How to Search This Blog – Instant Search Checks Blog Rolls and Is Very Fast! Full Search is Still Useful Too But Takes Longer – Use Box #2 For Speed

Sometimes I feel like I keep everyone confused at times, so if I do that my apologies.  The reason for this post is to bring to light the fact that I have 2 search boxes on this site, not by design, but they both do different jobs in locating information.

The first Search box does an extensive relevancy by post for articles that talk about the same company, devices, technology, etc. throughout the blog.  I have been doing this for about 3 years, so there’s a lot to search.  Be patient as it does a thorough scan.

Now for those like me that want things done fast, use the second search box.  This is a new addition to Blogger from Google and if you use Blogger add it to your own blog.  It is finally to the point where it does everything it is supposed to do, and lightening fast.

I still have people asking me how to find certain articles on the blog, but they never use the search here, so when they ask, guess what I do, use my own search.  I see the same people go right to Google’s site and search, so it’s just one more step when it can be done here and a few less clicks.

Ok here’s the good part of all of this, as most of us use Blogrolls, the second search is not only fast but also will search those you list in your Blogrolls for content by keyword, so gee I could have everybody using this search to find information on other blogs, well yes that could happen but I’m not holding my breath.  Now I might get a small surge of folks wanting to be on the Blogroll though, but again if you use Blogger, do the same thing.

I did a search for EHR, since that is a heavily searched topic.  The first screen shows what came up in my blog and as you can see it goes on for 8 pages, guess I write a lot about them:)

Now, let’s go to Linked from here on the 2nd tab, which gives the links I have included in my posts and some of my sources, this one is full too, over 8 pages of links and you see CCHIT, Allscripts, e_MDs, etc. in the links and so on.

Line number 3 the the Blog Roll search, the one that is a good deal for other bloggers to perhaps find some of their material maybe read and linked from here too.  This specifically searches those blogs listed in my blog roll.  You can see we had EHR Consultant, Medical Economics, etc. for the first page and this one is full too with over 8 pages of linked posts from the Blogroll.

One more shot of Blogroll and I see a few more personal blogs on this page. 

Last but not least we have the web search here and we all know what that does, but it’s a convenience here instead of having to open and close additional windows and saves a little time.

So again, if you are on Blogger, take a look at this as it is just like adding any other widget here and not hard at all as they wrote the code so just follow directions.  Again, I use it when I’m looking for back stories myself to link to.  When I first saw the addition, I thought it was still the same old search that has been on Blogger for years, but it has changed. 

Search #2 is lightening fast, one of the best reasons to put the search on your blog.  I have written on so many topics over 3 years and now searching the archives has finally become fast, efficient and easy.  If you still use the toolbar search you will also see how much faster this widget is over that method too.  BD

Technorati Tags: Blogs, Google, serach engine, Bloggers, Blogroll, links, healthcare blogging

Read More

The Medical Quack Now Has a Kindle Edition

There’s one more way you can read the Medical Quack if you happen to own a Kindle.  It is not free, but the charge is $1.99 a month and you can try it out for 14 days at no charge.  So if the Quack is worth a couple bucks a month and you own a Kindle, here it is. 

I have a new widget on the blog to make it easy to subscribe and it will take you to the page on Amazon.com.   Thank you to all the readers who stop by here, I do appreciate your readership and comments!  BD  

If you don’t know what a Kindle is, here’s a video that will clue you in, electronic wireless reading without having to carry a ton of books with you.  Kindle uses the same connections as cell phones use.  Watch the video and see how devices like the Kindle are bringing news and more to a digital format that is light, easy to carry and saves a few trees with not having books, blogs and news items on paper.

 You can read more about the device and what it costs here.

Kindle Blog Subscriptions

• Kindle Blogs are auto-delivered wirelessly to your Kindle and updated throughout the day so you can stay current.
• It's risk free—all Kindle Blog subscriptions start with a 14-day free trial. You can cancel at any time during the free trial period. If you enjoy your subscription, do nothing and it will automatically continue at the regular monthly price.

Amazon.com: The Medical Quack: Kindle Store: The Medical Quack

Technorati Tags: Kindle, Medical Quack, Amazon.com, healthcare, subsciprtions, Blog, reading material

Read More

New InJentle Glass Syringe from Schott – Drug and Patient Friendly

The new syringe will make injections less painful, and any patient will appreciate this.  The new syringe was developed in conjunction with Cambridge Consultants, those folks I mention here from time to time reflecting on their blue tooth inhaler.  You can also read up on the Schott website for additional details.  One of the selling points here is that there is no contact between the drug and the needle. 

Cambridge is part of Altran, a global service provider to healthcare and other types of businesses.  Between Cambridge and Altran, these are a couple of companies big pharma explores for the creation of drug delivery systems.  BD 

Press Release:

Cambridge Consultants have supported SCHOTT forma vitrum ag in developing a new syringe system – InJentle™ - designed to address the requirements of highly sensitive drugs as well as improving the application, making injections less painful for patients. 

InJentle ^TM's unique design, employing a ‘pinch seal’ closure, ensures that the drug is not in contact with the metal needle or the adhesive of the syringe during storage, preventing sensitive drugs from interacting with these potential contaminants. This also has the advantage of creating similar stability test requirements as vials. The needle shield has also been designed with robust tamper-evident closure. This enables physicians or patients to determine easily if the syringe is still unused. InJentle™ also includes the flexibility to include further anti-counterfeiting features in the future, such as RFID tags.

SCHOTT InJentle^TM incorporates a needle shield that protects the needle and minimizes the risk from the occurrence of ‘hooks’. Sharper ‘virgin’ needles make the injection less painful for patients. In addition, InJentle™ can be combined with particularly thin needles- potentially up to 32 gauge - which are also siliconized, contributing to improved patient application.

Commenting on the development, Phil Lever, Cambridge Consultants’ recently appointed head of drug delivery, said: “SCHOTT had developed a technically precise concept which required an equally precise implementation. Cambridge Consultants has a very successful track record of designing and developing novel injection devices, so we were able to use our expertise to bring together all of SCHOTT’s requirements into a sophisticated new device.”

InJentle™ has been designed with a range of additional benefits. For example, the special geometry of the glass barrel does not require the use of any tungsten during the glass forming process, making the syringe completely tungsten-free. Although the syringe has been designed with these special features, it is delivered with standard nests and tubs so that it can be filled on standard filling lines.

“InJentle™ is both ‘drug friendly’ and ‘patient friendly’,” commented Carmen Heiter, Product Manager, Syringes, at SCHOTT. “On the one hand, it enables even very sensitive drugs to be stored safely, on the other hand it offers easy handling and the ability to use particularly thin needles for a gentle application. We are delighted with the result of this partnership with Cambridge Consultants, whose experience of developing novel injection technology has been invaluable in getting this product to the manufacture stage so effectively.”

For more information please visit http://www.schott.com/pharmaceutical_systems/InJentle

NOTES TO EDITORS

Cambridge Consultants develops breakthrough products, creates and licenses intellectual property, and provides business consultancy in technology critical issues for clients worldwide.  For 50 years, the company has been helping its clients turn business opportunities into commercial successes, whether they are launching first-to-market products, entering new markets or expanding existing markets through the introduction of new technologies.  With a team of over 300 engineers, designers, scientists and consultants, in offices in Cambridge (UK) and Boston (USA), Cambridge Consultants offers solutions across a diverse range of industries including medical technology, industrial and consumer products, transport, energy, cleantech and wireless communications.  

Throughout 2010, Cambridge Consultants celebrates its 50th year in business.  Created by three Cambridge graduates in 1960, the company has grown into a leading technology business, renowned worldwide for its ability to solve technical problems and provide innovative, practical solutions to commercial issues.  In 2009, the company was awarded the prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade.  For more information visit: www.CambridgeConsultants.com

Cambridge Consultants is part of Altran, the European leader in innovation and high technology consulting.  The Group’s 17,500 consultants, operating worldwide, cover the entire range of engineering specialties, including electronics, information technology, quality and organization.  Altran offers its clients ongoing support throughout the innovation cycle, from technology watch, applied basic research and management consulting to industrial systems engineering and information systems.  The Group provides services to most industries, including the automotive, aeronautics, space, life sciences and telecommunications sectors.  Founded in 1982, Altran operates in 20 priority countries.  In 2008, it generated a turnover of €1,650 million.  For more information visit: www.altran.com

SCHOTT is a technology-driven, international group that sees its core purpose as the lasting improvement of living and working conditions through special materials and high-tech solutions. Its main areas of focus are defense, household appliance industry, optics and opto-electronics, information technology, consumer electronics, lighting, automotive engineering, solar energy and pharmaceutical packaging.

SCHOTT Pharmaceutical Packaging is one of the world’s leading suppliers of parenteral packaging for the pharmaceutical industry. More than 600 production lines with production sites in 12 countries worldwide produce more than 7 billion syringes, vials, ampoules, cartridges and special articles of tubing glass or polymer annually. For more information, visit: http://www.schott.com/pharmaceutical_systems

Technorati Tags: Cambridge Consultants, InJentle, drugs, syringe, healthcare, needles, Schott, pharma, drug delivery

Read More

One Smart Hospital In Virginia Invests in Hand Washing Technology – It’s in the Tag

One smart hospital bought in here and is having almost 100% compliance.  I have talked on several posts about the technology answer here.  You can visit the link here and listen to the staff themselves talk about it, and guess, they like as it makes it easy, which is what we need to do with all technology, make interaction and use easy!   I am not sure by the video at the link if this is the system being used, but if not, very similar in what is accomplished.  

Real Time Monitoring of When you Washed your Hands – Don’t Touch that Patient Until You Have Washed Your Hands

The technology just might prove to be more efficient than human spies checking for compliance too, and if you look at cost by comparison, I think technology might win out here, something those looking at the expense of healthcare might want to entertain, how technology saves money for those who are still in “tech denial” today.  This is smart and makes perfect sense here and hopefully some of those a few years ago that used to “run for the hills” when they saw a Tablet PC in action might have some second thoughts, and yes that really happens, CEOs, other clinical workers, patients, you name it run, hide and don’t even want to see what technology can do for them.  Ask me as you can immediately recognize the look of fear and disinterest in about 10 seconds, ask me (grin).  BD 

You can also read more here about the  hospital in Virginia that implemented the system. 

This is more about empowering the patient, the physician states this flat in the video and again discusses how compliance is all about making it convenient for busy healthcare workers.  BD 

Epidemiologists are using a small, wireless sensor to detect whether hospital workers have properly washed their hands. Worn like a name badge, the sensor detects the presence of ethyl alcohol - the main ingredient found in hand sanitizing solutions used in healthcare facilities. A wall-mounted sensor by a patient's doorway sends a signal to the wearable sensor, indicating that it should perform the check. The worker places his or her hands in front of the sensor-a red light indicates more washing is needed; a green light means alcohol fumes from the sanitizer are detected.

Cleaning up Hospitals - Epidemiologists Clean Things Up with Hand-Washing Detector for Healthcare Facilities

Technorati Tags: handwashing, hospital, hospital acquired infections, badges, doctors, nurses, empowered patients

Read More

Cigna Expanding It’s Horizons Outside the US – Global Trade Union in the UK Investigating NHS and Insurance Marketing and Potential Contracts

Over the last 2 years I have had posts on many of the health insurance companies exploring making money outside the US, Blue Cross in China for one example and so on.  They are all doing it, as when you are traded on the stock market, money, money, money talks.  This one global trade union sees the writing on the wall and is conducting their own investigation, for fear of losing their healthcare as they know it today through the NHS, and if I were over there I would probably be doing the same thing.  Cigna, for example here hired one of the big chief executives from BUPA, one of the companies being investigated by the Global Trade Union.  BUPA also has an interest in Asia.

Global Trade Union to Investigate US Insurance Companies Bidding for NHS Contracts

Our lives with technology and trying to attain balance are getting more complicated every day, and from what we experience here in the US, I can’t blame them for not wanting to have to experience items such as this:

Tri-Care Contracts Still Not Defined – Aetna and United Bids Still in Limbo From the GOA

As you can see, the bidding process can’t even be done correctly with Tri-Care, and the story says Aetna basically cheated by hiring a former Tri-Care administrator to prepare the bid.  We live breathe and eat this stuff here in the US and yes the world is watching and analyzing.  What is also interesting is that these same health insurance companies can’t get their act together with providing security for patient records, and yet we get this below, they want to tell us how to shop for health insurance too?  Again, the world is watching and sees the frustrating algorithmic formulas made up by health insurance carriers that are traded on Wall Street and see how this is all for monetary gain, not better care.  If some better care comes a a result in some isolated areas though,that is touted as their grand efforts, but it does not balance the entire picture.

Aetna Wants To Teach You How to Shop for Health Insurance – For Those Who Can Still Afford It

It appears other parts of the world are skeptical about the “health insurance virus” we have here in the US.  Again I understand their need to exist and I feel they should return to being non profit to help correct healthcare reform and assure patients they are not going to be dropped if they get sick.  Aetna by the way plans on dropping 600,000 members this year as they “scored” non profitable and I hope you are not one them.  The game here just can’t continue as it is today and our leaders should really get a hold of some of these algorithmic formulas to audit and use better formulas themselves.  I say this in view of the fact that Congress is trying to increase coverage, and yet the states have no money are they themselves are using algorithms to drop people by using the algos to create tougher eligibility qualifications.  This is not the state’s faults by any means and I would tend to believe that Congress should have all the details on the status of affairs on where all the 50 states stand with budgets, don’t the 2 areas of data communicate? 

Schwarzenegger Calls for Healthcare Reform to be Fixed – Wants the Same Sweetheart Deal that Nebraska Received With Medicaid

Arizona Medicaid Program Draws Fire – Governor Wants to Roll Back Part of Eligibility Increase – 1 out of 6 Residents are Enrolled But We Have Money for Football

Arizona for example gets a 65% match on Medicaid where California gets 50% and even with the 65%, Arizona is headed to dump around 300,000 off the rank and files for Medicaid….same stuff insurers too when profitability is not there.  In light of all of this though, Cigna and other are ramping up to keep the shareholders investing, which does not mean better care per se, just more money for Wall Street and meanwhile back at the ranch, we have our US hospitals putting out notices to doctors to be sure and meet admitting quotas. 

This is not to pick on hospitals by any means, they are trying to survive and provide care and by raising the goals for admitting patients it brings in money so they too are trying to survive, play the game and provide medical care.  Remember 55% of of the US hospitals are currently operating in the RED, so it’s not their fault, it’s the health insurance business and our Congressional leadership at the top of the helm, health insurers in many areas taking advantage of the lack of education needed to understand their complicated algorithmic business models with Congress and using “tech smart” lobbyists to partially “pull the wool over their eyes” with complicated language that is partially non understandable, but will gain for those on Wall Street. 

This is one of the reasons I talk so much about needing “tech knowledge in Washington, so “we don’t get fooled again”.  BD 

Cigna International said Wednesday it will develop and offer individual private medical insurance products for citizens in countries outside the United States.

The Philadelphia insurance company (NYSE:CI) said the product will also be marketed to expatriates and “high net worth individuals.”

Keith Biddlestone will lead Cigna International’s individual private medical insurance effort when he joins the company Feb. 1. He is coming to Cigna from Bupa International, where he spent more than 25 years in a variety of health-care leadership positions in both Europe and the Asia-Pacific regions.

Cigna to offer individual non-U.S. plans - Philadelphia Business Journal:

Technorati Tags: Healthcare reform, Cigna, Tri-care, UK, NHS, politics, Congress, Medicaid, algorithms, business intelligence, BUPA, health insurance, budgets, Wall Street, contracts, Aetna

Read More

Throw Another Politician Against the Wall and See If Anything Sticks – Jon Stewart on the Soap Opera of Politics

This is funny and it really brings to light what in the heck we see these days as far as what’s in the press to keep the ball rolling.  Myself, I tire of seeing all of this and dirty laundry stories.  They all need to go to technology classes and don’t get it.  Jon does a good job on showing how ridiculous all of the politicians behavior is and the fact that we feed on this crap daily. We have serious issues here in the US, and yet we don’t seem to be able to take 10-15 minutes a day to learn something and tear ourselves from entertainment.  I watched Nightline last night and heard the entire Edwards saga and you know we really smarter people in office that can provide some real leadership and knowledge and provide less focus on “soap operas” which is about all we are getting these days.  Part of the Edwards story was good though as it did reveal some of the BS we see with folks just being what I call “blow horns” and are more impressed with themselves than the work they do. 

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Special Comment - Keith Olbermann's Name-Calling
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

I did listen to President Obama and his take on this too, and funny thing I had said the same thing before I heard him speak, we are frustrated and we have somewhat the blind leading the blind so grab another politician and see if they have anything that might stick.  I made my own contribution this week on the topic.

Grassley Sends Inquiry to Hospitals – If He Participated As an E-Patient, We Might See Some Better Questions Asked And He Could Have a Better Idea About How Health IT Works and the Value It Creates

Even those in the press are frustrated and Jon Stewart makes the point this week with humor as he always does so well.  In doing this blog I communicate with many levels from top IQ IT managers to the every day person and I do have to say those in Health IT are sitting out watching and trying to do the best they can with those who make laws and trying to show the value of not only electronic medical records, but overall healthcare IT, again once we can venture past the soap operas that consume so much of what we see today and are very entertaining, but get us nowhere when it comes to reform. 

What dirty laundry will appear next week and what will be the latest chapter?  I guess we just can’t seem to come to terms that we have a healthcare crisis in the US and entertainment prevails over education by far.  BD 

Technorati Tags: Daily Show, Jon Stewart, politics, voters, healthcare reform, Soap Opera, reporters, news, dirty laundry

Read More

Medical Novel/Technothriller Written by the Chief of Cardiac Surgery at Yale - “Transplant”

I don’t normally promote books here, but this one seemed to be of genuine interest as we read transplant horror stories all the time, trafficking, selling on the black market, etc.  This book is a novel and is fiction, written by the Chief of Cardiology at Yale University.  We have all heard that many doctors are exploring other areas of income, and this certainly could fit the bill here.  I’m certain with the years of expertise in surgical procedures, the doctor has some unique and different focuses he could use from his own experience to compose a novel based on how far one will go to get a transplant, which is the basis of the novel. 

Speaking of Yale and cardiology, I did an interview with a doctor from Yale, Dr. Bart Muhs, Head of Interventional Surgery at Yale, so we are all connected here in the cardiology department.

Interview with Bart E. Muhs, M.D., Yale School of Medicine – Aneurysm Repair Surgery

The novel does includes a glossary of medical terms and real-life scientific papers that relate to the story as well as a picture of Dr. Elefteriades on the cover during surgery.  Will have to check this one out myself.  BD

PRESS RELEASE:

Medical Novel/Technothriller Written by the Chief of Cardiac Surgery at Yale Asks How Far a Father Should Be Allowed to Go to Obtain an Organ For His Dying Son

Ethical questions arise when a billionaire businessman will do anything to have a famous heart surgeon perform an illegal procedure on his son

New Haven, Connecticut - The newly released novel Transplant by John A. Elefteriades, M.D., breaks new ground on several fronts. For starters, this medical technothriller engrosses readers while simultaneously teaching medicine. Written by John A. Elefteriades, M.D., chief of cardiac surgery at Yale University, the book relays tangibly real operating room sequences and cutting edge surgery within a plot that explores questions no book - or real-life human being for that matter - to date has asked.

Transplant is unique in that its central issue revolves around a chilling ethical problem in human transplantation that has not yet occurred but that is sure to garner future headlines. In a nutshell, how far should a father be allowed to go to obtain an organ for his dying son?

The novel is also unusual in that it contains a formal didactic section in its final pages that includes a glossary of medical terms, real-life scientific papers pertinent to the medicine involved in the story, and an analysis of the core issue by distinguished ethicist Dr. Harold Baillie, provost and professor of philosophy at the University of Scranton.

Finally, the book breaks new ground with its cover photo, which shows Dr. Elefteriades performing open heart surgery in Room 15 of Yale-New Haven Hospital. How many novels show the author performing cardiac surgery on the cover?

Professor of Medicine Mariell Jessup, M.D., also the director of the Heart Failure/Transplant program at the University of Pennsylvania, calls the novel "A gripping tale of violence and intrigue set within the world of transplant surgery." She adds, "Dr. Elefteriades makes abstract ethical questions about life and death bristle with urgency. This is a skilled and accurate depiction of heart transplant and a horrifying scenario that could occur when money and power join forces."

Transplant is available at www.amazon.com, www.barnesandnoble.com, and bookstores across the nation. For more information or to request an interview with the author, send an email to JAE427@aol.com

Contact: John A. Elefteriades, M.D.
Suite 273, 800 Village Walk, Guilford, CT 06437
203-785-2551; JAE427@aol.com
=====================

Technorati Tags: healthcare, transplants, Yale University, novel, book, MD, physician, Jessup, Elefteriades, cardiology, surgery

Read More

Regenerative Medicine and Growing Body Parts – A Progress Report and Update from TEDMED

This is a great video and talks more about how regenerative medicine works.  There are 15 people or more walking around with bladders that were grown. 

60 Minutes a while back did a great video too on what happens in Wake Forest with growing organs.

I did an interview a short while back with Cook Medical discussing their technologies with regenerative medicine in building scaffolds.  If you remember the man with the “magic pixie dust” that grew a portion of his finger back, well that was technology from Cook, more on the pixie dust further down here. 

Regenerative Medicine and How it Works – Interview with Cook Biotech (Medical)

If you want to go a little further with what they are doing, you can read about the rabbit penis that was grown, implanted and produced off spring.

Regenerative Medicine News – Fully Functional Rabbit Penis Created That Works

What is great about this video is that he explains the difference between scaffolding techniques and when stem cells are needed.  All regenerative medicine does not need stem cells as you are using more than one type of cell.   One of the most exciting areas of regenerative medicine is the clinical trial in Australia, using stem cells for women who have had their breast remove, a chance to grow them back, amazing.

Regenerative Medicine: Clinical Trial To Begin with Women in Australia Using Stem Cells To ReGrow Breasts – Has Been Successful with Pigs

The video below is from a year ago and is also a great video explaining regenerative medicine and you can see the man with the magic pixie dust here. 

From a post in May 2008…

A certain 69 year old Lee Spievak lost half an inch of finger to an aggressive model plane blade, and doctors had little hope for the appendage. Lucky for Lee, his brother Alan works in the field of regenerative medicine, and sent him some powder (which lee calls "pixie dust") to apply to the finger. Four weeks later Lee had grown back the entire finger, as good as new. The pixie dust is actually  modified cells scraped from the lining of a pig's bladder cleaned into a general-purpose tissue generator -- the cells basically tell the body to grow instead of scar. Doctors have high hopes for the cells, for everything from amputees to burn victims to cancer patients

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SfRgg9botI

Related Reading:

Regenerative Medicine – Material and Cell Based Regeneration of the Human Body

Biomagic "pixie dust" regrows man's lopped-off finger

Dr. Oz Visits a regenerative medicine lab in Wake Forest

The Heart Can Repair Itself – Stem Cells Help Speed up the Healing

The Oprah Show – Dr. Oz Explores and Explains Regenerative Medicine

Technorati Tags: regenerative medicine, healthcare, science, TEDMED, body parts, Wake Forest, organs, transplants, pixie dust, bladders, livers, technology

Read More

Intuit and Microsoft Working Together on Clouds – Windows Azure for QuickBooks and More

The big focus here is to create a Quick Books application and store it on Microsoft’s cloud, Azure.  By working together, developers will be able to create and sell web applications that work with QuickBooks.  Most small physician practices that I am familiar with all pretty much use QuickBooks.

Right now the Azure platform is free and at some point in time there may be some cost involved.  Not too long ago Microsoft was looking for companies who wanted to try the Azure Cloud with their SQL data bases.

Cloud Services from Microsoft – Azure Services Platform Announced

Also from what I am reading here, the integration of Microsoft online products will also be for sale, as they build to integrated if they are not already connected with Intuit products, so someday it could all be in the cloud.  For a few years, Intuit has enabled a free add on for QuickBooks to integrate with Outlook which I have talked about here on the blog.

QuickBooks Contact Synch for Outlook

And there’s also the iPhone application for accepting credit cards with GoPayment from Intuit.

House Calls - Physicians Can Accept Credit Cards with an iPhone and other Cell phones with GoPayment

Information below is from the Microsoft announcement and more can be read here from the Intuit Partner Platform page.  BD

REDMOND, Wash., and MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Jan. 20, 2010 — Intuit Inc. (Nasdaq: INTU) and Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) plan to create new opportunities for software developers to deliver and market Web applications to small-business customers through the Intuit App Center. The two companies plan to integrate the capabilities of their cloud services platforms — the Intuit Partner Platform and Windows Azure platform — to enable developers and channel partners to deliver solutions to the millions of employees within businesses that use QuickBooks^® financial software. In addition, the two companies will provide small businesses with Microsoft’s cloud-based productivity applications via the Intuit App Center.

Intuit will name Windows Azure as a “preferred platform” for small-business cloud application development on the Intuit Partner Platform. The companies expect this to jump-start development and distribution of new Web-based applications to help small businesses in today’s challenging economy. The free Windows Azure software development kit (SDK) (beta) for Intuit Partner Platform is available today at http://developer.intuit.com/azure.

“Intuit and Microsoft are trusted technology partners to small business,” said Walid Abu-Hadba, Microsoft Corporate Vice President of the Developer & Platform Evangelism organization. “By combining the pooled technology assets of our developer communities, we stand to produce an outpouring of new applications to help small businesses enhance their competitive edge.”

Immense Ecosystem of Developers and Channel Partners Benefits Small Businesses

As two leading technology platform providers to small businesses, Intuit and Microsoft are creating a vast ecosystem of more than 750,000 development firms and channel partners to create more new innovative applications and services that will reach the market more quickly. 

For Microsoft developers, the ability to develop applications for Intuit’s loyal customers will open a new landscape of sales prospects looking for small-business solutions.

For Intuit’s developer community, Microsoft provides a cloud platform and tools that will boost developer productivity and expand the possibilities to extend Intuit’s core application functionality.

“Intuit is driven to help small businesses succeed by improving their bottom line,” said Bill Lucchini, vice president and general manager of Intuit’s Platform as a Service Group. “The Intuit App Center is a huge breakthrough, allowing us to get innovative apps that solve real problems in users’ hands faster than ever before. Now, Microsoft developers can enhance their businesses with access to the small-business channel, the Intuit App Center will get stronger and small businesses will reap the rewards of all this innovation.”

“The Windows Azure SDK for Intuit Partner Platform is great news for .NET and Intuit Partner Platform developers,” said Joe Dwyer, CTO of Propelware, a longstanding member of the Intuit Developer Network, specializing in integrating software applications with QuickBooks. “Our developers are already very familiar with Visual Studio, and with the Windows Azure platform, we will no longer have to worry about maintenance, reliability and scale and can focus on creating richer applications for small businesses faster and respond quickly as their needs change.”

New Opportunities for Developers and Channel Partners

The Intuit Partner Platform will give Windows Azure developers the ability to build applications that their customers can use to take advantage of their QuickBooks data. In addition, developers get instant access to a pre-built channel for acquiring customers — a potential market of millions of employees at small businesses that use QuickBooks. A simple click from the QuickBooks Pro and Premier 2010 toolbar takes small businesses to the Intuit App Center where they can find, buy and use Web-based business applications built on or integrated with the Intuit Partner Platform. Applications in the App Center can also be accessed via any Web browser.

Integrated Microsoft Online Services on the Intuit App Center Later this Year

Later this year, Microsoft plans to make Microsoft Online Services, including Microsoft Exchange Online, Microsoft SharePoint Online, Microsoft Office Live Meeting and Microsoft Office Communications Online, available for purchase in the Intuit App Center. These cloud-based applications streamline business communication and collaboration with comprehensive security, high reliability and simplified IT management. As a result, small businesses will have a complete set of high-quality Web applications that deliver the capabilities, flexibility and value they need.

Intuit and Microsoft Join Forces to Deliver Web Applications to Millions of Small Businesses: Companies expand cloud opportunity for developers and channel partners.

Related Reading:

The Azure Cloud in Chicago – Massive New Data Center from Microsoft (Video)

The Microsoft H1N1 Tool – 3 Technologies Came Together to Make It Work

Technorati Tags: Intuit, QuickBooks, Microsoft, Cloud Services, Azure Platform, Cloud, applications, partner

Read More

Postal Pill Mail Latest Marketing From Pharma – Why Does “Resident” Need Osteoporosis Treatment?

I get a lot of mail and promotional information on email, but now it looks like one pharma company has decided that all the “residents” in the US postal service, or at least in some designated postal areas need to do something about potential Osteoporosis.  It is not enough we are blasted all over television with ads and now exercising a blast from the past with old time marketing. 

The companies here are Warner Chilcott and Sanofi Aventis, as printed on the brochure.  Wow I even got a copy of the full disclosure that comes with all prescription medications too.  This is a once a month pill and I can even sign up for a reminder to tell me when I need to take it, well I think if I were taking the medication I would rather put that in Outlook, where everything else goes. 

As usual, the notice tells me to talk to my doctor and see if Actonel is right for me.

There’s also a one month free trial and all kinds of other goodies that come along here, like seasonal bone strengthening ideas and exercise tips, and let’s not forget the calcium rich recipes, which really are not of any interest as this “resident” doesn’t cook much, that’s why they created restaurants.  At least the note on the inside went beyond “resident” and I was addressed in a more personal manner:  “dear patient”.

The warning signs here also say it could give me Jawbone problems, so I think I’ll pass on this one, not to say calcium is a bad thing by any means, I would just rather have someone other than a mailing to “resident”, who is familiar with my healthcare discuss these things with me and help me make decisions.  I would rather save trees and have less of this type of marketing from pharma reaching my mailbox, and besides what if “resident” was a he instead of a she? 

I keep a trash can now right next to my mailbox so junk mail and most of the stuff like this I receive can go right to the recyclers, just like all those coupons and grocery ads I get.  They do have a page so you can see if you qualify for their prescription saver plan on the website.  Folks, this is how I would really prefer to see this information, on the web and not in my mailbox addressed to “resident”, and please save this money spent on this advertising campaign closer to keeping the cost of drugs affordable.  BD

Technorati Tags: Actonel, pharma, junk mail, prescriptions, osteoporosis, heatlhcare, marketing, Sanofi-Aventis, Warner Chilcott

Read More

Doctor’s Office Gets Hit By A Meteorite – Nobody Hurt in the Exam Room Where It Landed

It was fully verified by scientists and the local news agency in Virginia took it to the Smithsonian.  It came through the roof and the firewall and pushed ceiling tile into the carpet and into the floor; lucky neither doctor nor patient were in the exam room when it came barreling in.  This was the 4th recorded meteorite to fall in Virginia. 

It moved at 223 miles per hours and it weighs just over a half a pound, not big at all, but one heck of a lot power when arrived. 

There are 2 videos that tell the story with the second video about the meteorite hunters who are looking for additional remnants. 

This also is going to be on the Science Channel and it is very rare that one actually hits earth, so they are looking for more pieces that could have also hit. 

Nothing like a meteor hit to drum up a little business for the practice.  BD 

The doctor was not hit, which is not unheard of, but had the timing been slightly different he could have been. The half pound rock was estimated as traveling around 220 mph when it hit the office and could have easily have cause serious injury if not death had it hit him.

Berman Post: Meteorite Punches Through a Doctor's Office

Technorati Tags: Meteorite, Virgina, Meteor, physician, science, Smithsonian, outer space, earth, doctor, practice, Blue Moon

Read More

United Healthcare Who Announced 4th Quarter Profits Just Under a Billion Signs Contract with Tenet Healthcare

As announced profits continue to grow for a Health Insurer who is creating more profits these days from some of their technology interests than they do from policies.  The Ingenix subsidiary has been mentioned many times as being one of the profit arms of the company.  The agreement entails all of Tenet’s 59 diagnostic and imaging centers, in other words the message here is to stay in network and cut costs if you read between the lines as we missed making a billion this quarter, and as the CEO reminds us, “our shareholders will be happy”.  I can’t think of any other business that should be “non profit” and off the stock exchange just for the 2 former reasons, but yet we continue to support this, well maybe it’s Wall Street that really helps support this when you think about it.  Both organizations make big money with complicated algorithmic formulas.  Ask any broker on Wall Street, “it’s all about those algos”. 

The benefit of the contract is to allow Medicare Advantage plan members to use additional in network services.  There’s a group called “Tenet Physicians” and they come into play here too under the contract.  There’s about 400 of them and some of these could possibly be some of the hospitalists you see at their facilities. 

Tenet will be able to provide “cost effective” physicians this way and hopefully good physicians too that have under pressure succumbed to honoring a lower payment contract in order to maintain enough patients to keep their office doors open.  In addition, this puts Tenet in a position to qualify for some financial incentives when they meet their quotas and goals, such as admitting quotas that we now see and hear talked about by doctors and hospitals. 

I was talking to a doctor the other day about hospital quotas and referenced this story from last year in Texas, video from the TMA where a hospital coerced the ER doctors into admitting more patients, and then a few months later the utilization business intelligence software algorithms showed that patients were admitted that should not have been so they fired all the doctors.  This really puts doctors in a very difficult spot as they can’t win for losing here.  Here’s the video from the Texas Medical Association that tells the story.  You know as hard as it is today at times to get your healthcare issues covered is this not a strange paradigm to find out that as a patient you could be admitted when you really don’t need to be there, all because the hospitals are not making admitting number quotas?

Hospitals have to market more than ever now in order to meet the goals sometimes to keep the doors open, they know the dollar amounts they need to meet each month through the use of algorithmic centric business intelligence software so by the minute and by the day, they know where they stand, so if some area like admitting are running lean, they can focus and make what ever decisions they see fit and guide management in the desired direction.  A good example here is from a recent prior post where they discuss the joint venture with MED3000.  Back in May when I posted this, I commented to be on the look out for changes at Tenet.  MED3000 is a subsidiary of Tenet who is a 20% stakeholder here. 

Tenet Announces Joint Venture with MED3OOO – Focus on Electronic Medical Records and Business Intelligence

Also in the news lately with Tenet was the announcement to add Cerner EHR systems at many facilities and in the last couple years has sold a few of their hospitals, many here in California. 

Tenet Healthcare Set to Roll Out Cerner Millennium Solutions at 47 Hospitals Currently Using Paper Records

There are organizations that really work to help hospitals cut every corner, like the Ingenix subsidiary of United Healthcare, they have contracts with Sutter Hospitals and the State of Washington on Medicaid (where Walgreens just pulled out) for example to help really drill down those numbers and keep the cost down, but I didn’t find any mention here.  They are vey involved in “behavioral underwriting” and want to get the data what ever way the “legally” can to determine how much cost they are going to lay out on your care.  Also in the news today is a woman writing about her “Golden Rule” policy, one more subsidiary of United Healthcare that does not cover preventive care in the first 3 months.  I thought healthcare was all about prevention, so are we talking out of both sides here? 

The hospital side of this for Medicare Advantage people sounds to be a help for those individuals, but bottom line, how much was cut to allow this to happen with the contract?  We all know today pretty much when new contracts take place it usually goes hand in hand with price reduction. 

United Healthcare just keeps right on rolling with their algorithms that make money for them and hospitals and other entities are left without much choice today.  You can read the full text of the 4th quarter profit results given here on the earnings transcript, worth listening to as it is all about the money.  Think about this when you have your policy rescinded and denied care.   You can make cost effective and necessary changes I agree, but the balance has been lost, when you read the full text of the report, you might see a bit of this with revenue of 87 billion which was up from 81 billion last year…hmmm…sounds like banks having record profits this year.  

It is utterly amazing when you research and see how entangled United Healthcare is in every aspect of healthcare and how they lobby to keep each unit in place.  They make more money from the Ingenix subsidiaries and technology than they do from the straight out insurance side of the business, known fact from their own numbers.  Ingenix is one of the big companies that cashed in big selling our medication history they get from pharmacy benefit managers who also are cutting a pretty fat hog to day, i.e. Medco making 14 billion the 3rd quarter.  This is why we all can’t afford anything with algorithmic complicated formulas that cut out a chunk of change from every transaction made.  BD 

Tenet Healthcare Corp. recently announced it has signed a new multiyear agreement with UnitedHealthcare.

The deal between Dallas-based Tenet, a publicly traded, for-profit hospital system (NYSE: THC), and UnitedHealthcare, a UnitedHealth Group company (NYSE: UNH), took effect Jan 1. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Under the new agreement, UnitedHealthcare commercial and Medicare Advantage health plan participants have access to health care services at all hospitals owned and operated by Tenet subsidiaries as well as Tenet’s 59 freestanding diagnostic imaging centers and ambulatory surgery centers. Tenet Physicians Inc., which contracts for the more than 400 physicians employed by various Tenet subsidiaries, also is part of the new agreement.

Tenet Healthcare signs new UnitedHealthcare agreement - Dallas Business Journal:

Technorati Tags: Tenet, contract, Medicare, United Healthcare, Ingenix, pharmacy benefit managers, doctors, hospitals, profits, algorithms, heatlh insurance, Tenet Physicians

Read More

Tri-Care Contracts Still Not Defined – Aetna and United Bids Still in Limbo From the GOA

You think getting a claim paid today is difficult, well let’s step back a little further on the the Tri-Care bids and these 2 situations are still up in the air.  Healthnet and Humana protested the bids and thus far the GAO is still looking into the matter.   Aetna supposedly cheated with hiring a former Tri-Care official to prepare it’s bid. 

I think we need some monitoring and auditing here with insurance companies as the bid process is also becoming an administrative nightmare too.  BD 

Humana appears to have won at least some measure of victory in its push to keep its Tricare membership, but it's unclear whether it will win another five-year contract to administer Tricare benefits in the southern region.  Tricare Management Activity, which runs Tricare, had failed in its bid evaluations to account adequately for how much Humana's network discounts could save the government.

Tricare is the government health plan for military service members, their families and survivors. Commercial insurers are contracted to administer the benefits domestically in three regions: South, North and West.

The GAO also upheld Health Net's protest of the bid process for the next five-year Tricare contract for the North region, but the final award of that contract also is pending.

The reviewers recommended that TMA assess whether Aetna, which originally won, should be disqualified because of "appearance of impropriety" created when Aetna hired a former Tricare official to help prepare its bid.

amednews: Humana not assured of regaining Tricare contract :: Jan. 18, 2010 ... American Medical News

Technorati Tags: Tri-Care, Aetna, GOA, United Healthcare, bids, contracts, healthcare, government, budgets

Read More

West Coast Hospital Using iPods With Voalte System To Communicate – Replaced the Pagers

The system was such a success with the iPods, that the hospital is going to upgrade to iPhones soon.  There were no issues with even the older nurses adapting and the alerts are more reliable than what they had with the pagers.  To make it simple, there’s some canned questions and answers to be given, however, they can text in any message they desire.  The move to the devices has combined a couple devices into one, less for the nurses to carry around. 

The nurses can exchange information on patients without having to use a phone.  The article states the system is the “Facebook” application for hospitals, with full privacy of course.  BD 

From the website:

“Voalté is redefining hospital mobile point-of-care communication by providing a complete solution for voice, alarms and text messaging on a robust expandable platform - the Apple iPhone. The resulting improvement in clinician workflow leads to better patient outcomes and improvements in nurse job satisfaction.”

ASADENA - For nurses at Huntington Hospital trying to juggle multiple patients and help manage a wide variety of sicknesses - now there's an app for that.

The Pasadena hospital is the first on the tech-infatuated West Coast to replace beepers with iPod touches armed with the new Voalte One system. The system lightens the burden for nurses already carrying a heavy patient load and too many electronic devices, according to hospital officials.

"Our nurses were carrying hospital provided pagers, wireless phones, separate pagers designed to alert them of critical-patient alarms," said Ron Rutherford, a registered nurse and Huntington's director of information. "There were too many bells and beeps requiring attention - not to mention their pockets were literally overflowing with electronic devices." 

Voalte can best be described as a Facebook application for hospitals. But instead of nurses posting mundane status updates about what they ate for dinner or pictures of their kids, they can exchange patient information without ever picking up a hospital phone.

"Being able to text for non-emergent issues frees up our phones for emergency calls," said Eunie Lee, registered nurse at Huntington Hospital.

Huntington Hospital upgrades nurses' communications - Pasadena Star-News

Technorati Tags: Huntington Hospital, Ipod, Voalte One, technology, Health IT, nurses, healthcare, heatlhcare

Read More

Grassley Sends Inquiry to Hospitals – If He Participated As an E-Patient, We Might See Some Better Questions Asked And He Could Have a Better Idea About How Health IT Works and the Value It Creates

Once more, that’s the problem with all these folks, they don’t participate.  Everyone in Health IT can see it and we make posts such as this one on blogs to discuss it.  If he really wanted to learn about Health IT, it would behoove him to visit the Garfield Center at Kaiser, he would learn a lot at that place.  I’m looking through the lists of questions on the Wall Street Journal and I feel sorry for hospitals having to answer some of these questions and can imagine what the IT folks are saying too as they are posed from a “non participant” stand point.  Being an E-Patient is the best way for members of Congress to gain knowledge and understand what the public is looking for in reform.

Health IT vendors and hospitals work together very closely as both want success, the only problem they have is the money to improve and update systems as needed, something the “non participants’ don’t quite understand.  Again I am speaking out a bit here, but you can find these same under tones all over the web and perhaps at a hospital near you.

“What are the vendors’ roles in helping your facility train in the use of their products?” is one of the questions that somewhat makes me think “duh”, systems do not get installed unless training comes with it, so gee come on, that is figured into the price for goodness sakes as without it, any installation will have problems.  I also like the question regarding a system to follow up on complaints, come on, this has been ongoing everywhere forever.  The first stop is called “the help desk”.  Are we so far out of this we have not encountered one of those?  The relationship question is one more to sigh at, sure they all hate each other right, NOT.  Mr. Grassley might bone up on what “partnerships” are all about today, the world lives on them, but maybe we’re a bit slow here, but you almost have to read news on internet maybe for this to sink in.  The link at the Wall Street Journal has all the questions in the letter spelled out, read it and see what I mean.

Anyway, I would love to be a fly on the wall and watch the expressions of the IT departments receiving this questionnaire.  I am just convinced from what I see in the press that Mr. Grassley doesn’t like change as he made statements today after the election in Massachusetts that we should put the brakes on healthcare reform.  When information like this hits the press and everybody who participates and is well educated in IT sees this stuff, it’s just one more waste of time and effort with rhetoric.  He’s one of many representatives we have in Congress that continues to live in the 70s and appears to have a difficult time seeing value with technology, so we are back to the old head hunting and finding blame methodologies instead of moving forward.  Again, I truly believe if he were in fact an E-Patient and participated a bit more from the technology side of a patient, he would understand some of this, but you can only drag a horse to water and can’t make them drink.  He could even read some of what is published on this blog and get educated for that matter, others do.  BD 

Chuck Grassley, a Republican senator and a prolific author of letters, has written to more than 30 hospitals to ask about their experiences — including “complications,” “errors” and “problems” — with health IT systems.

The letters follow a barrage Grassley sent out last fall to some of the companies that sell electronic systems to hospitals and doctors, asking some similar questions.

Health IT is a big deal at the moment, of course, because of the tens of billions of dollars included in last year’s stimulus bill to encourage doctors and hospitals to buy and use electronic systems

Grassley Asks Hospitals About Problems With Health IT Systems - Health Blog - WSJ

Technorati Tags: Grassley, change, E-Patient, heatlhcare reform, politics, value, EHR, PHR, 70s, education, hospitals, Health IT

Read More

USS Comfort Ship Finally Arriving in Haiti – Patients being Airlifted

Before the ship even docked, patients were being air lifted when the ship came within range from other aircraft carriers in the area.  In other areas the port is being examined and can take some limited activity with barges but not quite ready for a ship to dock yet, divers evaluating.

Several containers of food were offloaded, but there’s no crane to handle the work yet. 

The arrival of the Comfort is certainly going to help tremendously and get surgery to the folks that need it.  Some folks today are just getting water and food today, almost a week.  BD 

 

Videos: News, Sports, Entertainment, Technology & More - USATODAY.com

Technorati Tags: Haiti, rescue, earthquake, hospital, security, military, UN, healthcare, hopsital, surgery

Read More