Hospital Gowns Go Hi-Tech To Keep Patient Warm in the OR – Medicare Reporting Begins Friday on P4P

I wish these were around years ago when I had all my surgeries, as yes I remember the cold surgery rooms pretty well.  There are several videos here to view. 

From the website:

“The Bair Paws system is revolutionizing forced-air warming by providing clinicians access to comfort and clinical warming throughout the perioperative process.

With a single gown, patients may be clinically prewarmed before surgery or receive comfort warming as they await a procedure. Once in the OR, the same gown offers clinical warming for select surgical procedures when connected to a Bair Hugger^® warming unit. The gown continues to warm in PACU, with both comfort and clinical capabilities.

Plus, only the Bair Paws system offers patient-adjustable warming, allowing patients to adjust the temperature of the air flowing through the gown to a level that’s right for them.”

One item too is that it cuts down on laundry and the need for blankets after surgery.  As the article mentions there’s money involved too for hospitals with pay for performance with reporting beginning on Friday about maintaining normal body temperature for patients.  Keeping body temperature from falling helps with additional heart risk and infection control with wounds and can help reduce the time needed in recovery.  BD 

As she waited for back surgery at Cooper University Hospital last week, Betty Lindley got a nice surprise.

Instead of the flimsy gown patients have groused about for years, she was given a new type of gown Cooper has been using for the last six months. A machine blows warm air between layers of paper - actually a DuPont fabric made of wood fibers, polypropylene, and polyester - in the gown to keep patients toasty before, during, and after surgery. The look isn't slimming, but Lindley didn't mind. As anyone who has ever visited an operating room knows, surgeons like it a lot colder than their half-dressed patients.

Lindley, who has had surgery before, liked how she felt under the puffy, purple gown. "I've been freezing cold before," she said. "I am warm, and I love it."

 

The new gowns, which are made by Minnesota-based Arizant Inc. and cost about $15 each, not only make patients feel better - doctors say they also help them heal better.

Plus, there is money at stake. As Medicare expands efforts to tie medical pay to performance, the government is requiring hospitals to report on their efforts to maintain normal body temperatures during surgery, starting Friday. Two percent of pay is connected to reporting on this and other measures known to improve patient results.

Sessler began studying the effect of lowered body temperature in the mid '90s. Allowing a patient's temperature to fall by just two degrees - this can happen easily during surgery - triples the risk of heart problems and wound infections, increases blood loss, and prolongs time in the recovery room 40 percent and in the hospital 20 percent, Sessler said. He has done research on patient warming with and without financial support from Arizant

High-tech hospital gowns are hot | Philadelphia Inquirer | 12/30/2009

Technorati Tags: Hospital, gowns, healthcare, patient monitoring, Bair Paws, OR, surgery, patient, warm, reports, pay for performance

Business Card Reader Available for BlackBerry and iPhones

If you don’t want to manually type in all those contacts, here’s the answer and you will have to check for accuracy but correcting a few items certainly is better than inputting all the information.  I don’t see anything yet for Windows Mobile but will keep looking.  The price of $5.99 is reasonable too.  BD 

The Business Card Reader app for iPhone that uses optical character recognition to change physical cards to electronic contact entries has made its way to BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM). As you can see from this demo video, all you have to do is take a picture of a business card with your phone, let the app scan it, and it will do its darnedest to put all of the relevant information into appropriate fields on a new contact. If you want to just update an existing contact, it can merge the new info with the old, too. It’s a neat idea, for sure, but camera quality is a big bottleneck. Only the latest BlackBerrys have 3.2 megapixel cameras, and considering how much trouble the 3GS was having even at that level, 2 megapixel cameras will probably be unusable with the Business Card Reader.

SHAPE’s Business Card Reader Available for BlackBerry

Technorati Tags: Blackberry, iPhone, business card reader, mobility, cell phones, Outlook, camera

TSA Eyes Full-Body Scanners – Could It Evolve To Include Looking for “Unhealthy Travelers” Too?

Right now of course the focus is on security but we have also had people arrested and tracked down who were deemed “not healthy” and scares related to healthcare with other passengers potentially being exposed to viruses that could be carried by individuals.

You can watch the videos where the reporters go into detail on the two types of scanners being used and see that some produce the equivalent of an x-ray, perhaps similar to what we have in a medical setting.  Right now the images, according to the articles posted on the web, dispose of the images once they have been viewed.

As we have watched electronic monitoring devices evolve and our reliance upon them in healthcare, I somewhat ask this question about how the imaging could evolve.  Traveling could become very interesting in the future and not too long ago I did a somewhat humorous post, carried on LiveStrong about taking your TSA scan to the doctor with you.  The post was about the visit to the doctor in the future and used technology that is here today in ways we may not have thought of yet.  At some point in time cost and re-use could potentially stand to enter the picture here as we hear this consistently in healthcare cost items today.   If someone gets through that should not be allowed to fly, where are the audit trails to go back and find out if it was a human error that missed something?   Being we are the curious community with a craving desire for transparency and getting to the bottom of what created or caused certain situations, I can’t help but think we could see some further evolution here, but then again what I do I know (grin).  When I write about blue tooth inhalers that are capable of electronically monitoring compliance with taking medications that people still think are Sci-Fi, nothing surprises me anymore. 

 

Granted, those with implants made of metal can have an easier task of getting through security as metal scanning sends off alerts when detected.  Anyway, just some pondering thoughts here on some questions with spending the money on the machines, and someone along the line determining there is another potential use to “save money” somewhere down the line for re-use of the images.  Technology works this way with sharing and keeping cost down in many areas and is phased into operation in stages, so perhaps once body scanners are in full swing, there could be some changes on the imaging side of things, but again, privacy needs to be kept upfront and not forgotten.  BD 

Technology as I always say is throwing everybody a new left curve every day and we are seeing things today that 5 years ago were not possible or even thought of, so again it will be interesting to watch and see how technology crosses paths from one area of security to potentially offering information/data in healthcare possibly.  BD

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Christmas Day attack on a jetliner over Detroit, combined with technological improvements to protect people's sense of modesty, could lead to dramatically wider use of full-body scanners that can see through travelers' clothing.
Dutch officials said Wednesday they will immediately begin using the machines at Amsterdam's airport, where the Nigerian accused of trying to blow up the Northwest Airlines plane began his flight.
And a key European lawmaker also called for greater use of the scanners, which are designed to spot explosives and other non-metallic objects that a metal detector would miss.

TSA Eyes Full-Body Scanners in Airports

Technorati Tags: Security, TSA, airports, healthcare, future, technololgy, monitoring devices, x-ray, body scanning, software, imaging

Suggested New Year’s Resolutions for the Pharma Business - Humor

This was just too good to pass up here.  The writer, Martha Rosenberg did a great job with a touch of humor, and I think said some things that could probably be on the back our minds as well.  Don’t sell those pens on eBay. 

Now the question is, will they take and follow these resolutions (grin).  BD 

1. Our reps will wait their turn in medical offices and refrain from waltzing in front of ailing patients because they think their time is more valuable. They will NOT get their own room in medical offices with laptop stations, ice water, and swivel chairs or chatter about the stress of sales quotas on their cells in the waiting room. Female reps will not "sell" with cleavage and spike heels. Male reps will not high five each other or call the doctor "dude." Reps who sold drugs that were later withdrawn will be banished. 

2. In addition to admitting to the Justice Department that we mismarketed Seroquel, Zyprexa, Risperdal, and Geodon and looted Medicaid budgets, we will cease selling the actual drugs. We admit that even though forgiveness is cheaper than permission for us, it isn't for the millions of children, poor and institutionalized people who develop lifelong diabetes and metabolic disorders from the drugs.

3. We will stop upgrading anxiety to depression, depression to bipolar disorder and bipolar disorder to "treatment resistant depression" to sell drugs. We will admit that studies are beginning to show that the reason depression is sometimes treatment resistant is because it wasn't depression to begin with but consumer advertising. We will admit our cocktails of depression/bipolar/mood brightener/mood stabilizer drugs occlude the fact that none work individually, raise insurance rates, and create withdrawal symptoms in patients who might have been fine before.

4. We will admit hormone therapy increases the risk of breast cancer by 26 percent, heart attacks by 29 percent, stroke by 41 percent and doubles the risk of blood clots and dementia. We will further admit hormone therapy is associated with lung, ovarian, endometrial and gall bladder cancer, malignant melanoma, asthma, lupus, scleroderma, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, urinary incontinence, and hearing loss -- and the only researchers promoting it are making money off it.

5. We will stop trying to replace the hormone market with a thinning bones market through an osteoporosis scare campaign and admit that we made up the term "osteopenia" at the same time we planted bone density measuring machines in medical offices. Nor will we keep recommending seizure drugs for fibromyalgia pain women don't know they have yet to make up for shrinking hormone and antidepressant markets.

6. We will stop replacing $600 a month blockbuster drugs insurers no longer wave through with vaccines and biologics no one wants or needs. We will give up the attempt to vaccinate boys with Gardasil when it didn't even work with girls or ship it to poor countries plagued with HIV, malaria, or dengue fever. We will stop selling biologics such as Humira that cause cancer and infections such as TB to perfectly healthy college kids with Crohn's disease scare campaigns.

7. We will buy every child under 12 in America a bicycle or skateboard as reparations for our reign of terror treating them for depression, bipolar disorder, ADD, ADHD, mixed manias, oppositional and conduct disorders, sleep and mood disorders, schizophrenia, agitation, anxiety and other "psychopathologies" they may not have even had.

8. Instead of storming Capitol Hill when the government threatens to cut off our livestock antibiotics gravy train, we promise to develop safe antibiotics for people. And speaking of safe, we will renounce the hormones, growth enhancers and pesticides we dump on factory farms that sicken the animals, environment, farm workers, and food consumers.

9. We will stop insulting the public's intelligence by claiming that everyone including people without high cholesterol should take Crestor because we want to sell statins. We will stop implying Vytorin works just because some have forgotten we sat on studies that show it doesn't work in a multi-year con.

10. We will stop rolling out celebrities such as Sally Field and Brooke Shields to hawk drugs and acknowledge the celebrity drug spokesmen the public remember most are Michael Jackson and Anna Nicole Smith.

BUZZFLASH GUEST COMMENTARY

Martha Rosenberg is a Chicago-based cartoonist and freelance writer.

Martha Rosenberg: New Year's Resolutions for the Drug Industry for 2010 | BuzzFlash.org

Hat Tip:  Pharmagossip

Technorati Tags: Pharma, medical humor, new years resolutions, drugs, healthcare, hormones, pills, marketing, drug companies

Arizona Man Travels to New Zealand for Shoulder Surgery – Cost was 1/6 of US Customary Charges

The price for his procedure included surgery, doctors' fees, hospital fees, airfare, local transportation and local accommodations. He did have to take some time to prepare and have testing done here in the US before making his trip.  He states he had been on pain medication for over 6 years for the shoulder pain and it was time to have the surgery done.   Back in July of 2008 I wrote about New Zealand seeking out medical tourists.  His procedure was performed at Ascot Hospital in Auckland.

New Zealand seeks 'medical tourists'

Occasionally I correspond with a physician/developer in New Zealand and we talked about the tourism movement about a year ago and at the time he was not really aware of what was being done from that end.  It was funny as I asked about the hospital advertised in the information I had, and he said he was born at that particular hospital, but added that one thing that US citizens would have to adjust to is the fact that there is no legal system like we have here, in other words if errors are made they are corrected, but court cases as we have here are pretty much non existent in their country.  I found out quite a bit about medical tourism at the World wide conference held earlier this year in Los Angeles and you can read here about what I published on the blog.  

The man who had the surgery spent 3 weeks in New Zealand and had a tour to boot.  He stated he felt ok with New Zealand as it is an English speaking country and that had a big influence on his choice.  In the article he states that he found out he was too young to qualify for Medicare of course and thought this had something to do with the surgeons here telling him he was too young for the surgery.  The article says the cost here would be between $80-130k and his cost as mentioned in the title was 1/6, which included not only the surgery but all the other travel related fees.  The cost to him was important as he is self insured as the owner of a local business in Arizona and he had been told that due to 2 past surgeries the insurance company would cover nothing more on his shoulder and he wanted to get off the pain medication.  His first surgery was not done correctly and a bone chip had been left, thus a second to remove and correct and he still had problems.  BD     

COTTONWOOD - Ben Wordinger of Cottonwood recently traveled to New Zealand for a shoulder replacement. While  he and his wife, Susanne, were there, they combined some sightseeing with Ben's recovery.
Ben had been suffering with serious shoulder pain for years. Now 51, Ben's shoulder problems started when he was 14 and active in gymnastics. He said that injury had healed, and he played sports all through high school and college.
As an athlete, and with Ben's career as an engineer in the military side of the aero-space industry, he had physical examinations throughout much of his life.

But he had been on strong pain medication for six years. "I needed to be able to function without pain," he said. Ben owns Adobe Refrigeration in Cottonwood, and he needed full use of his shoulder and arm, and he needed to be off the strong medication.

http://verdenews.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=34249

Technorati Tags: Medical Tourism, shoulder, New Zealand, healthcare, health insurance, Cottonwood, Arizona, orthopedic surgery, medical records

Defibrillators Found For Sale at Second Hand Store – Stolen from Hospitals

As the economy gets tougher to deal with it appears even defibrillators are open game for resale.  In this case a man who needed money apparently stole them and pawned them at a second hand store.  The value of each was around 10-15k.  There were a few other medical devices found as well.

This certainly makes a case for some RFID tags to be put in place so expensive life saving items as such don’t find themselves walking out the doors of hospitals.  BD

Five defibrillators stolen from Columbus hospitals since November were recovered yesterday, and police expect to find other missing medical devices in the next several days.

The five stolen defibrillators were on sale at reTagit, a Grandview Heights secondhand store on Goodale Boulevard, said detective Brian Lacy of the Columbus police burglary squad. Someone who had seen them for sale and learned of the thefts called police yesterday morning.

The store owner did not know the items were stolen and has been cooperating in the investigation, Lacy said. The owner did not reply to a request for comment on this story.

Ohio Health, the parent company of Riverside and Grant, put the total value of its stolen items at around $200,000. OSU Medical Center valued its five stolen defibrillators at $10,000 to $15,000 each.

Defibrillators stolen from hospitals found at secondhand store | The Columbus Dispatch

Technorati Tags: defibrillator, stolen medical devices, medical devices, RFID, second hand store, theft, security, technology

Meaningful Use 556 Page Proposed Rule is Out – Thanks WSJ for the Shortcut to the Meat and Potatoes

People always tell me to send item of importance with “bullets”, any luck of seeing this here, well I just glanced through the pages and have not sat down to read it all, but gee is the shape of things to come everywhere, even outside of Congress?  Can’t we do better than develop pages and pages of text that few have time to read, many do not understand, and for the best reason of all half will be obsolete by the time the 60 comment period is over.  I have said this many times over, technology is there to throw you a left hook every day, so we have to deal and budget for that, no 2 ways about it.

Are We Ever Going to Get Some Algorithm Centric Laws Passed for Healthcare!

This below applies to healthcare too. 

“Not satisfied with milking the taxpayer, Goldman and friends have also escalated the profiteering arms race and are looking to skim everyone in the trading arena - partners, clients and each other. Can regulators keep up with the speed of their innovation and put in place sensible restrictions to protect the rest of us? “

I ask the same question in healthcare, can regulators keep up with the speed of innovation of the “under tow” here and protect us?  The answer lies in “Algorithmic Centric Laws”, no 2 ways about it, and the smarts to rethink the way we create laws, otherwise they end up being useless and protect nobody.

Shoot a couple weeks ago I wrote about Pfizer using some new Tablet PC software with some algorithms to track pills for use by their sales reps, who for the most part know very little about tablets except for getting a signature captured.  My point is, are we so backward that we can’t publish something in a digital format that is much easier to read and find references, you know like Wikipedia for example on the format.  Why do we have one side of healthcare up to the top on technology and yet suffer in other areas? 

Pfizer Using New Algorithmic Formulas Loaded On Tablet PCs To Track Pills – Sample Distribution

We need to get up to speed with how the health insurers run their algorithms and counter offer along the way here. Also while I’m on the topic of sharing information it certainly seems from what I have seen in the news this week that a couple other government agencies should perhaps look into securely sharing information on terrorist activities too.  Sharing and security are 2 needs that are not going away and need to be addressed, and technology and participation needs to be enhanced at government levels too, so we don’t end up with more “Magpie Healthcare”, as I call it, those who just repeat and don’t participate.  BD 

The stimulus bill that Congress passed back in February said docs and hospitals that make “meaningful use” of electronic medical records would get big bonus payments from Medicare and Medicaid. The bill laid out a few basics about meaningful use — reporting quality measures, sharing information electronically — but didn’t get into much detail.

The feds released plenty of details late today, in this 556-page proposed rule that lays out what doctors (a.k.a. “eligible professionals”) and hospitals will have to do to qualify for the money.

On the off chance that you don’t have the time or interest to read 556 pages, we suggest you skip to Table 2 on p. 103, which lists the criteria docs and hospitals will have to meet in the first phase of the roll-out.

There is an existing certification group, but the feds haven’t said for sure whether that group will be the key for getting a stimulus-ready system. “The lack of a certification body at this stage is a problem,” Decker said.

The proposed rules are, like the Health Blog, open for public comment. Final rules are expected next year.

Stimulus Incentives for Electronic Medical Records - Health Blog - WSJ

Technorati Tags: Meaningful use, healthcare reform certification, CCHIT, ONC, medical devices, meaningless use, algorithms, EHR, EMR, Magpie Healthcare

Rite Aid Offers H1N1 Shot for $15.00 In Several States

Technorati Tags: H1N1, Rite Aid, flu shot, healthcare, immunization, pharmacy, Swine Flu

If you have not had the chance to get a shot yet, here’s one more alternative that is affordable.  You can visit the website and put in your zip code and find the closest location for the H1N1 immunization location.  I did a quick check for my zip code in Orange County and the results show locations within 10 miles.  You can get a map on how to get there and hours of operation are also shown. 

In related news, CDC will be airing a new H1N1 advertisement to be seen during the New Years College Football Bowl Games.  BD 

CAMP HILL, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Rite Aid (NYSE: RAD) now is offering the H1N1 (swine) flu shots by its certified immunizing pharmacists at 1,257 Rite Aid stores in 30 states and the District of Columbia. Customers can go to www.riteaid.com/H1N1 to find the most convenient Rite Aid store offering the H1N1 flu shots. The shots cost $15.

States with Rite Aid stores offering H1N1 flu shots include Alabama, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Vermont, Washington and West Virginia, as well as the District of Columbia.

After locating a Rite Aid store with H1N1 flu shots, customers should call the store to check if appointments are necessary. Rite Aid pharmacists also can counsel customers and answer questions about both the H1N1 flu and the regular seasonal flu. Many Rite Aid stores still have supplies of the regular seasonal flu vaccine.

While the incidence of reported H1N1 flu cases has declined in recent weeks, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) says flu is unpredictable and activity can rise and fall throughout the season. The flu season is likely to continue for months caused by either the H1N1 virus or regular seasonal flu virus. The CDC says the H1N1 vaccine is the best way to protect against the pandemic H1N1 virus and also still recommends getting a regular seasonal flu shot if possible.

Rite Aid's regular seasonal flu shots, where available, cost $30, and pneumococcal shots for pneumonia cost $45. Many insurance plans cover the cost of the shots. Most customers with Medicare will have no co-pay. State regulations vary as to types of immunization that may be given by pharmacists and age requirements.

Information about H1N1 flu and regular seasonal flu is available at www.riteaid.com. Additional information about flu and prevention measures is available at www.flu.gov.

Rite Aid is one of the nation's leading drugstore chains with more than 4,800 stores in 31 states and the District of Columbia with fiscal 2009 annual sales of more than $26.3 billion. Information about Rite Aid, including corporate background and press releases, is available through Rite Aid's Web site at www.riteaid.com.

Rite Aid Now Offering $15 H1N1 Flu Shots at 1,257 Stores in 30 States and D.C. | Business Wire

Nuance Buys SpinVox – Speech Recognition With Voice to Text With Cell Phones

It certainly seems that Nuance has just about captured most of the speech recognition companies out there today and with this acquisition , they are even more entrenched into the mobile market with cell phones.  Just last month they introduced their product for the iPhone. 

Nuance Dragon Dictation Comes to the iPhone And Is Free for Now

SpinVox has had a stronger presence in the UK than here in the US and Nuance plans to expand the capabilities.  Jott Mobile was another similar purchase made by Nuance a few months ago, again with focus on mobile cell phone use.  Soon we will all be less dependent on the keypads on both computers and cell phones as the technology keeps expanding.  With SpinVox, you set up an account and are emailed your pin and access number that you use to dictate messages that will be received in text format.  BD

Press Release:

Burlington, MA and MARLOW, UK, December 30, 2009 – Nuance Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN) today announced that it has acquired SpinVox, a leading provider of voice-to-text services to telecommunications companies across five continents. By integrating SpinVox’s carrier services with Nuance’s advanced speech recognition platform, Nuance will further accelerate the growth of its voice-to-text business and scale to meet the needs of a growing, global customer base. 

As the estimated number of operational voicemail boxes in the world has passed one billion, and consumer and corporate activity now generate over 150 billion voicemails a year, Nuance and SpinVox have experienced strong interest in voice-to-text automation. The two companies helped pioneer solutions that utilize speech recognition and transcription workflow solutions to convert voicemails into text that can be sent to users as SMS or email messages. This transaction marries innovative speech solutions and robust carrier-grade infrastructure to accelerate innovation, and deliver these voice-to-text services to global subscribers. 

“Around the world, the voice-to-text market has experienced tremendous growth over the last year, with a variety of innovative services being delivered by carriers and unified communications providers,” said John Pollard, vice president, Nuance Voice-to-Text Services. “With SpinVox’s robust infrastructure, language support and operational experience, we will broaden the reach and capabilities of our platform.”

Through this acquisition, Nuance intends to expand its operations and accelerate growth in three key areas:

• Service quality. The combination of SpinVox’s global infrastructure with Nuance’s proven speech recognition technology provides robust, carrier-grade voice-to-text services with outstanding quality, ISO security certification, and highly-scaled production systems that handle millions of messages per day;
• Global reach. The combination will achieve the broadest language support in the industry, including English, Spanish, German, Italian, French, and Portuguese, and a customer list that includes major carriers throughout North America, Europe, South America, and Australia; and,
• Innovation. By combining Nuance’s sophisticated speech recognition technologies with both companies’ experienced solutions development teams, Nuance expects to accelerate innovation for voice-to-text services. The acquisition creates a voice-to-text platform – comprising full and partial speech automation, Web services integration and advanced features – that is state-of-the-art today, and offers customers and partners the assurance of technological leadership through its robust product and services roadmap.

Under the terms of the agreement, consideration for the transaction is approximately $102.5 million, comprising $66 million in cash and $36.5 million, or approximately 2.3 million shares, in Nuance common stock.

About SpinVox

SpinVox is a leading voice-to-text company. SpinVox works with mobile operators, cable companies and application developers to deliver network and enterprise voice-to-text solutions that make daily communications simpler by converting the two most useful forms of communications — voice and text. SpinVox customers include a number of major carriers including Alltel, Bell Mobility, Rogers Wireless, TELUS, Movistar, Optus, Vodacom, Vodafone Spain, Telstra, Skype and others. For more information, please visit www.spinvox.com.

Nuance Communications, Inc.

Nuance is a leading provider of speech and imaging solutions for businesses and consumers around the world. Its technologies, applications and services make the user experience more compelling by transforming the way people interact with information and how they create, share and use documents. Every day, millions of users and thousands of businesses experience Nuance’s proven applications and professional services. For more information, please visit www.nuance.com.

Nuance - News - Press Releases – 2009

Related Reading:

Nuance acquires voice-to-text mobile phone service – Jott Mobile

Nuance Announces Veriphy 4.0, Critical Test Result Management for Radiology, Pathology, Cardiology and Clinical Laboratories

Nuance Purchases ECopy Imaging and Scanning Software

Scan-to-Kindle Feature from Nuance Omni-Page – Kindle Can Read it Back to You

RadWhere from Nuance brings speech recognition to the Radiology Department

Nuance and IBM to license and integrate speech technologies

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

Nuance takes over Philips Speech Recognition Systems

Technorati Tags: Nuance, mobility, speech recognition, healthcare, Health IT, Dragon Naturally Speaking, Dragon Dictation app, SpinVox, cell phones

American College of Cardiology Files Legal Action Against Medicare and Kathleen Sebelius Relating Provider Reimbursement Cuts

The American College of Cardiology has has their website on the internet with their cause and battle against the proposed cuts.  You can also read some additional comments from cardiologists on the site as well as as watching videos from their website, one of which I have embedded below.  One of my clients, Dr. Mike,  took time to write his congress person, and just this morning I received an email from him stating he has heard nothing.  Actually his letter through one of my comments has been accessed here through I link I provided on the New York Times.  You can read Dr. Mike’s letter at the link below and my original post. 

Cardiologist Writes to His Congressman Regarding Medicare Cuts – The Impact

This is the preface to the letter he wrote:

“I am embarrassed and humbled as I send this letter to you. It is a letter I sent to my congresswoman regarding the budget cuts solely directed to cardiologists come January 1st. It is self-explanatory. I am literally scared about my survival as well as the impact these changes will have on my patients and for healthcare in general.
In the next few days there will be a vote in Congress about this and the possibility of freezing the pay cuts to Cardiology. Though I don't know if you agree with me or if you even care I would deeply appreciate your help. If you can send a letter or even copy my letter and send it to your representative or to other cardiologists you know it will make a difference. Time is of the essence.”

Here are a couple additional related links from prior posts at the blog. 

Is Your Cardiologist Now Going to be Your Hospitalist? Many Will Close Offices If Reductions Are Made

CMS plans cuts to Medicare Cardiology Provider Fees Close to 40%

The formal complaint can be read here in pdf format.

The entire Press Release about the American College of Cardiology filing suit can be read here. 

 

Below are a couple paragraphs with the highlights of the law suit.  I don’t believe as patients too we are going to be best served by any means here if the budget cuts go through.  BD 

“The complaint alleges that the number of PPIS responses used to determine the PFS Rule was too small to be representative and that the survey results were not in compliance with the federal regulations which govern precision standards, transparency and review. The complaint also alleges that the consultant group hired by HHS to analyze comments on the proposed rule noted to HHS that the PPIS data used to determine the PFS cuts were counter to all other widely recognized cost measures. According to the complaint, the consultant group concluded that supplemental survey data provided by specialty physician groups, such as the ACC, was more representative of the true cardiology practice than the PPIS data used to determine the PFS Rule.

According to ACC data, the reimbursement cut will result in three-fourths of the nation's private cardiovascular practices cutting services and eliminating thousands of current staff. There has already been a mass migration of cardiologists from private community practice to direct employment by hospitals, increasing costs and threatening access for millions of patients. As a result of their data, ACC concludes that with fewer cardiology practices and reduced staff, a majority of patients will have no choice but to go to the hospital-based setting to receive routine medical services in addition to critical life saving care.

"These cuts will devastate patient access to care," said Alfred A. Bove, M.D., president of the ACC. "Already practices are closing their doors and their patients have nowhere to turn. Hospitals do not have the capacity or the specialized ability to absorb the influx of patients. Tests will be delayed, diseases will worsen and patients will become sicker and sicker. Many patients, especially those living in rural settings and urban centers will lose their access to critical cardiac care."

In November, after the cuts were announced, the ACC launched the Campaign for Patient Access, a nation-wide grassroots campaign to raise awareness of the issue. Last week, Rep. Charlie Gonzalez (D-TX) introduced a bill with 55 bipartisan original co-sponsors to freeze cuts at the 2009 reimbursement levels. Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) is currently leading a sign-on letter regarding the cuts in the Senate.”

Heart specialists on Monday filed suit against Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius in an effort to stave off steep Medicare fee cuts for routine office-based procedures such as nuclear stress tests and echocardiograms.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, charges that the government's planned cutbacks will deal a major blow to medical care in the USA, forcing thousands of cardiologists to shutter their offices, sell diagnostic equipment and work for hospitals, which charge more for the same procedures.

What they've done is basically killed the private practice of cardiology," says Jack Lewin, CEO of the American College of Cardiology (ACC), which represents 90% of the roughly 40,000 heart specialists in the USA.

Cardiologists sue Sebelius over Medicare fee cuts - USATODAY.com

Technorati Tags: Medicare, pay cuts, cardiology, Congressman, healthcare reform, patients, doctors, legislation, politics, Cardiac Services, family practice, health insurance

IBM Signs Contracts to Finance Medical Records with Siemens and 3 Other Healthcare Companies

IBM can make money it appears on the interest charges with implementing healthcare systems.  No word on whether or not any stimulus funds may or may not compensate in this area.  BD 

IBM in its aim to extend its benefits from the U.S. health-care stimulus bill, is providing financing to help at least four companies put their medical records into digital format, reports Bloomberg. 
The firm has signed financing agreements with Siemens Healthcare, a developer of electronic medical records, and three other health-care businesses whose clients are converting data into digital form, Armonk, New York-based IBM said in an e-mail to Bloomberg.  The firm also signed financing agreements with Lavender and Wyatt Systems, Healthcare Management Systems and SCC Soft Computer. IBM gets 2.5 percent of its total revenue, which topped $100 billion last year, from financing.

Doctors and hospitals in the U.S. can win federal stimulus funds if they begin keeping medical records electronically. By financing the projects, IBM earns interest on the loans and gains potential clients for its hardware, software and services, said Christine Chang, a New York-based Analyst for technology- research firm Ovum.

IBM to finance healthcare firms for digitizing medical records – SiliconIndia

Technorati Tags: IBM, medical records, healthcare, Siemens, Armonk, Lavender, Wyatt Systems, SCC Soft Computer, Healthcare Management Systems, Health IT

SMP – Seniors Preventing Healthcare Fraud With Medicare and Medicaid Programs – Empowerment and Education

This group may not be as well known as other groups, but care and medications need to get to the people who need them, and fraud hurts everyone.  Individuals can volunteer to serve and basically this is an outlet for when someone smells something “fishy” with care and products being provided. 

In this example story below, a woman began receiving items that she had not asked for and Medicare was footing the bill for all of it.  She contacted the agency and all the unwanted materials and devices were returned and an investigation began.  The group has been around since 1995 and there is representation in each state with numbers and people to contact.

This page offers a link by state to find local assistance. 

The SMP site offers a “toolkit” with questions and resources to help identify fraud and also helps train seniors on how to avoid identify theft.   Partners on the website include many such as HHS, Office of the Inspector General, National Center on Elder Abuse, the FTC, CMS, and the US Department of Justice to name a few.  The site is definitely worth a look to read up and get educated and secondly to get in touch if you feel fraud has been committed and have information.  BD 

From the Website:

“The SMP programs, formerly known as Senior Medicare Patrol programs, help Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries avoid, detect, and prevent health care fraud. In doing so, they not only protect older persons, they also help preserve the integrity of the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Because this work often requires face-to-face contact to be most effective, SMPs nationwide recruit and teach nearly 5,000 volunteers every year to help in this effort. Most SMP volunteers are both retired and Medicare beneficiaries and thus well-positioned to assist their peers. 

SMP staff and their highly trained volunteers conduct outreach to Medicare beneficiaries in their communities through group presentations, exhibiting at community events, answering calls to the SMP help lines and one-on-one counseling. Their primary goal is to teach Medicare beneficiaries how to protect their personal identity, identify and report errors on their health care bills and identify deceptive health care practices, such as illegal marketing, providing unnecessary or inappropriate services and charging for services that were never provided. In some cases, SMPs do more than educate: When Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries are unable to act on their own behalf to address these problems, the SMPs work with family caregivers and others to address the problems, and if necessary, make referrals to outside organizations who are able to intervene. “

MIAMI - The first box that arrived at Shirley Shupp's door was filled with braces to help with her arthritis. Then came a motorized scooter, just like the one the 69-year-old already owned. She hadn't asked for any of it — but Medicare was apparently footing the bill.

"There was just something that wasn't right about it," the Houston woman said.

So Shupp contacted her local Senior Medicare Patrol, which did its own research and then referred the matter to investigators. The equipment, worth thousands of dollars, was returned, the case was handed over to prosecutors and the perpetrators were charged with Medicare fraud.

Stealth crew of seniors fights Medicare fraud - Health care- msnbc.com

Technorati Tags: SMS, Medicare, healthcare, HHS, identify theft, emplowerment, seniors, Senior Medicare Patrol, investigations, toolkit

Tylenol Arthritis Formula Recall Expanded to All Product Lots with Red EZ-Open Cap – Johnson and Johnson

The reason for the recall is a chemical that is used to treat shipping pallets and perhaps some of the chemical, vapor, etc. has been captured in the bottles.  This is what appears to be the story here as the bottles contain a “foul” smell.  The chemical has the capability to ruin the medication as well as bring on some nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. 

More information about the FDA recall can be found at: here  Additional information can also be found here.  Regular Tylenol is still ok and the recall is for the specific “Arthritis” formula.  BD 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A voluntary recall of Tylenol Arthritis Pain Caplets is being expanded because of consumer reports of an unusual moldy odor with the 100-count bottles, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said late on Monday.

The FDA said it and Johnson & Johnson were expanding the recall to all available product lots of the pain caplets with the distinctive red EZ-open cap.

The initial recall involved five lots of the product in November after reports of an unusual musty or mildew-like odor that was associated with nausea, stomach pain, vomiting and diarrhea, the FDA said.

The agency said the odor was believed to have been caused by the breakdown of a chemical used to treat wooden pallets that transport and store packaging materials.

J&J expands recall of Tylenol arthritis caplets | Reuters

Technorati Tags: Recall, FDA, Johnson and Johnson, healthcare, drugs, arthritis, EZ-Open Cap, chemical

Dr. Oz Shows a Cardiac Catheterization Simulation – Opening Up Blood Vessels

This is interesting how Dr. Oz walks us through how the process works.   The volunteer from the audience is a patient who had a stent put in place and talks about the bit of pain in her chest that she experienced when the balloon was put in place, she said it felt like she was having another heart attack.

In the demo they used a defibrillator to bring the patient back after closing off the artery.  I found this interesting to watch and educational as well, so if one is ever in this situation, it gives you an idea as to what is going on with the catheter being routed up through the groin area and what is taking place. 

We hear talk all the time about simulation and with this life saving technology, I can see how simulation can better prepare for the “real” thing.  BD 

What happens when you’re rushed to the hospital for a heart attack? Dr. Oz shows heart attack survivor Marietta a life-saving procedure called a cardiac catheterization using the Medical Simulation Corporation’s state-of-the-art simulator.

 

Medical Simulation Corporation’s Cardiac Catheterization Simulation Technology

Medical Simulation Corporation’s (MSC) endovascular simulator, “Simatha,” featured on The Dr. Oz Show demonstrated a heart attack intervention and how physicians are using this state-of-the-art technology to advance their skills in treating heart attack patients. MSC’s simulation-based education system creates a realistic but risk-free virtual medial environment that enables healthcare professionals to learn and develop necessary skills to safely manage complex disease processes and use new healthcare technologies in a carefully monitored and measured environment.

About Medical Simulation Corporation

Medical Simulation Corporation (MSC) is the recognized healthcare industry leader in providing full-service simulation training and education services to healthcare personnel, medical societies and medical product manufacturers. MSC’s simulation-based training solutions are designed to strengthen the competence and confidence of nurses, physicians and technologists across the spectrum of health care. Through its network of training platforms, MSC provides training services to any location worldwide.

State-of-the-Art Technology for Heart Attacks | The Dr. Oz Show

Related Reading:

Dr. Oz Visits a regenerative medicine lab in Wake Forest

'The Dr. Oz Show' and the National Association of Free Clinics Host One Day of Free Public HealthCare

Dr. Oz Speaks about Mammograms and Breast Examinations

CBS Doc Dot Com Talks with Dr. Oz And His Crusade for Healthcare

Dr. Oz on The Shame of Breaking Records in Houston – The Real Disaster of Health Insurance

Dr. Oz Speaks Out on Health Insurance and HealthCare Reform and the Free Clinic In Houston

'The Dr. Oz Show' and the National Association of Free Clinics Host One Day of Free Public HealthCare

The Dr. Oz Show Is Finally Here – Website Contains Show Highlights and Other Resources

Dr. Mehmet Oz – Does Not Care Which Plan We Pick – Says They all Won’t Work and the True Answer is Lifestyle

Technorati Tags: Dr. Oz, heart attacks, cathererization, simulation, blood vessels, technology, medical simulation, SimSuite, cardiology, heart disease, stent

SenoRx Submits Implantable RFID Tags to FDA For Approval – Breast Tumor Surgery

 This stands to change the way surgical procedures are done as relates to breast cancer and removal of tumors.  Right now a wire is inserted at the time of surgery and it uses ultrasound.  With the proposed process of using RFID, the tag, about as big as a piece of rice could be inserted as far as 7 days in advance of the surgery. 

The product still needs to go through clinical trials to be tested thoroughly.  One advantage of performing surgery in this fashion is the reduction of potential infections and if the patient happens to move during surgery, the wire could be moved, where as the RFID devices would not move.  Health Beacons is the partner with the software and the RFID tags.  Who would have ever thought the small RFID tags would be working internally with tumor removal.  BD 

Dec. 28, 2009—SenoRx, a provider of breast cancer treatment and diagnostic equipment, is working to introduce an RFID-based system that will offer radiologists a new method for marking a tumor's location prior to surgery. The solution, according to the company, promises to reduce the risk of infection, while helping surgeons to locate lesions more accurately. 
Typically, a breast cancer patient goes through a one-day process in which a radiologist finds the tumor and then marks its location by inserting a wire into the lesion, so that one end of the wire protrudes from the breast after insertion. The radiologist then utilizes ultrasound, stereotactic or mammographic guidance to ensure that the tip of the wire is within the tumor's center. The surgeon can then follow the length of wire to its end, in order to pinpoint the specific location of the mass. This procedure usually requires a patient to schedule both radiological and surgical procedures on the same day the wire is inserted, to ensure against infection caused by the wire, as well as reduce the chance of the wire being dislodged. The wire could be jostled out of place, for example, as the patient moves around prior to the operation, or be inadvertently moved during the surgery itself; and in some cases, surgeons may have difficulty locating or identifying the end of the wire marking the lesion, or with radiographs.

Health Beacons first approached SenoRx with the RFID interrogator and tag in August 2008. The system involves an implantable tag approximately the size and shape of a grain of rice, as well an injector to implant the tag, and a handheld reader provided by Health Beacons. The tag consists of an 134.2 kHz RFID inlay encased in glass and complying with the ISO 11784 and 11785 standards, and its glass exterior is surrounded by a steel coil, each end of which forms a hook. The purpose of the coil and hooks is to help prevent the tag from migrating within the body.

SenoRx Uses Implantable RFID Tags to Mark Breast Tumors - RFID Journal

Technorati Tags: Breast cancer, tumors, SenoRX, RFID, Health Beacons, biopsy, surgery

FDA Committee Agrees With Wider Use of Crestor – Is The Jupiter Study Data Creeps Up Once Again

We are back to the Jupiter study that came out not too long ago about expanding the use of cholesterol reducing drugs.  The study involved individuals taking Crestor that were within normal cholesterol ranges, but had some type of heart disease.

We only have a little over a year left until Lipitor from Pfizer comes off patent and then the cholesterol generics will flood the market.  Are we only looking at the report or are we getting the full story with side effects and all?  Crestor's patent is already scheduled in court cases to start in February. 

Last year on a post I quoted something from the Happy Hospitalist and his opinion and I think it is worth repeating about now:

The Jupiter Report with Crestor – What Side effects?

“What if we all took Crestor to reduce the chance of developing heart disease?  Happy Hospitalist does a pretty good job here on lining it all up!  Talk about side effects.  BD 

• All Americans will now get Crestor to reduce their CRP to reduce their chances of developing heart disease. 
• All Americans Will now get lisinopril to prevent the proteinuria they will get from their diabetes they get from Crestor
• All Americans will now take metformin to treat the diabetes they developed while taking Crestor
• All Americans will now take Lyrica to prophylax  for the the neuropathic pain they will get from developing diabetes while taking Crestor.
• All Americans will now take an aspirin to reduce the risk of developing a stroke from the diabetes they got from taking Crestor.
• All Americans will now take prilosec to reduce the risk of developing an ulcer from the aspirin they were taking to reduce the risk of stroke due to the diabetes they developed while taking Crestor to reduce their asymptomatic CRP level.
• All Americans will now take carvedilol to reduce the risk of death from the coronary artery disease they developed as a result of the diabetes they developed as a result of the Crestor they were taking to reduce their CRP to reduce their chances of developing coronary artery disease. “

AstraZeneca (AZN) received a positive opinion from the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee (EMDAC) regarding the expanded use of Crestor. AstraZeneca is seeking approval for Crestor to treat patients with normal cholesterol levels but having other risks of heart disease. The committee voted 12-4 in favor of Crestor after analyzing its benefit against possible risk in some patients. However, the committee was concerned that Crestor should not be used at random in patients with low risk.

Following the recommendation, AstraZeneca has moved one step closer to FDA approval. Although the FDA is not required to follow the committee’s opinion, it generally does so.

FDA Backs Crestor's Wider Use - Analyst Blog | Benzinga.com

Technorati Tags: FDA, Crestor, Jupiter Report, cholesterol, Lipitor, medications, drugs, pharma, heart disease

Transplanted Organs Are Not Always Perfect – Some Less Than Others

In the world of donors there are only so many, and it seems there are so many more waiting for a donor organ that what is available.  Some in the story seemed shocked that a “perfect” organ was not used, but if you are in a situation where your own organs have ceased to function, there may not be a lot of choice and we know the alternative. 

Once more breakthroughs occur in the regenerative surgery areas with those grown from stem cells, no doubt patients will have the absolute potential to receive a well functioning organ, but in the case of a transplant we have to remember that the organ was functioning in the body of the donor before it became available.  BD 

London, England (CNN) -- A widespread shortage of organs for transplantation means surgeons are forced to use "less than ideal" organs -- a practice that can have deadly consequences.

In October 2009, the inquest into the death of British soldier Corporal Matthew Millington revealed he had received a double lung transplant from a donor who may have smoked up to 50 cigarettes a day.

Why transplants use 'imperfect' organs - CNN.com

Technorati Tags: Transplants, healthcare, organ donations, organs, surgery, lung, kidney