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U.K. woman conceives breast cancer gene-free baby
The word guarantee is used a little bit loose here, as the baby is not immune to breast disease but the embryos did not contain the cancerous gene, so if nothing else with the history of breast cancer in the woman’s family, what did she have to lose to give this a try. BD U.K. woman conceives b…
New electrostatic-based DNA microarray technique could revolutionize medical diagnostics – personalized medicine
The “Gene Chips”, aka DNA microarray asssays and RNA counterparts are the tools for the process. What is surprising is that the technique is based on a 100 year old experiment. The next step along the line is to find someone to manufacture and create products that can be used in the market place.…
Generic Risperdal Hits the Market
No time wasted here, patent expired yesterday, orders shipping today. Also J and J will release their own generic as well, (can’t beat them – join them) so 2 generic versions ready to go. Teva has an exclusive for a few months before others can join in to manufacture and sell. BD Patients look…
Watermelon may have Viagra-effect
It relaxes blood vessels without any drug side effects! BD A cold slice of watermelon has long been a Fourth of July holiday staple. But according to recent studies, the juicy fruit may be better suited for Valentine's Day. That's because scientists say watermelon has ingredients that deliver …
Flaws in medical coding can kill – Medical Devices
This article specifically relates to the “code” that is used by devices. As a coder myself I can tell you this is an area that is worked, reworked and then once more. It used to be you had a device that did one thing, and it went through the process over and over without change, however that is n…
Kmart expands generic drug program
The news here is more generic drug availability, and $1.00 more than competitors but what’s a dollar these days as there’s still a tremendous savings versus not having the plan and the 3 month plan is also right up there at $10.00 in being competitive. BD ATLANTA (Reuters) - Retailer Kmart …
Bill Gates – “I’m still pretty hardcore”
Nice interview from the Nightly News with Bill Gates, reflecting on where he’s going, how Microsoft was started, and how innovation began. This takes about 25 minutes to watch in total as he talks about future plans and The Foundation. Among the items discussed include speech rec…
Electronic citations speed up ticketing process for police
Take a look at this photo, what makes this possible, using a Tablet PC in the car. Now if we could just get health care to embrace the use of Tablet PCs a bit more for the paperless solution. BD Police agencies and troopers in several states are tossing out handwritten tickets in favor of ele…
Harvard Medical School Deploys Third Brigade For PCI Security
Hard Hat Area: Health IT –One of the best benefits, protection from SQL Injection attacks from web applications and of course explicit logging. With technology and the exploits growing at such a rapid pace today outsourcing to the specialty companies who make this their #1 priority and focus is t…
Diagnosis Without Physician Input.. Not recommended…
Good article about how the human touch cannot be removed! Myself as a tech person I probably research more information than most, but again when it comes to professional help, Dr. Google or any others are not going to replace the doctor. Again, I come back around to one of my favorite subjects, c…
Serious patient errors at California hospitals disclosed in state filings
California may be the next state to join the ranks, but again as many have questioned, what are the “never” events and how will this be interpreted will be the real key on some issues. Granted, removing the wrong organ on the wrong patient is pretty much a given, but there are some real areas where…
Placebo Television #13: Reader's Digest Response
This has to be one of the best Dr. Doug has put out. This is good watching for both health care staff and patients, with a delicious bit of humor, but he makes his points. This is a rebuttal of the recent Readers Digest article, whereby he was the poster boy. One of the items he discusses is t…
Merck, Schering-Plough end respiratory collaboration
Joint drug therapies, are they worth the research funding? In this case it appears not to be the case. With more stringent policies coming in to place at the FDA, there’s a bigger magnifying glass in place with approvals, why, because there’s more information to evaluate today, where as in the pas…
eCardio Diagnostics Introduces Exclusive Extended Monitoring Device
The device has real time continuous monitoring and could be useful after surgery procedures for follow up reports. More information can be found at the website. BD “eCardio Diagnostics' eTrigger™ AF920 is a cardiac event monitor equipped with an embedded algorithm that automatically detects an…
Choices for Migraines – Medical Device, Drug or both?
Last week I posted about a new potential migraine zapper, a medical device in research that could use electronic shocks to kill a migraine. New research here shows a new method of a nasal injection is proving to be effective as the combination offered is faster according to the study reports than …
Follow-On Biologics Legislation Could Save Billions Of Dollars
Personalized Medicine and Genomics are getting some serious attention, why, because it will save money and hopefully better healthcare in the process. The days when your DNA will determine what drug your physician will prescribe may not be too far off. Developers and researchers are working quick…
Device proves blessing to chronic pain sufferers
Implantables helping with pain. This one focuses on the spinal cord and the therapy and surgery was able to get one man up and around out of the wheelchair. It is fairly expensive and thus insurance may or may not cover any or a portion. He also hopes to completely dump his morphine intake which…
Cancer 'Cure' In Mice To Be Tested In Humans – from Mice to Men or Women
The study was announced on June 28th in Los Angeles. The FDA has approved the study. 500 local potential donors who are 50 years old or younger and in good health will be recruited. “100 volunteers with high cancer-killing activity will be asked to donate white blood cells for the study. Cell…
The deals to entice medical students
Want to go to medical school on the government, well a military scholarship could be the answer, but you need to serve 4 years as an army physician when finished. On another matter I was in a round table discussion this weekend and one of the participants from South Africa, who lives here and tra…
Retail Clinics were first, now we have Retail labs…
First we had retail clinics, now retail labs and no prescription required, so pop in for a quick LDL or glucose test before you start your grocery shopping. Lab results could soon be connected to a PHR I would think to complete the entire process instead of mailing. BD An Atlanta company wants…
Medicare audit overreach?
There have been issues with how the auditing contractors have handled the scenario and Florida and California were able to make some change in tactics with the contractors as they were becoming more of bounty hunters. One physician was billed thousands in overcharges and anticipates winning all ex…
How Do You Outsource Health Care – You Don’t
Every industry has what is called a “business model’ and different industries can all learn from each other on marketing techniques, practices, etc. to create a proof of concept, but the one industry that is different is healthcare. I guess if you wanted to call clinical trials a “proof of c…
Medi-Cal providers bracing for pay cut - California
There’s a lot of focus this week on the Medicare reductions, but in California there’s also the Medi-Cal cuts. Already it is very difficult to find physicians who will still take Medi-Cal today, that battle through attrition has already be done, but the biggest potential losers in California are th…
Where the money isn't – The Family Practice
From Maryland, the physician states 15 years ago he was a wealthy doctor and today he is struggling and now thinking about quitting. Hopefully Congress will try once more to abate the pay cuts, or there may be many more who quit. Most of the MDs I know practice as it is their passion, not just a …
Dangerous drug, do-nothing FDA
Propoxyphene is the active ingredient found in Darvocet and also in Darvon. Experts suggest that ibuprofen is far more effective for treating pain, and yet it remains among the top 25 drugs prescribed and it is highly addictive. Consumer groups are suing the FDA over the product being allowed to s…
Senate Democrats Attack Republicans on Medicare - “There will be blood” (HR3661)
One senator wonders at this point why he is a Republican…and the Democrats were quick to have the names of those who voted against the bill, and it was published immediately on the web. Mr. Leavitt has stated he would hold new claims for 10 business days so doctors would not see the lower …
Robert Scoble Visits Washington – How and Who is Using Technology…
Anyone who has been on the Internet for any amount of time knows who he is. Recently I have talked about how far behind health care is in the government, but Robert was able to find some real technology is every day use, but as mentioned below things are a bit slow in Washington in some areas and h…
Analyst Says Bristol-Myers A Buyout Target
Is the big pharma business the next industry to face the melt down and consolidation process? BioTech investments are growing, and personalized medicine will also have an impact as activity continues to grow. Sequencing machines and technology are also bringing that portion of the industry down t…
Medicare to Test PHRs in S. Carolina
If this project proves to be successful, then watch out for Google Health and the Microsoft Vault who will want to integrate, which would be a good thing and added availability to share. The project will last for 12 months. CMS is activity encouraging the use of PHRs to hopefully get more invo…
Training The Next Generation – EHR Training at the University Level
What a novel idea! I say this tongue and cheek as it has been something needed for a long time. After having been in this industry for a while, this has been one of the most difficult areas and to have some general training at the university level before walking in to an office using an EHR, this …
Temporary Halt To Medicare Reimbursement Cuts – HR 6331 Update stalled until July 15th – The shot heard round the country…Loud and Clear in Texas…
Somebody had to step up the plate here, so the deadline is extended to July 15th now. In a related story: from the Center for Medicare Advocacy “One day after the Government Accountability Office reported that private Medicare Advantage plans made $1.14 billion more in profits than they had proj…
GlaxoSmithKline Donates Cancer Genomics Data set to Public
If others follow in the same path this stands to set some new priorities on how studies are conducted and the development of personalized medicine. BD In a move likely to up the ante in the emerging Open Source Drug Discovery movement, GlaxoSmithKline have announced the donation of genomic pro…
Battered Woman Imagery in Pfizer's New Fibromyalgia Ad
John Mack makes some good points about advertising here…how low do we have to go in essence to drive attention to the ads to sell Lyica, the approved drug for treatment of fibromyalgia? Pfizer has recently upped the stakes in its campaign to depict fibromyalgia as a "real" medical condition. In …
Are Medical Meetings Environmentally Unfriendly
As in most industries, virtual meetings and web meetings are starting to make a large showing on the Internet. When you stop and think about the price of fuel alone, this makes sense. Granted, I have done both and there really is no replacement for actually being there in real life to fulfill the…
Training Surgeons From The Video Game Generation
New concept in training younger medical students with video simulation. When you stop and think about it, this generation has grown with video games, etc and now this study is taking it to the next level to see if simulation is a technique that should be added to the study curriculum. Ohio state …
Progressive MyRate drive-monitoring device goes national
The insurance business is getting more creative all the time. This story has to do with car insurance and having a monitor study your driving habits, this is a way to offer incentives to those who’s device comes back with favorable results, but I wonder what happens at the other end of the spectru…
10,000$ worth of free care
Nice story from the ER doctor and nice to know charity and human soles are still alive and well out there. We hear so much negativity today and nice to hear from dedicated and generous health care workers, as the patient had no insurance but needed care. BD “Well, probably mostly free. The guy…
