92648

Don't Drink Alcohol? You Have the Higher Risk of Depression – Study and Survey

8/28/2009 04:53:00 PM  ,  

This is the best research I have seen in a long time!  It is even in the journal “Addiction”.  Of course excessive drinking as we all know does not help your health, but if you stay within guidelines you are less apt to be depressed, so bring on the martinis, only one or two please.image

It continues on to say too that those who are abstinent could also develop signs or personality traits associated with mental illness, so one more potential reason to have a drink here and there, maybe?  Well I certainly don’t want to be depressed and I’m going to do my part, how about you (grin).  We talk about preventative medicine and lifestyle and perhaps this is one more missing piece of the puzzle.  It makes a great post too!  BD

Researchers writing in, ironically, the journal Addiction have associated abstaining from alcohol with an increased risk of depression.
Doesn't make sense, right?   Excessive alcohol consumption has been linked to poor physical and mental health but they cite evidence saying that levels of alcohol consumption that are too low may also be associated with poor mental health possibly - obviously, abstainers may have other issues or even be reformed heavy drinkers.

Those individuals who additionally labeled themselves as "abstainers" were at the highest risk of depression. Age, physical health problems, number of close friends or other factors can  explain some, but not all of this increased risk, they write. The authors also had access to reported levels of alcohol consumption 10 years prior to the main survey. This showed that fourteen percent of current abstainers had previously been heavy drinkers, but this did not explain all of the increased risk of depression amongst abstainers.

The authors conclude that in societies where some use of alcohol is the norm, abstinence may be associated with being socially marginalized or particular personality traits that may also be associated with mental illness.

Don't Drink Alcohol? You're More Likely To Be Depressed, Says Study

Read More

HealthCare Reform is a World of the Unknown – And the Same Can be Said For No Reform

8/28/2009 12:25:00 PM  , ,  

I think this CEO of this small hospital system summed it up quite well, and in my own opinion, we need those Algorithmic Centric Laws as nobody really knows how they will be interpreted…

UNLESS and UNTIL….image

The computer code spells it out as 1000 pages of text doesn’t do much other than make a lot of money for attorneys anymore who try to figure out which and what algorithms apply, ask an office that specializes in this, they can tell you what they investigate and what they do.  So why do we not spell this out in logic terms and have correct and certified algorithms in the first place, unless we like killing time and wasting the time of others. 

We don’t live in the 70s where a text driven document says it all anymore and the algorithms say it and do the work.  If we spell out the algorithms at the start it would even cut short the amount of time the legal process has to go through as it would be spelled out and it would be open source for all to see how the formulas are run, instead of the deep dark hole we live in today with “propriety algorithms” that make a lot of money off of transactions when we could do it first hand, and yes there would be “algorithm updates”, as that’s just the world we live in, but just like Windows updates they could be easily distributed. 

“Department of Algorithms – Do We Need One of These to Regulate Upcoming Laws?
Are We Ever Going to Get Some Algorithm Centric Laws Passed for Healthcare!

The post post above  makes a very close comparison to the money making algorithms of Goldman and what is used in healthcare, worth the read and learn what potentially fraudulent algorithms or computer code is all about.  In the meantime we all sit waiting for a Congress to stop the meaningless talks and get logical to give us some real figures and information we can listen to and work with, as right now their lack of education and hands on experience with even some of the most simple matters is holding up the entire country.  We would like to see educational and literate action and not another series of Town Halls videos that hurt people and have little or no effect other than running up news ratings.  I will keep saying that learning needs to start at the top and again, not to beat a dead horse, that that “dud” town hall meeting this week really cinched it for me as far as seeing the big white elephant.  BD 

Goldman Stolen Code – Has Algorithmic Fraud Become A Business Model in HealthCare Too?

AUSTIN -- Charles J. Barnett's fears about a federal health-care overhaul are outrunning his hopes.

From his perch as the chief executive of a nonprofit hospital network that draws patients from 11 counties in Central Texas, Barnett sees plenty of problems in desperate need of fixing, especially in a state with a higher proportion of uninsured -- nearly one in four -- than any in the country. He has hopes for reform, particularly a larger pool of insured customers.

But then the what-ifs take over.  Margins are so fragile in health care," Barnett said, "that small, negative, unintended consequences can have a dramatic impact."

The mere act of providing coverage to more people would produce a new order of challenges in Travis County and its surrounding jurisdictions, where experts say doctors are in increasingly short supply. One in 10 Medicare patients already reports trouble finding a doctor and Seton projects a shortage of 2,900 physicians in the 11-county region by 2020, even without adding people with new coverage.

Hospital Executive Worries About 'What-Ifs' of Health-Care Reform - washingtonpost.com

Read More

Quicken for health benefits Discussed Again – Where Will the Education and Participation Come From?

8/28/2009 11:43:00 AM  , ,  

First of all I am not picking on Quicken Health here as I understand the process of the programmatic algorithms used in conjunction with insurers and personal health records and this is a huge learning curve.  So huge, that I want to make a point of educating our leaders and all of US citizens on the changes in healthcare. 

UnitedHealthcare To Offer Quicken Health Expense Tracker to 700,000 Employer Health Plan Enrollees

Cigna to Offer Quicken Health Expense Tracker, United HealthCare in Beta – Easily Identify Balance Billings?

To those people who are very satisfied with your health insurance, how much have you used the plan and maybe even more importantly, how much have you used any of their technology solutions????   Big blank here???  If you do use the technology solutions you would be aware of the rapid changes taking place. 

It is difficult for me to help many when this is in fact “way over their head”.  Now I’m not talking just citizens and would like to once again make reference to the “dud” Town Hall meeting I attended this week by accident.  I say by accident as there was no prior notification and the phone just rang and said something to the tune of “Honey I’m Home, drop what you are doing and bring my cold beer” type of connotation.  This is reality and not what is seen on the internet, at least in my tiny corner of the OC, where we use new technology and yet still live in the 70s. 

If I had the chance to speak, well who knows what could have transpired.  Over all it was an amazing day in California, our very tech Governor visits Twitter and I get a Town Hall Meeting out of the 70s in the OC.  If you read the post, I have clearly given recognition too for those Congressmen who are using technology and I feel are perhaps a bit more in touch and are learning and making efforts. 

My Dud Telephone Town Hall Meeting from the 70s in the OC – HealthCare Was Primary Focus

When it comes to code and computer algorithms, there must be a lot of interest in this stuff as HHS had to turn folks away over the overwhelming response. 

image

The point of my rant here is to bring up education and the fact that we have people at so many levels on the learning curve, Congressmen from the 70s included, and if they are not using a PHR yet for healthcare information, how in the world are they going to learn how to use Quicken Health?  Do we need some big baby steps here and some basic PHR Training at all levels if we expect everyone to use them?   We had to learn how to use Windows before we could use Office type of analogy here.  We need some congressional algorithms here.  I know Intuit reads here so I hope I have not said anything in a negative fashion about the software, it’s just the the educational needs are huge and we need participation and education to benefit from using software.  BD

If you have health coverage, perhaps you've received that ominous-looking piece of mail from the insurance provider that declares: "This is not a bill," but looks a lot like one.

It’s called an "explanation of benefits." But the correspondence doesn’t seem to offer much of an explanation to anyone who lacks a medical degree or background as a company benefits manager.

Quicken for health benefits? - Fortune Brainstorm Tech

Related Reading:

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

Cigna to Offer Quicken Health Expense Tracker, United HealthCare in Beta – Easily Identify Balance Billings?

Read More

IBM Files Patent For A TV Remote That Tweets

8/28/2009 11:04:00 AM  , ,  

Interesting that IBM is looking to create some monetary action potentially here with a Twitter Remote.  This is just at the patent stage and if you image want more details, use the link below to read up at Tech Crunch.  Gee, everyone can walk around with their own Twitter remote soon, and just think how convenient it will be to Twitter from the OR or even the ER (grin, little satire here) just turn on the TV.  I am a big fan of Twitter but not sure if I want a remote 24/7 though as sometimes I like to escape Twitter World for a few hours or so and the remote might just do me in.  Psych drugs though could see an influx though as perhaps a new disease could be created with the addiction, “The Twitter Jitters” and we could have a pill for that too! (this is humor and don’t take this seriously unless you intend to create a disease that requires treatment). 

USA Today Talks About Twitter for HealthCare – Focus on TrialX to Locate Clinical Trials

Who’s next on the remote list, Facebook, well I guess they need to talk to IBM too.  BD  

 image

Slouchers on Twitter (you know who you are), take note: IBM is apparently working on technology that would enable you to blog or tweet straight from the remote control of your TV. The company has filed a patent for said technology with the USPTO, reports BaltTech.

According to the patent filing, the remote would even allow a viewer to not only communicate with a blogging service but also display responses to and from other bloggers with whom the viewer is communicating. That’s right, that means your buddies could be sending you an @reply or direct message with their opinions on the show (and the actress) and you’d be able to view the responses simply by using that super remote of yours.

IBM Files Patent For Geek Couch Potato Dream: A TV Remote That Tweets

Read More

Low Adherence for taking Medications – Its Those “Bad” Patients and “Bad” Doctors Again…

8/28/2009 10:12:00 AM  , ,  

I just also read where UnitedHealthCare is going to offer a $20.00 discount today too on some of the higher priced drugs to encourage patients to take their meds. 

Well, with the stance of the FDA today on so many different drugs and information that is coming out, perhaps some consumers are doing theirimage homework first to make sure the drug is ok for them to take.  This is where medical records can be a big help in running the queries to see if in fact you may or may not be at risk with taking certain medications.  In the meantime, we have the reports that “bad” patients are not doing their part.

Is it money we want or good health?  At one time Aetna even had a “take your pill” lottery pilot program and I don’t know the latest on how it worked or if it did work.  

I’ll make one statement here for all of use patients:   Get us credible information on the drugs we take and let the informed patient work with their doctor to make these decisions.  We want to know if what takes care of our blood pressure today or cholesterol is going to choke out our liver in a few years for one.  Patients want to get treatment, but we also want to know every bit about the treatment and the cure, and with all the unknowns today in some areas, this is hard.  We want to know that the cure is not going to be worse than the condition, and number 2, we want to know that we can afford it! 

So, in short, let’s get the doctor/patient relationship back in hand here as that is the key, teamwork without everyone else butting in to make judgment on what is right and what is wrong. 

Give the doctors and the patients a break and quit categorizing us as “bad doctors” and “bad patients”, it’s getting to be a big annoyance and is very counter productive toward achieving better healthcare.  BD 

WOONSOCKET, R.I. (Aug. 27) More than 50% of adults under the age of 45 who are prescribed a medication to treat high cholesterol are not taking their medication as prescribed, according to the findings of a study released Thursday by CVS Caremark.

In fact, the study found that 58% of adults between the ages of 18 and 34 are not taking their cholesterol-lowering medications as prescribed.

The study examined adherence to cholesterol-lowering medications by evaluating de-identified data for more than 74,000 adult patients from the CVS Caremark Health Management Claims Database who incurred claims from a cholesterol-lowering medication between Jan. 1, 2008 and Dec. 31, 2008.

CVS Caremark study notes lack of adherence to cholesterol-lowering medications - Drug Store News

Read More

Cardiologists and Oncologists on the Brink with Healthcare Reform – Many State They Will Close Up Shop

8/28/2009 09:41:00 AM  , ,  

This comes right back around to how doctors are paid with our fee for service arrangement.  These folks have families and bills to pay like the rest of us and if you put yourself in their shoes you might be feeling a bit of the same with going into an “unknown” area of compensation.  Algorithms are complicated today to determine everything related to healthcare. 

Some of most innovative areas of healthcare research and treatment though are coming from these same fields, cardiology and oncology and we need them to administer the treatment plans for cancer for one, and we need the cardiologist to work with us and development better lifestyles and imagetreatments for our hearts.  Oncologists have to pay upfront for the chemotherapy medications they keep on hand and sometimes there’s issues with compensation, many have even gone the route of paying out of pocket on some of expenses to take care of patients.  I chat with a physician who used to practice oncology and he gave it up a few years ago due to lack of compensation and turned himself into a family practice doctor.  He cited compensation and time and money for his reason to change so the trend is there and now he struggles with joining numerous HMOs for compensation and realizes he gets the “cherry picked” patients from the insurance companies but he did the math and found out that’s where he could do the best.  He’s not heartless by any means here and feels bad that he had to make these decisions as it wears on the patient/physician relationship, but it was just a matter of the system and the way he gets paid.  I do have to say this is the first time that I have heard any one physician be as descriptive, a good thing in a way as he is telling it like it is.

The “cherry picked” patients don’t take up as much of his time and he can see more this way.  The problem though is where does this leave everyone else as all doctors can’t rely on “cherry picked” patients by any means and provide good health care. 

The role of the cardiologist is changing rapidly too with technology as we have medical devices coming on the scene that help him/her and you the patient bring together treatment plans along with lifestyle.  We need those folks too, again as mentioned some of the most innovative technologies are being introduced and practiced in both fields. 

Both fields also have issues with health insurance reimbursements, I hear this first hand all the time, so we can’t ignore that fact and pretend it doesn’t exist, although at my Town Hall meeting this week, insurance reimbursement and issues were left wide out on the table with not much more said than “we are working on it” so I can’t even reiterate any potential solutions from what I heard. 

Granted, primary care needs money and are far underpaid in many areas, and they have taken their hit for the last few years and are the gateway to the specialists, but what do they do when the specialists are not there?   This is a big job to tackle and one issue rolls over into another area, so to put bandaids out there to fix one area and not do the other is futile too.  It all comes down to money and if the physicians were assured of income, well I bet we wouldn’t be having this conversation.   Technology can help in some areas, but the overall package of compensation needs a major overhaul so the doctors can figure out how they can pay their bills before we have the same thing with bankruptcies affecting doctors like what is happening to patients right now.  BD

Aug. 28 (Bloomberg) -- An Obama administration plan to cut Medicare payments to heart and cancer doctors by $1.4 billion next year is generating a backlash that’s undermining the president’s health-care overhaul.

While President Barack Obama and members of Congress have spent August debating health insurance and medical costs at public forums, specialists are waging what one advocate calls a “tooth and nail” fight against a separate initiative to boost the pay of family doctors, and cut fees for cardiologists and oncologists. The specialists, in newspaper columns and meetings with lawmakers, say patients will lose access to life-saving care, from pacemakers to chemotherapy.

“A fair number of cardiologists are looking at the accounting and saying ‘we can’t afford it,’” Bove said in a telephone interview.

Some oncologists in rural areas may stop offering chemotherapy in the office, forcing patients to travel to more- distant hospitals, said Allen S. Lichter, 63, CEO of the 27,000- member American Society of Clinical Oncology in Alexandria, Virginia.

If the proposal stands, “the bottom line is I’m going to close the office,” he said. “This is impossible for me to survive. If my partners and I don’t get a salary and run it for free, maybe then we can survive.”

Average total compensation for family doctors ranged from $150,763 to $204,370 a year, according to a 2008 survey by Modern Healthcare magazine. Cardiologists fetched from $332,900 to $561,875. Radiation oncologists, cancer doctors who specialize in radiation therapy, earned $357,000 to $463,293.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=apv3pcTOWVjk

Read More

Social Security Administration Linking Data with Microsoft HealthVault

8/28/2009 08:47:00 AM  , , ,  

If you are a regular reader here, I have been keeping up on the progress with Social Security and personal health records and now we are down to imagehaving a prototype linking the 2 together.  The main focus here has been for disability benefits.  Beth Israel Deaconess in Boston has had a pilot program ongoing for close to a year now with the exchange of healthcare data.  You can find more information under the related reading links below.

Social Security likes PHRs too – wanting to work with EMR and PHR software with pilot program

I have my 85 year old mother setup with HealthVault and I help her out and we work together on placing information in her account, to include her advanced directive and this is really helpful being we are geographically separated with me in California and her in Arizona.  It’s nice to have this digitally stored in case I need access should anything happen.  With disability claims this will speed up the process of getting information into the files and maybe even expedite the process.  In other related items Social Security is updating their data system to a more modern system before capacity is an issue with their current COBOL system. 

Social Security begins taking online applications – Available now

We are back to the algorithms that make this process happen, it’s all about software and getting collaborated and aggregated data where it needs to be.  BD 

The Social Security Administration is linking up with Microsoft to investigate ways that the software giant’s HealthVault personal health imagerecord could be used to speed the SSA’s disability benefits process.

A technical prototype linking the two organizations’ services is expected to be available later this year. The SSA said it will also collaborate with Microsoft on the study of current personal health records standards, and how any gaps in those standards could be bridged.

SSA has been working since earlier last year with both the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and the Cleveland Clinic on pilot programs for doing just that. It’s also been working with two health information exchanges, the North Carolina Healthcare Information and Communications Alliance and MedVirginia, on ways to use the Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN) for records retrieval.

Government Health IT

Related Reading:

Social Security budgets 24 Million for EHRs

Social Security likes PHRs too – wanting to work with EMR and PHR software with pilot program

EHRs go beyond treatment – Social Security Pilot Program with Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Boston

Social Security Disability - New Debit Card, Going Paperless
Social Security makes business case for interoperable EHRs with MedVirginia
New Data Center for Social Security as they face running short of space – Stimulus Funds

Read More

New CPT Codes - Billing Codes for Robot and Home Monitoring Services - Telemedicine

8/27/2009 09:14:00 PM  , ,  

 That’s right, CPT Codes for Robots in the patient home, so all we need now are patients who have the robots (grin).  This is a further expansion of imagetelehealth.  These are for use in billing Medicare and Medicaid.  We have seen the robots used in hospitals that allow physicians to telecommute and this is the next step, in to the patient home.  The military even developed an all terrain robot for healthcare.  Unlike the ones in use at the hospitals, these do not appear to need a joy stick as they are “smarter” and made to be a companion in the home as well. 

Do you need to talk to your patient, send the robot in as it appears to be fully equipped and bill for it.   The video below is somewhat humorous in the fact that it reminds grandma to watch Jeopardy too.   The robot will carry bedpans around if needed and has a built in Blood Pressure monitor, Pulse monitor, or Oxygen if needed.  It appears now you will be able to bill for “robot time” as well as other telemedicine services that appear to be all tied into the code structure.  No word yet on the dollar amounts connected to the codes yet. 

How long before the CareBot talks to HealthVault too?  I had to add this in with all the other medical devices that now connect, so why not the robot too.  There are additional home monitoring devices included with the new batch of CPT Codes, such as items from Phillips, G.E. etc.  BD 

“The new CPT On-Line Service Codes allow payments to the physician such that a consumer can e-mail messages to a physician and/or they can receive payment for their review of medical information sent via a "home monitoring medical device."

“The Company's Mobile Security Robots (MSRs) augmented for Telemedicine allow health professionals and medical experts to remotely consult with patients and health care providers giving vital, cost effective, confidential medical services to virtually any location, rural or urban, national or international.   Using high quality cameras and data transfer, medical data, radiological images, sounds and patient records can be transferred from one site to another permitting physicians to consult with colleagues and specialized experts despite geographical separation.”

New Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes recently approved, for physicians only, will further enhance the cost/benefit ratios of personal companion robots for family care. 

These new CPT codes will increase physician productivity and revenue by billing for activities that have previously been considered unpaid administrative time for non-physical consultations such as telephonic or on-line consumer care using home monitoring medical devices. GeckoSystems is a dynamic leader in the emerging Mobile Service Robot (MSR) industry revolutionizing their development and usage with "Mobile Robot Solutions for Safety, Security and Service(TM)."

"The new Medicare/Medicaid payments for physicians' usage of home monitoring medical devices will cover multitasking, upgradeable personal companion robots such as the CareBot due to the cost effective, robust, and efficient coverage readily available with minimum modifications to the home itself other than the comparatively simple installation of WiFi coverage.

image

Wall Street News Alert: Hot Stock to Watch: GeckoSystems Intl. - August 27, 2009 | PHP Developer's Journal

Related Reading:

Military is Using Robotic Doctors too

Robots at Work in Orange County Hospitals – California
All Terrain Medical robot in development for the battlefield
Robodoc' coming to a hospital near you
Remote-Presence Robot Attends Patients at Ryder Trauma Center
Doctor monitoring via robot effective
Johns Hopkins demonstrates Robo Doc...
Remote-Presence Robot Attends Patients at Ryder Trauma Center
How technology is helping hospitals - UK
Doctor monitoring via robot effective
Johns Hopkins demonstrates Robo Doc...

Read More

The Genomic Test for BRACAnalysis (Breast Cancer) To Be Scrutinized by United Health Care

8/27/2009 08:29:00 PM  ,  

This is kind of a set back for women to find out if they have the potential of developing breast cancer, although it is not ruled out, the insurance company is starting a new procedure to having prior notification sent to their offices so they can monitor which patients are having the genomic blood test done.  United stated they may also contact the provider office to get additional information before an approval process takes place. image

The test costs $3000.00 and a spokesperson at United stated that 80% of the women being tested, should not be.  It appears if you can’t substantiate the test (and again I’m not sure how that is really done and what algorithmic formula would be used) you are on your own ticket to have to the test to see if you are more likely to develop breast or ovarian cancer.  Hopefully soon we may have a partial answer with complete sequencing taking place some day. 

Anyway, if you are covered by United you might be in for some more red tape to have the test covered and the articles says they will offer you genetic counseling.  It appears that having that upfront knowledge and having your carrier pay for the information that we thought was so great to know for early protection is suffering in the reigns and the availability to have the blood test may get a lot tougher.  BD 

United Healthcare is requiring that Myriad Genetics first inform the insurer before testing policy holders on its BRACAnalysis test to establish their hereditary genetic risk for breast and ovarian cancer.

"During the current difficult economic environment, United Healthcare recently instituted a prior notification requirement for BRACAnalysis," Gregory Critchfield, president of Myriad Genetics Laboratories, told analysts and investors during an earnings call this week. "We have been working very closely with United Healthcare to assist physicians [with regard to] UHC's prior notification policy."

By instituting a prior notification policy and placing Myriad in charge of determining which patients get tested, United Healthcare can monitor more closely which of its policy holders are receiving testing on BRACAnalysis. This type of strategy suggests that in the future, if United Healthcare finds that too many women are being unnecessarily tested on BRCA testing, the insurer may renegotiate its contract with Myriad.

In a July bulletin, United Healthcare informed Myriad that as of Aug. 16, the company must record and submit for verification the information required to assess a patient's genetic risk for the BRCA mutation and to make a coverage determination.

United Healthcare Issues Prior Notification Requirement for Myriad's BRACAnalysis Test | Pharmacogenomics Reporter | DxPGx | GenomeWeb

Related Reading:

Are We Ever Going to Get Some Algorithm Centric Laws Passed for Healthcare!
Brave New Films – “United Wealth Care” – It’s In the Algorithms
How Wall Street Lied to Its Computers – Software and Programming
Health Care Insurers Suggest Algorithms and Business Intelligence solutions to provide health insurance solution

Read More

MelaFind Medical Device for Detecting Melanoma Skin Cancer Awaiting FDA Decision

8/27/2009 08:15:00 PM  ,  

 image In clinical trials the device was 2.5 times more accurate than the dermatologist in detected skin cancer in just under 2000 cases.  The intention with the device is to also rule out having as many biopsies if in fact the cancer is detected by the “gun” type device.   The article states that for every 30-50 biopsies sent in, one comes back positive. 

With the use of the device estimates are that the number of biopsies conducted relative to actual cases of melanoma found could lower from the number above to one for every 7 sent in.  BD 

ONE OF THE MOST CRITICAL decisions a dermatologist can make is whether a mark on a patient's skin might be melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. Until now, doctors have been forced to rely largely on their own vision, sometimes aided by a dermascope — a hand-held magnifying glass with a light to illuminate the skin area — to decide whether a spot or wart merits a biopsy. It involves a lot of guesswork — and untold numbers of unnecessary biopsies.

image

A small Irvington, N.Y.-based medical device maker may have a better approach. Electro-Optical Sciences (ticker: MELA) has developed a computer-assisted device, currently under expedited review by the Food and Drug Administration, that could revolutionize the way doctors screen patients for cancer.

image

The device, called MelaFind, consists of a hand-held imaging "gun" that emits 10 different wavelengths of light to capture images of suspect pigmented skin lesions. Because MelaFind can see where the clinician cannot — up to 2.5 millimeters below the skin's surface — it is expected to help catch melanomas much earlier, without the need for as many biopsies, which is good news for most patients fearful about body scarring from the procedure.

Taking Aim at Skin Cancer | Ethiopian News

Related Reading:

Tanning Beds Received the Kiss of Death Today

Tasmanian devils threatened by contagious skin cancer

Skin cancer drug smoothes wrinkles - Study

New Potential Drug to Treat advanced Melanoma

Physicians and Education are the Key to early Melanoma Detection
Melanoma Drug Fails – Small Biotech Company Cancer Drug Research Halted
Skin Cancer and Sun Screens – The Dilemma
The Danny Fund – Research and Development To Find the cure for Melanoma
Melanoma Bracelet protects you from harmful UV rays
Melanoma Trial canceled – not effective
Advanced melanoma - new treatment

Read More

Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma Cuts 600-900 Drug Reps

8/27/2009 07:47:00 PM  ,  

Say farewell to your Flomax sales rep.  It appears this was a quick decision, even though earnings were up a bit, but drugs coming off patent seem to be at the root of the layoffs.  The company is headquartered in Germany with US offices in Connecticut.  BD

Boehringer Ingelheim will ax between 600 and 900 pharmaceutical sales reps as the company heads over a generic cliff in 2010, according to Pharmagossip and CafePharma. Pharmagossip reported that “600 or more” reps got the ax in a Tuesday morning phone call.image

That math means about 942 reps will be laid off. BI’s Q2 2009 earnings release hints at the reasons (in not-great English):

Due to important patent expiries, for instance for the drug Flomax® in the USA, Boehringer Ingelheim in 2010 is likely to see virtually no significant growth after ten years.

Boehringer Ingelheim Axes 600-900 Drug Sales Reps | BNET Pharma Blog | BNET

Read More

Like A Surgeon – 2 Funny Videos

8/27/2009 07:19:00 PM    

We have the Weird Al Version first…

And the Scrubs Version here…

Somebody was looking for these so they are both good for a repost together as they are were back in the archives here too.  I get the strangest emails at times and now I know why folks really read this blog (grin).  BD 

Read More

Glenn Beck “I Was A Dirtbag”?

8/27/2009 01:50:00 PM  ,  

In this video he states he is a “recovering alcoholic” which is commendable but where’s the “Serenity Prayer”?  Those are words of wisdom for everyone not just alcoholics and those recovering.  By today’s standards we are all in recovery of some sort today, trying to make sense with what we can and cannot control, and wisdom today to know the difference is a challenge, but Glenn still appears to be pretty angry, and maybe in time some of that will subside too.  BD 

Fox News Channel’s Glenn Beck staged a semi-religious rant Wednesday in which he appeared to address the boycott that has cost him dozens of advertisers, claiming that even if his enemies win, “I will only be stronger for it.”

Glenn Beck Addresses Ad Boycott: "They Can Take My Job!"; Channels Howard Beale From "Network" | BNET Advertising Blog | BNET

Related Reading:

Fox Running Ads to Find New Advertisers for Glen Beck Show – Dumped by Wal-Mart and Others

Glenn Beck on Hospitals and Healthcare from January 2008 Revisited

Read More

Human Services Overwhelmed by interest in the Inaugural "Code-A-Thon” - Update

8/27/2009 01:24:00 PM  , ,  

This is a good thing as there is big interest in writing the “open source” code to allow other government agencies and outside industry connect to the Nationwide Health Information Network.  The other day I spoke about a Department of Algorithms, and this could be just the area whereby a Healthcare Department of Algorithms could fit.  If industry is going to connect to use and provide data to a national health it system, we are going to want audit trails and have the capability to check the accuracy of the transactions that take place.  This is one spot where proprietary code may not fit and transparency is needed to allow keeping costs of healthcare accurately reported and analyzed, without the middle ware folks taking a chunk when it is not necessary.  

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

The registration was closed after 130 people registered.  BD 

HHS Sponsoring a “Code-A-Thon” to improve the CONNECT Gateway – Health Information Exchange

The Department of Health and Human Services was so overwhelmed by interest in the inaugural "Code-A-Thon" for its open source Connect health information gateway on Thursday that event organizers had to close registration for lack of room.

image

Organizers originally expected only 50 developers would show up at the D.C. event aimed at growing the community that will work to extend the Connect system, but had to close registration after about 130 people registered within the first three days. The next event will likely make room for more coders.image

Connect is a software suite that lets industry and federal agencies connect their health IT systems to the Nationwide Health Information Network, which is currently under development as a centerpiece of the Obama administration's heath IT initiative. It includes a gateway, an enterprise service component and a client framework for development of end-user applications.

Federal Health IT Coding Event Draws Developers -- Government Health IT -- InformationWeek

Read More

MONEY-DRIVEN MEDICINE – The Movie (Official Trailer)

8/26/2009 07:34:00 PM  ,  

The official website of the documentary movie can be found here.   I have not seen the movie myself yet but look forward to watching, as from what shows on the internet, it appears to pick up and intelligently expand beyond the initial issues that Sicko brought to our attention.   image

One quote from the film states that we don’t necessarily have “better” care but rather we have “more” care.  Another quote, “there’s an enormous amount of money to be made from healthcare and a lot of people who know how to get at it”.   I find this also interesting as there has been no big fanfare and advertising, just a movie created to make a point and create an awareness. 

What makes the movie compelling is that the movie listens not only to patients, but doctors as well.  The healthcare process pays for “doing things” to people instead of helping insure they get well.  The director Alex Gibney,talks and states that the control of healthcare should go back in the hands of the patients and the doctors and not driven by the insurance companies. 

A digital rental is available from Newsreel.org/Amazon after August 28 for $2.99.  Bill Moyer will be featuring this on PBS and you can check the Journal for local times, in the Los Angeles area the first showing is at Friday, August 28th at 9 p.m. on KCET.  BD

You can also watch this clip from ABC News about the movie:

Money Driven Medicine from ABC Nightline

Information on how to view the movie below:

DVDs of Money-Driven Medicine can be purchased now for institutional use at www.newsreel.org or by calling 877-811-7495.  Home use DVDs are not offered.

Digital rental for home use will be available at Newsreel.org/Amazon after August 28 for $2.99.

Next week on BILL MOYERS JOURNAL, the film MONEY-DRIVEN MEDICINE reveals how a profit-hungry medical-industrial complex has turned health care into a system that squanders millions of dollars on unnecessary tests, unproven and sometimes unwanted procedures and overpriced prescription drugs. Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney has teamed up with producers Peter Bull, Chris Matonti, and director Andy Fredericks to produce a film based on Maggie Mahar's powerful book MONEY-DRIVEN MEDICINE.

“Maggie Mahar is the award-winning journalist whose acclaimed book, Money-Driven Medicine, inspired the documentary.  Maggie has worked for Institutional Investor, Barrons, The New York Times and Bloomberg News Service and is presently a healthcare fellow at the Century Foundation.

Read Maggie Mahar's Healthbeat blog:
http://www.healthbeatblog.org/
for the most up-to-date coverage of breaking news and opinion about healthcare reform”

Bill Moyers Journal . Preview: MONEY-DRIVEN MEDICINE | PBS

Read More

Johnson & Johnson Consolidates Management Structure to 3 Operating Committees

8/26/2009 06:51:00 PM  ,  

Gone is the Office of Strategy and Growth which was not that old.  Generic competition with Risperdal and Topamax may also account for some revenue loss as it usually does for any pharmaceutical company when drugs come off patent.  So far there have not been any layoff notices appear in the news and the article stated that consumer products and awareness will continue, but under another committee instead of under the now dissolving comprehensive care unit that is part of the reorganization structure.  BD

Health-care giant Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) is consolidating its management structure by eliminating a committee that oversaw J&J's so-called comprehensive- care businesses, which market diabetes-care, vision-care and heart-treatment products.

The businesses will be transferred to other J&J operating committees, J&J spokesman Bill Price said Wednesday, confirming details the company told employees on Friday. J&J's remaining group operating committees are pharmaceuticals, consumer and surgical care. The Associated Press reported the moves earlier Wednesday.

Donald Casey, worldwide chairman of comprehensive care, will work with top J&J management to help transfer the businesses to other operating committees. " Announcements about Don's future role, and other personnel and organizational announcements, will be made on an ongoing basis as this transition planning progresses over the next several weeks," Price said.

Johnson & Johnson Consolidates Management Structure

Related Reading:

Gastric Bands Videos on You Tube – Ethicon Division of Johnson and Johnson Has Spent over 15 Million to Advertise

Johnson and Johnson and Abbott Labs – Battle for Intellectual Property Solved – Expensive for Abbott

Johnson and Johnson Acquiring Cougar Biotechnology – Cancer Biotech Company Los Angeles

Read More

VeriChip Is Back if You Want to Have Your Medical Records Implanted in a Chip – Will Talk with HealthVault Too

8/26/2009 06:34:00 PM  , ,  

The personal health record used with VeriMed Health Link system will be accessible through Microsoft® HealthVault.  If you decide to take the imageplunge, well you can add your records to the HealthVault.  I’ll stay with my normal HealthVault account for now.

Implantable VeriChip and Microsoft HealthVault PHR link information

Dr. Halamka at Harvard Medical is the only one I have read about who has the chip and he offers additional information at his blog, Life as a Healthcare CIO.   I have to say when it comes to offering “first hand” information on technology, healthcare devices, HIE, Health IT, he’s at the top of the list, as chances are if he’s talking about it, he’s done it, thus offers some of the best information available.  He was also one of the first 10 volunteers to participate in the Personal Human Genome project and you can read more here on that topic.

Personal Genome Project – Webisodes on How It All Came Together

Here’s a video from 2007 with Dr. Halamka, who has been chipped and talks about it.  The downside of the chip is that the hospital needs to be equipped with the device that can read it and I don’t know how many have this device.  When the chip first came out I heard a lot of mixed reactions and mine too was mixed and it appears now the move for online records with a PHR is strong, but who knows where we will be in a couple years from now.  BD 

VeriChip Corporation, a provider of RFID health care systems, announced that it is re-launching its VeriMed Health Link electronic health  records (EHR) system. VeriChip hopes to capitalize on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which authorized $23 billion in stimulus funds for health care information technology, with an emphasis on the implementation and adoption of EHRs.

RFIDNews | VeriChip re-launches VeriMed electronic health records system

Related Reading:

VeriChip Closes Sale of Subsidiary - RFID

VeriChip Looking to Sell Part or All of the Business

Do You want to be "Chipped"?

VeriChip Corporation Announces American Medical Association Recommends Implantable RFID Chips

Read More

Not a Smart Phone User Yet? Microsoft Will Have You Covered – OneApp Coming For Non Smart Phones

8/26/2009 06:32:00 PM  , ,  

It won’t be that difficult to use either, they are already using it in Africa, so hopefully we will have some real incentive here to catch up with today’s imagetechnology for those who still just use their cell phones for phone calls.  Even Facebook and Twitter are included so now there’s not excuse for not being efficient when the software is available in the US. 

I just have one question, where’s the HealthVault?  Well maybe I am ahead of myself and perhaps once OneApp is available in the US,  HealthVault will be there.  It’s also a platform so they are looking for developers too.  Will this compete with smartphones, well I don’t think so as I would not give up mine by any means as there is software and other features that I need and besides that, I like the bigger screen.  BD 

What do the iPhones and Blackberries of the world have that your run-of-the-mill mobile phones do not? In a word:  apps. In two words:  killer apps. In fact, a man was so upset about Apple's decision to not allow GoogleVoice app that he shot and burned his iPhone 3GS.
Now, Microsoft released MS OneApp to bring the premium experience of smartphones to feature phones that are often found in emerging markets. Now your average mobile phone can access such apps as Facebook, Twitter and Windows Live Messenger, vastly enhancing the user experience - with the phone you already have. Is there a catch Microsoft, what's being charged for this software?

image

How is OneApp going to work? Your average feature mobile phone does not possess the processing capabilities of a smartphone. Microsoft thought of that. From its conception, OneApp was designed enable mobile apps to be accessed by feature phones with limited memory and processing capability. OneApp will appear as one application, hence the name, to users. From the press release:  "OneApp dynamically launches just the parts of a mobile app that a person wants to use, eliminating additional installation time and the need for a person to store all of the mobile apps on the phone. OneApp includes cloud services that help offload processing and storage from the phone to the Internet, improving overall performance. OneApp uses data networks efficiently to reduce data access charges, saving money for the customer." Mark Levy, joint CEO of Blue Label Telecoms: "With a GPRS-enabled cell phone, consumers can now be part of the app experience, which is taking the world by storm. While this opens up a whole new world of opportunity for any and all users, advertisers and developers, we're particularly excited by the technology's capacity to transform nearly any cell phone into a highly sophisticated, cost-effective and user-friendly transactional device."

Microsoft's Mobile Evolution: OneApp brings smartphone functionality to cheap phones - Bright Side Of News*

Read More

My Dud Telephone Town Hall Meeting from the 70s in the OC – HealthCare Was Primary Focus

8/26/2009 06:11:00 PM  , ,  

Tonight I had the unexpected opportunity to listen to a Town Hall Meeting.  I say unexpected as there was no public announcement, just the phone rang and I was connected like hundreds of other residents to the meeting.  I missed the first portion as I was on another line finishing up a conversation before I could listen in.  Gee, we are in the 21st Century, are there not better ways to facilitate a Town Hall Meeting?  I felt like the call came from somewhere out of the 70s, you know at a time when we didn’t have all the modern technology, but 70s is what I got.  It was a dud.

This Congressional Representative needs a few lessons from Rep. John Culberson in Houston, Texas.  You know about a year ago I attended his Town Hall web meeting as a guest here in California as I wanted to see how it worked, being the healthcare technology person that I am, and he actually sent me a thank you, being a “wringer” from California.  In Orange County we are in technology’s back yard, so why the telephone?

Check out this video using QIK, which by the way I will be incorporating in the future with some posts here.  Here we have a Congressman who is NOT living in the 70s.  Shoot, even Jon Stewart gave Rep. Culberson a cameo spot on his video. 

Also, we have 2 doctors in the Senate that are using technology with answering Healthcare questions here:

The Doctors Show from The US Senate – The 2 MDs in the Senate Answer Questions

Dr. Coburn though a year ago said Congress lives in the 70s, and you can view that video here when Robert Scoble spoke with him.   

"Tech is how we get our freedom back," Senator Tom Coburn says. He wants a totally transparent government thanks to technology. We have a wide-ranging conversation about a number of topics, but he focused in on why he thinks bloggers are changing how politicians talk to their constituency.”

Ok so I live in an area that is high technology, but our Congressional Representative is a technology dud!  That scares me and I am purposely staying non partisan on this post, but I would wonder how anyone of either party would vote on issues if they are that far out of touch, and anyone who reads this blog knows where I stand anyway on healthcare.  I think our Congressional Representative here needs some schooling and help from his peers.  If I had had the chance to speak and mentioned “algorithms” would he have known what those are?  I hung up and didn’t stay for the entire call as it was so non productive.  If you talk about health insurance you certainly better know what an algorithm is as the insurance business talks about them all the time.

Mentors Still Needed

“Capitalism A Love Story” has a new Trailer Released – Where’s Our Congressional Algorithms?

In summary, very disappointing Town Hall, a dud as I said, no prior notice,just a ringing phone to connect,  no use of technology and no reference of technology either in conversation, and healthcare was the primary topic all over the place, and technology is one of the big tools to help save money with healthcare.  I felt I was back in the 70s.  BD

Read More