Kaiser Permanente Registry Information Pays Off With Hip and Knee Replacements For Patient Having Double Hip Surgery (Video)

Here’s a story from a patient who had double hip replacement surgery at the Kaiser facility in Irvine, California.  I have mentioned before the registry of valuable information that Kaiser Permanente gathers on devices and outcomes.  The information contained also includes outcomes as gathered from using the PHR record (personal health record) that all patients with Kaiser have.  In this instance, the patient was having problems with his hip and finally decided to have a consultation at his Kaiser facility to find out his hips were wearing out as it was getting harder and harder to swing his leg over his motorcycle. 

Kaiser Permanente Demonstrates Success of Large-Scale Total Joint Replacement Registry With Help from Health Connect PHR

He found out he was a good candidate to have both hips replaced at once and decided to go for it and was doing fine and then in the news, all the recall notices hit and then he panicked a bit wondering if his devices were in the list. He called Kaiser and found out that he was ok and that the devices used were those that were contained in the data base that are providing the best outcomes, according to their medical device registry.  Their registry is the largest in the country and they follow the patients from the time of implant.  By using the registry they can identify the devices that have higher recalls and failure rates and avoid those devices.  The patient felt a lot better after calling Kaiser when hearing all the recall news to find out that his devices were among the ones that have the best outcomes.  BD   

“Kaiser Permanente’s Total Joint Replacement Registry– the nation’s largest such registry -- allows caregivers to analyze specific data from standardized forms and Kaiser Permanente HealthConnect^®, an electronic health record, on more than 100,000 joint replacement cases by more than 350 Kaiser Permanente surgeons nationwide.

By analyzing information included in the registry, researchers found that younger patients, those with diabetes, and patients with diagnoses other than osteoarthritis (e.g. post-traumatic and rheumatoid arthritis) were at higher risk for revision total joint surgery. This information has been integrated into a risk calculator for surgeons and patients to use in making decisions about treatment. Research from the registry on implants and surgical techniques also has influenced changes in clinical practice, which have resulted in optimization of both techniques and implants.”

Kaiser Permanente Implant Registry for Hips and Knees

A Kaiser Permanente study of 85,000 hip and knee surgeries found that a national registry of common joint replacement devices would improve patient outcomes and create clinical and financial efficiencies. Robert Namba, MD, Three-minute video of Kaiser Permanente orthopedic surgeon Robert Namba, and Paul Canter, his Harley Davidson-riding patient, talk about what a computerized registry is and the roles it played before and after Paul's double hip replacement surgery.

YouTube - kaiserpermanenteorg's Channel

Technorati Tags: Kaiser Permanente,PHR,Heatlh Connect,Hip surgery,Knee Surgery,healthcare,surgery,Heatlh IT,personal heatlh records,registry,bar codes,technology

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Aetna Takes Out Reinsurance Deal In The Cayman Islands- $150 Million to Kick When Medical Loss Ratio Hits 104%

The amount of the threshold will be reset on an annual basis in 2012 and 2013 to maintain profitability.  This is not a huge reinsurance amount by comparison to the amount of business they do at $150 Million in coverage.  As you can read here this is a newly formed insurance company in the Cayman Islands. 

When reading this you might think they are preparing for a worse case scenario cover the rising cost of healthcare when money spent will rise above the 80% HHS required new law that insurers must spend this amount on medical care related to the medical loss ratios for all carriers.  Goldman Sachs served as the underwriting manager and obviously with running algorithms to project where costs could go, both Aetna and Goldman felt this was in the interest of the insurer, coverage just in case if the Aetna spending exceeds and goes beyond normal spending for a catastrophic event or events.  BD

U.S. health insurer Aetna Inc. has a completed a reinsurance transaction that reduces its capital-related costs and provides it $150 million of collateralized excess-of-loss reinsurance coverage on part of its commercial group health business.

The three-year reinsurance agreement is with Vitality Re Ltd., a newly formed insurance company in the Cayman Islands, which Aetna said issued the industry's first health insurance-linked notes in a private offering related to the deal. Goldman Sachs served as the underwriting manager of the private offering.

Amounts payable under the deal are based on the annual medical loss ratio of a portion of Aetna Life Insurance Co.'s commercial group preferred provider organization, point of service and indemnity business. Aetna said it can start receiving payments from Vitality Re this year if the medical loss ratio of the covered business reaches an initial attachment point of 104%.

The provision does not kick in until the medical loss ratio hits 104% to 114%, he said. "So we view it as catastrophic protection."

Aetna's Reinsurance Deal on Medical Loss Ratio Unique to Health Insurance Industry | TradingMarkets.com

Technorati Tags: Aetna,HHS,health insurance,heatlhcare,medical loss ratios,Cayman Islands,Goldman Sachs,reinsurance,Vitality Re,private offering

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Skyy Vodka Using Microsoft Tags-We Can Find Out More About What We are Drinking-Would Be Nice if Tylenol & Others Did This

This is cool and the tag works and sent me to the mobile sit for some event listings and again this is cool and too bad we can’t get the same for drugs and medical devices that have been recalled. 

I’m sure that glucose testing strips might outsell bottles of Skyy, which by the way is a nice vodka, and look at the big FDA mess they put out on recalls.  I said a year ago this was going to become a mess and it gets bigger every day with everyone asleep at the wheel.  Using bar codes for safety is allowed as well as use for advertising, you think?  Can anyone cross that paradigm? 

Abbott Diabetes Care Recalls Tons of Glucose Test Strips–The US Has the FDA Recall Blues-Solution Has Been Touted Here for a Year-It’s Time for a Fix–Readers Have Voted

This Mom who was kind enough to tweet about how the bar code scanning would have been of help to her will just have to be happy with scanning vodka instead which might work for her, but how about all those kid’s medications? 

We can also find out about hamburger meat too, so this answers the question of “where’s the beef”. 

I guess we can all go out and drink until the FDA can get their head around this as well as the drug and device companies too as this shows immediate value for the consumers and will get mobile health in the picture too, the issue everyone keeps scratching their head over.  You want people to participate, then you have to make it easy for the consumer and not become another BP disaster.  BD 

Mobile Barcodes and products work really well together. There are so many potential campaigns that you can run. The best part is your product gets really informative data about your consumer group, through analytics and other creative and strategic executions you plan.

Skyy Vodka | Microsoft Tag Blog

Technorati Tags: FDA,medical devices,drugs,pharma,technology,Twitter,luddites,Microsoft,MicrosoftTags,cell phones,scanning,Skyy,vodka

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Blue Shield Not Listening to Insurance Commish in CA-Time for Mr. Jones to Hit Up the CA CIO for Some Auditing Algorithms

Ok, so what’s the reason for this title?  The only leg apparently there is to stand on here is to prove that Blue Shield paid less than 70% on healthcare.  Guess what you need some audit algorithms and not take them for their word as there might be mistakes and errors.  If you read the news, data is full of errors today.  Some of the insured may get hit with 3 increases at once. 

Blue Shield of California Announced Rate Hikes of Up to 59% For Some Individuals

You know what is even better here is that our California CIO has a digital literacy series and is working on educating citizens of California as this office is absolutely one of the very few that’s doing anything, everybody else is pretty much magpie and repeats the fact we need education and in their own back yard, they do little or nothing for their own IT literacy. Just listen to the news today with some more “duh” unintended consequences that make for good OMG stories.  We can’t always wait until Kathleen Sebelius at HHS jumps in to help, even though she offered as HHS is building their own data sets and algorithms at this time to audit, as that was just in the news a couple weeks ago and really should have been stared 2 years ago, but that’s not what we have today. 

Digital Literacy California CIO Series -Michael Peevey, President Cal Public Utilities Commission-We Need to Get Up to Par

California Governor Initiates Digital Literacy Campaign By Executive Order

Here’s an example below on the closing of a data center in California and the Feds are up to doing the same and consolidating data center, take notice of the power being saved with some cloud use and remember our US Senate didn’t understand this and did not fund the feds for cloud services.  Every member of Congress needs some Algo men to get the analytics and less dependency on lobbyists. 

California CIO Data Center move

In reading this some policy holders had contracts that guaranteed no raises for a year and those are going to be the ones hit with the highest increase all at one time.  Now compared to Blue Cross, Blue Shield is a non profit and quite a bit smaller but it’s still a lot of people.  The only way right now in California to block the increase is if the insurer pays less than 70% on claims. 

So after reading this, the Insurance Commissioner better go find some Algo Men over at the CIO and CTOs offices and create some auditing algorithms and call them to task to ensure accurate data has been given for the rate increase and that they are in fact within the 70% as we don’t know who the outside expert is that Blue Shield has agreed to use for their own audit and a lot of this as IT infrastructure is built needs to come in house.  BD

Defying California’s new insurance commissioner, Blue Shield of California has refused to delay controversial health insurance rate hikes for 60 days that prompted an uproar among customers who are seeing successive increases over the last five months of up to 59%.

The nonprofit San Francisco-based insurer said it would submit its latest increase -- effective March 1 and averaging 15% -- for review by an outside expert. It pledged to issue refunds to customers if errors are found in its paperwork.

Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones immediately condemned Blue Shield’s move, saying the company acted on its own without consulting him. Jones discounted Blue Shield's characterization of its action as “unprecedented,” noting that a new state law requires all insurance rate hikes to undergo scrutiny by outside actuaries.

Blue Shield of California defies state insurance commissioner, will go ahead with rate hikes | Money & Company | Los Angeles Times

Technorati Tags: Health insurance,Blue Shield,rates,premiums,healthcare,healthcare reform,non profit,medical care,California,CIOs,algorithms,audit

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Tenet Tells Community Health Thanks But No Thanks in Response to Their Submission of 10 Nominees for Tenet’s Board of Directors

This is getting a bit gutsy to say the least.  If you have not seen the activity on this the link below will get you caught up with the unsolicited take over which Community seems to be diligently working at. 

Community Health Offers $3.3 Billion With A Non Solicited Bid for Tenet Healthcare

Tenet says their own share holders should benefit from the Tenet board and not one being suggested by Community.  BD 

Press Release:

DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Tenet Healthcare Corporation (NYSE: THC) today announced that it has received notice from Community Health Systems, Inc. (NYSE: CYH) that Community Health has submitted a slate of 10 nominees for election to the Tenet Board of Directors at Tenet’s 2011 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which is currently scheduled for November 3, 2011:

We believe that Community Health has nominated its slate of director candidates only to advance its goal of acquiring Tenet at an inadequate price. We are confident that the continued execution of our strategic plan will deliver significantly more value to our stockholders than Community Health’s inadequate proposal.

Under the Board’s leadership, Tenet has delivered strong growth for more than five years, including solid performance in fiscal year 2010. Tenet continues to expect significant growth from a combination of acute care revenues, our expanding outpatient business, offering healthcare services to other hospitals, improved cost efficiencies, expanded margins and strategic investments. We look forward to building on our momentum in the year ahead. We firmly believe that Tenet’s stockholders – not Community Health – deserve to benefit from this growth.

Tenet’s Board and management team will continue to act in the best interests of all its stockholders, and remain focused on executing our core business plan and capitalizing on Tenet’s leading position in healthcare services.

Tenet’s Board is comprised of 10 highly qualified directors, 9 of which are independent, and all of whom are elected annually.

Barclays Capital is acting as financial advisor to Tenet and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP and Debevoise & Plimpton LLP are acting as Tenet’s legal counsel.

About Tenet Healthcare Corporation

Tenet Healthcare Corporation is a health care services company whose subsidiaries and affiliates own and operate acute care hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers and diagnostic imaging centers. Tenet’s hospitals and related healthcare facilities are committed to providing high quality care to patients in the communities they serve. For more information, please visit www.tenethealth.com.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Tenet Healthcare Corporation ("Tenet") will file with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") a proxy statement in connection with its 2011 annual meeting of stockholders. Any definitive proxy statement will be mailed to stockholders of Tenet. INVESTORS AND SECURITYHOLDERS OF TENET ARE URGED TO READ THESE AND OTHER DOCUMENTS FILED WITH THE SEC CAREFULLY IN THEIR ENTIRETY WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION. Investors and securityholders will be able to obtain free copies of these documents (when available) and other documents filed with the SEC by Tenet through the website maintained by the SEC at http://www.sec.gov.

CERTAIN INFORMATION REGARDING PARTICIPANTS

Tenet and certain of its respective directors and executive officers are deemed to be participants under the rules of the SEC. Information regarding these participants is contained in a filing under Rule 14a-12 filed by Tenet with the SEC on January 7, 2011. This filing and other documents can be obtained free of charge from the sources indicated above. Additional information regarding the interests of these participants in any proxy solicitation and a description of their direct and indirect interests, by security holdings or otherwise, will also be included in any proxy statement and other relevant materials to be filed with the SEC if and when they become available.

Forward-Looking Statements

Some of the statements in this release may constitute forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations and could be affected by numerous factors and are subject to various risks and uncertainties discussed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2009, our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, and periodic reports on Form 8-K. Do not rely on any forward-looking statement, as we cannot predict or control many of the factors that ultimately may affect our ability to achieve the results estimated. We make no promise to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of changes in underlying factors, new information, future events or otherwise.

Tenet uses its company web site to provide important information to investors about the company including the posting of important announcements regarding financial performance and corporate developments.

Tenet Issues Statement Regarding Community Health Director Nominees | Business Wire

Technorati Tags: Community Health,Tenet,hopsitals,mergers and acquisitions,healthcare,for profit,public trading,deals,Health IT

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Hypoallergenic Hotel Rooms The Latest for Those With Allergies, But It Will Cost You

We have moved the next level up beyond peanuts on airlines to costly hotel rooms that are fragrance free and offer a more soothing atmosphere.  Most are stating they have a minimal amount of dust and the cost for such a room may be an additional $20 or $30 a night.  Is this marketing,fulfilling a need or both? 

Hyatt Hotels were the first to offer the rooms and some feel the rooms may be cleaner than the normal hotel rooms since products in these rooms are supposed to be allergy friendly.  A company by the name of freshstay.com is listed as an online booking site to find these rooms.  I have an idea, why don’t all the rooms come this way, and perhaps in time they will.  BD  

Even die-hard road warriors need a comfortable place to recharge after a long day. But for business travelers with allergies, asthma and other sensitivities, hotel rooms can be rife with dust mites, mold, animal dander and other allergens that set off sneezing, itchy eyes, headaches and sleepless nights.

But now, two hotel chains, Hyatt Hotels and Resorts and Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, are taking the service even further by designating permanent allergy-friendly rooms, with things like medical-grade air purifiers and chemical- and fragrance-free bath products.

Brian Brault, chief executive of Pure Solutions, the company that installs and maintains Hyatt’s hypoallergenic rooms, said more than 200 hotels nationwide, including properties at several major brands, had Pure Solutions rooms, but Hyatt was the first to offer them across its brands. Some hotel conference centers also use the technology, he said.

Hypoallergenic Hotel Rooms, for a Price - NYTimes.com

Technorati Tags: Hotels,allergies,healthcare,travel,Pure Solutions,purifiers,Hyatt

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Search The Medical Quack–Cool Tools And Information Links

I have a couple of tools here that are worth a mention.  The Medical Quack has been around over 3 years now and there’s tons of information hanging around here in the archives.  The first is the “Tag” Search.  This will search by Tags some of the latest posts.  It works a little different than most Tag searches.  To search just click on a tag.  You get this nice sliding window that shows recently posted tags with the title and a brief summary and a scroll bar.  When you click on it, the article will open in a separate window.  There’s also a back button to search other tag keywords. 

Do you like to search by pictures?  Scroll down a little further on the right hand side and you can do that too.  When the mouse is over the picture, the related post title appears and you can simply click on it to read.  The post will open up in a separate window or Tab. 

Also I have some Twitter Feeds for Healthcare and Health IT which are live links and you can read information posted there from other sources.  On top there’s a newsreel that flashes posts followed below by a static source with a scrollbar.  Last but not least is a listing of the Medical Quack Tweets. 

Also if you want to check out a “live feed” of who’s reading the Medical Quack you can use this link and see networks and what they are reading in addition to the summary of live feeds on the site. I used the live feed myself to check in and see what is being read.  You can also find the link to the live feed at the bottom of every page.  If you are a blogger, the Feedjit utility is kind of neat to have around for readers.  Be warned, the live feeds seem to become addictive though.  BD

Last but not least there are a couple ways to search the Medical Quack with the Google search tools.  I go to extremes at times I realize but there are 3 choices here.  The first search box will do an extensive longer search of multiple items and open in the same window via keywords.  I occasionally use this one myself but find the other 2 to be much faster.  It is the standard search that comes with the blog template. 

The second Google custom search in an inline tool and searches the Medical Quack via Google on the web.  Below is how this appears.  Works fast and efficient.    To close out the search, click on the “x” next to the box. 

The third search box is a nice instant search within the Medical Quack and when I a looking for past references, it’s the one I use myself.  I used the word algorithm here and you can see the details that appear to even the date as to when the article was posted.  Now you can also use this to search all the other bloggers I have listed in my Blog Roll, other bloggers that I like and follow.  Click on the Blog Roll Tag for their information on the same keyword, or you can start over.  I find sometimes it takes a while for the others to load as you are going outside of the Medical Quack but be patient and it will do the job. 

Sometimes you may see this which basically means Google is busy or for whatever reason they are encountering delays but most of the time it works well and is a good reason for me to list other bloggers in my blog roll too. 

Anyway I thought I would take a few minutes to point some of these features out and hopefully there are of use along the line.  Last but not least at the top of the site are links to either sponsor or advertise at the Medical Quack and the same links are in the right hand side too under resources. 

I thought I would give this a brief mention as I have people emailing and asking about ads and sponsorship so I tried to make it easy to find for all to see how it works on the site. 

Those that sponsor and place useful ads here help me keep the blog going as well so be sure to visit their sites if you are looking for any of their services!  BD 

Technorati Tags: Medical Quack,Cool,tools,live feeds,blogs,twitter feeds,information,search,healthcare,help,Feedjit

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FDA To Cap the Amount of Acetaminophen Used in Vicodin, Percocet and Other Prescription Painkiller Drugs

20 or 30 years ago the pain killer drugs did not contain as high of a dose of Acetaminophen as they do today.  Over the counter products like Tylenol will not be affected for now the FDA said so the higher doses in over the counter drugs will remain as is.  Acetaminophen is a leading cause of liver failure in the US and I had a pharmacist tell me that years ago that Tylenol was not good for the liver.

Sales for the combo pain killers topped sales of over 6 billion last year.  Over a year back a panel at the FDA wanted to eliminate drugs like vicodin totally, which the FDA decided against. 

Acetaminophen-FDA

WASHINGTON – Federal health regulators are limiting a key ingredient found in Vicodin, Percocet and other prescription painkillers that have been linked to thousands of cases of liver damage each year.

The Food and Drug Administration said Thursday it will cap the amount of acetaminophen in the drugs at 325 milligrams per capsule. Current products on the market contain doses of up to 700 milligrams.

Acetaminophen is a ubiquitous pain reliever found in Tylenol, Nyquil and thousands of other medicines used to treat headaches, fever and sore throats. The ingredient is also used at larger doses in prescription combination drugs that mix it with narcotic drugs like oxycodone.

FDA orders lowering pain reliever in Vicodin - Yahoo! News

Technorati Tags: Acetaminophen,Vicodin,Percocet,FDA,Painkillers,drugs,prescriptions,pharmacies

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Alvarado Hospital Recently Acquired by Prime Healthcare To Lay Off One Quarter of the Staff in San Diego

Alvarado Hospital apparently wanted a higher rate than Tri-City Hospital to care for prison inmates so the contract was lost under the decision making of the new owners, Prime Healthcare.  It was noted in the article below that Prime plans on spending around $25 million to upgrade the hospital with a focus on the ER room so as I stated below, one more Cadillac ER room on the way, as Prime does not normally contract with insurers and charges their normal and customary rates. 

Prime Healthcare Buys Alvarado Hospital In San Diego–One More Cadillac ER Room On the Way

Just as the rest of the hospitals operated by Prime, the hospital was not in good shape financially.  There was no mention of doctor group contracts but all together 249 employees received lay off notices.  BD 

About a quarter of the staff at Alvarado Hospital has been sent layoff notices this week, according to a notice the owners sent to state employment officials.

Letters were mailed to 249 employees, including 91 nurses, that gave a 60-day notice of termination effective March 13. Other positions slated for elimination run hospitalwide, although the pharmacy may be among the hardest hit with 10 pharmacists and 13 technicians slated for layoffs.

On Tuesday, Alvarado’s owners, Prime Healthcare Services, issued a statement saying the layoffs were due to a reorganization and multimillion-dollar reductions in state and federal funding.

Alvarado Hospital layoffs target one quarter of staff - SignOnSanDiego.com

Technorati Tags: Prime Healthcare,balance billing,clinics,hospitals,healthcare,Orange County County,HMO,audit,refund,Alvarado Hospital,San Diego

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Paypics Using A Smartphone to Pay With PayPal With Microsoft Tags/Bar Codes

I just ran across this and I think it is something I need to check out.  I have quite a few Microsoft Tags posts on the blog and this is kind of need to have an encrypted gateway to protect purchases made with PayPal. 

The plan exists for a year.  Again, I like the extra level of security protection here and they don’t have any of your financial credentials at all. 

The video shows how this works and you do need to set up your own account and connect with PayPal. 

PayPics On a Smart phone

On the healthcare side of things, Microsoft Tags can be used to authenticate for e-prescribing and the link below has more information there as well as be a vehicle to move information into Google Health or HealthVault. 

RAZCODE (Microsoft Tags) Using Smart Phones to authenticate MDs When e-Prescribing Controlled Substances

Connecting HealthVault/Google Health and More to RazCode Encrypted Microsoft Tags – Automate Data Input

PayPics makes paying for goods and services with your PayPal™ account, as easy as taking a picture with your smartphone.
Now you can turn your smartphone into a powerful payment device that can replace all those plastic cards in your wallet, and that cash too!

http://paypics.com/

Technorati Tags: Paypal,paypics,smartphone,Microsoft Tags,bar code,tags,scanning,payments,security

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Mesoblast's Heart Stem Cell Treatment to Rebuild Blood Vessels and Heart Muscles Has Positive Results–Regenerative Medicine

The results showed that the Revascor treatment reduced the number of patients who developed any major heart failures from 40% to 6.7%, and those are substantial numbers.  Mesoblast is located in Australia.  The company also has other areas of regenerative medicine with bone regrowth and they are working on developing a product for direct injection into a diseased artery at the time of the angioplasty to increase the likelihood of long term survival of the limb.  I certainly like what stem cells are doing for heart disease today.  In the US we have clinical trials in place for injecting stem cells directly into the heart and results are coming in favorable there as well.  BD

Heart Stem Cell Trial at Cedars Sinai – Patient’s Own Cells Injected to Reverse Heart Attack Damage

Cephalon (Nasdaq: CEPH) said Monday that Mesoblast (ASX: MSB, Pink Sheets: MBLTY), a company in which Cephalon holds a 20% stake, released positive phase 2 study results for heart disease treatment Revascor.

To treat heart failure, Mesoblast’s Revascor treatment uses stem-cell technology to rebuild blood vessels and heart muscles.

The phase 2 study consisted of 60 patients with heart failure, monitored over a one year period.  Interim results after six months showed that an injection of Revcascor reduced the number of patients who had severe heart failures over the follow-up period from 93.3% in the control group, to 44.4% in the treated patients.

Proactive Investors NA - Cephalon Reports Positive Results from Mesoblast's Heart Treatment Study

Technorati Tags: Mesoblast,heart failure,regenerative medicine,stem cells,healthcare,trials,blood vessels

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MannKind Corp Waiting for FDA Approval of Inhaled Insulin–Afrezza-An Army of Inhaler Manufacturers Awaits With Products for Consumer Compliance Monitoring

This is a video with the owner of Mannkind who has been developing the inhaled insulin product for a number of years and has a lot of money invested in it’s development and he and others are optimistic about FDA approval.  If it does get approved, then in march in the folks with either their product or one they can modify so it collect data. 

I have reported on several inhalers in the past and there are links below to check them out.  This is huge for the patient to be able to get rid of the needles.  $925 Million has been invested from the CEO himself in the development.  Other drugs are also in the works to have an “inhaled” formulation like the one mentioned below for migraines.  Whether or not they have their own or possibly look at one of the inhaler companies listed here, you can bet in time the product will create a data trail. 

More Inhaled Drugs on the Way – Levadex for Migraines Met Trial Goals

I have spoken with Cambridge on several occasions and they keep me updated on what they have in the works and they do create drug delivery solutions for many pharma companies. 

Cambridge Consultants and Sun Pharma Develop a High Performance Dry Powder Drug Inhaler for Use Beginning in 2011

Sensohaler Device To Help Drive Compliance With Inhaled Medications – Smart Medical Devices

The Minder Wireless Device Connects to Collect Patient Medical Data and Transmit Via Wireless Network to Medical Record Systems Via HL7 Standards

These are just a few I have reported on and there’s also the one from the government project that is GPS unit in an inhaler and those folks should perhaps work with the commercial inhaler companies, you think?  BD 

Blue Tooth Inhaler and Audit Trail

Dr. Alfred Mann, CEO of Mannkind Corp has developed an inhaled form of insulin, which the FDA is expected to decide on approval later this month. The product, called Afrezza, would be a major breakthrough in diabetes care as it would greatly reduce the need for needles.

Video - MannKind Corp has developed an inhaled form of insulin, which the FDA is expected to approve. - WSJ.com

Technorati Tags: wireless,bluetooth,Continua Health Alliance,healthcare,medical devices,devices reporting data,technology,VenaHub,Minder,Mannkind,Diabetes,Afrezza,FDA

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Sams Club (Walmart) Selling $99 a Year Healthy Living Plan From US Preventive Medicine–Wellness for Data Resources

In May of 2010 US Preventive Medicine, a Dallas based company raised $25 million in equity financing, just some to be aware of and now they are in partnership with Sam’s Club to make you get healthier.  You know all of this targeted healthcare information is good and maybe it’s because I do this blog reporting on all of this, but on a day like today I want say ‘ENOUGH ALREADY”.  You can watch the video here announcing the partnership.

Remember this is a big for profit company and you can watch the videos on their website and see where they get data to sell and maybe we get healthier.  It’s all about selling data these days.  You fill out a form and get a health risk assessment and then also receive a blood test and just like any of the other plans you get a coach and a few other things to develop a healthy living plan.

All of this would not be so bad if there were not such high levels of profit built in as that’s the real reason they want you to be well, not because they are concerned about you, bottom line.  With all the marketing we see to day your health is just one little spot on the commodity market and you are not much more than a risk.  If you see enough of this as I do on the web, that’s the message coming through.  Sam’s Club would not be providing this if they didn’t get some type of fee for listing on their website I don’t believe.  Anyway, add it to your cart if you are interested in yet one more plan to get healthy in exchange for another wellness company collecting and have the potential to sell your data along the line in some shape or form. 

When you stop and think about it at $99.00 a year for what they provide without some additional data revenue sources I think companies as such would go out of business as it can’t be priced this low without some type of income subsidy.  BD

Press Release:

BENTONVILLE, ARK., (Jan. 5, 2011) – January is the month when many Americans look to turn over a new leaf when it comes to their health. This year Sam’s Club will give Business, Advantage and Plus members across the country tools to help them achieve their health goals including free monthly in-club health screenings and access to a new health management benefit, The Prevention Plan from U.S. Preventive Medicine.

"Through our member insights, we know our members want to stay in control of their health," said Jill Turner-Mitchael, senior vice president, Sam’s Club Health and Wellness. ”We’re proud to offer these simple health solutions, including free health screenings along with great products like The Prevention Plan, so our members can maintain control of their health decisions, minimize health risks and keep health care costs low for their families, employees and themselves."

The Prevention Plan*

Exclusively priced at $99 for our members, Sam's Club will now offer The Prevention Plan, a personalized, step-by-step health management program designed to help people take control of their individual health. Via an online health assessment and at-home blood test, Sam's Club members can take the first steps in identifying potential individual health issues. From there, a personalized plan is created to address risks. Personal health coaching, ongoing support, a variety of tools and a plan-wide health challenge are provided through The Prevention Plan to keep members motivated to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

"America is moving from the reactive treatment of illness to the proactive preservation of health," said Christopher Fey, chairman and CEO, U.S. Preventive Medicine. "The Prevention Plan provides the knowledge and tools to help individuals improve their health and wellbeing. A recent study in Population Health Management shows The Plan has been successful in helping people significantly reduce important risk factors including blood glucose, blood pressure, cholesterol and many others. We are pleased to make this program available to Sam's Club members."

For more information on The Prevention Plan, customers can call 866-713-1180, or visit

www.SamsClub.com/healthyliving.

January In-Club Health Screenings

All Sam’s Club members across the country can participate in the free monthly health screenings beginning in January. Throughout the year, each monthly event will offer different screenings, including

• • Personal consultation from a licensed pharmacist on their prescriptions   
• • Blood pressure checkups
• • Bone density scans
• • Body mass index assessment
• • Cholesterol and glucose tests
• • Hearing and vision screening

For more information on The Prevention Plan, customers can call 866-713-1180, or visit www.SamsClub.com/healthyliving.

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In Health Care Cutting Costs Is Paying Off for Investors-Business Analytics May Create Profits but Without Balance Care Suffers

We also now have private equity firms buying hospitals.  There’s a hospital and clinic group in southern California called Prime Healthcare and they basically bought up hospitals who were upside down financially and many times it was either a purchase or go out of business.  I believe the group is over all hedge fund backed.  This is kind of an oxymoron of sorts but private equity firms are getting to have such a large hold in healthcare that they formed a NON PROFIT organization to discuss and plan on HOW TO PROFIT. 

This could in fact be a new coined paradigm here, a “non-profit” place where the “for profits” gather to talk about how to make more money from healthcare and compare those portfolios.

How Big Are Private Equity Investments in Healthcare – Large Enough to Create a “Non-Profit” Trade Association To Talk About How to “Profit”

Former HHS Director Mike Leavitt has also jumped in here with the financial side of things. 

Former HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt Joins Board of Healthcare Financial Services Company

This is kind of my home territory in Orange County and I remember how busy all the hospitals were before they were purchased and all took insurance and had contracts with insurance companies.  Prime, although I think it is changing a little bit, does not sign contracts with insurance companies and bills their normal and customary fees.  That created huge balance billing problems with the likes of Kaiser and Tenet going to battle as well as patients over the charges, especially when patients were seen out of network at a Prime facility.

Today, you can roll bowling balls through the parking lots of the once busy hospitals at they have “Cadillac” ER rooms but not very many inpatients as insurer groups direct patients elsewhere.  Everything that was not deemed profitable and not necessary for the operation of a hospital—gone.

I caught a bit of the JP Morgan investors meeting with Google CEO and Aneesh Chopra and from what I heard, they aren’t buying medical record technology, first of all because they don’t understand it, and secondly I can bet you most don’t use any of it as a patient like they want everyone else to use.  It’s like driving a car, you have to do it to be able to see value and last by not least have the ability to obey the law.

Mr. Chopra is a great optimist but it didn’t fly past those investors and even Eric Schmidt with their own Google Health was not coming to bat very strong either, and this is not to say he didn’t have confidence in what they were doing, it more or less related back to the huge glut of unmanageable software that is out there and the fact that the folks that work in the ALGORITHM business see it too, just like I talk about here all the time. 

Stay tuned as I try my best to educate and let folks know some of the behind the scenes intangibles and connect some dots you may not see connected otherwise.  Heck we rely on Google’s algorithm worldwide as the #1 choice to find what we want on the web with meta data.  GOOGLE HAS A GREAT HANDLE ON ALGORITHMS!!

Nobody wants to admit we made a big mess out of medical software for the sake of profit and now nobody has a clue as to who’s going to prevail and where to sock any money.  The government should have started trying to encourage collaboration a long time ago but it’s not their fault entirely as we had 8 years of shear IT Illiteracy in the White House that paid no attention and saw little or no value and it’s catch up time. 

It’s funny too that United Healthcare gets mentioned here as I have been focusing on their subsidiaries quite a bit here and most have no clue on how health insurance subsidiaries work and how they are now combining data for intelligence on steroids.  You can input the words subsidiary watch and come up with a bunch of posts here to that effect on the Medical Quack.

Investors are trying to figure out who’s got the cost and profit algorithms set in place to make the most money and need proof of that, look at Goldman Sachs and Facebook. What are they investing in, a bunch of algorithms and some servers that store images to be blunt, but more so it’s the data value and the ability to sell and market is the driving force.  Facebook is not a tangible item you can hold in your hand and neither is much of the other items that folks are investing in; however, they do affect the quality of our lives and balance is needed, otherwise we will have crappy lives with cost running everything. 

So when this bottoms out and all the costs are cut, what’s going to be left?  Sure technology will eliminate more jobs and automate even further with additional outsourcing to other countries, like China, as it was the hot topic at the JP Morgan convention, so look around and figure it out.  We need to read up and get smart out there as this is technological war far on more fronts that you can even imagine.  BD 

Investors in health-care stocks have reason to feel ill: In 2010 the Standard & Poor's North American Health-Care Index had the smallest gain among the seven North American sector indexes. It rose by a mere 4.3 percent, vs. 26 percent apiece for the technology and cyclical-stock sector indexes. The industry is beset with challenges, from the uncertainties surrounding health-care reform to a wave of patent expirations that will arrive with manufacturers facing a dearth of blockbuster drugs in the pipeline. Still, leading health-care fund managers spy plenty of opportunities to profit in 2011.

"Age and wealth are the biggest determinants for health-care spending now, driven by a preference for [a healthier] lifestyle," says Hunt. "Overall, you're going to see an increased blurring of the lines between consumer enterprises and health-care companies" as the solution to health-care spending turns increasingly to putting more pressure on individuals to change their behavior.

Jenner singles out UnitedHealth Group (UNH), which has quietly been acquiring dozens of private companies with health-care IT capabilities that will be able to monitor treatment outcomes, as well as disease-prevention efforts. The market is slowing recognizing the company's growing resource base, but this will continue to play out over the next few years, says Jenner. One of United's pilot programs educates orthopedics patients on nonsurgical options and has resulted in a nearly 50 percent decline in hip and knee replacements among its members, says Rouven Wool-Lewis, T. Rowe Price's analyst for managed-health-care stocks.

In Health Care, Cost-Cutting Pays Investors - BusinessWeek

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Illumina Introduces New Desk Top Sequencing Machine “MiSeq” at JPMorgan 2011 Convention

It was just this summer that MIT purchased 51 machines, and I am guessing these are larger than the desktop machine announced.  It makes you wonder if in a few years your sequencing machine will sit there right next to your printer.  This is not the first desktop model but rather a second one in the industry.

Broad Institute of MIT Purchases 51 Sequencing Machines from Illumina – Genomics

Life Sciences a few weeks ago announced their Ion Torrent machine with sequencing using chip technology and has theirs for sale for less than 100k, and I don’t know the exact price.

Life Technologies Debuts Ion Torrent Machine-Cheap Genes at $500 for Single Sequence

The Illumina model is called “MiSeq” the personal sequencing machine and it is a desktop model.  Their model per their press release is to be priced under $125k so it looks to be somewhat close in pricing with the Ion Torrent model but pricing is somewhat commanded by the market with demand too.  BD 

Not to be outdone, San Diego-based Illumina (NASDAQ: ILMN), the market leader in gene sequencing instruments, unveiled its latest iteration. This tool, dubbed MiSeq, is a desktop-sized sequencing machine that can be bought for about $125,000, a fraction of previous devices’ costs, and do a lot of heavy duty sequencing for a few hundred bucks per run. It’s a direct answer to the aggressive move of its competitor, Carlsbad, CA-based Life Technologies (NASDAQ: LIFE), which has generated a lot of buzz lately with its cheap and fast new tool it acquired from Ion Torrent Systems.

615 Human Genomes? Another Cheap, Fast Sequencing Machine? Complete Genomics, Illumina Steal Show at Healthcare Meeting | Xconomy

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Hospital In Chicago Will No Longer Take Patients From Ambulance Services To Save Money

By doing do the hospital expects to save $20 to $25 million each year but other hospitals may feel the pinch as the patients will need to go somewhere for help.  The hospital will still take walk in ER patients and plans to make room for more outpatient services.  BD

The hospital tells CBS 2 that out of the 40,000 emergency room patients, seen yearly, 3,800 are transported by ambulance. By cutting ambulances, the hospital says it can save $20 to $25 million each year and make room for more out-patient care.

University of Chicago Medical Center officials say they expect eight to 10 more ambulances at their hospital as a result and increased wait times for some urgent patients. Some patients may have to be transported all the way to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Streeterville, Stroger Hospital on the West Side, or Christ Hospital in suburban Oak Lawn.

Provident has informed the Illinois Department of Public Health of its intent to drop to the lowest level of emergency services. The Chicago Fire Department also has been informed.

Provident Hospital Won’t Accept Ambulance Runs « CBS Chicago – Breaking News, Sports, Weather, Traffic, and the Best of Chicago

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China Opening Doors to Foreign Healthcare Providers–Focus on Tourism and Private Healthcare

China wants more hospitals and more of the medical tourism business and it appears they are working on relaxing some old laws a policies to entice more to invest.  I just posted a story this week where a business man was detained from leaving until he paid up on a legal judgment he was not aware of, so laws are different and he ended up in a Chinese hospital when he ran out of insulin. 

China bars O.C. Diabetic Businessman From Returning Home Over Business Deal/Legal Case-Runs Out of Insulin End Up in Hospital

The insurance part of this is still up in the air with US companies somewhat waiting to see what will happen, although many have established offices over there 2-3 years ago.  BD

The government of China is to encourage the development of the private healthcare sector in the country. This paves the way for foreign firms to gain greater access to the Chinese private healthcare market. The State Council – China’s cabinet office –is backing investment from the private sector. The new policy will provide overseas healthcare companies with more flexibility in establishing a new business within the private health sector.
The move is designed to encourage investment from overseas business to meet the increasing demand for private healthcare services in the country stemming from its rapidly expanded economy. Economic expansion has brought increased affluence among the population of China, which in turn has lead to a growth in demand for private healthcare.
Current Chinese regulations only allow foreign firms to enter the private healthcare sector in China through a joint venture with a Chinese partner, together with a cap on the level of capital that may be held in a Chinese operation. There will be a gradual easing on the level of investment permitted by a foreign firm in the private healthcare sector. The new policy also allows the conversion of some government run hospitals into private medical facilities

Privately invested medical institutions will be eligible for the same land use policies as state-owned medical institutions and will enjoy the same prices as state-owned medical institutions with respect to utilities (including electricity, water, gas and heat). Positive support will also be provided to privately invested medical institutions with respect to construction, equipment purchase and personnel training.

China opens the door for foreign healthcare providers

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