United Healthcare Gets in The Low Income Housing Business With Partnership to Finance Housing Projects in New Mexico

The company gets more diversified each week it seems with some type of new business announcement.  This is a partnership as I read it, not a grant.  The company has also in the past helped finance other healthcare institutions as they own an industrial bank with over $1 billion on deposit.  It could be a bit more now as that was what was announced about a year ago with the Optum Bank.

UnitedHealth Group Owns a Bank With Deposits Surpassing a Billion – OptumHealth Bank FDIC Insured

Part of their business is managing behavioral health services for the estimated 450,000 New Mexicans enrolled in Medicaid.  In some areas they offer no co-pay (free) hearing aid from another division of their company that distributes them.

UnitedHealthCare Throws in Free Hearing Aids for Those Who Enroll In AARP Medicare Advantage, HMO & POS Plans in Miami-Dade County From Their New Subsidiary

I don’t think this one fits under the Medical Loss Ratio areas even though the housing is designated for seniors and low income families to provide rentals.  BD 

SANTA FE, N.M.--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--UnitedHealth Group today announced an innovative partnership with Enterprise Community Investment, Inc. (Enterprise), a national leader in the affordable housing and community development industry, to provide up to $50 million to finance affordable-housing projects in targeted communities throughout the United States.

The partnership will invest in projects that qualify for federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) or Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credits.

The UnitedHealth Group Affordable Housing Investment Program brings together one of the nation’s top health and well-being companies with one of the nation’s leading advocates for affordable housing to create housing opportunities for low- and moderate-income people. Through Enterprise, the program will provide critical equity for the development of affordable rental housing projects to which housing tax credits have been allocated. The $50 million commitment by UnitedHealth Group will support efforts to strengthen the local community-based organizations that create affordable housing with a focus on serving low-income families, households with special needs and the growing population of aging adults.

The first three projects being funded through the new program were announced today with New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez participating in a groundbreaking ceremony for the renovation and expansion of Stage Coach Apartments in Santa Fe. The $9.7 million investment in Stage Coach will provide 60 LEED-certified rental housing units, developed by The Housing Trust, targeting residents from 40 percent to 60 percent of the area median income. A total of 25 percent of the units will be set aside for special-needs households.

Two additional projects were also announced: a $5.1 million investment in Mountain View Apartments in Deming, a 48-unit rental apartment complex for aging adults and special needs individuals at 50 percent of the area median income; and a $6.7 million investment in Robledo Ridge Apartments, a LEED-certified, 72-unit multifamily rental apartment complex in Las Cruces that will serve special-needs households and families at 30 percent to 50 percent of the area median income.

The partnership will collaborate with community-based partners where the projects are located. This includes, among others, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, state housing agencies, developers and various local community organizations. The program encourages housing projects that are LEED certified with environmental and energy-efficient components that make them models in their communities.

http://eon.businesswire.com/news/eon/20111208005242/en/UnitedHealth-Group-Enterprise-Community-Investment-Launch-50?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Technorati Tags: United Heatlhcare,New Mexico,housing,low income,investment,rent,trust,apartments,mergers and acquisitions

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GE, Microsoft to Launch Joint Venture Aimed at Global Healthcare System Transformation

The last time I remembered writing about Microsoft and GE was back in 2009 when GE was going to integrate the CRM from Microsoft but this is a whole new company being formed here outside of Redmond. 

GE Healthcare Centricity Software to Integrate Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 CRM

The two companies are creating a joint venture that will combine Microsoft’s deep expertise in building platforms and ecosystems with GE Healthcare’s extensive experience in clinical and administrative workflow solutions. The respective divisions of both GE Healthcare and Microsoft will continue to operate independently until the new company is formed, which is expected to happen in the first half of 2012.

HealthVault will continue to be developed and operated by Microsoft where it can maintain its position as a “neutral exchange” that enables multiple vendors to collaborate around patient-controlled records. It will still be a part of the Amalga “connected health” story within the new venture, and Sean Nolan, Microsoft Distinguished Engineer, will continue to participate in and bridge the two projects so it sounds like he’s going to a busy guy.  So far the new company venture is nameless but sure that will come along soon.  Amalga has had some new additions this year to include the readmissions management software. 

Microsoft Readmissions Manager For Amalga-Behavioral Analytics For Clinical Decision Processes (Video)

Both companies are using existing software to work together and it appears it will all retain it’s respective identify for each company. Stay tuned as more information becomes available.  BD 

Press Release:

BARRINGTON, Ill. and REDMOND, Wash. - December 8, 2011 – General Electric Company (NYSE: GE), through its healthcare IT business, and Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) today announced plans to create a joint venture aimed at helping healthcare organizations and professionals use real-time, system-wide intelligence to improve healthcare quality and the patient experience.  Upon formation, the new company will develop and market an open, interoperable technology platform and innovative clinical applications focused on enabling better population health management to improve outcomes and the overall economics of health and wellness.

As healthcare providers and payers around the globe shift from episodic single-patient care to continuous population management, new requirements have emerged for integrated care processes, greater insight and engaging patient experiences.   These delivery system reforms, including a shift toward new payment models, require healthcare providers to address gaps and integrate data across silos of care delivery to help enable better care coordination and performance improvement. 

This new joint venture will combine Microsoft’s deep expertise in building platforms and ecosystems with GE Healthcare’s experience in clinical and administrative workflow solutions, empowering healthcare professionals and organizations with the intelligence and capabilities to respond to the rapidly evolving and complex healthcare landscape. 

“The complementary nature of GE Healthcare’s and Microsoft’s individual expertise will drive new insights, solutions and efficiencies to further advance the two companies’ shared vision of a connected, patient-centric healthcare system, ” said Jeffrey R. Immelt, Chairman and CEO of GE.  “ The global healthcare challenges of access, cost and quality of care delivery are creating a new focus on the performance and accountability of healthcare delivery systems – in every country, at every level of care.  This venture will demonstrate what is possible when leading companies with complementary capabilities work together to meet a common goal.”

The new company will deliver a distinctive, open platform that will give healthcare providers and

independent software vendors the ability to develop a new generation of clinical applications.   The venture will develop healthcare applications on the platform using in-house developers and the platform will connect with a wide range of healthcare IT products.  GE Healthcare IT will immediately be able to connect existing products to the platform, helping current customers to derive new insights.

“High-quality, affordable healthcare is one of the biggest challenges facing every nation, but it’s also an area where technology can make a huge difference,” said Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft. “Combining Microsoft’s open, interoperable health platforms and software expertise with GE’s experience and healthcare solutions will create exciting opportunities for patients and healthcare providers alike.  Working together, GE and Microsoft can help make healthcare systems more intelligent and cost efficient while improving patient care.”

The two parent companies bring complementary expertise to this new venture and will contribute intellectual property, including:

• Microsoft Amalga, an enterprise health intelligence platform
• Microsoft Vergence, a single sign-on and context management solution
• Microsoft expreSSO, an enterprise single sign-on solution
• GE Healthcare eHealth, a Health Information Exchange
• GE Healthcare Qualibria, a clinical knowledge application environment being developed in cooperation with Intermountain Healthcare (Salt Lake City, Utah) and Mayo Clinic

The long-term vision of the venture is to create new value by offering a healthcare performance management suite that includes many of these products.

In addition to the new joint venture, GE Healthcare and Microsoft will each maintain a strong presence in the healthcare IT industry, as both parent organizations will continue to sell other products and services to healthcare organizations around the globe.

“Improving the quality of healthcare through innovative collaboration is a goal that we share with GE Healthcare and Microsoft.  Working together with others to identify new ways to improve health outcomes and drive down cost is a hallmark of our patient-care philosophy,” said C. Michel Harper, M.D., Executive Dean for Practice, Mayo Clinic. “We’re pleased to see healthcare IT companies embrace this same idea and come together in new ways. We look forward to seeing the progress this new endeavor will bring in medicine.”

"Intermountain Healthcare and GE have a strong history and partnership in developing and advancing transformational healthcare information technologies," stated Charles S. Sorenson, MD, president and chief executive officer of Intermountain Healthcare. "Our common vision is driving powerful advancements in healthcare and improving the clinical work process by making real-time information available at the point of care. We look forward to continuing our efforts to further these principles, achieving our combined objectives, and putting these important technologies into practice."

The new company’s products and services will provide the information and insight required to help address many critical problems in the healthcare system today, including:

Healthcare Associated Infections – In the US alone, an estimated 1.7 million healthcare associated infections occur annually, resulting in $35 billion in additional healthcare costs^1,2 and the loss of nearly 100,000 lives.³ By pulling together data from disparate IT systems, identifying those patients most at risk for a given HAI, and surfacing guidelines and protocols within provider workflow, the solutions will enable healthcare organizations to more effectively deploy their resources and deliver better care at lower costs.

Chronic Disease Management – According to the Centers for Disease Control, about 133 million Americans (nearly half of all adults) live with at least one chronic illness and most chronic diseases require a lifetime of ongoing care.⁴  To help patients and their physicians work together more efficiently to manage chronic conditions, the platform and applications will support the sharing of data from at-home medical devices (such as blood pressure cuffs, scales, glucometers) with caregivers to facilitate better tracking of chronic conditions, coordination of treatment schedules, management of medication regimens and timely interventions.

The new venture complements the existing offerings from both parent companies and is expected to yield job growth in its first five years of existence.  It will operate globally, offering interoperability platforms and application solutions targeting both healthcare providers and payers.  Michael J. Simpson, vice president and general manager at GE Healthcare IT, will serve as the company’s CEO.

The new company, which has yet to be named, will be headquartered near the Microsoft campus in Redmond, Wash., with significant presence in Salt Lake City, Utah and additional cities around the world.

Launch of the new joint venture is subject to customary conditions, including regulatory approvals, and is expected in the first half of 2012.

NOTE TO EDITORS

ABOUT MICROSOFT IN HEALTH:

Microsoft is committed to improving health around the world through software innovation. Over the past 16 years, Microsoft has steadily increased its investments in health, with a focus on addressing the challenges of health providers, health and social services organizations, payers, consumers and life sciences companies worldwide. Microsoft closely collaborates with a broad ecosystem of partners and develops its own powerful health solutions, such as Microsoft Amalga and Microsoft HealthVault. Together, Microsoft and its industry partners are working to deliver health solutions that enable better health outcomes for more people.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

ABOUT GE HEALTHCARE:

GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services that are shaping a new age of patient care. Our broad expertise in medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems, drug discovery, biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies, performance improvement and performance solutions services help our customers to deliver better care to more people around the world at a lower cost. In addition, we partner with healthcare leaders, striving to leverage the global policy change necessary to implement a successful shift to sustainable healthcare systems.

Our “healthymagination” vision for the future invites the world to join us on our journey as we continuously develop innovations focused on reducing costs, increasing access and improving quality around the world. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, GE Healthcare is a unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE). Worldwide, GE Healthcare employees are committed to serving healthcare professionals and their patients in more than 100 countries. For more information about GE Healthcare, visit our website at www.gehealthcare.com.

Technorati Tags: Microsoft,GE,medical records,venture,healthcare,Health IT,Amalga,Verence,Expresso,imaging,Intel,patients,doctors,General Electric

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2012 Will Be the Year to Check the Math Used by Large Profiteering Corporations-Algorithms For Profit or Accuracy Is the Question–Attack of the Killer Algorithms…

It keeps heading in this direction and with the testimony scheduled today with Jon Corzine testifying with Congress wanting to know more about their accounting and how it works, it doesn’t get any clearer.  Software is a good thing and makes us smarter but software, in the words of Bill Gates is nothing but a group of algorithms, can be written to help companies financially benefit.  This should be no surprise to anyone at this point and hopefully we will all come out of denial and recognize this fact that this is the root of the financial problems today. 

If you read around this blog occasionally over the last couple of years, there are tons of articles about “bad math” and let’s face it, numbers today are manipulated by the use of software and algorithms.  Again, I go back once more to the post I made back in August of 2009, is it time for a “Department of Algorithms” to audit financial math?  I don’ t know how much longer we can exist without something of that sort in place to keep folks honest and so far I don’t see much happening in this area and why I constantly harp on the fact that key executives today need to have some IT background as those who don’t are just lost and you read it every day in the news.

Even key former investment folks like Jon Corzine probably enjoyed success for a number of years due to the algorithms developed by the folks he employed.  You tell developers what you want and pay them royally and they will produce the product and set the algorithmic automation to do it.  It’s been going on for years but with today’s real time aggregation methodologies of data and money, well you kind of know the story there, the servers run 24/7 running that code. 

It gets worse too as the more data they collect, the more data they want, and granted a lot of it makes us smarter and we need it, but it makes money too with moving money around and the methodologies are hidden in the code with layers of algorithms now at work.  It all comes crashing down when the algos run and there’s no real money left to make a match any longer. 

CMS to Put Doctor Claim Data Online–Helps Avoid a Dow Jones Lawsuit But How Much Use Or Abuse Will It Really Merit As Most Are Not Skilled Enough To Deal with Flawed Data

Next up is the inability to use some of the formulas intelligently and we see this happening all over the place too.  Our Congress seems to like these algorithms that allow them to play solitaire or cruise Facebook while in session according to this picture below.

Our taxpayer data is sold all over the place and available to big corporations for free and this creates billion dollar profits too and we should license and tax companies who are using the “free taxpayer data” they mine.

Privacy Wanted–So Let’s Require Those Who Sell Web Data to Register and Tax the Transactions and Publicly Disclose Who They Sell To With a Federal Registry

So as today’s testimony unfolds it will be interesting to see what algos caused the money to be lost or deleted for that matter.  I wrote a series about the Attack of the Killer Algorithms and part 6 is below as us, the middle class are destined to become data chasers to fix all the flawed data that’s around to judge us…its going to be a daunting task but will continue until adequate audits take place to make corporate USA accountable.  BD 

Attack of the Killer Algorithms Part 6–Discrimination With Consumer Credit-Same As Health Insurance Wanting Consumers to Reconstruct Records From Many Years Past As Middle Class Turns Into Data Chasers-Days of Taking Risks to Get Ahead Will Be Limited For Most…Occupy Algorithms

Former U.S. Sen. Jon Corzine is returning to Congress on Thursday, but not by choice.

Corzine will be testifying before a House committee in his first public appearance since the bankruptcy of the company he led, MF Global.

Corzine was subpoenaed by the agriculture committee, which is investigating the circumstances surrounding MF Global's sudden downfall in late October.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2011/12/corzine-testifies-about-mf-global-in-first-public-appearance-.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&dlvrit=71041

Technorati Tags: Senate,House,Jon Corzine,math,algorithms,profits,accuracy,bankruptcy,audits,privacy,taxes,SEC,money

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Surgeon General Announces Yet Another App Contest Maybe to Promote Their PHR “My Family Health Portrait”? Does She Use The PHR Personally?

Here we go again, yet one more app contest, they are all over the place today.  Actually it would be nice to have some apps that compliment the PHR, you think?  Maybe we will get some?  If remember correctly there was an API built in and a lot of work that went into the PHR.  Last year the Surgeon General also spoke about how My Family Portrait also works with HealthVault too. 

US Surgeon General Speaks About Microsoft Healthvault Collaboration with My Family Health Portrait

As a side note I always wonder what our folks in government positions use too?  It would be nice to hear from them sometimes on how it helps them improve tracking their own healthcare needs too.  BD   

U. S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, M.D., MBA, announced a new app contest to promote her latest “healthy lifestyles” challenge to the American people.
The Surgeon General’s Healthy App Challenge will highlight the ability of new technologies to provide health information tailored to the needs of the user, and empower the general public to regularly engage in, and enjoy, health-promoting behaviors. Winners of the app challenge will be chosen in the following categories: fitness/physical activity; nutrition/healthy eating; and integrative health.
The Surgeon General supports using new technologies to bring healthy lifestyle messages to the American people.  She has been involved in the following Consumer e-health initiatives led by the HHS Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology:
• E-health records for patients and clinicians;
• Family health portrait;
• SmokefreeTXT – free mobile phone-based cessation service for teen smokers; and
• Text4Baby breastfeeding messages.

http://www.healthcare-informatics.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?type=news&mod=News&mid=9A02E3B96F2A415ABC72CB5F516B4C10&tier=3&nid=CF80906BF20C4C14B6F9DBDB3FD441E1&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Technorati Tags: Surgeon General Regina Benjamin,PHR,personal health records,My Family Health Portrait,NIH,healthcare reform,HHS,technology,collaboration,CDC,apps

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CMS to Put Doctor Claim Data Online–Helps Avoid a Dow Jones Lawsuit But How Much Use Or Abuse Will It Really Merit As Most Are Not Skilled Enough To Deal with Flawed Data

I wrote about this before and a while back Dow Jones did file a lawsuit about the use of the data.  If you have ever done any medical billing, then you know up front how all of this works.  Truly as far as some crunched numbers this may offer some insight, but today with the old paradigms of data on a screen and how people look at it and how employees are told to work with data, again the value here with this information to me is very questionable and again leaves room for additional algorithms to be written for decision making processing.  Back in January of this year is when the lawsuit over the data was filed against HHS.

Dow Jones Files Lawsuit Against HHS To Overturn Ruling To Keep Medicare Physician Compensation Confidential In the False Name of Transparency-Distraction is More Like It

Transparency is one thing but again the numbers and algorithms used for decision are yet another.  Also the AMA took a stand as well with not seeing any value here and then when you get to the doctors, well you know how this will probably go over with them as well with yet one more set of numbers to be held accountable for years back of data entered that has flaws.  I don’t know or have not read if the lawsuit was dropped at this point but might be guessing it has.  In addition who ever received the contract and some big dollars to put the data out there is also unknown. 

We have had several others outside of the government come up with their ratings services too and not too long ago I stumbled on the “flawed data” myself with seeing my former doctor still listed as seeing patients, only problem was the fact that she had been dead for 8 years. 

HealthGrades And Other MD Rating and Referral Sites List “Dead Doctors” on Their MD Information Pages And Even Include the Insurance Plans the “Dead Doctors” Honor

Actually when I communicated with doctors who read here, they looked at their information that was put out via CMS and there was less content but it was found to be a bit more accurate.  Again when I see decisions as such, it really just drives home the need to have key executives in place that understand the ramifications and how data is used today as numbers get skewed for sure.  Today with may layers of algorithms that aggregate with each other it’s difficult to get to the bottom sometimes to find the origins. 

Update on Physician Compare Sites-One MD Reader Found CMS to be More Accurate

I do sometimes chuckle at the press releases and news that comes out with “value” to tell the public that every set of data and it’s analytics process has “value” as it may not.  If a doctor has a bad biller for a couple of years and many errors were made, this will be here too and as I see this, one more nail in the coffin for anyone to go to medical school to become a doctor as who wants all of this?  All data transparency does not necessarily have the value that some may think and I believe that is the case here with delusion for sure.  By the time this shakes out and analytics on steroids come in to play, well good luck on finding any doctor that’s going to be flawless, and that’s the bottom line here and actually too much information that is well known to contain jillions of flaws, well what good is is?  Just because it’s there do we need to analyze it? 

When you fully review the article we have the “sales” pitch with everyone wanting to “jump” at the opportunity, which is kind of funny the way the article was written as yes you will have Medicare contractors, many of which are owned by health insurance companies jump all over it because that is their business and they can find ways to create additional algorithms for profit.  Again crunching numbers and finding some parameters is fine but when you bring this down to individual levels and spin the numbers with certain sets of analytics, you kind of defeat the purpose here. 

Again though, law enforcement and others fighting fraud certainly need access to this information by all means but the “big sale” here to the public and others is clearly diluted. 

Medicare Federal Investigators Getting Algorithms to Analyze And Find Fraud-Good Move as Contractors Efforts Are Weak With Risking Loss Of Transaction Revenue

In my conversations with people from different companies not too long ago one big executive said “yes, it is getting old for an app or algorithm for everything” and that was from a company who write tons of code and creates software…so give that some though as we watch all who are not digitally literate with thinking an algorithm solves all as it does not as healthcare is still the human business.  Again I feel it’s time to pitch a good book here, something that does have value.

“Proofiness–The Dark Side of Mathematical Deception”–Created by Those Algorithms

“Our society is now awash in proofiness. Using a few powerful techniques, thousands of people are crafting mathematical falsehoods to get you to swallow untruths. Advertisers use these techniques to forge numbers to get you to buy their products. Bureaucrats fiddle with data to try to get you to reelect them. Pundits and prophets use phony math to get you to believe predictions that never seem to pan out. Businessmen use bogus numerical arguments to steal your money. Pollsters, pretending to listen to what you have to say, use proofiness to tell you what they want you to believe. “

The book is good and explains how numbers are spun and how steroid marketing almost and does in some cases have people believing that 2 plus 2 equals 5.  If you want a good preview of this, listen to this radio broadcast too and it makes a good point in talking about the book and the demented math we have out there today.  The paragraph above says exactly what I have been saying for a couple years, businesses use bogus numerical arguments to steal your money and look at the economy and who has all the money today and you need to look no further.  So it does make you wonder if CMS due to non IT capable figureheads were sucked in with the use of the lawsuit and other tactics out there to put this flawed data out there and sell it beyond the value it really has.  Numbers don’t lie, but people do….

“Numbers Don’t Lie, But People Do”–Radio Interview from Charles Siefe–Journalists Take Note, He Addresses How Marketing And Bogus Statistics Are Sources of Problems That Mislead the Public & Government

Again I don’t know if the lawsuit had anything to do with this decision but just that fact that it existed makes one think there could have been some influence here as the more complicated decision making gets, it allows for more analytics to be created and the spinning of numbers for sure, and that goes on all around us every day.  Listen in below for 30 minutes and see what you think to this radio broadcast from a few months ago.

Play Interview Via QuickTime                                Download: Ogg Vorbis MP3

Back in August of 2009 I made a post and it somewhat looks like we are on our way to create a government department of such, a department of algorithms to verify the math and remove some of the “spun data” I think as there’s a lot of it out there by all means. 

“Department of Algorithms – Do We Need One of These to Regulate Upcoming Laws?

When you begin using machine learning and aggregate “spun data” into formulas where you may not be able to get back to ground zero, the insanity begins and thus so having executives that are just figureheads without any background in this area, they get snowed and buy in to a lot of deception, again as this is sold with the doctor claim information being marketed and put out there as a tool with “value” with tons of flawed data, it is what it is and sad that we have people making decisions that are not wise enough to see some of this. 

Machine Learning Software Working Behind the Scenes Should Move With Caution in Healthcare-Writing the Unreadable With Rogue Algorithms With No Human Intervention

Another post I made a while back too and this flew all over some major publications too and I made it in jest to a degree, but again those who do not understand math very well seem to think that it still is a 100% methodology for proving accuracy and thus so you really can’t read any where today where someone is not pitching their algorithms to find value and yes there are valuable tools out there but again with the series of events that has transpired here and the marketing, I don’t see this data exposure doing much for anyone other than allowing more numbers to be “spun” for additional profits. 

Data Addiction and Abuse –The Up and Coming Next 12 Step Program Is On the Horizon–Side Effects Include Lack Of Data Quality, Integrity And Spasmodic Algorithms

So when you get down to the bottom of this, does this data contain any real value for consumers, probably not and just more flawed data to sort through to make decisions and add it into the glut of what is already marketed out there as a tool and this I just one more data set that can be spun for profit, as when you read the article it states that this will help you “save money”…and so on…great steroid marketing in my opinion and today it is getting hard to decipher what is really a tool and what is glut and items as such substantiates the frustrations of the Occupy movement.  How can you fight an algorithm you can’t see, touch or feel but only get in touch with “cookie cutter” employees who are directed to use the data in the way they are told by the companies they work for.  Below is a video I have used several times here and if you have not seen it, listen in.  Many major news channels have promoted it too, but funny as I think they only viewed it as being popular as the geeks of the world, including Kevin Slavin completely understand the spinning of data and nice that he did a presentation as such to help educate the rest of the world, that wants some answers. 

How Algorithms Shape our World

Again these are my opinions here with having been a coder at one time and you can write clean and good algos or one can be sucked in to the other side, just like anything in life, the choice is there and it works in the world of algorithms around us every day.  Hedge Funds hire a ton of programmers to spin and work data for their investments all the time and with record profits, they have the money to do this.

Again, the value here, minimal and corporate America now has some new data to spin is how I see this and it further erodes the doctor/patient relationship with throwing some new monkey wrenches into the process and again shows the need to have executives that run CMS and other government healthcare agencies to have some IT in their background because we get just this type of activity as seen here with little value and creates a much more difficult world to make a decision and feel good about it.  The new person at CMS certainly has her job cut out and again to me this is a big example on how big business snows the digital illiterates with thinking that this data is going to solve any real problems.  It’s a snow job. 

As a matter of fact I’ll add another opinion here of mine with all the “taxpayer” data that big corporations have free access to buy and sell.  We have a government it seems that is oblivious as to what’s really happening here.  The data is free for the taking out there and corporate America is doing just that.  I read the other day that High Frequency Trading and Hedge Funds are outpacing Facebook in the consumption and analytics of all of this and they get the information for free and make billions. I know you can’t create laws to govern how people write code and use analytics, but you could sure license and tax corporations that are using free web information to build even bigger profit centers off the taxpayers back with the data. Again, maybe we don’t have the leadership in executive positions to see this reality and looking at a solution to bring something back to the middle class, license and tax these corporations for using “free taxpayer data” that is out there, it’s only fair.

Privacy Wanted–So Let’s Require Those Who Sell Web Data to Register and Tax the Transactions and Publicly Disclose Who They Sell To With a Federal Registry

Now after reading the information here with putting Medicare claim information out there, does this not make sense or was it the lawsuit that pushed this forward?  It does make you wonder if CMS and the lack of folks with IT in executive positions really took on a snow job.  It’s a good way to begin shifting some money back to the middle class too.  I wrote another post called “Occupy Algorithms” which was part of a part series here at the Quack and with transparency, let’s fix the math as I see that as an urgent need, much more so that this data base of Medicare claims open for the public and insurer analytics.  The link below is part 5 and there are links to the prior posts within. 

“Occupy Algorithms”–”The Attack of the Killer Algorithms Part 5” - Nothing Will Improve Until Audits and Actions Takes Place To Correct Formulas Built for Profit Only by Corporations And We Battle Back With Math

Nothing will happen until new code runs through those servers as IT Infrastructure runs almost all processes today in business and government.

There are more than just this blog that are speaking out today about bad math and the link below is a doctor who talks about how clinical trial data gets skewed too, again folks sucked in with analytics.  The doctor really does a good job explaining this and presents a certificate issued to his “cat” to make the point so you do wonder how many “cats” have these today <grin>.

Bad Science and Bad Analytics That Misleads–TED Video Takes on Advertising on Steroids and Danger of Mis-Matched Analytics And Distortion of Clinical Trials (Video)

So we can sit and view lawmakers in session playing solitaire on their computers and jumping around on Facebook, sad to see that is what lawmaking has become in the US and big business just keeps on moving with numbers and algorithms for profit.  In my opinion a really good snow job was sold to CMS to create value here as all we have done is created data for corporate America to profit further. 

Besides that, how many consumers have “time” to even mess with this?  Not many and again I do wonder how the lawsuit did affect this decision as it’s big business again with mighty big stick with selling value, knowing the data they have access to now will generate more corporate profits.  Consumers are too busy with chasing down so much old data from years past to non-incriminate themselves with all the flawed data that is out there and the more healthcare payers and credit companies report, the more the consumer has to run and fix it. 

Sure there may be some issues that need attention but if you read recently how credit agencies are going to compound and bring in more data such as your timely payments of utilities and cell phone bills, then you know the race is on to keep consumers chasing and fixing flawed data that they did not input and again we don’t seem to have enough digital literacy in government to “get this” and see reality, so thus the middle class is further sunk and the marketing of the Medicare claim data just add more fuel to the fire and soon everyone will have credit and healthcare blemishes coming out their ears.  I feel sorry for Marilyn Tavenner, the new director of CMS as it’s a no win job and she will be eaten alive with analytics without any IT in her background as big business moves in for more profiteering but the decisions made affect all of us and we are the ones who really suffer with executives as such when they are chewed up an spit out by big business.  BD 

Picking a specialist for a delicate medical procedure like a heart bypass could get a lot easier in the not-too-distant future.
The government announced Monday that Medicare will finally allow its extensive claims database to be used by employers, insurance companies and consumer groups to produce report cards on local doctors -- and improve current ratings of hospitals.

 
By analyzing masses of billing records, experts can glean such critical information as how often a doctor has performed a particular procedure and get a general sense of problems such as preventable complications.
Doctors will be individually identifiable through the Medicare files, but personal data on their patients will remain confidential. Compiled in an easily understood format and released to the public, medical report cards could become a powerful tool for promoting quality care.

(big time marketing statement below-warning)

Medicare officials say they expect nonprofit research groups in California, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Massachusetts and other states to jump at the chance to use the data. With 47 million beneficiaries and virtually every doctor and hospital in the country participating, Medicare's database is considered the mother lode of health care information.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-us-medicalreportcard,0,7517384.story

Technorati Tags: Dow Jones,Wall Street Journal,healthcare,Medicare,algorithms,media,lawsuit,HHS,AMA,American Medical Association,Doctors

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Extormity to Federal Health IT Leaders - "Take a Chill Pill, Fellas"

This is funny and we all like the Extormity humor but not too long ago I remember Sean over at HealthVault posting a blog post saying the same thing…you have done a good job so now take a break, but Extormity folks have the humor going for sure.

I do have to say as well I would laugh more at this if I didn’t agree as well:)  We know technology works but since all of this kicked into high gear with the Obama administration, things got a lot more complicated, very quickly too, so yeah guys take that chill pill and give the CIOs and others a chance to catch up a bit as they need it, either that or start working in a little more compassion as the cheerleading phase has passed a while back and now folks are just trying to figure out how to do all that is on their plate and quit telling developers they are going to get rich, they may make a lot of money but cool down on the rich speeches as right now on the consumer side we have gluts of software in healthcare that nobody uses and way too much duplication without collaboration. 

Extormity EHR Testimony at Health IT Hearing (Spoof-Video)

All the stuff is starting to look the same anymore with one small tweak so collaboration is what’s really needed to get apps that do more than “one thing” and please don’t mention the pregnant Mom texting program that horse has been ridden too long and is tired.  This humorous video fits the times even more now than it did when Extormity put it out <grin>.  BD 

Paper Charts EHR

Brantley Whittington, fictional CEO of make-believe electronic health record vendor Extormity, is urging Aneesh Chopra, Farzad Mostashari and Todd Park to tone down their optimism and exuberance about the clinical benefits and cost savings associated with implementing health information technology.

Whittington, speaking to reporters from the offices of a K Street lobbying firm in Washington, D.C., expressed dismay at the unbridled enthusiasm exhibited by White House, ONC and HHS officials. "For years, vendors like Extormity have worked hard to cultivate a healthcare IT culture that combines complexity with closed-mindedness, creating a pervasive and stifling sense of futility."

"Instead of the sober and staid leadership we are accustomed to, these gentlemen are inspiring new models of industry development," added Whittington. "The Direct Project is a great example of supercharged public/private collaboration designed to simplify the flow of health information without spending a dime of taxpayer money. This may benefit patients and providers, but the lack of convoluted infrastructure does little for the Extormity bottom line."

"While I have been known to muster up some counterfeit fervor for shareholder meetings, the consistent passion and zeal demonstrated by these officials is proving disruptive to those of us dedicated to proprietary and expensive solutions," added Whittington. "I suggest dialing back the levels on the gusto meter to preserve the status quo, stifle meaningful innovation and ensure consistent and sizable returns to a handful of large healthcare IT vendors."

http://us1.campaign-archive2.com/?u=176d87dd6ba2729f0d63f2fc5&id=c00178d845

Technorati Tags: EHR,Extormity,humor,ONC,medical records,spoof,meaningful use,Seedie,Upcoding,billing,Health IT

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Patient Commentary–Hoag Hospital in Orange County, I Didn’t Need that Pacemaker Said My Tests But Now that I have It I am Marketed by United Healthcare And Others Constantly In My Face–I’m Being Over Sold….

This was a patient’s comment that was too good to pass up and to just hear someone comment on their experience.  Again not being there and knowing all of his/her clinical conditions I can’t comment much there but he somewhat states he was treated with the best technology money can buy in his opinion. The fact that the Boston Scientific Rep was a former nurse at the hospital though does sound interesting and the patient here dug in I do have to say as he/she covered revenue cycling pretty well as most have no clue what that is, so involved I would say this patient is.  The original article is linked below where he/she made their anonymous comment. 

Hospitals in New York, California, Texas, Florida, Michigan and Ohio Will Require Pre-Payment Audits From Medicare for Heart and Orthopedic Surgeries- Algorithm “For Take Back Letters” or Hospital Stays Would be Denied Payment

I don’t know if this person reads this blog or not but they found it this week and are very aware of all the marketing that is handed down and he/she says that United Healthcare is marketing them like crazy as a result.  He/she has all this remote monitoring and again whether he/she is happy or not with it, the sale was made.  This was an important comment I thought to view a bit from the other side here from what appears to be a very business savvy person with the way the business of healthcare is run, or from the experience, they are now and it seems he/she feels there was way too much money spent on the care. 

Everybody wants to be in your face but when is over saturation taking place?  Obviously I think he’s stating that with Untied paying for the pacemaker, they ran in to sell him/her all kinds of other services and we all know some of those collect data for sale, the prescriptions of course have been sold for years by United under their Ingenix, now Optum subsidiary.  Whether or not he/she needed the pacemaker we don’t know but he/she seems to be of the opposite opinion and thinks the care received was way oversold.  BD   

“The Medicare pre-approval of pacemakers and defibrillators is only an initial step to audit unnecessary devices. Defibrillators are being implanted for fainting episodes for young people, particularly if the city has revenue-driven paramedics and a community hospital managed by hospitalists. An example is Hoag Hospital and Newport Beach Paramedics that administer so-called Advanced Medical Services. Newport Beach sells paramedics insurance to residents through telemarketing outsource of Wittman residents.

My experience was the Newport Beach Paramedics mistaking doing push-ups at a sports field for being collapsed and administering Midazolam to cause decreased breathing, irregular heart beat and amnesia. The Hoag contracted hospitalists further caused a temporary coma by applying external defibrillators under their so-called Arctic Sun Cooling.

The Hoag hospitalists from PacificHospitalists.com did what is known as Revenue Cycle Management RCM to get funding from United Healthcare UHC insurance for implanting a defibrillator despite tests showing no cardiac arrest, no blockage, no cardiac myopathy, low blood pressure, not diabetic and normal brain and spine MRIs.

The Boston Scientific rep also was a former nurse at Newport Heart Medical Group. UHC insurance used the implant to telemarket me and upsell more unnecessary services such as remote home nursing, prescription management, and other wellness rouses.

Beyond Medicare costs, unnecessary cardiac devices are costly to employers in benefits. Let's hope for the FDA and congressional action to mandate audits for implanting devices in hospitals and the device makers of Boston Scientific, Medtronic and St. Jude Medical.”

http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2011/12/hospitals-in-new-york-california-texas.html

Technorati Tags: Medicare,algorithms,CMS,naive,math,cardiology,orthopedics,reporting,digital illiterates,hospitals,take back,audits,Hoag,Pacific Hospitalists Association

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