Scan Man’s Notes – A look at Radiology

Just wanted to put a short note here about Scan man’s notes.  Lately he has been including some great Radiology information and scans on the blog too. 

It’s also nice to hear from someone outside of the US to compare notes on healthcare too.  We all learn from each other.  Scan Man has been gracious enough to include the Medical Quack under Medical News on his site as well.  You can find the link at any time on this site under the Blog Roll Section under Scan Man.  Many thanks for including this blog and I hope to keep things interesting enough in India as well for your readers!  BD 

I am Vijay Sadasivam, a radiologist practicing in Salem, a city in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. scan man is the pseudonym that I used when I started this blog.

I may occasionally write something related to radiology or medicine in general. These again are my personal opinions, supported by references where available. Nothing in my blog is intended as medical advice.

http://www.catscanman.net/blog/

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Congress Cut DARPA Budget by $130 Million – Why?

This does not make sense, why don’t we find other ways to spend the funds, like perhaps some additional limbs for soldiers that come home from war, bionic arms and hands which DARPA has funded and helped create?  What’s up with this? 

DARPA is also involved in biotech research as well.  Flu vaccine funded below. 

“The unique benefits of the iBioPharma plant-based technologies have attracted competitive funding from the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) of the U.S. Department of Defense. DARPA's support significantly advanced the practical utility of the platform for production of influenza and other vaccines.”

Research for a method for replacing tissue lost to injury, growing new organs, and curing degenerative diseases like diabetes and Parkinson's.

“The WPI research is an outgrowth of a two-year project funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the first phase of a major effort aimed at finding ways to enable mammals—including humans—to regenerate tissue in digits and limbs lost to traumatic injury. This ability has been observed in amphibians, but not in higher animals.”

Here’s a link to a search of all the DARPA projects related to healthcare and a bit about the Urban Challenge, cars that drive themselves, anticipated in 5 years or so. 

So why are we cutting DARPA Funds?  Why is Congress bent on cutting technology and much of this is medically related and helps soldiers when they return?  This one does not make sense at all and just indicates we still can’t look beyond the dollar bill, even with life saving and other beneficial technology is at work.  BD  

Congress just cut $130 million from Darpa's budget for next year, citing "poor execution" of previous funded projects. Some in charge of the purse strings say the Pentagon's premiere research agency wasn't spending the cash it was given. The agency's chief figures Darpa is being punished for holding its contractors accountable for their work.

Earlier in the week, House and Senate negotiators agreed to a defense budget for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins on October 1st. As usual, they agreed to the vast majority of spending proposed by the Defense Department. And the programs they tweaked, cut or increase funding for were altered without much comment. For the most part.

But in the case of Darpa -- the Defense Department's cutting-edge science and technology division -- Congress proclaimed "poor execution" a half-dozen times, as it trimmed more than $130 million from Darpa's approximately $3 billion budget.

These latest cuts -- from space programs, biotech, "advanced war fighting technology" and other accounts -- are seen as a continuation of that argument

Darpa Budget Cut $130 Million for 'Poor Execution' | Danger Room from Wired.com

Technorati Tags: DARPA,Budgets,Congress,Healthcare,Biotech

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Accelrys : Reorganization Complete - Connecting to Microsoft Share Point

You can’t run a business today without business intelligence.  Biotech and Pharma is all about Business Intelligence whether it is R and D or marketing.  This designed application made use of Office SharePoint Server and turned it into a scientific mining tool for this company in the gene expression business, and the new technology with Microsoft was what was presented to the investors at their last meeting.  With adding more smart technology, the amount of manual processing will be done with less employees and more efficiently. 

Vanderbilt University has also made some very good use of Microsoft technologies as well. 

Myself as being a small consumer rely on Microsoft Live Office Services, whereby I have a SharePoint Hosted Server and enables me to share documents and applications with others.   

In other healthcare related issues there’s the common user interface under development from Microsoft as well, with the hope of having the same or similar user interface someday at all health facilities, thus doctors and nurses will not have to learn a new system at every location where they practice.  Related reading can be found here. 

In addition, biotech companies have the opportunity to explore and develop applications at a Microsoft Technical Center as well, with several locations in the US and Worldwide.  More about the Technology Centers can be found here.  BD 

Accelrys CEO Mark Emkjer told an investor conference this week that the company has completed its restructuring and turnaround, is expecting more deals with equipment manufacturers, is expanding into other industries with R&D-generated datasets, and is expecting positive developments from the integration of Pipeline Pilot into Microsoft SharePoint, which will be formally rolled out in November.

“Today most of this is done manually,” he said, but added that part of Accelrys’ growth strategy is to help R& D scientists with automated processing that could help do away with redundancies. His hope is that the platform will become increasingly embedded across the enterprises of his customers.

“More importantly” said Emkjer, “we have scientifically enabled the Microsoft SharePoint platform.” The integration with Microsoft Office SharePoint Server allows users to execute and display results through the Accelrys platform in the SharePoint environment.

Microsoft has programmers working at Accelrys now, said Emkjer. “We will QC [the platform] with a number of customers and then it will be in [Pipeline Pilot] 7.5 that comes out Nov. 15,” he said. Starting from the programming model behind Windows, SharePoint users can create functionalities of their choice. SharePoint “has a tremendous uptake across the biotech and Pharma industries,” Potenzone said. For example, Pfizer has deployed it broadly across its locations, as have “many other pharmaceutical companies.”

“Accelrys and Microsoft have worked together to bring clients integrated Scientific Business Intelligence, Work Flow, and Content Management solutions that help our clients address their toughest scientific challenges. Accelrys brings scientific business intelligence, predictive science, and industry experience to the relationship, while Microsoft contributes industry-leading products and services. The result: Innovative solutions designed to address critical business issues. Accelrys' solutions leverage Microsoft technologies such as Sharepoint and Accelrys has implemented several Microsoft-based solutions. Accelrys has the expertise to deliver solutions that work well with your Microsoft investments.”

BioInform: Accelrys to Wall Street: Reorg Complete, Connecting to Microsoft, New Industries

Technorati Tags: Microsoft,Technology,Biotech,R and D,Sofware Development,Business Intelligence,SharePoint

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Microsoft Technology Centers – Software Solutions with Assistance and Guidance

I noticed in several posts I have made I make reference to these centers, but didn’t have anything on the blog, so here goes so now I will have my back link in the future.    One of my long time interests has been in the Windows Mobile area. Being I live in a big metropolitan area, I have the luxury  of being able to attend 2 User groups, one in Irvine and one in Los Angeles.  The one in Los Angeles is the longest standing User group, where we all began over 10 years ago. 

Among the Los Angeles group are folks like Chris De Herrera who has a website called TabletPCTalk, and gee hard to believe I have known some of the folks in the group for over 10 years now and Kurt Shintaku from Microsoft, who has single handedly donated his time to keep the entire organization going.  In Irvine, California, a number of years ago, the Orange County group was an offshoot from the Los Angeles users and monthly meetings are held at the Irvine Tech Center Offices of Microsoft in Irvine, California, ran by Chris Johnson from Microsoft. 

Every month we meet after work to discuss and compare notes and efforts on the Windows Mobile platform, and we are a pretty varied group.  One member, Dinh has a great Windows Mobile blog site worth checking out as well, SolSie.com.  The Tech Center area is also used for various meetings, such as Tech Net and MSDN Events, which are always educational for me, being I don’t actively write code anymore, but attend to keep up to date, and it gives me a chance to watch Woody Pewitt a Microsoft Evangelist, salivate over my Tablet PC, and when Evangelist Lynn Langet is speaking or present I know for a fact that there will be 2 women in the meeting instead of one (grin).  We need more women in technology. 

Ok now back to more about the Microsoft Tech Centers.   These are the basic steps listed below. 

“Microsoft Technology Centers (MTCs) provide everything you need — technology experts, industry leaders, and an outstanding environment — to envision, architect, and demonstrate a secure, customized solution, based on Microsoft and partner technologies.”

Strategy Briefing

This one-day briefing starts by examining your current IT environment and business objectives and then moves into the Envisioning Center, where you will see Microsoft solutions in action, through powerful demos and scenarios customized to meet your needs. The day includes mutual discovery, tailored product and technology drill-downs, and expert presentations, and it culminates with the delivery of a clear and actionable picture of how Microsoft .NET connection software can help you reach your business goals.

Architecture Design Session

This custom session drills into your business objectives and aligns them with specific applications of .NET technology to help you not only meet your goals, but also capitalize on them. We will provide architectural guidance, preferred practices input, architecture, and risk analysis to chief technology officers, architects, and senior members of your development team.

Proof-of-Concept Workshop

In this multiweek, in-depth workshop, our architects work closely with key members of your technical staff to transfer knowledge and develop proofs for custom solutions. This workshop may also include detailed demos and training sessions. Your development team will have a private, secure, and fully loaded development suite that is preconfigured prior to their arrival.”

In other words they work with you to develop your dot net applications that will maximize results and you have a workshop at the center to work with, as well ad training sessions to complete the project and run it completely on a full server network with your specifications to mirror your application here before going live, get the bugs out first.  I don’t know of anyone in the software business that doesn’t want to do all of that ahead of time!

Below lists what you have access to while working at the center, so if you are developing a mobile application for example, the wireless network is provided for working with handheld units.  There are a number of computers available as well configured with Vista, XP, etc. to stage user interfaces as an example, so again, all tried and tested before going live or offering a solution to perhaps anther end user if you sell software or are an integrator. 

   

One other nice item at the Irvine office is the a full working “Surface” technology unit, the table with touch, so there’s pretty much everything you might need as far as hardware and the servers are designed to pretty much withstand most of anything that is designed.  Of course, Microsoft software is available while working at the center and when completed with the project, it is your option, but having both hardware and software available without having to disrupt an existing network while building is huge.

I have seen companies actively working on their solutions when there to include a couple healthcare organizations. 

Using the services and center will also have the real capabilities of cutting down the development time, and the architectures are there to work as a team.

The site has plenty of case studies and you can watch additional videos.  There are a few different work areas with privacy frosted doors, so if 2 business competitors happened to be present, they can both work privately and independently of each other. 

For Electronic Medical Records, perhaps a time to give some thought to looking at the Common User Interface that is now offered via the Microsoft Open Source Software site, Code Plex and perhaps that could be defined here as well with help at the tech center. 

This is definitely an area made for biotech and Pharma research and design as those 2 fields require some of the most sophisticated and Code Centric software out there today.  BD

  

http://www.microsoft.com/mtc/default.mspx

Technorati Tags: Technology Centers,R and D,Microsoft,Sofware Architecture,Surface Technology,Common User Interface,Sofware Solutions,Tablet PC,Solutions,Server 2008,Hardware Solutions

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The Portraitist Robot

Now I could see this little guy let’s say at a teaching facility, creating drawings for use later in instructional classes.  He actually takes your picture, so there is no need to sit and pose as is done when a human is creating your portrait.  

Technology and robotics are getting smarter every day.  He actually talks and carries on a bit of conversation to get your name for the portrait too, and voice is not bad and looks like he works pretty fast!  BD

The Portraitist Robot recognizes human faces in its surroundings and extracts relevant characteristics from them. By using its uncanny artistic talent, it then draws portraits of the participants from the captured images by converting them into vector art and by using inverse kinematics to control the robot's arm.

http://www.calinon.ch/portraitist.php

Hat Tip:  Engadget

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The Human Airbag for Seniors

Seniors today sure seem to top the listings of devices whether it is a home monitoring device, a wireless device for monitoring their hearts, and now here’s the latest that can be added, a human airbag to protect in case of a fall.  Is this going to be something else they will need to add to their daily wardrobe?   As mentioned below, it will not be the seniors lining up to purchase these, but rather family and others who have time schedules that don’t allow for personalized attention, something well all seem to lack today in one form or another.  BD 

Nasty falls, however, may be things of the past — thanks to the invention of the human airbag.

Simply strap the 2½lb (1.1kg) pouch around the waist and the wearer is armed with the cutting edge of protection. Sensors detect movement and have been programmed to know when things have gone wrong — a slip on something wet, a stumble on an uneven paving stone or a fall down stairs. 

Within a tenth of a second, the airbags inflate to the size of three footballs as they are blasted into action with 15 litres of compressed gas, offering a soft slab of padding on the most vulnerable parts of the body in a fall: the back of the head and the bottom.

The people most likely to pay for them are not the pensioners, but their guilt-ridden children, whose punishing work commitments prevent them from checking up on their parents more regularly.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article4819441.ece

Technorati Tags: Healthcare,Seniors,technology,medical Devices

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Synthetic Genomics – Creating new life forms

Two interesting videos about the course of sequencing.  Technology is also going into environmental planning and additional medicinal uses.  This is somewhat spooky in the fact that they project in 3 years we will have the capability of creating new life forms that have never existed before. 

As stated in the videos, this does not include human experimentation, but can help lead to information in fighting some of today’s targeted diseases.  Just as in computers, it’s all in the “code”, aka software that makes the analysis and research possible.  BD 

J. Craig Ventor, CEO of Synthetic Genomics and sequencer of the human genome, is engineering new microbes that can produce high amounts of chemicals needed for environmental solutions.

The key breakthrough that's occurred in the last few years, he says, is our ability to treat the code of life like a computer program. In the past, we could only cut and paste from biology, but the reality today is that we can write the code of life from scratch.

http://alwayson.goingon.com/permalink/post/29307

Technorati Tags: Genomics,R and D,Healthcare,chemicals,DNA Testing,Research and Development

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California Mandates More Screening and Reporting of Hospital Infections

More rules for California hospitals, but not a bad thing as MRSA is probably more common than one outside of working in a hospital might think.  Sometimes the issues go beyond the hospital with a patient coming home and passing it along to family members too.  One physician’s office had a situation like this, and repeated visits were made with more antibiotics prescribed as the virus kept getting passed from one member of the family to another, and much of that responsibility lies on the patients in that respect too as far as being clean and taking the proper responsibilities and hygiene. 

The family would keep returning to the physician’s office each time another member contracted the infection, so even outside the hospital, it can be spread.  This was the entire family too, adults and children with the MRSA and of course the office staff would go on a forensic cleaning spree once the patients left.  October 1st also starts the first date of the “never-never” non payment for hospitals, which hospital acquired diseases are a part of.  BD 

On another note, payments are finally going out to hospitals since the budget was signed.  Government checks had not been released since July 1st and some nursing homes and other small facilities were not able to maintain and closed their doors during this time.  BD 

Four years ago, Gov. Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill that would have given hospitals more responsibility in tracking and reporting infections. Yesterday, he signed into law two bills that do just that, the Los Angeles Times reports.

One of the bills requires hospitals to screen high-risk patients for MRSA infections within 24 hours of admission. (MRSA is a virulent, increasingly common form of staph that’s resistant to most antibiotics.) It will also make hospitals report their infection rates.

The other bill requires more training on infection control training at hospitals, and adds to the state’s program for monitoring hospital infections.

http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2008/09/26/california-mandates-more-screening-reporting-of-hospital-infections/

Technorati Tags: MRSA,California Legislature,Hospitals,training and reporting,hygeine,superbug

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Medtronic Accused by Own Lawyer of Pervasive Kickbacks to Physicians

Whistleblower lawsuits are getting spicy, this one filed from within, well at least being an attorney, she knows the rules and how to file suit.  Whistleblowers do stand a chance to benefit in the award if fraud and/or wrongdoing is found.  BD 

A qui tam lawsuit filed against medical device maker, Medtronic, by its former senior legal counsel was recently unsealed, and it provides detailed insight into the unsavory way in which surgeons are induced to use certain medical devices. The whistleblower was senior counsel in the spinal-device unit. She alleges that kickbacks from Medtronic to physicians were pervasive. Sales staff routinely took physicians to the Platinum Plus strip club in Memphis and paid for the dancers' services during VIP visits. Medtronic also took doctors on a five-day, all expenses paid trip to Alaska. The expenses allegedly included fishing guides, clothes, and more women.

Medtronic Accused by Own Lawyer of Pervasive Kickbacks to Physicians | InjuryBoard Richmond

Technorati Tags: Medtronics,Medical Devices,Lawsuits,Whistle Blower

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ATEC Alphatec wins FDA approval for cervical implant

 Visit the website for additional information as well.  When you look at all the products available today, there sure are many options versus the old method of fusion and still maintain flexibility. 

Pictures show here may not be representative of the actual product recently approved.  As you can see this gets pretty intense and appears to offer a multitude of solutions.  BD

The Novel cervical interbody implant is said to be the latest product in Alphatec Spine's pipeline that provides solutions for disorders affecting the cervical spine. The Novel cervical interbody is offered in three footprints in both Peek and titanium. The implant is designed to optimize endplate contact and has windows that increase the surgeon's ability to insert grafting material into the implant, the company said. 

The Novel cervical interbody has been cleared by the FDA as a cervical interbody device,  complementing existing Alphatec Spine products, including the Trestle anterior cervical plating system, the Solanas posterior cervico-thoracic fixation system, and the AlphaGRAFT ProFUSE demineralized bone scaffolds.

ATEC Alphatec wins FDA approval for cervical implant

Technorati Tags: FDA,Cervical Implant,Back Surgery,Spine

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Mr. Brown Coffee Products – FDA Alert

More potential contamination from melamine.  We need labels on every product that is consumable, food and drugs from each country so they can be identified faster. 

Many companies only list their headquarter locations and thus we never know exactly where the product came from, and anymore this is a huge concern for both drugs and food items.  BD  

· Mr. Brown Mandheling Blend Instant Coffee (3-in-1)
· Mr. Brown Arabica Instant Coffee (3-in-1)
· Mr. Brown Blue Mountain Blend Instant Coffee (3-in-1)
· Mr. Brown Caramel Macchiato Instant Coffee (3-in-1)
· Mr. Brown French Vanilla Instant Coffee (3-in-1)
· Mr. Brown Mandhling Blend instant Coffee (2-in-1)
· Mr. Brown Milk Tea (3-in-1)

The products, manufactured by China's Shandong Duqing Inc., are being recalled by the King Car Food Industrial Co. Ltd.

State lists more milk products from China to avoid - White Coat Notes - Boston.com

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Insured Amputee Still Faces Liens Against Home

The man had insurance coverage and had 21 liens from hospitals, doctors, etc. – was the HMO slow in paying?  BD 

I now have an amputated left leg and a 'frozen' left shoulder. I was released from the rehabilitation hospital in July of last year. But during the preceding May and June of that year, those two hospitals, various surgeons, radiologists, and anesthesiologists placed 21 liens against my and my wife's home, totaling $531,000. All these liens were placed on my home before I was released from the hospital and before I'd even seen a bill.

"The strange part of all this is that I have complete medical insurance coverage, and all my medical providers knew it. Three of those liens still exist, even though the bills have been paid by my HMO. My accident not only has cost me thousands of dollars out of my own pocket in co-pays and deductibles, but it has cost me grief over our home and possible credit repercussions."

Insured Amputee Still Faces Liens Against Home

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University of Pennsylvania Turns to Industry for Medical Research

One item that stands out clear here is the fact that there’s not enough money in grants from the government even with 451 million, as there’s another 50 million from Pharma and medical device companies subsidizing research as well.  There has been so much talk about contributions of late, but where else would the needed money come from?  BD

Even the big winners at the NIH trough can’t take the government’s research support for granted. Take the University of Pennsylvania, which pulled in $451 million in biomedical funding from NIH last year, second only to Johns Hopkins.

Nevertheless, Penn’s med school started an office five years ago to work with industry on research. And whatever you might think about the propriety of the approach, the dollars are rolling in. About $50 million in research support now comes from industry compared with about $20 million four or five years ago, Terry Fadem, head of Penn Medicine’s Office of Corporate Alliances, tells the Health Blog.

AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer are among the companies that agree. They’ve signed multi-million dollar research contracts with Penn.

All told, more than 200 companies are now funding research at Penn. But doesn’t the company money come with strings attached? Fadem says Penn won’t agree to deals that restrict publication of results and that part of his office’s work includes monitoring consulting relationships between faculty and the private sector.

http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2008/09/26/university-of-pennsylvania-turns-to-industry-for-medical-research/

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Meal Tracker 2.0 - For Hospitals And Healthcare Systems

It will streamline accounting too so they know how much and what you are eating, so the numbers will finally be in to find out how much food the residents are really eating (grin).  As for convenience, it beats paper but I also seem to want to think that this may somehow lead to dietary guidance somewhere along the line with data being collected and analyzed.  Well at least if one is putting on a few extra pounds, they will be able to determine if it is the amount of food being consumed at the hospital or otherwise.  Everything we do today appears to have one big data trail.  BD 

FreedomPay, the leader of payment management solutions, today announced the launch of Meal Tracker 2.0, the next generation of meal plan and free meal management for hospitals and healthcare systems. Meal Tracker 2.0 is building on the success of the version 1.0, which has enabled hundreds of hospitals nationwide to simplify and streamline their resident, doctor and employee meal programs.

The majority of hospitals and healthcare systems provide free or discounted meal programs for physicians, Residents, medical students, volunteers, employees and service recovery. FreedomPay's Meal Tracker program enables hospital and department administrators to electronically automate all meal program administration. Meal Tracker is a web-based, real-time solution that links funds or free meal credits to a FreedomPay tag or employee badge. With this solution, administrators have complete flexibility and control over the scheduling, delivery and reporting of meal programs.

Meal Tracker 2.0 - Next Generation Of Meal Plan And Free Meal Management For Hospitals And Healthcare Systems

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Playing The HMO Game – Kaiser, Viagra and more…

Now this has become a legal issue with the State of California, can this stand with not covering Viagra?  It might appear the jury is going to be out on this one for a while and there are other drugs that come in to play with HMO coverage.

What is and what is not covered is becoming a big issue today and how far do you need to drive to a facility within network.  HMOs are also having their own internal management struggles in various areas.  If there were enough in network locations it would not be an issue, but as recent contracts have broken down, changed, etc. figuring out what your HMO does and does not cover can be challenging and again the focus has been shifted to money first, healthcare second.  BD 

Who would have guessed that a little baby-blue tablet designed to restore potency to the impotent would pack such a wallop? In June, Kaiser Permanente, the giant HMO with the imperial name, announced that it had decided not to cover the cost of the $10 erection pill for its 9 million members. Just three weeks later, the little pill had become a symbol of one of the nation’s hottest political issues: what HMOs do and don’t pay for….Rather than increase premiums to cover the added costs, Kaiser decided to let its members pay for the potency pill out of their own pocket.

Viagra’s role in the debate was heightened last week when the federal agency that administers Medicaid told the states that they were required to cover Viagra for the indigent and infirm “when medical necessity dictates,” and some of the states–much like tightfisted HMOs–dug in their heels and refused to pay.

Getting really sick is what worries most Americans…. Pressured by rising medical costs on one side and employers’ refusal to pay higher premiums on the other, a number of managed-care firms began running into trouble. Case in point: Kaiser Permanente, which posted a $270 million loss last year. This was on the heels of a sudden $291 million loss at Oxford Health Plans of Norwalk, Conn., which CEO Stephen Wiggins blamed on the collapse of his overtaxed computer billing system. Wiggins was forced to resign, but that wasn’t the end of his troubles. Last week the New York State attorney general’s office confirmed to TIME that it was investigating Wiggins for possible insider trading.

http://news.bloglicio.us/2008/09/25/playing-the-hmo-game/

Technorati Tags: HMO,Healthcare,Insurance,Kaiser Permanente,Viagra,Insider Trading

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Head of Skate – Fake Disney Trailer – Sarah Palin

An Alaskan hockey mom becomes Vice President in the wackiest family comedy of the year! Sound familiar?

Hilarious!  BD 

http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1831461

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Department of Defense and VA to Exchange Trauma Data – Medical Records

Interchange and interoperability of medical records continues, this time with the Department of Defense and the VA.  Just yesterday I posted about the exchange between Kaiser Permanente and the VA.   The VA has also joined Internet 2 to become an active participant. 

Again, with the interchange of records going on, I think it is becoming even more clear to establish a personal health record plan of some type, whereby you can correct and verify information if needed, and have the option to include additional vendor information, such as labs and be able to centralize information from medical devices too. 

Kaiser Permanente physician George Peredy, MD, showed how William Ozzie's sample patient data could be obtained from five different health providers including the VA, the Department of Defense and the private sector. In the model.

HealthVault and Google Health have both been in heavy pursuit and development in this area.  Back in June I also posted about Beth Israel Hospital in Boston and Social Security with their exchange of medical records pilot program.

“By the end of August or September, we will actually be requesting real data from [Beth Israel Deaconess] and receiving real live data back, which we can use to [fold] into the medical record,” Somers said.

Today is a good time to stay informed and be aware of what’s happening with interoperability with medical records as it is expanding rapidly and who knows, it could be happening at your healthcare facility.  BD 

U.S. Army medical facilities soon will electronically transfer a standard set of information about patients transferred to a "polytrauma unit" at one of four Veterans Administration medical centers. These units, at VA facilities in Tampa, Fla.; Richmond, Va.; Palo Alto, Calif.; and Minneapolis, provide intensive rehabilitation to patients who have severe injuries to more than one organ system.

The Department of Defense and VA recently completed a pilot program transferring information between Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the polytrauma unit in Tampa. The information includes notes on the patient's situation and background, an assessment of his or her condition, and recommendations for future care.

DoD, VA to Exchange Trauma Data

Technorati Tags: Health Records,EHR,PHR,Healthcare,VA,Kaiser Permanente,Department of Defense,Social Security,Beth Israel Deaconess of Boston

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Business Intelligence Study Finds Pharma Pricing Research Being Conducted Earlier

In other words, this is called Business Intelligence.  Lots of it out there to choose from and one from Microsoft specifically related to hospital management and budgets.  Before the demise of Wall Street it wasn’t too long ago that I posted about the All Nighter they pulled to mine and try to find the best investments for Cancer, so here’s a little trip back to the past below. 

Whatever business you are in today, it all comes back to smarter management through software.  Backtracking a few months ago and comparing to what we have today certainly lends some direction as to where speculation was going just a few months ago and Big Pharma has always been a big investor in Business Intelligence from day one.  BD 

(from May 2008)

Wall Street Drug Analysts to Pull All-Nighter Tomorrow to Analyze Cancer Studies...

Interesting...Wall Street trying to figure out how to hit the "moving target" of where to invest with health care as related to Oncology...that explains some recent inquiries....hope they have some good software available to crunch the information with some sophisticated Business Intelligence software doing the drill down mining...BD 

Tomorrow night, at 9 p.m. Eastern, American Society of Clinical Oncology is going to release the results of thousands of cancer studies that will be presented at the group’s big annual meeting. At least a few of those are likely to be market-moving, especially the ones that involve small biotechs whose future rests on a single cancer drug.

But the trick is finding the market-moving needles in a haystack of data — and doing it before the markets open Friday morning.  Of course, some analysts aren’t waiting for the abstracts to make bets about what the data will hold. Morgan Stanley analyst Steven Harr on Monday lowered his rating on ImClone, which makes the cancer drug Erbitux. The company’s stock fell more than 7% Monday, before recovering a bit yesterday.

_____________________

Pharmaceutical and biotech companies conduct pricing research much earlier in drug development than they once did. The new study, "Outcomes-Based Pharmaceutical Pricing: Meeting Stakeholder Needs," published by competitive intelligence firm Cutting Edge Information, finds that 56% of companies begin pricing-focused market research before Phase III of product development (http://www.pharmapricingstrategy.com).

Cutting Edge Information Study Finds Pharma Pricing Research Being Conducted Earlier

Technorati Tags: Business Intelligence,Wall Street,Cancer,R and D,biotech,Pharma,Pricing

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Indian Pharma offshoring to be US $2.5bn opportunity by 2012

Not just India, but other countries as well.  I have posted many articles on the blog referencing outsourcing over the last year or so and all of Big Pharma has interests in foreign countries including the strong possibility of phase 1 clinical trials. 

The one comment I have to make here with food and drugs becoming such a global economy, is that it should be a national law that every consumable product be labeled with the City, State, and Country of origin, as when recalls occur, look how long it takes to get the information to the consumer, this could save lives!  BD

According to the study, the Indian Pharma sector is also growing robustly and is expected to move from being domestic led to exports driven by 2010.

Zinnov Management Consulting has released the findings of an in-depth study on the ‘Indian Pharmaceutical Offshoring Landscape’. The study provides a detailed analysis of the Indian pharmaceutical offshoring industry which is slated to become a US$2.5bn opportunity by 2012.

One of the key factors driving the off shoring wave is increasing R&D costs, which in-turn is compelling Pharmaceutical organizations in the US and EU to look for new low cost R&D destinations such as India and China.

A transition is also being observed in the growth of pharmaceutical markets from the top seven established pharmaceutical markets to emerging markets like India, China, Brazil, Mexico, South Korea, and Russia – which will grow at 12-13 % in 2008, and become a USD 85-90 billion market, captures the study.

http://www.indiainfoline.com/news/innernews.asp?storyId=80135&lmn=1

Technorati Tags: Pharma,Clinical Trials,outsourcing,exports,consumable products,FDA

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Britain will make foreigners carry RFID identity cards to include health information

Some folks in the UK are now becoming more transparent due to new government regulations.  This is part of their efforts on crime and identifying 2 high risk groups, students and marriage visas.  The technology used is RFID and data bases will be able to track easily the number of visas each year, so even by marriage if the quota has been met for the year, it might be impossible to bring a spouse to the UK and health information is included. 

Last week I posted an article about how Homeland Security is looking at fighting terrorism here with classified software that reads your brain, heart rate, and more.  Privacy sure seems to be a thing of the past and with developing technologies, there’s really no way to keep a lid on privacy any more, it’s gone.  BD 

Now, it seems, I will become one of the first people in Britain to be forced to carry a mandatory biometric RFID card in a pilot program being deployed first to foreign students and we spousal visa holders (government is looking to curtail spousal visas altogether, capping all visas at 20,000 per year, including spousal visas, denying Britons the right to bring their spouses into the country once the quota has been filled). The card will be eventually linked to all of the national databases -- credit, health, driving, spending. These are the same databases that the government has been repeatedly losing and hemorrhaging by the tens of million (literally).

"We all want to see our borders more secure, and human trafficking, organized immigration crime, illegal working and benefit fraud tackled. ID cards for foreign nationals, in locking people to one identity, will deliver in all these areas," she added.

Jacqui Smith, the British Home Secretary, had unilaterally (and on 24 hours' notice) changed the rules for Highly Skilled Migrants to require a university degree.  The UK Border Agency will begin issuing the biometric cards to the two categories of foreign nationals who officials say are most at risk of abusing immigration rules - students and those on a marriage or civil partnership visa.

The UK Border Agency will begin issuing the biometric cards to the two categories of foreign nationals who officials say are most at risk of abusing immigration rules - students and those on a marriage or civil partnership visa.

Britain will make foreigners carry RFID identity cards and will put us in a huge, Orwellian database: the rest of Britain will be next - Boing Boing

Technorati Tags: RFID,terrorists immigration,students,Visas,UK,biometrics

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ER Death Points to Growing Wait-Time Problem – One more in Dallas

Severity of conditions determine who gets seen obviously and he was there for a sore throat.  What is the answer here when he died of a heart attack?  Would a retail clinic been a better spot and could they have diagnosed a potential heart attack?  As always, each case is individual. 

How common is the “boarding” practice and why does it exist?  No room in the hospital could be one answer, or perhaps lack of insurance to be admitted even though it is not supposed to be a factor?  19 hours is a long wait no matter where you are though and once again brings the attention to the long ER room waits affecting many hospitals today, some worse than others.  BD 

With notoriously crowded U.S. emergency rooms, chances are most American families have a story of someone waiting. It could have been half a day for a sore throat or perhaps hours for stitches or a sprained ankle.

But for 58-year-old Michael Herrara of Dallas help never came. He died of a heart attack last week an estimated 19 hours after he arrived at Parkland Memorial Hospital's emergency room waiting room complaining of severe stomach pains, according to reports from WFAA News in Dallas.

Schneider said out of 1,500 emergency physicians recently surveyed by ACEP, 200 personally knew of a person who had died because of the practice of "boarding."

Boarding means keeping patients in an emergency room bed when they should be in a regular hospital bed. Schneider said the practice eventually creates a backup in the emergency room.

ABC News: ER Death Points to Growing Wait-Time Problem

Technorati Tags: ER Room,Hospitals,Healthcare,Heart Attack

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UCI Medical Center put under state supervision - California

UCI in trouble once more, has been a while since the liver transplant issues and now it is over record keeping, The hospital installed a new electronic anesthesia information monitoring system. It was the only one of its kind in Orange County and eliminates the opportunity to fill out records in advance.

The inspection was prompted back in May by a whistle blower, and there is also potential reward money available for such reports that result in legal cases.  BD

UCI Medical Center has been placed under state supervision because of its anesthesiology department's "inability to provide quality healthcare in a safe environment," according to a federal report released Thursday. Among the most serious failings cited by federal inspectors was doctors' practice of filling out medical records in advance, suggesting specific outcomes before procedures were done. Officials with the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said Thursday that they had accepted the department's plan of correction, but if the problems are not resolved, the hospital could lose its federal funding.

In one case, a patient's blank anesthetic record had been signed by a doctor and marked "stable," one day before the medical procedure.

UCI Medical Center put under state supervision - Los Angeles Times

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25,000 U.S. physicians download free drug info software for Iphone – Epocrates

By far one of the best tools out there and as a consumer there is a lot of information too on the free version, easy to find the various tiers for coverage and drug interactions.  I also have the web based look up on the blog, so use it to look up any drug by just typing in the name.  BD 

About 25,000 U.S. physicians have downloaded a free drug information software program that runs on Apple’s popular iPhone, according to the California company that develops the software. 

Overall, the Epocrates RX software has been downloaded by more than 125,000 total users in its first month of availability, according to a statement from San Mateo, California-based Epocrates.

David Sperling, MD, an internist in Long Beach, California, has been using Epocrates on hand-held devices for about 10 years and recently downloaded the software to his new iPhone. Sperling says he often uses the software to show patients high-resolution photos of pills in an attempt to identify what medications they’ve been taking when they aren’t certain.

http://medicaleconomics.modernmedicine.com/memag/Health+Information+Technology%3A+PDAs/Tools-25000-US-physicians-download-free-drug-info-/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/552591?contextCategoryId=25086&ref=25

Technorati Tags: Healthcare,Drugs,Epocrates,Software

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Review EHR vendors evaluated by IT research firm – or try a free consultant

It is a mess today trying to figure out which medical records system might be right for you, and there are many evaluation methods available, but if you are a physician, the evaluation by an IT firm might still leave you in a quandary. It’s about as confusing as trying to look at a line by line comparison of doctors or hospitals.  Since the list was published there have also been a couple mergers and acquisitions as well, so you might be better off to work with a consultant or ask other physicians as to what they use and what choices they have made. 

One example from Medical Economics is Eric Fishman, which you have seen mentioned around here before and he is a doctor with a physician’s viewpoint. 

For general information and discussion forums, you can always visit EMRUpdate.com, which is syndicated here on the Medical Quack under resources.  BD

A former orthopedic surgeon has created a company dedicated to helping physicians navigate the choppy waters of purchasing the right electronic medical records (EMR) system – for free.

Eric Fishman, MD, says his company, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida-based EMRConsultant.com, has made recommendations to more than 7,500 practices about which EMR systems would best meet their specific needs.

Overwhelmed by the number of electronic health record (EHR) vendors out there? A research and consulting firm offers an in-depth look at 10 of the major vendors for the ambulatory care market and highlights the top performers for features, flexibility, and physician satisfaction.

EHRs: Top EHR vendors evaluated by IT research firm - - Medical Economics

Technorati Tags: medical records,consultant,EMR,EHR,healthcare,health IT

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The Confusing Issue of the PHR – Personal Health Record

This too is fast becoming a confusing issue, who and what do you choose? CMS has their pilot program working and just added the Department of Defense to who have original Medicare and also receive Tricare benefits the options to use the personal health record, called MyPHRSC and the information is provided via a Medicare Contractor, not direct from Medicare.

I am somewhat curious as to the full expectations of the program as it appears Medicare and CMS is in to cutting funds in so many places, but yet would it not make sense to perhaps use one of the other online programs instead of spending more money? Just a question that pops into my mind. HealthTrio, who created the program has many services to include employers, insurance companies and connects data together as well as brokering insurance plans, and this program may operate totally outside of their other realms of business, but it appears to be more insurance connected and affiliated rather than focus on the personal health record of the individual.

Which would be better, a complete consumer PHR with someone with no insurance carrier connections or one such as this one? They both offer convenience but what if the Medicare contractor changes, and are they the ultimate data base source? Other PHRs are advancing pretty quickly to add labs, medical devices and more, so again the question I guess of the expense here, is this a project to improve data connectivity or one more to compete eventually in the over crowded personal health records business that is on the taxpayer’s tab? BD

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced an expansion of the South Carolina Personal Health Record pilot (MyPHRSC) to include TRICARE health data. An interagency agreement between CMS and the Department of Defense (DoD) will enable beneficiaries who have original Medicare and also receive TRICARE benefits to be offered the option of adding TRICARE health data to their MyPHRSC personal health records (PHRs). This data has only been available to the beneficiary through the DoD Medical Information Technology systems until this point.

The PHR tool selected for the MyPHRSC was created by HealthTrio, which currently offers PHRs to thousands of individuals through employer contracts. The Medicare data is provided through Palmetto GBA, a Medicare contractor serving the region that includes South Carolina . The pilot is being managed by QSSI, a company that specializes in information technology solution development and headquartered in Gaithersburg , Md.

CMS Expands Personal Health Record Pilot In South Carolina To Include Data From Tricare

Technorati Tags: personal health records,PHR,medical records Venture Capitalists,DOD,CMS

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Helicos Expects Between Five and 10 Orders for HeliScope by End of Year

How hot is genomics today?  There are several manufacturers of the machines that will accomplish running our DNA, our complete DNA.  I know to the average person this gets a little confusing, but the companies listed here are the companies that manufacture the machines that do the entire work up, and companies that provide specialized genomic testing for specific treatment plans for cancer and other drugs, either purchase on of these machines, or use the services of a company or university who has purchased one, in other words the sequencing has to either be done by purchasing a machine directly or using a company who uses the services provided by one of these companies.

Here is a related story where applications are being taken for grants using Helicos technology.  

Information on Genomics Counseling for both physicians and Patients can be found here. 

To read further about Helicos, I did an interview with Dr. Milos, their Chief Science Office back in August, and I learned quite a bit myself from the process and the one item Dr. Milos and I were in complete agreement on, being I am from the code technology side of things, is that “EVERYTHING REVOLVES AROUND SOFTWARE”.  Come to think of it, there’s almost not one area today where software has not touched a part of how we live. 

This post will help explain the process and the difference between a full sequence and a partial DNA read.  I post quite a bit about personalized medicine and genomics so you can do a search here and find additional relates items as well.  

Pharmacogenomics is the ability to understand risk.  With genomic research we are able to find the right medication for patient treatment plans, and know up front what side effects may be present.  Expression analysis allows this to occur, and examines the single gene interactions with drugs.  Drugs as well as drug combinations are optimized for each individual's unique genetic makeup and creates a plan which is called "Personalized Medicine", in other words a plan created specially for each patient created to avoid potential dangerous side effects along with determining how effective the medications will be for the individual.

And I have to throw this picture in for good measure, one of my favorites, Microsoft Surface Technology with protein folding, hands on…someday soon?  The race is certainly on with genomics today.  BD 

__________________________________________________________

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Helicos BioSciences President and CEO Steve Lombardi said today that the firm expects to have a total of between five and 10 orders placed for its flagship HeliScope single-molecule sequencing instrument by the end of this year.

Lombardi told investors at the UBS Global Life Sciences Conference here that the firm also anticipates a total of 15 to 30 orders for its Genetic Analysis System, which includes the HeliScope, by mid-2009. He said Helicos currently has 13 HeliScopes in various stages of assembly and testing at its factory, and he noted that eight of the machines are at a point in the production process that they can run customer samples.

Though Helicos’ system costs significantly more than those offered by its competitors — Illumina, Applied Biosystems, and Roche 454 — Lombardi said that the total cost of ownership, when taking into account extra costs such as sample prep and reagents, is roughly $1.35 million versus $1.16 million from the competing product.

http://www.genomeweb.com/issues/news/149628-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS

Technorati Tags: Helicos,Pharmacogenomics,genomics,biotech,sequencing,DNA Testing,RNA,personalized medicine

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Telemedicine may bridge gap

California covers this type of examination, but the compensation leaves a lot to be desired, as well as the training process for physicians to become familiar with using a computer.  Just for comparison sake, in the UK, telemedicine is a priority with various programs to reach out via cell phones and other wireless devices to connect patients.  It is not a cure all by any means, but when a physician is not accessible locally and in rural locations, it can certainly be a big help.  BD

In a Madera examining room, a doctor takes a digital picture of a sesame-seed-sized lump on Julianna Moore's left eyelid and sends it out over the Web. The picture pops up on a dermatologist's computer screen 130 miles away, and in minutes, Moore gets a diagnosis that she might otherwise not have received for months, if ever. Moore had tried to get a face-to-face appointment with a specialist, but like thousands of other patients without private health insurance, she found that next to impossible.

Telemedicine doesn't create more specialists," said Tom Nesbitt, director of the Center for Health and Technology at UC Davis. "What it can do is redistribute the knowledge of specialists over a larger geographic area."

FresnoBee.com: Local: Telemedicine may bridge gap in Valley specialists

Technorati Tags: Telemedicine,Healthcare,Medical Records

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California Already Ranks Near The Bottom In Education And By 2014 It Will Be Worse

I hope my blog is no indication of this as when I look at the map to see readers geographically, the east coast as you can see from the screenshot is always loaded with readers compared to the west coast, although today it looked better than normal on the west coast.  Perhaps this is just my blog, but it certainly appears that there are more folks doing a lot more reading on the east coast. 

Folks that don’t access the web get left behind with healthcare knowledge.   BD 

How well students and schools succeed in mastering a curriculum that includes English Language Arts (ELA), mathematics, and the social and natural sciences, strongly influences how well the students fare in higher education. In California, student mastery in ELA and mathematics is measured with the California Standards Tests (CST).

"These consumers may find themselves increasingly left behind as many new, valuable sources of health information—such as hospital and physician quality reports—are released solely through online channels," the study says.”

California Already Ranks Near The Bottom In Education And By 2014 It Will Be Worse | Scientific Blogging

Technorati Tags: Education,Healthcare,Reading,California

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Generic version of Diprolene gets FDA Approval

One more generic drug to be available soon in the US.  BD 

Drug maker Glenmark Generics today said it has received United States Food and Drug Administration approval for marketing and distribution of Betamethasone Dipropionate Cream, used in the treatment of inflammatory  diseases. Betamethasone is used in the treatment of inflammatory diseases and is the generic therapeutic equivalent of Diprolene cream marketed by Schering.    

Glenmark gets US FDA nod to mkt anti-inflammatory drug

Technorati Tags: FDA,Pharma

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FBI Began Investigating AIG in March

According to this article, the FBI investigation with AIG started a few months back and shows past fines paid.  The problem stated here, concealing the nature of its transactions with a bank subsidiary and cell phone company. 

Hold off on the fire sale of the servers and data bases for now and bring in the forensics, there’s a lot that can be hidden today with the use of sophisticated programmers and software so hopefully there’s enough of an audit trail for the FBI forensics to gather their information and come to a conclusion.  BD 

Federal investigators have been scrutinizing American International Group since March, focusing on whether the insurance giant knowingly concealed mammoth losses that helped lead to the company's $85 billion federal bailout this month.

In an investor conference call earlier this year, Sullivan called on regulators to overhaul an accounting standard that requires businesses to value such investments at the market price if they were to be sold rather than held in a company's own portfolio for months or years. The provision has forced corporate managers to disclose steep losses on mortgage-related investments this year.

Sullivan got his job after the 2005 ouster of legendary chairman Maurice R. "Hank" Greenberg, who ran the company for four decades and built an empire in 130 countries. Greenberg was forced to step aside after then-New York Attorney General Eliot L. Spitzer and the Securities and Exchange Commission accused him and his company of fraudulent financial reports. An investigation found evidence that the company was playing down losses and risk, using sham transactions to companies that were not independent of AIG. The company settled the case by paying a record $1.6 billion in fines.

In 2004, AIG agreed to pay $126 million to settle another multi-layer probe, in which the SEC and Justice Department alleged that the insurer had engaged in accounting fraud by concealing the nature of its transactions with a bank subsidiary and cellphone company.

FBI Began Investigating AIG in March - washingtonpost.com

Technorati Tags: Wall Street,AIG,Investigation,Economy

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FDA charges Herbs for Cancer over claims of cancer cure - Arizona

One more concern claiming potential cures and treatments for cancer being addressed by the FDA.  Posting this to keep all informed since there are so many companies that are claiming cures and treatments.  BD 

The Federal Trade Commission has charged a Surprise-area business with using deceptive advertising to sell bogus cancer cures. Mary Spohn and her company, Herbs for Cancer, could be forced to pay thousands of dollars in restitution if found guilty by a commission judge of misleading marketing practices. Herbs for Cancer is a limited-liability corporation registered in Wittmann but listing a Sun City address. 

Apart from having an office at 12129 W. Bell Road that was known to offer acupuncture, Spohn ran the Web site www.herbsforcancer.com and sold a variety of Chinese herbal teas with names such as "Breast Cancer Tea Formula" and "Malignant Lymphoma Tea Formula," among others.

FDA charges Surprise store over claims of cancer cure

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Medtronic acquires medical device company for $387 million

There is also consolidation taking place in the medical device side of healthcare as well and part of their technology is still under the clinical trial stage without FDA approval as of yet.  BD 

Medtronic Inc. announced Thursday it’s acquiring Montreal-based CryoCath Technologies Inc. in a deal worth $387 million in U.S. dollars.
The Fridley-based medical device company will pay $8.75 in Canadian dollars (or $8.46 in U.S. dollars, according to yesterday’s closing currency prices) per share in cash for all outstanding CryoCath stock.
In a statement, Medtronic said the offer represents a 97 percent premium over the Sept. 24 closing price of CryoCath common stock, which trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The deal is subject to shareholder approval and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year.

http://www.finance-commerce.com/article.cfm/2008/09/26/Medtronic-makes-387-million-buy-Medical-device-firm-adds-to-its-atrial-fibrillation-arsenal

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Are Cell phones related to Cancer, Cell Phone Execs refused to appear before Congress to discuss

The answer was “it’s best to leave this up to the scientists”, which is probably the correct response as there does not appear to be enough documented information yet.  Do we start a clinical trial on cell phones maybe, there certainly is not a lack of potential candidates here (grin).  I guess if there is not enough information, is there something to discuss?  BD 

Rep. Dennis Kucinich of (D-Ohio), chair of the subcommittee of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which held a hearing Thursday, said that CTIA (The Wireless Association), the industry major trade association in Washington DC, declined his request to testify with scientists and government officials about the status of the scientific research on the topic.

Most studies have found no connection between cancer and cell phone use. The scientific studies pointing to an association between cell phones and brain cancer is controversial and limited. None of the major health organizations -- including the National Cancer Institute nor the American Cancer Society -- think that there is a link. In fact the chief medical director at the American Cancer Society, Otis Brawley, said as recently as this summer that some of the warnings about a link are "scaring people unnecessarily."

ABC News: Remaining Mute, Cell Phone Execs Refuse to Appear Before Congress

Technorati Tags: Cell Phones,Cancer,Congress,Wireless Carriers

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