Cathy O’Neil, Mathematician/Quant: Wall Street Quants The Culture, Big Data Mechanics, Algorithms, Data Mining, Lack of Privacy, Web Profiling, Health Insurance Profiles and Modeling Abuse… Cathy O’Neil, Mathematician/Quant: Wall Street Quants The Culture, Big Data Mechanics, Algorithms, Data Mining, Lack of Privacy, Web Profiling, Health Insurance Profiles and Modeling Abuse…

This is pretty good and I felt compelled to include this as she’s the one before the programmers, in other words, Quants build models and pr...

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Monday, December 31, 2012

FDA Approves New Drug for Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis, Sirturo –First New Drug in 40 Years for TB FDA Approves New Drug for Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis, Sirturo –First New Drug in 40 Years for TB

Amongst all the recalls Johnson and Johnson has had a good year with FDA approvals including this one as there has not bee anything new appr...

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Monday, December 31, 2012

Hospital Facility Fees Up for Discussion Again as Out of Pocket Costs Rise for Patients When Hospitals Buy Physician Practices And Appear to be Growing Hospital Facility Fees Up for Discussion Again as Out of Pocket Costs Rise for Patients When Hospitals Buy Physician Practices And Appear to be Growing

Facility fees are allowed by Medicare for hospitals to charge and these are tacked on, separate from medical services received.  More and mo...

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Sunday, December 30, 2012

As The Fiscal Cliff Approaches, Time To Reflect With A Little Music For Thought:  “This Is Not America” As The Fiscal Cliff Approaches, Time To Reflect With A Little Music For Thought: “This Is Not America”

There was a move made a while back called “The Falcon and the Snowman” and it was about who selling America out and it was a good movie ...

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Saturday, December 29, 2012

Dr. Oz on Technology and Doctors–It’s Not About Medicine Depending Technology And Not Doctors But Rather About Developing an Awareness of Tools & Technology That Have Value And Are Available… Dr. Oz on Technology and Doctors–It’s Not About Medicine Depending Technology And Not Doctors But Rather About Developing an Awareness of Tools & Technology That Have Value And Are Available…

This was a very “touch” interview of sorts. He makes good points as far as having “public” systems available with technology. Very carefully...

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Saturday, December 29, 2012

FDA Clears Drug Eliquis For the Prevention of Strokes, Alternative for Warfarin For Anti-Clotting–3rd Time is the Charm FDA Clears Drug Eliquis For the Prevention of Strokes, Alternative for Warfarin For Anti-Clotting–3rd Time is the Charm

The drug was twice denied approval and the FDA wanted additional data before approval could take place.  Patients with artificial heart val...

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Friday, December 28, 2012

Aetna Fined $1 Million by State of Washington for Insurance Violations–Sounds Like Automated Algorithm Issues With Editing Compliance & Marketing Integration, Included Dental Plans Sold to Nordstrom Aetna Fined $1 Million by State of Washington for Insurance Violations–Sounds Like Automated Algorithm Issues With Editing Compliance & Marketing Integration, Included Dental Plans Sold to Nordstrom

Some of the violations go back to 2005 when all the data systems we use today were not as sophisticated.  One area is in compliance that did...

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Friday, December 28, 2012

Niche Health Insurance Company Files for IPO–Uses Cloud Based Platform for Algorithmic Consumer Shopping, Underwritten by Banks Niche Health Insurance Company Files for IPO–Uses Cloud Based Platform for Algorithmic Consumer Shopping, Underwritten by Banks

My first thoughts here are to look at the underwriters, Citi and BofA Merrill Lynch?  The company plans to go on Nasdaq so we have banks her...

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Friday, December 28, 2012

Health Net Stops Covering Medical Services at 6 Southern California Tenet Hospitals in the OC and Desert Areas –Reimbursement Contract Differences Health Net Stops Covering Medical Services at 6 Southern California Tenet Hospitals in the OC and Desert Areas –Reimbursement Contract Differences

The hospitals affected are owned by Tenet in the desert and also in Orange County.  You can read the article below to see where the talks fa...

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Friday, December 28, 2012

AMA Reaches Out to Doctors To Remind Them Patient Welfare Must Come First As Rising Pressures From Insurers and Hospitals Can Surmount At Times AMA Reaches Out to Doctors To Remind Them Patient Welfare Must Come First As Rising Pressures From Insurers and Hospitals Can Surmount At Times

This went out as a reminder as many more doctors are working directly for hospitals and some have “goals” they somewhat enforce as the pinch...

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Thursday, December 27, 2012

FDA Approves Xpert CT/NG Rapid Detection Test for Gonorrhea and Chlamydia To Enable Same Day Treatment Upon Diagnosis FDA Approves Xpert CT/NG Rapid Detection Test for Gonorrhea and Chlamydia To Enable Same Day Treatment Upon Diagnosis

Gonorrhea and Chlamydia with the use of the test and lab equipment from Cepheid can now have results in around 90 minutes.   In addition the...

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Thursday, December 27, 2012

“Data Scientists”– An Oxymoron?  Is Finding the Value in Data Bases Queried Together in the Business World To Make Money Actually Science? “Data Scientists”– An Oxymoron? Is Finding the Value in Data Bases Queried Together in the Business World To Make Money Actually Science?

What really is a data scientist?  I guess someone along the line had to come up with a name so those folks who understand queries a...

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Thursday, December 27, 2012

Metropolitan Chicago Healthcare Council Medical Record Exchange Could Collapse, Too Much Money to Develop and Participate For Many Metropolitan Chicago Healthcare Council Medical Record Exchange Could Collapse, Too Much Money to Develop and Participate For Many

As always it comes back to money.  You can read the article and see where nobody denies the value but how do you get the value when the ...

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Thursday, December 27, 2012

Government Urges Software Companies to Find and Document Patient Harm Resulting From Electronic Medical Records–Checking Algorithms & Hey, Whatever Happened to the Common User Interface? Government Urges Software Companies to Find and Document Patient Harm Resulting From Electronic Medical Records–Checking Algorithms & Hey, Whatever Happened to the Common User Interface?

When this question is posed, how can medical records cause patient harm?   First of all there is the user interface and every EHR/EMR has on...

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Thursday, December 27, 2012

Christmas Day Tornado Damages Mobile Alabama Infirmary Hospital Christmas Day Tornado Damages Mobile Alabama Infirmary Hospital

I don’t know if anyone was in the bed or not but this shook things up pretty well at the hospital it looks like.  There were quite a few...

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Tuesday, December 25, 2012

St. Johns Hospital Saga Continues As Options Are Weighed As Ownership and Future Discussions Take Place St. Johns Hospital Saga Continues As Options Are Weighed As Ownership and Future Discussions Take Place

Los Angeles billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong, a hospital supporter who has committed $100 million to St. John's and  has his name on seve...

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Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Inhaled Drug for Treating Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder Gets FDA Approval–Adasuve Inhaled Drug for Treating Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder Gets FDA Approval–Adasuve

The drug is known as a rapid antipsychotic treatment and was turned down back in 2010 as the FDA was concerned about the side effects, bron...

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Tuesday, December 25, 2012

FDA Approves Drug for Inherited High Levels of Bad Cholesterol  - Juxtapid FDA Approves Drug for Inherited High Levels of Bad Cholesterol - Juxtapid

We have enough people with high cholesterol and now there’s a treatment for those who have a genetic condition that promotes high bad choles...

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Tuesday, December 25, 2012

FDA Sends Letter to 350 Clinics About Non Approved Botox From Canada FDA Sends Letter to 350 Clinics About Non Approved Botox From Canada

Quality Specialty Products (QSP), A+ Health Supplies, QP Medical, Bridgewater Medical or Clinical Care are the names of the suppliers in Can...

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Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Curēus, New Open-Source Medical Journal Created by Stanford Neurosurgeon John Adler,Scientific Research More Readily Available, Peer To Peer Reviews Curēus, New Open-Source Medical Journal Created by Stanford Neurosurgeon John Adler,Scientific Research More Readily Available, Peer To Peer Reviews

All publications are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which is great as that’s what I use for the Medical Quack.  Cu...

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Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Niacin Is Out As Far As Protecting Against Heart Attacks As Merck Drug Fails Large Clinical Trial- No Benefit When Prescribed With Statins Niacin Is Out As Far As Protecting Against Heart Attacks As Merck Drug Fails Large Clinical Trial- No Benefit When Prescribed With Statins

This was quite a large trial with 25k patients followed over 4 years and some encountered serious harm, but Merck has not let us know yet wh...

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Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Merck, Roche and Sanofi Working to Develop Drugs to Target More Than One Type of Cancer Merck, Roche and Sanofi Working to Develop Drugs to Target More Than One Type of Cancer

Right now it is important to know the origin of cancer, in other words is it breast cancer or kidney cancer that migrated to the lungs.  The...

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Tuesday, December 25, 2012

NYU To Offer Medical Students Shorter Training, One Year Less, Saves Tuition & Gets New Doctors in Practice Sooner NYU To Offer Medical Students Shorter Training, One Year Less, Saves Tuition & Gets New Doctors in Practice Sooner

I wrote about this a while back with some schools in Texas offering the same 3 years instead of four and actually from what I have read here...

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Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Online Retailers Using “High Frequency Type Algorithms” and IP Locations to Change Prices On Product Offerings, Business Intelligence Based on Consumer Data Mining and Scraping–Attack of the Killer Algorithms Part 52 Online Retailers Using “High Frequency Type Algorithms” and IP Locations to Change Prices On Product Offerings, Business Intelligence Based on Consumer Data Mining and Scraping–Attack of the Killer Algorithms Part 52

As data mining and scraping consumer information grows by leaps and bounds so does the intelligence on what they determine you are going to ...

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Monday, December 24, 2012
 
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