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Cellphone Died This Week–My New Phone is Windows Mobile 7 - I Wanted Security, Privacy and Applications - In That Order

I was hoping to wait a little longer as my 2 year contract had been up for a while now and I wanted a phone with the qwerty keyboard, but that was not going to imagehappen.  If you follow me on Twitter then you saw my comments about being a little backwards with an on-screen keyboard but I’ll adjust and that would have happened no mater if I would have chosen another brand and operating system too and I’ll cut the nails down a bit:)  When a phone dies and won’t hard reset and freezes there’s not much choice.  As mentioned in the title I want the best security and choices for privacy too and thus my choice for the Windows Mobile Phone.  

So far I have been happy with my selection as it was made quickly as I was actually thinking about the Iphone as my next one but with the news of late with privacy (and I do want that) the Windows Phone seemed to be a better match.  I have been a long time Windows Mobile user from the days before they were phones and one of the founding members of the Los Angeles Mobile User’s group, imagewhich I think we are about close to 12 years old now, the oldest and longest running group at Microsoft and I know that because the group received an award along with those employees at Microsoft who take time to keep it going.  This last year has been a little tough but I think things are going to pick up again.

With the new phone, having been a long time user didn’t really have any effect this time as the entire format is new and I had to learn how to use it like anyone else out there, and so far so good.  The phone is very responsive and I like the arrangements of the tiles and plus it has MS Office on the unit and I have used Mobile Office since it came out, a long time ago, so one good thing that remains steady.  I am with Verizon and they only had the Trophy with the on screen keyboard so I am grumbling a little bit but again I would have had that with many of the other phone choices too.

I do have to say one thing though as when I called the local Verizon store to find out if they were immediately available and I briefly told them about my background with the User’s group and being a healthcare blogger, they kind of rolled out some red carpet and just happened to have a Windows Mobile representative in the store doing some phone demonstrations and helping out and she even laughed a bit about my finger/nail dilemma and being about 24 hours I’m retraining myself and it’s going better:)image

Having the X-Box on the phone is kind of an added treat because I have never done much with X-Box and so having it there is nice and I did pay for Pac-Man as an application as I have had it on my phone for years so couldn’t live without that one.  One thing though with the applications, I think Windows Mobile 7 is giving the Iphone a good race on who has the most “fart” applications:)  Ok needed some humor here but that is real as far as the number of those types of applications and I have heard others on the web jest about these applications too but until I got full into looking at all of what is available in the new format I didn’t realize how many were there:)

Again as mentioned this is a whole new format so programs for prior versions here do not work on Windows 7 so adios to my old Pocket PC software library.  There are a few things on my wish list and when the Mango update comes out I hope they will be there, such as Skype and QIK, and being Microsoft bought both of those companies recently I might be in luck here. I used QIK to live stream with the phone for videos and so forth and I do miss Skype on the phone.  In addition the update will include ring tones and that is not an important one per se, but my phone has quacked for years and this is the first time in a long time I won’t be able to have the duck tones going.

I downloaded the Bank of America application as that is of course one I will be using and nice to have mobility there. 

Bank of America Releases Windows Mobile 7 Phone Application

Epocrates is one that is missing and on the web site they stated they would no longer be supporting Windows Mobile but maybe that will change too. I don’t miss Active Synch and that’s kind of an inside joke to a degree as we all have had some frustrations over the years with it and how it has issues and the Zune synch seems to be pretty solid.  One other small item I miss is the access to a file explorer so I can see the contents of the drive but again perhaps that will be upcoming, it’s not necessary but being I had access in the past to move files around, etc. I kind of miss it, so I guess that actually means I do miss active synch a little bit:)  image

I do use other technologies but being I spent some time writing code with Microsoft technologies I tend to use more of their software and products as most of the time they have been the first and most solid solutions. I’m writing on this on an IMAC and I used a lot of Google applications too, like this blog so I try to use a bit of all technologies if they fit and offer me security I want as well as functionality.  As a matter of fact there are quite a few Google software programs that can be downloaded and used for free on the phone and I have a few on there. 

image

One item that is really handy is the “People” cube which is connected to Linked in and being I aggregate my Tweets over there it’s just a swipe of the finger to check in and it also is connected to my address book.  You can have Facebook on there too if you want but I put my account in the non-active status a while back as it was just too much with disruptions and distractions for me as I don’t use coupons and frankly am already pretty much set with everything I need without it.  I could some day re-activate the account but again it was proving to be more of a disruption for what I do and Twitter is my main social network as it offers efficiency above everything else which is what I want, not more stuff and email locations to take up my time. 

I looked through at the health and fitness imageprograms and most are like what you see for the other phones and a ton of BMI calculators and so forth and I am guessing soon though with all the HealthVault mobile applications we might start seeing a listing there to make it easy for consumers to find software to find in one spot in case they miss the HealthVault page.   By the way the mobile version of HealthVault works good on the phone and the format is simple and easy. 

Overall it’s a very well functioning phone and fast and I was upgrading from a Windows Samsung unit.  I like the size of the drive, no more having to have a storage card.  One other interesting addition from the Verizon side is the Global Sim activation card which is used if you are going over seas and this is a first for a imageCDMA phone to have this capability that I have seen, or least included in the initial package. 

Coming back around to my initial comments, security and privacy matter to me and thus again my choice here as when you stop and think with “Exchange” and connecting email servers and so forth for a number of years I think the odds should be very good here with Microsoft as you head would spin sometimes if you were to see all the security servers and products they offer.  When producing complex mobile unit there’s a lot that goes into it, a ton more than the little simple CE embedded stuff I wrote up years ago for the devices when all they could do was VB and those programs were pretty ugly screen wise and slow by today’s standards.  Also I should mention the use of the Sky Drive was useful too for some storage here. 

Once upon a time a while back someone from Microsoft kind of told me that the mobile developers were a frustrated bunch as they had so much written that could modularly fit in to so many areas and when some of their work would finally go public they would about fall into shock after the long haul coding, coding and more coding, and I think it might be safe to kind of say this all around as with all the developers working internally and externally with applications to coordinate, they get their choices of what to use and what not to use, or maybe some gets put on the next level up to be released at a later date.  There’s also an Amazon reader app on the unit for books at present and using the speech recognition with Bing and the hardware button makes it pretty easy to browse the web

I’ll be looking forward to the Mango update when it comes out which is going to be free for current phone owners too, as who doesn’t like more functionality, I do and look forward to it.  Again, security was top on my list here and secondary privacy too so I think I have a good combination here, other than whining about a qwerty keyboard, which I will soon overcome, I think:)   

Mango Update

Below is another link with some interesting other ideas for using Microsoft Tags with Razcode for authentication purposes too.  BD 

http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2011/06/auth-tag-mobile-microsoft-bar-code-tags.html

One More Reason for Slow EHR Adoption Cited–Software Being Designed To Meet Bureaucratic Standards Rather Than Needs of Doctors and Patients

The testimony today came from Ingenix, and they should know as they are the leaders of all the analytics, coding and algorithmic formulas out there, that less time imageand attention is being paid to the user experience here.  You know I think I can agree with that because that’s about all we hear in the news today about medical record systems is the aggregation for compliance and the quest to save money and there has not been much said in the area of the user experience.  We certainly know that PHRs for patients are not catching on very quick, with the exception of closed systems like Kaiser who has maintained their original concept. 

I also agree due to the fact that scribes are growing at a rapid rate that there must be something to this:) It’s a real irony when you want to bring doctors into the world of Health IT but the scribes which were supposed to be temporary jobs continue to thrive as full time assistants.  I can only say for doctors who are on staff at more than one hospital with each one using different systems it must be a real joy at times, and keep in mind that upgrades and changes take place frequently with the software too, along with new rules and regulations from the hospitals.  As you can see in the recent post below, one doctor thinks scribes are so great that nurses should have them too.

Scribes Still Continue to Grow in Hospitals–One Doctor Stated He Could See the Trend Expanding To Help Nurses Too

The EHR systems today are much more complicated and intense than they were just 5 years ago and a lot of this is a good thing with new reporting and so on but let’s face it the screens need to be easy enough to use to enter and find information. 

On the PHR side I still can’t get a peep out of the ONC, the Surgeon General or anyone in government talking about their personal experience with a PHR and this is the “social age” to where you would think if they want consumers to jump in here that they would consider being role models, but most of the time when I dig down into this topic I find a great majority of those who tell us we should be using a PHR, don’t bother themselves so we have a lot of the kettle calling the pot black when it comes to PHRs, in other words “Magpie Healthcare” that continues to thrive. 

Needless to say electronic records are here to stay, in what and shape and form along with price is always up for discussion <grin>.

It’s a bear writing an EMR and getting it right too and I don’t think today we have the one on one relationship with the developers and the doctors that used to exist too, as we are so busy trying to figure out what to do with all the other data in other areas of our lives.  This is an area that I feel is important not to miss, just based on what I did a few years ago as I thought I had a really neat new update and the doctors told me it sucked, so back to the drawing board to see what could be salvaged and usually work in some new requests from the doctors as there was always constant feed back and I liked that.  Sure I had to get over myself on many occasions and was a bit disappointed as when things didn’t work it meant a whole lot more time on the keyboard but that’s the way the business works with a partnership between both and again I just don’t think we see that as much today.

The article goes on to further say that the distance we are seeing today with patients/doctors with the software is further than it’s ever been.  imageApplying for the stimulus money is not that difficult as it is set up but the changing Meaningful Use changes bring a lot of questions and uncertainties to the picture too, but we have technology throwing us that new left curve every day and that part is not going to change.  We can, however, look a little differently too on how we interpret things as far as the program and design and that’s continuous also as it’s world we live in today. 

Come to think of it though, this is especially noticeable in Healthcare but it exists in other industries too with more interactions done via computer; however in healthcare with medical records we have very high standards.  It’s kind of a shame though too as we go through all the time and effort with certifying medical records and do nothing for certifying payment algorithms for payers so the buck and red tap always stops there as the coding for diagnosis and treatments continues to get more complicated as well.  BD

Small medical practices warned Congress on Thursday that health information technology risks being less than useless if it's designed to meet bureaucrats' arbitrary standards rather than the needs of doctors and patients.

Testifying at a House Small Business healthcare subcommittee hearing, the CEO of HIT Services company Ingenix said cost isn't the main reason physician's offices are struggling to make the switch to paperless. Rather, Andy Slavitt testified, the "purchase and design of technology (…) have taken a back burner to all of the compliance reporting requirements" needed to qualify for federal incentive payments.

"Today," Slavitt said in written testimony, "the end-users, doctors and patients, are further away than ever from system design, because new product development is focused on satisfying those regulatory hurdles, rather than on simple innovations that improve productivity."

Small practices give lawmakers an earful about DC-centric HIT regulations - The Hill's Healthwatch

Pfizer Running First US Clinical Study With Remote Participation

This is nice and you wonder why perhaps it has not been done before.  The drug imagebeing used for the reporting is Detrol, for over active bladders.  About 600 patients will be involved and enrollment is also done via the web to register.  Blood and urine sample locations will be need to be set up via the investigator. 

This will be a blind trial to where some participants will receive a placebo and patients will not know which they will be receiving.  Not all clinical trials could be done remotely but many can so this is a good start and will be less expensive as well.  BD 

Drugmaker Pfizer Inc. is running the first U.S. clinical study in which patients participate by using mobile phones and the Internet, rather than repeatedly visiting a participating hospital.

The study announced Tuesday is a pilot project, approved by the Food and Drug Administration and known by the acronym REMOTE. The goal is to determine whether such "virtual" clinical studies can produce the same results as traditional ones that require patients to live near and regularly visit a hospital or clinic for an initial screening and multiple checkups.

The study acronym, REMOTE, stands for Research on Electronic Monitoring of OAB Treatment Experience. Overactive bladder was widely publicized in TV ads after Detrol and rival drugs such as Flomax came on the market.

Pfizer Starts First US "Virtual" Clinical Study - ABC News

New Bluetooth 4.0 Heart Rate Belt Will Monitor Heart Rates

Here we go with one more blue tooth connected device.  The information will sent to a Smartphone and has a new type of chip from Nordic Semiconductor.  I have written several times about the blue tooth inhaler which came on the scene almost 3 years ago so it looks like blue tooth mHealth devices will be growing. 

image

There’s also a blue tooth water bottle out there too that will tell you when to drink.

A Blue Tooth Hydration Smart Bottle Using Sensor Fusion Algorithms With Smart Phones To Tell You When To Drink Water

There’s more here about the blue tooth inhaler including a video that shows the whole data collecting side of the device. 

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

What is interesting about the belt is the the “industrial” company that will be making the device, not a healthcare company.  BD

OEM/ODM specialist Dayton Industrial is set to commence volume production of a low energy Bluetooth 4.0 heart-rate chest belt using Nordic Semiconductor's new µBlue™ nRF8001 chip.

World's first Bluetooth 4.0 heart rate monitor will catalyze new genre of smartphone apps

Miramar Labs lands $35.8 Million Funding To Begin Marketing miraDry Laser Treatment for Excessive Sweat In the Arm Pits

Back in February the company received FDA 501k Clearance for the device.  Wow, that’s a lot of money for a laser treatment for sweat or to stop sweat I should say.  imageMaybe this was an important move as back in 2009 the FDA began considering anti- perspirants drugs and some reports said there was a possible connection between breast and prostate cancer with their use??  Do you believe everything you read these days, I hope not. There have been some commercials and ads lately about under arms and Steven Colbert did a great job with the exaggeration of arm pits.

Antiperspirants are Considered a Drug by the FDA – Recent Study looks at a connection possible between breast and prostate cancer

If you don’t want to go this far, there are stick on pads too.

What’s that Pad Stuck Under Your Arm – You Guessed It Pit Pads Stick on Deodorant

The investors include Aisling Capital and Cross Creek Capital, investors Domain Associates and Morgenthaler Ventures.  Wow almost $40 million to address this problem as Steven Colbert says is one of the items directed towards women to make them feel less secure about themselves and creating a market from scratch.  Is this going to be covered by Medicare <grin> and how would this fall into an ACO area for savings:)  BD 

Miramar Labs Inc. raised $35.8 million in a Series C funding round, leaving them just shy of their $36 million goal, according to an SEC filing.

The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company's claim to fame is miraDry, a laser-based treatment for excessive underarm sweat. The device uses microwave energy to cook sweat glands in two hour-long noninvasive doctor's office visits.

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The company plans to use the funds to begin marketing the device, according to Xconomy.

Miramar Labs lands $35.8 million | Funding Roundup | MassDevice - Medical Device Industry News

Why Are ACO’s So Tough–Nobody’s Writing The Algorithms and I Don’t Seem To See Anyone Volunteering to Take It On

Here we have yet one more article about private and government working together but nobody’s writing any formulas, just trying to come up with a a “do and don’t’ do” imagelist so far with an ultimate goal of saving money.  We all know that systems and laws today need IT infrastructure to make them work and provide reporting and some of this has been done but it’s fragmented, like so much in healthcare.

Heck I wouldn’t want to write those algorithms either and to even take a simple shot at it you need some high tech machine learning technologies if you have any digital literacy about you to realize that’s how massive amounts of data is analyzed and worked today to bring things to a level where decisions can be made and the whole project doesn’t look so over whelming.  We have meetings on the topic all over the US and still not much has moved ahead. 

AAFP Is The Latest to Recommend CMS to Modify ACO Proposed Rules-Get Some “Kick Ass” Computing Technology to Model and Simulate Some ACO Directives

Now when it comes to technology and the Algorithms, the insurers certainly have the IT infrastructure to do so, but do they want to jump into the frying pan?  When that happens greater transparency occurs and then in the process some of their own algorithmic processes can become exposed too and those are proprietary that we don’t get to see, such as the risk analysis scoring for chronic conditions, prior procedures and so forth.  It is easier for pre-existing conditions to be covered now but at high prices too so they don’t want o risk the exposure of having to absolutely show how all this is calculated so thus they are not too anxious to jump in here unless they can run the whole data game and be in the driver’s seat. 

We simply need some digital laws and better technology to approach this stuff otherwise we are right where we are today, moving very slow and with tons of additional unintended consequences.  There are a lot of common sense things that can be done and many hospitals and providers are doing such with just having their medical records being electronic and being able to see where areas of improvement lie and if this is done without someone bearing down with a set of algorithmic processes and everyone benefits, then that’s a good plan.  We cant’ even get through meaningful use yet and those algorithms are up for modifications again too, so again who’s going to write these algorithms? 

If you read the news on the web yesterday there was a very popular article about the diagnosis process now being algorithms, so I’m sure glad I put that word center stage here on this blog 3 years ago to try and help educate those who are not up to date with the way mathematics work so they can at lease have an idea of the process.  Shoot we have figureheads all over the place and some make laws that are in denial or are obvious to this point and you can usually bet when they get uncomfortable and don’t want to venture out of their comfort zone, we are going to hear hours about abortions again, that’s the usual bullets of the digital illiterate today as they are lost and don’t read up and participate.  I’m not the only one on the web to say this and have lots of company.  BD

SO I COME RIGHT BACK TO WHERE I STARTED FROM – ANYONE GOT GUTS, BRAINS OR ENOUGH TECHNOLOGY TO WRITE SOME ACO ALGORITHMS??

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services should build on existing private sector partnerships with hospitals and physicians when it comes to accountable care organizations rather than implementing measures that could derail those partnerships, said Karen Ignagni, president and chief executive officer of America's Health Insurance Plans, during a press teleconference.

Ignagni said health plans have partnered with providers to develop and participate in alternative payment systems that are transforming the delivery system by offering better care at lower cost. While AHIP supports CMS's effort to reduce the increased fragmentation seen in the delivery of health care services in recent years, some aspects of the agency's proposed rule regarding ACOs would do more harm than good, she said.

Insurance News - AHIP CEO: ACO Program Should Factor in Existing Public-Private Partnerships

The Price for Promoted Trend Sponsoring on Twitter Costs $120,000 A Day–How Much Money Did WeinerGate Drum Up Or Is He Still Drumming Up?

One might ask too how long does a trend last?  We’ve going on Weinergate for quite a few days now so this is big money for Twitter.  I don’t have a problem with imageTwitter making some money but this up to a new level and granted they have tried o figure out how to monetize it like the other social networks are doing. 

I like Twitter and use it for my news media reading as there’s nothing else that comes close with efficiency and I use TwinBox so it’s right in Outlook like everything else is.  I have a few other tricks too like using Xobni to connect everyone on linked in and Twitter as well as the Microsoft social connectors too, so I don’t miss a lot and have a connection when the occasion arises if I need it.

I also use a few RSS feeds for those who are not using Twitter and still use some Google Searches that are emailed to me and they work together real well and the emails are not many any only fill in anymore for a few holes where I want selected information. 

So, who promoted the Weinergate trend and how much money did this make?  This a long trend as it’s still going on.  News makes money these days in ways that you probably never dreamed of:)  There have been 6000 campaigns since the promotions began last April.  For some additional information you can visit ClickZ and he adds a few more details on how some of this works.  There are also opportunities to “bid” on sponsoring a trend and the numbers come in with each winner spending a minimum of $15k so there’s some dollars saved in advertising costs with the bidding process. 

Now the one that gets me though is the opportunity for advertisers to pay $4 for a follower.  You might go broke on this one because just as easy as it is to follow, you can un-follow too.  So what happens here with the un-follower goes away, are they now a part of an email campaign from a paid sponsor?   Back on the Weinergate subject I’ll bet Washington didn’t realize they were driving up some profits here and there are those cashing in.  That’s right all kinds of online advertising agencies are making buck off the backs of the soap operas of Congress. I think the whole thing is pretty stupid though and blown way of proportion. I guess that goes back to me working on doctors and hospitals servers and I can tell tales about all the porn and peer to peer stuff I removed over the years, not to mention almost getting electrocuted in one server room.  These folks obviously were not into security either at the time and it’s goes with those who are not IT literate that continue to do that stuff, and sometimes those who are literate and build the security try and beat their own systems too and it shows up. 

Rep. Anthony Weiner of New York Admits His Behavior on the Web-Time for All Members of Congress to Increase Their Digital Literacy!

Here’s one that is worse an still in office but this story doesn’t make money, or at maybe not until after the airing of this video about Senator Vitter. 

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Some advertising money is well spent and done well, but today it’s more like see what sticks to the wall:)  Now I have a new complaint with Washington with all the money and profits that are being made from their silly antics over all of this.  Who cares and he’s had enough punishment so let’s all be adults and get on with taking care of serious business and quit calling the kettle black and learn up and get some digital literacy when it comes to creating laws.  Nancy Pelosi could use the web to do her ethics investigation if that’s what she wants to pursue and save us taxpayers a ton of money.  While all this insanity goes on with money being flung from the rafters, let’ take a solemn look at what’s going with state budgets that need to ask for more from philanthropy organizations.  This dire need really makes everyone from Weiner and everyone in Congress really look pretty naïve and digitally illiterate as not being educated enough on knowing how to balance and focus. 

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

This really make all of them look small to spend such a huge amount of time on this and we have folks sitting in the House and Senate with worse things on their record.  They just don’t get it and continue to sponsor ridiculous trending that others pay for and reap financial rewords for some algorithm on the web that organize and bring the trends to the screen and you can bet some profiled data sold for a real premium before all of this was done with a little web scraping and a few other techniques while many consumers can’t afford a regular visit to the doctor.  BD 

Businesses are paying Twitter $120,000 to sponsor a promoted trending topic for a day, director of revenue Adam Bain told marketing news site ClickZ. That’s up from $25,000 to $30,000 when the feature was launched in April 2010.

Twitter now charges $120,000 a day for promoted trends | Poynter.

WellPoint Buys CareMore–Senior HMO Based in California–Presently Owned By Private Equity Firms

It must be time to bail as we all are aware of what’s happening to the Medicare Payment structures coming down the road.  Living here in Southern California I remember when Caremore was started.  In various conversations I have had with IPAs I had been told by a a couple that the profits made by Caremore was due to the fact that they enrolled seniors only. 

Insurers Compensation for 2011 for Medicare Part D is Frozen to the Same Rates Paid This Year

The folks at the other IPAs were of course paid at the same or similar rates as those from Caremore, but I was told that the better Medicare payments made up for the losses taken on commercial insurance carriers so their profit status was kind of at a wash and they were glad they had enough seniors in their plans to make up for the commercial insurer payments which were less. image

Back in 2009 Caremore made some big IT investments to run business intelligence software for analytics for Chronic illnesses.  They hooked up with Trizetto the competitor of Ingenix from United Healthcare to create all types of analytics to include their PHR which connected with HealthVault and so forth and started running audit trails again back in 2009 with using their algorithms.  Here’s a little additional background at the links below. 

CareMore Health Plan Invests in Business Intelligence for Acute and Chronic Illness Management

CareMore Live On TriZetto's Clinical CareAdvance System Algorithms - Healthcare Business Intelligence

TriZetto Group, Owned by Apax Partners-London Based Private Equity Firm, Rolls Out Payer Based PHR

In addition Caremore coined the word “Extensivist” as a hospitalist basically that made house calls with seniors and did a lot of the follow up in that fashion which they claimed as a solution to help keep re-admissions down.  CareMore  provides "talking" pill boxes that remind patients to take their medications.

Health Plan Hospitalists Keeping Re-Admissions Down by “Leaving” the Hospital – “The Extensivist”

The plan enrolls patients in its own disease-management programs, including one for heart failure that relies on telemonitoring and the use of wireless weight scales and hospitalists that meet or beat the 15% re-admission rate goal are in line for bonuses' to be paid. We all know hospitalists and their coding are the key gatekeepers these days

The Hospitalists Have Become The Gatekeepers for Effective Hospital Coding & Sometimes Bear the Burden Alone

Not too long ago another big IPA, Memorial Healthcare was bought by United Healthcare, so we are seeing some trending here with insurers buying up IPAs (independent physician associations) and HMOs. 

As you can see the price of $800 million was nothing to sneeze at and it will be interesting to see how this all comes under the over all WellPoint umbrella as of course data will be combined at some point for greater data analysis as that’s what they all do today.  I wonder too how many of CareMore representatives will stay employed as they seemed to have quite a few of them around, at least in southern California you run into them quite often.  BD 

(Reuters) - WellPoint Inc (WLP.N) plans to buy privately held Medicare specialist CareMore to expand its presence in the U.S. government program for the elderly.

The deal advances WellPoint's plans to become a bigger competitor in Medicare, rivaling leaders UnitedHealth Group Inc (UNH.N) and Humana Inc (HUM.N), as it seeks to take advantage of the post-war baby boom generation becoming eligible for the program.

WellPoint did not announce the price, but The New York Times said it was about $800 million, citing unnamed sources.

The acquisition may signal increased deal activity that has been expected in the industry since the U.S. healthcare overhaul passed last year.

WellPoint to buy seniors specialist CareMore | Reuters

“Auth Tag” – Mobile Microsoft Bar Code Tags Using a Smartphone To Scan for Two Factor Authentication Giving Users Digital Tokens

With all the recent security breach stories I though it was time to revisit and look at imagethe 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.image

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. 

image image

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. image
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Should ICD-10 Implementation Be Delayed With A SnoMed Adoption Focus Come First?

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

Case of Missing California Nursing Student Turns Into a Homicide Investigation

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

Happy Hospitalist Has A Fire Sale For His Quick Pocket Reference At A Bargain Price

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.


Thomson Reuters Plans to Sell Healthcare Unit By the End of the Year

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

Rep. Anthony Weiner of New York Admits His Behavior on the Web-Time for All Members of Congress to Increase Their Digital Literacy!

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 imagecould 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 BallIt’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 weekThe 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