With all the recent security breach stories I though it was time to revisit and look at the use of bar codes for authentication.  One item for the end user that is a winner is the use of your phone, in other words no need to carry around a separate device with you.  It’s almost easier to watch the videos rather than to explain each function.  The first video shows how the codes are used via the encrypted gateway for financial transactions, there’s no sound here so just watch and observe the motions.  What I really like about the technology is the ease of use for the consumer, point and aim the the bar codes does the rest of the work for you.

Auth Tag Mobile authentication

Here is how Razcode works with HealthVault with entering information.  You can see how point and aim is used to add information to your PHR.  Also, while on the topic of HealthVault, it has just gone mobile and you can view more at the HeatlhVault blog for more information.  You can also sign in with Facebook now too but I’ll pass on that for now since I just deactivated my profile for a while as it became too much of a disruption for the work I do and was just one more spot I had a difficult time keeping up with questions and so forth.  

Health Jibe

Back in June of 2010 I wrote about the use of Microsoft Tags with an encrypted gateway to use for authenticating doctors for e-prescribing too.  The post is a bit lengthy but there’s a lot of good information that is still relevant. 

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

The Razcode technology has also evolved to work with PayPal by using PayPics so use PayPal and make purchases by authenticating you account.  Its another way to further secure you authorization of payments.  In the future we will start seeing bar codes as a way to pay for goods and your phone number and other information is not needed to go through the air for the transaction. 

PayPics with Razcode

Here’s another video that shows how to connect a Withings Scale and connecting it to HealthVault.  Once connected, all a consumer needs to do is step on the scale.

Health Jibe and Medical Devices

Some of the area below would be considered “hard hat” technology so if you are an end user, you can skip some of this.

f you want some additional information on what a RAZCODE is, you can visit the site here and read up. Razcodes are digital tokens encoded in a Microsoft Tag so we somewhat get away from passwords here for authentication. 

You can also read up on OAUTH and how the cycle works.  I first started covering some of this back in October of 2009. 

THE BOTTOM LINE HERE WITH MICROSOFT TAGS IS THAT ONE TECHNOLOGY CAN BE A TECH CURE IN MANY AREA AND AGAIN THE SIMPLICTY FOR THE END USER IS THERE, LIKE MY OVER ALL CAMPAIGN FOR FDA RECALLS. 

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

Check out your next box of Wheaties and look for the Tag or in TV Guide to see what they look like in the grocery stores today. 

On one more note, you can read how the technology could have saved a man’s life who died needlessly due to the hospital missing pulling the recalled device from inventory as published in Micro-Cap Review Magazine, a sponsor here at the Medical Quack and the related post at Microsoft about using Bar Codes/Microsoft Tags in Healthcare here.  BD

Tab Could Boost Safety in Medical Industry

Micro-Cap FDA Recalls Never End

AuthTag turns the simple act of scanning a mobile tag with a smartphone into a powerful tool for two-factor authentication.
Now you can turn your smartphone into an authentication device without the need for specialized hardware or software. And no text messages or phone calls either!

You simply take a picture of a RAZCODE bar-code image, using the camera on a smartphone, to initiate the authentication process.

Leverages your existing mobile phone. No extra hardware or software to buy, deploy, and support.

Simple integration framework and API makes it easy for any enterprise, financial institution, or platform provider to implement AuthTag. User enrollment involves simply taking a picture of a RAZCODE bar-code image.

http://authtag.com/

Technorati Tags: Auth Tag,Microsoft Tags,bar codes,healthcare,Health IT,smartphone,picture,Razcode,transactions,Pay pics,PayPal

Dr. Halamka with his great wisdom and knowledge politely poses the question of which should come first and it’s indeed a good question.  He’s a hands on guy and we are lucky that he takes time to share some of the detailed information he offers as nobody comes close as far as knowing the use and circulation of medical data.  Below he talks about his plans in working to meet federal compliance but also poses the question of perhaps elevating Sno-Med priorities first, a good question to ask.  When you stop and go back to his personal history in college in California and living in the same house as those who ended up creating HP, well it doesn’t get more extensive than this and I said we should figure out how to clone some of his wisdom recently.

Dr. Halamka Becomes Harvard Professor -How Can We Clone His Expertise As A Role Model

You can read his entire blog post here on the topic and get his input.  He makes one profound statement in the fact that ICD-10 is not just an IS function but involves all levels of the enterprise, as everything else is today, complicated.  He acknowledges that fact when it seems many others slide over it.  He’s also a practicing doctor so again a very unique individual or “hybrid” that sees both sides of the coin and we don’t have enough of those folks out there today.  In case you missed earlier this year, he was featured with Apple at the release of the IPad 2, so valuable knowledge doesn’t get better than this. 

How the Ipad is Changing Medicine-Apple Endorsement from Dr. Halamka At Harvard Medical With Real Time Applications and User Information

I just certainly wished we had more top executives with real “hands on” health IT” knowledge as it sure makes a difference and saves time and money too with cutting out additional reports and outsourcing studies as when you have the knowledge directly upstairs you can certainly field a lot more questions without the reliance of studies as one has “been there, done that”.  His IS group is now just beginning their ICD-10 project to have an October 1, 2013 live date, so again this gives you a pretty good idea on how complicated Health IT systems are today and the amount of time it takes to prepare data aggregation and transitions.  Again, I wish more in the world, especially those who makes laws had a greater awareness in this area as we sometimes get bills and laws with impossible time frames and provisions for compliance.  BD

Although BIDMC has finished its 5010 work in anticipation of the January 1, 2012 deadline, we're just beginning our ICD10 project for an October 1, 2013 go live.

As I've written about previously, I believe that ICD10 implementation should be delayed until after Meaningful Use Stage 3 (2016) to enable widespread adoption of structured clinical documentation including vocabularies like SNOMED-CT which will provide the necessary detail for coders using ICD10.   Moving forward with ICD10 in the absence of enhanced electronic clinical documentation makes no sense.

Our ICD10 Steering Committee includes a multi-stakeholder group from inpatient, ambulatory, finance, HIM, our physician's organization,  and IS.   ICD10 is not an IS project, but is an enterprise project involving all operational areas.

If ICD10 was delayed until 2016, our approach would be different.    We'd focus on getting widespread provider adoption of SNOMED-CT on the front end, then limit ICD10 implementation to back office functions, mapping clinically focused SNOMED-CT codes to administrative ICD10 codes for billing.  Let's hope wise folks at CMS realize the benefits of such an approach.

Life as a Healthcare CIO: ICD10 Kickoff meeting

Technorati Tags: consumers,patients,healthcare,politics,HealthIT,doctors,role models,ICD-10,SnoMed,Health IT,technology,committees,CMS,billing,coding

This one didn’t sound good from the start and sadly she has not turned up yet so the evidence points towards foul play.  Video footage captured from the garage and other items are leading police to believe she has been killed but so far no arrests have been made.  For a quick reset here, she was on break from doing rounds and went on break and did not return while working at a Kaiser facility in northern California.  BD   

Nursing Student Vanishes While on Break at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center

SAN FRANCISCO -- Conclusive evidence in the case of missing Northern California nursing student Michelle Le points to homicide, police said Monday evening.

Hayward police Capt. Darryl McAllister said that a forensic examination from the 26-year-old Le's car and the parking garage where the vehicle was found, video evidence from the garage and other evidence have led them to believe she was killed.

Case of Missing Calif. Nursing Student Now a Homicide - FoxNews.com

Technorati Tags: Kaiser Permanente,Hayward,nursing student,California,missing,homicide

This is just too good to resist here as the blogger, Happy Hospitalist has the solution you may need for coding.  Sure there’s a bit of tongue and cheek here, but in the high tech world we live in today, low tech solutions still exist:)  If you are on the web and read medical blogs then you may have run across his blog and he offers a lot of good information as who knows better than someone who sees patients, and then had to code all day.  He states the coding care, which he is offering for a ridiculously low charge of $12, or $16 for both his cards can certainly stand to help you out and he will laminate them for you too.  This the one of the tools he states he uses every day. 

He’s not by any means a low tech doctor by all means as he has written pretty extensively about new technologies at his hospital and his use of an Ipad, but nice to be able to use a bit of both low tech and high tech to get the job done:)  He even takes PayPal so get them while they’re hot!  BD 

I've written a whole lecture series on the ins and outs of hospital based coding.  You can find all my experience and understanding at my free medical billing and coding lectures. I am considered the go to guy in our hospitalist group for any questions about billing and coding.  I know more about some of this stuff than even the folks in my  billing company, since I have the physician perspective on documentation as well as a sound foundation on the rules of evaluation and management documentation.     Most recently, I explained how to bill in an observation chest pain clinic.

Are you in the market  for medical software?  Find your perfect EHR today.

Now I'm offering  my wisdom on the go.  Your choices are

• A two sided hospital based coding card with reference to the admit/consult rules on one side (99221-99223, 99218-99220, 99234-99236, 99253-99255) and the hospital follow up  codes on the other (99231-99233) for $10 + $2 S&H.
• A two sided office based coding card with reference to the new patient/consult codes on one side (99203-99205,99243-99245) and the established patient codes on the other (99213-99215) for $10 + $2

Coding Cards (E&M) For Quick Pocket Reference (Clinic and Hospital) From The Happy Hospitalist.

Technorati Tags: Fire Sale,Happy Hospitalist,coding,admissions,hospital,billing,medical coding,software,Ipad,technology,low tech,high tech

You can read below and it appears the company is trying to have a major focus on news coverage and I’m certain healthcare of course will still be covered by they own some other businesses in healthcare, one they bought last year for example called GeneGo Biology and I’m guessing they are part of the division that would be sold.

Thomson Reuters Buys GeneGo Biology Solutions

Also purchased last year was Healthcare Data Management and I am guessing they too are part of the same group with providing analytics and benefit auditing services and there’s a lot companies in that business today as well.  If you are like me though I think of Thomson Reuters for their news coverage as they are best known world wide for their core business.  BD   

Thomson Reuters Buys Healthcare Data Management–Acquiring Some Data Mining Algorithms for Employer Self Insured Plans

Thomson Reuters Corp. (TRI, TRI.T) said it plans to shed its health-care unit, saying the business--while profitable--doesn't fit in with its other segments and would better serve the media company's strategy through a sale.

The company didn't name a prospective buyer or provide a selling price.

Thomson Reuters's improving overall results have been driven by its professional division and markets division, which includes the Reuters news service.

The health-care segment generated about $450 million in revenue last year, but the company said it lacks the global scale of its other units. The company doesn't expect the divestiture to affect its 2011 outlook and said it expects to close the deal by the end of the year.

Thomson Reuters To Put Health-Care Unit On Selling Block - WSJ.com

Technorati Tags: Thomson Reuters,Benefits Watch,Healthcare Data Management,press release,algoirthms,tranaction fees,healthcare reform,mergers and acquisitions,health insurance

Ok so who’s the next “digital illiterate” to play on the web and do something stupid while we as taxpayers have to sit and watch this act of not participating in the right levels of technology.  Perhaps some members could read over here at this blog and learn up.  Rep. Weiner just had one hard lesson relative to privacy which now might serve to even make him a stronger privacy and consumer advocate as now he knows how easy it is to get caught:)

Now to make matters worse and more digital illiteracy coming forth we have House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) calling for a congressional ethics investigation, so how much more time are we going to waste on this issue? Ms. Pelosi could use one of those internet services and pay a few dollars and find out all kinds of information  without this huge expense for the tax payers so double whammy here on not knowing what can be done with the internet! 

I swear if we could drag these folks screaming out of the 70s we would all be so much further ahead.  The internet has data trails and people who will tell on you so get used to it.  What goes on the internet stays on the internet, so come out of denial mode, this is what the rest of us live with for goodness sakes.  The internet can be a place to boost your ego, but when you are in a public position, watch it.  

Spend some time on issues like this, with states that don’t have the money to comply with the laws being passed with next to impossible rules and regulations to meet that are barely enforceable without the right IT infrastructure and look at the money allocated here.  This is the future and where digital literate lawmakers are needed.  Quit ignoring people like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs who try to help and educate you. 

Cash Strapped States Tapping Into Philanthropy For Help With Both Interpreting Healthcare Laws & IT Infrastructure to Comply With Federal Regulations

To add further insult to injury, look at this bill, get the right technology to sort it out for members of Congress so everyone sees the same thing at the same time, then go off into committees to work on solutions, change the methodologies. 

Out of Focus Lawmakers With Digital Illiteracy–Bill To Make It A Criminal Offense for Embedding You Tube Videos and Time And Money Wasted With John Edwards Case

I’m really sick and tired of these ridiculous distractions and disruptions as such and you can throw Edwards right in there too.  Mostly is has been the GOP with their huge lack of digital literacy but now we are seeing it is thick on both sides.  It all about interpreting and working with those algorithms. 

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

Companies like IBM have tried to present the technology needed today to swim through the masses of data out there and the legal system needs it too, so please get out of the 70s and get some digital literacy to at least be able to recognize the tools you need to make laws and quit screwing up on social networks that throw your fanny out to the wind for all to see.   Businesses today use this technology and can cook up a new business plan and structure in around 48 hours or so and start implementing so that’s why Congress is always behind the 8 Ball.  It’s all about machine learning technologies. 

IBM Watson Capabilities Being Pitched to Financial Industry-Congress Must Not Have Felt They Needed This So Further Behind We Fall With Effective Intelligent Lawmaking

You know I’m thinking with all the profiles that are bought and sold today on the web that those belonging to members of Congress might go for a real premium as I am guessing they use all those coupons out there too:)  Here’s a great video and lecture done at Stanford University that is good for anyone to watch, “you are the product” and Rep. Weiner found out he was one heck of a product this week.  The video takes about 30 minutes to watch and there is one very humorous part that elates to digital illiteracy from years back with former Senator Ted Stevens talking about the “tubes” of the internet. 

You Are the Product–Privacy Anonymity and Net Neutrality On the Internet - Excellent Stanford University Lecture (Video)

So how about it Congress, are all members going to come crawling out of the 70s and get some real digital literacy so we can once again have some faith and further more will this literacy lead members to recognize the technology tools they need to do their job?  I won’t hold my breath but would really like to see some huge improvements as the donkey and elephant shows are getting old while the country continues to sink.  BD 

Rep. Anthony Weiner on Monday admitted sending sexually suggestive photographs or messages to six women online over three years, but said he wouldn't resign over his behavior or the lies he told to cover it up.

The New York Democrat's effort to control the damage caused by disclosures about his secret online life didn't satisfy his party's leaders.

Rep. Anthony Weiner of New York Admits to Sending Photo - WSJ.com

Technorati Tags: digital literacy,executive order,technology,mobile technology,computers,federal law,healthcare,philanthropy. Weiner

At $500,000 for the machine it is not cheap by all means and the price in the last year just went up.  The machine makes much of spine surgery minimally invasive. 

The video shows how the procedure works and and Mazor is from Israel.  The robot is attached to the patient body and identified the most accurate position and surgical instruments can be inserted through the robot as well.  Accuracy with the robot is much higher for placement.  We all know that back surgery is one of the most risky types of surgery. 

Mazor Spine Assist

Mazor Robotics Ltd. (TASE:MZOR) has obtained US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and EU CE Mark certification for its Renaissance product, the next-generation version of its robotic spinal surgical device, SpineAssist.

The launch of the Renaissance is part of Mazor's marketing strategy. The company has sharply raised the price of the SpineAssist in the past year, positioning it as a premium product that not only offers a quick return on investment, but also brings in new patients to hospitals with the device. Intuitive Surgical Inc. (Nasdaq: ISRG), which markets its da Vinci surgical system, a robotically assisted minimally invasive surgery device, has employed a similar marketing strategy.

Mazor receives FDA, CE approval for new spinal surgery robot - Globes

Technorati Tags: Mazar,spine surgery,FDA,CE,robotics,Spine-Assist,surgery

We all pretty much know the Medicare deadlines are just a bit over a year away when CMS begins to track and impose penalties for hospitals with high re-admission rates for certain conditions, cardiology being one in particular for those re-admitted with strokes and heart attacks. 

Nobody really knows yet how this is all going to work out especially when situations involve more than one hospital for the same patient.  Amalga is using algorithmic analytics to help solve some of the questions and be able to report  trending on those patients at risk of being re-admitted.  The entire key here is to stop preventable re-admissions which will not be 100% but like everything else in healthcare today there’s always room for improvement.  The Amalga software has patterns for 30 day inpatient reviews and 72 hour revisit patterns. 

A risk assessment can be given at the point of care, again based on behavioral analytics and “machine learning” technologies.  If you read the website the states the information along with a clinical judgment can help provide better care and avoid some re-admissions in the system.  This is the Medicare law coming next year for re-admissions and you could almost guess that major insurers could probably follow suit.  Back a couple of years ago I spoke with Steve Shihadeh and Mike Naimoli from Microsoft and both conversations involved their Amalga and healthcare technologies and the Azure cloud was just getting started. 

Steve Shihadeh, VP Microsoft Health Solutions Group – The Amalga Software Solution for Aggregating Hospital Information (Interview)

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

Learn More About Readmissions Manager. Send an email to amalga@microsoft.com.

Also you may have read my review from attending the Israel Conference last week and my mention of so many of the technologies there using “machine learning” and the same thing is occurring here at Microsoft too so might as well learn up and see what this is all about.  This week Microsoft has a webinar addressing just this exact topic given by Eric Horvitz a Distinguished Scientist at Microsoft Research and Associate Professor at the University of Washington. 

I go ahead once more and make my usual rant here on how our lawmakers can’t see their way clear to embrace this technology and they are the folks that need it the most!  We are all governed by what they do and way back in 2009 I made a post about when are we going to get algorithmic centric laws for healthcare.  Something needs to be done soon as we are not getting anywhere in a hurry that’s for sure.

As you can see the re-admissions is mathematics and predictive reports based on the input from several locations and again along “with” a clinical judgment the best care can be determined.  We are all still humans and there are those circumstances to where someone will need to be re-admitted but the goal here is to help eliminate those than can be avoided and are really not required if education, treatment therapies, etc. are all delivered properly.  BD 

One in five Medicare inpatients is readmitted within 30 days. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) considers 40%-75% of these readmissions to be preventable.

In October 2012, CMS will begin to track readmission and impose financial penalties on hospitals with higher–than–expected readmission rates for certain conditions. Other payers will certainly follow.

It is clear that hospital admissions and readmissions are becoming a critical parameter for tracking care delivery from both a financial and quality perspective.

Readmissions Manager for Microsoft Amalga is an innovative solution to help organizations address this very important business need.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsofthealth/products/microsoft-health-solutions-readmissions-manager.aspx

Technorati Tags: Microsoft,Microsoft Life Sciences,Microsoft Office,Healthcare,Supply Chain Management,information management,Amalga. re-admissions,hospital,decisions,software,analytics,CMS,patients

Stem cells are taken from bone marrow and so far this has been tested in mice and the cells were engineered to produce IGF-1, a hormone for growth and it appears to be working in the lab to repair bone growth as well.  The IGF-1 hormone is approved for children for growth failures currently and the combination with the stem cells might be something in the future that can help all of us out with fractures or broken bones.  BD 

(Embargoed) CHAPEL HILL, N.C. A– Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine have shown in an animal study that transplantation of adult stem cells enriched with a bone-regenerating hormone can help mend bone fractures that are not healing properly.

The UNC study team led by Anna Spagnoli, MD, associate professor of pediatrics and biomedical engineering, demonstrated that stem cells manufactured with the regenerative hormone insulin-like growth factor (IGF-I) become bone cells and also help the cells within broken bones repair the fracture, thereby speeding the healing. The new findings are presented Sunday, June 5, 2011 at The Endocrine Society’s 93rd Annual Meeting in Boston, Massachusetts.

“More excitingly, we found that stem cells empowered with IGF-I restored the formation of new bone in a mouse lacking the ability to repair broken bones. This is the first evidence that stem cell therapy can address a deficiency of fracture repair,” she said.

Stem cell treatment may offer option for broken bones that don’t heal | BreakThrough Digest Medical News

Technorati Tags: Stem Cells,bones,healing,hormone,fractures,osteoporosis,biometrics,regenerative medicine

It’s not too often the doctor wins but in this case after years of legal battles this one did.  The LA Times put out a nice recount of how it all happened with Medtronic infringement on the many surgical devices he had created and patented, along with implants and procedures for spinal procedures.   He’s now retired but practiced as a surgeon for more than 35 years.  I first mentioned the doctor back when Blue Cross came out with their X-Prize for $10 million to solve healthcare, which we knew was going nowhere, and the next day in the press was his offering of $75 million for his project to find a non surgical way to sterilize pets.  I’m a pet owner and had to make the comparison.  He has also donated to the human side with medical research too after again spending a great number of years practicing.

$75 Million Prize for a way to sterilize pets – a one-time non-surgical means to sterilize male and female cats and dogs

It’s not too often the small guys win, especially today but here’s one who did.  BD

The gig: Dr. Gary K. Michelson, 62, is a billionaire inventor of surgical devices and a retired orthopedic surgeon who has devoted an estimated $300 million of his fortune to an assortment of causes. Topping the list: animal welfare, medical research, online textbooks and tropical rain forests.

An early influence: Michelson vividly recalls the childhood event in Philadelphia that set him on his path to medicine: His grandmother suffered from a crippling spinal deformity that made it impossible for her to distinguish between hot and cold in her extremities. One day she was in her kitchen preparing lunch for him when he smelled something bitter. His grandmother's hand, touching the stove's flame, had caught fire without her knowing. Michelson screamed. His grandmother doused her hand in water and delivered the words that would change his life.

"She said, 'You'll be a back doctor and you'll fix this for me,' " he recalled. "I was probably in second or third grade."

Big payday: A doctor for more than 35 years, Michelson has invented hundreds of instruments, implants and procedures to make spinal surgeries faster, safer and less expensive. He has 955 patents to his name or pending worldwide.

He spent years fighting a medical device manufacturer over the rights to his work. Medtronic Inc. agreed in 2005 to pay Michelson $1.35 billion to end the legal dispute, catapulting him onto the Forbes magazine annual list of the 400 richest Americans. .

How I Made It: Dr. Gary K. Michelson, inventor of surgical devices, philanthropist - latimes.com

Technorati Tags: Science,grants,dogs,cats,sterilization,biology,technology,pharmacology,surgeon,Medtronics,lawsuit,patents

When the President took office a couple years ago, saw this coming as I said to run HHS it required an individual with some actual “hands on” Health IT Infrastructure” experience and not just a figure head who relies on everyone else’s research in order to make decisions.  This is partly the reason the word “algorithm” and it’s meaning sits center stage on this blog.  I’m just a tiny fish in the sea but folks who write code and deal with data bases and know what is possible see it before it gets here, I did.  As you see in the news every day we are so very “complicated” today and without some “hands on” experience from those who are at the top of the ladder this is what you get, a lot more money spend on studies and huge expenditures.  Sure some of this would be there anyway as technology continues to throw us a new left curve every day, but for those who don’t have “code logic” engrained, the job is much tougher. 

Look at Bill Gates if you will for a perfect example, he sees it and started giving his money away a few years ago as he knows how algorithmic formulas can either be beneficial for all or done for profit only and leave those who are not at this level, which a great majority of us, left to fend a battle they know nothing about, in other words it’s a mathematical battle that shift money today.  Mr. Gates has spent many years testifying to deaf ears in Congress with trying to share his knowledge and nobody would listen.  Pay attention to the Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Larry Ellisons of the world as they see technology and the moving and evolution of code way before the rest of us as well as being the town criers to help us prepare. 

You have to look no further than Wall Street.  It is what it is with algorithmic formulas.  About a year and a half ago I did an interview and both the reporter and myself I think were ahead of our times as she was pursuing the same topic as a freelance writer for Proto, the magazine for UMASS hospital.  We didn’t get published but we discussed what she referred to as “rogue” algorithms and they are out there.

I say the same thing a lot, there are algorithms written that give accurate results and those that are written for “desired” results and sadly the two are not always the same as you would think they should be.  It’s also easy enough to snow others who are “non participants”with software and technology and tell a story, IT folks do it every day to try to translate in a way that layman can understand and most I feel do a good job but some flat out lie and go about their business of instructing their developers to write for profit, no matter who ends up on the losing end.  Again, look no further than Wall Street for some blaring examples. 

I live out here in California, where we have probably some of the most sophisticated CIOs in public office who do a darn good job but with budget cuts and the ability to upgrade and only do so much, they reach a point to where their hands are tied.  Actually California has a “Digital Literacy” campaign to increase consumer awareness that was put in place by executive order from Governor Arnold back in November of 2010.  Put his personal issues aside for the moment here and he was great leader with digital technology and always kept us up to date with Tweetcasts and since he has left office it has all died. 

California Governor Initiates Digital Literacy Campaign By Executive Order

One item that is being terribly overlooked at the Congressional level is the amount of time it takes to implement IT infrastructures to run programs as they all have one today or need upgrades.  This comes largely from digital illiteracy in Congress with so many being the “non participants” when it comes to consumer IT literacy at least and since they are responsible for making laws they should be required to go beyond as that’s what’s needed today.  They seem to think that the staff is supposed to do everything and they are just the figure heads but we are seeing some pretty sad ones today out there. 

As a comparison, look at doctors, they have continuing education required to continue to practice and is there any such stipulation for those in Congress?  I’m not aware of any but they should have requirements just like doctors do or else we end up with what we have today with soap operas and stupid issues like “Weinergate” that take up the time on the news and distract and disrupt members of Congress from what they were hired to do.  I get tired of it and so does everyone else and we look less than intelligent as the rest of the world views us. 

Out of Focus Lawmakers With Digital Illiteracy–Bill To Make It A Criminal Offense for Embedding You Tube Videos and Time And Money Wasted With John Edwards Case

When you dig down into this article it is interestingly pointed out that Blue Shield distances itself from some of the activity and instead calls for more studies when the State of California asks for help.  I guess this way it looks like they are doing something with all the legal snags and issues with having a study done but again that takes time so we have a whole lot of nothing going on at times.   The California HealthCare Foundation has donate money and hired consultants and I would guess these are both the Legal and IT type of companies and individuals as they word hand in hand today or at least they should.  Public CIOs are now openly stating that they are learning more about healthcare than they would have thought was necessary to know for their positions, even outside of healthcare. 

Healthcare Reform Putting Additional Pressure on Public and Medicaid CIOs-The Health IT Bubble Gets Closer As Money And Digital Literacy is Scarce

IT and the Legal infrastructures have changed and we are now aggregating data throughout many systems where this did not occur even as recent as 4-5 years ago and digital illiteracy with lawmakers with denial or not accepting or learning about this is making it impossible to breath and then it seems they jump back in to the 70s to discuss abortion control, something they feel they can control I think and it’s stupid and meanwhile the American public sits back and gets the side shows on the news at night and confidence with each episode drops lower and the folks in Congress can’t seem to figure out why their confidence levels are at an all time low, digital illiteracy I say or one big whopping case of denial.  I can make one more example of this illiteracy with a recent post made on a bill introduced to put “flawed” Medicare claim data on the web.  They have no clue on the cost, the amount of time and again just listen to what someone else tells them, and in this case it could be some lobbyists or the Dow Jones with their ridiculous lawsuit they filed basically just because they could and might be looking to drum up a few million dollars of business for some company.  Bills that are impossible to implement in the time frames they suggest are just wasted time, not to mention the millions it will cost.

Two More Senators Propose More Bills to Publish Medicare Claims Data Without A Hint of Digital Literacy Relative to Cost and Time

These folks just seem to think that IT Infrastructure costs just grows on trees and the former administration was a big part of why we are at this cross road today as they were technology sleepers by all means, and that was proven when the Obama administration when they moved in, found many computers in the White House still running on Windows 98.  I will still never forget the day that Bush held up a tablet in Congress with a jpg image of an “e-budget” and he had clue about what he was talking about and he seemed to be well primed to hold up the tablet and point to the image. 

Do Some Think That Health IT Costs and Systems Grow On Trees-Certainly Starting To Give That Impression of Late

Our folks are not smart enough in Washington too see a valuable tool presented to them when they see it and I’ll reference IBM Watson server technology as one example as being it was on Jeopardy, I get this feeling they thought the technology was only good for games, sad.  I just attended the Israel Convention in Los Angeles this week and let me tell you they are all over “machine learning” in almost everything they are doing today and we are missing the boat here, not with technology companies but with digital illiteracy in Congress not being able to recognize the tools they need to do their jobs with creating laws.  One item I noticed that was a little different than what we do here was the mention of collaboration and putting the innovators in labs to work together, and again I have said that is a big part of what is fouling up our healthcare system, innovation without collaboration. The link below gives a few of my observations and we were also treated to a presentation from Jonathon Miller, Chief Digital Officer, Chairman and CEO of the Digital Media Group for News Corporation.

Physical Virtue Solution To Assess and Train Neck Disorders, Microsoft Kinect And More As Shown This Week at the Israel Conference

Instead of collaborating and everyone seeing the same figures and data at once we still get this Ryan program which was created by one group without collaboration and there’s great white hope without collaboration.  In essence it’s just one more disruption that allows for the continued lack of collaboration by our members and the inability to work together. 

So here we go into the impossible storm with lawmakers at every level across the country behind the times.  With high powered technology and data mining they would be starting out at the 10 yard line with data they need in a usable fashion instead of the 40 yard line where they all seem to hang out today with their efforts of making a touchdown.  Thank goodness philanthropy is around to help out but again how far can they go is the question too and will they tire of helping those who refuse to help themselves while the rest of us as a country suffer?  It is what it is sadly today with impossible bills being created and little attention being paid to consumer issues and without some digital algorithmic centric laws we get flushed down the toilet.  I don’t mean to be pessimistic but what I see as the future scares the daylights out of me too as I can’t do anything but watch the circus continue while we sink. 

A while back too I was outspoken on what creates wealth and it’s not “social network algorithms”.  Sure social networks belong but not at the rate they are being promoted by banks as far as their value. 

When you bank on nothing but intangibles without tangibles in business attached, the bottom will fall in and all we have left is a bunch of algorithms without balance, so I thought this was important enough to mention once more.  Social networks are not going to cure me when I am ill, but a drug or device along with visiting a doctor will, and again more thoughts should perhaps be thinking in this direction as well. 

Back in the middle of 2009 I suggested perhaps a need for a Department of Algorithms or something right along that line and it sure looks like the need is growing and something needs to be created in that direction soon.  BD   

From August of 2009….

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

WASHINGTON _Short on cash and time, officials in California and at least a dozen other states have turned to philanthropies to help pay for the extra work required under the federal health law.

Nowhere do the ties between private health foundations and state government run deeper than in California, where Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown's administration is grappling with a projected $10.8 billion deficit in 2012, leaving little money for implementing the law. Three major foundations — the California HealthCare Foundation, the Blue Shield of California Foundation and the California Endowment — have stepped into the breach with money for actuaries, economists and other consultants.

The California HealthCare Foundation is funding two consultants to work on the state's application for federal funding for a health insurance exchange, a cornerstone of the law that will allow individuals and small businesses to shop for coverage in a new online marketplace. It must be in place by 2014, and though the state was the first to pass a law authorizing the exchange, last September, it has committed few resources to actually building it.

"It is a sign of the times," said Marian Mulkey, the California HealthCare Foundation's health reform director.

Budget problems — states' 2012-13 deficits are expected to total $150 billion — aren't the only reason why states are seeking foundation support. Lengthy procurement procedures mean it can take many months for states to hire experts, making it tough to meet health law deadlines, Howard said.

Peter Long, president of the Blue Shield of California Foundation, said his organization distances itself from potential conflicts. When the foundation receives requests for help from the state, it contracts with experts who can handle the work, then steps back, leaving the tough policy choices to public officials. "We're inspector No. 12," he said, referring to the calling cards anonymous quality checkers might leave in the pocket of a new garment.

Cash-strapped states tap foundations for health law help | McClatchy

Technorati Tags: digital literacy,Arnold Schwarzenegger,executive order,technology,mobile technology,computers,California CIO,federal law,healthcare,philanthropy

We have something similar here in the US with using animal tissue to also regenerate the knee and the link below is worth the watch with the doctor making his presentation at a TED conference.  The procedure for the clinical trial in the UK is not using animal tissue but rather the patient’s own stem cells, so a bit different here. It takes about 2 weeks for the tissue to be grown. 

Future of Joint Replacements – Regenerative Medicine - Dr. Kevin Stone Regrows the Knee Instead of an Artificial Replacement (Video)

When the stem cells have matured they are placed on a special membrane (the bandage) and implanted and patients will be monitored for 5 years to evaluate the safety of the procedure.  Azellon was spun out from the University of Bristol in the UK and instead of removing the meniscus, hopefully stem cell will be able to regenerate instead.  This is a pretty monumental study with the huge amounts of tears that individuals who experience tears.  BD

ScienceDaily (June 4, 2011) — Millions of people with knee injuries could benefit from a new type of stem cell bandage treatment if clinical trials are successful. The world's first clinical trial for the treatment of patients with torn meniscal cartilage has received approval from the UK regulatory agency, the MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency), to commence.

The Phase I trial, one of the first in the UK to be approved using stem cells, will treat meniscal tear patients with a cell bandage product, seeded with the patient's own, expanded, stem cells.

The cell bandage, produced by Azellon Ltd, a University of Bristol spin-out company, is focused on the research, development and commercialization of an adult autologous (patient's own) stem cell technology which in vitro (tissue culture) has shown great promise for the healing of meniscal tears.

Azellon Ltd is funded by the Wellcome Trust, Technology Strategy Board and early stage investors IPGroup, Oxford Technology and Wyvern Seedcorn fund.

Pioneering stem cell bandage receives approval in UK for clinical trial

Technorati Tags: Stem Cells,UK,Clinical Trials,healthcare,knee,Meniscal Cartilage,bandage,tissue culture,Azellon Ltd,Regenerative medicine

The search continues and the latest potential source leads to their own farms in Germany, however it is stated as only a hot lead.  The restaurant singled out where everyone ate has been tested negative.  All countries from Germany to China have been working on the properties of the resistant E.Coli bacteria.  In Hamburg there’s even a shortage of doctors arising which is Germany’s second largest city.

So far over 2,000 people have become ill in the last month and around 22 have been reported dead as a result of the infection.  Women have been impacted by the infection source the heaviest.  Spain has already suffered a big loss of business due to the embargo of products from their country to Germany.  Many restaurants are also affected with loss of business and the Prime Minister commented that she is disappointed that some are still selling salads on their menus.  BD 

Germany–Bean Sprouts

(Reuters) - German-grown beansprouts could be the source of the deadly E.coli outbreak that has killed 22 people, made more than 2,000 ill and struck fear into consumers across Europe, officials said Sunday.

The Lower Saxony state agriculture minister, Gert Lindemann, said at a news conference investigators had traced the rare, highly toxic strain of the bacteria to a farm in the town of Bienenbuettel, 70 km (40 miles) south of Hamburg.

Coming after three weeks of mysterious deaths and widespread consumer fears linked to the rare strain of E.coli, Lindemann said there appeared to be clear links between vegetables from the farm and food eaten by some victims.

"We've got a really hot lead," Lindemann said of the scare, which has strained relations in the European Union and led Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to say he would not "poison" Russians by lifting an embargo of EU fruit and vegetable imports.

Saturday officials identified a restaurant in the northern port of Luebeck as a possible place where the bug had been passed to humans, saying at least 17 people infected with E.coli had eaten there and one later died from complications.

But the proprietor of the German meat-and-potatoes restaurant told Reuters his kitchen had tested negative for the deadly E.coli strain and none of his staff had fallen ill.

Germany says beansprouts may be behind E.coli | Reuters

Technorati Tags: Germany,Bean Sprouts,E Coli,hospitals,infections,vegetables,food poisoning

It doesn’t get much lower than stealing from a children’s hospital to finance personal interests such as a yacht and many other luxury items.  The entire scheme went on for quite a while, from 1999 to just a few months ago.  He’s also in trouble with the IRS as the article states.  His attorney now is trying to focus on the good things he did but hey nobody else gets that chance when the dollar amount is this high and for personal gain.  The report also said he stole and identity of a friend or perhaps ex friend at this point.  BD 

(Reuters) - The former executive vice president and general counsel for Children's Hospital of Philadelphia was accused of embezzling $1.7 million from the prestigious facility, authorities said on Thursday.

Roosevelt Hairston Jr. hid the theft from the hospital known as CHOP by creating shell companies, opening bank accounts in their names and establishing phony offices for them, the U.S. Attorney's office said.

Hairston, 56, of suburban Malvern "used the funds he stole from CHOP to live a luxurious lifestyle, purchasing real estate, a yacht with a captain to maintain the yacht, high-end automobiles and many other luxury items," prosecutors said in a statement.

Klein said the admissions came when a firm investigating the situation for CHOP interviewed Hairston.

Former Philadelphia hospital executive accused of embezzling | Reuters

Technorati Tags: Philadelphia,embezzlement,Vice President,Childrens Hospital,fraud,theft,bank accounts,lawsuit

This gets better all the time with the Kinect technology and this is still being developed as you can see in the video with bringing laptop with you to the store but I can almost imagine it certainly won’t take long to get this going on a tablet device as well, which would be a bit more convenient for carrying around.

I had the chance this week to talk with the Microsoft executive who brought Kinect to the company and it was very interesting and he also stated the possibilities for healthcare are just starting to arise and was very positive about what we stand to see with additional developments.  There’s some additional information at the link below and a few other neat technologies you might want to check out.  BD 

Physical Virtue Solution To Assess and Train Neck Disorders, Microsoft Kinect And More As Shown This Week at the Israel Conference

wi-GO Project from Luis de Matos on Vimeo.

Microsoft's Kinect is the gift that keeps on giving for hackers, spawning everything from glasses-free teleconferencing to Tesla coil manipulation to uh, well, Android dance parties. But Luis de Matos's wi-Go project is one of the most socially conscious we've seen: it adds a laptop and (despite its name) a Kinect to a shopping cart, enabling the cart to follow a wheelchair user.

Newest Kinect hack: a grocery cart that loyally follows disabled shoppers (video) -- Engadget

Technorati Tags: Kinect,Microsoft,technology,disabilities,grocery chart,wi-GO,healthcare,wheelchair,mobility