including the types, advertised speeds and actual number of subscribers available to households and businesses across the nation.

"In the 1930s, we recognized that electricity was essential. We're not quite at that level in broadband," Correa said.

Several of the European countries that are doing well have forced telephone companies to rent their lines to Internet service providers for low fees. The ISPs use them to run broadband Digital Subscriber Lines, or DSL, often at speeds much higher than those available in the U.S.

In Paris, a "triple play" of TV, phone and broadband service costs less than half of what it does in the U.S.

Is U.S. stuck in Internet's slow lane? - Yahoo! News

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Companies Tap RSS to Tame Info Overload

This site makes use every day of RSS Feeds....my choice is Attensa which is free and we have a link on the site.  The NHS in the UK is even making use of RSS Reeds and holding frequent training sessions...overloaded with email...look at using RSS for relief....it sure makes getting the information you need a whole lot easier...BD

As employees struggle to read an increasing amount of work-related material, some companies have turned to RSS (Really Simple Syndication) technology to improve productivity. ADVERTISEMENT With RSS servers and readers designed for workplaces, IT departments set up internal information feeds that employees can subscribe to, a delivery mechanism that, for some information, can be more precise and effective than e-mail. "The first problem we see addressed regularly with enterprise RSS systems is e-mail overload. Most knowledge workers these days are just about completely fed up with e-mail," said Oliver Young, a Forrester Research analyst.

At NHS Orkney, few of the 600 or so users-- mostly doctors, nurses, physical therapists and business administrators-- are technically savvy. So, Rendall has reached out to departments and held frequent training sessions to promote the RSS system's use.

Seeing an opportunity, vendors like Attensa, NewsGator and KnowNow developed on-premise, behind-the-firewall RSS software for workplaces.

Companies Tap RSS to Tame Info Overload - Yahoo! News

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German hospital saves baby with pioneering surgery in womb

Nice story...and the baby was born healthy...BD

BERLIN (AFP) A German hospital is celebrating a world first after carrying out life-saving surgery that stimulated lung growth in a baby still in the womb. Doctors at Bonn University Clinic feared that baby Miriam would die when her mother's foetal membrane burst in the 20th week of pregnancy, removing the child's protective liquid cushion. Without the fluid, the organs pressed on the lung and Miriam's development was being fatally impaired. She was also unprotected against germs in the womb, leaving her susceptible to life-threatening infection.

There a miniature latex balloon was inflated, blocking the respiratory channel so that the fluid which is continuously produced by the prenatal lung cannot drain away. This build-up of the fluid stimulated the growth of Miriam's lung.

AFP: German hospital saves baby with pioneering surgery in womb

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UCI Medical Center has fired 13 nurses

Not real good news with the current shortage of nurses...entering too much information?  From the information in this article, it sounds like the one nurse was right on the job, noticing the dosage was wrong...BD 

UCI Medical Center has fired 13 nurses in the last three months and is investigating a union activist who sought information about one of the dismissals, according to the nurses union. Eight of the nurses have more than 20 years of experience each, and four of those have spent their two decades at UCI, union officials said. Hospital officials would not comment on why the nurses were let go. Susan Mancia, a hospital spokeswoman, said UCI was ranked among the top five hospitals in Southern California in a survey for Nurses magazine, in which nurses graded the quality of care, organizational culture, development, communications and retention efforts.

Beth Kean, the California Nurse Assn. director for University of California hospitals, said a "witch hunt" environment exists at the medical center.

The most recent dismissal was of a nurse who worked in the newborn nursery for 27 years, said Beth Kean, the California Nurse Assn. director for University of California hospitals.
She was fired Oct. 23, shortly after determining that vaccinations in the baby area were adult dosages. She worked with the hospital pharmacy to dilute the medicine and administered it to a baby, Kean said.The nurse was fired because she wrote too much information about the incident in the patient chart, Kean said. The nurse has filed a grievance to try to get her job back, Kean said.

UCI Medical Center has fired 13 nurses - Los Angeles Times

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More young adults on cholesterol drugs

Blood pressure and cholesterol drugs both on the rise for young adults.....but losing weight can also be a big help too...perhaps a more natural approach....BD

  TRENTON, N.J. - Use of cholesterol and blood pressure medicines by young adults appears to be rising rapidly at a faster pace than among senior citizens, according to an industry report being released Tuesday.  Experts point to higher rates of obesity, high blood pressure and high cholesterol problems among young people. Also, doctors are getting more aggressive with preventive treatments. "This is good news, that more people in this age range are taking these medicines," said Dr. Daniel W. Jones, president of the American Heart Association.

Meanwhile, use of blood pressure medicines increased 21 percent, from about 7 percent of 20- to 44-year-olds in 2001 to over 8 percent in 2006. That translates into about 8.5 million Americans in that age group taking drugs to lower their blood pressure.

"It was a surprise to us," said Dr. Robert Epstein, chief medical officer at Franklin Lakes, N.J.-based Medco. "Maybe the fact that we're seeing more young people with high cholesterol and blood pressure is indicative of the epidemic of obesity and overweight that we're seeing in this country."

More young adults on cholesterol drugs - Yahoo! News

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TV raises blood pressure in obese kids: study

I am guessing this relates to more hours of inactivity...BD 

They found obese children who watched four or more hours of TV a day were three times more likely to have high blood pressure than children who watched less than two hours a day. "There is a significant association between hours of television watched and both the severity of obesity and the presence of hypertension in obese children," Dr. Jeffrey Schwimmer of the University of California, San Diego and colleagues wrote in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends children watch fewer than two hours of TV per day.

TV raises blood pressure in obese kids: study - Yahoo! News

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Hospital to Screen for Staph Germ

Good step and certainly can't hurt...BD 

CHICAGO (AP) Loyola University Medical Center on Monday announced plans to start testing all incoming patients for a drug-resistant staph germ and isolating those who carry the dangerous bacteria. The 589-bed hospital in Maywood, just west of Chicago, is among the first in Illinois to start universal screening for the superbug. The germ in question is called MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. A new Illinois law requires hospitals to test high-risk and intensive-care patients for MRSA. The nation's Veterans Affairs hospitals began universal MRSA testing this year. And Evanston Northwestern Healthcare has reported a substantial drop in MRSA cases at its three suburban Chicago hospitals since it began universal testing in 2005.

The Associated Press: Ill. Hospital to Screen for Staph Germ

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Health costs squeeze workers

Open enrollment - employees finding the choice a lot different this year..higher deductibles..change in types of plans with employers watching the bottom line with health care...many workers are starting to opt out of employer health care plans as a result...BD

This year's open enrollment season will come with yet another jump in health care costs for Dallas-area companies and another shift of more of those costs to employees. Employees at companies from American Airlines to Wal-Mart should brace themselves for greater insurance costs and higher deductibles.

In a new twist, some employers are even veering from the tradition of extending coverage to employees' spouses if those spouses are covered by their own employer's plans. An increasing number is either denying such spouses coverage or charging extra.

This is leading many employees to drop coverage. "Increasing employee contributions, deductibles, co-pays and premiums are causing many workers to opt out of their employers' health plans," said David Guilmette, a Towers Perrin consultant.

Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer and the biggest employer in North Texas, with 32,500 local workers, has become a local advocate for high-deductible plans.  Wal-Mart offers its 1.3 million U.S. workers plans with deductibles ranging from $350 to $1,000, as well as ultra-high deductible plans of up to $6,000, Mr. Emerick said in May.

Meanwhile, Nortel Networks Corp., the telecommunications giant with 4,000 local employees, is one of those making it harder for spouses to piggyback on their employee health plans. Nortel sent letters to employees this month telling them they will have to pay an additional $50 per pay period if their spouses or domestic partners sign up despite having access to employer-provided medical coverage at work.

Health costs squeeze workers | Dallas Morning News | News for Dallas, Texas | Business Casual

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US makes new push on e-health records

Some physicians could stand to make some extra income on the pilot program...directed at Medicare patients..but the administration is also contacting insurance companies to encourage more to participate...BD

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is recruiting about 1,200 doctors nationally to remove the paperwork from their medical practice in return for higher Medicare payments.  Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt billed the project Monday as one of the administration's most important steps yet toward meeting President Bush's goal of nationwide adoption of electronic health records by 2014. Medicare will pay the physicians extra for completing tasks online, such as when ordering prescriptions or recording the results of lab tests. The highest payments will go to those physicians who most aggressively use the technology and who score the highest in an annual evaluation.

Participating doctors could see their reimbursements increase by several thousand dollars annually when they treat Medicare patients. The administration has also contacted insurance companies and asked them to consider similar rate increases for participating physicians. That way, doctors would have more incentive to participate.

US makes new push on e-health records - Yahoo! News

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Doctors test hot sauce for pain relief

Hot sauce may be the next pain killer...purified of course.  Don't try this at home the article states next time you need some relief for an open wound...interesting study going on...BD 

WASHINGTON - Devil's Revenge. Spontaneous Combustion. Hot sauces have names like that for a reason. Now scientists are testing if the stuff that makes the sauces so savage can tame the pain of surgery. ADVERTISEMENT Doctors are dripping the chemical that gives chili peppers their fire directly into open wounds during knee replacement and a few other highly painful operations. Don't try this at home: These experiments use an ultra-purified version of capsaicin to avoid infection and the volunteers are under anesthesia so they don't scream at the initial burn.

Among early results: In a test of 41 men undergoing open hernia repair, capsaicin recipients reported significantly less pain in the first three days after surgery, Aasvang reported this month at a meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiologists.

How could something searing possibly soothe? Bite a hot pepper, and after the burn your tongue goes numb. The hope is that bathing surgically exposed nerves in a high enough dose will numb them for weeks, so that patients suffer less pain and require fewer narcotic painkillers as they heal.

 

Doctors test hot sauce for pain relief - Yahoo! News

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Prostate Cancer Effectively Cured In Young Men By Implanting Radiation Seeds

Alternative to surgery if used before the age of 60...BD

Radiation seed implants (brachytherapy) are just as effective at curing prostate cancer in younger men (aged 60 and younger) as they are in older men, according to a study presented at a scientific session on October 31, 2007, at the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology's 49th Annual Meeting in Los Angeles. Brachytherapy is a minimally invasive procedure where a radiation oncologist places small radioactive seeds into the prostate in order to kill the cancer cells.

It is an attractive treatment option for patients with prostate cancer because it has a much shorter recovery time than surgery and studies have shown brachytherapy to be just as effective as surgery. However, surgeons have usually advised younger men to undergo surgery to remove all or part of the prostate (prostatectomy) over other treatments like seed implants because they believed younger men could physically tolerate surgery, plus they believed surgery was more effective than brachytherapy at curing prostate cancer long term. This meant that many younger men would undergo surgery without ever learning about other treatment options, like brachytherapy or external beam radiation therapy.

Prostate Cancer Effectively Cured In Young Men By Implanting Radiation Seeds

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Email sent to your Cell phone, just a regular cell phone will do

Neat service that will enable email to your normal cell phone, you do not need a Blackberry or Windows Mobile device to get your email...required a one time sign up to get started and it is free...all you need to do is sign up and begin flipping your phone...the only requirement is the ability for SMS messaging...text messaging...the videos below do a good job on showing how the service is used, especially the one from the New York Times...as it does a comparison of 3 different services with Teleflip being on top.  You can even schedule your service, so if you were a physician and wanted to select down time when not working, that can be done.

This is not a replacement for professional units that run Windows Mobile or the Blackberry operating system by any means, just a simple tool for those wanting email on a simple cell phone.  For professionals, there's almost no way of getting around the full use of a Windows Mobile unit, but for the occasional and small user, this can work great.  For the next step up, check out our section on Windows Mobile.  BD

Teleflip connects you to your office, friends and family wherever you go. Dont miss important messages  again. Six reasons to use our service& * Get email on the go. Stay connected 24/7 without watching your email inbox all day * Get email ONLY from the people you want to hear from. You choose who and when you would like to receive email messages on your phone *

This service is free. You only pay for standard text messaging * Never miss out on time-sensitive opportunities * Responding to emails from your cell phone is as easy as sending a text message * We NEVER send spam to your phone

https://www.teleflip.com/

Video Links:  Rueters         ABC News         New York Times

More about Windows Mobile

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SEC steps into WellCare probe - HMO Medicaid Provider

This could be serious...whenever the Security and Exchange Commission sets foot inside, there's usually some type of alleged substantiation somewhere along the line to justify their participation...BD

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission asked WellCare Health Plans for information - one day after federal and state authorities executed a search warrant at WellCare's Tampa headquarters. The SEC's Oct. 25 request was disclosed in a release from WellCare late Friday. WellCare (NYSE: WCG) is the largest HMO provider under Broward's Medicaid reform program. The company has 28,700 members in Broward County, 40,400 in Miami-Dade County and 12,900 in Palm Beach County in the Medicare, Medicaid and Healthy Kids. The company did not say what type of information the SEC asked for, but said in the release that it is cooperating with all federal and state authorities.

Law enforcement personnel with the FBI, U.S. Department of Heath and Human Services/Office of Inspector General, and Florida Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit executed a federal search warrant at WellCare Wednesday. The Justice Department has declined to detail the nature of the investigation.

SEC steps into WellCare probe - South Florida Business Journal:

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New wave of job cuts hits health care

Including pharmaceutical industry...BD

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A lack of significant new drugs and products, declining sales of lucrative flagship franchises and fierce competition have set off a wave of "restructuring" moves among the biggest names in health care. In many cases, restructuring is a euphemism for eliminating thousands of jobs, and it remains to be seen whether these moves are quick fixes to prop up dwindling profits, or a recognition of the industry's harsh new reality.

The world's largest drugmaker, Pfizer Inc  and the No. 1 biotechnology company, Amgen Inc are in the process of major restructuring, including dramatic workforce reductions.  Previously, AstraZeneca said last July it would eliminate 7,600 jobs, and Boston Scientific rival Medtronic Inc last month announced some 500 job cuts from its cardiac rhythm management business.

New wave of job cuts hits health care | Special Coverage | Reuters

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Health care crisis

Major finding...people just don't go to the doctor...and small employers continue to look for a way out..but our leadership just tells us to go to the ER room....BD 

The debate now raging over how much money the federal government should spend to provide basic health insurance for poor children is just an opening skirmish in what is likely to be an all-out war in coming months and years over how to pay for health care in America.

The challenge is finding ways to provide every American with quality affordable health care without dictating how the care will be offered.  Our failure to make progress toward that goal is causing a slow-motion health care crisis that is already threatening the well-being of millions.

Employer-provided insurance, the bedrock of health insurance, is eroding. Many companies, particularly smaller firms, faced with fast-rising health insurance expenses are asking workers to cover some of the cost, are limiting benefits or dropping insurance plans altogether. Thirty-nine percent of firms in the United States didn't offer health insurance at all in 2006 and 41.9 percent of "wage and salary" workers aged 18 to 64 were not offered health coverage through their own employers.

Still, a significant number of workers are balking at the rising costs of employer-sponsored insurance. Premiums for a family of four paid for by workers increased almost 12 percent between 2004 and 2005 -- from $222 a month to $248. Almost two out of three workers who chose not to participate in their employer's health plan in 2002 said the plan was too costly.

Health care crisis -- baltimoresun.com

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Humana Net Rises 90% - Medicare business

Income making the most from the Medicare business....and projecting earnings in 2008 to be around 5.30 to 5.50 per share..up from the average of 5.19 estimates...interesting comment from the article stating they don't have "a great commercial business". thus the need to maximize the Medicare portion...BD 

Oct. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Humana Inc., the second-largest provider of U.S.-sponsored health plans, said earnings rose 90 percent, and raised its 2007 forecast after gaining customers for its most-profitable managed-care programs. Humana jumped the most in more than three months in New York trading. Third-quarter net income climbed to $302.4 million, or $1.78 a share, from $159.2 million, or 95 cents, a year earlier, Louisville, Kentucky-based Humana said today. Profit excluding some items beat analysts' estimates, as did revenue.

Medicare Advantage plans generate annual gross margins of about $1,650 per Humana beneficiary, more than 10 times as much as the profit from the company's drug plans for the elderly, McDonald said. Gross margin is revenue minus the cost of goods or services sold.

Consumer groups and members of Congress have criticized Humana and other insurers for misleading some elderly people into signing up for Medicare Advantage plans, and they support efforts to scale back payments.  America's Health Insurance Plans, a trade group based in Washington, has urged Congress to leave the rates alone. Last week it brought 350 Advantage members to Capitol Hill from across the U.S. to urge lawmakers to back off.

``They don't have a great commercial business, so you have to make the most of your Medicare business,'' said Matt Perry, an analyst with Wachovia Securities in New York. ``It's been very good for the past few years and continues to be good.''  Revenue rose to $6.32 billion, surpassing analyst expectations of $6.11 billion

Bloomberg.com: U.S.

Humana's bigger-than-expected profit was driven by its lucrative, but controversial, Medicare Advantage program, which Congress recently criticized for receiving overpayments.  The company's better-than-expected quarter was driven by higher enrollment in its Medicare program.

Related story from Forbes

Executives from Humana and United Health said their companies pass overpayments through to seniors in the form of extra benefits, as required by law.

Medicare officials said they did not attempt to recover the money because they lack legal authority to do so, although GAO disputed the claim.

Lawmakers Probe Overpayments

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Record numbers go abroad for health - UK

Superbugs and lack of confidence in the NHS...India appearing to be the most popular choice..nurses all bogged down with administrative functions and don't have enough time to spend with patients, the report indicates...The US is not alone with folks looking for alternatives in health care with medical tourism...BD

Thousands of "health tourists" are going as far as India, Malaysia and South Africa for major operations such is their despair over the quality of health services. The first survey of Britons opting for treatment overseas shows that fears of hospital infections and frustration with NHS waiting lists are fuelling the increasing trend.  "The confidence that the public has in NHS hospitals has been shattered by the growth of hospital infections and this Government's failure to make a real commitment to tackling it," she said. "People are simply frightened of going to NHS hospitals, so I am not surprised the numbers going abroad are increasing so rapidly. My fear is that most people can't afford to have private treatment – whether in this country or abroad."

Hungary's popularity rests on a boom in dentistry, thanks to a shortage of NHS dentists in Britain.

Record numbers go abroad for health - Telegraph

Hat Tip: Kevin, MD

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Harmony and Synergy Merge to Form Leading On-Demand Health and Human Services Solutions Company

RESTON, VA--(Marketwire - October 29, 2007) - Harmony Information Systems, Inc. (Harmony), the industry leading provider of software solutions for the health and human services (HHS) sector, and Synergy Software Technologies, Inc. (Synergy), the leading software solutions provider to HHS entities serving the aging market, today announce the merger of their companies. The combined entity, which will operate under the Harmony name, gains the expanded capability to offer HHS software solutions with both on-demand and on-premise models. These solutions are deployed by tens of thousands of end users and support millions of clients within federal, state, tribal and local agencies, as well as small and large private non-profit organizations.

Harmony Billing™ - Works directly with service data captured at the source by program staff. Clinicians and case managers deliver services and enter corresponding progress notes; the services become immediately available for billing.

Harmony Claims Manager™ - Assists managed behavioral health care organizations, government agencies and other service payers in managing applications, member eligibility and enrollments, benefit plans, service authorizations and claims processing.

Harmony and Synergy Merge to Form Leading On-Demand Health and Human Services Solutions Company

http://www.synergysw.com/harmony/

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