Walgreens And CVS Accused of Selling Customer Prescription Data in 2 Separate Law Suits-Sales for Marketing Data Continues and the Data Bases Gets Larger with Technology

One of these days there may be a lawsuit or some ruling that could finally get into profiteering that goes on with selling consumer prescription data.  What is interesting is over the years on how this has evolved.  From the consumer stand point it’s not so much a worry or concern that the drug companies have it, but rather all the other sources that buy the information.  It makes Pharma use look small by comparison.  Walgreens said their purchased prescription files" are intangible assets worth $749 million, so there’s a lot of selling going on here. 

Here are 2 companies that sell prescription data and profiling information and there’s more.  The data with additional sources and additional data trails is also getting a lot richer in content too as we now have devices such as the pill bottle that is wireless and so again there could be more data for sale. 

“HIPAA does not give the Department of Health and Human Services the ability to directly investigate or hold accountable entities, such as pharmacy benefit managers or companies such as Ingenix and Milliman, who are not covered by HIPAA.”

The Pill Bottle That Talks To Your Cell Phone, Creates Data Reports and More…

In addition the information is for sale to health insurance companies to use for underwriting for health insurance policies so they know all your current medications when you apply for insurance.  Again with the information becoming richer and more data available, you are for sale.  Many clinical trial companies buy this information too and then there’s that “card” that you use for discounts that allows most of the information to be collected.  Health insurers may be mining this data as well and pharmacists can use the data to get pay for performance money too if they sign you up with certain wellness programs. 

UnitedHealthCare To Use Data Mining Algorithms On Claim Data To Look For Those At “Risk” of Developing Diabetes – Walgreens and the YMCA Benefit With Pay for Performance Dollars to Promote and Supply The Tools

In addition the insurers and drug stores are using different efforts to enforce compliance too.  The post below tells a tale of my mother with Walgreens telling her she needs to check her glucose 3 times a day when she has done it twice a day for 15 years and knows the routine.  She had to literally fight to get off the automated refill algorithm that would push out 3 refills of glucose strips.  This get a bit insane.  Again, that information on how many glucose strips she uses is for sale.  It’s all about data, data and more data for sale and profit. 

Compliance Police Out In Force for Seniors–Health Plans and Drug Stores Making Phone Calls-Business Models & Caller Behavior Sucks -A Result of Pay for Performance Efforts?

A lot of entities sell data and the AMA I read somewhere makes about $40 million on selling data they collect on doctors and data with other interests.  Again, one day someone may finally get this right and look beyond just Pharma’s use as I am thinking that portion may be shrinking a bit with fewer new drugs coming out and it may be taking a second place compared to everywhere else your prescription data is sold.  BD 

Unlike suits that focus on patient privacy, the plaintiffs accuse Walgreen of depriving them of the commercial value of their own prescription information.

According to the suit, brought by Todd Murphy on behalf of his two daughters and the rest of the class, Walgreen sells the prescription information to data mining companies who resell it to pharmaceutical companies for marketing purposes. The practice allows drugmakers to target physicians considered high-volume prescribers and those most willing to prescribe new medications, it said.

Walgreen spokesman Robert Elfinger said the company had just learned of the lawsuit and declined to comment.

As a measure of the information's value, the suit cites Walgreen's 2010 annual filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which lists "purchased prescription files" as intangible assets worth $749 million.

The focus of the latest suit, filed on Tuesday, shifts from privacy to unlawful business practices. Without identifying individuals, Walgreen sells data that includes the patient's sex, age group, state, the ID number of the prescribing doctor and the name of the drug.

Walgreen accused of selling patient data | Reuters

CVS violated the privacy and rights of consumers by sending letters to customers’ physicians that promoted specific medications, according to a complaint filed March 7 in state court in Philadelphia. CVS allegedly identified consumers by name, date of birth and medications taken, drawing on information obtained through CVS pharmacy services.

CVS was paid for the promotion of competing drugs by Merck & Co., AstraZeneca Plc (AZN) and Bayer AG (BAYN), according to the complaint filed by Richboro, Pennsylvania, resident Arthur Steinberg and the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers Health and Welfare Fund.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-09/cvs-accused-in-suit-of-using-customers-pharmacy-data-for-drug-companies.html

Technorati Tags: Walgreens,CVS,HIPAA,law suits,privacy,marketing,drugs,audit trails,health insurance,pharmacy

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Nasally Delivered Stem Cell Treatment for Parkinson’s Improves Motor Control-Study From Germany

The stem cells survived for 6 months or more in the brain and motor control improved.  This was based on a rat model.  What was also interesting too is that just this week in an European court was the decision that stem cells cannot be patented as a result of this study.  You can read more about the legal decision here.  BD 

Stem cells, delivered intranasally, have been found to substantially improve motor function in Parkinson’s disease in a study conducted by the US Alzheimer’s Research Center and the University Hospital of Tubingen in Germany.

The team had previously published a paper and filed for a patent on this intranasal stem cell delivery method and went on to study the therapeutic impact and long-term survival of the stem cells after they reached the brain. Their new study was published in Rejuvenation Research.

Nasally delivered stem cell treatment for Parkinson’s improves motor control

Technorati Tags: Germany,stem cells,Parkinsons' Disease Research,study,brain,therapy

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UC San Francisco Hospital Pharmacy Begins Using RIVA Medication Dispensing Robots

The pharmacist is called “Riva” “Robotic ID Automation” the robot that does the compounding, filling and so on.  One of the big advantages is that there’s no human hand touching so thus any risk of contamination is reduced to almost zero.  In addition the IV solutions are safer and the robot has it own compounding system.  In addition is has it’s own ultraviolet pulse for sanitation. 

In addition there’s a complete electronic audit trail to trace back every script filled.  The robot handles chemotherapy drugs as well.  It has it’s own waste or trash can area inside.  It even can create syringes too. The system has been in place for a few months now.  Everything is bar coded coming right from the manufacturer.  All medications are stored in boxes inside the robot. 

What gets produced is a “ring of medications” in other words one for 10 o’clock meds, noon meds and so on.

They actually have 3 robots and one is for cancer and other high risk types of drugs.  So far they have not had one pick error yet, so it’s working well.    Probably in time every hospital will be converting to robotics with pharmacies as unlike some other technologies that still have to prove themselves, this one is a hands down for safety and all that is needed is money.  BD 

UCSF Pharmacy Robot

The University of California at San Francisco Medical Center is now starting to use robots, not humans, to dispense medication from its hospital pharmacy. While robots are often brought into workplaces as a cost-cutting measure, UCSF claims that in this case, it's to minimize the chances of patients receiving the wrong medication. So far, it seems to be working out well – out of 350,000 doses of oral and injectable medication prepared to date, not a single error has occurred.

UC San Francisco hospital integrating robotic pharmacy

Technorati Tags: UCSF,pharmacy,hospital,robotics,pills,prescriptions,San Francisco Medical Center,patients,nurses healthcare,medications,RIVA

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New NIH Tox21 Robotic Screening System to Test 10,000 Chemicals for Toxicity-3000 Will Be Pharmaceutical Drugs

The 10,000 chemicals to be tested will include chemicals in industrial and consumer products as well as food additives and drugs.  So far 2500 chemicals for potential toxicity have been screened.  The FDA of course is right in here participating as with drugs this is one of their top priorities, to be able to predict unfavorable outcomes perhaps before a drug is approved and in circulation.  This can stand to add valuable information to drugs in the clinical trial stages as well. 

You can watch the robot in action at the link here, done in Quick Time.  Below is a time released video showing how the robot was set up.  The evaluation process can take from one to five days and Pfizer is right up there ready to give it a try and again I would think all pharma companies would want to be on this band wagon as soon as possible.  A little less than a year ago the FDA announced their partnership with the NIH on the project.  Tox21 began initially as a joint project of the NIH and EPA.  One benefit too is that fewer animals will have to be used for looking for toxicity as what has been the main practice up until today.  BD

Tox21

March 11, 2011, WASHINGTON (Coal Geology) – Several federal agencies have unveiled a new high-speed robot screening system that will test 10,000 different chemicals for potential toxicity. The system marks the beginning of a new phase of an ongoing collaboration, referred to as Tox21, that is working to protect people’s health by improving how chemicals are tested in this country.

The robot system, which is located at the National Institutes of Health Chemical Genomics Center (NCGC), was purchased as part of the Tox21 collaboration established in 2008 between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences National Toxicology Program, and NCGC, with the addition of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2010. Tox21 merges existing resources – research, funding and testing tools – to develop ways to more effectively predict how chemicals will affect human health and the environment.

New Robot Screening System to Test 10,000 Chemicals for Toxicity | Coal Geology

Technorati Tags: robot,NIH,chemicals,drugs,toxicity,Tox21,healthcare,collaboration,National Genome Research Institute,technology

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Spider Venom as a New ED Treatment-Placebo Television Minute Discusses Banana Spider Futures…(Humor)

It looks like Dr. Doug is back with us for some new updates for Placebo Television.  It’s been a while but here today he talks about an item in the news of late, this banana spider than can bite a man and create an erection, but it’s not exactly like the blue does and one that may need attention.  Scientists are looking at it though to see if a new serum/drug could be developed for ED since this is a different pathway than the one used by Viagra.  For those who want other alternatives, you can check out the ED work of regenerative medicine and see what’s growing. 

Regenerative Medicine News – Fully Functional Rabbit Penis Created That Works

The Placebo Journal Blog is here.  Placebo Television with all those great hilarious videos is here. BD

Here is our latest webisode that discusses a new study relating the venom of the banana spider and its ability to cause erections. http://bodyodd.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/02/22/6080691-spider-venom-better-tha...

YouTube - Placebo Television's Medical Minute #2 (3/9/11)

Technorati Tags: Placebo Television,Doug Farrago,medical,humor,banana spider,Viagra,healthcare,doctor,erection

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Insurance Company Offering New Service for Seniors with Home Check Up-Big Problem With Bad Implementation and Leaving Out the Primary Care Physician

I try to be very fair about what I write and see all sides of programs that are offered.  This happens to be one close to home as I have an 86 year old mother that is on Part D and thus is under a Medicare managed plan.  A home visit is not necessarily a bad idea, but when it’s not implemented correctly, there are issues of non trust.

Let’s start out on how the the sales/solicitation took place.  My mother gets a call from her insurer offering the service of having an individual coming to her home with an appointment set to see how she is doing.  The services offered here are having her blood pressure taken, going over all her medications and a few other items like a chat and consultation.  Now again, overall this is perhaps not a bad idea in concept; however, when the caller soliciting such a service tells here that they are they to collect this information to refer and give to her primary care doctor, we have a problem.

Mom says she’s happy with the care she gets from her doctor and asks why is he not included?  Does her primary care doctor even know that this service is being offered?  She is told that the home visits will be conducted to make sure she receives the care she needs.  This phone call took about half an hour with a very frustrated solicitor who is probably on either pay for performance or graded on his job description depending on the number of individuals that sign up.  Let’s be hones folks that’s what goes on behind the scenes all the time.  Everyone is on pay for performance and when the carrot or grading of job performance comes in to play, solicitors become more aggressive.  One carrier even offers pay for performance for pharmacists. 

UnitedHealthCare To Use Data Mining Algorithms On Claim Data To Look For Those At “Risk” of Developing Diabetes – Walgreens and the YMCA Benefit With Pay for Performance Dollars to Promote and Supply The Tools

Mom has had 2 knee replacements had has her health issues at 86 and actually does a pretty good job and has not lost it upstairs. She actually began joking with the caller telling him that she understood he probably had a quota to meet and suggested that he move on to the next person on the list as she’s not buying in.  He was a young individual she said by the tone of his voice. Studies released of late too show that pay for performance is not all it has cracked up to be too. 

Pay For Performance Is Not All That It Has Cracked Up to Be-Time to Rethink As Money Is Not Creating Better Health Outcomes

She did ask about the person who would come to the home.  Who are they?  What’s their qualifications and how old are they? She was told this was a woman in her early 50s that would be making the visit at her home.  Again, with not working through the doctor and appearing to give the impression that her doctor was maybe not up to date on all her need, a no go here.  This was not going to be a doctor making a house call, so let’s clear the air on that possibility right now. 

Why does a health insurance plan do this?  We all know they want data, data and more data.  In addition, when such information is collected, let’s go the next step and look at how her doctor will be evaluated too.  Insurance companies do that too so do we have a double play here to where information is gathered to not only give data on the patient but to also evaluate how the doctor is caring for her?  You bet we do!  Here’s an example of what one insurance company is doing with accelerated data below with business intelligence. 

“In God we trust; all others must bring data” – Blue Cross Blue Shield Invests in more Business Intelligence Software

I don’t care how they try to work around this there is no way to break down the relationship and confidence levels between doctors and patients, period.  This in fact only brews more dis-trust and creates ill will, and without involving the primary care doctor here, the first thing Mom questions is what else is this woman going to do or ask while she is there?  Mom said what if I got nervous and fell down, would the woman be sending me out a wheel chair and what else would she note on her record?  Mom also wondered too about how this will affect her coverage and claims, and for 86 years old, she’s a smart Mom. 

WHY DO INSURANCE COMPANIES KEEP TRYING METHODOLOGIES THAT DO NOT INCLUDE THE PRIMARY CARE DOCTOR!!

She doesn’t want the prescription bottle either for her medications as she knows there are privacy issues there too and doesn’t want her prescription data sold all over the place like the 2 companies below do.  If it didn’t got sold and go back to her insurer, then it sound like a good deal, but its not.  She wouldn’t mind if her doctor knew and received the data though, but again it does not work that way. 

“HIPAA does not give the Department of Health and Human Services the ability to directly investigate or hold accountable entities, such as pharmacy benefit managers or companies such as Ingenix and Milliman, who are not covered by HIPAA.”

 

Vitality GlowCaps on the Colbert Report (edited) from Vitality on Vimeo.

Bottom line here is if you want to keep costs down and involve patients in future ACOs, keep the doctor in the loop and implementations as what was outlines above will only serve to keep distrust alive and well. 

These folks with the grand plans have no idea of how this felt as an invasion as they have not had it proposed to them.  Actually Mom is computer literate enough to enjoy a video web visit with her doctor instead of this.  Think about the programs that are thrown out there at you today.  We need to keep the doctors involved with our care and not exclude them as insurers are looking for potential grading or other data analysis types of reports to create.  I have helped and trained my mom so there’s proof this can work with video conferencing with seniors, so let’s focus on things that actually help the patient and doctor communicate and if some phone solicitor loses their pay for performance, then so be it.  BD   

Technorati Tags: Insurance,HealthCare,fines,overcharges,algorithms,formulas,data bases,EHR,EMR,PHR,personal health record,pharma,drugs,prescriptions,business intelligence,Vitality,Cobert Report

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Microsoft Life Sciences Annual Innovation Awards 2011 And How To Submit Entries, Pfizer and Merck Among Past Winners

Microsoft has opened the call for entries for the 2011 Life Sciences Innovation Awards, where customers and partners can demonstrate how they are implementing Microsoft technology to revolutionize the industry. 

When you look at last year’s winners, you have major pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer and Merck right in there.  A couple years ago I had the chance to talk with Mike Naimoli, who is the US director of Microsoft Life Sciences and what is interesting is that what we discussed with Pfizer and One Note back in 2009 ended up being one of the winners in the 2010 Innovation awards.  In short, you can see this is open for all sizes and types of life sciences companies to submit.  Entries are accepted up until May 9, 2011 so there’s plenty of time.  Winners will be announced on June 21, 2011 at the Drug Information Association Annual Conference in Chicago. 

Who should enter? (from the website)

Pharmaceutical, Biotechnology, and Medical Device companies worldwide which are innovatively applying technology to create therapeutic innovations are welcome to enter the contest, through nomination from the scientific, technical, business executives, CIOs, or CTOs.

A Deep Dive into Microsoft Life Sciences Today and in the Future – Interview with Michael Naimoli

In addition, NBC had a video on the web today about some of the imaging technology from Microsoft.  New imaging techniques make the colonoscopy a lot easy to handle by digitally emptying the colon and who doesn’t like that idea compared to the preparation we do today.  The computer learns from the image and could be a way of getting more people to be scanned.

Last year in 2010 at the Annual TED Convention, Juan Enriquez during his video presentation also said we need to code for cures and begin hacking genes, as we have enough medical record systems, so move over to Life Sciences. 

We Don’t Need Any More Medical Records Systems – Code For Cures And Move Over to Life Sciences To Hack Genes

One more past post worth a mention is the Trento Centre in Italy where biology and computer science are coming together.  If you have not seen this, it’s worth checking out.  BD

Microsoft Research Trento Centre: Biology and Computer Science Coming Together

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It’s that time of year again. Today, we open our call for entries to the annual Microsoft Life Sciences Innovation Awards.

The awards recognize the life science organizations which are at the forefront of leveraging information technology to develop innovative health solutions. In 2006, we created this program to encourage our customers and partners to push the envelope and find strategic uses of new technologies to better collaborate, securely and seamlessly share data with a broad network of partners and ultimately speed up time to market.

Let’s take a deeper dive into how life sciences organizations can enter:

WHO: Pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device companies, and academic, public and private sector life sciences organizations are invited to participate. If you are using the latest Microsoft solutions to reduce complexity, lower operational costs, and speed products or services to market faster, we want to hear from you.

WHY: The Microsoft Life Sciences Innovations Awards program is your opportunity to show the medical community, consumers and patients how your organization is creatively using technology to improve healthcare and enhance people's quality of life. By demonstrating quantifiable results, winners show how Microsoft technology can be implemented to revolutionize the industry, providing a road map for other companies that want to advance their own organizations’ goals. Winners will be eligible to participate in promotional and marketing activities with Microsoft, such as a press release, webcast or case study, and will receive a winner logo for use on their marketing materials and Website.

HOW: You can download the entry form and rules for submissions here.

WHEN: The deadline for submissions is 5:00 p.m. PT on May 9, 2011. An independent panel of industry experts will select the three most innovative solutions, and winners will be announced on June 21, 2011 at the Drug Information Association Annual Conference.

Last year’s winners offer some inspiring examples. Merck and its partner Proton Mediadeveloped custom virtual-world meeting technology to improve employee collaboration, as well as learning and training. The pilot created the pharmaceutical industry’s first virtual scientific poster session and demonstrated how life sciences companies can combine Microsoft’s technology with an enterprise virtual collaboration environment like ProtoSphere to extend their Microsoft platform and accelerate decision making.

Another winning entry last year came from Pfizer. By combining Microsoft Office SharePointServer and Microsoft Office OneNote, Pfizer created shared electronic project notebooks that enable teams to work in a rich collaborative environment, resulting in significant time savings, improved decision-making and increased team cohesion.  This solution also won the Pfizer team the Royal Society of Chemistry’s 2010 Teamwork in Innovation award.

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These are just a few examples. Now it’s your turn: Submit your application and tell us how your organization is creatively employing Microsoft solutions to realize significant business and information technology benefits.

Microsoft Opens Call for Entries for 2011 Life Sciences Innovation Awards - Microsoft in Health - Site Home - MSDN Blogs

Technorati Tags: Health IT,technology,Microsoft,Pfizer,health,Life sciences,pharmaceutical,innovation,Merck,SharePoint,awards,OneNote,Biotech

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Printing a Human Kidney-Dr. Anthony Atala TED 2011-Regenerative Medicine (Video)

I was waiting for this video to be uploaded and it was from the TED Conference a couple weeks ago in Long Beach, California.  If you read here often enough then you know I follow Wake Forest and other regenerative stories frequently.  One company in particular where I have interviewed many of their executives, Cook Medical has a full regenerative medicine division and they focus on hernias and a different type of regeneration, but it all works.  The link below was from just a few days ago from Wake Forest and has Dr. Atala’s TED talk from last year (video). 

Urethras Grown at Wake Forest–6 Years Later Five Young Men Are Doing Fine

PBS also did an excellent video, about 20 minutes about what they are doing at Wake Forest too and you can see the printer in the video.  This is neat to see the printed kidney and the he is joined at the end with Juan Enriquez and a patient who has an implanted bladder.   

Replacing And Growing Body Parts– Scaffolds Revealed With Regenerative Medicine(Video)

On a related subject you might want to also read about what Geron is doing with stem cells and the clinical trials that have begun with spinal cords.  BD

Stem Cells Explained-Dr. Michael West Founder of Geron Corporation Stresses The Need For Continued and Accelerated Funding

Anthony Atala: Printing a human kidney | Video on TED.com

Technorati Tags: Regenerative medicine,Dr. Anthonly Atala,TED,Wake Forest,organs,growing organs,scaffolds,stem cells,technology,biotech,healthscare,transplants

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Medical Quack Welcomes New Sponsor Micro-Cap Review Magazine and SNNWire, Who Those Folks And What Are They Doing Here?

If you read here often enough, sometimes you never know what you are going to see and this is a bit different than most sponsors you may see on the web with blogs so I thought I would take a moment out and explain why they are here.

First of all my disclosure or non disclosure in this case, I know very little about stocks and investing and don’t own any so don’t ask me for any advice in that area and I thought I should mention this as Micro-Cap Review is in the information side of the investing business.  My thoughts come mostly from the technological side as I used to write code and a few years ago when things were simpler, wrote a medical records system, so as you see the word “algorithm” with center stage here, that’s one big hint.  Everything today whether it’s medical records or drug development evolves around code and programming. 

When approached on being a sponsor I gave this some thought as basically we are both in pursuit of the same thing, information but maybe for different reasons or directions, but some of this information is of use for both of us.  The line of discussion came around after seeing some of my blog posts, which contain opinions and what I feel are potential solutions or projections, appearing on sites like Yahoo Finance and Investor Village.  Those are posts that readers from this blog found interesting, helpful or whatever, but enough to include on a financial or investing forum for others to read.  I have a lot of publicly owned companies that read the Medical Quack and I blog about them as well with new products, FDA approvals and so on.  Combined with Micro-Cap Review, this seemed to be a good match for collaborating with information and opportunities to further exposure. I talk a lot about what might be considered unusual partnerships and collaborations that are evolving and now the Medical Quack has one!  Below is an image with participating at a Biotech convention in San Francisco. 

What they do have to offer by being here on the site with me is a discount for advertising with them and that could apply to any business.  They also feature articles written by companies that pertain to business and it might be something worth looking at.

In addition, if you want to write an article for the magazine you can contact them as well and it might lead to some real coverage.  In addition the parent company, SNN is about to release their Video Press Release Services and that also might be one to watch for.  They travel to many financial and other types of conventions and provide video interviews with CEOs of the company with either talking about what’s currently happening or something that is up and coming.  Recently I saw a group called a “stockumentary”

From the website:

“SNNwire.com is a destination website for public company CEOs who are legally required to distribute and disseminate their approved press releases, announcements and required company updates to the public. SNNwire is the first all video press release VPR™ news distribution service in the financial news industry. CEOs have unlimited access to upload their user generated VPR™ effortlessly with the option of attaching a text press to the VPR™. CEOs can choose a basic package of distribution or choose from the SNNwire menu of investor categories and from more than 500,000 available worldwide media outlets. CEOs can send an email link to their company database conveniently and securely.”

Whatever you do if you inquire for any information, mention the "Medical Quack” as discounts are available for advertising with them.  You can find information about general pricing at the link here where I have some additional information.  If you scroll down you will find the pricing information embedded.  I thought too this might be an opportunity for some smaller biotech companies to get further exposure. 

So again this is a different sponsor/partner relationship here and hopefully it will work the way around.  One more item that is featured in the magazine is the “Wall Street Chicken” comic, so now you have a couple “foul” partners here with “Chicken” sponsoring a “Duck”<grin>.

Now as far as my posts, nothing is going to change and I will still be writing and expressing myself and thoughts just as I have over the last 4 years, but on occasion I might have some additional information to add from what they are publishing.  It’s all about information today and building relationships, so hopefully this will work out for all and be able to connect. 

Occasionally too there’s room for some non profit space which is at their discretion and as room is available and Micro-Cap Review can give you the details. 

There you have it and I welcome my new sponsor at the Medical Quack and appreciate it as sponsors are needed today to keep the blog content flowing and current.  Again, if you read here often enough, I focus a lot on Health IT, but there’s a mixture of a lot of other content here too.  Use the “Resources” tab at the top of the Medical Quack to access the advertising and sponsor area of the Medical Quack. 

By the way, I’m open to any ideas or suggestions too or thoughts anyone might have here, bad, good or basically anything you might want to add.  BD 

Technorati Tags: Medical Quack,Micro-Cap Review,sponsor,Blog,SNNWire,advertising,media,magazines,biotech,financials,investing,partners,chicken,duck

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Nurses' strike cost Washington Hospital Center $6 Million-Money That Could Have Gone Toward Additional Staff Relief

We are seeing more and more of this to where sides can’t sit down and negotiate.  We had it at Kaiser in southern California a couple weeks ago.  Most of the issues with the strikes are about working conditions and running short staffed.  The article also said this strike involved some payment issues but again if it were just not enough nurses, $ 6 Million could pay a lot of salaries. 

We all know times are tough today and there’s give and take on both sides and we don’t even see that in Congress hardly and it’s more about getting one’s way sadly so much of the time.  In working conditions, I don’t discount the nurses what so ever though as when they complain about having to care for too many patients and being stretched out, they are pretty much right on the money as that happens when efficiencies are analyzed and sometimes numbers are not in line with what real humans can do on a work shift.  BD 

Washington Hospital Center spent about $6 million to hire 600 temporary nurses, beef up security and cover other costs during last week's nurses' strike and subsequent lockout at the region's largest hospital, hospital officials said.

Union officials say more than 1,000 nurses took part in last week's job action.

The nurses walked off the job for a one-day strike but were locked out by the hospital from Saturday until Wednesday, when they started returning about 5 a.m., hospital spokeswoman So Young Pak said.

It cost the hospital about $3.5 million to hire the temporary nurses and cover their transportation and lodging; an additional $1.5 million in salaries for the staff nurses who crossed the picket line on Friday; and $1 million more for increased security and other costs, Orlowski said. The hospital ran a media campaign with print and radio advertisements in which it promised to keep the facility fully staffed and operating as usual.

Nurses' strike cost Washington Hospital Center $6 million

Technorati Tags: Nurses,strike,Washington Hospital,money,unions,negotiations,hospital

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Hedge Fund Twitter Predictor to Begin Offering Services in April-Analytical Processes Similar to Mapping “Free”Text” on Medical Records

I covered this a few months ago when it was announced and now it appears they are almost ready to open for business.  This is all mathematics with analytics to make this work and to be able to scour the web and Twitter to get the raw data and what filters they use is interesting. It’s all algorithms and their interpretations and in this case, heavy on the interpretations.  In healthcare with data bases there’s a big on going project to match free text with tables, in other words what does that “really mean” and this is along the same line. 

For example, Dr. Halamka at Harvard gave the perfect example of getting the right interpretation with stating the text says the man uses alcohol every day.  Ok does this mean he’s a drunk and needs rehabilitation?  That will be one of the possible interpretations.  When we look further, the man is a diabetic and uses alcohol every day to clean his skin before an injection, so see how this works and we have the same types of issues here I would think.  You can watch the video below for a little more history. 

Also as a note there all kinds of healthcare companies wanting to find that perfect algorithm that can predict what patients will be readmitted to hospitals too.  One group in California is offering a $3 million dollar bounty for those algorithms.  Now if you want to graduate from Twitter algorithms to the heavy duty stuff that the CIA and other hedge funds use, take a look at the Business Insider here and see what Palantir Technologies does, no comparison.  It’s a good read and even if you are not in investing, good to know what’s out there.  BD

Revealed: Palantir Technologies, The Secretive $735 Million Tech Security Company Helping Hedge Funds and Governments…..

Six months, numerous inquiries, and one Caribbean brainstorming session later, Bollen is a consultant to a soon-to-be-opened U.K. hedge fund betting that 25 million sterling and one killer app will be enough to generate double-digit investment returns.

The fund, Derwent Capital, is scheduled to open for trading in early April. Run by a young entrepreneur with a background in foreign-exchange trading, the fund will use quantitative models to comb through millions of daily tweets and look for sentiment threads that could prove leading indicators of how stocks trade several days later.

Hedge Fund to Predict Markets Using Twitter - CNBC

Technorati Tags: Hedge Fund,Twitter,algorithms,Britian,sentiments,tweets,analytics,StockTwits,Derwent Capital

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Positive ID Completes Development of Iglucose Wireless Communication System for Real Time Collection of Data-Plans FDA Submission

The wireless device will connect to any data-capable glucometer to automatically communicate blood glucose readings to a secure online location, which means either you the patient or perhaps a doctor or healthcare facility might be receiving the readings.  These are the folks that make the implanted chip which had slowly died until the recent discussions with Siemens.  The press release says it can go back to the “payers” but not over my dead body would I want that at all as with the current structure and business plans of health insurance companies they would use algorithmic formulas taken from such readings and use it against paying claims, that’s how I see it, being a data person and one more good reason to again revisit single payer options.  

PositiveID The “Chip” People are Back-an Agreement with Siemens To Expand Wireless Body Monitoring With A Chip Implant

This device is not a chip and again collects data so again, going to the patient PHR, whereby they could “choose” to share the data would be great.  Again if we didn’t have the poor ethics and use of data to algorithmically score and deny payment items that we have now, it wouldn’t perhaps be such a bad idea, but still a PHR in the middle is the way to go to give the patient the option.  I say this too about the pill bottle and all other types of devices that are coming out, keep the patient in control of their data so we don’t end up with the “big brother” effect here.  Wireless devices can be a big help and assistance if implementation and the human element is maintained.  BD     

Press Release:

DELRAY BEACH, Fla., March 9, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PositiveID Corporation ("PositiveID" or the "Company") (Nasdaq:PSID) announced today that it has completed the development of its iglucose™ wireless communication system for real-time diabetes management. iglucose is a wireless device that connects to any data-capable glucometer to automatically communicate blood glucose readings to a secure online database. iglucose provides next generation, real-time data to improve diabetes management and help ensure patient compliance, data accuracy and insurance reimbursement. The Company expects to submit its application to the FDA for 510(k) clearance during the second quarter.

The iglucose system, a stand-alone, self-contained unit that operates without the use of a cell phone or personal computer, automatically queries data-capable glucometers for blood glucose readings and sends that data via wireless machine-to-machine (M2M) technology to an online database. At the patient's discretion, blood glucose data can also be forwarded to physicians and caregivers at predetermined intervals.

Scott R. Silverman, Chairman and CEO of PositiveID, said, "We are very pleased that in one year's time, we have taken a bulky, bench-top device the size of a shoebox, and made it into a universal, wireless communication device the size of a smart phone that is ready to be submitted to the FDA for 510(k) clearance. We have lined up important marketing partners and believe that when commercialized, iglucose will fundamentally impact diabetes management by providing real-time glucose readings to loved ones, healthcare professionals and payers via wireless technology."

According to a November 2009 study by researchers at the University of Chicago published in the journal Diabetes Care, the number of diabetics in the U.S., which currently stands at 23.7 million, may almost double in 25 years, and the annual cost of treating them may triple to $336 billion.

About PositiveID Corporation

PositiveID Corporation develops and markets healthcare and information management products through its diagnostic devices and identification technologies, and its proprietary disease management tools. PositiveID's implantable healthcare devices and external hardware and software products are designed to communicate wirelessly to improve healthcare and the patient's quality of life. For more information on PositiveID, please visit www.PositiveIDCorp.com.

Photo Release -- PositiveID Corporation Completes Development of Its iglucose(TM) Mobile Health Solution for Real-Time Diabetes Management (Nasdaq:PSID)

Technorati Tags: PositiveID,glucose,breathing,health insurance,devices that report data,medical devices,PHR,personal health records,technology,Siemens,RFID,diabetes

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HCA (Hospital Corporation of America) Pulls Off the Largest Private Equity Firm Offering IPO in US History of $3.8 Billion

HCA operates 164 hospitals and 106 surgery centers in the United States and Britain.  It was just last month that they announced their re-organization plans prior to the IPO. 

HCA Reorganizes Again With Adding Business Services To Sell-Names New CEO

Late at the end of last year we had a nurses' strike at one of their facilities in southern California, which seems to be growing these days and it’s not over money for most of them, it’s working conditions.  Also what we all remember is Florida governor Scott being forced to resign as the CEO of Columbia/HCA, then the country’s largest hospital chain, while it was being investigated for massive Medicare and Medicaid fraud.  The company ultimately pleaded guilty to 14 felonies and ended up paying $1.7 billion in fines and settlements.  This is still not over as a couple doctors also filed another lawsuit at the end of last year. 

In the long term, I don’t know where all of this is going to go as there’s a lot of Health IT expense coming up and fast so there’s a lot of money to be invested with the health IT communication systems, medical records an so on.  By comparison when you look at a closed system like Kaiser Permanente, they are organized and expand that way so they are growing from the roots up instead of having to put together big puzzles so every piece fits, which is kind of what’s going on here.  they could pull it off but again patient care and health insurance reform will play a role.  BD 

(Reuters) - Shares of private equity-backed hospital operator HCA Holdings Inc (HCA.N) closed 3.4 percent higher on Thursday in a strong stock market debut, even as the broad market sank.

The shares closed at $31.02 after rising as much as 5 percent to $31.50 earlier in the session -- above the $30 pricing in an initial public offering on Wednesday.

HCA's IPO was the biggest private equity-backed offering ever in the United States and is likely to encourage a new round of exits this year. Private equity-backed IPOs so far this year have totaled $10.4 billion or 83 percent of the overall market, according to Thomson Reuters data.

The top U.S. for-profit hospital operator overcame concerns about its high levels of debt and the possible downside from a new U.S. healthcare law, selling more shares than anticipated at the high end of the given price range.

HCA biggest-ever U.S. PE-backed IPO; shares gain 3 percent | Reuters

Technorati Tags: HCI,IPO,hospitals,private equity,healthcare,surgery centers,investors,stock,HCA,Hospital Corporation of America

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New York Health/Hospital System CEO and 2 State Senators Charged with Fraud-Funneling Illegal Payments to State Lawmakers

MediSys is on of the largest Medicaid managed care plans in the city and the 2 lawmakers were those that helped MediSys try to acquire bankrupt hospitals in Queens.  In total, there were 8 charged.

Mr. Rosen, the CEO is charged with paying off the others with consulting fees in the scheme.  Mr. Rosen in exchange for the money is charged with being able to obtain grants.  In short the 2 lawmakers are questioned about receiving bribes from the hospital system CEO.  State Sen. Carl Kruger is stated as taking as much as 1 million in bribes from Mr. Rosen since 2006 and is also accused of taking bribes from another rival hospital CEO, Parkway, which is now closed.  MediSys has over $ 2 Billion in annual revenue with 11,000 employees, and owns interest in several managed care companies.   This one will be interesting to see how this all comes out in court and I would guess someone has some accounting records along the way to substantiate all of this.  BD 

Manhattan federal prosecutors on Thursday charged two New York legislators and a powerful health-care executive with engaging in a influence-peddling scheme that spread through a wide range of interests looking for favors from Albany.

David Rosen, CEO of Queens-based MediSys Health Networks, which controls several hospitals and one of the largest Medicaid managed-care plans in the city, is accused of funneling illegal payments to the two lawmakers, who helped MediSys try to acquire two bankrupt hospitals in Queens

State Sen. Carl Kruger and Assemblyman William Boyland Jr., both Democrats from Brooklyn, were expected to surrender in Manhattan Federal Court. Six others, including the chief executive of a $1 billion Medicaid network in Queens and a well-known lobbyist, were charged in the alleged scheme.

Carl Kruger, William Boyland Charged in Albany Bribery Scheme - WSJ.com

Technorati Tags: Carl Kruger,Flushing,Greater New York Hospital Association,Health Care,Jamaica,Mary Immaculate Hospital,Politics,MediSys,Parkway,bribes,hospital

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HHS and Human Services for Civil Rights Setting up Training to Help State Attorney Generals Enforce HIPAA

Is this a big hint that we finally want HIPAA enforced?  I think so and at least with discussions and training just like anything, enforcement should probably increase, that is if the violations are clearly there.  HITECH has a lot of other gray line stuff that happens to in healthcare, so it’s not always cut and dry when determining HIPAA violations.  The normal privacy issues are pretty up front as far as the paper side but when electronic records and other Health IT services come into play, it’s not that easy to identify and prevention is the best medicine of course.  BD 

The Department of Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights will host four regional meetings to train staff from state and territorial attorneys general offices on enforcement of the HIPAA privacy and security rules.

The HITECH Act gives attorneys general authority to enforce the privacy and security rules through civil actions. In a statement on its Web site, OCR welcomes collaboration with attorneys general seeking to bring actions to enforce the rules, and will provide information upon request about pending or concluded OCR actions against covered entities or business associates related to state investigations.

Feds to Train State AGs To Enforce HIPAA

Technorati Tags: HHS,HIPAA,laws,HITECH,healthcare,health IT,training,enforcement

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Johnson and Johnson Consumer Health Division United Barred From Resuming Operations in Until Quality Standards are Met-Consent Decree Agreement With FDA

The returned product needs to be destroyed the FDA states and in the case of Tylenol, perhaps the folks in Guam could take some of it off their hands to kill snakes <grin>.

They Found a Use for Recalled Tylenol Products–Dead Mice Packed With Acetaminophen Dropped From Helicopters To Control the Brown Tree Snake In Guam

The CEO of Johnson and Johnson had this to say to employees:

“I am writing to let you know that one of our companies, McNEIL-PPC, Inc., today will enter into what is known as a “Consent Decree” with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The Consent Decree is an agreement we have reached with the FDA to govern certain McNeil Consumer Healthcare manufacturing operations until McNeil completes the remediation of its facilities to the FDA’s satisfaction. The Consent Decree is subject to approval by the court.

There are other outstanding legal matters involving Johnson & Johnson companies that have been discussed in past public filings and covered in the media.  We will keep you advised of critical developments in these matters just as we are now providing information about this Consent Decree and McNeil.

We are a company that strives to do the right thing, and we succeed far more often than not. When we don’t succeed, it’s painful. But, consistent with Our Credo, we take responsibility for our actions, and we learn from our mistakes. By moving to resolve the FDA’s concerns about McNeil Consumer Healthcare US manufacturing facilities, we are able to look to the future and focus on what is most important to us: serving the millions of people around the world who rely on our products every day to meet their health care needs.

The Consent Decree applies to manufacturing facilities in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania; Lancaster, Pennsylvania; and Las Piedras, Puerto Rico. Under the terms of the agreement, McNeil will continue to operate the facilities in Las Piedras and Lancaster, working with an independent expert who will develop a plan for improving operations and will conduct reviews of certain production records while remediation is ongoing. McNeil also has agreed that it will not re-open the Fort Washington manufacturing facility – which it voluntarily closed in April 2010 – until it is certified by an outside expert and approval is given by the FDA.

Under its Comprehensive Action Plan, McNeil has made important progress toward improving quality and compliance, such as accelerating changes in organization and culture, and conducting a thorough review of how the company operated its manufacturing plants. We believe the terms of the Consent Decree recognize this progress and are consistent with the work underway. At the same time, the Consent Decree requires additional quality assurance measures, and is a reminder that important work remains to be done. We will commit whatever time and resources are necessary for McNeil to address the issues raised by the Consent Decree.

While the particular issues involved in the Consent Decree are limited to McNeil, all of us across the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies should take this opportunity to re-dedicate ourselves to working hard every day to do the right thing for patients and ensuring their trust. “

Bar codes and their use sure seem to be looking good and here’s a couple of my past posts referencing this.  They are aware of it too, so it’s a matter of someone taking action and it would make the FDA’s job easier to monitor compliance, so 2 strikes here, one on J and J and the FDA for clumping around without exploring how to better handle such situations.   The FDA has this same bar code suggestion too.

Tracking Medical Device Recalls – Sounds Like A Good Place for a Microsoft Tag Data Base at the FDA

There have been requests to establish a UDI for devices and Johnson and Johnson has a few of those going on too so why not solve the entire problem with one solution that is simple and easy for anyone to use.  Just last week the head of their orthopedic division, DePuy left the company too.

Johnson & Johnson DePuy Worldwide President Says “I’m Out of Here”

As you can read in the letter, an independent expert has been called in to advise and help get them back on track.  BD 

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal officials said Thursday that the consumer health unit of Johnson & Johnson will be barred from resuming operations at a Pennsylvania manufacturing plant linked to millions of bottles of defective medicines until it meets quality standards.

The Food and Drug Administration said it signed a formal consent decree with the company designed to improve operations at three manufacturing sites linked to multiple recalls of medications last year, including Children's Tylenol, Benadryl and Motrin.

The FDA said J&J's McNeil Consumer Healthcare unit violated the law in its production of medications and would be subject to fines of up to $10 million annually if it did not comply with the decree.

FDA cracks down on J&J sites linked to recalls - Yahoo! Finance

Technorati Tags: Johnson and Johnson,McNeil,healthcare,FDA,recalls,Tylenol PM,Motrin,violations,bar codes

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