Berkshire Medical Center in New York Layoffs Announced 124 Jobs–Around 50 Nurses

Declining patient volumes are the main reason and everyone doesn’t agree with the decisions made.  Last year 130 employees were laid off.  In less than a year the hospital has lost over 11 million. 

The nurses union states that patient care will definitely be affected.  BD 

PITTSFIELD, N.Y. -- Employees at Berkshire Medical Center were informed of impending layoffs, which will take effect in September. Berkshire Health Systems (BHS), the parent company of Berkshire Medical Center, announced that 124 jobs or 3.7 percent of the workforce will be given pink slips.

BHS officials said the staff reductions would include nurses, technicians and administrative staff.

Berkshire Medical Center announces layoffs - WTEN: Albany, New York News, Weather, Sports -

Technorati Tags: hospitals, New York, lay offs, healthcare, Berkshire Medical, patients, safety

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Bill Gates Talks About Profits Versus Non Profits–For Profits Makes Messes And Non Profits Can’t Behave the Same Way

The for profit world is a mess he states but they have to come in and clean up.  Non Profits are different sometimes creating thousands of pilot programs and many don’t go anywhere.  Both worlds are imperfect he states and the key is to identify need and focus.  I’d say those are some good word based on a lot of what I am seeing today out there with technology and there are a lot of good projects in healthcare IT and there are those that are not going anywhere too.  This was filmed at the Techonomy Convention this week. 

Does this apply to hospitals too?  He does say metrics will stand to improve the non profits though, and we see this growing in healthcare as well.  BD

At the Techonomy conference in San Francisco, Bill Gates closed the event and answered questions from the audience. One woman asked why non-profits can't behave more like for-profit businesses. Gates said that wasn't necessarily the best idea.

Bill Gates: Non-profits vs. for-profit businesses - Techonomy

Technorati Tags: Bill Gates, Profits, Non Profits, capitalism, economy, technology, heatlhcare, education

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The Story Behind The Building of Healthcare. Gov - 90 Day Creation, Help From Twitter and the Silicon Valley Made It Possible

The website designer was found via Twitter, so any of you that don’t take value in what Twitter can do to connect, think again.  Most of the people on the project had been on the committee for quite a while.  Tech Crunch digs in and gets a little more information on how the creation of the site came together. 

Healthcare.Gov Site Opens To Assist Consumers in Finding Health Insurance – Video and Preview

The site looks nice and very user friendly, compared to most of the sites we see from the government.  There’s a video below that explains how the site works and there are additional tabs with information across the top.  As mentioned in my prior post, there’s no pricing on the page, but rather you can either link to or use a phone number provided to contact the insurance company.

There were a few additions like the designer in New Jersey who the team connected with.  He was found again via Twitter and posted a sample on the web for the team to view and that was the start.  We like this site because it’s not like a normal government site.

The aggregation of insurance is slated to come later this year, that is as close as they can get it.  This is not the designer’s issue, it the issue created by the algorithms of the insurance companies.  They are not simple.  They found some nice fresh help with IT folks outside of government collaborating.  There’s a permanent link on the Medical Quack under the resources on the right hand side to find the site.   

Behind Healthcare.gov: How Washington Is Drawing Inspiration From Silicon Valley, Twitter

Below is the Presidential message and in watching the video it was interesting to see what was said when they asked if the President liked it.  Like most consumers he’s not going to go crazy but there were no objections and plus he had all the BP issues going on at the same time, so a bit of an unfair question if you will. 

The White House group is very active in expanding social networks too and as you can see it paid off.  BD

“We were working 24/7, working in very, very rapid cycles, with very, very short deadlines and milestones. We were working in a very, very nimble hyper consumer focused way…all fused in this kind of maelstrom of pizza, Mountain Dew, and all nighters, and you know idealism.”

That may sound like the caffeine-fueled, sleep-deprived rant of a typical Silicon Valley entrepreneur. Except it’s not— try Todd Park, the buttoned-up CTO of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Aside from the big fat “.Gov” domain name, the aesthetics of Healthcare.gov seem more akin to a young startup versus something borne out of a provision in the Affordable Care Act. Its clean, simple user interface features a row of big buttons on the top directing users to “find insurance options” or “understand the new law.” Considering how convoluted our health care system system is, Healthcare.gov manages to organize the information in logical buckets and push key concepts to the foreground. Here’s a look at the Healthcare.gov homepage and for comparison, the HHS site (which has more of a standard .gov website feel).

Earlier this year, before the passage of the bill, Macon Phillips stumbled upon Edward Mullen on Twitter, who posted a mock web design of what the heavily debated insurance exchange marketplace could look like. Lesson here: the next time you tweet something random on Twitter, the government could be watching with a job offer in hand.

Behind Healthcare.gov: How Washington Is Drawing Inspiration From Silicon Valley, Twitter

Technorati Tags: HHS, health insurance, websites, Healthcare.gov, consumers, patients, insurance, algorithms, pricing, certification, Healthcare.Gov, Twitter, Silicon Valley, technology, web site

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Stem Cells Used to Treat Peripheral Arterial Disease–Clogged Arteries in the Legs (PAD)

This is a new procedure in trials and does not yet have FDA approval but it looks a winner as does almost everything with stem cells today.  Many people suffer today from PAD and don’t know it, and you can hear the one patient state here it’s like a Charlie horse cramp in your leg.  One in every 20 of us in the US suffers from this and can lead to heart attacks. 

The video mentions too how stents are used and last year I did an interview with Cook Medical on how the stents work.  It’s worth a read too as he speaks of a procedure that takes a few minutes to run before any interventional procedures are done to find potential blockages so you don’t die on the table. 

With the stem cells you own cells are taken from your bone and put into a machine to separate and get the stem cells to inject back into the patient’s leg.  This process creates new vessels that are stronger, not blocked and pretty much cure the condition.

Cook Medical Interview Discussing PAD Leg Therapies– Rob Lyles, VP Peripheral Intervention Division

In one study 6 of 9 patients avoided amputation with this procedure and one woman who had the surgery said her leg pains are gone. 

Leg pain after walking is the most common symptom and if you have any of the chronic illnesses we talk about today, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and a few more, the report says any of one or combined conditions can set you up to be a candidate for PAD.  That’s about about half or more of us I think.  BD 

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- One in every 20 Americans over the age of 50 suffers from something called, peripheral arterial disease or PAD. It can result in clogged arteries in your legs, which can cause a heart attack, if left untreated. But now there's a new approach. Doctors using a patient's own stem cells to clear things up.

"Anybody messes with me they're going to get a big something, something," said Christina McDonald, who suffers from PAD.

McDonald, 76, can take care of herself. Her biggest threat is something she can't see -- only feel.

Stem cells used to clear-up clogged arteries | abc7.com

Technorati Tags: Pad, perhipheral arterial disease, cardiology, blood clots, blocked arteries, legs, muscles, plaque, Cook medical, stents, amputations, stem cells, research and development, healthcare

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ER Visit Takes Insurer to Court Over Algorithm That Declared Stitches an “Ancillary Service”–Patient Won

I keep talking about the electronic data all the time on healthcare claims and here’s a perfect example of how the automatic electronic algorithm messed up.  What makes this case more ridiculous is the fact that someone at the insurance company didn’t look into this further before it went to court.  The surgical stitches he received for a cut on his hand were denied payment. 

In today’s economic times people are afraid of raising any concern over losing their jobs and this looks like it could be what happened here. As an employee you use that algorithm, go the the computer screen and get your answer.  God forbid you question it as this the equivalent of the World of God when it comes to decisions today.  I doesn’t have to be that way but the unfriendly fear environments cause the situations to rise when people are afraid to ask questions for fear of drawing negative attention to themselves.

With this stupid law suit that nobody had enough common sense to evaluate and this is how the health insurers live and die with those algorithms.  For all those that go non contested, there’s a word for that called “profit”, so in essence when you come full circle here, they really want the issue raised but there are times when someone should so they don’t look stupid when lawsuits as such go to court. 

This is one big reason why the levels of trust are gone today with health insurers and these practices go on with each consumer having to fend for themselves against business intelligence software that says “no”.  By the way, part of your premiums payments go to support this software too if you were not aware. 

Most of our leaders are somewhat non participants too that can’t seem to get their heads around this either to make and create some laws to protect consumers and we do need algorithmically centric laws in healthcare.  Here’s a post I made on that topic a year ago.

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

The answer lies in “Algorithmic Centric Laws”, no 2 ways about it, and the smarts to rethink the way we create laws, otherwise they end up being useless and protect nobody.  From what I read in the news I don’t smart directions here and see more of a focus from Congress addressing the OMG stuff floating around out there today, but I’d have TMZ or someone else who does that stuff be my source.  BD 

Dean Health Plan, a Madison-based HMO, has settled a lawsuit alleging wrongful denial of an insurance claim (Watch Out!, 6/24/10). Andrew Erlandson, a local attorney who filed the suit on behalf of Joe "Kay," says the insurer agreed to pay $3,250, several times more than the $646 it initially refused to pay.

"He'll get the claim plus interest, and [our law firm will] get the rest," says Erlandson of the settlement. He adds that Kay rejected Dean's request to keep the settlement's terms confidential.

Kay's story came to light in an Isthmus article about the state Office of the Commissioner of Insurance ("Unable to Resolve Your Complaint," 10/22/09). Kay complained that Dean refused to pay the cost of stitches when he went to the emergency room with a cut hand, deeming this an "ancillary" service — which is, on its face, ridiculous. OCI, a state agency funded entirely by the insurance industry it supposedly regulates, did not challenge Dean's denial or even insist that it provide a clear explanation. (Dean has refused to discuss the case with Isthmus, citing patient confidentiality rules.)

Dean Health Plan pays to settle lawsuit - Isthmus | The Daily Page

Technorati Tags: healthcare, healthcare reform, government run healthcare, military healthcare, Lieberman, Algorithms, non participants, Congress

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Regenerative Medicine–Reprogramming Stem Cells Grow Heart Muscle Tissue Bypassing IPS Cell Creation–New Standard Set for Stem Cell Research

This is a major break through with heart cells.  When you watch the video they suggest that implementation can be done with a stent to inject the cells.  60 minutes did a story not too long ago about growing body parts and they talked about growing heart cells.  I can’t remember the post but a while back I had a scientist comment on the blog here that it’s not that hard to do and saying he’s done it several times. 

Regenerative Medicine – A Visit to Wake Forest Where They Grow Body Parts With Stem Cells

Not too long ago I posted about stem cells being used to grow teeth to, and I want to be in line for that one. 

Dental Implants Using Body’s Own Stem Cells To Grow Them – Regenerative Dentistry In the Works

The reason for the breakthrough here is that the step of growing IPS cells, which are not very controllable with what and how they develop, can be skipped.  IPS cells could grow cancer cells as an example and now by skipping this step the odds of that potentially happening should be reduced tremendously with a controlled growth environment. 

The break through took place at San Francisco’s Gladstone Institute and research and development institutes all over the world will now begin to use this process.  So far the work has been done with mice and it’s moving over to the human side soon.  BD 

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Bay Area researchers are announcing a breakthrough that takes stem cell therapy to another level. Scientists have figured out how to create specific cells for treatments, without using embryonic stem cells to do it.

Researchers at San Francisco's Gladstone Institutes are using a groundbreaking technique to create living beating, heart cells.

The reprogramming technique builds on the work of Gladstone scientist Shinya Yamanaka, who first discovered how to turn skin cells into a type of stem cell known as induced-pluripotent stem cells.

Those so-called IPS cells can then grow into any type of cell in the body. But this new technique skips that stage entirely.

Bay Area researchers announce breakthrough in stem cell therapy | abc7news.com

Growing Body Parts - 60 Minutes - CBS News

Related Reading for Stem Cells

FDA OKs First Human Trials of Embryonic Stem Cells – Geron Biotech

Heartbeat of a new industry – Stem Cell Storage Banks

Doctors transplant windpipe with stem cells

Prostate Gland grown from stem cell - But Who Would Want One?

Testicles Could Be New Source Of Stem Cells – Stem Cells for Males only

Stem Cells and Breast Surgery

Tapping Into the Code of Life With Science - Some of this is here today...not science fiction...medical technology is on the rise...

Cloned cells bring hope of therapy for Parkinson’s disease

Technorati Tags: 60 Minutes, Wake Forest, Regenerative Medicine, Healthcare, technology, stem cells, regeneration, genomics, body parts, skin stem cells, heart cells, California Institute for Regenerative Medicine

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Health Insurance Claims a Pain– Take Out Divorce Insurance–Risk Management Assessments Reach a New Low With Ethics

One more element entering in the insurance business and gee just when the institute of marriage today is in the news, now this?  It appears you can somewhat bet against your decisions on picking partner for life.  This kind of tell me we have a business here that’s up front telling you that you don’t have the sense in this world today to find a partner, you think? 

Anyone that has been through a divorce knows it is not a process anyone looks forward to with all the legal proceedings it involved so now you can add on more more headache here with filing a claim, good luck!  In case of a claim denial the attorneys stand to make some additional money here too as they can fight that for you. 

From the website:

“For as little as $15.99 a month³, Prime Insurance Company will pay you from $1,250 up to $5,000,000 if your marriage ends in divorce.

Even if you have a pre-nuptial agreement in place you’re still at risk!  Imagine having every penny in your bank accounts removed, all your credit cards canceled, and every piece of furniture and all your belongings removed from your house while you’re at work.  Then imagine having to pay thousands of dollars in attorney fees to fight to get only half of it back! It happens more than you know!  Like Term Life Insurance that has no cash value until you die, Divorce Insurance has no cash value until you’re actually divorced⁸, so it cannot be stolen by a greedy spouse

Get the same peace of mind that comes with being able to afford a team of expert lawyers ready to work on your behalf, or the simple fact that you will have enough money to get far away fast if the need ever arises.  Is this just not precious to get a “risk analysis” on your partner of choice!  The deal here is though is that the policy doesn’t come into play and mature for 48 months, so if you are unhappy after a few months and want to cash in here, you have a 4 year waiting period.  I’m sure there’s been some long statistical analysis done here to choose this as the faltering point. “

Here’s an online algorithm if you want to calculate what your divorce costs would be. No insurance plan is complete today without “those algorithms”.   Health insurance companies make their living from them. 

Like any other insurance company, guess what, there’s a portal where you can log on too, gee how convenient and where did this idea come from.  This is literally a “broken heart” portal that feels sorry for your financial problems-right!

In the world of ethics today is appears it’s getting worse and there’s one more way here to use some algorithms to get your hard earned money, this is how the big corporations have managed to do all of this today, as when you stop and think about how decisions are made, the first thing we do is run to our computer screen for information and software tools.  You can be judge on this for yourself but I think taking out insurance that is gambling on the fact that you are going to stay in wedlock a minimum of 48 months, and with a rider you can reduce down to 36 months is ridiculous. 

Being this is brand new they have 4 years before any payoffs are to be realized, so plenty of time for them to start bankrolling premiums.  BD

Safeguard Guaranty Corp., an insurance start-up based in North Carolina, recently released what it’s billing as the first world’s first divorce insurance product. Here’s how its WedLock product works.

The casualty insurance is designed to provide financial assistance
in the form of cash to cover the costs of a divorce, such as legal proceedings or setting up a new apartment or house. It is sold in “units of protection.” Each unit costs $15.99 per month and provides $1,250 in coverage. So, if you bought 10 units, your initial coverage would be $12,500 and you’d be paying $15.99 per month for each of those units. In addition, every year, the company adds $250 in coverage for each unit.

Then, if you get divorced and your policy has matured (see below for the maturation rules), you would send Wedlock proof of your divorce. In return, you’d receive a lump sum of cash equivalent to the amount of coverage you had purchased.

So how does the company prevent people who know they are going to get a divorce from signing up? To prevent that kind of adverse selection, the policies don’t mature until 48 months after their effective date (though people can purchase additional riders to reduce that maturity period to 36 months and to get their premiums back if they happen to divorce before the policy matures).

Divorce Insurance (Yes, Divorce Insurance) - Bucks Blog - NYTimes.com

Technorati Tags: insurance, marriage, mature, divorce insurance, risk management, assets, legal fees, attorneys, claims

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ExpressMD Collaborates with Rotech Healthcare for TeleHealth Patient Monitoring–Electronic House Calls

The electronic house call is an FDA 510k approved solution (medical device) to provide patient vital signs and software for a question and answer page to add more information.  It will assess and reassess (algorithms) those patients needing monitoring on a regular basis.

Caregivers will receive alerts when patients with chronic illnesses are out of suitable ranges.  Providers can access information from a web based portal and mobile device and what is also interesting here is that “the payer can be set to be alerted” so along with notifying your doctor you can now have your insurance carrier chasing down the patient and collecting data for continued risk management assessments. 

If you don’t know what your treatment plans are as a provider, they include those options too, so we have a ton of information here once again and I’m not sure how providers would receive this as that is why many become doctors and go to medical school, a bit of satire here but come on with all the information floating around out there, I don’t want my provider completely dependent on a computer screen for everything because there is a very REAL HUMAN side to being a doctor that we need to not forget. 

One more item that can be added here is again for the benefit of the payers is the Care Plan Oversight for reimbursement reporting so providers can automate this side of the patient plan and make sure you code it correctly before the medical claim goes for evaluation through a “fraud” algorithmic process smoother, or at least this appears to be the intention here. 

Rotech comes in here as a provider of respiratory equipment primarily and will work with national health plans aka insurance companies and set up the ExpressMD solution so if a patient is receiving oxygen or some other type of machine for respiratory services the portal here will monitor patients. 

Eventually this needs to be incorporated into a medical records system as the providers need one place to go and not multiple portals and software system to learn and I guess we will keep seeing this until someone writes the ultimate aggregated killer algorithm for all of this.  BD  

ExpressMD Solutions, a provider of remote patient monitoring systems and services for patients with chronic illnesses, has signed a non-exclusive national distribution agreement with Rotech Healthcare for the Electronic House Call remote patient monitoring solution.

Initially, Rotech will be providing ExpressMD's solution to chronically ill patients who have been referred by a national health plan. The health plan wants to reduce rehospitalisations for at risk patients as well as the severity of reoccurrences by having Rotech implement this innovative telehealth solution.

ExpressMD Solutions claimed that the Electronic House Call solution allows providers to remotely monitor the vital signs of their patients using the Web, make adjustments to patient care plans and intervene in a timely manner if their patients encounter any issues before they become an acute care incident.

ExpressMD Inks Distribution Agreement With Rotech For Patient Monitoring Solution - Medical Devices Business Review

Technorati Tags: ExpressMD, portal, Health IT, Rotech, telehealth, providers, health insurance, payers, hospital admissions, medical records

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Scrubs Gallery August Discount For Readers At the Medical Quack

Again, I thank ScrubsGallery.com for advertising with the Medical Quack. 

This month they are offering a discount on Hospital Scrubs with the special code below. 

For a limited time, you can get a 15%  with “Buy Lab Coats” by using the code “lab_ptoe” on your order!

 

Next time you need to order scrubs or other healthcare apparel, please check out their website and compare. 

Thanks again to ScrubsGallery.Com for supporting the Medical Quack!!

 

Technorati Tags: MedicalQuack, ScrubsGallery.com, Advertising, lab coats, scrubs, healthcare, apparel, sponsored ads

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Orange County Free Health Fair August 5th in Anaheim–Screenings and Exams

I always want to make sure I catch all of the free clinics and screening affairs that I can and post at the Quack.  This one is from 8 am until 2 pm in Orange County, California.  Thank goodness the outreach of committed doctors and others in healthcare is still here to help as we are a long way from getting reform in place with care for all.  BD 

No insurance, no copay, no referral, no problem.

Anaheim will host its fourth annual health fair Saturday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Brookhurst Community Center, 2271 Crescent Ave.

Doctors and other medical personnel from a variety of specialties will be there to give exams; take blood pressure; test for blood sugar and bone-density levels; administer EKGs; dental consultations; eye exams; mammograms; and pap smears. Adults or children can get checked out.

There’s no proof of insurance needed — and no proof of citizenship. You needn’t even be a resident of Anaheim.

“Anybody can come from anywhere in the world,” said Dr. Nitin Shah, an anesthesiologist and chief of the surgical ICU at the Long Beach Veterans Administration Hospital System. “For people who don’t have insurance, or who are out of a job right now, this gives you a lot of testing under one roof. And if you’re an otherwise healthy person, you can basically go another year without seeing a physician.”

Lab results will be available onsite using portable equipment at the center, Shah said.

Weekend Health: Free health fair in Anaheim - Healthy Living : The Orange County Register

Technorati Tags: healthcare, clinic, screenings, Orange County, Anaheim, free clinics

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Medicare Fund Will Now Run Out in 2029–Report Only As Good as Information and Technology We Have Today

Overall this is good news and the kind of news we all want to hear but this is projected on what technologies are in use today and nobody knows where we will be in the year 2029.  You have to remember that in Health IT technology we get a new “left curve” every day.  If you don’t see that you could be either living under a rock or be one of the many “non participants” today as relates to consumer knowledge of health IT and that is wide spread.  Just doing this blog and trying to keep folks updated is a job, so yours truly is in the same boat at times. 

HHS National Plan to Improve Health Literacy – Not Going To Happen Until We Focus on Using Technology (The Tool for Literacy) Which Includes Role Models at HHS And Other Places in Government

Lack of role models from our leadership also makes reports as such questionable too as if they are not doing what we are doing, dealing with what we are dealing with, how do you generate reports as such, just some I ponder here.  Who do you want to teach you how to drive a car, an individual who has read a book about how to drive or someone who actually gets with it and drives a car?  We have a horrific example of projections here in Los Angeles with relying on reports and cutting budgets when the new Los Angeles County Hospital was built – too small and no money now to add on.  Reports and projections are just that and are helpful but you can’t take all of them to the bank. 

New LA County-USC Hospital Is Too Small – Los Angeles Supervisors Looking for Money to Add 150 Beds

As citizens we are desperately in search of those “who drive” and in this care it happens to be general consumer Health IT knowledge, that’s the car and taxis don’t cut the mustard. <grin>.  BD 

Extra:  I consider this to be a “double rainbow” event!  I do have some humor here on this blog and if you don’t know what a “double rainbow” event is, skip down to the end of the post here and enjoy! 

But here’s where the asterisk comes in. Those improvements to the trust fund and to the financial health of the Medicare Part B program “depend in part on the long-range feasibility of the lower increases in Medicare payment rates [for some goods and services]. Moreover, in the context of today’s health care system, these adjustments would probably not be viable indefinitely into the future,” the trustees write. (In other words, unless we change how health care is delivered and reimbursed for, it’s going to be tough to keep all this on track and achieve the projected savings.)

Avoiding that fate “will probably require that payment and health care delivery systems be made more efficient than they are currently.” That’s where things such as accountable care organizations (voluntary collaborations between health systems and doctors to help manage care to keep costs down) and bundled payments for acute care come in. Those approaches will be tested and researched under the health-overhaul law.

Trustees Say* Medicare Fund Will Now Run Out in 2029 (*With Caveats) - Health Blog – WSJ

Technorati Tags: Report, CMS, Medicare, technology, opinion, non participants, Congress, HHS, algorithms, reports

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Ingenix (Subsidiary of United Health Group) Marketing Care Tracker EHR To Community Health Centers–Subsidiary Watch

The cost for the system is slated at less than $5000 per year.  United is looking for revenues in every area they can find it, to include competing with other electronic medical record companies.  To take advantage of this offer and special version of Care Tracker you need to be federally qualified and this software states you will be able to demonstrate “meaningful use”, which is getting pretty gray these days along with all the other formulas being used presently in healthcare, not that this is a bad thing but are we emphasizing the use over actual care in what we are seeing in the press today? 

I just wonder how the medical community looks at putting all their eggs in the same basket with a health insurer?  Trust?  I guess they can think about it as they file for their over change claims created by Ingenix/United over a period of 15 years and come to some type of conclusion as once again it’s all about those algorithms that create profits and a closer tie in is perhaps what is being targeted here? 

There are less expensive alternatives out there too that one can subscribe too as well such as Office Ally EHR  for only $29.95 a month as one example and there are companies like Practice Fusion that offer a free EHR and it is all web based..  It’s all about creating value and figuring out where is the value beyond the algorithms for profit.  I get confused sometimes here as HHS seemed to think their software was a bit of a “cat’s meow” recently with one of their presentation. 

"Reach for the Top" Program Combines Prototype from Ingenix (A Wholly Owned Subsidiary of United Healthcare) for Public/Private Community Health Data on HHS.Gov Site

It is just very confusing on how HHS wants insurers to play fair on side with claims and yet on the other side touts insurer subsidiary software and how this play fair with other vendors?  I’m confused here with these efforts, are you?  After all today when it comes to profits those all go together with the parent company and all the subsidiaries, that’s spelled out on investor reports all the time. 

This brings me back around to this topic of Health Literacy and you can read more here as we have no role models with leadership and it scares me at times as to which side of the ship we all land on and do we know which ship we are sailing on?  It just makes me think this health literacy subject goes beyond just plain old US citizens, you think?    We just want transparency and want to know where the “real” value is and in the meantime the battle over who has the best “algorithms” continues.  BD

HHS National Plan to Improve Health Literacy – Not Going To Happen Until We Focus on Using Technology (The Tool for Literacy) Which Includes Role Models at HHS And Other Places in Government

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn.--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--Ingenix, a leading health information technology and services company, today announced it is making a specially-designed version of its Ingenix CareTracker practice management and electronic health record (EHR) system available to Federally Qualified Health Centers. Ingenix CareTracker, which provides all of the capabilities physicians need to demonstrate “Meaningful Use,” will offer these community health centers a cost-effective, Web-based, practice management and EHR option that will help them improve operational efficiency and patient care, and qualify for incentives offered by the federal government for demonstrating Meaningful Use of health IT.

To augment these incentives, Ingenix provides a package of interest-free financing and Meaningful Use guarantees that eliminate the up-front costs of implementing an EHR system.

Because Ingenix CareTracker EHR costs less than $5,000 per year per physician, federal stimulus funding may cover most or all of the subscription costs for the service through the end of the ARRA reimbursement period, depending on the composition of a physician’s patient mix.

• Eligibility verification that shows health plan participation and helps users determine patient eligibility for sliding-fee scales for individuals whose out-of-pocket costs are based on their ability to pay;
• Sliding-fee scale calculators that eliminate errors when determining co-pays, and allow administrators to inform patients of their out-of-pocket obligations at check-in;
• Uniform Data System data collection and reporting modules that allow Community Health Centers to ensure compliance with legislative mandates and submit timely, accurate reports to Congress, the Office of Management and Budget and other agencies that monitor federal spending and programs; and
• Support for printing assessments, medical instructions and after-care notes in Chinese, English, Russian, Spanish and Vietnamese languages.

Ingenix Makes Specially-Tailored CareTracker Electronic Health Record Systems Available to Federally Qualified Community Health Centers | EON: Enhanced Online News

Technorati Tags: ngenix, UnitedHealhtcare, HHS, community health information, NCQA, community health, software, Reach for the Top, Care Tracker, subsidiaryies, Ingenix, EHR, medical records

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WellPoint Supports Meaningful Use and To Provide Short Term Funding for Hospitals

The program is set to begin in California and Georgia.  This is billed as supporting the efforts of the national ONC program, which is actually a pretty common occurrence with insurers to follow precedence established by Medicare or other government agencies. 

Wellpoint also has their pay for performance incentives and some of these are largely managed by local Independent Physician Associations as for each individual physician to manage and stay on top is a nightmare for a small practice if they were to monitor each program offered by each insurer. 

Bottom line here is we will help you with offering some financing to get the ball rolling as with continued efforts with Health IT, we want those claims and other related data in a format that allows for the continuance of our business intelligence and greater analysis information can be attained and this helps determine some of the areas in which we can accurately determine how to place our values on medical loss ratios for the future.  Wellpoint is not the only player here with making funds available as United is pretty active in the same area.  Below is one example.

Petaluma Health Center Get Loan From United Health Group (Capital Access) Who Purchased Their Tax Exempt Bonds

United though makes money from many areas to include revenues generated from other insurers using their software sold by subsidiaries to look for fraud, better efficiencies and so on.  They seem to have somewhat of an ideal position here with generating profits from both consumers and other insurance companies to an extent with their varied subsidiary companies providing and marketing those algorithms that lead to the analysis processes that occur by the millions with transaction charges every day.  By providing short term money will this be included in the medical loss ratio area?  Just some thought here as this is a hot topic right now. 

Perhaps we could be looking at an overall “medical loss ratio algorithm” soon as this is where all this is headed to determine what is allowed and what is not as without an algorithm in a digital format that people can understand the text and interpretations will go on forever and add on some revenue tor continued legal efforts here too.  BD 

INDIANAPOLIS, Aug. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- WellPoint, Inc., (NYSE: WLP) announced today its support of efforts by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) on meaningful use of health information technology (HIT).  In support of meaningful use, WellPoint will align its Pay for Performance incentives with Federal programs and implement a new financing program that supports HIT for rural, critical access hospitals serving underserved communities.

"Providing information and clinical decision support at the point of care will promote higher quality, evidence-based care with better patient outcomes," said Dr. Sam Nussbaum, WellPoint's chief medical officer. "The adoption of meaningful use criteria for Health IT will create opportunities for new collaborations amongst physicians, hospitals, patients, and health plans to share information for better care coordination, prevention services, management of chronic illness and overall clinical decision making. Although the industry wide conversion to an electronic world is planned to take over five years, WellPoint is already working on opportunities to optimize the emerging infrastructure and data standards."

This program, which will start in California and Georgia in 2011, allows qualifying hospitals to borrow short term funding in pursuit of satisfying the meaningful use criteria of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act.  Based on the results of these programs, WellPoint will evaluate the expansion of this program. 

WellPoint Supports Efforts to Adopt Health Information Technology -- INDIANAPOLIS, Aug. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --

Technorati Tags: Wellpoint, ONC, UnitedHealhtcare, HHS, community health information, community health, software, Health IT, healthcare reform, algorithms, medical loss ratios

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Bill Seeks to Arm FDA with Full Drug Recall Power And More Over the Counter Regulatory Control

This looks like some of the areas I have been writing about in reference to recall matters and the safe shipping and documentation of drugs.  The bill would also give the FDA authority to recall and not just send warning letters out asking for recall, they would be able to actually police the efforts.  If you remember the Heparin problem, use the link below and see what I suggested over a year ago with using technology.  I spent many years in the logistics business and there are what is called a “blind shipment” so you have go back and trace the data trail as the actual product may only list the drug company’s headquarters and the same happens on bills of lading too in some instances. 

FDA Heparin Investigation In Conjunction with Chinese Officials Strained and A Lot of Unfinished Business And No Technology Advances to Help the Cause

In addition a group of servers could be set up to receive information on each lot for compliance and quality control.  That would also help direct agents from the FDA on where to search as well for problems.  More on blind bills of lading below as this pertains to both food and drugs. 

More Candy From China – Are “Blind” Bills of Lading adding to the confusion and delay in locating the products for recall?

Of course on recalls we are back to my favorite topic around the blog about using cell phones to scan for recalled drugs and devices.  Take time to vote if you would like to have this availability. 

FDA Publishes Information on How to Identify Recalls – Why Not Scan That Stent With A Cell Phone and Make It Easy for the Public and Manufacturers To Keep Up, Notify And Automate Compliance

As you can read, currently the FDA sends letters and recommends recalls and most cooperate but this would give the FDA first hand authority to demand.  You can read below how the same technology would help identify counterfeit drugs too so if the bill goes through, we would have a better working relationship with technology shared between the DEA and FDA for enforcement too, good thoughts here.  There’s a permanent link at the top of the blog to find a large summary on the topic.

Stolen Advair Demonstrates Need for Tag Bar Coding of Drugs – Encrypted Bar Codes Could Identify Stolen and Counterfeits When Scanned With a Cell Phone

If Congress is going to pass the bill, then give the government agencies and all others concerned the technology tools to make this work and not just a big stack of text that everyone spends hours trying to interpret.  BD 

A newly proposed bill intends to empower the Food and Drug Administration with the authority to recall potentially dangerous drugs. The Drug Safety and Accountability Act of 2010 was introduced by Colorado Senator Michael Bennet this week.
Currently, the FDA can issue warnings about safety concerns of a certain drug and then recommend that the manufacturer initiate a recall. If the bill passes, the regulatory agency will have the power to recall drugs it considers to be dangerous.

The bill also seeks to strengthen drug manufacturing standards and closely track their pathway into the U.S. It would require companies to implement quality management plans and mandate more rigorous documentation processes for the origins and handling of imported drugs.

Many legislators have expressed concern over the lack of FDA authority over drug regulation. In a letter to the FDA commissioner in May, Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, asked the agency if “as a public health agency whose mission is to protect the American public, you have sufficient authority to prevent and respond to contamination of the drug supply.”

DOTmed.com - New bill seeks to arm FDA with drug recall power

Technorati Tags: FDA, China, phamaceutical plant inspections, FDA funding, Congress Pharma, tags, bar coding, safety, healthcare, technology

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General Accounting Office Report - Medicaid Payments to Insurers for Administrating HMO Services Needs More Auditing Algorithms

Private insurers administrate Medicaid as mentioned in the article below and GAO is recommending that CMS audit and be sure the money is not being over paid. 

It’s time for CMS to begin their own algorithmic formulas and take on those that audit medical claims for payment to consumers.  This is interesting to start to see the government and other areas of business recommending “business intelligence” methodologies to ensure the government is not being ripped off in what they pay out to administer Medicaid plans across the US. 

The report states inadequate data is being submitted from the insurers and they want more to ensure the money is spent appropriately and that some states are not being overpaid.  BD 

Aug 4 (Reuters) - U.S. Medicaid payments to private insurers need greater oversight to ensure that rates are appropriate, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office released on Wednesday.

Medicaid, administered by the states with reimbursements from the federal government, increasingly relies on insurance companies like UnitedHealth Group Inc (UNH.N) and Coventry Health Care Inc (CVH.N) to deliver its services. In 2007 more than $62 billion was spent on managed care.

Under a managed care model, a fixed rate is charged for a set of services instead of a fee for every service.

The report recommended that CMS track rates in each state and set clearer standards for rate reviews.

Medicaid payments need more oversight-US watchdog | Reuters

Technorati Tags: GAO, General Accounting Office, health insurance, Medicaid, healthcare, managed care model, budgets, CMS, algorithms fraud

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FDA Approves Cuvposa for Chronic Drooling in Children With Oral Flavored Solution

Drooling actually needs treatment at times and the adverse reactions here can be dry mouth and urinary retention.  Before the approval of Cuvposa off label use was required to crush tablets for use with children.  BD

ROCKVILLE, Md., July 28, 2010--The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Cuvposa (glycopyrrolate) Oral Solution to treat chronic severe drooling caused by neurologic disorders in children ages 3 years to 16 years.

Drooling is normal in infants. But a significant proportion of the developmentally disabled population experiences drooling caused primarily by neuromuscular dysfunction that makes it hard to swallow. Cuvposa reduces drooling by lowering the volume of saliva produced.

Glycopyrrolate was approved decades ago to treat peptic ulcers and reduce salivation in patients under anesthesia. Until now, glycopyrrolate has been used on an off-label basis to treat drooling in the developmentally disabled population, but in a different dosage form than the approved product. A drug is said to be used off-label when a physician prescribes its use in a different way than described in the FDA-approved drug label.

When used off label, oral tablets of glycopyrrolate had to be crushed to treat drooling in children with neurological disorders. Cuvposa is a flavored oral solution that is easier to administer and provides the optimal dose for each patient.

FDA Approves Cuvposa for Chronic Drooling in Children

Technorati Tags: Drooling, FDA, Cuvposa, off label, glycopyrrlate

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The Giving Pledge Call for Philanthropy Continues to Grow–40 Billionaires Committed

Yesterday I made a post about Bill Gates being a keynote speaker at this year’s mHealth Convention and also linked back to the evens of the “The Giving Pledge” as well.  You can revisit the post at the link below.

Bill Gates Named Keynote Speaker at 2010 mHealth Summit To Be Held November 8-10

It was back in June that Bill Gates and Warren Buffet challenged other s to contribute and pledge half of their valued worth towards philanthropy and it seems to be working as we have some new names being added such as Larry Ellison of Oracle for one example. 

Bill Gates & Warren Buffett – Call for Philanthropy To Give 50% of Their Fortunes To Help Others With “The Giving Pledge”

Last year we had the secret billionaire’s club meeting and you can read more at the link below.  Attendees included Oprah, Ted Turner, and others getting together to discuss what they could do to make the world a better place.

In addition the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation is busy funding research projects all  over the world.

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Fund 76 Research Projects – Healthcare

This all began at the secret billionaire’s meeting that took place in New York back in 2009 and has evolved.  The meeting took place on May 5th at Rockefeller University in New York.  Both Bill Gates and Oprah have been staunch leaders in promoting education, as healthcare and all other issues stem right back down to the one basic item that needs to be addressed. 

Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Oprah, Ted Turner, David Rockefeller, Jr. and more – Billionaire’s Summit Meeting Held in New York

Both Warren and Gates have publicly announced that much of their own wealth will be donated to charity when they pass on.  In other related philanthropy news the Wall Street Journal reports Salesforce.com Inc. founder Marc Benioff will donate $100 million to a new children's hospital at the University of California, San Francisco.

In the tough times we are facing today this is wonderful to see the richest men in the world giving back as how much can one spend you might ask.  I wonder if we might in time see any bankers join in here, the challenge is there.  BD 

More than three dozen of America's wealthiest individuals and families have joined Bill Gates and Warren Buffett in agreeing to give away at least half their fortunes to charity.

The announcement was made Wednesday by The Giving Pledge, an effort officially launched by Gates and Buffett earlier this year to persuade the richest people in America to commit to giving the majority of their wealth to the philanthropic causes and charitable organizations of their choice, either during their lifetime or after their death.

40 billionaires pledge to donate half their wealth - U.S. news - Giving - msnbc.com

Related Reading:

Gates Foundation and Viacom Team Up for “Get Schooled”

Former US NIH Director Joins the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Bill Gates - an optimist and a comedian – Fills the Room with Mosquitoes at TED

Bill Gates Leaving His Fortune to Charity

“Beware of Geeks Bearing Formulas”…Warren Buffett (Classic Post Revisited)

Technorati Tags: Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Oprah, Rockefeller, Ted Turner, Bloomberg, Philantrhopy, heatlhcare, disease, billionaires, Charities, Giving Pledge, Microsoft

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TSA Body Scans in the News Again–Government Admits To Storing–Algorithms Allow For Security Analysis On Steroids

The only way to really keep track of what is saved and what is not is to have a data audit trail and with the world we live in today with sensors and data connections with data bases for intelligence, do you think that perhaps all would do into a file to be dumped?  Cargo is now getting scanned too.

Pharma Companies Like Pfizer Certified to Scan Cargo Riding on US Passenger Flights – TSA Will be Scanning Cargo Soon Just As They Scan Humans

If you have read the news of late, use Wikipedia as an example here of what intelligence can be gained and transmitted.  For security reasons could a passenger on the no fly list easily connect to a DNA data base here, sure it could if set up.  We are a society addicted to data and government, private citizens, makes no difference as the quest for the “one up man ship” won’t go away when it comes to information.  This stuff creates big profits too for those who create algorithms to analyze.  Back in January we has this in the news that the storing features had been disabled as nobody is going to make a machine that does not have the capability to store and remotely control data – that’s the not the world we live in today.  The minute an undesirable gets through and we have major problems then everyone will want to know why they were not caught and sometimes that involves connecting data bases that have never been connected before and aggregating a new bunch of data sets. 

TSA Scanners Can Store and Transmit Images – Features are Just Disabled

The next question is who do you trust to run the data base algorithms to ensure that images are dumped?  That’s a good question and way beyond where I could speculate there.  The technology is getting so good that some are speculating that a use for healthcare might be contained here too.

TSA Eyes Full-Body Scanners – Could It Evolve To Include Looking for “Unhealthy Travelers” Too?

I may have been a bit ahead of my time but back in December of 2008 I wrote a parody about a day in the future with going to the doctor and I used example about taking my TSA scan with me to the doctor’s office, no far off base right? 

The Future – A Day of Going to the Doctor

Here’s a short paragraph from my 2008 article below:

“Last evening I had anticipated going to the doctor today, so when I came through the TSA inspection point, since they are now scanning in 5D, I asked if they would simply beam my files to my cell phone so I could have them with me today, to save the doctor some time. 

They look incredibly impressive! 

Next, I just moved the images over to my HealthVault account so I can share with the doctor today. “

In some airports to have privacy you may have to turn off your cell phone too.

TSA Pilot Program Tracking Your Cell Phone at Indianapolis Airport – Could This Have Medical Use Too?

Where’s that Department of Algorithms I started talking about a year ago?

White House Task Force on Unfair Business Practices - A Department of Algorithms To Allow Enforcement Would Be Nice…

So what do we do next to fix this, set up an application on Facebook so the TSA can offer for a $1 to have your image sent to your profile, and in essence this will take care of the privacy issues since it’s connected to Facebook and they get to generate income to fund TSA?  We are seeing some very far fetched solutions as such today in the world.

This falls into the same silly category as the license plats in California showing advertising in my opinion as that would end up generating money but what is the price we will pay for safety here with disruptive technology?

Below is a video from CNN archives that explains the process of how scanning is done and they have privacy issues there too.  BD 

For the last few years, federal agencies have defended body scanning by insisting that all images will be discarded as soon as they're viewed. The Transportation Security Administration claimed last summer, for instance, that "scanned images cannot be stored or recorded."

Now it turns out that some police agencies are storing the controversial images after all. The U.S. Marshals Service admitted this week that it had surreptitiously saved tens of thousands of images recorded with a millimeter wave system at the security checkpoint of a single Florida courthouse.

Feds admit storing checkpoint body scan images | Privacy Inc. - CNET News

Technorati Tags: TSA, body scanners, healthcare, x-ray, technology, settings, preferences, imaging, security, IT, networking, encryption, data, audit tables, privacy

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