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Coca Cola, Pepsi, the FDA and new sweeteners…

If this gets approved, I hope the taste will not be gone from the diet drinks if the “natural” sweetener is what the article states.  Certainly don’t want a product that doesn’t taste as good, and I hope this is for a better product and not another economic decision as we have seen so much of lately, even with our chocolate bars we buy containing chocolate products and where oil products have substituted for cocoa butter as it is cheaper.  I guess time will tell when we get our first taste.  BD  

FDA response on stevia sweetner likely next week The FDA could respond as soon as next week to filings for stevia-based sweeteners that Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo hope to use in their drinks, Beverage Digest reported Friday. Beverage Digest, a trade publication, cited unnamed sources in both the sweetener and beverage industries.

Atlanta-based Coca-Cola has been working with Merisant, a food products company, on a sweetener called Truvia. PepsiCo, based in Purchase, N.Y., has been working with Whole Sweetener Co. on PureVia. Truvia and PureVia both use rebaudioside A, a purified form of stevia, and are being pitched as an all-natural, no-calorie sweetener. The companies are waiting to see if the FDA has objections to the sweeteners.

LOCAL BRIEFS | ajc.com

2008 Rankings For America's Best Health Plans Released - Nearly 700 Health Plans Evaluated

Only one listed here in California, Kaiser Permanente under top 5 Medicare plans, and most I noticed were located in the northeast portion of the US. 

In California we are looking at even more healthcare budget cuts and a potential sales tax hike. image

“The proposed health cuts would mean hundreds of thousands of Californians would lose coverage, and millions would lose dental, vision, podiatry, and other vital benefits. There are specific cuts to seniors, immigrants, public hospitals, and other groups. These cuts will also mean California will lose federal matching funds, further harm our already broken health system, and our economy.”

No wonder we didn’t do too well in the analysis in California.   More on the overall rankings can be read here.  BD

U.S. News Media Group and The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) today released the fourth annual edition of America's Best Health Plans on USNews.com. Launched at the start of open-enrollment season, when millions of Americans prepare to select their healthcare coverage, the 2008 Best Health Plans guide provides comprehensive rankings and important consumer information for nearly 700 commercial, Medicare, and Medicaid health plans. The full rankings of America's Best Health Plans are online today at http://www.usnews.com/healthplans, and the top 50 commercial, top 25 Medicare, top 25 Medicaid, and "Honor Roll" health plans will be featured in the November 17-24 issue of U.S. News, available on newsstands on Monday, November 10.

The 2008 America's Best Health Plans rankings are based on more than 100 aspects of prevention, treatment, and consumer experience, such as how quickly members receive needed care or how well a plan controls blood sugar levels in individuals with diabetes. The Best Health Plans guide also identifies 126 plans that chose to report no data.

Top 10 Commercial Plans
1. Harvard Pilgrim Health Care (Maine, Mass.)
2. Tufts Associated Health Maintenance Organization (Mass., N.H., R.I.)
3. Harvard Pilgrim Health Care of New England (N.H.)
4. Grand Valley Health Plan (Mich.)
5. Geisinger Health Plan (Pa.)
6. Health New England (Conn., Mass.)
7. Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield - Connecticut
8. Group Health Cooperative of South Central Wisconsin
9. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts
10. CIGNA HealthCare of New Hampshire
Top 5 Medicare Plans
1. Preferred Care (N.Y.)
2. Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Southern California
3. Geisinger Health Plan (Pa.)
4. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts
5. Security Health Plan of Wisconsin
Top 5 Medicaid Plans
1. Fallon Community Health Plan (Mass.)
2. Neighborhood Health Plan (Mass.)
3. Excellus BlueCross BlueShield (N.Y.)
4. Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island
5. Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Hawaii

2008 Rankings For America's Best Health Plans Released - Nearly 700 Health Plans Evaluated

From Tequila to Diamonds – Perhaps potential use down the road for medical devices

I just thought it was good for relieving stress!  Speaking of stress I had to include the video below as well since we are on the topic.  Seriously though if the new film is in fact razor sharp, there could be some areas with medical devices for use.  BD 

(PhysOrg.com) -- Whoever thought that science was a dry subject might change their mind after learning about a new discovery in which tequila is turned into diamonds. A team of Mexican scientists found that the heated vapor from 80-proof (40% alcohol) tequila blanco, when deposited on a silicon or stainless steel substrate, can form diamond films. The key to the surprising discovery is tequila's ratio of hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon, which lies within the "diamond growth region." The resulting diamond films could have inexpensive commercial applications as electrical insulators, say researchers Javier Morales, Luis Miguel Apátiga, and Víctor Manuel Castaño from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (Morales is also with Nuevo León´s Autonomous University).

The final diamond film was hard and heat-resistant - properties that could make the diamond useful as coatings for cutting tools, high-power semiconductors, radiation detectors and optical-electronic devices, the scientists explained. They plan to begin industrial-scale applications around 2011, and hope to interest a tequila producer in widening its market beyond the traditional beverage.

Scientists Turn Tequila into Diamonds

Speech Recognition as “Cool Technology of the Week”

Good article from Dr. Halamka at Beth Israel Medical Center/Harvard in Boston, talking about the positives and money saved by using speech recognition.  One other item to mention here from my side of the coin, it makes creating blog entries a lot easier too, and yet I use it!  There are more ways to interact with a computer other than just a keyboard.  You can do a search to even find more related speech recognition posts here as well in addition to the titles listed below.  BD 

“Getting data into an electronic health record is hard. Most clinicians do not want to type complex structured notes. We've tried macros and templates, which have helped some. However, dictation is the clear winner among clinicians for entry of free text. The challenges with dictation are turn around time, expense, and lack of structure. BIDMC's solution to this problem as been server-based voice recognition from eScription.

By using server-based voice recognition, we have reduced our transcriptions costs more then 50%, reduced turn around time to less than an hour, and used the technology to increase the structure of our free text notes.”

Life as a Healthcare CIO: Cool Technology of the Week

Related Reading:

Nuance to Buy eScription

Nuance to Acquire eScription...software as a service...

Bringing Providers, Health Care Executives and Administrators into the 21st Century
Nuance RadCube - New Business Intelligence for Radiology Announced..

Clinical trials – More education and better business models needed at the point of care

The general public as a whole are lost when it comes to the complete understanding of how a clinical trial can benefit their potential treatment plans.  There is enough information on the web by all means, but how do you get the information to an individual and explain both the potential benefits and potential downsides as well as potential failure too.  Clinical trial information is best when you have a partnership of both the physician and the patient making a team evaluation, and the availability needs to come at the point of care to initiate pursuing a trial, something that is not currently done very well today. The physician does not have the time with seeing the vast amount of patients to mine and find this information, and the consumer again is perplexed on where to start looking on the web.

From one of my prior posts, here’s a solution in the works that can bring this information to both the point of care and give the patient information and the creation of a formatted letter to request participation in a trial, and again, until we mine and get the information at the point of care, using real time and up to date medical data, it’s going to be a struggle. 

The site is still a bit of work in progress, but investigators, physicians and patients can already look up information at the website below and again with integration at the personal health record level and an EHR, the search time, information, availability can be brought under one roof quickly, after all you still have to find candidates and want the most updated information from the trial side, and from the consumer side, simplicity and having enough data that is user friendly is key.  It’s all about software integration and usability, to flow the necessary mined and educational information to all.  The investigators do not get involved until contacted by a consumer; however they can see a listing of potential candidates by conditions and current medications taken, nameless and anonymous, as to potential candidates, as this leaves the choice totally up to the patient/physician without a consumer being marketed until they have made the decision to pursue.  BD

One potential solution is a Personal Health Records vendor that is working to bridge the gap and get the initial information started, at the point of care.  The software can integrate not only at the PHR level, but can also be included in a EHR to help the physicians with immediate alerts in the chart as to what is available. 

HealthVault Personal Health Records gets a Facelift - Match records and find clinical trials

image This is nice and much simpler and easier to navigate.  I like it, not that the old one was bad by any means, this is just a much easier format to work with.  I have provided some screenshots below.  It is much easier to find the information you want. image 

One in particular I found of interest was the ability to use a service and match your records to a site that can qualify you for clinical trials. This could certainly help cut to the chase if you are interested in participating. 

 

A fascinating gallery of cases illustrates the perils investigators face. Particular emphasis is given to the "clinical trial," the so-called gold standard for medical research. Its seven fatal flaws show succinctly why getting the right research answer is so problematic. In example after example, the author challenges the notion that medical research is too complex for the average citizen to comprehend. Understanding the imperfect world of clinical research allows the reader to step up and begin to ask his or her own questions, to challenge conclusions, to have doubts and not be afraid to raise them. People who care about their health and the health of others should not be innocent bystanders. They have a right, maybe even an obligation, to become involved. After all, it's their health that is at stake.

It's great! Oops, no it isn't

Are Warren and Jimmy Buffett Related?

Well it took some spitting and DNA to give us the answers.  I missed the articles earlier and always somewhat wondered myself, well the mystery is no longer that.  By using the Ancestry Tools at 23AndMe, the word is out, that the 2 are not related, so no complications on being included in the will for Jimmy, but he doesn’t have to worry anyway as he looks pretty happy and content in Margaritaville.  I post quite a bit about pharmacogenomics and this is a bit of a change of pace, same principles, but seeing DNA in action to trace ancestry of both.  I do wonder though, if any aspect of life would have changed for either if they had been related in the DNA results. (grin).  BD

Recently the Buffetts, both customers of 23andMe, turned to DNA to help determine whether they share a common ancestor.

imageimage

It's no surprise that Warren and Jimmy Buffett have been long-time friends and fans of one another. Warren Buffett, chairman  and chief executive of the investment fund Berkshire Hathaway, and Jimmy Buffett, lead singer of the Coral Reefer Band, have a lot in common. As Fortune's 1999 article points out, both men "play stringed instruments, stick to their guns, and are filthy rich."

Well, it turns out that Warren can leave Jimmy out of his will. Though the two Buffetts could still be distant cousins, their Y chromosomes are no more similar to one another than those of any two unrelated men.

23andMe - Variations: Are Warren and Jimmy Buffett Related?

Microsoft looking to China to create new products

The Beijing office was also the birthplace of the Tablet PC, so according to this article they stand to surpass the US areas in the production of software and patents.  The one important statement of this entire post is the last paragraph, which has to do with education and vitality, the area where other countries such as China are gaining, while we are moving at a much slower pace, not everyone, but enough to where the balance is off.image

I am a geek type of a person, but still a human too and this is something I deal with a lot with trying to encourage others to embrace and at least “give it a try” with much of what I do.  The Tablet PC of course is the most misunderstood, but yet useful mobile computer one can have and use.  It is more of  a “do as I do”, rather than “do what I say” attitude I attempt to convey, as the second has no or little credibility if I myself am not a walking example.

I have had high ranking officers of companies, hospitals, etc. give me the strangest and sometimes very disgusting looks and one of my favorite lines which is a bit humorous, but is also pretty real is the fact that I feel I can almost hear the words mumbling beneath their breath when I am working and showing functionality with a Tablet PC, “Here’s Lucifer again with that tablet thing”.  They don’t have to say anything, looks say all, but this relates to the openness or perhaps lack of, to take a chance and perhaps change some paradigms and give something new and efficient a chance instead of hanging on to old and time consuming methodologies.  By embracing some new attitudes and having a willingness to learn, we grow.  I think this is what China has up their sleeves, you think?  

Things are changing at a very rapid pace and education and learning is what will be our saving fate, we have a soon to be president now that uses a Blackberry and has a blog, and embraces technology and higher learning, so the world is rapidly changing around us, and the face and location of “intelligent property” is also set to take on some new looks and locations very quickly as well.  BD

BEIJING – Microsoft Corp. expects its Beijing research center to start producing breakthroughs that could lead to global products in health care and other areas, the software giant's chief research officer said Wednesday as the center marked its 10th anniversary.

Microsoft is part of a wave of companies that are expanding research and development in China to serve its fast-growing market and take advantage of a huge Chinese talent pool of scientists and engineers.

Microsoft says its Beijing center, one of six, already has exceeded expectations, producing 260 innovations that have been added to products sold worldwide. The center is Microsoft's biggest outside the United States, with 350 researchers.

Mundie said the lab is expected to take the lead in developing business-oriented products for developing countries and possibly health care-related software.

Microsoft's Beijing team is best known for its role in developing an electronic tablet that recognizes handwriting. It also has worked on speech recognition and advanced graphics used in video games. The company says its researchers have been awarded 1,000 patents in China and abroad.

From the Microsoft Website: 

“As a company, and as individuals, we value integrity, honesty, openness, personal excellence, constructive self-criticism, continual self-improvement, and mutual respect. We are committed to our customers and partners and have a passion for technology. We take on big challenges, and pride ourselves on seeing them through. We hold ourselves accountable to our customers, shareholders, partners, and employees by honoring our commitments, providing results, and striving for the highest quality.”

China is probably doing a better job than either Europe or the United States in preparing young kids for jobs in engineering and science," Mundie said. "There is more vitality in science, technology, engineering (and) math-type of subject matter in the younger grades than there is in other parts of the world."

Related Reading:

Bringing Providers, Health Care Executives and Administrators into the 21st Century

Microsoft's Mundie gives campuses peek at Tech's future – Tablet PC

Medicine is a Low Tech Business - Clinical Studies still done on paper too!
Microsoft Speech Recognition Presentation - Computer Friends at the Oasis - Newport Beach, CA

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081105/ap_on_bi_ge/as_tec_china_microsoft_1

Spitzer Gets Off the Hook

This is a little off topic, but I couldn’t resist the great picture in view of the story and scandal that evolved.  BD 

The New York Times reports New York governor turned Luv Gov Eliot Spitzer won't be charged for his part in the call girl scandal that ended his political career.

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(Image credit: Barbara Kruger's award-winning cover for New York Magazine.)

Spitzer Won't Be Charged In Call Girl Scandal - Boing Boing

How many Physicians Do we Have In Congress?

Thanks to the Wall Street Journal for putting the numbers together for us.  There are 2 physicians in the Senate and this seems like a very good time to include a video from a post earlier this year with Robert Scoble interviewing Senator Dr. Tom Coburn, who by the way has a few fans if you check out the comments section from my prior post.  Robert does some of the best informal face to face  interviews on the web and we all enjoy reading his comments and updates at FriendFeed and Twitter social networks, where opinions count.  Dr. Coburn once more states the need for new technology and he frequently uses the web and blog sites to communicate with constituents, nice interview.  BD 

“Robert Scoble in his Washington series discussed blogging, Healthcare and how Congress operates, good topics.  The Senator states that Washington is operating out of the 50’s and that the low rankings of late are deserved.”

He also believes just like Congressman Culberson that we need TRANSPARENCY in Congress for the constituents.  His office regularly monitors blogging sites and uses sites as such to get in contact versus running his own blog. He likes bloggers!

Senator Dr. Tom Coburn – Talks about Bloggers, Healthcare and Technology from the US Senate…

Enough with the Democrats and Republicans. How did doctors do in Tuesday’s Congressional elections?

Pretty well: There will be at least 14 MDs in the 111th Congress, a pickup of two seats from the current session, the AMA told us.

Ten of the docs are Republicans and four are Democrats. Don’t hold your breath for them to band together to overcome party differences and lead the nation toward health-care reform.

There are two docs in the Senate: Tom Coburn (R., Okla.) ran for re-election and won; John Barasso (R., Wyo.) wasn’t up for reelection.

http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2008/11/06/how-many-doctors-are-in-the-house/

FDA Seizes Contaminated Heparin from a Cincinnati Manufacturer

It’s back, we are still not rid of the contaminated drug it appears from this FDA press release and the products were from China.

The FDA has also sent notifications out to other countries as well.  Interestingly enough, the company’s website domain name is : image http://www.heparin.com/ 

As part of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's ongoing efforts to ensure that heparin for patients remains safe, the government today seized 11 lots of heparin from Celsus Laboratories Inc. in Cincinnati, Ohio. 

The five lots of Heparin Sodium Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) and six lots of Heparin Lithium were seized at the FDA's request by U.S. Marshals. These products, which were manufactured from material imported from China, had been found by the agency to be contaminated with over-sulfated chondroitin sulfate (OSCS), a substance that mimics heparin's anticoagulant activity.

“This action will help prevent this contaminated heparin from finding its way into the marketplace," said Mike Chappell, acting associate commissioner for regulatory affairs, FDA.

http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2008/NEW01912.html

 

In a related story, why did the FDA wait so long on the recall of syringes? if someone could have received twice the dosage due to mislabeled products, insulin, for diabetics.  BD

“Well, here is my question:  If one's use of the mislabeled ReliOn syringes possibly containing more than two times the intended dose of insulin could l”ad to serious side effects such as hypoglycemia and even death, why was there a four-week delay by the FDA in getting more attention directed to this syringe recall?”

Aetna and Costco create yet another prescription program

One more program to confuse us when needing a prescription, although I’m sure there is money to be saved here, but shoot I like the $4.00image or $10.00 generic prescriptions offered by others, no enrollment and no questions asked, simple.  For the monthly fee, you might need to be a patient with some constant medications being prescribed to get your money’s worth as participating begins at $50.00 a month; however there could be some benefit to savings on some name brand medications. 

So I went to the “Costco Insurance Agency” link, which clearly states I am leaving the Costco website and takes me to a page for Aetna for a little more information.  Now when you arrive on this page, there’s a ton of pdf documents made available for you to read, take a little time as there are many including an introductory letter, a formulary listing, disclosures, exceptions, and so on.  By the time you get through all of this you could be even a little more confused, but there’s a phone number listed if all the information on the web doesn’t make things crystal clear, didn’t do it for me anyway.

 image

Now I put in a commonly used drug, Cipro and went for the generic, and the calculator tells me what it would cost me for the year, but obviously most are not on an antibiotic for an entire year, so perhaps another choice would be better, but I came up with over $5000.00 on the calculator, so perhaps I did something wrong, I told you this process is not simple and easy, me included.

Good luck if you can figure your way through this maze and maybe save some money, it just keeps getting more complicated all the time and again this really make me want to stay with the $4.00 folks.  Actually I stayed on there long enough trying to make sense of it with reading here and the page “timed me out”, so good luck.  image

You can also go right to the Costco site for their normal prescription drug prices which are pretty simple and straight forth and I link to their pharmacy from this site too

On another side of the coin though, you can have all your health insurance information from Aetna now imported to your personal health records with HealthVault from Microsoft.  BD 

image

HARTFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aetna (NYSE:AET) announced today that it has formed a unique alliance with Costco to help consumers access an affordable and comprehensive Medicare prescription drug plan. Medicare beneficiaries now have the ability to purchase the new Aetna Medicare Rx – Costco Plus Plan, which is available in 17 states (Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Utah, Virginia and Washington)

The plan premiums range from $50-$70 a month, depending upon the region. In addition, there is no deductible. Consumers who sign up for this plan and have their prescriptions filled at Costco will also have a maximum co-pay of $5 for generic prescription drugs ($10 if filled at other network pharmacies), and in some cases will have no co-pay for generics.

In addition, Medicare beneficiaries will have multiple options for enrolling in the plans, including the program website or over the phone with Aetna and Costco sales representatives.

http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/081103/20081103006163.html?.v=1

Lilly Hires PGx Consultancy Cabernet to Help Guide Drug Development

New abbreviation here to become acquainted with (PGx) which is pharmacogenics, and one more move in the direction of personalized medicine by big Pharma as the marketing of blockbuster drugs slowly evolves to a new business model with genomic data input becoming a part of the process to bring new drugs to market.  Clinical trials are now also more frequently relying on genomic data to help increase the speed and accuracy of data produced as well.  BD 

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) - Eli Lilly has hired the pharmacogenetic consultancy firm Cabernet Pharmaceuticals to help it make PGx-guided drug development decisions.

“Under the agreement, Cabernet consultants will join clinical development teams at Lilly to assist in applying pharmacogenetics to selected development projects,” Cabernet and Lilly said in a statement.

However, both Cabernet and Lilly are keeping a tight lid on which specific drug programs they are applying PGx strategies.

“Cabernet provides highly trained individuals that complement our existing work force,” Stephen Eck, Lilly’s VP of translational medicine and pharmacogenomics, told Pharmacogenomics Reporter this week. “The current arrangement allows us to rapidly expand our capability and capacity while creating a more flexible cost base.”

While PGx has often been shunned by Pharma for being the poison pill to its blockbuster strategy, industry observers have long held that drug companies will eventually warm to pharmacogenetics strategies in order to reduce attrition rates and run more cost-effective clinical trials. Several pharmas, like Pfizer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Novartis, and even Lilly, have tepidly acknowledged that they are experimenting with PGx internally, while still keeping an eye on the blockbuster homerun.

http://www.genomeweb.com/issues/news/150539-1.html

Medical Quack around the Web this week – November 2008

Here are a few additional posts that have been posted by Fox and Reuters this week.  There are several more published over the last few weeks, but here’s a few of the highlights for this week. 

The AARP story was the same post as featured on the Wall Street Journal. 

Senator opens investigation into AARP insurance

image

DNA 'Tweezers' - Breakthrough technology

image

And one post that I was very happy that Reuters posted as it has to to with Personal Health Records and the relationship it plays with ePrescribing.  This post speaks about the free ePrescribing program available to any physician who is perhaps not set up with electronic records, but yet want to be on 2% Medicare bonus list for payments starting in 2009. 

It also shows how the patient, once a physician is enrolled in ePrescribing through the NEPSI program, can have all their prescription data imported in to their Google Health Personal Health Record, so what physician would not like to see a history of medications on a new or existing patient before recommending treatment!  ePrescribing and Personal Health Records unite and work together.  Several links to related reading on prior posts relative to ePrescribing and Personal Health Records, and links are always available on the blog for both NEPSI free ePrescribing and Microsoft HealthVault and Google Health to get started. 

Google Health Vendors you can connect with and import records – Personal Health Records

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MSD Pharma (Merck subsidiary) to hire 1,500 people in India

MSD has two vaccines and has research in other areas.  Vaccines for hepatitis-A, Chickenpox and rotavirus are on the agenda to be released soon.  BD 

Even as global financial slowdown is forcing companies to retrench jobs, MSD Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of US-based Merck & Co, today said it will employ 1,500 people in the next two years to strengthen its sales and marketing network and become a leading company by 2015.

"We will be doubling our staff strength in India in next two years as part of our plans to consolidate our marketing network in the country, which will further help us achieve our aim of listing among first five pharma companies by 2015," MSD Pharmaceuticals Managing Director Naveen A Rao said.

MSD Pharma to hire 1,500 people in India

New technology – Whiteboard communications in Classrooms

These are some lucky students, and this could work very well in any classroom, medical schools, universities too. It sure looks and reacts so much better than the old proverbial blackboard.  image

One interesting comment here was the fact that teachers are offered training on the board every week; however, students required little or no training and adapted quickly. Also, no chalk on your hands!  The technology uses very similar touch screen and pen attributes found on Tablet PCs.  BD

An estimated 65 percent of middle- and high-school classrooms and 24 elementary schools in Montgomery County, Md., will be  fitted with computer-activated touch screen whiteboards, projectors, student response indicators, speakers and computer software by December. All of the technology was purchased from Promethean, a learning technology company started in the United Kingdom. The county received $3.3 million for the upgrades from the Federal eRate program, a Federal Communications Commission initiative to ensure schools and libraries have the latest technology.

For example, the board has a tickertape feature which allows a message like 'homework due tomorrow' to scroll along the imagebottom of the screen while a lesson is in progress. 
"It's like subliminal messaging while you're teaching," Raman said.

For Palmiere's seventh-grade son, who she says is normally apprehensive about asking questions in class, Activotes gives him an anonymous way to show the teacher he may be having trouble understanding.
"To him, it's more interesting because they are involved in the teaching process," Palmiere said. "He says it's not as boring because he can see it up on the screen and can use the clicker to answer questions."

New technology revs up classrooms

Medical Quack on the Wall Street Journal – November 2008

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Two featured posts this week. 

Court Blocks White House Push on Medicare Expenses

image 

This particular statement really bothers me, is CMS now going to take on the role of “doctor here?  “The Bush administration argued that Medicare officials had the right to decide whether the expense incurred for a given item, not just the item itself, was “reasonable and necessary.”

Senator opens investigation into AARP insurance

image

Senator Grassley is now looking at AARP and their practices on marketing and selling health insurance.  It’s not a pleasant job by any means today trying to sell what everyone hates, health insurance.

Microsoft is lead developer on military Personal Health Records project

If you have been reading this blog of late, there have been many posts about personal health records, and now it seems those 2 companies that everyone seems to worry about related to security with PHRs, Microsoft and Google, are now working on a project with the military to create a personal health records program. You can almost bet there will be integration too between the HealthVault and Google Health, so hopefully the CCHIT will be able to certify their existence, after all if they can create software for the military that earns both of them one big score of brownie points, and both companies offer software and much of it for free that is secure to the enterprise and both free products have much more to offer than many of those I have seen on the web that cost money.

If you have not set up a PHR and are a physician and want to know what all this is about and how powerful and accessible it can be to get the patient records you need, bone up and set up an account and find out. It’s like trying to tell someone about how a chocolate bar tastes, you can’t really do that until you experience it yourself.

In a related story today, Bill Gates is also urging countries not to cut funds on healthcare.

I wonder if our leaders here are listing at the CMS and other government offices after reading this link below. BD

Court Blocks White House Push on Medicare Expenses

At this point, nether MHS nor Microsoft were willing to reveal what features would be included in the DOD PHR .But Jones wrote, “We are very excited about the potential of this new technology.” An initial version of the system is scheduled to be unveiled in Dec. 2008, according to an MHS blog posting last month by Stephen Jones, principal deputy assistant secretary of Defense for health affairs.

Microsoft Corp. is the lead developer in a partnership with the Military Health System and Google Inc. to develop a personal health record system for military health care beneficiaries, an MHS spokesman said.

The prototype personal health record will be “available to, and entirely controlled by, the patient, and at no additional cost to the beneficiary,” according to the Jones blog post. PHRs may include a number of different capabilities all or some of which may be included in any given system.

The Veterans Affairs Department unveiled a PHR called MyHealtheVet in 2003. MyHealtheVet is used primarily to provide health information to users and to refill drug prescriptions.

http://www.govhealthit.com/online/news/350653-1.html

Related Reading:

The Health Cloud – Personal Health Records

HealthVault Personal Health Records gets a Facelift - Match records and find clinical trials
HealthVault Has New Features Including Fax Services for $9.00 a year – Fax to the Vault!
AT&T, Covisint, Microsoft HealthVault Create Health Information Exchange
Microsoft HealthVault and RelayHealth (McKesson) to Connect Doctors and Patients
Approval For Wireless Transmitter That Monitors Implanted Cardiac Devices
American Heart Association and Microsoft HealthVault Unite
Getting Organized With Online Medical Records – Personal Health Records
Patients can order up their own lab tests on line with MyMedLab.com with a referring physician and you get a free PHR to boot
Aetna and Microsoft join forces – Members will now be able to transfer health records to Microsoft Health Vault
Healthline – Interview with the CEO – Health 2.0
Healthcare leaders favor personal networks (Personal Health Records) to RHIOs for data exchange
Google Health Online Services – Connections Beyond Medications – Personal Health Records

New Program To Help Physicians Understand Role Of DNA-Based Preventive Medicine

I have posted a couple resources here too from past articles, Navigenics has from the beginning focused their DNA and genomic sequencing in the area of physicians versus consumer retail selling methods.  This is an important area as some knowledge is certainly better than none and integrating the clinical and scientific areas will be a challenge, but at least an awareness of what DNA sequencing can provide is one big step forward.  BD 

American College of Preventive Medicine (ACPM) and Navigenics, Inc. today announced a medical education program designed to improve physicians' understanding of genetic risk factors for disease, the current evidence about the use of genomic tools and technologies to determine risk, and promising practices for utilizing those tools to aid in disease prevention.

Through an unrestricted educational grant from Navigenics, ACPM is independently developing this continuing medical education (CME) course, titled Genetic Risk, Screening and Intervention, to address the growing use of genetic testing services and to imageexamine their evidence-based impact on the practice of medicine.

From a prior post:  Other resources

imageThe Genetic Counseling Foundation has been established that could offer both physicians and patients a bit more background and how the process is progressing and where genetic testing could be applicable as well and help with some of the confusion here.  In the family practice office, there is not a lot of time for research and study with the heavy flow patients a normal physicians sees in a day

New Program To Help Physicians Understand Role Of DNA-Based Preventive Medicine

Related Reading:

The Future of Personal Genomics

Scripps, Navigenics, Affymetrix and Microsoft team on groundbreaking health study – Personalized Medicine
Complete Genomic Sequence $5000 Next Year – Wholesale
On the Retail Frontier - DNA - for the Person Who Has Everything
Navigenics Proposes Standards for Personal Genomics Services, Coupled With Prospective Outcomes Studies, to Safeguard Consumers

Physicians often caught between what patients want and what science offers

Navigenics to add gene sequencing to its personal genomic services

Microsoft BizSpark – Free help, Software, Venture Capitalists and Angel Connections

The program is designated for start up companies, and we have plenty of those in healthcare.   imageYou do need to qualify, but the website is pretty complete with instructions, information etc.  You need to be in business for 3 years or less and have revenues of under a million, so that leaves open a pretty broad spectrum of potential candidates.  If you were to pay for the software, depending on what your needs would be, the charges would start ringing up in in hurry.  The FAQ page is located here. 

If you are new to seeking venture capital funding, there is an entire page with advice, hints, and instructions on how to begin the process.

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“Raising money from venture capitalists is the traditional way to fund startups, especially those that require substantial investment before selling a product. Companies with low startup costs, such as services delivered through the Web, may be self-funded or debt-financed, but VC funding is still the "classic" way to pay for a startup. These articles describe the dos and don’ts for working with VCs.”

“Angel investors are, broadly defined, high net-worth individuals who invest in entrepreneurial companies, usually at an early stage. They're similar to VCs in that they provide cash to young companies in return for equity, but typically invest in smaller amounts ($25K to $250K instead of $1M to $10M). These articles outline where to find angels, how to prepare for meeting with them, and what they’re looking for in companies.”

“Many countries have a range of government services available to help entrepreneurs start businesses, including loan programs and outright grants of money. Often, government funds will have so few strings attached that anyone eligible should seize them whenever possible. These articles point to government resources in the US and around the globe.

Business models are an essential planning tool for any startup, but veteran entrepreneurs know that cash is always king. The financial model shows investors how the company will manage its cash flow and when future cash infusions may be needed. These articles offer great advice for how to plan a financial strategy, what an effective financial model should cover, and how that model fits into the fundraising process.”

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What is also interesting is the partner page where they have compiled a listing of venture capitalists and angel contributors to help get funding and financing for new ventures. 

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Included is the new web based “cloud” development platform Azure announced at the developer’s conference. 

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Microsoft® BizSpark™ is a global program designed to help accelerate the success of early stage startups by providing key resources when they need it the most:

  • Software. Receive fast and easy access to current full-featured Microsoft development tools, platform technologies, and production licenses of server products for immediate use in developing and bringing to market innovative and interoperable solutions. There is no upfront cost to enroll.
  • Support. Get connected to Network Partners around the world — incubators, investors, advisors, government agencies and hosters — that are equally involved and vested in software-fueled innovation and entrepreneurship who will provide a wide range of support resources.
  • Visibility. Achieve global visibility to an audience of potential investors, clients and partners
    As a Microsoft BizSpark member, you’ll be tapping into a rich, vibrant ecosystem of peers, partners and support resources around the globe, helping you grow and succeed. Microsoft BizSpark is the quickest way to get your Startup fired up.
    • Check to see if you qualify – most privately held software development startups in business for less than 3 years that are generating annual revenue under USD $1 million can join.
    • Connect with a BizSpark Network Partner or a Microsoft BizSpark Champ to get your BizSpark enrollment code.
    • Enrollment is free, just pay a USD $100  program offering fee at program exit.

Here’s what you get:

As a Microsoft® BizSpark™ member, you get access to software, support and a rich, vibrant ecosystem of peers, partners and support resources around the globe. Microsoft BizSpark is the quickest way to get your startup fired up.

Software

Development Tools, Platform Technologies and Production Licenses

  • All the software included in the Microsoft® Visual Studio® Team System Team Suite (VSTS) with MSDN® Premium subscription
  • Expression® Studio Version 2
  • VSTS Team Foundation Server (standard edition)
  • Production use rights to host a “software as a service” solution (developed during participation in the BizSpark Program, on any platform) over the Internet, with regard to products including:
    • Microsoft Windows Server® (all versions up to and including Enterprise)
    • Microsoft SQL Server® (all versions)
    • Microsoft Office SharePoint® Portal Server
    • Microsoft System Center
    • Microsoft BizTalk® Server
    • Microsoft Dynamics® CRM (coming soon)
  • In addition to the core program offering, BizSpark startups will be eligible for other Microsoft offerings, such as:

Also included is a blog listing to communicate and collaborate with Microsoft individuals.  I tried to include the basics on this post, but if you are interested, visit the site.  There are other resources available from Microsoft as well, such as their Tech Centers for larger software application development projects as well, listed under the Related Reading Section here.  BD  

http://microsoftstartupzone.com/pages/home.aspx

Related Reading:

Microsoft Technology Centers – Software Solutions with Assistance and Guidance

Microsoft's Mundie gives campuses peek at Tech's future – Tablet PC

EHR Adoption Remains Off in the Distance – Getting way to complicated

Business Intelligence for the FDA on the way

The FDA continues to beef up their business intelligence with a new connection to be on top of safety concerns and be ahead of the game in having real time information to help in the warning and decision making processes.  BD 

Bridgewater, NJ (November 3, 2008) – Wolters Kluwer Health, a leading provider of information and business intelligence for students, professionals and institutions in medicine, nursing, allied health, pharmacy and the pharmaceutical industry, today was awarded a multi-year contract to provide both prescription and patient-level data to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to provide the Agency with insight into the prevalence of prescription drug utilization within the U.S. population. This is the first time Wolters Kluwer Health has been selected as a primary source for this prestigious contract.  image

"The FDA is always looking for ways to employ newer and better technology to support research toward a safer environment for patients and their decision to utilize our unique, longitudinal drug data fits right into this progression," said Mark Spiers, President and CEO of Wolters Kluwer Health's Healthcare Analytics business. "We were able to deliver the right balance of power and speed, that is, ongoing access to national drug utilization patterns with a turnaround that allows the FDA to act in the event of a public health concern.

http://www.wkhealth.com/pt/re/wkhealth/11032008.htm;jsessionid=JSKGP27yFgr56DTctC0bPLRlz85wC81rgXGfnCTs4TTpvnnpQwQL!-749683226!181195629!8091!-1!1225919076662

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New Potential Drug in the works to fight obesity

This is the news I think everyone would welcome, but thus far it works with mice, but then again the breakthrough is fairly new and of course it would have to be evaluated for potential side effects as well before it ever comes to market.  So far it is keeping mice from getting fat.  BD 

A European and American study on a new synthetic drug found that it protected laboratory mice from diet-induced obesity and its potential consequences like glucose intolerance and insensitivity to insulin by activating an enzyme that promoted fat consumption and exercise endurance, leading to suggestions that it could be an important new weapon in the fight against obesity and diabetes.

The study was led by professor Johan Auwerx of the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland and the experimental new drug, SRT1720, is made by Sirtris, a company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts that was acquired by GlaxoSmithKline earlier this year. The findings are published in the 5 November issue of Cell Metabolism.

The interest in SIRT1 as a target for drug development has been increasing in line with the view that diet and exercise is often not enough to reduce obesity and related metabolic disorders like diabetes.

New Drug Stopped Mice Putting On Weight

Lakeland Regional Health System Integrating to Connect Hospital Systems to EMRs of 70 Affiliated Physicians

Physician practices challenged the organization to electronically deliver clinical results directly into its soon-to-be-installed EMR system.  This move was actually challenged and brought about by the physicians who were already using electronic records.

The system is not totally complete, but plans are to expand the process to allow practices to place lab orders and schedule procedures with LRHS.  BD 

ALPHARETTA, Ga., Nov 04, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Novo Innovations, the leader in software-agent technologies to improve health information exchange, today announced a multi-year contract with Lakeland Regional Health System (LRHS) of St. Joseph, Mich. LRHS has deployed Novo's agent-based healthcare exchange platform to approximately 70 affiliated physicians representing 12 practices over the last two years. Under the agreement, LRHS can now deploy Novo's solution to all remaining affiliated practices.

The Novo Grid allows LRHS to deliver patient data electronically to the affiliated practices' ambulatory electronic medical record (EMR) systems, increasing the speed in which the information is processed. Discrete lab results, EKG text results, radiology reports, transcriptions, admission and discharge summaries, and surgical notes are now transmitted from the LRHS hospital systems directly into practice EMRs in a matter of minutes. With the Novo system filtering and deduplicating the data, the physician practices receive only the patient information that pertains to them. LRHS plans to expand its use of the Novo platform to accommodate the two-way exchange of data, which will enable practices to place lab orders and schedule procedures with LRHS, among other services.

"Practices with EMRs are demanding electronic interfaces that transmit records directly into their systems, where the data will be immediately available to physicians. The Novo platform deploys quickly, is highly cost-efficient and interfaces our patient record systems with a wide range of ambulatory EMRs in use in our community, including systems by GE, Greenway, eMDs, GEMMS, Altos Solutions and all three Allscripts products."

Lakeland Regional Health System Deploys Novo Innovations Exchange Platform to Connect Hospital Systems to EMRs of 70 Affiliated Physicians – MarketWatch

Related Reading:

Exempla Healthcare Hospitals to interface with the Kaiser ambulatory EMR - Colorado

Samsung T*Omnia due in US by end of November?

This is the one phone Windows Mobile users have been waiting for and will probably give the iPhone some substantial competition.  I have seen and handled the phone and it is nice.  The camera for one is 5 megapixels and better than my old digital camera! 

This will also make running medical programs like Epocrates a lot nicer with the large screen, so hopefully the unit will be available by the end of the month.  This is a great phone, not to mention the storage capabilities as well, 4GB or 16GB.  BD 

Samsung has only just introduced the T*Omnia in its home country but may already be enroute to the US within a matter of weeks, a claim from BusinessWeek. The company is reportedly in talks to bring the Windows Mobile touchscreen phone with an unspecified US carrier by the end of November, though whether it represents the fully-upgraded T*Omnia or its lower-resolution, lower-capacity ancestor is unknown.

From a prior post:

If you like the iPhone, there’s a new Windows Mobile phone, rumored to be coming out from AT&T around September or so. It will have the nice increased real estate for the imagescreen, what we all want and like.  In addition, the camera on the unit is  5 megapixels and that’s better than my regular digital camera!   8 GB storage and of course room for more with an expansion SD card.  It is out in Europe this month, so exactly when it hits the states is still really not known for sure.  

Some other nice features are GPS, FM radio, TV-out and there will be no keyboard, all onscreen with a 3.5  inch imagetouch screen.  These are the specs right now for the international market and it will be unlocked. 

2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Network HSDPA 850 / 1900 / 2100

It will also have a “Mouse”.  I can see this being a real potential tool for healthcare with the larger screen and basically it is designed for conferencing with the camera.  A bigger screen for using Outlook is wonderful.  To view images and health records on a larger screen is huge.  Sure there are times when you want a larger unit when in the office by using a Tablet PC, but for being on the go, this sure looks to have all the elements set.  HTC is also due to have a phone out soon to compete. 

Electronista | Samsung T*Omnia due in US by end of November?

Related Reading:

SAMSUNG DEBUTS OMNIA i900 Cell Phone…Windows Mobile Tool for Healthcare…coming soon..

Senator opens investigation into AARP insurance

Senator Grassley is now looking at AARP and their practices on marketing and selling health insurance.  It’s not a pleasant job by any means today trying to sell what everyone hates, health insurance.  Sure the websites all list what is covered, charges, etc. but today with any carrier you just never know how they will perform until you need it, the black hole of the health insurance business, you just never know what you will get relative to claim payments these days as the process has become so very complicated with so many loopholes and provisions, and as posted recently one carrier is now creating a venture capital fund, so who knows where that will lead and if others are going to follow in the same footsteps.  BD 

A prominent member of the Senate Finance Committee is looking into some niche health insurance plans offered to AARP members to see if they mislead purchasers into thinking the coverage is greater than it actually is. The inquiry by U.S. Sen Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, part of a wider investigation into health costs and coverage, centers on so-called limited-benefit plans, including some policies offered by Minnetonka-based UnitedHealth Group.

"We're treating the questions raised by Sen. Grassley very seriously," said Adam Sohn, an AARP spokesman. "The indemnity plans are not designed to be comprehensive insurance, nor should they be communicated in this manner."

UnitedHealth spokeswoman Martha Jones said, "We do not market this as major medical catastrophic insurance, or as an alternative to major medical. All advertising materials note the plan offers limited benefits.''

Senator opens investigation into AARP insurance