This is a bit strange and with hormones, there’s no report on what long term use would do, as 2 of the individuals did not return to normal afterwards with over 1000  participants.  In the US, this would be definite downturn from the FDA to say the least.  It does contrast a bit on how clinical studies may differ from those here in the US and condoms are still at the top of the list for both pregnancy prevention as well as disease control.  BD  

Researchers in China may have found a method for male contraception that is effective, reversible and without serious short-term adverse effects according to a new study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM).

“Despite the present encouraging results, the long-term safety of this hormonal male contraceptive regimen requires more extensive testing with a focus on cardiovascular, prostate and behavioral safety,” said Dr. Gu.

Dr. Gu said this study is the largest multi-center, male hormonal contraceptive efficacy clinical trial of an androgen preparation in the world. Participants included 1,045 healthy fertile Chinese men aged 20-45 years. Each participant had fathered at least one child within the two years before the study and had a normal medical history. Their female partners were between 18 and 38 years of age and had normal reproductive function.

Males were injected monthly with 500 mg of a formulation of testosterone undecanoate (TU) in tea seed oil for thirty months. Results showed a cumulative contraceptive failure (pregnancy) rate of 1.1 per 100 men in the 24-month efficacy phase. No serious adverse events were reported and reproductive function returned to the normal fertile reference range in all but two participants.

Injectable testosterone may provide effective male contraception | BreakThrough Digest Medical News

Technorati Tags: contraception,China,clinical trial,testosterone,healthcare,hormones

This is sad and yet great story on how the facial transplant is helping.  She may not be beautiful, but what a surgical feat.  The only thing that is somewhat bothersome to me in the story is the fact that she would take her husband back, the one who shot her in the face.  I can see forgiving, but to take him back?  Just my own personal opinion there. 

A shotgun blast shattered Connie Culp's face in September 2004, smashing her nose, cheek and jaw. It robbed her of the ability to see, smell, even to smile.  Dr. Kathy Coffman, the psychiatrist who worked with Culp, said she was a resilient patient, having been through 27 other procedures before the face transplant, and she believes Culp will be a good ambassador to other potential patients.

This is how she looks today and the extra skin is hanging for a specific reason and will be tucked in later. 

This is how she looked before the gun shot in her face. 

This is how they hope she will look when everything is healed.  What a big transition and at least she will have some quality of life.  Watch the video at the link below to see the full video from ABC.  BD

So when Culp, who became the first patient in the United States to undergo a face transplant operation last December, appeared publicly to thank the doctors who performed the surgery, the occasion was an emotional one.

Culp required the surgery from injuries she sustained when she was shot in the face in 2004. The episode left her unable to eat, smell, or taste, according to a statement from the Cleveland Clinic. Culp was also unable to breathe without a tracheotomy.

"I just want to say when somebody has a disfigurement and don't look as pretty as you do, don't judge them, because you never know what happened to them. I was shot," Culp said.

First U.S. Face Transplant Patient Appears Before Cameras - ABC News

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Technorati Tags: Face transplant,surgery,plastic surgery,healthcare,technology,Cleveland Clinic

Are we trying to re-invent the HMO here?  It does take a bit of business intelligence software to analyze and compute to bring the entire picture of one patient into focus.  The one statement that I thought was caught in this whole article was a section below about patients being protected from Doctors denying services.  If I am correct here, they are the ones who are trying get services for patients and it is rather the insurance companies for the most part that deny services.

Again we are talking about software and technology to be able to create all these figures we need to evaluate the care of one patient from start to finish and a lot on a budget.  Just last week here in California, Sutter Hospitals signed a 5 year contract with Sutter for physicians to use to calculate the cost and quality of healthcare portions.  

Sutter Hospitals and Ingenix working together on Business Intelligence Software

My personal feelings, I want the doctor to take care of me and not be distracted with cost, especially if it is something that is urgent.  Small items certainly can be looked at, but when the big one hits, I don’t believe I want the doctor sitting there trying to figure out what I could afford.  I do one other item worth mentioning here too, we have not even crossed the electronic medical records plateau yet, so are we putting the cart before the horse in a big race to save money and how many of the doctors will use it?  Utilization managers will be all over it to audit what the physicians have done you can bet.  If we make it any more difficult to practice medicine, it will only serve to discourage more from entering the field. 

It looks in essence like this is just another way to reduce services in order to save money.  If you don’t offer the services to the patients, the money is not spent and then you are back to square one, not improving their healthcare and going without.  BD 

Massachusetts soon may embark on another bold healthcare experiment, with a state commission poised to recommend this month that insurers radically change how they pay doctors and hospitals.

Commission members said they will urge Governor Deval Patrick and the Legislature to replace the current system, in which insurers typically pay doctors and hospitals a negotiated fee for each individual procedure or visit, with a set payment for each patient that covers all that person's care for an entire year.

Massachusetts would be the first state to broadly adopt such a system, which would essentially put doctors and hospitals on a budget in an effort to restrain health spending.

The 10-member commission includes administration officials, key legislators, and representatives of hospitals, physicians, and insurers, boosting chances that Massachusetts will overhaul its payment system.

Patients would be protected from doctors' denying them services, because the new system would monitor the quality of care doctors provide, members said.

But other commission members who represent providers and insurers say even five years may be impossible, because most doctors and hospitals don't have the computer systems or provider networks in place yet to fully coordinate care for patients, which would cost millions of dollars.

State seeks to revamp way doctors, hospitals are paid - The Boston Globe

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Technorati Tags: Healthcare,budgets,hospitals,doctors,health insurance,HMO

What is interesting here is that the service will be using Amazon Web Services along with the software from Geospiza, a Seattle-based maker of software to support biological research.  With the large amounts of data to analyze and research with genomic research, this makes sense to embrace perhaps an even virtual cloud.  BD 

Analyzing the huge amounts of data involved in mapping DNA sequences requires formidable computing resources, but not every scientist working in the field has access to a large network or supercomputer, making genomics the perfect candidate for cloud-computing. Applied Biosystems and Geospiza have announced the launch of a genetic analysis solution using cloud-computing that aims to put the tools required for this important field of study into more hands.

Genomic analysis in the clouds

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Technorati Tags: genomics,sequencing,software,Science,DNA Testing,personalized medicine,Applied Biosystems,Geopiza

This is pretty good speed, 16 pills a minute and gets the job done accurately.  Now this may not sound like a big deal, but when you may not be able to get a lower strength of a medication, it can be a big deal.  Many facilities are not stocking lower dosage medications to save money too. 

Also, when you do it yourself, how accurate can you be and do you lose part of the pill?  Having pills split can also save on co-pays.  BD 

TCGRx (TCG), one of North America's leading suppliers of pharmacy equipment, announced the commercial availability of the BullsEye Tablet Splitter, an innovative device that quickly and accurately splits medication with an industry-leading two percent variability between the split halves. Other products on the market frequently crush or split tablets unequally, which may put patient safety at risk. Additionally, existing products are difficult to clean, which can lead to potential contamination of medications. The BullsEye Tablet Splitter can automatically split up to 16 pills per minute and contains a replaceable blade and HEPA filter to decrease potential contamination.

Many health insurers, including UnitedHealthcare, Aetna, Medical Mutual, Dean Healthcare and others, offer tablet-splitting programs that allow their participants to significantly cut their co-pay costs on their medication. Conversely, some healthcare payers delay or even deny payment for lower strengths of certain medications; this often requires that pharmacies and other healthcare facilities split tablets in order to fulfill prescriptions.

"People ask us to split pills for them and we do our best, but the old-fashioned pill splitters can cause crumbling," said Darden Heritage, president of Star Discount Pharmacy in Huntsville, Ala., and a 20-year pharmacy veteran. "They split pills, but not accurately, so you're actually wasting time and money."

TCGRx Launches Innovative Tablet-Splitting Device For Pharmacies And Patients

Technorati Tags: pharma,drugs,pills,pill splitting,pharmacies,prescriptions,health insuance

This is an interesting piece about the students and their perception and and the conflict of interest with financial relationships.  Of course, without some type of financial support, some projects would never get off the ground.  There have been quite a few stories in the press of late.  The hospitals and school are separate entities so one policy that covers all is difficult to facilitate.  Not only is Congress up in the air, but it appears now that students have some concerns.

Boston though is a high technology area, even outside of health care so it would make sense to maybe have more of a concentrated scenario with outside funding.  BD 

(NaturalNews) Pressure is building on Harvard Medical School to better regulate the massive gifts and consulting fees that faculty members regularly receive from drug companies, with increasing attention being drawn to the great potential for conflict of interest in such relationships.
"Before coming here, I had no idea how much influence companies had on medical education," said first-year medical student David Tian. "And it's something that's purposely meant to be under the table, providing information under the guise of education when that information is also presented for marketing purposes.".

A full 1,600 of 8,900 teachers have reported at least one financial relationship in an area related to their teaching, research or medical practice.

A student movement has recently taken form at Harvard Medical School, demanding widespread reform of the school's conflict-of-interest policies. The movement was sparked by a number of high-profile scandals in which Harvard medical faculty were revealed to have concealed hundreds of thousands of dollars in pharmaceutical company gifts, sparking a Senate investigation. This was followed by the American Medical Student Association giving the school an F grade for its conflict-of-interest disclosure policies.

The University of Pennsylvania, in contrast, received an A, while Columbia, Stanford and New York Universities received Bs.

Harvard Medical School Professors are Paid Big Bucks by Big Pharma to Push Meds

Source:  Pharmagossip

Technorati Tags: Conflict of Interest,Harvard Medical,American Medical Student Association

A new treatment approach for those with Diabetes 2 with a drug that targets activity in the brain, Cycloset.   The drug has been used to treat Parkinson’s disease and it appears via the clinical trials that it is helping control the rise in blood sugar and also can reduce the rate of heart attacks.  Side effects are nausea and dizziness.  

This is not approved for Diabetes 1 patients.  BD

WEDNESDAY, May 6 (HealthDay News) -- Cycloset (bromocriptine), a drug that takes the novel approach of managing blood sugar via the brain, has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, maker VeroScience Inc. said Wednesday.

The drug, previously prescribed in higher amounts to treat Parkinson's disease, targets a brain chemical that ultimately is involved in regulating metabolism, reports the Associated Press. 

A single dose taken in the morning helped control the rise in blood sugar that typically follows daily meals. After six months of use, 35 percent of people who took Cycloset had recommended blood sugar levels, compared with 10 percent of diabetics who took a non-medicinal placebo, the drug's maker said.

Welcome to AJC! | ajc.com

Technorati Tags: diabetes,cycloset,healthcare,FDA,drugs,pharma,clinical trials

We saw WalMart enter the market and the move appears to be trending with other companies becoming distributors of electronic medical records, although Cardinal Health is a medical company which has been around for a number of years.  We could start seeing other company alliances in this area as time moves forward.  BD 

Cardinal Health Inc. will resell the Allscripts MyWay Electronic Health Records software to solo and small physician practices.

Dublin, Ohio-based Cardinal Health is a major distributor of pharmaceuticals and medical supplies. Consequently, the alliance gives Chicago-based Allscripts a significant new channel into physician offices looking to adopt EHRs to qualify for financial incentives under the economic stimulus law.

Cardinal Health Partners with Allscripts

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Technorati Tags: Allscripts,EHR,EMR,Cardinal Healthcare,medical records,technology

This brings up the question of “what is intellectual property” and how are patents filed and protected in this area and it goes beyond the pharmaceutical side of the business, which is what most of us might think about. Who knows where the case will lead and how long, but hopefully it won’t have an impact to slow down personalized medicine growth and technology.  BD  

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Illumina has filed a lawsuit against Affymetrix alleging infringement its array technology.

The suit, filed yesterday in the US District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin, alleges that a variety of Affymetrix products infringe Illumina's US Patent No. 7,510,841, entitled, "Methods of Making and Using Composite Arrays for the Detection of a Plurality of Target Analytes." The patent was issued on March 31, 2009.

The Affy products named in the suit include the GeneChip HT RG-230 PM Array Plate, the GeneChip HT Array Plate Scanner, the GeneChip HT 3' IVT Express Kit, the GeneChip Array Station, and the GeneTitan Institute.

The Affy products named in the suit include the GeneChip HT RG-230 PM Array Plate, the GeneChip HT Array Plate Scanner, the GeneChip HT 3' IVT Express Kit, the GeneChip Array Station, and the GeneTitan Institute.

Illumina Files Patent Infringement Suit Against Affymetrix | GenomeWeb Daily News | Arrays | GenomeWeb

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Technorati Tags: personalized medicine,sequencing machines,healthcare,genomics,arrays,R and D,Science,biotech,intellectual property

When it comes to security for medical record information, everyone thinks of electronic medical records, but billing information is being addressed as well.  I mention this as quite a few offices have computerized billing software and information stored, even though they are not formally using any type of electronic medical record. 

With all the confidential information stored here, this could also be deadly when it comes to medical identity theft and breaches, so it’s not just limited to medical records software, billing information too is considered prime territory for theft.  As mentioned, this rule is targeted at creditors, and the AMA is looking to submit some type of provision to omit physicians, but still overall, take a look at the security on your billing software just as a good measure and make sure it is not susceptible to identity theft.  It may be a while before all can come to an agreement here on the language, but common sense will tell you that nobody wants a breach when it can be avoided. 

It is interesting that breaches are still up in the air for personal health records, but this is a much bigger target as if someone were going to take the time to break into one PHR, it would hardly be worth the effort where large data bases are the fruitful targets.  BD

Hospitals and physicians have another three months before they are held accountable for complying with what’s called the “red flags” rule, intended to compel financial institutions and creditors to help prevent identity theft, though doctors have yet to give up arguing that the regulation shouldn’t apply to them in the first place.
The rule, which stems from the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003, requires covered organizations to have written policies that specify possible indicators of identity theft in their operations and procedures to monitor and respond to them. The Federal Trade Commission interprets the rule to reach to healthcare providers because they allow deferred payment for services, which came as a surprise to many as the original enforcement deadline, Nov. 1, 2008, loomed last fall.

“I think for the most part healthcare providers would have a lot of this already in place with medical records in complying with HIPAA and state law,” said Jud DeLoss, a principal at the law firm Gray Plant Mooty in Minneapolis. “Medical records aren’t the target here, it’s the billing,” DeLoss added. “That’s not entirely new for more sophisticated systems, but it’s certainly a new area, for a concentrated area, to prevent the loss or misuse of patient information.”

The American Medical Association intends keep trying to persuade the FTC to reopen the rule for comments to allow them to formally argue that physicians aren’t among the targets Congress intended. This extension is a direct result of AMA advocacy to spare physicians from having to comply with this onerous rule aimed at creditors,” AMA board member Ardis Hoven said in a written statement.

‘Red flags’ delay gives docs time to test applicability - Modern Healthcare

Technorati Tags: AMA,medical billing software,healthcare,security breaches,FTC,EHR,EMR,creditors,identity theft

The pilot program begins in Michigan with Wal Mart and Sams Club Stores offering a 90 day supply of 300 generic drugs and they will mail them to you for free as well.  So now you can go online get your refill and not have to leave the house.  Wal Mart already offers many generics for $4.00 for a 30 day supply so over 3 months you save a couple bucks with the new $10.00 price.  BD  

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is expanding a pilot prescription-drug program for companies, heating up the race among pharmacy retailers to transform the way drugs are priced and sold.

The discount retailer is offering businesses low-priced drugs if they sign up to buy directly from Wal-Mart's network of in-store pharmacies, rather than contracting to buy drugs through third parties known as pharmacy-benefit managers.

Wal-Mart's program follows other recent initiatives by big pharmacy retailers to grab market share by offering companies a less-expensive and simpler way to manage their drug plans.

Wal-Mart Expands Drug Program - WSJ.com

Technorati Tags: Walmart,prescriptions,drugs,heatlhcare,Sam's Club

Cardio surgery and the devices used are becoming more sophisticated all the time.  Perhaps this might be a valid answer to replace some of the wires that will be needing replacement.  Hopefully this will prove to be a longer life wire which would be great news to all those implanted with devices.  BD  Medtronic Inc. said Wednesday it received federal approval for a heart wire that’s out of this world.

The Attain Ability wire uses insulation material developed by NASA Langley Research Center that was previously evaluated for space applications, high-performance engines and harsh environments. Medtronic said this is the first time a NASA-developed material has been used in this kind of implantable medical device. Langley Research Center is located in Hampton, Va.

The wire, called a lead, delivers electrical impulses directly to the heart from a pacing device implanted in a patient’s chest. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has cleared Attain Ability wire for treatment of heart failure.

Fridley-based Medtronic (NYSE: MDT) said Attain Ability is especially thin, making it easier for surgeons to navigate the lead through the intricate curves of the heart’s anatomy to place the lead in the ideal location on the left ventricle.

FDA approves Medtronic heart wire - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

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Technorati Tags: Medtronics,healthcare,heart valves,Core Technologies,cardiology,minimally invasive procedures,Attain Ability,Defibrillator

This is a set back; however they did say they would pay for the tests as related to clinical trials.  The tests run from $50.00 to $500.00, so this is not huge by any means.  Warfarin is used to prevent blood clots and is one of the more difficult medications to monitor and has some side effects that can be threatening to some, so again somewhat of a sad day to not allow the test and some patients will more than likely be prescribed a drug that may not be of help to them, or cause some health affecting side effects. 

Some stated they were in agreement with Medicare as said it would not make a big enough difference with dosing levels.  It appears it is back to cost and not wanting the additional information available, and there will be more forth coming from other areas.  Until then, at least we have the clinical trials to work with.  BD 

In a setback for the fledgling field of personalized medicine, Medicare has decided not to pay for genetic tests intended to help doctors determine the best dose of the blood thinner warfarin for a particular patient.

In a proposed decision posted on its Web site Monday, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said that there was not enough evidence that use of the tests improved patients’ health. 

But the agency said it would pay for the tests as part of clinical trials to gather such evidence.

The warfarin response tests, which cost $50 to $500, look at variations in two specific genes in a patient. They are among a group of new tests that seek to tailor medical treatments based on a patient’s genetic makeup. Such tests might help tell which drug would be best for a particular person, or whether a patient might be susceptible to dangerous side effects.

Gene Test for Dosage of Blood Thinner Is Rebuffed - NYTimes.com

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Plavix – What’s the next step for doctors and patients – possible genetic testing in the near future?

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Technorati Tags: Genomics,Personalized Medicine,healthcare,lab tests,cancer tests,pharmacogenomics,pharmacogenetics,DNA Tests,Warfarin

I have written a few times here about Microsoft Dynamics, the CRM program.  It looks like Outlook, so there’s a smaller learning curve.  What does CRM have to do with healthcare?  There is a version of Microsoft Dynamics just for healthcare.  It can have many faces, administration, patients, and integrates with Amalga. 

With economic conditions, Microsoft is making the product more affordable and offers financing.  It can also be hosted in the cloud and works with Microsoft business intelligence software for additional analysis procedures and reporting.  Cerner recently announced they were also working with Microsoft Dynamics. 

GE Healthcare Centricity Software to Integrate Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 CRM

The first is Business Ready Flexible Pay, which gives new Microsoft Dynamics ERP and CRM customers in the U.S. the option to purchase the solutions today but pay for them in equal payments over three years. Unlike financing offers that may have associated interest charges and application processes, this represents an opportunity for businesses to manage their budgets and drive business productivity with Microsoft Dynamics when they really need it. The Business Ready Flexible Pay initiative is one of many examples of how Microsoft is helping customers make strategic IT investments and realize rapid return on investment. While other vendors have significantly raised their maintenance fees over the past year, Microsoft has not only held its enhancement rates steady, but has also launched a number of money-saving offers, again raising the bar for customer services established earlier through Microsoft’s Business Ready Customer Care.

Microsoft Introduces Major ERP and CRM Incentive Offerings: New flexible payment option among other initiatives aimed at easing economic pressures for customers.

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Technorati Tags: Microsoft,hospitals,CRM Software,healthcare,Health IT,business Intelligence,Healthcare,integration,business intelligence

I just saw him recently on a talk show and such a great guy, sad that alcohol has a hold on him.  He denies he was poisoned by alcohol.  BD 

Actor David Hasselhoff was rushed to a Los Angeles hospital Saturday after his teenage daughter reportedly found him unconscious on the floor of his Encino California home as a result of alcohol poisoning.

According to a report by Radaronline.com, the “America’s Got Talent” judge was rescued by his daughter Hayley, 16, and his ex-wife Pamela Bach, who drove him to Cedars Sinai Medical center.

The former “Baywatch” star reportedly registered a staggering .39 blood alcohol level. If he'd been driving, that would have been nearly five times California's DUI limit.

HASSELHOFF DRINKS SELF INTO HOSPITAL - New York Post

Technorati Tags: Hasselhoff,drinking,alcoholism,healthcare,Cedar Sinai Hospital

Canada now can use the HealthVault to store personal health records.  Not only private industry, but government clients as well will have the opportunity to store their records in HealthVault. 

I like to think of a personal health record as my back up, as it will be sometime before all major health care facilities are communicating.  BD 

Press Release:

TELUS Health Space, Canada’s first consumer e-health platform

TELUS Health Space, powered by Microsoft HealthVault, will help people make better health decisions

Toronto, ON – TELUS today announced that it has signed an agreement with Microsoft Corp. in which TELUS is granted the exclusive license to host and operate the HealthVault platform for the development of a consumer-focused e-health service in Canada. The service will be called TELUS Health Space, powered by Microsoft HealthVault.

The service will be the first of its kind in Canada, letting Canadians manage and store their personal health information and have access to applications like personal health records, chronic disease management, pediatric care and wellness products that will allow better management of their health and the health of their family.

“What was once thought impossible is now a reality. Canadians have been demanding the ability to manage their health electronically and soon they will be able to do it with a life-long record provided by TELUS,” said Francois Cote, President of TELUS Health Solutions. “We are very excited to be working with Microsoft because of their clear commitment to healthcare, their track record in delivering world class software solutions and ability to attract leading application providers to their platforms.”

“Microsoft recognizes that TELUS, a company with a rich history of bringing health solutions to market, shares our vision of improving health through technology innovation,” said David Cerino, general manager of the Consumer Health Solutions Group at Microsoft. “We are pleased to mark our first international rollout of HealthVault in Canada, a leader in e-health adoption that is empowering its citizens to better manage health and wellness with online solutions.”

TELUS Health Space will make the service available to organizations such as governments, health regions, hospitals, insurers and employers, who would like to offer the service to their constituents. TELUS will operate Health Space’s infrastructure and securely host all stored health data in Canada to help to ensure consumer privacy.

"As both the Privacy Commissioner of Ontario and as a patient, I applaud TELUS and Microsoft for taking this important first step in making a platform for consumer-focused e-health applications available to health care providers and other organizations,” said Dr. Ann Cavoukian, Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario. “I urge these providers to actively pass on the benefits of these services to individual patients. As the health care system transitions from paper-based records to electronic health records, it is essential for patients to become an active part of this process. The services envisioned in Canada’s first consumer e-health platform will give patients the tools to manage their own health care through electronic access to comprehensive, patient-centred health information. Let the new era of accessibility begin."

TELUS, with the collaboration of Microsoft, will proactively solicit developers, application providers and device manufacturers to join the service and provide consumers with tools that will help foster dynamic, trusted and personalized healthcare. Currently, there are already over 60 companies delivering online solutions for the HealthVault platform in the U.S., spanning health care providers, health plans, medical devices and pharmacies.

About Microsoft HealthVault

Microsoft HealthVault is a personal health application platform designed to put consumers in control of their health information. HealthVault provides a privacy- and security-enhanced foundation on which a broad ecosystem of providers can build innovative health and wellness solutions such as personal health records, disease management, fitness, weight loss and other Web applications. HealthVault can be used to collect and store health information that would otherwise reside in disparate systems and transfer the information between a variety of providers’ health services and systems. It enables the reuse and free flow of interoperable and transportable personal health information.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

About TELUS Health Solutions

TELUS Health Solutions, backed by Emergis, represents a unique set of technology, expertise and resources to help transform how information is used in the healthcare industry. TELUS Health Solutions has years of expertise in successfully implementing healthcare applications and information communication technology processes through industry leading solutions and consulting services to customers in Canada and around the world. It is backed by more than 1,500 TELUS Health Solutions team members including healthcare professionals. For more information, please visit telushealth.com.

About TELUS

TELUS (TSX: T, T.A; NYSE: TU) is a leading national telecommunications company in Canada, with $9.7 billion of annual revenue and 11.6 million customer connections including 6.1 million wireless subscribers, 4.2 million wireline network access lines and 1.2 million Internet subscribers. Led since 2000 by President and CEO, Darren Entwistle, TELUS provides a wide range of communications products and services including data, Internet protocol (IP), voice, entertainment and video. In support of our philosophy to give where we live, TELUS, our team members and retirees have contributed $137 million to charitable and not-for-profit organizations and volunteered more than 2.6 million hours of service to local communities since 2000. Nine TELUS Community Boards across Canada lead our local philanthropic initiatives. For more information about TELUS, please visit telus.com.

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Technorati Tags: Microsoft,HealthVault,medical records,personal health records,Canada,PHR,Telus,Health IT

Well the business everyone loves to hate, health insurance.  One more small concession, but not enough I’m afraid to suit all, self included.  The Wall Street Journal came up with a couple videos showing physicians and patients who are upset.  At the rate we are going, a Single Pay system could work it’s way in by default. 

It’s just one more algorithm in the world of business and risk management, but does it make a big enough difference and will doctors get paid at a decent rate without all the administrative nightmares, and will patients be rid of the balance billings?  Doctors are now being forced to look at risk management more than good healthcare, and that’s not what most of them went to medical school for, and not the reasons we consult them for our illnesses either.  That is the part of healthcare that everyone hates, not knowing what will be paid, so Forest Gump still lives, “insurance is like a box of chocolates, you just never know what you are going to get.”  BD 

Women are now often charged more than men in the individual market, but officials from America's Health Insurance Plans say that should not be done any longer if all Americans are required to get coverage.

The proposal came as the Senate Finance Committee convened a round-table on covering the uninsured. The industry has previously offered to stop charging more to sick people.

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Health Care Insurers Suggest Algorithms and Business Intelligence solutions to provide health insurance solution

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Technorati Tags: Health insurance,Senate hearings,healthcare,Obama Healthcare Plan,Greed,algorithms

In case you missed it last week, read round 1.  I don’t know why these drives are not put on lock down through Group Policy when it comes to medical record information.  I lecture physicians myself all the time about this issue.  Hospitals still allow the doctors to use them at their facilities too, so what gives here?  The hospitals need to lock these devices out and use a secured VPN for this type of activity when documents are needed for patient files. 

Security tightened over data loss – Flash Drives Can be One of HealthCare’s Biggest Nightmares

Even though this happened in the UK, it could happen anywhere.  The officials stated this was the first time something like this has happened, and I think it is rather the first time something like this was reported, as the odds of losing a flash drive are huge.  The story last week tells about the drive being found at the car wash, so indeed this is the 2nd time of an incident like this being reported, not the first.  People like to take short cuts too on the ones that are encrypted too and not use a password or the software on the stick and simply copy and paste, which defeats the entire purpose of having a way to secure the data stored, such as this situation. 

The Department of Defense has locked USB drives out of the system after a worm from the drive infiltrated their system, so again I ask why does someone not address this situation.  It is a bomb waiting to explode in more ways than one.  Now we also have MRI machines infected with the Conflicker virus too?  Security needs to be job number one.  BD

A computer memory stick containing the records of thousands of hospital patients in Bradford has been lost.

Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has started an investigation and admitted "established procedures were not followed".

It has written to 2,650 patients whose details were stored on the device and 3,000 others on its waiting lists whose records may also have been lost.

It is believed she took the non-secured memory stick off trust premises last month and lost it in the library of Leeds Metropolitan University.

In a letter to patients, trust chief executive Miles Scott said: "I am writing to inform you that on Tuesday 21 April 2009 a computer device (USB memory stick) containing patient information was lost from the foundation trust.

One heart patient, who wished to remain anonymous, told BBC News he feared his personal details might already have fallen into the wrong hands.

Since the data was lost he said he had received "funny emails and phone calls" purporting to be from various banks.

BBC NEWS | UK | England | Bradford | Hospital trust loses patient data

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Technorati Tags: records,breaches,healthcare,FBI,Security,Data,encryption,USB drives,medical records,medical nightmare

When all else fails, your PHR could stand to be a back up.  This is a strange case though as the extortion note says he wants to sell the medication information, well a lot of that has already been sold anyway by pharmacy benefit managers to insurance companies; although the demographics information could be a big risk.

The FBI is in on the investigation and it will be interesting to see how this one washes out.  This really makes a case to get the old law off the books with the MRIs not being updated too.  Everything better have some kind of protection.  

Hospital MRI and Other Medical Devices Infected with Conficker Virus – FDA Required 90 Day Notice before Windows Update Patch Could be Applied

We are at a place in time where security needs to be taken very seriously, everywhere, even the MRI machines. I wonder what ever happened to the extortion deal at Express Scripts?  BD

Express Scripts offers $1 million award to nab extortionist in data breach case

State and federal authorities are investigating a possible extortion demand that seeks $10 million for the safe return of more than 8 million patient records and 35 million prescription records that allegedly were hacked last week from the Virginia Department of Health Professions computers.

An extortion note posted on WikiLeaks, a Web site that publishes anonymous submissions and leaks of sensitive government and corporate information, reads:

"ATTENTION VIRGINIA I have your [stuff]! In *my* possession, right now, are 8,257,378 patient records and a total of 35,548,087 prescriptions. Also, I made an encrypted backup and deleted the original. Unfortunately for Virginia, their backups seem to have gone missing, too. Uhoh :("

The note demands $10 million within seven days, but it does not say from what date the count began. Hackers apparently infiltrated the health professions' computers last Thursday.

M.A. Myers, a spokesman for the Richmond office of the FBI, confirmed late today that an investigation has begun but declined to provide specifics. He said the FBI received a referral from the Virginia Information Technologies Agency.

The ransom-note writer said if the money isn't paid in seven days, "I'll go ahead and put this baby out on the market and accept the highest bid."

If the prescription data can't be sold, the writer says, then "at the very least I can find a buyer for the personal data" -- which the note says includes names, ages, Social Security numbers and driver's license numbers.

Alleged hacker demands $10 mil for Va medical records | Richmond Times-Dispatch

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It’s Raining Medical Records…They’re Blowing in the Wind

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Laptop Theft Affects 14,380 Patients – Security Breach Medical Records with Stolen Computer

More Lost Medical Records

Express Scripts offers $1 million award to nab extortionist in data breach case

Keeping Private Health Data Private - "Inadvertent Disclosures" with Peer to Peer Networks

Healthcare Workers Sharing Music and they could also be sharing Medical Records and Files

Medical records turn up online – MRecord transcription services

Express Scripts offers $1 million award to nab extortionist in data breach case

Technorati Tags: medical records,breaches,Virginia,hacker,healthcare,FBI,Security,Data

This is one of those “revenge” stories that really should not have taken place, but all too often when an IT employee either leaves or is dismissed, there are still avenues for access, such as this one tried to find.

She broke in remotely and from home and even tried to erase the audit trails, which we all kind of know today leaves a trail of it’s own.  Again, not knowing how sophisticated the system was, it’s hard to comment much beyond this.  One more item, how about the organ donor information to help those who are in need, did she somewhat forget the organization was in the business of saving lives, or was she too self contained and angry to give that a second thought.  BD  

May 1, 2009 (IDG News Service) The former IT director for a nonprofit organ and tissue donation center pleaded guilty to a charge that she broke into the organization's computer network and deleted organ donation database records, invoice files, and database and accounting software, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said.

Danielle Duann, 51, pleaded guilty Thursday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas to a charge related to illegally accessing the computer network of LifeGift Organ Donation Center in Houston. Duann was indicted in June on one count of causing damage to a protected computer.

LifeGift is the sole provider of organ procurement services for more than 200 hospitals in parts of Texas, the DOJ said.

IT director pleads guilty to deleting organ donation records

Technorati Tags: Health IT,Organ Donations,non profit,Texas,hospitals,healthcare,database,breaches

This a nice video with music showing how PowerChart works.  Nice job on the music, not boring at all, from Stanford.  It does a nice job showing how part of the chart use drag and drop capabilities.  This is how it works from the bedside.  BD 

The potential of MPages within Cerner PowerChart, as demonstrated by Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford. Compare LPCH's original Rounds tab with the new and improved tab featuring AJAX data loading, an iGoogle style drag & drop layout, and auto-login links to external resources. A single click on the icon for Bedside Monitor takes us directly from the patient's chart to their waveforms in real time.

Source: 

http://histalk2.com

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Technorati Tags: Cerner,medcal records,EHR,healthcare,electronic medical records,Stanford,PowerChart,hospital

It appears this is another solution for physicians to look at cost as it is business intelligence.  Although the AMA had this to say on the topic:

“Cohen also warns against paying for data from a source that isn't entirely transparent. Like many smaller health plans, some physician practices relied on data from the UnitedHealth Group subsidiary Ingenix.

Physicians paid Ingenix for the same data as a way to benchmark their own fee schedules. Unfortunately, as New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office found in its investigation, the fees in the Ingenix database tended to be lower than the true "usual and customary" charges. Cuomo alleged that the insurers used a "closed loop" system to shortchange out-of-network physicians, feeding skewed charge data into the database to undercut what the same companies would turn around and cite as the basis for payments to out-of-network doctors.”

Would you trust them?  They are a subsidiary of United Healthcare and the related comments below contain some history on the data base that was determined to be not accurate and led to many issues with both physicians and patients as far as cost.  The lawsuits are still continuing with other states joining in.  As the AMA stated, there may be a lack of true transparency here.  Patients received balance billings and doctors were short changed on the fees. 

UnitedHealth Executive testified at the Senate – Rockefeller was not very satisfied

The Ingenix Inquisition – Hearing Requested by Senator Rockefeller

From the Senate hearings the reports are not all back yet.  Sutter signed a 5 year contract.  BD 

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn., – April 30, 2009 – Ingenix, a leader in health information solutions, today announced that Sutter Connect, a Sutter Health affiliate and health care management and administrative services company, has signed a five-year contract for Ingenix Impact Intelligence™ and services from Ingenix Consulting. Through the agreement, Sutter Connect will offer physicians in the Sutter Medical Network access to performance metrics and services they can use to measure and improve medical care and delivery.

By selecting Ingenix, Sutter Connect will implement solutions and services that enable its physicians to:

• Measure health care delivery against best practices and evidence-based medicine to understand key drivers of efficiency and effectiveness and to recognize high performance
• Assess care delivery resources using a comprehensive, clinically-based approach to identify unique medical conditions for a patient and grouping all related services into episodes of care
• Facilitate strategic planning efforts by identifying “total costs” and “total utilization” for different types of services (e.g., inpatient, outpatient, pharmacy, lab, radiology)
• Improve quality of care by identifying high-risk patients and initiating condition management (including disease management) efforts accordingly
• Identify disease categories that require additional management efforts

Ingenix and Sutter Connect Collaborate to Implement Performance and Quality Measures

Source: 

http://histalk2.com

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Is This a Case for a New Law – Illegal Algorithms? How Do You Sleep at Night Rockefeller asked the CEO of United Health Care

Texas Joining the Ingenix Inquisition with Introducing Bill for New Penal Codes – Fraud Against Practitioners

Doctors fight balance-billing ban on out-of-network costs to survive

Texas Joining the Ingenix Inquisition with Introducing Bill for New Penal Codes – Fraud Against Practitioners

The AMA and the California Medical Association file legal suit – WellPoint and Ingenix

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The Ingenix Inquisition – Hearing Requested by Senator Rockefeller

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Prescriptions risk score used to deny health insurance

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Technorati Tags: Ingenix,health insurance,legislation,Penal Code,Fraud Against Practitioners,database mining,algorithms,formulas,balance billing,Texas,Rockefeller,United HealthCare,Sutter