Treatment without transfusions

Efforts by 125 hospitals to potentially avoid blood transfusions...The threat of contracting an infectious illness, however, is what many patients worry about most....BD 

A heart-lung machine holds a reservoir of blood during heart surgery at Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center. Some ‘bloodless’ techniques are quite simple, such as collecting smaller-than-usual samples for testing.ms employ a variety of techniques to minimize blood loss before, during and after treatments for many illnesses -- all in the hopes of avoiding the need for transfusions. Some are extraordinarily simple, such as collecting smaller-than-usual samples of blood for testing. Others involve the use of innovative medications, such as the hormone erythropoietin, which stimulates the bone marrow to produce red blood cells.In the operating room, physicians use sophisticated surgical instruments such as a harmonic scalpel, which simultaneously cuts tissues and stops bleeding, and pay meticulous attention to surgical technique. They also use special surgical sealants and glues to control minor bleeding, and drugs such as tranexamic acid to help blood clot normally. Blood that is spilled during surgery often is collected, cleaned and returned to the patient using high-tech systems.

Treatment without transfusions - Los Angeles Times

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Medical records found in apartment complex trash bin

Security breach story of the week - paper this time...BD 

LAS VEGAS (AP) - Police are investigating how dozens of boxes filled with medical records ended up in a Las Vegas-area apartment complex trash bin.

People who found them say folders contained files of Spectrum Family Medical patients -- including social security numbers, driver's license information and even test results for HIV patients.

KESQ.com Palm Springs, Coachella Valley - Weather, News, Sports: Medical records found in apartment complex trash bin

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50,000 Marriott Employees Get Online Health Alert System

Marriott had health coaches and how many alerts will a physician receive?  20 full time MDs tracking literature and data bases for Marriott...big operation...privacy issues again the big issue..and why are the patients notified after the doctor?  BD 

As health care costs have soared, more employers are testing online tools to help employees keep better tabs on their health. Marriott International is pushing that effort a step further, giving 50,000 U.S. workers access to a system that sends alerts to an employee's doctor if there's a potential problem such as a dangerous drug interaction or a key test that's been missed.  The hotel chain is using a Web-based personal health record system from ActiveHealth Management, which is owned by insurance company Aetna.  The company has 20 full-time physicians tracking medical literature to keep the databases behind the rules engine up to date, says ActiveHealth CEO Lonny Reisman, a cardiologist.

For such systems to work, they need to reach the right conclusions and gain the trust of employees--and the doctors who get the alerts.

BEWARE OF DOCTOR OVERLOAD  Doctors worry about being overrun with alerts, says Dr. James King, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians.  Employers get access to aggregate data showing, for instance, high blood-sugar levels.  Alerts to doctors come by phone, fax, or letter, depending on the urgency, and members usually are notified after the doctor.

50,000 Marriott Employees Get Online Health Alert System - Yahoo! News

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Ads

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How can it be that health insurance doesn't cover autism?

Something I was not aware of as well....BD 

Autism is a treatable disorder. Children can make significant improvement toward leading independent lives through proven treatments.
My son is one of these children. He is 7 years old, and we have spent countless hours and dollars out of pocket to help him. We both work and have high-priced insurance coverage, but our insurance does not cover autism treatment. How can this be?
Insurance covers cancer, diabetes and countless other medical conditions. Autism is not a fad, it is a difficult medical disorder that requires considerable hard work to enable the person with autism to be able to go to school, make friends and hopefully get a job and lead a full, productive life.

How can it be that health insurance doesn't cover autism?

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Domino's Pizza Tracker

 Now here's a business that has really taken technology seriously...if we can do this well tracking pizza, imagine health care facilities being able to track patients and equipment...some facilities have some of this technology, but just imagine if all were at the same level and we could take this technology as seriously as the pizza business....anyway it's Super Bowl weekend coming up and I needed some excuse to post this item here and it may even help you keep on target at half time if you are ordering up any pizza for the gang...will have to give this a try..BD 

http://www.dominos.com/home/tracker/pizzatracker.jsp

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Win a Sahara i440D Sahara Tablet PC

Help Tabletpc2.com design a new logo for the website...need to act on this one quickly!   If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know this is one of our favorites here and the one I use every day...believe me this is a great tablet!  Also be sure to look at the video in the top right hand side of this page to see the new features and components that can be added, including a snap on lightweight unit that can get you up to 10 hours battery life (sold separately).  Be sure to check out the rules and conditions for entry.  You will need to email your entry to the address listed.  BD 

 
The Grand Prize Winner will receive a TabletKiosk Sahara Slate PC i440D (retail value $2,295).  To see the full specs of the grand prize, visit the TabletKiosk website http://tabletkiosk.com/products/sahara/i400s_pp.asp
All dates refer to Pacific Standard Time (GMT-8 hours). All entries must be received by TabletPc2.com no later than 11:59 p.m. on February 15, 2008.  
Logo Contest Rules

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Stop taking new patients? Think twice

Recently I have had a couple posts with physicians discussing the either present closure or potential closure of their practices...this column offers some real food for thought...BD 

Closing your practice should be a last resort. Here are some alternatives.  Is turning down new patients the best way to care for your current patients?

After all, a too-large patient panel often translates into practice chaos: glacial waits for appointments, rushed encounters in the exam room, sloppy documentation. Doctors pay a personal price, too—working late at the office when they should be at home.

Some doctors may already be limiting their practices: The latest Medical Economics Continuing Survey reveals that the typical primary care doctor sees six fewer patients a week in 2006 than he saw in 2005. (See, "Productivity: Work hours up, patient visits down," Nov. 3, 2006.) But, many doctors still find themselves awash in a rising tide of charts. Sometimes they're victims of their own success—skill and bedside manner make them wildly popular. Sometimes they inherit the patients of a physician who leaves the practice. Or perhaps they toil in a physician-poor area.

Stop taking new patients? Think twice - Medical Economics

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Study Calling For Medical Device Information To Better Serve Patients And Doctors from the FDA

On a prior post it was noted that the FDA needs some new technology...as the article states that key employees were still writing these things out in longhand...on paper...as technology continues to grow, those in responsible positions could certainly benefit with some technology updates, at least with hardware for a start...

Hello Intel...anybody listening...maybe Craig Barrett...could we get some Classmates over there to help out??  BD 

The team concludes that after a device achieves Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval, a technology assessment by an independent organization can help identify medical devices that are truly beneficial and safe. The researchers also suggest that this assessment follow an "evidence-based" approach to information-gathering that includes data on the device's success in clinical application. This type of data would be valuable for increasing health professionals' awareness of "the potential promise and pitfalls of new technology," the team writes. "Physicians and patients just aren't aware of the limitations of the FDA process of initial assessment and oversight of new medical technologies.

Out of the thousands of medical technology applications submitted annually to the FDA, less than 100 undergo the kind of scrutiny required for new drugs, according to information cited in the report. Most new applications are approved through an expedited FDA process that considers new devices similar to those already approved. Plus, the agency relies on manufacturers and clinical investigators to initiate recalls and failure reports when a technology is not beneficial or is potentially harmful to patients, the report states.  The analysis was funded by the Blue Shield of California Foundation.

Calling For Medical Device Information To Better Serve Patients And Doctors

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Physicians Can Charge Medicare Patients for Missed Appointments

But don't try to bill Medicare...needs to be billed to the patient...BD

When a patient fails to show up for an appointment, the resulting hole in the physician's schedule can mean the loss of billable time. However, a change in Medicare's general billing requirements now allows physicians to charge Medicare beneficiaries for missed appointments.
The policy became effective in October, but many family physicians still are unaware of the change.

Physicians should not submit claims to Medicare for no-show charges because Medicare "does not make any payments for missed appointment fees or charges imposed by physicians," and such charges should not be billed to Medicare. However, according to the Medicare document, Medicare law and regulations "do not preclude the physician or supplier from charging the Medicare patient directly."

Physicians Can Charge Patients for Missed Appointments -- AAFP News Now -- American Academy of Family Physicians

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Bush Seeks Surplus via Medicare Cuts

Cutting more money...who's going to pay the bills?  How about the money in the insured's reserve funds?  According to recent articles there's a fairly large bankroll that could be available...BD 

WASHINGTON — In his new budget, to be unveiled Monday, President Bush will call for large cuts in the growth of Medicare, far exceeding what he proposed last year, and he will again seek major savings in Medicaid, according to administration officials and budget documents.  Mr. Bush has repeatedly said that the costs of Medicare and Medicaid, which dwarf spending for lawmakers’ pet projects, are unsustainable. The two health programs account for nearly one-fourth of all federal spending, and their combined cost — $627 billion last year — is expected to double in a decade. Kenneth E. Raske, president of the Greater New York Hospital Association, said the president’s proposals showed “great insensitivity to teaching hospitals” across the country. The proposals “would undermine our ability to train young doctors at a time when the nation is facing a shortage of doctors,” Mr. Raske said.

Congressional Democrats often pronounce Mr. Bush’s budget dead on arrival, and they have no reason to make unpopular cuts in this election year.  The budget would not touch payments to insurance companies for private Medicare Advantage plans, even though many Democrats and independent experts say those plans are overpaid.

House Democrats want to eliminate this requirement, saying it is a Republican device to undermine Medicare’s status as an entitlement.

Bush Seeks Surplus via Medicare Cuts - New York Times

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How the new Stark rules affect you

Good reading from Medical Economics...if you can make sense of all of it...the article here does help but overall the entire issue is still very confusing and yet vague...BD 

Besides the good and bad news, some Stark revisions are harder to pigeonhole.  CMS has now withdrawn this safe harbor, leaving some physicians feeling adrift and unprotected. "On the one hand, CMS acknowledges that doctors are entitled to provide certain ancillary services as part of their practices, which patients really like," says attorney Linda Baumann, a partner with Arent Fox, in Washington, DC. "But, at the same time, CMS doesn't appear sympathetic at all to doctors who feel undercompensated by the Medicare fee schedule and, therefore, entitled to make up the revenue by providing ancillary services." In short, to the extent that ancillaries now constitute a potential profit center for physicians, they're likely to face tighter and tighter government regulation.

What's less in dispute is that, for the near future at least, Stark will be a moving target, subject to continual change. And that's a troubling prospect for some observers. Says D'Emanuele: "From one perspective, the substance of Stark is less important than that it be reliable enough so that people can adjust and comply with it. If CMS changes things significantly on a yearly basis, it puts in great doubt what hospitals and doctors can reliably do going forward."

How the new Stark rules affect you - Medical Economics

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Coding Cues: Medical Economics

Good and informative updates on Office Visits...99214 and others...and information relative to anesthesia services...BD 

But if you didn't spend more than half the visit on counseling, and the encounter exceeded the typical time for a particular level of service by at least 30 minutes, it would be appropriate to use the prolonged care codes (99354 or 99355). These codes are add-on codes, so they're reported in addition to the E&M code.

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

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FDA Alerts Doctors About Suicide Risk Of Antiepileptic Drugs

View the entire article for a listing.....11 listed....BD  

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued new information, yesterday, 31st January, to alert doctors and other health professionals about the increased risk of patients having suicidal thoughts and behaviors as a result of taking antiepileptic drugs for epilepsy, bipolar disorder, migraines, and other conditions.  The risk of suicidality was observed to increase after one week of starting on the drugs, and stayed higher for at least 24 weeks.

The FDA said they were now working with the drug companies to ensure this new information is included in the product label and accompanying patient and doctor information sheets. They are expecting the information to apply to all antiepileptic drugs and not just the ones given here.

FDA Alerts Doctors About Suicide Risk Of Antiepileptic Drugs

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NeoMedix Offers Innovative Minimally Invasive Glaucoma Surgery

And it states that it is virtually pain free...FDA approved...visit the website for additional information...BD 

Glaucoma is a devastating disease that harms the eye without manifesting early signs or symptoms. Since people can have glaucoma and not even know it, this disorder has been called "the silent thief of sight." Glaucoma is a leading cause of blindness and vision impairment affecting approximately 3 million Americans, and 69 million people worldwide. 

Trabectome(R) is a minimally invasive procedure. Developed by NeoMedix of Tustin, California, this FDA-cleared device typically reduces intra-ocular pressure (IOP) without the aid of mechanical implants or shunts. By gently removing a portion of the patient's clogged tissue (the trabecular meshwork) Trabectome re-establishes access to the eye's natural drainage pathway.

NeoMedix Offers Innovative Minimally Invasive Glaucoma Surgery

http://www.neomedix.net/tech_2.htm

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Health IT Will Lead To Safer, More Efficient Care, Leavitt Writes

I totally agree here...but next step...let's get some funding for the folks that use them...BD

Greater use of health information technology will translate into much safer and more efficient care," as well as "connect more Americans to information on quality and cost and give them more control over their health care options," HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt writes in a Des Moines Register opinion piece. Leavitt says that doctors "also benefit from the use of electronic health records," which "save [them] from having to read through pages and pages of handwritten notes"; notify them "immediately to dangerous drug interactions and allergies"; allow "prescriptions to be sent directly from the handheld [computer] to the pharmacy"; and enable researchers to "track treatment outcomes so that they can learn more quickly from clinical practice what works best."

Health IT Will Lead To Safer, More Efficient Care, Leavitt Writes

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California’s Health Reform Failed Because Mandates Are Fundamentally Flawed

Back to the same issues...will anybody pay the bill and how to control costs...BD

As the members of the California Senate also learned, it is financially impossible to expand coverage to the uninsured without also controlling costs. This means taking on the politically challenging task of ousting the insurance industry profiteers.

The failure of the mandate model in the six states that have tried it can be directly attributed to the Californian insurance industry. Each of these state reform efforts promised cost savings, but none included real cost controls. As the cost of health care soared, legislators backed off from enforcing the mandates or from financing new coverage for the poor. Just last month, Massachusetts projected that its costs for subsidized coverage may run $147 million over budget.

Health Insurance Blog: California’s Health Reform Failed Because Mandates Are Fundamentally Flawed

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Health Insurance Says no more Lipitor

A move to a generic alternative maybe?  Would be interesting to hear from the physician to add some content here as well....BD

I learned today that our health insurance decided I can't have Lipitor anymore. I've been taking it for years. It works, and I don't have side-effects. But they know better than my doctor.  They also decided my wife can't have one of her prescriptions, either.

And they raised our prescription co -pay to $40. We also have co-pays and deductibles for office visits as well.  The two of us pay between $1200 and $1300 a MONTH for health insurance, and now we will also pay about $200 a month more for prescription co-pays - if they let us have the drugs at all. And if we DO get sick, will they decide not to cover us?

Seeing the Forest: Health Insurance

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Saint Luke's will end contract with UnitedHealthcare

Termination date is for a year from now...until February 2009.  BD 

Saint Luke's Health System said Thursday that it intends to terminate its network provider contract with UnitedHealthcare on its Feb. 28, 2009, termination date because the insurers' reimbursement rates are too low.

The termination would include UnitedHealthcare's commercial HMO, PPO and point of service provider networks. Patients covered by UnitedHealthcare represent 5.9 percent of the 11-hospital system's total reimbursement from all patients and 12.9 percent of its reimbursement from managed-care payers.

Saint Luke's will end contract with UnitedHealthcare - Kansas City Business Journal:

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Microsoft conference calling

 Hilarious....conferencing can be fun and there's even a little time left to dance!  Have fun with Office Communicator!  BD 

More about Office Communicator here

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Heroes Happen Here - Pitfalls of Paper...

 

http://blogs.technet.com/hhh_comic/archive/2008/01/31/hhh-comic-series-day-3.aspx

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Executives - Mobility and Tablet PCs - A Commentary

In my travels and in communicating with folks at various levels of health care, the one thing that somewhat continues to boggle my mind a bit is the "stereo typing" of a Tablet Computer.  In other words when having conversations with executives and others in management, they all seem to be of the opinion that "tablets are for doctors", when in fact mobility and the use of Tablet computers can be beneficial to anyone. 

I get a little bit of everything out there including executives that look at me like I am "Lucifer" walking with that "thing" again, you know that "tablet" thing.  Now I have to ask a big question here, what executive does not sit in meetings and takes notes?  I truly don't think you will find one that does not participate in meetings, daily, weekly or whatever, so I ask this question...why do they continue to carry around the old yellow legal pad?  Does one not have to refer to notes from prior meetings occasionally, or perhaps even quite frequently?  Why does one put themselves through the time staking effort of having to refer to a stack of legal notepads when something as simple as One Note can make such a task very simple.  If you search around this blog, you can find plenty of information about tablets and also about on One Note.  

I use a tablet in my travels and I can't tell you the amount of time it has saved me, not only that, but I am not wasting valuable time with having to "get back" with folks by having to manually go through a ton of legal paper pads to find it.  I simply write in a quick query and One Note finds everything in reference to the keyword in about 30 seconds or less....so I ask, what is this fascination with digging up paper notes?  Do top executives who are focused on ROI  realize they are contributing to the cause along the line here?  What is this stereo type that administrators feel that "tablets are only for doctors"?  Is it a bit of "old dogs not wanting to learn new tricks"?  

One other small thought here too is that if the folks at the top embrace and use technology, you know it just might be a whole lot easier to get the rest (including the doctors) to buy in too.  How in the world do you think Bill Gates keeps all his information together...thus the brain child of the Tablet PC too...I'm sure years ago he too had to figure there was a better way of doing all of this if you stop and think about it. 

A little mobility and technology can save a lot of time and not only that, it can set a precedence for others to embrace the same....could be catchy?  Lawyers are getting it...and they have to electronically file documents anyway in most parts of the country...take a look at this blog about how this attorney is cashing in and he even does some videos...and there's even templates at he One Note site to download to make it easy...and there are templates for all types of notes...

Students get it....look at this site whereby Tablets and their functionality are discussed...great tool for school....and some school even give them out to students...many stories on this evolving every day from 5th graders up to college.  

Engineers get it.....another great site....Plumbers get it....one more site....as well as other contractors....so again I have to ask...why are Executives and Administrators so slow to jump on the bandwagon in health care? It's a wise investment that will not only be help to your own efforts, but you will find yourself helping to create a better bottom line for your organization and set the tone for how your organization embraces technology and discussions with your IT department can also become much more meaningful with even the simplest understanding and use of mobility and using a Tablet PC. 

Why don't Health care executives get it?

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Straight Talk from the Stanford ER

Hash cookies...good work from the ER in finding this....especially since the child had medical issues already....I thought some of this died in the 70s, but what do I know...BD 

The events were playing out too quickly. I enter the room-“The Nanny” is there, as well as the father, and the mother is holding what looks like a bag of cookies? “Mikey was playing in his father’s car, and found these, he ate the whole bag: 100% hash cookies, keep out of reach of children!” “His father has bad back pain, he buys these in San Francisco.”
Mikey was stoned out of his gourde. He was alone in his father’s car for up to 2 hours eating pot cookies.  you know,” she replied. “Why don’t you just send off a urine toxicology screen my attending implored…you never know…this is our job to find things like this you know…” I agreed to send one, in the off chance we might stagger across something…but meanwhile, back to this child having a full blown neurological problem…I need to call the neurologist now!

Straight Talk from the Stanford ER

Hat Tip:  Kevin, MD

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Official says no drugs for off-duty police - Amsterdam

No pot for the off duty police...BD 

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The Dutch interior minister wants police officials to stop using soft drugs when they are off-duty as it tarnishes the image of the force. The use of some soft drugs is tolerated in the Netherlands and the sale of cannabis in small quantities for recreational use is permitted in government-regulated coffee shops.

"The minister does not want police officials to use soft drugs, such as cannabis, not even during their spare time. It does not fit with the presentation of the police to the public," a spokesman said Thursday.

Official says no drugs for off-duty police | Oddly Enough | Reuters

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Experts, Lawmakers Call For Increased FDA Funding To Address Agency Problems

 Update:  Back in December it was noted that many front line employees don't have computers...and the article stated they never ask for money...along with the antiquated email system...the FDA has a lot of responsibility for our safety and we all rely on their judgement...but can someone get some new computers over there...could be a little of both here perhaps with some folks not ready to use computers as well... continuing to write lengthy reports by hand?  That issue is everywhere though with folks resisting the technology that will only serve to help do a better job and get it done faster especially with all the new medical devices coming to market that interact with mobile computers and phones...could this be a case of both money and desire here?  BD  

FDA lacks adequate funds and organization to meet an increased number of responsibilities and ensure public health, witnesses and lawmakers said on Tuesday at a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, CQ HealthBeat reports. During the hearing, lawmakers heard testimony from members of the FDA Science Board, which recently released a report that found "lives are at risk" because of problems at the agency.

According to the report, FDA inspects U.S. facilities that manufacture the highest-risk medical devices once every three years and facilities that manufacture moderate-risk medical devices once every five years. FDA inspects facilities abroad that manufacture the highest-risk medical devices once every six years and facilities that manufacture moderate-risk medical devices once every 27 years, the report found

Experts, Lawmakers Call For Increased FDA Funding To Address Agency Problems

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Medtronic Announces FDA Approval of CGMS® iPro™ Continuous Glucose Recorder

288 readings a day for 3 days....return to your physician at the end of the 72 hours and go over the data collected on the computer....BD 

MINNEAPOLIS — January 29, 2008 — Medtronic, Inc. (NYSE: MDT) today announced the FDA approval of a new physician-use continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) system, the CGMS® iPro™ Recorder.  Physicians send patients home with the CGMS iPro Recorder to uncover patterns and potential problems that often go undetected with today’s standard glucose measurements like finger stick meters and HbA1c tests. 

The new CGMS iPro Rec order is smaller, lighter in weight and less time consuming to use than previous CGMS recorders.  Physicians can now gain added clinical insights from the CGMS iPro Recorder in a matter of minutes, while improved ergonomics give patients added freedom when wearing the device.  Physician services associated with CGMS iPro are reimbursed from Medicare in all 50 states and have broad private insurance reimbursement.

Requires Microsoft Windows® 95 or 98 or NT 4.0Pentium l, ll, lll or 486, 16 megabytes RAM (32 recommended), 25 megabytes hard drive, a screen resolution of at least 800 x 600, CD-ROM, serial com port, mouse

Medtronic Announces FDA Approval of CGMS® iPro™ Continuous Glucose Recorder

http://www.medtronicdiabetes.com/products/cgms/index.html

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Washington State Health Care Associations Announce Resolution To Stop Charges For Preventable Medical Errors

And the insurers will not pay as well....again the question in some areas, what is preventable..some are obvious but there's an areas of gray here with even some of the CMS regulations as well...each case I believe is truly it's own...BD  

Washington state health care providers no longer will charge for preventable hospital errors under a resolution announced on Tuesday by Gov. Christine Gregoire (D) and officials of several state health care associations, the Seattle Times reports.  The resolution is voluntary, but leaders of the associations say they expect hospitals, physicians and surgery centers around the state to comply. In addition, Aetna and Blue Cross Blue Shield Association this month announced an agreement to stop payments to hospitals for treatment that results from serious medical errors (Ostrom, Seattle Times, 1/29).

Washington State Health Care Associations Announce Resolution To Stop Charges For Preventable Medical Errors

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Terminated - California Health Care

Back to the same issue..who's going to pay the bill?  There's quite a bit of money in the "cash reserves" held by the insurers...billions....BD 

Like collapses in Illinois, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, this one crumpled because of the costs, which are always much higher than anticipated. The truth teller was state Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, who thought to ask about the price tag of a major new entitlement amid what's already a $14.5 billion budget shortfall.

What the California collapse should discredit in particular is the individual mandate as a policy tool for Republican reformers. This was Mr. Romney's enthusiasm for a time, helped along by the Heritage Foundation. But in order to be enforceable, such a mandate inevitably becomes a government mandate, and a very expensive one at that.

Voters are rightly concerned about health care, but they also don't want to pay higher taxes to finance coverage for everyone. Mr. Schwarzenegger's spectacular failure shows that there's an opening for Republicans to make the case for health-care reform based on choice and tax-equity, not mandates and tax hikes.

Terminated - WSJ.com

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Should health insurance companies be for profit?

Is it time to scrap the entire system and start over?  This article explores some opinions and thoughts on the issue...BD 

Not only should health insurance companies be non-profit - they shouldn't exist, period. I just read that we spend 16% of our income in the United States for health care. That's ridiculous and unsustainable.

Then came the HMOs - health management organizations - and other members of that alphabet soup. Now its the HMO management trying to buy third homes in Nantucket. What, you might ask, do these companies do? They say "no." We'll pay for this, they say, but not that. The more they say no the more money they get to keep.

Well, I say it's time to scrap the whole system. The government should take over health care management. Doctors and hospitals should be paid by the government. Malpractice laws should be reformed. Drug companies should be permitted to advertise prescription drugs only to doctors. Hypochondriacs should not be permitted to hog health care.

Debate: Should health insurance companies be for profit? - Helium

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Turns out it wasn't just false labor...

NORWOOD, Ohio - A woman who had been told that her pains were false labor pains gave birth in the driveway of her home. Charryse Brooks, 25, had gone to a hospital about 2 a.m. Sunday because she thought she might be in the early stages of labor. She wasn't due with her first child until Feb. 22.

Finally, she insisted that she had to return to the hospital, but it was too late. By the time she got to the car, the pain was so intense, she couldn't open the car door."She looked at me, right in the eye, so calmly, too. She said, 'Tim, the baby's here,'" said her husband, the Rev. Timothy Brooks.

He reached to catch the baby, a 4-pound, 3-ounce girl the couple named Mackenzie Nichole Brooks, in the leg of the sweat pants his wife was wearing.

Turns out it wasn't just false labor... - Yahoo! News

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Lawsuit alleges testing fraud at Presbyterian Hospital

One more for the legal system...real diagnosing or a matter of money?  Not enough of a story here to speculate...BD 

Eleven women have filed a lawsuit against Dallas' Presbyterian Hospital, alleging fraud on the part of doctors who allegedly recommended treatment for conditions they did not have.

It is the second lawsuit to make such allegations; the first was filed by five women in May 2007. "It didn't make a bit of difference what the tests showed," said attorney Marty Rose of Rose Walker LLP, who represents the plaintiffs. "They were just going to tell each of the women the same thing and keep billing them until they got wise or until their deductibles ran out."

Each of the women came to the hospital seeking medical assistance for eating disorders. The group claims doctors at the hospital advised them to submit to a series of tests that determined they had suffered heart damage as result of their disorders.

Lawsuit alleges testing fraud at Presbyterian Hospital - Dallas Business Journal:

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Marijuana machines could be cure for inconvenience - California

I guess this will be easier for the DEA to arrest a machine...well at least help put an end to the recent activity of yes it ok, or no it is not...and there is security so it's not like getting a bag of chips or a candy bar...and your picture is taken each time the machine is used...and there is a guard at the machine site....choice of 5 types...BD 

Vending machines have long been used to hawk everything from Skittles and sandwiches to juice and java, but now one is being used to offer a new product: medical marijuana.

Not just anyone can pop some coins in and get some bud. The machine, developed by Los Angeles medical-marijuana dispensary owner Vincent Mehdizadeh, gives up to an ounce of pot per week only to preapproved patients.

It has a card swiper, a video camera that also takes a snapshot of any user and adds it to a database, and is protected by armed security guards. Beginning today, Mehdizadeh said, he will start fingerprinting patients who want to use the machine, which will dispense five types of marijuana: Platinum Kush, Fire O.G., Bubba Kush, Purple Kush and Wild Cherry.  

Los Angeles is not the only place where pot laws and enforcement have conflicted in recent years. In 2005, Denver city officials legalized marijuana in small amounts for adults 21 and older. But many Denverites were cited for marijuana possession because pot is still illegal under state and federal laws.

LA Daily News - Marijuana machines could be cure for inconvenience

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The Database Taste Challenge!

This is the hart hat area...as stated it is a trade promotion and you need to check company policy to ensure you are eligible to participate..basically set up to promote being trained with both Oracle and SQL 2005 and the value of using both...the game is challenge your skills...BD 

What tastes better, Microsoft® SQL Server® 2005 or Oracle 11g? What do people think? We're taking the taste challenge to the street. Find out what people are saying about their favorite database.

Open only to US residents 18+ who are employed in the Information Technology ("IT") industry. Game ends Feb. 29, 2008. See website for full rules.

The Database Taste Challenge!

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Mobility Matters™: Tablet PC Mounting Solutions - Sahara i440D

From Gail at the TabletKiosk blog...nice visuals that show the docking cradle for the Sahara i440D tablet...be sure to watch the video in the upper right hand corner to see some of this in action and a couple of other new items that add some modularity....BD 

"This made me start thinking that I need to do a better job with our website and marketing materials to explain the flexibility, portability and mounting options available. We currently offer VESA plates with and without quick-release access, a Docking Cradle which is essentially our VESA plate with expandable legs, assorted mounting arms and stands."

  http://tabletkiosk.blogspot.com/2008/01/this-morning-i-had-fun-conversation.html

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A 'Crystallized Fart' Lasts Forever .....

There could be some value with an issue we seek medical advice for....for more on this story I have to leave it to Robert Scoble who found out a lot more about this as Davos...quote below...and read his blog input here...the heck with ever thinking about selling a black market kidney, this is legal, a lot less effort and  might just one day help get some diamond crystals in your cell phone...yes a bit of humor here but the story is well worth reading....science and health care coming together under a unique situation...BD 

"Turns out methane has one carbon atom and four hydrogen atoms. If you burn methane you’ll probably get a little soot, which is those carbon atoms showing up. But if you remove the oxygen, throw in a cocktail of a few other secret gasses, and heat it all up you can deposit those carbon items on a starter bed of diamond.  Translation: if you coat bearing surfaces with diamond you’ll save energy and the bearings will last a lot longer.   What else are they doing with it? Well, did you know your cell phone has several quartz crystals in it? Why? The crystals vibrate and keep the clock rates all synchronized. Diamond, he tells me, is even better than quartz for that use because it is more highly tunable and energy efficient and can be made to fit in a smaller space than quartz can."

Janine Roberts' new book "Glitter & Greed: The Secret World of the  Diamond Cartel" (The Disinformation Company) exposes the unromantic side of diamonds due to the "cartel" that keeps prices high and the human rights violations of diamond diggers.

-- Roberts has seen scientists "grow diamonds" using methane and oxygen which she says means diamonds are nothing more than "crystallized farts."

Weird News: A 'Crystallized Fart' Lasts Forever - 2003-08-20

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A swiped Blue Cross laptop puts data at risk - New Jersey

Anybody heard of Windows Server 2003 or 2008 with the ability to wipe a mobile device...security breach of the week...or what's wrong with a secured VPN set up....better effort here with the information set up to self destroy at a certain date....BD 

Horizon Blue Cross/Blue Shield of New Jersey is notifying more than 300,000 of its members that their names, Social Security numbers and other personal information were contained on a laptop computer stolen in Newark earlier this month.

While Horizon is upgrading its laptops to encrypt data, the stolen computer had not yet been equipped with new software. Encrypting the data would make it readable only with a special code.

The health insurance giant, which serves more than 3.3 million people across the state, said there was no reason to believe any of the information was compromised because it was protected by password and other security features -- although the data was not encrypted.

A swiped Blue Cross laptop puts data at risk- NJ.com

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President Bush Signs Bill With Veterans' Health Care Funds

The veterans are getting a little help...now how about children and seniors...BD  

President Bush on Monday signed into law a revised $696 billion fiscal year 2008 defense authorization bill (HR 4986), CongressDaily reports (CongressDaily, 1/29). The bill includes improvements in health care for veterans and a 3.5% pay increase for military personnel.

President Bush Signs Defense Authorization Bill With Veterans' Health Care Funds

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Congress Budget Office Director Calls For Improvements In CMS Demos, More Data From Insurers

Budget office does not appear happy with the current reporting system...begging for data from insurance companies as relates to Medicare Advantage plans....we've been wondering the same things about money saved and quality of health care....BD 

Congressional Budget Office Director Peter Orszag on Monday said that CMS demonstration projects lack "the key elements that you would expect in a rigorously designed evaluation" to determine whether the projects are saving money and improving health care quality, CongressDaily reports. Orszag said that the demonstration projects are not set up in ways that other agencies can "learn the things that we need to learn in order to score future proposals."
Orszag said he is "continuing to beg" for data from insurance companies about Medicare Advantage plans. "It's almost like they're conducting a variety of experiments in disease management and various other things. And they are doing so with public subsidies." He added, "In exchange for this publicly funded set of experiments, we should be getting a set of rigorous data back on what works and what doesn't, and that is, unfortunately, not as complete and as rigorous as one would hope." Orszag noted that private fee-for-service MA plans have a "very light reporting requirement," which makes it difficult to measure success.

CBO Director Orszag Calls For Improvements In CMS Demos, More Data From Insurers

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Doc admits leaking study results to drug maker

It could have been worse...could have been posted on Sermo?  BD  

A Texas doctor leaked confidential research to the makers of the popular diabetes drug Avandia weeks before a study was published tying the drug to higher heart risks, the scientific journal Nature reported Wednesday.  "Why I sent it is a mystery. I don't really understand it. I wasn't feeling well. It was bad judgment," Nature quotes Haffner as saying.

Dr. Steven Haffner, of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, broke confidentiality rules for medical journal peer reviewers when he gave the Avandia study to GlaxoSmithKline PLC 17 days before it was published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the Nature report says.

Doc admits leaking study results to drug maker - Health care- msnbc.com

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Physicians Can Update Evidence-Based Medical Information Using WiserWiki -in Beta format at present

The site is open for all to read, but only board certified members can create and non certified can edit....While members of the public may access information on the site, they are informed that WiserWiki is intended primarily as an informational site for medical professionals.  Unlike Sermo, it is open for the public to view discussions...BD 

No longer in print, the textbook seeding WiserWiki contains in-depth information on a full-range of medical problems, conditions and diseases encountered in the practices of family physicians, general internists, medical and surgical subspecialists, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants.

Elsevier, the world's leading publisher of science and h ealth information, has announced the beta launch of WiserWiki a wiki that allows board-certified physicians to collaboratively contribute and update medical information online. The site, which is open to and viewable by the public, is seeded with content from The Textbook of Primary Care Medicine (3rd Edition, 2001) by John Noble, M.D. The textbook was published by Mosby, an Elsevier imprint, and was one of Elsevier's best-selling medical textbooks.
"WiserWiki is another example of Elsevier's commitment to develop innovative tools for medical professionals," said Scott Virkler, Vice President, Business Development at Elsevier. "With WiserWiki we're providing a trusted forum for physicians to collaborate and contribute professional-level medical content that's viewable by members of the public."

Physicians Can Update Evidence-Based Medical Information Using Elsevier's WiserWiki

http://www.wiserwiki.com/Main_Page

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2 hospitals got millions, spent little on charity - San Francisco

Somewhat difficult to make full sense of this report as there are many other factors in the study that were possibly not included, such as location and where the uninsured go for treatment....BD 

San Francisco's five nonprofit hospitals received $79 million last year in tax breaks intended to compensate them for providing free care to the city's poor and uninsured, but they spent just $16 million on charity care, according to a new city report.

California Pacific Medical Center, with campuses in Laurel Heights, Pacific Heights and the Castro, was responsible for the vast majority of the disparity, the report by the city Department of Public Health said. California Pacific received close to $70 million in tax breaks - $67 million in state and federal income tax exemptions and $2.8 million in local property tax exemptions - while spending $5.2 million on charity care, the report said.

2 hospitals got millions, spent little on charity

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United/PacifiCare fined record $3.5 million

Update:  Penalties could get upgraded according to this article..as posted earlier in the state of Washington there are reserves of 2.2 billion for the major 3 insurers...I would guess the reserves are available to more than cover an extended fine here?  Is somebody listening?  BD 

Regulators also will ask an administrative law judge to uphold its allegations that the company mishandled claims and levy additional penalties of up to $1.3 billion. The state accused PacifiCare of 133,000 violations from 2005 to 2007.

So far, regulators have helped doctors and patients collect more than $1 million in payments from PacifiCare's preferred provider organization and health maintenance organization plans.

Business - PacifiCare fined record $3.5 million - sacbee.com

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Microsoft - Protect yourself from Piracy

Felt a need to mention this site relative to concerns about identity theft...another good reason these days not to use pirated software as it's a big more dangerous than it has been in years past..used to just be viruses...but now you could get a bot net in the process too...there's a reason for the madness on the other side with those wanting to do more than just give you some free software.  The link has several videos outlining some of the dangers....BD 

Counterfeit Confidential highlights the business risks of downloading and using counterfeit or pirated software. Buying software online increases the potential for identity theft, loss of critical business data, and employee downtime – it’s just not worth the risk. Find out how to protect your business from counterfeit software.

Black Market Blues depicts the risks of purchasing and using counterfeit or pirated software from outside of mainstream channels. See how dealing with unknown sources can have dire results at home or in the office, and learn what you can do to avoid the consequences.

http://www.microsoft.com/piracy/knowthefacts/videos.aspx

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HMO To Offer Humana Associates Innovative Program For Weight Loss by use of your cell phone

This HMO is taking the approach of letting your cell phone be your weight loss coach...now you can have your phone help you with your diet, etc...my phone is busy enough as it is and having it guide me through what I eat every day...not sure this is a fit for me as it would be more of an annoyance than a help as there's plenty of information available for diet plans on the web and you have to pay for it, the last thing I need is a phone governing the one little pleasure I might have during the day to sit down and eat...but again another effort to keep the cost down of health care from your friendly HMO...BD 

Sensei, Inc., a pioneer in mobile and Web-based wellness solutions, today announced that Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM), one of the nation's largest publicly traded health benefits companies, will now offer its 22K associates nationwide Sensei's next-generation approach to health and weight loss. The program will be offered at a discounted rate to encourage enrollment. 

Sensei was formed in 2005 by Humana Inc. and Card Guard AG (SWX:CARDG), the leading developer, manufacturer and marketer of innovative healthcare technologies and solutions.

Sensei And Humana Inc. Join Forces To Offer Humana Associates Innovative Program For Weight Loss

Sensei Website

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Reputation managers step in against Internet thugs

Good advice here, especially if you are in Health Care, Google yourself once in a while to see what the anonymous world of the web has listed...you could be surprised and if you find it, the rest of the world can too...BD 

"It's more and more important to know what's out there about you," IRM's Kader said.IRM concentrates on how clients appear in a Google search because "unless you are a hermit, you will be googled," Schiwietz said.  Anonymity and strength in numbers are fueling the online attacks.

"There are around 10,000 Google searches made each second, and googling is expected to double or triple because you will be able to do a search anywhere with a handheld device," Kader said. "The law doesn't allow victims to sue the site operators because they aren't writing this stuff," said Citron.  "People are increasingly basing their first impression on what they see on the Internet, but few go beyond the first five results on Google," said Kader.

Reputation managers step in against Internet thugs - Yahoo! News

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Verizon Calls For Halt To Data Mining Of Wireless Phone Numbers

Wireless carrier takes a stand on privacy...if you were a physician for example and wanted to keep a number private, it's almost impossible if someone pays a few dollars...BD

Nearly four years ago, Verizon Wireless said that a wireless directory would be a “dumb idea.” Now, as another company leaks its plans to sell the cell phone numbers of private citizens, Verizon Wireless today called on that company to halt the mining and sale of these numbers.

“Stop it. This is a violation of Americans’ privacy. People expect their cell phone numbers to remain private,” said Steve Zipperstein, vice president and general counsel of Verizon Wireless. He added that Verizon Wireless intends to take whatever steps might be necessary, including litigation, to protect its customers’ numbers and privacy.

Verizon Calls For Halt To Data Mining Of Wireless Phone Numbers | Mobility Site

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California regulators to audit health insurers

Health insurance is expensive...a report recently released reporting on the 3 major insurance carriers in the state of Washington recently reported a cash surplus of $2.2 Billion (with a B) for the year 2006...any guess on what the cash reserves for the State of California might be with even a much larger pool?  BD 

SAN FRANCISCO/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California's insurance commissioner said on Tuesday he would audit the state's leading health insurers as regulators pursue more than $1 billion in penalties related to alleged claims violations at UnitedHealth Group Inc's PacifiCare unit.Poizner declined to name the companies that would be audited.

"I have decided today to launch audits of all the eight major health insurance companies here in California in 2008. We will be closely examining the practices of all the health insurance companies in California," Steve Poizner, the state's insurance commissioner, said at a press conference in San Francisco.

California regulators to audit health insurers | U.S. | Reuters

"California's two regulatory agencies have taken the important step of banding together to tell United/PacifiCare 'enough is enough,"' said Dr. Richard Frankenstein, M.D., president of the California Medical Association, which last year asked regulators to investigate the company.

"For-profit health plans have made billions of dollars in California by putting profits ahead of patients. Just because United said they're sorry and will pay fines, it doesn't mean patients are protected and won't continue to suffer."

Related Story:  http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_8109122

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i-LIMB bionic hand approaches 100 fittings

January 30, 2008 Touch Bionics has announced that its i-LIMB - the world’s first commercially available bionic hand - is expected to achieve the milestone of 100 patient fittings by the end of February this year, having already reached more than 70 people worldwide since its July 2007 launch.

In order to service the increasing demand for iLIMB hands, Touch Bionics has also announced its incorporation in the United States as Touch Bionics, Inc.

“This is the first time in my 30 years in the prosthetics business that I felt I was truly delivering an arm to the patient,” said Jake Wood, C.P., F.A.A.O.P, certified prosthetist and co-owner at Orthotics and Prosthetics Associates, Inc. in Milwaukee, WI. “Due to the anthropomorphic, dexterity and functional capabilities of the i-LIMB Hand, it’s in a league of its own, technology-wise. I never thought in my lifetime that I would ever see this technology.”

i-LIMB bionic hand approaches 100 fittings - gizmag Article

http://www.touchbionics.com/professionals.php?section=2

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Microsoft partner first with hosted Communications Server

 Looking for a solution to outsource Exchange...here's one solution and the opportunity to combine Office Communicator at the same time..."If you think Exchange is difficult to set up for a small business, think about setting up Exchange and OCS," Bradbury said. "It's an absolute nightmare for SMBs to do this."...and I can't agree more, so many times especially in health care I see so much time devoted to just keeping up with Exchange on older systems, that other data needs get put on the back burner....especially where IT resources are slim...with hosting you get the licenses, share point services, virus and back up...and someone else to chase issues...and more time to attend other pending installations and upgrades...BD 

Intermedia on Tuesday will begin offering Microsoft Office Communications Server (OCS) as a hosted service on a subscription basis for $7.95 per user, per month, said Rurik Bradbury, vice president of strategy for Intermedia. The service initially will be available to users of Intermedia's hosted Exchange service, which costs $12 per user, per month. Eventually, the OCS service will be available independently of that service, he said.

Intermedia is a SaaS (software as a service) provider in New York and one of Microsoft's hosting partners. Microsoft also offers Exchange as a hosted service, and eventually plans to offer OCS as a hosted service, but has not specified when. Other Microsoft hosting partners such as USA.net and Apptix also plan to offer OCS on a hosted basis but have not done so thus far.

Microsoft partner first with hosted Communications Server | InfoWorld | News | 2008-01-28 | By Elizabeth Montalbano, IDG News Service

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Drug-name mix-ups getting worse

Big mistake and consequences...BD 

Dr. Julius Pham's stomach churned when he saw a critically ill heart patient getting an antibiotic instead of a drug to support his blood pressure — the kind of mix-up that is increasingly common in the United States, according to a new report. "If you have ever had that sinking feeling that drops to the bottom of your stomach, I had it," Pham, then a critical care physician at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, told reporters. "Unfortunately, the patient did not do well."

A nurse had confused Levophed, which can boost blood pressure, with the antibiotic Levaquin.  The top 10 drugs sold in the United States in 2006 all made the mix-up list, including cholesterol drug Lipitor, heart drugs Toprol and Norvasc, antidepressant Lexapro, stomach acid pill Nexium and asthma drug Singulair.

Drug-name mix-ups getting worse - Health care- msnbc.com

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Grady CEO to leave position at hospital

Update:  The continuing saga of saving Brady hospital...big job to turn the hospital around and establish relief for financial debt which is more than one person at work, it's a team..but perhaps the new plans might offer some light at the end of the hall with the nonprofit corporation at the helm..4 CEOs in 3 years...BD   

Grady hospital chief executive Otis Story is leaving the hospital after less than a year in the post, marking another speedy departure of a leader trying to turn around the financially imperiled medical system.  Story was the fourth CEO at the sprawling charity care hospital since 2005.

The abrupt departure of the CEO comes at a time of turbulent change at Grady, which has been struggling to keep its financial head above water. The hospital is so deeply in debt that officials last year said it was close to closing.

In turn, political and business leaders have crafted plans to boost the hospital's coffers by millions, but have demanded in return that the Grady board hand over daily control of the hospital to a newly formed nonprofit corporation.

Grady CEO to leave position at hospital | ajc.com

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Most Small Firms Don't Offer Health Insurance

Current economics on small businesses and health insurance...and they also see the US economy taking forefront to the war...BD 

Healthcare costs are a perennial burden for small businesses and a new poll released today finds that 77 percent of small business owners do not offer health insurance to their employees.  Discover Business Card's survey also found that 39 percent of small business owners said the cost of health care has a major impact on their ability to grow. More than half of respondents said obtaining affordable health insurance for employees was very difficult.

*40 percent of employers who offer healthcare coverage have considered discontinuing it because of its high cost;

*34 percent of small business owners said employees go without health insurance;

*25 percent of small business owners said they are uninsured - an increase from 18 percent who said the same last year;

*Among small business owners who have healthcare coverage, 27 percent are insured by another family member's plan, while 35 percent have purchased coverage separately.

Separately, Discover released its monthly "small business watch" survey today and kicked off 2008 with findings that 74 percent of small business owners feel that economic conditions are getting worse. Thirty-five percent of small business executives picked the economy as the most important issue in the presidential campaign, followed by the war in Iraq and then government ethics and corruption.

Study: Most Small Firms Don't Offer Health Insurance - Small Business

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LightEdge Solutions Partners with Misys Healthcare to Host Electronic Medical Records

You may hear a bit on this blog about Web 2.0 and software as a service, here's one electronic medical records company taking the product to the next level...software as a service..from the cloud...BD 

LightEdge Solutions, a leading provider of managed IT services, today announced that Misys Healthcare has selected LightEdge’s Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) hosting capabilities for Misys MyWay™, a new electronic medical record (EMR) application. This new offering and its SaaS delivery model will allow Misys to extend its reach to small ambulatory practices, a group that has yet to adopt electronic medical records in a significant way. Misys, a market leader in healthcare IT, currently offers comprehensive solutions for the ambulatory healthcare market.

To ensure that both the Misys MyWay application and the sensitive patient medical data it contains are highly available, the LightEdge team has designed the solution with a secure, redundant platform in an alternate data center location. Data will be continually synchronized between the two systems allowing it to automatically failover to the alternate facility if the primary platform is unavailable.  “This partnership with Misys reinforces the trend that we’re seeing in nearly every industry,” said Jim Masterson, chairman and CEO of LightEdge Solutions. “As the demands for IT and IT services grow, businesses are coming to the conclusion that they can streamline their organization by out-tasking the IT functions that aren’t part of their core business.”

Newswire / Press Release: LightEdge Solutions Partners with Misys Healthcare to Host Electronic Medical Records - Software | NewswireToday

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The Shock Factor of Shock Therapy

Psychiatrist explains how this type of therapy is useful and dispels some old rumors and interpretations...BD 

I have been taking care of many severely ill patients with depression and bipolar disorder over the past month, patients hospitalized on the mood disorders service at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Three of these patients have had outstanding responses to ECT, or electroconvulsive therapy, also known as "shock" therapy.

Two of them came in hopeless, intensely miserable, and preoccupied with ending their lives, while the third came in with a depression so severe that it shut her down entirely — she was mute, not able to respond to my questions or even recognize that I was in the room with her.  I know it looks cruel and punitive as it is depicted in the 1975 movie "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," but that's Hollywood — that's fiction — rather than an accurate rendering of ECT as we use it in psychiatry today.

ABC News: The Shock Factor of Shock Therapy

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Grant to help connect Evansville with statewide health network

These folks found a federal grant to help with record integration and information exchange which  involves 33 hospitals and large number of physicians....we could use more of this!  BD 

EVANSVILLE, Ind. - A $1.3 million federal grant will help connect Evansville with a growing network of health care providers that share patient information online.
The grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will be used over two years to connect Evansville with the nonprofit Indiana Health Information Exchange, officials said Monday.
The exchange, which consists of 33 hospitals, 7,200 physicians and 2,445 practices statewide, can deliver lab results, reports, medication histories, treatment histories and more in a standard, electronic format.

Grant to help connect Evansville with statewide health network -- chicagotribune.com

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More Hitting Cost Limit on Health Benefits

Not something all of us will have to deal with, but what about those that do and it could happen to any of us with an accident as an example...back to who's going to pay the bill..is this similar to exceeding one's credit limit?  BD

The predicament of those who burst through lifetime insurance caps is largely ignored in the debate about overhauling the U.S. health-care system, which focuses mainly on improving access to insurance at a time when a record 47 million people lack coverage. But the new political appetite for reform is one reason the National Hemophilia Foundation has decided to revive a lobbying effort, previously pursued in the 1990s, to significantly increase the caps, said Glenn Mones, the group's vice president for public policy.

"We decided this year to start pushing it more vigorously again," Mones said. "The majority of people who have private insurance don't have super-low caps, but there are enough of them for it to be a problem. . . . Where you really have a problem is the people who have the $1 million and $2 million caps, especially if they develop complications. It's something that we have to pay a lot of attention to."

More Hitting Cost Limit on Health Benefits - washingtonpost.com

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Operator of Walk-In Clinics Shuts 23 Located in Wal-Mart Stores

Is this part of driving down lower prices?  Just like doctors offices they need 25 to 30 patients a day to pass the break even zone...otherwise no profit (sounds like a practice who sees many HMO patients)...Wal-Mart states they have not given up the idea and will look for a new clinic company to lease the existing space to.  Check Ups still holds the leases so perhaps they could sublet and recover some money to pay their employees who have not been compensated, but I guess that portion is left up to the legal side of things now...BD 

CheckUps, a start-up operator of walk-in medical clinics, has shut down 23 of the clinics operating in Wal-Mart stores in Florida and three other Southern states. 

CheckUps, based in New York, fell behind in paying its nurses and other vendors late last year, apparently running short of cash to meet its bills, according to a lawyer for one of its creditors.

Nurses arriving for work at the clinics on Jan. 18 found them to be closed.  Wal-Mart has leased space to about 80 clinics in stores across the country, including the CheckUps clinics now closed. They are all operated by independent firms, including 13 by RediClinics, a unit of Steven Case’s Revolution Health company, and two by hospital companies in Wisconsin and Florida.

Operator of Walk-In Clinics Shuts 23 Located in Wal-Mart Stores - New York Times

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HIMSS Analytics Doubles The Number Of Free Benchmark Reports Given To Healthcare Organizations

HIMSS Analytics announced that it has more than doubled the benchmarking reports made available to healthcare providers. The new reports include 27 additional hospital-level reports and 13 new reports that compare de-identified healthcare system IDS/datacenter information. These FREE hospital benchmarking reports are offered to all healthcare providers who complete HIMSS Analytics' Annual Study, which populates the HIMSS Analytics Database (derived from the Dorenfest IHDS+ Database™). The reports have enhanced, highly flexible peer-selection capabilities that enable users to define peers based on 32 characteristics.
"IT senior executives need to know how they compare to peers with the same level of technology complexity, not just the same bed size," said Dave Garets, president and CEO of HIMSS Analytics. "Our new benchmarking reports let participating executives sort the data to develop a targeted analysis that can help them tell their story."

HIMSS Analytics Doubles The Number Of Free Benchmark Reports Given To Healthcare Organizations

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Link Between Severe Acne and Prostate Cancer

Tetracycline was one of the antibiotics of choice years ago and now studies are linking some of the potential downsides that have developed years later, something to be aware of...BD 

New research from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore finds men who took tetracycline -- an antibiotic used to treat severe acne -- for four years or longer were 70 percent more likely to develop prostate cancer over a 10-year period than men who had taken the drug, or had taken it for a shorter time.

But the study’s authors urge caution in interpreting their findings. They note the small number of participants who had used tetracycline for at least four years -- 0.5-percent of the 34,629 men in the study -- the indirect assessment of severe acne, and the fact that acne can have several causes.

Ivanhoe's Medical Breakthroughs - Link Between Severe Acne and Prostate Cancer

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Caffeine Increases Blood Sugar In People With Type 2 Diabetes

Coffee being studied once more...interesting thing about this study was the use of chips to collect the data...hmmmm.....guess it's ok as long as the chips are removed afterwards...and hope this was the only information being collected......hat's off to the volunteers here for their participation...coffee is such a mainstay and part of our daily lives so any information gathered to help folks with Diabetes 2 with regulating blood sugar stands to be information we can all benefit from...BD 

A small US study suggests that people with type 2 diabetes who drink the equivalent of four cups of coffee or more a day may be causing their blood sugar levels to go up by 8 per cent (compared to non caffeine days), thus making it harder for them to manage their condition.
The study was carried out by Dr James Lane, a psychologist at Duke University Medical Center, in Durham, North Carolina, and colleagues, and is published in the February issue of Diabetes Care.
Other recent studies have shown that in habitual coffee drinkers with type 2 diabetes, caffeine appears to raise glucose and insulin after intakes of standardized carbohydrate loads. Lane and colleagues decided to investigate if this effect manifested after meals in the everyday life of type 2 diabetics and how it might undermine their efforts to manage their condition.

They used small glucose detection devices implanted under the abdominal skin of 10 patients so they could observe the rise and fall of their blood sugar while they went about their normal day for 72 hours, the first time such a thing has been done in relation to caffeine consumption, they said.

Caffeine Increases Blood Sugar In People With Type 2 Diabetes

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Defense Department Funds Study Of Drug That May Prevent Radiation Injury

DARPA is hot on this and the results could have some benefit to those undergoing radiation therapy...BD 

In preliminary tests at M.D. Anderson in July 2007, mice showed enhanced protection when exposed to lethal doses of ionizing radiation when they were given first-generation NTH drugs prior to exposure.
"Our preliminary results are remarkable, and that's why DARPA awarded us this grant with a very compressed timeline for delivery: nine months, which is almost unheard of for an academic study of this type," Tour said. "They are very interested in finding out whether this will work in a post-exposure delivery, and they don't want to waste any time."
Ionizing radiation is any form of radioactive particle or energy that converts an atom or molecule into an ion by altering the balance between the number of protons and electrons. In living organisms, ionization often results in the creation of free radicals -- highly reactive molecules that can wreak havoc by disrupting healthy physiological processes. These free radicals induce a cascade of deleterious biological events that cause further destruction to the organism in the days and weeks after initial radiation exposure event. NTH is designed to terminate the destructive biological cascade.
Tour said the researchers are also interested in finding out whether the new drugs can prevent the unwanted side effects that cancer patients suffer after undergoing radiation therapy.

Defense Department Funds Study Of Drug That May Prevent Radiation Injury

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FDA Grants Medtronic Approval To Begin Clinical Trial Of First Pacemaker System Designed For Safe Use In MRI Machines

People with pacemakers and other devices cannot have an MRI due to potential interference, so perhaps this study and trial will create some good results..BD

Medtronic, Inc. (NYSE: MDT) announced the start of a United States clinical trial to confirm the safety and efficacy of the Medtronic EnRhythm MRI(TM) SureScan(TM) pacing system, the first-ever pacemaker system to be developed and tested specifically for safe use in Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machines under specified scanning conditions.

The first implant in the U.S. clinical trial was performed by Brian Ramza, M.D., Ph.D., director of Electrophysiology Laboratory Services at the Mid America Heart Institute, Saint Luke's Hospital, Kansas City, Mo.

FDA Grants Medtronic Approval To Begin Clinical Trial Of First Pacemaker System Designed For Safe Use In MRI Machines

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House Republicans Introduce Sonogram Measure

This sounds a little crazy to me, why not let the doctor make this decision, besides we have folks needing MRI and other diagnostic treatments that I feel should take center stage first...and fine the doctor on top of all this...give me a break..and the doctors too...BD 

Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Walter Jones (R-N.C.) last week introduced an antiabortion rights bill (HR 5032) that would require physicians to perform ultrasounds on women before performing an abortion, the Raleigh News & Observer reports.  Under the bill, physicians could be fined up to $100,000 for a first offense of not following the legislation's provisions, and patients could file civil actions against doctors who perform the procedure without following the requirements (Teague et al., Raleigh News & Observer, 1/28).

House Republicans Introduce Sonogram Measure

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Washington Post Examines Lack Of Congressional Action On Health Insurance Tax Deduction Proposal

Don't think this is what Congress had in mind...BD 

The Washington Post on Monday examined the lack of congressional action on a proposal from President Bush that would provide federal tax deductions to help U.S. residents purchase health insurance, "with administration officials falling short in their efforts to sell the idea to key lawmakers, failing even to get a committee hearing." The proposal would provide tax deductions of $7,500 for individuals and $15,000 for families to help residents purchase individual health insurance or coverage through employers. In addition, the proposal would eliminate tax breaks for employer-sponsored health insurance in some cases.
The proposal "would have been a major change in both the tax code and the health care system, difficult to achieve under the best of political circumstances," and "last year was hardly that," with Democrats "not eager to compromise with a Republican president on a signature Democratic issue" and the "lack of working relationships" between administration officials and Democrats, according to the Post.
A senior Senate Republican aide said, "If there was any kind of failure here, it was really a failure to recognize that while it was a great contribution to the debate ... an idea of that magnitude was going to need a lot of work," adding, "It couldn't be put together in a few weeks, and it wasn't going to be politically viable last year in any sort of meaningful way" (Lee, Washington Post, 1/28).

Washington Post Examines Lack Of Congressional Action On Health Insurance Tax Deduction Proposal

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