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Dr. Oz Speaks about Mammograms and Breast Examinations

11/21/2009 06:11:00 PM    

Dr. Oz makes a good point here in the fact that he disagrees with doctors not advising patients to conduct their own self exam and I agree with that as well, after all you know your body more than anyone else.  He thinks the debate will continue and states we are looking at exposure and diagnosis together as a package, with results and numbers analyzed.  Overall we still don’t have a clear answer image to mammograms and I predict this will go on for a while just as is the PSA testing for men.  Myself I believe in doing self exams as one I found resulted in removal and lucky it was benign.  My feeling were though if it is in there, get it out now.  BD 

A major reason for the heated response to the screening guidelines has been the lack of clear understanding about what, exactly, a medical task force does. These groups consist of impartial and unbiased experts from various specialties who synthesize the latest scientific evidence to guide practicing physicians. Half of the task force members are women.

The recommendations are sometimes controversial, but it’s important to remember they’re designed to maximize benefits of screening while minimizing its risks. Of course there are many women who have had life-saving mammograms in their 40s and even 30s. Their stories are valid and important.

But, when looking at the bigger picture, the task force has decided that younger woman, on the average, are likelier to get unneeded biopsies or procedures, or to have tumors missed altogether, than to have a true cancer detected early on. Nonetheless, I think it’s healthy to have an open debate. It’s essential to keeping medicine self-reflective and accountable.

Moreover, the USPSTF recommendations on mammograms are not a blanket, one-size-fits-all prescription for every woman. Guidelines should never replace a dialogue with your own doctor that considers your individual risk. After all, you are the expert of your own body. That’s also why I disagree with the recommendation that physicians not focus on teaching breast self-exams. I continue to advise and encourage women to examine their breasts.

Studies show that, especially in younger women, many breast tumors are first detected during self-exam. 

Peace of Mind or Power of Me | The Dr. Oz Show

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4 Cases of Tamiflu-resistant H1N1 Cases Appearing at Duke University Medical Center

11/21/2009 05:57:00 PM  ,  

Tamiflu will remain as the the treatment of choice for the flu.  The scary part of this is that 3 of the 4 patients died who had the resistant flu.  CDC is investigating.  Relenza is another drug that can be used to fight the flu but has some limitations on who can take it, pre-school and those with imagerespiratory disease are out of the loop for this drug.  BD

RALEIGH, N.C. | A cluster of four Tamiflu-resistant cases of H1N1 flu at Duke University Medical Center has raised concerns that changes in the virus may make severe infections more difficult to treat. 

Three of the Duke patients died. All were adults, including two women and one man, and they had other major diseases, said Cameron Wolfe, an infectious-disease specialist at Duke. He said a fourth patient remains hospitalized.

The Duke patients were housed in the same unit of the hospital over the past six weeks.

The CDC, which has headed the nation’s response to pandemic flu, was called to investigate. Lab tests this week confirmed the patients all had the resistant strain. Wolfe said it remains unknown how and where the patients contracted the virus.

Another anti-viral drug, Relenza, remains potent, but it generally can’t be taken by preschool-age children or people with asthma and other respiratory diseases.

Tamiflu-resistant swine flu causes new worry - KansasCity.com

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CVS Caremark Launching Collaborating with Generation Health To Launch Program to Predict Patient Response for a Dozen Drugs With Genetic Testing

11/21/2009 05:28:00 PM  ,  

This is the first announcement of this type I have seen.  Generation Health bills itself as a genetic benefit management company.  It seems imageinteresting that GINA has just become effective with new provisions that prevent family history to be used as it relates back to potential discrimination in hereditary areas and now we have a company wanting to jump in and help patients manage clinical and genetic testing through a pharmacy benefit manager. 

From the Website:

“Generation Health is a health management company that specializes in helping employers and other health care payors manage medical costs and improve their employees' and members' health by assuring optimal utilization of genetic testing. Just as pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) arose in the 1980's to help health care payors better manage their pharmacy expenditures, Generation Health recognizes the need for a genetic testing benefit manager to be a trusted third party that can help payors manage this increasingly complex field.”

As you can see in their statement, this is a focus toward employers and is cost related, so I guess now we can add on genetic testing benefit managers to work with pharmacy benefit managers.  It is any surprise that Generation Health was created by two former Medco employees, another large pharmacy benefit manager.  You are not going to get a break it appears on any pricing for tests as the article states that clients will be responsible for payment. Pharmacy benefit managers are getting creative and Generation Health appears to be another “business intelligence” company to work with costs with insurance companies for cost, so if we want more genetic testing, here comes the management service to market and negotiate prices.  BD 

CVS Caremark is expanding its commitment to pharmacogenomics with a new clinical and testing services program being developed in collaboration with newly-formed Generation Health, which describes itself as a genetic benefits management company.

Announced Nov. 10, the program initially is expected to focus on predicting how patients respond to about a dozen drugs in therapimageeutic areas including oncology, cardiovascular disease and HIV treatment. 

Clinical services including genetic testing will be introduced to CVS Caremark's health plan and employer clients in the second quarter of 2010. Services could be used for clinical benefits such as identifying patients who do not respond to certain therapies and thereby avoid disease progression from HIV or prevent cancer recurrence. Clients would pay for the testing.

The companies are also looking at areas in which genetic testing is generally accepted by payers and clinicians - such as testing for warfarin dosing prior to elective surgery - as opposed to routine screening prior to initiating warfarin.

Generation Health has put together a "Best Test" laboratory network to manage testing costs for payers. The firm has also developed data and analytics to review gaps in care among patients, and outreach programs addressing communications between patients, physicians and pharmacists.

BioPharma Today: PBM Power Behind Pharmacogenomics: CVS Caremark Launching Program

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Security with Health IT Pretty Sketchy at Some Hospitals and Doctor’s Offices

11/21/2009 10:26:00 AM  ,  

This is one I have seen first hand as a vendor at hospitals, walking in and seeing stuff like Lime Wire on hospital PCs.   It makes you think why in the world would an IS manager bring a computer into the active directory access without placing the unit under group policy, yes have seen that and even just as a vendor I removed LimeWire and figured I would deal with any anger later when I told the IS department what I did, and actually they should be thankful for the act.  image I have seen computers on medical networks with not anti virus protection too, again another slip on someone’s part.  Some hospitals too still allow doctors to bring in USB flash drives too, which again is asking for trouble. 

Man accidentally infects Ohio hospital with spyware – was meant ...

Hospitals and some doctor’s offices still don’t take this seriously and security breaches and identity theft continue on due to ignorance or improper procedures not followed.  What amazes me sometimes is the anger the results from security ignorance too when I try to explain why.  The same employees that work at a doctor’s office are usually patients there to and expose themselves and their records at the same time, and they still see the computer as their own.  I tell employees this is the company computer, your computer is at home.  BD  

Despite new federal laws to protect the privacy of medical files, many hospitals are ill-prepared to prevent security breaches that may result in patient records being stolen, lost or misused, a new survey shows.

Three in four hospitals and health organizations said medical records of patients had been put at risk of improper disclosure "due to inadequate security controls, policies or procedures," according to the survey released Thursday at a meeting of government health information planners in Washington.

Yet the survey released on Thursday found that many hospitals lack even basic tools to encrypt health care data as a means to prevent its misuse or theft. Fewer than half said they encrypt records they store, while just two-thirds use encryption techniques when sending health records over the Internet.

Survey: Hospitals Not Protecting Electronic Health Records

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Fortune 100 Companies Don't Get Twitter Study Says and I Agree

11/19/2009 07:16:00 PM  ,  

This is a good study I think as a user of Twitter I can clearly say those without any personality don’t get the reads.  You can pretty much tell the stale and stuffy ones out there as they don’t understand how Twitter works, it’s not like putting an ad online, this is interactive.  Best Buy uses it for customer service. 

http://twitter.com/twelpforce

You know I have to say it’s difficult for me to explain how valuable Twitter is for efficiency and getting information to those who never even got to RSS feeds, and there’s a ton of folks there who don’t know what they are.  I see a lot of healthcare folks on here and we somewhat all get acquainted at some point in time to a degree and the new lists have expanded on that a bit more, even though I have been slow in making up a good list, I started one but need to go back and create another one when I have time. 

Perfection Social Networks – NOT – but we all live with it and I do have to say Twitter is getting better all the time compared to the early days.  We like the convenience and efficiency and live with it since it is social communications and it’s usually fixed pretty quickly when there are issues.  BD

 image

In August we reported that a large number of Fortune 100 companies have embraced Twitter, but how well are they actually using it? A study released today (PDF) by Weber Shandwick says the answer is not very well, and that the majority of Fortune 100 companies don’t really get Twitter. Though 73 of 100 companies had at least one registered Twitter account (up from 54 reported in an unrelated study released in August), the majority of them weren’t using Twitter effectively to engage their followers, weren’t tweeting often, and didn’t display any personality in their tweets, according to the study.

image

The majority of the accounts from Fortune 100 companies had no personality, but instead focused on brand only. Out of the 540 accounts, 53 percent “did not display personality, tone or voice on their account pages,” according to the report, which judged personality based on whether an account was identified with a personality who posted on behalf of the company or if it was a “faceless” brand account.

STUDY: Most Fortune 100 Companies Don't Get Twitter

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Quest Diagnostics gets European CE Mark for H1N1 (Swine) Flu Test

11/19/2009 06:56:00 PM  ,  

The test has been approved here in the US by emergency declaration a few months ago.  Quest recently posted 3rd quarter profits of 1.9 billion so they are doing a lot of tests.  I did a short interview with their VP of sales with MedPlus, the IT connection with the company not too long ago and you can read more at the link below. 

Quest Diagnostics and Health IT – Interview with Rohit Nayak, Vice President of Sales, Clinical Information Solutions Group, MedPlus

Quest Diagnostics Inc. (DGX) can now let you know if it's safe to be out in crowds on both sides of the pond.

The Madison, N.J.-based healthcare conglomerate announced that European regulators have approved its Simplexa test for Influenza A H1N1 (2009) virus, better known as Swine Flu. Developed through its Focus Diagnostics unit, the new test kit is getting its initial rollout this week at the MEDICA 2009 conference in Busseldorf, Germany.

The new test uses reverse-transcription polymerase chain reactions found from nasal and throat samples to detect the flu virus. Physicians have lauded its speed, noting that "fast turnaround time(s) can aid in clinical management of patients and allow hospitals to segregate infected patients from other high-risk individuals," according to Dr. Harald Kessler, head of the molecular research unit at the Medical University of Graz, Austria.

The CE Mark allows sales throughout the 35 countries of the European Union and in other countries that recognize the mark. Test is also available in the U.S. under an emergency provision from the Food & Drug Administration.

Quest Diagnostics gets CE Mark for Swine Flu test | MassDevice - Medical Device Industry News

Related Reading:

Quest Diagnostics and Microsoft HealthVault – Connect to get your Lab Results in your PHR
Quest Diagnostics and Google Empower Patients and Physicians to Share Diagnostic Test Results Online
Quest Diagnostics/MedPlus Centergy(TM) Offers New Technology Benefits – HIE and RHIO
Quest Care360 – Access Patient Lab Results and Medication History from your iPhone

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Whistle Blowers Are The Department of Justice’s Best Friend When It Comes to Solving Fraud

11/19/2009 06:23:00 PM  ,  

I posted this last October in 2008 and little did I know how true it would really play out to be as time moved on, those 2 items right there are what seems to make the dollars and profits in healthcare today.  The DOJ certainly has been helped with the efforts of whistle blowers and there’s money here for a reward too.  The largest recoveries have come from both Pharma and Medical Device manufacturers.  Again with competition, the imagemarketing sides of the companies want the products moving and making money, so sometimes things get skewed beyond where they should be in the chase for the dollar.  With transparency we are now just seeing the tip of the iceberg I think as things that used to be swept under the rug as dust no longer exist as they become boulders as soon as they are exposed.  BD 

 The 2 new hot words in healthcare: algorithms and whistleblowers

The Dept. of Justice is making hay from crackdowns on healthcare fraud, according to new numbers indicating that about two-thirds of the $2.4 billion recovered from false claims prosecutions this year were healthcare-related.

The department said it collected $1.6 billion from busts of Medicare and Medicaid fraud rings, off-label marketing and illegal promotion of drugs and devices during fiscal 2009. That's about 66 percent of the total the feds recovered from fraud cases during the year. This year's haul is the second-highest-grossing year ever, according to a DOJ press release.

Officials said more than $2 billion of the funds recovered were the result of lawsuits filed under the False Claims Act's "qui tam" provisions. These cases, also known as "whistle-blower" cases, typically result in a 15 percent to 25 percent payout of awarded penalties to the tipsters. The DOJ said it paid out $255 million in rewards to whistle-blowers in 2009.

DOJ: healthcare fraud recoveries totaled $1.6 billion in FY09 | MassDevice - Medical Device Industry News

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ZigBee Alliance Creates Group to Educate Healthcare Professionals and Consumers on Telehealth

11/19/2009 06:13:00 PM  ,  

 First stop for this group should be the US Congress to educate, as they need some of this knowledge so they can create and pass laws that are useful and meaningful, kind of like what everyone is shaking around with meaningful use. 

All the wireless solutions are there with companies biting at the bit to make a dollar and thus products are thrown at healthcare professionals and imagepatients and not implemented properly.  While they are at it, they might want to meet with the Participatory Sensing Group at UCLA and get some insight beyond proof of concept.  It’s a Catch 22 as some companies can’t stay in business if product is delayed and have funding, so the push is there without human concern, just get the dollars they say.  We all suffer over that one too, not that the technology is bad, but implementation is the key along with education.  The White House is very aware of this study, too bad Congress is not.  

White House Speaks About Wireless Technology – Healthcare And ...

Check out this video on a device that creates data trails and can even with Blue Tooth send if off to your insurance company as they demonstrate in the video, shakes a little of big brother here.  What happens when this hits the market?  Will anyone other than those who maybe check in here once in a while know what the heck it is and furthermore what it’s capabilities are?  Consumers need to know and not be snowballed, education and this requires more than just signing some disclosure form.  Many medications are moving to inhaled formats, stay tuned.

Telehealth has many neat offerings and if used correctly with educated consumers it could be a win-win all the way around, but it’s a huge paradigm shift for most and that can’t be overlooked as people need an adjustment period for much of it, not to mention education once more.

All the devices need to have “meaningful use” covered too and it seems nobody has touched that issue.  BD 

The ZigBee Alliance and the American Telemedicine Association (ATA) will educate both health care professionals and consumers on benefits of telecommunications technologies as part of a new liaison agreement just announced. The groups will focus on the many capabilities of ZigBee Health Care, an open standard for secure monitoring and management of noncritical, low-acuity health care and wellness services.

ZigBee Health Care is designed to reduce patient care costs while improving care and quality of life for patients and consumers. ZigBee Health Care offers the ATA a ready-to-implement telehealth solution featuring interference-free and secure wireless connectivity, capable of supporting many common noncritical medical devices. It also provides a robust network ideal for secure, remote patient monitoring and one that helps aging and physically challenged people remain independent.

ZigBee Alliance Advancing Use of Telehealth Solutions |

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The Silence is Deafening With Meaningful Use – Start Spelling Some of This Out In Algorithmic Formats

11/19/2009 05:51:00 PM  ,  

One thing to be said for algorithmic formats is that there would a bit less text to deal with and less money going out for legal advice.  Publish the algorithms that need to be met and put them out there, of course along with some text.  If we could have a programmatic approach with certain parameters to meet, it might give us a running start.  Laws are amended and the same could be done for algorithms.  We can’t get rid of text entirely but a working model of what need to be incorporated as the basic standards would sure improve and bring everyone to the same base.  Right now without that support we have a lot of talk going on.  image

It almost looks like we need to create that department of algorithms.  This could make manufacturing easier too and again regular meetings to collaborate as changes come along to modify would be fine and it could make any certification processes easier too.  Meetings of course would bring about innovation too among manufacturers and if their algorithms were used for amendments, there would have to be no royalties of any sorts as they would have the running start with a product ahead of others.  Technology is not going to stop and we seem to be getting more fractured every day to the point where some are zoning out with overflow and marketing.  You can only take so much marketing and even just doing this blog I am buried and ignore a lot of it too.  I am still human and can only absorb so much at a time too. 

This brings about another thought too on software, why not use a common user interface too for clinicians?   Why do doctors have to learn so many software programs?  Could you imagine Congress having to sit down and hit the books and learn software to make laws?  Hmmm, well maybe that’s not a bad idea entirely and would create some empathy and knowledge as to what is happening in Health IT as they are clueless. I believe in competition by all means, but right now we are a bit out of hand where nobody or their brother can make a decision and feel good about it, people argue and they don’t even know the basis of what they are feuding about! 

The Medical Quack: Microsoft HealthVault and Common User Interface

We have the smart and smarter going up against the dumb and the dumber, and no disrespect here to anyone, but it is what it is.  The smart and the smarter need to stop and take a breath and help educate and bring the level up by helping the dumb and dumber so we don’t have this and greed seems to be standing in our way, like Wall Street for an example.  BD 

For the health IT industry, the silence is deafening. There's little that can be said about the looming release of meaningful use definitions for electronic health records that will be made public in about a month.

When National Coordinator for Health IT David Blumenthal gave the opening keynote at the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives 09 Fall Forum in California a couple of weeks ago, he emphasized that point before 550 attendees -- about 320 of them being CIOs at hospitals and integrated delivery systems. He couldn't discuss details of the parameters that health care providers' EHR systems will need to achieve to qualify for stimulus payments under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

CMS is studying a variety of recommendations on the definitions and is expected to issue a Notice of Proposed Rule-Making in December. That will set in motion the process to develop a final rule on the meaningful use criteria for hospitals.

"Dr. Blumenthal was seeking input from those of us on the front line of the activity," Chuck Christian, CIO at Good Samaritan Hospital in Vincennes, Ind., said, adding, "He was more interested in what we had to say rather than sharing information, and we gave him targeted feedback."

While there is general understanding of what the meaningful use criteria will look like for 2011, it's difficult for many organizations to move forward without the specifics, Christian said.

Meaningful Silence Deafening for Health IT Industry - iHealthBeat

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FDA Approves Hot Chili Pain Patch – Made With a Synthetic Version of Capsaicin

11/19/2009 05:14:00 PM  ,  

Need a pain patch, hot chilies to the rescue, well sort of.  The pain patch product, Qutenza need a prescription by your physician.  It is stated to be helpful with relief from shingles in this article.  It sounds like some pretty powerful stuff as one application applied by a physician can give up to 12 weeks relief, sign me up for all my aches and pains for that matter.  image BD 

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first prescription strength capsaicin product: Qutenza, a prescription pain patch designed to reduce nerve pain caused by shingles.

What is Capsaicin?

Capsaicin, in its natural form, is the substance in peppers, like chili peppers and cayenne peppers, that gives them their heat.  It is also a long used and beloved natural herbal remedy for all sorts of external aches and pains, including nerve pain and arthritis.

From the website:

QutenzaTM is indicated for the management of neuropathic pain associated with postherpetic neuralgia.image

QutenzaTM contains capsaicin in a local dermal delivery system. The capsaicin in QutenzaTM is a synthetic equivalent of the naturally occurring compound found in chili peppers.

QutenzaTM is administered by a physician or a health professional under the close supervision of a physician. QutenzaTM may be administered every 3 months or as warranted by the return of pain, but not more frequently than every 3 months. In clinical trials, the most common adverse reactions were application site redness, pain, itching, and papules. The majority of these reactions were transient and self limited. Among patients treated with QutenzaTM, 1% discontinued prematurely due to an adverse event. Serious adverse reactions included application-site pain and increased blood pressure. Blood pressure increases during or shortly after QutenzaTM treatment were on average less than 10 mm Hg, although some patients had greater increases and these changes lasted for approximately 2 hours after patch removal.

FDA approves prescription pain patch based on herbal remedy capsaicin

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Medicare Extends Personal Health Record Pilot Program – Magpie Healthcare Thrives, Where’s the Training and Education?

11/19/2009 08:59:00 AM  ,  

I talk about this quite a bit here, especially since I am actively involved and have helped my own 85 year old mother with putting her records into a PHR.  I also was skeptical about the success when initially announced, again going back to lack of education and training.  PHRs are not just something you put out there and wait for the consumers to show up, education and training is needed in order to SHOW VALUE.  We seem to have a difficult time with this word “value” all over the place today from non-participants and the only way to create value is to educate.  image

I also see a lot folks writing about PHRs and when I ask specific questions on how they are using a program I also tend to get one big zero, in other words, “Magpie Healthcare”, in the fact that so many experts still succumb to the belief that PHRs are for “those guys over there” and in actuality are non participants themselves.  Here’s the original announcement:

CMS names four PHR vendors for Medicare pilot program

Personal Health Records (PHR), I don’t do technology said the CEO, “it’s for those guys over there”

How many members of Congress use a PHR for example?  Non-participants normally can’t see the value.  A PHR is something for everyone at every walk of life, not just for the peasants.  I did a follow up post, the pilot was not working well with little participation.

Where are the PHR mentors – education required as the Arizona ...

The bottom line is to invest in educating our citizens in the US, and nobody seems to be able to get a handle on this.  We have devices coming out right and left that report data, what’s the average level of knowledge with the average consumer on this, zero!  I say this as I interact and ask questions all the time, this is the reality.  We seem to be so wrapped up in the importance of running business intelligence algorithms today that we forget the “human side” of all of this and assume that consumers will read and get all of this – they don’t.  We have a huge society of people who do not read and education and training is needed to reach out.  Everybody talks about it, but in reality we have a real “no go” here and an internet full of all the information needed with those who talk about the processes and many failing to be participants themselves.  This is the reality of the pot calling the kettle black.  BD 

One Hell of a Training Program Needed – The Bottom Line to Success in Health IT

Medicare PHR Choice offered to Arizona and Utah beneficiaries through 2010.

Phoenix, AZ (PRWEB) November 19, 2009 -- Medicare PHR Choice, a pilot program that provides beneficiaries with direct input of claims data into online personal health records (PHRs), will continue through December 2010 according to officials at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The pilot is available to people with Original Fee-for-Service Medicare who are primary residents of Utah and Arizona.

Medicare PHR Choice allows beneficiaries to choose from one of four PHR tools to maintain their health information electronically. The PHR companies--Google Health, HealthTrio, NoMoreClipboard.com, and PassportMD--offer beneficiaries a range of consumer PHR services and features so they may choose which format will best meet their needs. Enrollment in the PHR Choice pilot is free, and some vendors offer additional services for a small fee.

In addition, the Medicare PHR Choice participants are able to enter other health provider and prescription information to their online records. Depending on the specific PHR tool selected, participants may be able to authorize other data transfers, such as prescription records from a participating pharmacy. PHRs also may offer links to tools that help consumers manage their health, including wellness programs for tracking diet and exercise, information about drugs and medical devices, health education information, and applications that detect potential medication interactions.

Medicare Extends Personal Health Record Pilot

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Health Net Data Breach – 1.5 Million Records At Risk With Missing Portable Hard Drive

11/19/2009 08:01:00 AM  ,  

Members in 3 states going back to 2002 are at risk and will receive free credit services.  Recently Blue Cross was in the news for a similar type of incident with exposing provider information.  The hard drive was lost 6 months ago and is just now being reported so if it did fall into the hands of imagesomeone trying to take advantage with identity theft some activity could have already taken place.  I would think the company would back date the protection services to in order to protect members. 

Once again, this makes a real loud statement about security and the use of external drives and flash drives containing patient and provider information which should be stored on a secured server.  Sure there are issues there as well but it’s a bit more difficult to break into a full on server than having a non-encrypted drive in one’s hands.  BD

A hard drive with seven years of personal and medical information on about 1.5 million Health Net customers, including 446,000 in Connecticut, was lost six months ago and was first reported Wednesday, state and company officials said. 
The insurance company informed the state attorney general's office and the Department of Insurance Wednesday of the security breach that puts personal medical records at risk in a historic lapse, the first of its kind to be publicly reported.

A portable, external hard drive with Social Security numbers and medical records "disappeared" and is still missing from the insurer's Northeast headquarters in Shelton, a Health Net spokeswoman said Wednesday.
The hard drive contains Social Security numbers, medical records and health information dating to 2002 for 1.5 million customers — past and present — in Arizona, Connecticut, New Jersey and New York, the spokeswoman said.

Sullivan said his office is requiring Health Net to offer credit protection monitoring through Debix, a company that provides identity-theft protection services.
"My main concern is protecting the members and participating providers," Sullivan said. "We are currently working with Health Net to ensure adequate notification and protections for all involved."

1.5 Million Medical Files At Risk In Health Net Data Breach -- Courant.com

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Tele Presence Robots for Remote Workers – Invasion of the AnyBots

11/18/2009 07:35:00 PM  ,  

More Robots, these do dishes and make coffee and you control them remotely!  OK….Here’s a page with some videos.

The phone used to be the next best thing to being there!  If forgot to vacuum, just remotely hook up and get the job done, same for the dishes.  Housekeeping jobs could be in danger next?  BD 

"There's a mirror over there," Blackwell said, pointing, and I tapped the keys again until I was facing it. I saw a slender, wheeled robot with two cameras and a small square video screen on its head displaying the real me. This was QB (pictured above), the latest Anybots robot, which is just about to go into private beta testing.

image image

It does a pretty good job at unpacking a Roomba. 

 

 

I tried out QB at the 2009 IEEE conference on Technologies for Practical Robot Applications (TePRA) conference, where I also met Erin Rapacki, Anybots' newest employee. Rapacki was flying out to the company's office in Mountain View, California the next day, but had set up her laptop and headset so that conference attendees could try the teleoperated robot and chat with her west-coast coworkers.

Technology Review: Blogs: TR Editors' blog: A Long-Distance Robot Relationship

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HealthVault Product Manager Discusses HealthVault and How It Works With Mayo Clinic

11/18/2009 07:10:00 PM  , , ,  

One of the product Development Managers from HeatlhVault discusses how he works with and uses the Mayo Clinic HealthVault software. 

Anymore with all the products emerging in this area, one of the most important pieces of information to ask is where are my records stored as some others are a bit vague, so you may think your records are in one place but find out differently later.  You could even be exposed to 3rd party offerings or software, so again be sure and ask.

 image

Mayo Clinic and HealthVault Partner for Personal Health Records - April 2009

In the video and in the screenshot above, you can clearly see that the product is HealthVault branded with Mayo Clinic adding additional healthcare information to help patients from the huge data bases and updated information Mayo has to offer.  BD 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFtE2Qh8cJc

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DeCode Genetics Files for Bankruptcy in the US – Iceland Facility Likely to Go On Option Block

11/18/2009 06:13:00 PM  ,  

This is sad and in August of 2008 it looked like the company was on their way.

Decode Nearly Doubles Revenues in Q2 - Personalized Medicine

As the article states it was not all the economy that lead to the bankruptcy filing, but it certainly didn’t help.  The tests and research did not end up being significant enough to help bolster the development of medical genetic tests and help with production of pharmaceutical products.  When the new owners take over, the fate of the Iceland facility will be addressed, will it stay or go?   It certainly seems that someone could make use of the facility and research on hand and create some new business models for going in some new directions.  Since deCode began though, many competitors have emerged as well, so competition in this area became very fierce, very fast.  BD

DeCode Genetics, a pioneering company that used the Icelandic population as its guinea pigs in detecting disease-causing mutations, filed for bankruptcy on Tuesday.

The company’s demise suggests that the medical promise of the human genome may take much longer to be fulfilled than its sponsors had hoped. Based in Reykjavik, Iceland, it was founded in 1996 by Dr. Kari Stefansson, a research neurologist who worked at the University of Chicago and at Harvard. After the human genome sequence was achieved in 2003, Dr. Stefansson quickly realized that Iceland’s excellent medical records, combined with the genealogical information available on its close-knit population, provided a fine test bed for seeking the roots of genetically complex diseases like cancer, diabetes and schizophrenia.

Whatever business errors deCode may have made, a principal reason for its downfall is scientific — the genetic nature of human disease has turned out to be far more complex than thought.

DeCode Genetics Files for Bankruptcy - NYTimes.com

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Aetna Health Insurance Laying Off over 1000 Employees – Most in Connecticut

11/18/2009 05:29:00 PM    

The economy is having it’s toll on everyone.  Aetna has won some and lost some in the corporate bidding battles as employers have been one of their key targets.  Bank of America and Tri-Care have been 2 of their recent awarded contracts.   What else does this mean potentially, more automation and less potential individuals to speak with.  All companies are streamlining their operations to incorporate automation, being made possible with new algorithms and business models. 

The “scoring” of claims of course will continue and that process, if you read the news in the last six months, is on a sky rocket with data improvements and algorithmic automation.  The company is of course still making money, but with lay offs today, that means little as automation will serve to increase current profits.  The healthcare insurance business, outside of Wall Street itself has been one of the heaviest investors in software technology, business intelligence runs the business models and the entire way they do business.  BD 

NDIANAPOLIS - Health insurer Aetna said Wednesday it will cut 625 jobs immediately, or nearly 2 percent of its staff, and will make a similar number of cuts by the end of the 2010 first quarter due to the lagging economy and the potential impact of health care reform.

Hartford, Conn.-based Aetna trimmed 977 jobs last December and currently has about 35,500 people. Several other large insurers, including Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc. and Philadelphia-based Cigna Corp., also have announced cuts.

Health insurers have faced growing financial pressure in the past few quarters as corporate job cuts have trimmed the number of people covered by employer-sponsored health insurance. Many insurers project enrollment losses will continue into 2010 as the unemployment rate is projected to keep rising.

Aetna, the third largest publicly traded managed care company, saw medical enrollment grow 8 percent in the third quarter to more than 19 million people. But it expects to lose 225,000 people in the fourth quarter and another 650,000 in the first quarter of 2010, spokesman Fred Laberge said.

Aetna cutting more than 1,000 jobs by 1st quarter - News Wires - CNBC.com

Related Reading:

Aetna and United HealthCare Secure Military Contracts with Tri-Care

Here Come the Health Coaches - Aetna Locks Contract with Bank of America for Health Insurance for 3 Years – Cigna Lines Up 3 Major Employers

Aetna Takes a Year to Settle $31,000.00 Claim – Thought They Had a Doctor In Network Who Could Have Performed Special Surgery and Found Out They Did Not

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California PPO Report Card is Out – No Five Stars and No Four Stars For That Matter

11/18/2009 12:31:00 PM    

Here’s the screenshot of the summary, details can be read at the site.  This is created by the Department of Insurance and Blue Cross didn’t even respond on this go around.  Does this mean anything to individuals any longer or are the carriers too busy with their own business intelligence operations and software to participate?  It doesn’t look like chronic disease is getting enough of a shake here, even though everyone talks about it all the time.  BD 

 image

On Tuesday, the California Department of Insurance unveiled a Web-based PPO report card designed to help consumers compare ratings on five major health plans in the state, the Sacramento Business Journal reports.

A state report card for HMOs has been in place since 2002.

The new Web site rates PPOs on criteria such as:

  • Asthma care;
  • Cancer screenings;
  • Diabetes care; and
  • Pediatric health (Sacramento Business Journal, 11/17)

California Launches Online PPO Report Card for State Health Plans - iHealthBeat

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Patients at El Camino Hospital Check in with Biometric Authentication – Patient Security

11/18/2009 06:39:00 AM  ,  

This is pretty neat and not too long ago I wrote about the opening of the hospital.  The PalmSecure software/hardware will work with Citrix and imagescans your hand.  Once you have been registered, one scan of the hand is all that is needed.  Watch the video as well to see what other neat things are going on, including the speech translators in the ER, right at the end of the beds.  BD

MOUNTAIN VIEW and FOOTHILLRANCH, Calif., Nov. 17 /PRNewswire/ --When patients were admitted to the new El Camino Hospital in Mountain View for the first time on Monday, November 16, the registration process included something most people associate with sci-fi thrillers -- a cutting edge biometric registration system that "reads" patients' identities by scanning the unique vein structures in their palms.

imageThe system El Camino Hospital is using as an integral part of its new patient registration and identification system is the Fujitsu PalmSecure(TM) palm vein biometric authentication technology. The PalmSecure technology's integration with HT Systems' PatientSecure and McKesson's Star Hospital Information Systems provides El Camino Hospital with a highly accurate, non-intrusive verification method for effectively registering and identifying patients. The combined solution protects patient privacy and helps to prevent medical identity theft while allowing patients to receive swift, accurate care.








Registration in the Palm of Your Hand

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IBM Scientists Created Point of Care Diagnostic Test Using Silicon Chip – Less Sample, Faster And Can Test for Many Diseases

11/17/2009 10:32:00 PM  ,  

The big test touted here is testing for heart disease.  The chip is portable and the patient has to donate less blood and/or urine.  This is amazing thatimage results would be available in a couple of minutes, no more waiting for the long lab reports.

They intend use to be in a pen, credit card or other formats.  It’s all about the silicon here.  The next chips would be able to read 6 samples at one time.   IBM states the testing of course could be used by doctors as well as pharmaceutical companies.  When you watch the video you can see the sample move across the chip, smaller than a tear drop.  BD 

 

IBM scientists have created a one-step point-of-care-diagnostic test, based on an innovative silicon chip that requires less sample volume, is significantly faster, portable, easy to use and can test for many diseases, including one of world's leading cause of death, cardiovascular disease*. The results are so quick and accurate that a patients serum or blood sample, could be tested immediately following a myocardial infarction, commonly known as a heart attack, to enable the doctor to take a course of action and to predict the patients survival rate.

YouTube - IBM Scientists Reinvent Medical Diagnostic Testing

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Office Ally Receives Electronic Health Network Accreditation – Privacy and HIPPA Compliance

11/17/2009 10:38:00 AM  , ,  

Just last week Office Ally announced new information regarding their PHR, personal health records, and security and privacy is something that is on everyone’s mind imagetoday.  With the EHNAC accreditation added, they have met the standards set forth so this goes forward to show the commitment to security and privacy.  You can read more about the process here.  View the post from last week at the link below on EHR, PHR and Clearing house services.

Office Ally Adds More Connectivity for Physicians and Patients – EHR and PHR Web Based Servicesimage

Also, you can follow Office Ally for updates and other additional information on Twitter.  Office_Ally at Twitter 

Press Release:

Accreditation Ensures Compliance with Industry-Established Standards for All Health Data Processing and Transactions

VANCOUVER, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Office Ally, a true health information network, connecting patients, providers and payers, announced today it has achieved full accreditation with the Healthcare Network Accreditation Program (HNAP) from the Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission (EHNAC). EHNAC’s HNAP accreditation recognizes excellence in health data processing and transactions, and indicates compliance with industry-established standards and HIPAA regulations. 

Through the consultative review process, EHNAC evaluated Office Ally in areas of privacy measures, systems availability and security infrastructure. In addition, EHNAC reviewed the organizations’ process of managing and transferring protected health information and determined that the organization meets or exceeds all EHNAC criteria and industry standards. Through completion of the rigorous accreditation process, the organization demonstrates to its constituents, adherence to strict standards and participation in the comprehensive, objective evaluation of its business.

“EHNAC provides one of the most challenging yet vital accreditation processes in the nation,” notes Brian O’Neill, president of Office Ally. “If the healthcare industry is to ensure the widespread adoption of electronic data interchange (EDI) for healthcare data and enjoy the many benefits it provides, we must be able to assure the security of data transmissions. EHNAC’s accreditation recognizes Office Ally’s own rigorous standards and commitment to privacy.”

Office Ally offers a simple-to-use web-based integrated system that connects patients, providers, and payors with a range of services. imageThis complete solution increases efficiency and enhances profitability—and most services are offered at no charge to providers. EHNAC reviewed Office Ally’s data submission practices for protected health information and found that all procedures met or exceeded all EHNAC criteria. 

“Through EHNAC HNAP-EHN accreditation, Office Ally has demonstrated a commitment to ensuring the security and privacy of health data processing and transactions for its customers,” says Lee Barrett, executive director of EHNAC. “We are honored to have Office Ally join our select group of HNAP-accredited organizations and congratulate them on this achievement.”

About EHNAC

The Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission (EHNAC) is a voluntary, self-governing standards development organization established to develop standard criteria and accredit organizations that electronically exchange healthcare data. These entities include electronic health networks, payers, financial services firms, and e-Prescribing and other solution providers.

EHNAC was founded in 1993 and is a tax-exempt 501(c)(6) nonprofit organization. Guided by peer evaluation, the EHNAC accreditation process promotes quality service, innovation, cooperation and open competition in healthcare. To learn more, visit www.ehnac.org or contact info@ehnac.org.

About Office Ally:

Office Ally is a national full service medical claims clearinghouse and electronic connectivity company based in Vancouver, Washington. The company offers effective free or low-cost IT services that help to lower health care costs and provide more efficiencies for physicians, payors, and patients, including medical claims filing, practice management, electronic medical records, and personal health records systems. For more information, visit www.officeally.com or call (866) 575-4120.

Office Ally Receives EHNAC Electronic Health Network Accreditation | Business Wire

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FedEx Introduces SenseAware – Focus on Healthcare and Life Sciences for Tracking Shipments In Real Time

11/17/2009 08:45:00 AM  , ,  

 image In a former life I worked for a logistics company which is now owned by FedEx and this brings back some memories and is also very a very interesting innovation for those involved in transporting Life Sciences cargo, which can vary in content from being lab samples to supplies, etc.  At some point in time we all have to rely on common carriers for sending and receiving good and high value medical/life science cargo usually pays top dollar and demands priority, simply due to the fact that it is science and healthcare related, time and condition sensitive.  I am always amazed with FedEx and their innovation as they seem to wait for nobody and forge ahead and I’ll still remember the day years ago in the Airbus simulator I had a number of years ago, being able to experience simulation in what now might be called the “early days”. 

You can read through the text here and it’s not hard to figure out how useful the SenseAware technology will be, especially if you were say in Israel and making a time sensitive shipment to the US, it could be material needed for clinical trials for a simple example.  We are getting to the end of dry ice days it appears as better methodologies are being used by various companies too.  You can read more here on what FedEx and Cryport are doing in this effort and an earlier post from this year with a message from Fred Smith, the CEO, speaking of current times and the plans for the future for FedEx.

Just as a side note of information, did you know you can use Twitter to track your FedEx packages?  This is a post from last year and the services through Twitter has been around for a while now. 

TrackThis: Twitter on Drugs for Mail Order Prescriptions…Track Fedex, UPS, DHL Packages…

Once the SenseAware program gets moving it will allow both parties to see the real time status and condition of the shipment.  This will be interesting as well as it would seem to also involve some type of notification process to for the pilots of the aircraft too when shipments using the technology are on board.  Some of the aircraft flown by FedEx, namely the MD-11 jets already are assisted with Tablet PCs that take over many of the functions that used to be done manually.  A flight plan is loaded and just finding airport (JEPPS) maps is accomplished much easier with a computer and I remember way back helping someone file all of those, I had the filing end of that chore.   Lately there has been some bad press about notebooks in the cockpit, but there are legitimate and aviation functions where they are needed and that area will grow. 

This will be interesting to follow and see how the new tracking device works!  Again, we can always seem to look to FedEx for setting the pace for others to follow and those high value shipments relating to Science and Healthcare will be right on the mark.  BD 

FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX), today announced SenseAwareSM powered by FedEx, a next generation, first-of-its-kind information service that combines a GPS sensor device and a web-based collaboration platform. Developed by the FedEx innovation team, SenseAware will provide increased access to information between business partners and customers to aid in the management of supply chain interactions and will target the life sciences industry at launch.

Available in the spring of 2010, SenseAware is an open, highly adaptive and easy-to-use sensor information sharing platform. It is a multi-modal solution that will serve customers who desire near real-time visibility and insight into their shipments. SenseAware will provide business decision makers the ability to quickly and easily collaborate on many types of information data across their global supply chain.

SenseAware is permitted by the Federal Aviation Administration to be used during flight on FedEx aircraft and will allow customers to monitor in-transit conditions during ground transportation. image

A SenseAware device riding with a FedEx shipment can provide the following information:

  • Precise temperature readings
  • A shipment's exact location
  • When a shipment is opened or if the contents have been exposed to light
  • Real-time alerts and analytics between trusted parties regarding the above vital signs of a shipment

SenseAware can be easily adopted as it does not require a costly software installation, infrastructure or large managed-service commitments. The added flexibility of the SenseAware device enables it to be used for single shipments or in large palletized shipments.

Available in 2010, SenseAware will initially target the health care and life sciences industry. SenseAware was created through intensive research and beta-testing with customers within those industries. Pilot customers immediately recognized the benefits of the technology during an internal testing phase and realized the potential to shorten inventory turnaround time on closed loop shipments by having complete inbound visibility to all shipments.

By providing extensive aggregated data shipment information, the technology will help life science customers comply with audits and quality checks, which occur regularly on such highly regulated products, For example, within the industry, many shipments must remain within a specified ambient or cold-chain temperature range to be effective for use in patient care. By having the correct and necessary data, users can make the proper business decisions to replenish or make other arrangements to meet the business requirement.

FedEx Introduces SenseAware, the Next Generation Supply Chain Information Platform | FedEx Global Newsroom

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