Abbott Receives FDA Approval For SIMCOR(R) (Niaspan(R) / Simvastatin)Combination Medicine For Comprehensive Cholesterol Management

Abbott received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for SIMCOR(R), the first fixed-dose combination of two widely prescribed cholesterol therapies, Niaspan(R) (Abbott's proprietary niacin extended-release) and simvastatin. SIMCOR is approved for use along with diet to lower levels of elevated total cholesterol, LDL "bad" cholesterol and triglycerides, and to raise HDL "good" cholesterol in patients with complex lipid disease when treatment with simvastatin or Niaspan monotherapies are not considered adequate.

SIMCOR is the combination of two cholesterol-lowering medications: niacin extended-release (Niaspan(R)) and simvastatin. SIMCOR is used along with diet to lower levels of total cholesterol, LDL "bad" cholesterol and triglycerides, and to increase HDL "good" cholesterol

Abbott Receives FDA Approval For SIMCOR(R) (Niaspan(R) / Simvastatin), A Novel Combination Medicine For Comprehensive Cholesterol Management

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Medical insurers Aetna, Cigna agree to pay for online doctor visits

Dr. Richard Frankenstein (love his name) president of the CMA has also given his endorsement to make use of new technology for better healthcare....  Prices vary from $25 to $125, which patients pay with a credit card at the end of the session.  This is not a substitute for office visits, but can certainly help with keeping in touch and on top of health conditions...if you view the Dr. Parkinson blog under the blog roll, you can see how he uses it to see patients via his web cam and makes calls at the patient office or home in New York...a combination of both technology and actual in office visits can create a good over all picture for better health care.  Software to document the visits is the next item to look at for these visits, as it is out there, but making it work with a current EMR or using the EMR to document could be the answer to getting the information documented for claim payments...BD 

Consulting your family physician is finally moving into the 21st century and out of the doctor's office. Since the dawn of e-mail, patients have been pleading for more doctors to offer medical advice online. No traffic jams, no long waits, no germ-infested offices. There was always one major roadblock: Many health insurers wouldn't pay for it. Until now. Dr. Christy Calderon, a family physician at Kaiser Permanente in Whittier, Calif., conducts up to half her appointments over the phone or online with a 3-inch camera affixed to her desktop computer.

Meanwhile, at-home devices that check patients' blood pressure and diabetics' sugar levels are becoming cheaper.  "It's perfectly appropriate that we use 21st-century technology in the 21st century," said Dr. Richard Frankenstein, president of the  California Medical Association.  Many of the new online consultations are far more structured than a simple e-mail. If insurance companies are expected to pay the bill, physicians need documentation of the event, including diagnosis and time spent.

Medical insurers Aetna, Cigna agree to pay for online doctor visits | Dallas Morning News | News for Dallas, Texas | Latest News

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The Lone Server - Windows Server 2003...getting all washed up...

With Server 2008 on the way, this 2003 server is the last one left at Microsoft...video very well done ....great writer on this one....and you can find him on Facebook too!  I actually became a fan...BD 

http://youtube.com/watch?v=B0Ya4Moch80

http://blogs.technet.com/windowsserver/pages/about-lone-server.aspx

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Pharmacy Settlements buy Silence

A bit of an ethical question these days with transparency desired by all....BD 

She said the loss of her baby was a direct result of Walgreens' giving her the wrong drug, and she and her husband, Courtenay, sought actual and punitive damages in excess of $75,000. Her attorneys contended Walgreens failed her on multiple levels in terms of supervising its personnel and verifying the prescription with her doctor.

Was Walgreens really to blame? What caused the error? There is no way to know: The case was settled out of court a few weeks after the lawsuit was filed. Givens, her husband and her attorneys now cannot talk about it publicly because they signed a confidentiality agreement.  "Settlements buy silence," attorney J. Douglas Peters says. "Attorneys have an ethical Catch-22: They have a duty to their client and a duty to the public good. But their first duty is to their client. And if the client is going to get paid, the big-box pharmacies insist on silence."

USATODAY.com

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New York City Health Department Unveils New Official Condom

The company also makes surgical gloves...BD 

New York City health officials on Wednesday unveiled the city's new official condom as part of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's efforts to curb the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, as well as to prevent unintended pregnancies, the AP/Google.com reports (Kugler, AP/Google.com, 2/13).
The health department in January 2007 approved a $1.57 million contract to deliver Ansell Healthcare's Lifestyle condoms and packets of lubricant to organizations and venues in the city. The health department will pay Ansell four cents per condom, putting the cost of the program at about $720,000 annually, according to health officials. Officials plan to track the progress of the program through an annual community health survey, which polls 10,000 city residents by telephone. Organizations or venues can request an unlimited supply of condoms at no cost through an online ordering system set up by the health department.

New York City Health Department Unveils New Official Condom As Part Of HIV Prevention Efforts

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22,000 died amid delayed Bayer drug recall

This is huge...lawsuits for this will continue to mount...but why the delay in responding with the study is the big question?  Was is profit over safety...a question that comes to mind...BD 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The lives of 22,000 patients could have been saved if U.S. regulators had been quicker to remove a Bayer AG drug used to stem bleeding during open heart surgery, according to a medical researcher interviewed by CBS Television's 60 Minutes program.

The drug Trasylol was withdrawn in November at the request of the FDA after an observational study linked the medicine to kidney failure requiring dialysis and increased death of those patients.

It had been given to as many as a third of all heart bypass patients in the United States at the height of its use over a period of many years, according to the report. He said in the broadcast that Bayer failed to disclose to the FDA during an FDA advisory panel meeting in September 2006 -- at which Mangano's negative findings were discussed -- that the German drugmaker had conducted its own research which confirmed the same dangers established by his study.

22,000 died amid delayed Bayer drug recall: doctor - Yahoo! News

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Supervisors object to plan to close clinics -

Loss of funding....time for a Facebook page to get donations?  And where will they all go for care...private facilities....BD 

A majority of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors raised objections Thursday to plans to shut 11 clinics, even though health officials have quietly floated contingency plans for far more drastic cuts in the coming year.
Three supervisors said the county should look elsewhere for the painful cuts that lie ahead, but severe cost-cutting looks increasingly inevitable as deficits of $195 million to $331 million are projected for the department in the next fiscal year.

Under a worst-case scenario, county health officials have privately suggested closing all six of the county's comprehensive outpatient health centers along with its medical clinics, according to a confidential draft of the plan obtained by The Times. Under that plan, patients would lose county facilities that provide more than 160,000 urgent care visits and nearly 180,000 specialty care visits a year, mostly from the uninsured and poor.

"Many of them are on the brink of bankruptcy, because they don't have people who contribute millions of dollars to them," she said. "Our clinics are a vital part of our whole system."

Supervisors object to plan to close clinics - Los Angeles Times

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Tenet Health Care suffers a security breach - Ex Employee

Luckily it appears the potential theft was small....BD 

Tenet Healthcare Corp., meanwhile, sent out letters last week to potential victims who had been patients at its 54 hospitals nationwide. Ex-Tenet employee Terence Brooks, who had worked at the health care firm’s Frisco, Texas, billing center, was arrested last November for attempting to get a credit card using stolen information from his job. He reportedly stole the names, Social Security numbers, and other personal data of around 90 Tenet Healthcare patients. The billing center processes around 4 million accounts in all.

"What's challenging in this situation is there was an employee intent on committing fraud," a Tenet spokesman said. "No company can prevent that, but we can have practices in place to immediately address it when it does occur, and that's what we did."

Health Care Firms Increasingly Feeling 'the Love' as Targets of Attack - Desktop Security - Dark Reading

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What's Hairy and Toothy and Most Likely Benign?

Boy these are ugly...some even grow eyeballs and hands...luckily not too common...good news though is that they are usually not malignant..BD 

The Angst: The Hypochondriac has been feeling pressure on the left side of her abdomen. It feels hard like a lump, and sometimes it migrates to her right side. She says she feels it more "when I'm thin, in the summer, at my fighting weight. When there's no fat in the way when I press around my gut looking for it."

The Truth: Ovarian dermoids used to be called "homunculus" — little men — because they are capable of exhibiting many of the physical tissues one finds in a human. That would be long hair, bits of teeth, cartilage and skin with sweat glands.

The more common medical term for dermoids is teratoma. That's Greek for monstrous tumor. They grow from the cells involved in reproduction, such as an egg, or the tissue surrounding an ovary. That's why some say they can develop such a ghoulish appearance — sometimes even eyeballs and hands.

ABC News: What's Hairy and Toothy and Most Likely Benign?

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How Spinal Cord Stimulation Works - Relief for chronic back pain

There is a trial procedure that is done prior to actual surgical procedures...BD

For spinal cord stimulation (SCS) to control your pain, you must have a small system placed in your body. An SCS system looks and works a lot like a pacemaker. In fact, SCS systems are sometimes called “pacemakers for pain.” An SCS system generates mild electrical pulses and sends them to your spinal cord. These electrical pulses replace the feeling of pain with a tingling or massaging sensation.

To understand how spinal cord stimulation (SCS) works, it is helpful to understand the components of a spinal cord stimulation system. SCS systems typically consist of three components designed to work together:

How Spinal Cord Stimulation Works

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Hearth Rate Monitoring - in the threads...

You can watch your heart rate while you work out...the fabric does all the work...BD 

The NuMetrex line of heart rate monitoring athletic apparel uses innovative “smart fabric” technology that incorporates special sensing fibers directly into the fabric of its garments. Replacing the hard plastic chest straps that rub and chafe against the skin, NuMetrex offers a comfortable alternative with form-fitting shirts and sports bras that sense your pulse and transmit it to a compatible wristwatch or exercise machine.

The textile electrodes that are knitted into the fabric stretch and move as you do...

The textile electrodes that are knitted into the fabric stretch and move as you do, maintaining contact with your skin and sensing your heart’s electrical pulse. A tiny transmitter is snapped into a small pocket in the front of the garment, where it instantaneously radios your heart rate for digital readout

Technical Story | About Our Products | NuMetrex

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FlexSCAN, Inc. Announces GeneVIEW(TM) -- Free Genetic Testing

The site uses advertising and pays incentives to those on a point accumulation basis...you do need to complete a pretty extensive application to begin....BD 

flexSCAN, Inc. (OTCBB:FXSC.OB) announced that it will begin offering comprehensive genetic testing free of charge to anyone visiting the http://www.geneview.com website. "Today's trend of charging for genetic testing, as demonstrated by 23andme, a Google investment, and dnadirect, may make economic sense for their businesses, unfortunately this strategy by its nature is exclusionary. The sad fact is few people have $1,000 to spare for the luxury of having their DNA tested, not to mention the cost of testing an entire family," said Founder and CEO Thomas Banks. "Our mission is simple, we intend to make genetic testing available to everyone, not simply for people with an extra thousand dollars burning a hole in their pockets."

FlexSCAN, Inc. Announces GeneVIEW(TM) -- Free Genetic Testing

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Sick Victims Deride FEMA's Promises - Toxic Trailers

One more strike against Fema....hope it is resolved by summer when the weather gets hot...after hurricane relief efforts, now this?  BD 

After their apartment was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, the Mississippi family lived in two trailers provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, both of which contained high levels of formaldehyde.  The Huckabees' symptoms started just days after moving into their first trailer in Kiln, Miss. Lindsay, 26 and pregnant, began having migraine headaches, and the four children had constant upper respiratory problems.  Formaldehyde, a toxic chemical most often used for embalming, is used as a glue in building materials. Under hot, humid conditions it can leak into the air.

The Centers for Disease Control, working with FEMA, tested the air for formaldehyde fumes in 519 trailer- and mobile homes between Dec. 21 and Jan. 23. The testing revealed that some trailers contained fumes at levels nearly 40 times the customary exposure level.

The CDC and FEMA announced Thursday that Gulf Coast hurricane victims will be moved out of their government-issued, formaldehyde-laden trailers as quickly as possible.

ABC News: Sick Victims Deride FEMA's Promises

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Blue Cross offers incentive for computerized prescription system at hospitals - Massachusetts

More from Blue Cross....no e-prescribing...loss of compensation...BD 

The state's largest medical insurer said yesterday that it will require all the state's hospitals to fully install a computerized medication ordering system within four years or face a loss of lucrative payouts from an incentive program promoting good-quality care.

The announcement by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts was released at the public unveiling of a report that found that one of every 10 patients admitted to six Massachusetts community hospitals suffered serious and avoidable medication mistakes, including severe allergic reactions or dangerous drug interactions.

Blue Cross offers incentive for computerized prescription system at hospitals - The Boston Globe

Hat Tip:  Kevin, MD

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Physicians group urges easing of ban on medical marijuana

One more round....BD 

SACRAMENTO -- -- A large and respected association of physicians is calling on the federal government to ease its strict ban on marijuana as medicine and hasten research into the drug's therapeutic uses.
The American College of Physicians, the nation's largest organization of doctors of internal medicine, with 124,000 members, contends that the long and rancorous debate over marijuana legalization has obscured good science that has demonstrated the benefits and medicinal promise of cannabis.

A dozen states including California have legalized medical marijuana, but the federal prohibition has led to an enforcement tug of war.
In California, federal agents continue to raid cannabis dispensaries, and the small cadre of physicians specializing in writing cannabis recommendations so that people can use medical marijuana has come under regulatory scrutiny.

Physicians group urges easing of ban on medical marijuana - Los Angeles Times

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Health plans: All or nothing could be here to stay

Physicians still fighting this issue...employers driving the contracts as they try to negotiate the best all care agreements for employees...where does it end...and who can guess what is covered where...and will your physician honor the contract...they do have to make a living too....new contracts have usually represented changes in compensation somewhere along the line...BD 

In 2005, a year after UnitedHealthcare acquired Oxford Health Plans, it issued an ultimatum to New York-area physicians: take both plans or you can't participate in either. Internist Daniel L. Brook of New York City, who says he'd had problems with Oxford and didn't want to add another managed care plan, refused to sign with United. As a result, when his Oxford contract expired in October 2005, it wasn't renewed.

In California, physicians who want to participate in the PPO plans of United or PacifiCare, which United acquired in 2005, must sign a joint contract with both companies, according to the California Medical Association (CMA). Those physicians who are already in the PacifiCare network can remain in it without signing the joint contract; but they're considered part of the United network, and United members may see those doctors, the CMA says. United declined to comment on any of the points raised in this article.  Liza A. Shiff, a soloist in San Jose, CA, has found this to be true. She's refused to take contracts with all-products clauses, and most plans have been willing to bend, partly because she's one of the few female internists in her area who isn't with a big group, she says. But some of her colleagues, she notes, haven't fared as well. They've been forced to take products they don't want, such as those involving workers' compensation, "because they need to make a living."

Since most physicians and medical societies oppose all-products clauses, why do so many health plans still have them? While it's difficult to get insurance companies to speak about this issue, the biggest reason appears to be that employers—the plans' main customers—demand the broadest possible networks in all products that the insurers sell them. (Some plans have also tried "tiered" networks that include only the lowest-cost, highest-"quality" doctors, but they haven't caught on to any great extent.)

WellPoint's settlement pact, like Aetna's, says it won't require physicians to take its capitated HMOs as a precondition for participating in its fee-for-service products; it further states that doctors don't have to participate in its Medicare or Medicaid networks to be in its commercial plans. But Blue Cross of California still hasn't sent physicians revised contracts, and its existing agreements include a provision that requires physicians to treat patients with work-related illnesses or injuries, Wetzel says.

Health plans: All or nothing could be here to stay - Medical Economics

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Ending Discrimination in Health Insurance - Congressman Dr. Steve Kagan......

More congressional action regarding health care and insurance discrimination...BD 

As a physician for the past 30 years, and now as a Congressman, I understand how difficult it is for families to pay for their necessary treatments. People today all across America find themselves choosing between their next pill and their next meal.

Our Constitution protects every citizen against discrimination, the result of long and hard-won gains by ordinary people who for decades showed extraordinary courage fighting for change. Applying these fundamental gains to our health care system is the right thing to do, because my patients and my constituents cannot hold their breath any longer.

That's why I've introduced the No Discrimination in Health Insurance Act. This essential legislation will guarantee access to affordable care for every citizen in America by bringing an end to discriminatory practices employed by insurance companies who deny life-saving coverage to millions of Americans solely because of their pre-existing medical conditions.

Ending Discrimination in Health Insurance - Yahoo! News

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State Farm Hit With Civil RICO Claim Over Sham Medical Exams

Here's a physician that can't get paid from another insurance source...treating the victim of an accident...using templated reports as part of the grounds for denial of the claim?...from a reader's tip....BD 

State Farm has been sued for racketeering in New York with a claim that it conspired with "Independent Medical Exam" companies and medical practitioners to produce fraudulent and sham medical reports. The suit, filed January 30th in the Eastern District of New York, is brought under the Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organization Act (RICO). (This story has not been previously reported.)  This description, however, is directly at odds with the allegations of the complaint, which states that "boilerplate medical evaluation reports" are used. That may be an easy thing to prove if identical language is used in many different reports.

State Farm acted in concert with "IME" companies and doctors to furnish fraudulent and boilerplate reports, according to the suit. The objective was to procure "scientifically dishonest reports in order to terminate benefits. Of particular interest is that the plaintiff is not an injured accident victim that was wrongfully deprived of insurance benefits, but John McGee, a physician practicing rehabilitative medicine. He alleges that "sham" examinations were done by the defendants to procure false findings so as to cut off the benefits, resulting in the claims he submitted being denied.

New York Personal Injury Law Blog: State Farm Hit With Civil RICO Claim Over Sham Medical Exams

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Key Democrat urges FDA chief to step down

Poor leadership or lack of technology?  Past articles have stated they are in desperate need of some new technology...and the FDA sure couldn't lose with some current "Business Intelligence" software...to make things a bit easier for all....BD 

WASHINGTON - A key House Democrat said Thursday that the head of the Food and Drug Administration should resign in the wake of a probe over an antibiotic and news of a blood thinner linked to allergic reactions and four deaths.

Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., who heads an investigative panel that conducts oversight of the agency, said in an interview with The Associated Press that FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach should step down because "it's just a total lack of leadership." Stupak, chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, said he had lost confidence in the commissioner and other top FDA officials over the handling of inspections and oversight by the agency.

Key Democrat urges FDA chief to step down - Health care- msnbc.com

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Microsoft Renames Its Enterprise Health Care Software - Amalga

 Amalga is the name...I for one am glad to hear this one...I never thought I pronounced the other name correctly...BD 

As part of Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT)'s strategy to dig its heels deeper into the health care world, the company announced on Wednesday that it's renamed its portfolio of enterprise software for the health care industry. In addition to Microsoft Amalga, another key product under the new Amalga banner is the former Hospital 2000, now renamed Microsoft Amalga Hospital Information System.

The Microsoft Amalga family of Enterprise Health Systems is built on Microsoft technology, offering a comprehensive range of solutions to meet the needs of your health enterprise. These innovative systems provide rich integration, giving clinicians and administrators access to valuable, up-to-the-minute information across their health enterprise.

Microsoft Amalga  Microsoft Amalga, the Unified Intelligence System, is the new version of the product formerly known as Azyxxi. It is an innovative system that allows hospital enterprises to unlock the power of all their data sitting in clinical, financial, and administrative silos. Without replacing current systems, Amalga offers leading-edge institutions the ability to capture, consolidate, store, access, and quickly present data in meaningful ways.

Microsoft Amalga Hospital Information System (HIS)  Microsoft Amalga Hospital Information System (HIS), the new version of Hospital 2000, is a state-of-the-art, fully integrated hospital information system designed for developing and emerging markets. Amalga HIS is built around an Electronic Medical Record (EMR) that includes complete patient and bed management, laboratory, Medication Management, Radiology Information System/Picture Archiving and Communication System (RIS/PACS), pathology, financial accounting, materials management, and human resource systems.

Microsoft Amalga RIS/PACS  Microsoft Amalga RIS/PACS is available as a stand-alone system as well as an integrated component of Microsoft Amalga HIS. Its integrated architecture means the radiologist can use a single software application to manipulate study images and access the entire patient medical record. The product’s workstation interface is optimized for radiologist workflow, including support for pre-defined templates, an intuitive report editor, and voice-recognition capabilities.

Microsoft Renames Its Enterprise Health Care Software -- Health Care -- InformationWeek

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Spokane hospital company cutting 130 jobs after losing $7 million

Some hospitals thrive while others are struggling....BD

SPOKANE, Wash. -- A company that owns two Spokane-area hospitals says it lost $7 million last year and must cut 130 jobs.  Empire Health Services officials announced the pending layoffs Wednesday that are part of a restructuring to save more than $10 million at Deaconess Medical Center and Valley Hospital and Medical Center. Empire officials say the financial problems stem from delays in selling the hospitals to Community Health Systems. The $172 million transaction is expected to be completed this summer.

About 90 of the job cuts will be among nursing assistants, raising concern that the March 1 cuts will affect patient care. But hospital officials say eliminating the positions will bring staffing levels in line with national averages.

Spokane hospital company cutting 130 jobs after losing $7 million

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Hospitalists and Primary Care Physicians: A delicate balance

One physician quote:  He tells patients, "The way the insurance is now, I can't afford to make hospital rounds.  I think this is bottom line all the way around...$$....one more good analytical article from Medical Economics...BD 

Jeffrey K. Pearson, a family physician in San Marco, CA, has to send his managed care patients to a hospitalist because his IPA, which contracts with a hospitalist group, won't pay him extra to round on HMO patients. He doesn't have to refer his other patients to hospitalists—yet he does.

"I love hospital work," Pearson explains. "But it got to the point where I just didn't have the time. If I got an admission during the day, I couldn't leave my office; if it was at night, I'd be at the hospital for five hours. I was just getting beaten down."

There are now about 20,000 hospitalists, four times as many as there were in 2002. Nearly half of all US hospitals have them, and the percentage tops 70 percent among larger institutions. According to internist Robert Wachter, who heads the hospitalist program at the University of California, San Francisco, the only thing that's preventing the field from growing even faster is a shortage of qualified candidates.

But several doctors told us they'd been given this choice: Either use hospitalists for all of a particular plan's or a hospital's patients, or not at all.

Five years ago, many of the physicians whom Medical Economics talked to about hospitalists said they could earn more by seeing patients in the office than by following them in the hospital. Now, it seems, doctors aren't so sure.

Take FP Joel Dickerman, who finds that the extra amount he's able to earn by seeing more patients in the office is counterbalanced by the additional overhead he's incurring. "For every hour you spend in your office, 50 percent of what you bring in goes to overhead," he says, noting that more patient visits mean more clinical staff. "When you're in the hospital, you keep 90 percent of what you collect, and only 10 percent goes to overhead."

Hospitalists and PCPs: A delicate balance - Medical Economics

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How to collect from patients without scaring them away

Good article and in another forum where I discuss health care, we were talking about the use of a Kiosk to help the effort...and the recent fee for service plans don't make this any easier...good reading here...BD  

Some doctors' offices have gone sign-crazy, says practice management consultant Deborah Keegan in Arden, NC. Above is a sample of what Keegan's seen at the receptionist's counter. "As a patient, I'd be turned off by this," she says.

And, if medical bills go unpaid, the penalty just might be a sheriff's deputy knocking on a delinquent patient's door to seize a car. It happened to a Massachusetts woman because of a disputed charge of $290.20 from her ob/gyn. In another Massachusetts county, car seizures triggered by medical debt became so rampant that the local sheriff decreed that his department would no longer execute them.

How to collect from patients without scaring them away - Medical Economics

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Rapid Application Development with Facebook

Now is this a forward thinking hospital CIO...you bet...I just wish they could clone the CEO and CIO and send a few to California!  I realize I put a lot of information about this hospital and the two blogging executives from this hospital, but heck, when someone is listening and creating such vast areas of transparency for healthcare and embracing current technology...others need to hear about it and so it is here on this blog....a while back I had posted an article about Churches going online for donations and said "why not hospitals"...I don't know if the post had anything to do with this story, but the point is that it is being done and with success...both blogs can be found under the blog roll section...good reading from both sites...Paul Levy and Dr. Halamka are certainly setting the pace....I was looking at some of the groups on Facebook the other day and I was surprised as well to see the growing number of hospitals who have created their own groups!  BD 

"Rapid Application Development" and "Extreme Programming" are buzzwords for new ways to deliver software that meets initial user requirements and continues to improve based on customer feedback. These approaches turn the IT department into an agile and forward thinking service provider. However odd this sounds, the answer may be Facebook.

A case in point. BIDMC is enhancing its external website and is currently preparing an RFP for online giving software. At 8am last Sunday, our BIDMC CEO, Paul Levy,  created an online giving page using the Facebook Causes application.  It's already been used by hundreds of people and the funds are beginning to roll in.

The IT department did not need to be involved, other than to offer support that the experiment was safe, secure and worth doing. 

Should CIOs embrace it as a short term solution to many of the user requests for collaboration technologies?  The answer is yes, with caveats.
Facebook is not a HIPAA business associate nor covered entity, so protected healthcare information should not be placed on Facebook. There is no service level agreement/quality of service guarantee, so it may be go down without notice (unlikely, but possible). It does not integrate with enterprise single signon based on Active Directory or LDAP.

Should CIOs try to replicate Facebook functionality on internal portals? For some circumstances that involve patients, the need for a guarenteed application availability, and integration with existing systems, the answer is yes.  In my next generation of portal frameworks, I will support our own versions of all the Web 2.0 functionality (forums, wikis, groups, multimedia uploads) that is in Facebook, but I will also ensure that Facebook itself is used strategically. Staying agile and responsive to my customers requires that I embrace Facebook, not resist it.

Life as a Healthcare CIO: Rapid Application Development with Facebook

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Doctor Anonymous: Estrofest Live TONIGHT

Reminder...use the link to the show on this site....BD 

Finally, officially, Happy Valentine's Day, everybody. Don't forget to join us tonight for The Doctor Anonymous Show for the Valentine's Day Estrofest.

Doctor Anonymous: Estrofest Live TONIGHT

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Intel Client Blog: Could Streaming Applications run faster than traditionally installed?

 Hard Hat Area....Application streaming and virtualization...makes for a good pair...and good code written to take advantage of the processors...

It seems counter-intuitive to think that applications streamed over the network could run faster than the same applications installed locally. If the circumstances are right, it could happen!
Here is a Systems Manufacturing example. We ran a series of key tasks across a variety of configurations to collect performance metrics. Our script opened a work order in our ERP system, created packaging labels using a bar code generation program, looked up label part numbers for our product bill of materials and ran work order activity reports in three custom web-based applications.
Our baseline was a Pentium 4 desktop system (3.0 GHz). Our trial system was a Celeron 215 desktop system (1.33 GHz). Both had 1 GB RAM. The baseline system had applications installed locally on its hard drive. Applications and the OS were delivered to the trial system via streaming. Throughput time of our script on baseline system was 6 minutes 15 seconds. The same script executed on the trial system for 2 minutes and 45 seconds.
Two things come to mind to explain the difference. First, our script contained a good mix of local and remote processing to maximize our trial processor. Second, the nature of the computing model provides explanation. Applications are broken up into execution blocks so we only need to load and execute the portion of the application that we need. Further, since virtualization was used in conjunction with the application streaming, the virtual software layer makes things like registry settings easier and faster to access.

Intel Open Port: IT@Intel Client Blog: Could Streaming Apps run faster than traditionally installed?

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Windows Mobile 6 wins Best Mobile Enterprise Product or Service

Nice being able to add the devices to group policy...plus you don't need an extra server and the additional Exchange licenses as you do with a Blackberry...cost of implementation for that exact reason is less expensive on the enterprise level...and RIM also uses Windows Mobile platforms as well...BD

Microsoft is connecting people to the information that matters most to them, anywhere, anytime. Windows Mobile 6 makes it easier for businesses to go mobile with increased integration with existing Microsoft technology, new mobile security features and added functionality to help employees collaborate while on the go.
Windows Mobile 6 advances rich mobile experiences for people outside of work through integration with Windows Live Mail, Windows Live Messenger, Live Search and Windows Live Spaces. Windows Mobile 6 was the first mobile device platform to offer HTML e-mail support allowing people to receive, view and compose e-mail in HTML format.

Bink.nu | Windows Mobile 6 wins Best Mobile Enterprise Product or Service - Bink.nu

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Choking Game Has Killed 82, CDC Says

I had not heard of this one...scary...BD 

At least 82 youths have died from the so-called "choking game," according to the first government count of fatalities from the tragic fad.

In the game, children use dog leashes or bungee cords wrapped around their necks or other means to temporarily cut blood flow to their head. The goal is a dreamlike, floating-in-space feeling when blood rushes back into the brain.

ABC News: Choking Game Has Killed 82, CDC Says

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Microsoft Invents a Reason to Buy a Tablet - InkSeine

Hot stuff....Update....I have posted about this software in the past and I'll be one of the first to download....be sure and click on update above to see what this software can do as there are videos that really give a nice explanation and show....I can see this coming in to play with Healthcare very quickly with taking notes and organizing information!  BD 

Why would anyone want to buy a Tablet PC?

Tablet devices are perceived as little more than heavy and slow laptops with small screens and large price tags. The payoff? You get to write on them with a stylus and take notes as if you're writing on paper. Wake me when you're done.

All that may start to change tomorrow, when a prototype application called InkSeine -- which is, essentially, a digital notebook on crack -- is released for public trial.  If you have a Tablet PC or other pen system running either XP or Vista (preferably Vista), you should download InkSeine here (wait until tomorrow, Feb. 15, when the "public" version hits).

Microsoft Invents a Reason to Buy a Tablet

Hat Tip:  Tablet PC Talk

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Microsoft seeing Xbox shortages in U.S.

Guess the hospitals who are installing these might have to wait, or could it be a rush on X-Boxes from the hospitals causing this short supply?  (grin)....little humor for the day....BD 

Microsoft is seeing shortages of its Xbox 360 video game console in the United States, as the company failed to anticipate strong post-holiday demand, an executive said on Wednesday.

"We are really running short of product here in the United States," Jeff Bell, head of global marketing for Microsoft's games business, said in an interview. "You could say we misjudged demand." The comments came a day before market research firm NPD is expected to release video game sales data for January and Bell said Microsoft was hoping to "manage expectations."

Bink.nu | Microsoft seeing Xbox shortages in U.S. - Bink.nu

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Pain for My Valentine?

Is history repeating itself...well maybe...the processes have changed tremendously...thank goodness..we have probably all read the old stories about women wrapping their feet to stop normal growth...but here's a a few others I was not aware of...and there's always the old corset...that has been around for years and it seems it's always been the women who are the front runners here..reason for motivation may differ...BD

Wealthy Southeast Asian women in the 1400s, one could argue, had it pretty good. A man was not quite a man unless an incision was made in his testicles and semi- precious je wels were inserted — all for the pleasure of the ladies. A girl could tell who was worthy of her attention by the pleasant jingling sound of a boy's gait as the stones clink-clinked together.  And who doesn't have an image of Chinese women during the Han dynasty hobbling about on "lotus blossoms" to entice suitors with their tiny shape (and odor, some scholars say, as the rotting flesh curling around itself served as an aphrodisiac).

Anecdotal evidence suggests that Victorian women had some of their lower ribs removed to create smaller waists. Arsenic made white skin whiter. Belladonna, which means "beautiful woman" in Italian but is actually a toxic plant, made the pupils as large as a pot head's.

ABC News: Pain for My Valentine?

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New Budget Offers Modest Increase In FDA Funding

Hopefully enough to update some of their current technologies...this department above all needs all the help they can get...our lives depend a lot on what is cleared through this office...BD 

Although the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is targeted to receive a funding increase in President Bush's proposed budget for fiscal year 2009, the funds may not be enough to ensure that the agency has the resources it needs to effectively monitor drug safety.
Overall, the President's budget freezes spending increases for a majority of federal programs. The FDA looks to gain modest increases, with a proposed funding bump of $130 million. While this appears to be a significant increase, only around $50 million would come from appropriations. The remainder would come from new user fees on generic drugs, generic animal drugs, reinspection and food and animal feed export certification

New Budget Offers Modest Increase In FDA Funding

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Women More Perceptive Than Men In Describing Relationships - Survey Says...

Something we've known all along...sorry couldn't resist this one....BD 

Women are better than men in describing their feelings and those of their romantic partners than are men, while the latter tend to project their own feelings upon their partners more than women. This, according to a study undertaken by graduate student Dana Atzil Slonim and Dr. Orya Tishby of the Paul Baerwald School of Social Work and Social Welfare at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, in cooperation with Prof. Jacques Barber and Dr. Carol Foltz from the University of Pennsylvania.

Overall, the results of the survey showed that the women were much more accurate in describing the perceptions of their partners than were the men.

Women More Perceptive Than Men In Describing Relationships

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AMA Commends N.Y. Investigation Of Health Insurers

New York also investigating insurers...fears are the companies are playing by their own rules with little or no regard to state laws....BD 

"The investigation launched by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo calls into question the validity of a system that health insurers have used for years to reimburse physicians and their enrolled members.
"UnitedHealth Group and other health insurers have shortchanged tens of millions of patients who agreed to pay higher premiums for access to their choice of physicians from outside a health insurer's network.

"In an era of increasing health care transparency, it is shocking and unacceptable for a health insurer to profit from deliberately withholding information from patients and physicians. The shroud of secrecy covering UnitedHealth's entire payment process must be lifted. There is no legitimate policy rationale behind the health insurer's refusal to provide information to physicians and patients. It serves only as a means for health plans to increase profits by keeping patients and physicians in the dark.

AMA Commends N.Y. Investigation Of Health Insurers

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The Future of Office - Sign up for Microsoft Live CRM Early Access- Run a better health care business

  Software as a Service...You Bet...Office is now a Platform...integrates with familiar desktop Office Products...I don't know about you, but I live in Outlook so anything that starts with Outlook is destined to be a favorite of mine......Microsoft Dynamics CRM Live...sign up now...not everyone will be selected but those that are will enjoy CRM Software online..and the early access program has no monthly subscriptions...good news there too...fully integrates with Microsoft Office... first step towards Business Intelligence...and there is also the standard version of CRM available either client/server or hosted from a Microsoft partner....make better business decisions and bring everything together under one dashboard.  I can't tell you how many times I have seen in so many offices time wasted as one person has a spreadsheet, another a Word document and the boss needing a report from information in both.  What happens if one employee is out for the day...hmmm..no sharing...so they over clog their already congested email client and send the other party an email for them to receive when they return..meantime...nothing gets done.......and everyone is stressed....

Better way...CRM...document sharing...SharePoint services...and a smaller learning curve perhaps as it uses products everybody is already familiar with, versus learning an entire new software program....but as you can see by looking at the convention page....others are striving to make their products interact with MS Office....Talbert Medical Group in southern California uses Microsoft Dynamics...and if you don't get chosen for the Live Version, there's a trial version for download as well...BD 

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates yesterday took the wraps off a major new version of Office Live Small Business and launched a new developer program for Office Live. "These online, hosted services are becoming more powerful," he said. "But they're not done in isolation. They connect out to the client applications and to on-premise server applications."

In what might be remembered as one of his last statements of direction before he transitions from his full-time role at Microsoft, Gates kicked off Microsoft's first-ever Office System Developer Conference in San Jose, Calif. He talked up his vision of the evolution of the Microsoft Office Suite into a software development platform.

"Making Office into a platform is very important to us," Gates said in the opening keynote, adding that Office will be taking on "a very ambitious agenda in the future."

ENT News Online | News: Gates Outlines Future of Office

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Patients Hit Out Over Medical Records Blunder

NHS having issues with disposing paper records....BD 

PATIENTS and leading politicians have hit out health bosses over the latest medical records blunder. It is the third time medical data has been lost in Bolton in just four months. "If a private company continued to have breaches of this significance then I am sure they would have been prosecuted by now under the provisions of the Data Protection Act."

Personal information relating to 3,200 patients was been dumped at a landfill site instead of being burned or shredded. It is the third time medical data has been lost in Bolton in just four months.

Details of 300 seriously ill patients who received house calls from the out-of-hours service in December and January were included in the records sent to a landfill site.

Patients Hit Out Over Medical Records Blunder (from The Bolton News)

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Intel's WiMAX Segways at Mobile World Congress

Segways are really starting to appear in many places.  Recently I have posted about veterans getting a helping hand with the use of a Segway...ok...now Intel has taken it to the next level...would be nice to have a Segway lane at this year's HIMMS exposition floor...we all know how tired our feet get when working a trade show...I guess wishful thinking for now, but maybe next year, it sure would be nice to have one of these dandy units with the entire exposition floor on the screen...Skype on wheels too....BD 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JP1n-vpc74A&eurl=http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/13/video-intels-wimax-segway-takes-geek-extreme/

Hat Tip:  Engadget

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Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) Relies On Red Hat Solutions For Improved Reliability And Patient Care

This hospital really invests in IT Technology at the best value...and in my opinion has a true conceptual view of strategic technologies versus the old brick and mortar methodologies...you can read more from the CIO at "Life as a Healthcare CIO" here..where transparency rules....also McKesson (hospital IT solution provider) has also recently announced support for the Linux platform...BD 

Red Hat (NYSE: RHT), the world's leading provider of open source solutions, announced that Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), a Harvard Medical School teaching hospital in Boston, Mass., has migrated to Red Hat solutions, including Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Red Hat Global File System, Red Hat Cluster Suite and Red Hat Network. Red Hat solutions have provided BIDMC with significant cost savings, higher system availability and streamlined disaster recovery, creating an opportunity to enhance patient care.

The internal security team at BIDMC had been running Red Hat Enterprise Linux on its servers for three years, and the hospital's Sr. Cache Administrator had extensive experience with Red Hat solutions with a previous hospital.  BIDMC's future IT plans include migrating additional hospital systems from HP-UX to Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Leading Hospital Relies On Red Hat Solutions For Improved Reliability And Patient Care

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Eight Southern California hospitals sue Kaiser

Hospitals suing hospitals once more...back in September Tenet hospitals filed suit against Kaiser and now Prime Healthcare has also filed suit....alleges Kaiser has not paid Prime  hospitals for providing services to Kaiser HMO members when out of network...somewhat hazy here as the article states they owe $25 million, yet the foundation just handed out $29 million in grants?  BD

Kaiser Permanente is being sued in four Southern California counties by a company seeking more than $25 million in connection with payment for emergency services provided to Kaiser health maintenance organization patients. 

Prime Healthcare Services, a for-profit chain of hospitals based in Chino, said Wednesday that eight of its hospitals filed suits in state courts Jan. 23 against Oakland-based Kaiser for its failure to reimburse them for emergency services provided to Kaiser members.

Prime Healthcare also said that doctors in Kaiser's Emergency Provider Response Program, staffed by the Southern California Permanente Medical Group, pressure providers at hospitals that do not contract with Kaiser to declare a patient "stable" so that the patient might be transferred back more quickly under Kaiser's care.

Eight Southern California hospitals sue Kaiser - Sacramento Business Journal:

Since 2001 more than 17 hospitals throughout Southern California have closed due to financial constraints and several others were forced to file bankruptcy.In contrast to financially distressed hospitals, Kaiser reported profits of $1.3 Billion in 2006 and $2.5 Billion in 2007. This is not surprising given that although insurance premiums have increased; the amount of revenue spent on patient care has remained the same or decreased.

According to Dr. Prem Reddy, a board certified Cardiologist and Chairman of Prime Healthcare Services, "HMOs, including Kaiser, ought to be focused on effectively managing patients' care; but unfortunately, they are focused on managing bills".  Kaiser's profits are even greater than other for-profit HMOs because it is not required to pay taxes on a single penny of its earnings as it enjoys the status of being a non-profit entity. The only real difference between Kaiser and other for-profit health plans is that Kaiser is not required to pay taxes.

Even though Kaiser is a non-profit entity, it provides very little, if any, charity care at the hospitals it owns and the emergency departments in these hospitals see very few Medi-Cal patients and uninsured patients. In contrast to Kaiser's hospitals, Prime Healthcare's hospitals consistently provide millions of dollars in charity care every year which, in almost all cases, exceed the amount of charity care provided by other neighbor hospitals including non-profits.  Prime Healthcare believes that many other community hospitals are similarly concerned with this dilemma as to how to deal with this proverbial 800-pound gorilla that endangers their survival

Related story:  http://www.foxbusiness.com/article/southern-california-hospital-sues-kaiser-permanente-managing-bills-managing_477349_1.html

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Brand New Laser Lipo Procedure Makes Its UK Debut

Not FDA approved yet...sounds very impressive...and results are almost instant...40 minute treatment....sounds heavenly to me...BD 

Trials of the latest non-invasive slimming and body contouring treatment have just been successfully completed at 'The Heath House Clinic', a leading health and cosmetic clinic based in Kent. The new treatment is potentially market-changing, and is now available to the public for the very first time in the UK. However world wide these procedures are available in Canada, Japan, Korea and other countries during 2008. The treated area will be measured to assess inch loss achieved. Depending on the client results are expected to be between 0.5 and 3 inches.. A key benefit of Laser Lipo is that the process does not remove fat cells as such, and thus there is no risk of new fat being stored in other, perhaps more dangerous areas around the body.

Most people are familiar with liposuction and some with the newer 'Smart Lipo' procedure. Laser Lipo however has some advantages over these due to the fact that there is no need for either local or general anaesthetics. Research has also shown that Laser Lipo treatment carried out both prior and post traditional liposuction will in fact improve the results by first softening the fat cells prior to liposuction and then helping to even out the treated area afterwards.
A Laser Lipo procedure can be completed in just 40 minutes and positive results can be seen INSTANTLY after just one treatment. To secure the best results a course of 8 treatments is normally required at a cost of just £1,000.

Brand New Laser Lipo Procedure Makes Its UK Debut

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The Hospitalist Company Expands Into New England

And this group has outnumbered cardiologists in the country....BD 

IPC The Hospitalist Company (Nasdaq: IPCM) announced that it has added Innovative Physician Services, LLC (IPS) to its group of national affiliated practices. IPS is a regional medical group specializing in physical medicine and rehabilitation combined with internal medicine hospitalist services. The affiliation marks IPC's entry into the New England region.
Headquartered in Ludlow, Massachusetts, IPS provides services to rehabilitation centers, skilled nursing facilities, and long-term acute care facilities throughout Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The group's 38 hospitalists care for 300 patients daily, on average. The group practices in more than 12 acute care facilities and a number of skilled nursing facilities across the region.

IPC The Hospitalist Company Expands Into New England

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FDA Has Not Appropriately Debarred Individuals, Pharmaceutical Companies Convicted Of Crimes, Report Finds

They need money and some new computers to track all of this...maybe...BD 

FDA has not appropriately debarred a number of individuals and pharmaceutical companies convicted of crimes from participation in the agency approval process for medications, according to a report presented on Monday by House Energy and Commerce Committee Republicans, Bloomberg/New York Times reports (Bloomberg/New York Times, 2/12). FDA for the past 15 years has had the authority to issue mandatory or permissive debarments, based on the severity of the crimes involved.

The report, drafted by Republican committee staff members, lists 40 individuals convicted of crimes between fiscal years 2003 and 2005 who they maintain FDA should have debarred. According to the report, FDA has debarred a total of 71 individuals but has taken such action against only 13 individuals in the past five years. FDA has never debarred a generic pharmaceutical company and does not have the authority to take such action against brand-name pharmaceutical or medical device companies, according to the report.

FDA Has Not Appropriately Debarred Individuals, Pharmaceutical Companies Convicted Of Crimes, Report Finds

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US FDA Nod for Zithromax Generic

MUMBAI (Reuters) Feb 12 - Drug maker Wockhardt Ltd said on Tueday it received the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's approval to sell antibiotic azithromycin tablets in various strengths.

Azithromycin is the cheaper version of Pfizer's Zithromax, which had a total market of $0.7 billion in the U.S., Wockhardt said in a statement. (Reporting by Prashant Mehra, editing by Harish Nambiar))

Wockhardt Gets US FDA Nod for Zithromax Generic

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FDA Clears Generic Version of Pepcid

BANGALORE (Reuters) Feb 12 - Drugmaker Perrigo Co said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted final approval to market a generic version of Pepcid, the antacid produced by Johnson & Johnson and Merck Consumer Pharmaceutical. The maker of generic drugs said shipping of the over-the-counter product is expected to begin in the third quarter of 2008. (Reporting by Varsha Tickoo in Bangalore; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)

Perrigo Says FDA Clears Generic Version of  Pepcid

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Docs Discredit Lipitor's Link to Memory Loss

Benefits Likely Outweigh Risk, Doctors Say...BD 

Currently, about 18 million people take Lipitor, which is made by Pfizer. Memory loss is not listed as a side effect on the drug's patient information sheet.

When asked about the possibility of memory loss, Pfizer responded with a statement that claimed less than 2 percent of Lipitor users — which would account for about 360,000 people — reported such a side effect. The company noted that its research has shown no cause-and-effect link between the statin drug and memory problems.

Many doctors agree that there is little cause for alarm.

ABC News: Docs Discredit Lipitor's Link to Memory Loss

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Hormone Group Protests Crackdown

I do like the name of this group...don't mess with our HRT...studies would be helpful, especially since the reports came out about some of the replacements increasing the risk of cancer, strokes, etc....would be nice to have substantiated documentation on whether or not the natural approaches have benefit.  BD 

Last week the HOME (Hands Off My Estrogens!) Coalition, a group based in tiny Edinburg, Va., placed a full-page ad in five newspapers, including USA Today and the Wall Street Journal, accusing regulators of being hostile to "natural" hormonal medicines made according to a doctor's prescription by a compounding pharmacy.

A key ingredient in these made-to-order drugs is estriol, a form of estrogen that the coalition claims is safe and protects against breast cancer -- but that the FDA says is unapproved. On Jan. 7 the FDA sent letters to seven pharmacies across the country warning them that marketing claims about the safety and effectiveness of their products were "false and misleading" because they have never been proven. The agency also ordered the pharmacies to stop making products containing estriol. Mainstream physicians groups, including the Endocrine Society, applauded the enforcement action, as did the National Women's Health Network, a Washington-based advocacy group.

Compounding pharmacies, Allina added, are not required to meet the same manufacturing and purity standards as are drugmakers.

Hormone Group Protests Crackdown - washingtonpost.com

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U.S. probes Chinese factory’s ties to heparin ills

Perhaps a Chinese connection to the heparin issues at Baxter?  Hope the FDA gets the technology updates they need to stay on top of all this as well and gets their "business intelligence" in order just as the DEA is doing with their new contracts......and I hope that leads to better e-prescribing too so the physicians can finally do the part 4 substances electronically...big part of the problem with physicians delaying the process...BD 

WASHINGTON - Government health officials are investigating if a Chinese factory may be a source of problems with a Baxter International blood thinner linked to hundreds of reports of allergic reactions and four deaths.

Baxter buys the active ingredient for the drug heparin from a supplier that manufactures it both at the Chinese factory and a facility in the U.S., Baxter spokeswoman Erin Gardiner said.

Baxter inspected both facilities last year and found no quality issues, Gardiner said. However, the company plans to reinspect the facilities "very soon" as part of its own investigation, she said.  FDA spokeswoman Karen Riley refused to confirm a report by The Wall Street Journal that the agency had never before inspected the Chinese facility, a longtime producer of the heparin ingredient.

U.S. probes Chinese factory’s ties to heparin ills - Health care- msnbc.com

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Governor blasts Blue Cross over confidentiality : California

 Where's HIPAA...does this somehow fall under the laws we have had in place for compliance..or are some exempt?  Everyone lives in fear of the "insurance gods"...and just like anyone else in the world, folks push the limits and get away with whatever they can until someone brings it full circle to everyone's attention...how do you work with an industry like this...in the pursuit of saving money efforts like this will continue, sometimes working behind the scenes that we are not aware of...I might guess the somewhat antonymous information of the MIB is  not adequate?  You may want to check out the site and see what is contained here in reference to your health care history, after all every insurer has access and with a few queries has the potential to create a match to identify and scrutinize the information.  Here's the subsequent statement released from Blue Cross...BD  

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday assailed Blue Cross of California for attempting to get physicians "to rat out their patients" and said the incident underscores the importance of enacting comprehensive healthcare reform.

In a recent letter to physicians who treat Blue Cross HMO patients, the company sent doctors copies of patients' insurance applications and asked them to report to the insurance company any medical condition that was not disclosed on the application. "People who are not insured have to live in fear, and people who are insured have to live in fear," he said. "That is outrageous."

The letter expressly asks doctors to identify any "medical omissions" on the patient's application and reminds them that "Blue Cross has the right to cancel the member's policy for failure to disclose material medical history."

Governor blasts Blue Cross over confidentiality : State : Ventura County Star

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NYC Psychologist Slashed to Death

Sad story...horrific....and I'm sure there will be more to come on this story...BD 

A man slashed a 56-year-old psychologist to death at her Upper East Side office clinic and seriously injured another therapist who tried to help her, police said.

Police initially said that a meat cleaver was used in Tuesday night's attack, but on Wednesday said that another knife may have been used as well.A male therapist who attempted to help her was slashed in the head, face and arms and was in serious condition at a hospital, police said. He was not identified.

ABC News: NYC Psychologist Slashed to Death

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Teachers Reject Health Insurance Rate Hike - Miami

Premiums for family members are the issue...BD

More than 60 percent of the more than 19,000 teachers, paraprofessionals, clerical and service workers who cast ballots voted against the compromise struck by their union, United Teachers of Dade, and Miami-Dade Public Schools administrators.

UTD has been in a tense battle with the school district's administration since October, when administrators announced they were passing on a 13 percent health insurance premium rate hike to workers. Those who choose the most comprehensive plan and/or provide coverage for spouses and children would see premiums rise from $50 to several hundred dollars a month.

Teachers Reject Health Insurance Rate Hike - Education News Story - WPLG Miami

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Misys Leads Healthcare into Open Source

Misys says it's going to make good on its promise to open source components of its proprietary Connect Healthcare solution at the Southern California Linux Expo in Los Angeles today.

It expects new products and cheaper prices out of the exercise and maybe even improved healthcare delivery.

It intends to work with the community on systems interoperability and has hired Ryan Bloom, a founder of the Apache Portable Runtime project and a major contributor to the Apache HTTP 2.0 project, as its new development director. It has also set up a new Open Source Solutions Division under general manager Bob Barthelmes.

Misys Leads Healthcare into Open Source @ ENTERPRISE OPEN SOURCE MAGAZINE

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Loma Linda University Medical Center signs contract - Business Intelligence..

One hospital jumping on the Business Intelligence bandwagon....BD

Amerinet Inc. and Loma Linda University Medical Center (LLUMC) signed an affiliate agreement to partner with each other enabling LLUMC to use Amerinet's portfolio of product and service contracts.

The agreement also calls for Amerinet to jointly fund a full-time facility contract manager to ensure optimization of contracting services on the $1.5 billion in new construction and renovations LLUMC has planned for the next 10 years. The present 11-story LLUMC opened more than 40 years ago.

Loma Linda, Calif.-based LLUMC has agreed to exclusively utilize Amerinet's portfolio of product and service contracts and total spend management business intelligence solutions to assist in managing the facility's annual budget of $150 million.

Amerinet signs deal with Loma Linda University Medical Center - St. Louis Business Journal:

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Woman Sues Best Buy For $54 Million Over Lost Laptop

Ever wonder how good that extended warranty is on that notebook you bought...you never know until it is tested I guess....BD 

Raelyn Campbell is suing Best Buy for $54 million for losing her laptop and lying to her for months about it. She bought a laptop from Best Buy with an extended warranty, it broke, she sent it in for repairs, months later she didn't have her laptop and after getting the runaround the store finally said it had lost her laptop and offered her a $900 gift card. She paid over $1,100 for the laptop, she paid for software on it, and it had irreplaceable photos, music, and personal information, including her tax returns. She freely admits she chose the high figure to attract media attention. She tells the Red Tape Chronicles "I can't help but wonder how many other people have had their computer stolen (or) lost by Best Buy and then been bullied into accepting lowball compensation offers for replacement expenses and no compensation for identity theft protection expenses." She also has a blog.

Complaints: Woman Sues Best Buy For $54 Million Over Lost Laptop

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Catholic Health Association Deeply Disappointed With The Administration's FY2009 Budget Proposal

Is the President Catholic...hmmmm...guess not...another non profit group who is not happy with the healthcare budget...BD 

We are deeply disappointed with the Administration's FY2009 budget proposal, which outlines devastating cuts to the Medicare and Medicaid programs that would harm beneficiaries and undermine the health care safety net. With the numbers of uninsured and underinsured continuing to rise, this is no time to cut back on vital health care services that so many of our nation's vulnerable populations rely on. CHA continues to be concerned about the growing number of uninsured children, especially those eligible but not enrolled in the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) due to budget limitations. While the President's proposal assumes the continuation of the program through 2013, it is unclear whether the proposal would even provide enough funding to maintain coverage for children currently enrolled in SCHIP.

Catholic Health Association Deeply Disappointed With The Administration's FY2009 Budget Proposal

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Worst nursing homes in America rated and to be published

Another new publication....lovely information for the families with relatives who may be in one of these facilities...BD 

After initially resisting their disclosure, the Bush administration on Tuesday published the names of 131 nursing homes with poor inspection records and said some were already showing signs of improvement.

The list released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services represents troubled facilities cited as a “special focus facility,” a designation used to identify those that merit more oversight. For these homes, states conduct inspections at six-month intervals rather than annually.

Worst nursing homes in America rated - Health care- msnbc.com

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Docs Outraged across the US at Blue Cross Request

 Update:  Contents of the letter....and doctors react....cut cost or services for the members?  BD 

"We ask for your assistance to help identify medical omissions because you, being the primary care provider, will have firsthand knowledge of services provided or requested," the letter reads. "Within the first two  years of membership, Blue Cross has the right to cancel the member's policy back to its effective date for failure to disclose medical history."

Others worry that such a system could prevent patients from getting needed care simply because it would become unaffordable without insurance.  Telephone messages left with the press office of WellPoint Inc., the Indianapolis-based company that operates Blue Cross of California, were not immediately returned. A spokesperson for the company told the Los Angeles Times, who broke the story Tuesday morning, that the request was made in an effort to cut costs for members.

Others, like Dr. Sanjeev Saksena, say that the development should be regarded as a call for universal health care. "This is already being done in other surreptitious ways by all insurers," says Saksena, professor of medicine at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

"One of these days our public will realize that not-for-profit payers are needed for health care and finally appreciate what all other Western nations know -- universal health care is needed and cannot be provided by the for-profit sector."

ABC News: Docs Outraged at Blue Cross Request

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Methamphetamine deposited in ATM, woman jailed

If you have a drug related problem, be careful with information overload and double check what you are doing...weird story of the week....BD

BREMERTON, Wash. - Credit unions accept deposits — just not of methamphetamine. A woman who allegedly dropped an envelope containing money and a bag of meth at a Kitsap Credit Union was arrested and charged with drug possession, according to court documents.

Meth deposited in ATM, woman jailed - Yahoo! News

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Problems in Blood Drug Lead to Halt by Factory

Too many problems and issues...Baxter says no more multi dose vials...APP Pharma to pick up the slack..will this result in shortages down the road? BD

A major maker of heparin, a blood thinner used widely in surgery and dialysis, has stopped making it after hundreds of patients reported severe allergic reactions to the drug, which is made from pig intestines.  Other drugs thin blood, but their effects are rarely as rapid or as easily reversed. Heparin has been manufactured since 1930.

Baxter suspended manufacturing multidose vials that have been associated with most of the problems. Baxter continues to make single-dose vials.  APP Pharmaceuticals in Schaumburg, Ill., manufactures much of the rest of the heparin supply. Its president, Tom Silberg, said APP was rapidly increasing production.

“There is going to be a shortage problem in the immediate and long-term future with the suspension of Baxter’s manufacturing,” Dr. Jenkins said. “Facilities and physicians will have to decide immediately what they do with the heparin on hand, and they’ll have to start looking for heparin for the long term.”

Problems in Blood Drug Lead to Halt by Factory - New York Times

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