I always like to post items of interest that are low cost and available that perhaps you may not otherwise find. The Form Filler Plus from EZClaim is for small billing needs and will do the very basics for you. You can download a 14 day trial to give it a test run.
The filler software is for people that do not need anything except a simple, easy to use CMS-1500 form filler software (along with some reporting and payment tracking capabilities). If you are familiar with the 1500 form and perhaps even fill them out by hand now, this will help expedite matters for you and keep track of codes, etc. If you begin with the basic form filler and business grows to a larger level, then you can upgrade easily. BD
If you can’t train the physicians on how to use electronic records but want a paperless operation, I guess you do what this hospital did, hired a human to follow the doctor around and enter their information for them. The physicians have to check the information added by the “scribes” before it goes into the chart to verify for accuracy and the information they want entered. I would like a job like that one as there would be some training just by osmosis to rub off.
Dr. Crounse from Microsoft touched on the same topic today relative to the same subject. We need training all over the place. If you have never been on the front line training, well let me enlighten you a bit here, it’s not a piece of cake and everyone has their own learning curve, those are not equal. Some physicians are just unhappy from the start having to learn an electronic system and some of that goes away with time. We have the patient empowerment move in effect but have a lot of doctors that are electronically not prepared to partner with us yet.
On the same subject there are quite a few very well connected doctors too, that have patients who need to be educated in the basics as well, so the door somewhat swings both ways, but the doctors are the key element as they are the ones taking care of our health and have other pressures today as far as being cost conscious with their treatment decisions and soon will be working with some business intelligence related software as this is being implemented at most wired hospitals.
The articles doesn’t say how long the ‘Scribe’ stays with the doctor through the transition process but I would think this is not permanent by any means and hopefully it’s a move to make the process easier for the doctor and the hospital. BD
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Derek Leiner's workplace is densely packed with the latest technology.
At the University of Virginia Medical Center's emergency room, doctors have access to electrocardiogram machines and bedside ultrasounds and are just steps away from a CT scanner and MRI machine.
When I tell my friends I'm a scribe, they ask me if I use a quill," says Leiner, 22, a University of Virginia graduate who plans to apply to medical school.
Instead of pens, scribes here use laptops as they trail doctors from bed to bed, taking detailed notes that will form part of each patient's electronic medical record. Experts say the scribes' peculiar role — with one foot in 2009 and one in 2000 B.C. — illustrates hospitals' often bumpy transition from clipboards and closets of paper charts to digital records.
O'Connor says scribes like Leiner have been "invaluable" since the ER's transition to a "nearly 100% paperless" department last October, O'Connor says. Other hospital departments are still working toward an electronic record, he says.
Yesterday I posted about Windows Tags being a solution for medical devices, to inventory them and be able to scan a code or tag with a cell phone, as they connect to the web and any recall notices that go to where the tag is placed connects and shows on the screen. Also, the FDA could keep a copy of all the tags on reference in a data base, as a double check. You can read more at the link below.
This is the next step forward with using Windows Tags through RazCode to input information with your cell phone. Sean Nolan was kind enough to point me in their direction today. They provide a secure gateway so in order to use this service, you need a provider or perhaps an insurance company that is a subscriber to their service. One this has been established you could get copies of EOBs, images, etc. that are tagged. Point the cell phone at the tag, enter your logon and password and get the document and upload to your PHR or EHR. How many times have you tried to describe to someone how to upload a document on a website, take the phone and shoot.
You can visit the site and set up a consumer account here. I was not able to link HealthVault yet but Google Health worked fine. Again, I have nothing yet to include but wanted to test the waters here. The real value comes in when you actually have data arriving from a RazCode client. The services uses CCR format. BD
For the general FDA suggestion for just tracking device information and displaying updated notices and/or recalls, the simple Windows Tag solution I think would work the best. BD
The RAZCode Gateway enables electronic medical record (EMR) vendors and developers of other health care software and medical devices to easily integrate their solutions with all popular personal health record solutions. The Gateway provides a RAZCode ID or image (shown to the right), via a web service, that a vendor solution applies to health documents produced by the application, including receipts, labels, discharge instructions, health encounter summaries, explanation of benefits statements, account statements, etc.
Then when a consumer receives a health document containing a RAZCode, he or she can upload the data to their choice of personal health record using just the camera and data connection on their mobile phone, or via any web browser
As a health care consumer, you want access to and control over your health information. Get started today by creating a free basic RAZCode account. Your RAZCode account will allow you to easily and securely upload your health information to your choice of online personal health record whenever a participating health care provider or payer provides you with a RAZCode image or ID code. Typically RAZCodes are included on receipts, labels, account summaries, explanation of benefit statements, and other health related documents.
We also take your privacy very seriously:
2048-bit encryption is used for all connections to the Gateway
all health information uploaded to the Gateway from health care providers and payers does not need to contain any personally identifying information (and can contain a PIN code that ties the record to your personal email address)
is stored in an encrypted format on our servers while waiting transfer to to your choice of Personal Health Record
Back about 6 months ago when I started talking about the Blue Tooth Inhaler, everyone thought I was nuts and thought I was talking about Star Wars type of information, well the devices are either on their way shortly or are here. I’ll give you an equation here as to how this works:
Medical Device = Algorithms = Medical Data = Data Reports = PHR = EHR = _____.
Notice there’s a big blank at the end, that represents someone or somebody else who could be reviewing your data. Is it a relative, a wellness group, a wellness program from an insurance company?? It could be any and all the above, so the best thing one can do is to first of all have the information go to your own PHR first! This way you are in control. This is new technology and there are not a lot of rules and regulations governing a lot of this yet as it is too new, so it can be open ball game, so be careful. Get your information into your own PHR first so you do not lose control and ultimately have data used against you for medical services. What happens if you get all the notifications and don’t take your medications? In this case the pharmacy will know, as they are tuned in to know when your refill is due.
Now that the pharmacy is included in the loop, your information can be sold. Yes you are for sale.
“HIPAA does not give the Department of Health and Human Services the ability to directly investigate or hold accountable entities, such as pharmacy benefit managers or companies such as Ingenix and Milliman, who are not covered by HIPAA.”
Here are 2 companies that sell prescription data and profiling information.
The video below is the old version of the product but it does a good job showing how it works and the new version talks right to the cell phone. So just keep in mind along with all those reminders, there’s an audit trail.
Reminders = Data = Reports
The technology is great if used properly to help us, but we don’t want data and audit trails used to deny service if a pill was missed and risk management, insurance companies as we have seen in the past have denied claims for things like yeast infections, a case of acne not being reported so remember data is very powerful and if given and accessible to those who want it, it could in fact be used against you when you need it the most as they will create a series of reports to show where “you” the patient defaulted. Nothing personal, it’s all about risk management and showing a profit for the shareholders.
Target Stores works with an insurance carrier, Red Brick who uses technology from Ingenix, and has options for the employers to have the employee’s activity level sent to an iPhone or other wireless device and this information gets delivered to “wellness coaches” who see the data and work with you, but are we sure this is the only source who sees the data and who and where are they? The trade off here are incentives and possible discounts on their share of their employee health insurance.
I mention all of this to bring about an awareness so you may question and learn about where your data is going and who has it and how it will be used. The vitality site shows that the product will work with PHRs and I tried the links and it appears as of now it would be adding a document to your file. There’s a pilot program called “Stick To It” whereby you can get a device for free if you adhere to your plan. See the note on the site: Your Insurance Company is sponsoring you for participation. You are not stuck in the pilot program and can cancel at any time. Again, just like with any data reporting device, make sure you read and know the rules up front, as again so much of this is new territory and we don’t have algorithmic laws to spell these things out yet in Congress, so there’s a lot of anything goes out there as this data has not been fully regulated or governing laws put in place, there are some, but lots of holes. BD
NEW YORK — "Hi! This is your aspirin bottle calling. I haven't seen you in a while. Why don't you come see me soon? I'm good for the heart, you know."
That's the spirit, if not the wording, of the calls that will come from new pill bottle caps that connect to AT&T Inc.'s wireless network.
A Cambridge, Mass.-based startup called Vitality Inc. was set to announce the pill-bottle system Thursday, saying it helps solve one of the biggest problems in medicine: that people don't consistently take the drugs they're prescribed.
We all remember this story as it was on national news about the teenager who needed a transplant and Cigna finally caved in, but it was too late by that time as her condition was critical. There’s not much recourse over what occurred for the family to gain much legally. They have now filed a case for damages over the behavior of the Cigna employees with the heckling and even giving her the finger. That part is almost like adding insult to injury and as Wendell Potter said when you are on the inside your sight gets distracted and shielded from the matters at hand sometimes.
Here come Cigna right back saying the case is without merit and expects to prevail. They did issue a letter of apology, but after losing their daughter in the fashion that occurred, is that enough? Sometimes things like flowers, a personal visit whatever can mean a lot more to show the human side of the business. BD
Surrounded by supporters, Hilda Sarkisyan marched into Cigna Corp.’s Philadelphia headquarters on a chilly fall day, 10 months after the company refused to pay for a liver transplant for her daughter. "You guys killed my daughter," the diminutive San Fernando Valley real estate agent declared at the lobby security desk. "I want an apology." What she got was something quite different. Cigna employees, looking down into the atrium lobby from a balcony above, began heckling her, she said, with one of them giving her "the finger." Sarkisyan walked out, stunned and hurt. "They showed me their true colors," she said. "Shame on them."
Wendell Potter, a Cigna spokesman who quit after handling the publicity surrounding the Sarkisyan case, agreed. "HMOs and insurers are largely free to deny access to care without fear of reprisal or financial consequences," Potter said in a speech to the Civil Justice Foundation in San Francisco. But, without these limits, an industry spokesman said suits against health insurers could be disastrous for consumers.
"I want to get rid of this ERISA law," Hilda Sarkisyan said, "and replace it with Nataline's law." Meanwhile, the Sarkisyans filed a new suit over the lobby incident this month. Cigna said in a statement that the case is "without merit," and that the company expects to prevail.
No this is not a joke, this is for real with an airline in Japan. Why, it will save fuel! I don’t know how this would work here in the US though, with the potty patrol at the gates, especially in busy airports, but gee, do your share anyway, be sure you pee in the future before boarding that jet, you will be doing your share to save fuel and money. On US airlines, I think you would see pay toilets if they determined they wanted to save fuel and money, since that’s the foremost on everyone’s mind today. There’s other alternatives too, but I don’t need to go there right now. BD
Forget all that unimaginative stuff about slashing power consumption by consolidating data centers and turning off PCs overnight: All Nippon Airways wants to save the planet by badgering passengers into hitting the restrooms pre-flight so that less carry-on waste means lower airplane weight. And I swear I'm not making this up.
The airline's chiefs say that empty bladders means passengers will weigh less, so their fleet of aircraft will save fuel and reduce their carbon emissions.
All Nippon Airways reckons that the policy could lead to a five-tonne reduction in carbon emissions per month, as well as saving the company money. The new regulation will be policed by 'loo monitors', who stand by boarding gates and take waiting passengers to the lavatories before they embark.
This company makes a coupe other interesting products too, like the Cough Counter. There will be nothing soon that occurs in or out of our bodies that will not be accounted for (grin). The Wheezometer can help determine the effectiveness of asthma medications and allow for change and modification. BD
Technicians and Paramedics: Respiratory therapists, EMS personnel, military medics, sports paramedics, occupational health officers.
Patients and Caregivers: Under guidance of a healthcare professional.
KarmelSonix Ltd. (ASX: KSX) has obtained US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) marketing clearance for the company's WheezoMeter, a diagnostic tool that measures a patient's wheezing before and after tests with a bronchodilator, thereby demonstrating the effectiveness of asthma treatments.
The company obtained EU CE Mark certification of the device in July, as well as from Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA).
This could stand to become a trend with health insurance and not a bad one overall. There are also clauses to where you could get paid back if you in turn reduce your BMI. One other source stated the waistline should also be measured and combine the 2 numbers for a more accurate picture. BD
Since we are on the subject, need a quick check? Check it out and see where you are. BD
Depending on where you work, your weight could be an important preexisting condition that determines how much you'll have to kick in for health coverage.
NPR's Morning Edition reported Tuesday about grocery chain Safeway charging employees about $318 more a year for health coverage if their BMI scores are above 30. Alabama has already adopted a similar approach for state employees, where workers with BMIs of 35 or more face surcharges of $25 per month. North Carolina is headed down the same road.
A better way to measure health risk? Zied says try measuring waist circumference, as a high level of body fat in the abdomen is a greater indicator of health risk than fat stored in the hips or thighs. "The two measurements together can paint a more accurate, reflective picture," she said.
This is a real program and besides Orange County you can also check the interactive map to find what is available in your state. I clicked on a couple other states and didn’t find any, but the site says to check back as more are being added all the time. If you are in Orange County, well this is your week if you want to take advantage of a free screening. I’m glad they called this National Depression Screening Day and not National Depression Day. BD
People who think they may be suffering symptoms of depression can get a free, anonymous consultation at one of two Orange County locations Thursday as part of National Depression Screening Day.
The two practices are:
Dr. Paul Whittemore, Ph.D., 1001 Dove St., Suite 145, Newport Beach, 949-752-7753. Hours: 9:30-6.
Pacific Clinical Research Medical Group, 1028 W. Town and Country Road, Orange, 1-888-STUDY411 (an operator also can connect people with the group’s locations in Upland and Arcadia). Hours: 8-5 p.m. Screenings at this site are performed by a licensed psychiatrist and two nursing coordinators.
A third Orange County site will hold screenings on Oct. 24: Farzaneh S. Khazrai, Ph.D., a marriage and family therapist, will be available from 10-4 just a few blocks from Dr. Whittemore’s office, at 1151 Dove St., Suite 200, Newport Beach, 949-709-1374.
Nationally, there are about 1,000 sites where screenings are taking place. Elsewhere in SoCal, they’ll be held in Los Angeles, Arcadia, La Mesa, San Diego, Palmdale, San Marcos, Upland and Valencia. Click here for a locator map to find screenings in your town.
Earlier today Microsoft announced their online tool to determine if you or somebody you know might have the H1N1 virus. This is an online evaluation to where you are presented with a number of questions for response. I did a fictional analysis just to check it out and see how it worked.
As you can see in the image below, I received a red box saying this person could have the H1N1 virus. I also went to the next step and added this to my HealthVault Account just to go through the motions as I really didn’t need the evaluation right not but wanted to see how the rest of the process takes place.
I was not able to make the online blogger conference today but here’s a brief run down of what was covered.
“A representative from the Company will discuss how you can use online resources to manage health concerns from your home, debut the service and answer any questions. A doctor from Emory University who developed the service will also be available to answer questions about H1N1 and what people can do to help limit the spread of the disease.”
Homeland Security also has a great video which I posted a few days ago that really gives some nice in-depth information into the H1N1 virus along with quite a bit of history.
Use the Flu Self-Assessment, based on material from Emory University, to:
Learn whether you have the symptoms of H1N1 flu (swine flu)
You will have the opportunity to consent to share the information you provide during the self-assessment for public health, education and research purposes. This can help health officials, researchers and others learn more about where symptoms may be occurring in the U.S. If you do not consent to store your responses as described in the survey, we will not retain the information you provide after you leave the site.
I have both myself and Mom listed here, so you can see I am presented with a question as to which file this assessment applies to.
Not only is there a need for healthcare professionals, but the patients and members of Congress too. I have had so many posts on this blog on this exact topic. There’s a lot of great software systems and hardware out there, but let’s get down to the bottom line. Personal Health Record pilots fail, why? Nobody has a clue. I just posted about healthcare reform and how Michael Moore say we are driving him crazy, why? Again, it comes down to lack of education. Why can’t we stamp out “Magpie Healthcare” and begin to generate real participation. Half those folks on the web who write about PHRs don’t even have one, but they consider themselves experts, so what is up with that?
I have way too many times referenced the hospital CEO that runs for the hills when I show up with a Tablet PC as an example, “its for those guys over there” once again.
Watch this video done by the Senate themselves, case closed here on this one, none in January even knew what a PHR was, scary that these folks are in charge of the money for healthcare and show little or no participation themselves.
We have both computer and health literacy problems in the country and they both work hand in hand, if you don’t have access or know how to use a computer, where are you going to find the information you need? Personal Health Records are a good example case here, as I try to put all the updated information I can find on the site, but does anyone read it, I hope so. If you use a PHR, you will get involved in your healthcare, plain and simple. I use one and somewhat did a bit of a campaign here asking those who don’t use one to quit talking about it to hear yourself speak, get one and then be the expert, otherwise we are back to “magpie healthcare”, which means individuals with no experience talking to hear themselves talk and tell everyone what they should do, not do as I do, but rather do as I say, which is garbage. BD
David Blumenthal, M.D., the federal government’s national coordinator for health information technology, says his office will announce “within weeks or months” what he calls a “workforce training initiative” to educate more health information management professionals with expertise in electronic health records and related technologies.
“We know there are at least 50,000 new jobs that are needed in this field,” Blumenthal said Oct. 6 at the American Health Information Management Association convention in Grapevine, Texas. Health information professionals, he added, will prove essential to the task of making sure hospitals, physician groups and others become meaningful users of EHRs.
Ok, we are back once more to the implanted chip, which for a couple of reasons somewhat died on the vine, but now is making a comeback with new technology offerings. Again, this is very much a personal choice on to chip or not to chip. The only individual who has made any of his own experiences public is Dr. John Halamka, who was an early pioneer in trying the product. One thing you certainly have to give Dr. Halamka credit for and that is the fact that he is in no way a “Magpie”, he participates and gets out there hands on, or in this case “chips on” to see what new technology does and evaluate it’s value.
When the product first came out, it was a simple repository of your medical records, which requires a device to be able to view the information, this way it is secure. You can visit their website for additional information.
New technologies have boosted the capability of the chip now, so you can connect to your personal health records through the chip. “Health Link is the connection between you and your personal health record. Health Link utilizes a tiny, passive microchip (the first and only microchip cleared for patient identification by the FDA) and a secure online database that links you to your personal health record.”
The new service is called PositiveID. The new system connects to a data base, in other words no medical information is stored on the chip as was done with the first design. There’s so many ways to be connected today. They can even link your credit information, I guess this could be important to see if you are going to be able to pay a bill if your are in the ER. It offers identify theft protection too. Again, all parties have to be granted access to the personal information.
What is the future on health records, will this chip be part of it? Stay tuned I suppose on this one. BD
Novartis and Proteus Biomedicalare not the only companies hoping to implant microchips into patients so that their pill-popping habits can be monitored. VeriChip of Delray Beach, Fl., has an even bolder idea: an implanted chip that links to an online database containing all your medical records, credit history and your social security ID.
Yes, it shows your Health Link chip linked to Google, Microsoft, employers and insurers. The company also sees the VeriMed Health Link linked to your “identity security services,” through a separate VeriChip product.
This is an interesting study and the first of it’s kind that I am aware of. After a stroke, returning to normal hand and other body movements is a struggle and this is a new robotics device that is being tested to help patients who have been afflicted. To be eligible, you need to have had a stroke within the last 6 months and Steven C. Cramer, is the neurologist at UCI who is co-directing the program. You will also need to be able to have an MRI. Additional information about the robotic programs at UCI is also available for other studies and additional information.
Not too long ago I wrote about another technology that is addressing the same problem, mobility after a stroke. If you are not local to the southern California area and would like to explore the Saebo device, check out the link below. The device is custom designed for each patient and is used at home.
The device for this study at UCI Irvine is called the HWARD and you can read more about it here.
Two UC Irvine researchers are seeking stroke patients for separate clinical studies of robotic devices that are meant help people who suffer weakness in their hands or arms. The therapy will be provided free-of-charge to people accepted into the study.
David Reinkensmeyer, a biomedical engineer, is looking for: “People with a recent stroke to practice arm and hand movement in the clinic. If you are from 18 to 73 years of age, suffered from a single stroke at least 3 months ago and have arm and hand weakness, you might be eligible to participate in Part I and/or Part II of the study …(which) will take place at the Institute for Clinical and Translational Science on the UCI main campus and lasts for two hours. You may be asked to return for up to 4 additional sessions. You will be compensated $30 for each visit.”
This is the regular flu shot and not the N!N1, which from the report in this story has caused the delay of the normal flu shot given. Doctors offices and some of the retail clinics, such as CVS have ordered the shot and may have them available if you don’t or can’t wait until the free shots from the County are available. The manufacturer of the flu shot, Sanofi-Aventis stated the demand has been overwhelming and they are working to get the product out as soon as possible. BD
There's been a clog in the supply chain of seasonal flu shots, and that means the Orange County Health Care Agency won't be providing free vaccines until later in October.
The agency had planned to provide shots starting Oct. 10, but it has yet to receive the vaccine from the California Department of Public Health. The holdup: The state contracted several different vaccine makers and the biggest one, Sanofi Pasteur, is running late on its delivery.
"We can only do so much so fast," said Donna Cary, a Sanofi spokeswoman said. "People may have to delay some of their clinics, but everybody's going to get (the vaccine) before the peak of the flu season."
. The agency will announce on its Web site, www.ochealthinfo.com, when vaccines are available, she said. Free shots from the county agency are usually given to priority patients, such as pregnant women and adults more than 50 years old, and the uninsured.
People working on the set are advise to bring dog to fight off the rats. The hospital was one of quite a few that have been closed in the southern California area over the years. Except for the rats it makes for a very realistic setting of course. BD
The stars of sitcom Scrubs live in fear on the set of the medical show, because the derelict hospital it's shot in is infested with thousands of rats. The show is filmed on location at North Hollywood Medical Center, which was abandoned in 1998 and has been used in a number of TV shows and movies, as well as being home to colonies of rodents. Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence describes the hospital as the "worst" place he has ever filmed, telling AOL, "The rat infested hospital where we shot Scrubs - we encouraged people to bring dogs to fight off the vermin."
After reading this article and being a healthcare IT blogger, I think I can relate to this. The problem comes right back to education and getting to the root of where reform needs to take place and how. Myself, I have pretty much given up on my Congress members as they are too so very distracted and lack the means to educationally figure out where we need to go with this. I chat with other IT folks on the internet, and we have a complete agreement in this area all the way around.
I keep this big fat word “Algorithms” center stage here to try and help educate those on where all these decisions come from. I try too, but again when individuals prefer to simply be entertained and leave out any potential learning processes, it is difficult. I go between many different parts of healthcare on this blog and there are those who want to be informed patients, a good thing, and those doctors who only have a fax machine that occasionally stop by, a scary thing from the IT World. Many of the informed patients though seem to forget about the technology side with devices though or miss it along the way, or maybe forget about the payer side, unless a personal experience creates an awakening. Everything sounds wonderful until it enters the real world of utilization and practice.
I talk about genomics, new medical devices, devices that report data, risk management or health insurance and how they use it to maximize profits, so again there’s a lot to all of this reform business and at times my brain hurts. Long and short of it though is that if we shut down to learning and only focus on entertaining ourselves, we will fall behind even further. There’s a lot out there too and it is easy to get confused as to what and who to believe as well. I think I somewhat share what Michael Moore is feeling too, nobody wants to learn and read, and thus we have flourishes of emotion that don’t accomplish anything and people continue to be denied healthcare, don’t practice any healthier lifestyles and we are still stuck at ground zero with a Congress that is still somewhat living in the 70s that I believe shares some of the same responsibility.
As far as profits and money, it’s a code war. Most of the decision making processes are done with algorithms and computers today until things elevate to a higher level when a human does intervene. Congress doesn’t even understand “high frequency” healthcare, only perhaps budget making processes from the past.
I wonder how Wendell Potter feels these days too, he’s a great guy who took some real steps forward to help and acknowledge what goes on from the insurance side of things, and has distraction and entertainment now subsided from taking advantage of the knowledge he has shared with us?
Anyway, in short I guess I am feeling a bit the same, we have no role models to follow either. We do though have a lot of Magpies, who like to talk and sometimes offer some great information, but themselves don’t participate and it’s an attitude of “its for those guys over there” that hinders their words of wisdom as they are not active participants and contributors themselves. To bring about education of the US public, we need mentors that are also participants, I think that is why this blog still exists come to think of it. When I stop being a participant, it’s time to quit blogging and let the Magpies prevail. BD
LOS ANGELES — Michael Moore is adding someone new to the list of people who drive him crazy.
You.
You know who you are. You saw Bowling for Columbine and didn't bother entering the gun control debate. You saw Sicko and didn't write your legislator. You watched Fahrenheit 9/11 and didn't vote.
"He wants us to address health care, or the deficit, and frankly, people already feel overwhelmed and would rather be entertained," Levine says. "He comes in and says, quite compellingly, that this house is pretty dirty. But a lot of people are saying they'll clean it tomorrow —American Idol is on tonight."
This is a fairly simple answer that could keep a tags listed in a data base that anyone could access as we are not talking about confidential information here, we are talking about a device. The great thing about Microsoft Tags is that you can go online, find the tag and as long as you have the free software on a cell phone, you can get the information. Hold the cellphone right up to your computer screen and get the information. From a prior post:
I try to include some useful software information when I can and this is one that you can use and have some fun with. I have included a tag for the Medical Quack here where it states “snap it”.
You will need to download software for your phone, and install, and it is pretty straight forward and simple. Open the program, line up your camera on the phone, hit the enter button on your phone. The cell phone will see the tag and take care of business, depending on what type of a tag is being captured. You can also read up on how to create your own tag as well.
Somebody would need to keep up with updates and revising the tag if an item were recalled, so keeping a tag online only and not on the product it would be updated with recall information or any other relative information that would be needed. This sounds pretty simple to me, find the medical device from a data base with it’s associated tag and take the cell phone and “shoot”, all the information from the tag. It is displayed and nobody has had to go out and buy any special bar coding hardware and there’s no mailing lists on paper needed, all paperless and up to date.
Again, when the information from the device is displayed on the cell phone, any recall announcements relative to the product would show up as the tag is updated. Simple enough. This video shows other uses of Microsoft Tag outside of a computer screen. Even General Mills is using them on their food products today too.
Tracking a device once it has been implanted though is a bit more of a task and perhaps down the road we will have answers in that area as well. Windows Tag can offer consumers information too as the could also use a phone and look up a device and perhaps they might find the recall before the doctor would. Again, with an open data base where anyone could search, it would certainly help and even if you had a device that had been recalled and knew what device you have inside, you could look it up, all you would need is a Smart Phone, BlackBerry, etc.
This story below about implanting a device that had been recalled could have been checked against a product tag online before surgery. Once a data base has been established with tags, which is pretty easy to do, perhaps an alert system could also be added so anyone could take note of new arrivals. I have a feeling this would be pretty popular with both patients, doctors and hospitals. Somebody if not one of the individuals involved will read up and figure this little simple process. Keep in mind all information stored in a tag is public so don’t put anything in a tag that is not for public viewing. Perhaps the FDA will seriously entertain this one instead of the old printed paper methodologies. BD
Last October, a surgeon in Brooklyn used one of the clips to tie off Michael King's renal artery when he donated a kidney to his ailing wife. Twelve hours later, the clip popped off. King bled to death internally in the hospital as his wife lay helplessly nearby. He was 29.
Experts say such deaths are the result of a major weakness in the nation's system for recalling thousands of medical devices routinely implanted in people's bodies, ranging from screws and plates to artificial knees and hips.
"There is no system for being informed of what the problems are with the products you have in your body. Even your physician may not know," said Terry Fadem, president of the Biomedical Research and Education Foundation in Philadelphia.
Doctors later realized that that several batches of the same hip system - though not the one in Stone's body - had been recalled eight months earlier because of similar reports of breakage.
This is an interesting post from a doctor who himself was put through the hoops of what we might call defensive medicine. He has a shingles problem and once he arrived at the ER room, he found out how vulnerable he was after a day at the hospital, 2 MRIs, a CT Scan, visits with specialists, etc. Overall it was over a $9000.00 day and he had the shingles that he thought was his original diagnosis. BD
For years I've heard friends describe experiences of being caught in a web of excessive and unnecessary medical testing. Their doctors ordered test Z to investigate a seemingly incidental finding on test Y, which had come about because of a borderline abnormality on test X.
I often wondered why test X was done in the first place. As a primary care physician, I would have treated them for the likely diagnosis and done diagnostic tests -- especially a series of diagnostic tests -- only if they didn't respond as expected.
By the end of the Easter service, I had a treatment plan firmly in mind: an antiviral drug to fight the culprit, a steroid to decrease inflammation and a very strong pain reliever. Given that it was Sunday morning, and a holiday as well, instead of calling my internist or one of his partners, I decided to visit the emergency room of the teaching hospital where I work to confirm the diagnosis and get my prescriptions. My wife drove. I sat in the car with my eyes closed, wondering how it was possible for me, at age 64, to have turned into one of those elderly people who suffer from shingles.
"Before you go," my colleague mused, "just for completeness' sake, maybe we should have an ophthalmologist and a neurologist take a look at you. What about it, just in case?"
"I don't know . . . I don't think so . . . well, okay . . . maybe it's a good idea."
The neurologist recommended an immediate MRI of my head, just to make sure there was no mass. But why would a brain mass cause symptoms from that particular nerve? It made no sense. But in my morphine-induced drowsiness I thought, okay, it might be interesting to have an MRI scan -- a life experience I'd thus far avoided -- and an hour or so later we walked to the machine.
"What we need to do," the neurologist explained, "is get a CT scan with contrast. This'll clearly define the vascular structures in your brain, so we'll get a good look at the cavernous sinus." Okay, I thought, do it, do it, let's get it over with.
I understand now how all those people could have been so gullible, so easily manipulated by the system.
The first time I remembered seeing their product was in the images on a post about the new LAC/USC Hospital that opened earlier this year. SonoSite images were all over the place. The devices have a built in USB port as well so images could be moved via hardwire or another portable drive as well.
Ultra sound equipment is certainly getting smaller and smaller these days as there is also a PDA size device that can do an ultrasound, but in a medical setting where you have the availability of a larger screen, we all know what we would choose.
In addition to the new smaller device, SonoSite is also announcing new software that works on a PC or Mac. Images from a SonoSite device can wirelessly be transferred. BD
BOTHELL, WA – October 5, 2009 – SonoSite, Inc. (Nasdaq:SONO), the world leader and specialist in hand-carried ultrasound for the point-of-care, announced today that the company has received FDA 510(k) clearance for its new NanoMaxx™ ultrasound system and is commencing US customer deliveries. International deliveries began at the end of June.
Based on SonoSite’s 4th generation Turbo technology, the six pound NanoMaxx system is the latest addition to SonoSite’s suite of specialized products for point-of-care visualization in medicine. Complete with streamlined one button optimization technology, a touch screen user interface and SonoSite’s industry-leading 5-year warranty, the NanoMaxx system is ideal for both hospital and office markets and designed to provide healthcare professionals with improved.
The NanoMaxx system’s highly integrated architecture and ruggedized design, including the industry’s first elastomeric bumper for extra durability, plus magnesium outer shell, allows it to be used in the most demanding and austere environments. Proving its reliability, the NanoMaxx system and its transducers successfully passed SonoSite’s standard three foot durability drop test.
exact topic. There’s a lot of great software systems and hardware out there, but let’s get down to the bottom line. Personal Health Record pilots fail, why? Nobody has a clue. I just posted about healthcare reform and how Michael Moore say we are driving him crazy, why? Again, it comes down to lack of education. Why can’t we stamp out “Magpie Healthcare” and begin to generate real participation. Half those folks on the web who write about PHRs don’t even have one, but they consider themselves experts, so what is up with that?
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