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Drop Dead Healthy–One Man Who Used All the Warnings Literally and Humorously Talks About the Values and What Sticks It Nearly Killed Him–Video

1/07/2012 02:48:00 PM  , , ,  

Oh you do have to love this video as he did a very good job and of course he has imagewritten a book about his experiences but you have to laugh when you see him watering a plant with a helmet on. What does happen if one takes all the warnings literally and tries to practice all of them…this is well worth watching and the humor is built in. 

He was well oiled with sun screen, wrote the book on a treadmill and so on.  He followed ALL THE EXPERT advice.  This makes a point of what do you buy into and what can work for you, especially in the consumer medical apps area as there’s enough out there that only do one thing to choke a horse.  We could use a few less of those and more apps that do “more than one thing”.  BD 

Living Right Almost Killed Me

I always thought it would be interesting to assemble ALL of the warnings and instructions that come with the stuff you get (water heater, iPod, car, children's toys, etc.) and implement all of the instructions, as per the instructions. A.J. should do that next.

http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2012/01/testing_out_the_woo_and_more.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ScienceblogsChannelMedicineHealth+%28ScienceBlogs+Channel+%3A+Medicine+%26+Health%29

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FDA Clears PICO* Single Use Negative Pressure Wound Therapy System–Instructions for Application Use Provided by a MS Tag (barcode) On Packaging

1/06/2012 10:58:00 PM  , ,  

The device is available off the shelf and can be used at home or in hospital and is disposable and works for about a week. The device manages fluids and is small enough so it can be carried discreetly for patients being treated.  The PICO unit has already been approved in other countries and it can be used after plastic surgery or other general surgical procedures.  Smith and Nephew is also the same company that said last year that they have a 30 year knee replacement. 

I’m impressed to see MS Tags (bar codes) used here and if you read here often enough you can see the links at the top of this page where I think they would be real benefit for FDA Recalls, drugs and devices.  BD 

Press Release:

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., Jan. 6, 2012  -- Smith & Nephew plc , the global medical technology business, announces the FDA clearance of the pocket-sized PICO* system, a single use Negative Pressure Wound Therapy (NPWT) system. PICO is cleared for use both in a hospital and homecare setting and expands the use of NPWT from the traditional wound care population to include a wider range of patients undergoing orthopedic surgery, plastic surgery and general surgical procedures. This FDA clearance follows the recent successful launch of PICO in Europe, Canada, and Australia. image

"PICO is novel and beneficial in several regards," said Dr. Raymond Dunn, Chairman of Plastic Surgery, University of Massachusetts. "The seven day duration should allow us to more rapidly transition care for patients with post-operative wounds and skin grafts to the outpatient setting. With the simple pump, on-off design and absence of any canister or reservoir for fluid, patients can manage their NPWT at home much more easily, without additional nursing visits. This saves the healthcare system money and improves patients' quality of life."

Smith & Nephew has been a leader in the wound care market for more than a century. The company has employed years of customer feedback and market research in the PICO system's design to ensure a patient friendly experience that addresses the needs and preferences of clinicians and payers as well.

Clinicians can be confident that the PICO system is providing NPWT safely and effectively in a wide range of wounds and care settings. The PICO system is indicated for chronic, acute and traumatic wounds, subacute and dehisced wounds, partial-thickness burns, ulcers (such as diabetic or pressure), flaps and grafts, and closed surgical incisions. The PICO system is as easy to apply as a conventional wound dressing, reducing the need for the staff time, intensive training and administrative paperwork associated with traditional NPWT.

The simple application technique can be viewed online via an MS Tag included on the packaging.

For the patient, the PICO system's one-button pump is easy-to-use and its small size and silent operation provide a discreet, unobtrusive way to carry on daily life with NPWT. The disposable device works with a revolutionary dressing technology that manages fluids, eliminating the need for bulky canisters. The system can be worn on a wound up to a week, depending on the level of exudates. Its gentle silicone wound contact layer helps minimize pain at a dressing change.

For the Payer, the PICO system is more affordable than traditional NPWT, and can significantly reduce therapy costs associated with traditional NPWT. The PICO system is available off-the-shelf and therefore may reduce the occurrence of delayed hospital discharges.

"We are the first company to deliver effective, single use, disposable NPWT using the combination of a small, portable pump and advanced dressing technology," said Thomas Dugan, President, Smith & Nephew Advanced Wound Management, North America. "The PICO system imagedemonstrates our commitment to innovation and reinforces our pledge to help reduce the human and economic cost of wounds."

Clinicians and patients can also refer to the 24/7 negative pressure wound therapy hotline, 866-998-NPWT (6798), for more information about the NPWT portfolio of products from Smith & Nephew.

For more information about the PICO system, please visit our mobile compatible website at www.possiblewithpico.com or follow the @woundcare Twitter handle for the latest news from the Advanced Wound Management division of Smith & Nephew. Register at www.twitter.com today.

To view the multimedia assets associated with this release, please click: http://www.multivu.com/mnr/51011-smith-nephew-pico-system-fda-approval-npwt

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Man has 180 Pound Tumor Removed That Consumed His Right Leg and Was Twice His Weight–This One Is So Ugly!

1/06/2012 08:37:00 PM  ,  

Can you imagine a tumor this big?  It was in Viet Nam and he had a hard time finding both resources to have the surgery and surgeons that would do it.  It took five people to load the tumor into a waste container once it was cut free.  When you look at the picture, how in the world did he even move at all without someone carrying the tumor for him.  BD 

image

(CNN) -- A Vietnamese man is recovering in the intensive care unit Friday, a day after surgery that completely removed from his right leg a tumor twice his body weight, according to the hospital in Ho Chi Minh City.

The growing tumor had rendered the patient, Nguyen Duy Hai, virtually immobile until his surgery.

The excised tumor weighed 180 pounds (82 kilos), according to the hospital, a bit less than the 200 pounds (90 kilos) estimated before surgery.

Doctors expect that Hai's cardiac and pulmonary functions will return to normal during the next 10 days. After that, Hai faces rehabilitation, physical therapy and possible help from the hospital's clinical psychologist to deal with issues pertaining to body image, Guillon said. "This patient lived all his life with this tumor. It was part of him."

http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/06/health/vietnam-tumor/index.html?eref=rss_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+Top+Stories%29&utm_content=My+Yahoo

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Best Buy Setting Up to Hawk Software from Aetna For Consumer Wellness–Companies Still Don’t Get the Consumer Involvement Yet With a Vehicle and Creating Value

1/06/2012 12:54:00 AM  , , ,  

This is not a bad thing but I guess playing the Aetna game online must not be turning enough results so here comes more.  This appears to be a trial program and over the last few years I have watch my local Best Buy store which does some market testing go in and out of healthcare and last time I was in there, there’s not big aisles dedicated to wellness, just a shelf of fitness and other equipment in that specified area.  Let’s face it the sales reps are in there to sell the maximum amount of products they can.  I used to do some retail training at Best Buy stores for Intel and a few years ago it was fun and employees were great.

image

That’s not what I see today by all means and it’s not all their fault either, it’s the times we live in. Back on Aetna though they are out there but I’m not sure on their direction half the time and even Homeland Security says we “dumb down” consumers today too, as you can read below, would you see Ben Bernanke playing a health insurance company game, probably not. 

Insurer Software Games Continue to “Dumb Down” Consumers–Would You See Bernanke, the President, CEOs and Other Executives Playing an Online Insurance Game–No, Part of the Focus Of Occupy Wall Street Frustrations

So in the meantime Aetna can get the geeks going here to see what software and equipment they might sell.  I wish I had just part of the money spent on trying to engage consumers that is spent out there. I keep saying get the FDA bar codes out there for recalls as you need a vehicle to drive the rest of it that shows immediate value instead of the old paradigm of “its for those guys over there”. 

Microsoft Tag (Bar Codes) Adds QR and NFC Capabilities - So Let’s Move on the FDA for Recalls- OTC, Pharmaceutical and Medical Devices..The Vehicle to Drive mHealth

One thing though Best Buy is good at is collecting data and analytics and even 6 years ago when I was in their stores training, they could up and see the bag of M and Ms I bought 2 years prior, so as usual, read the privacy policy and look for any disclaimers with the software and website as we all do today if you are a consumer that wants to keep what little privacy we have left.  BD 

CHICAGO--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--Aetna (NYSE: AET) is bringing four of its most popular well-being offerings direct to shoppers at Best Buy® this New Year. The “My Resources for Living WellSM” product line includes on-line modules focused on fitness, weight management, smoking cessation and stress management.

“Best Buy® seemed a natural choice for trying out some of our well-being products with the general public”

These products are now sold within the Best Buy® “health technology” department in three of its suburban Chicago stores. This new 1,200-square-foot department serves as a pilot for Best Buy® and brings together the latest technologies and tools to support fitness, sleep and nutritional goals, plus the latest innovations in beauty technology for skin, face and hair.

“Best Buy® seemed a natural choice for trying out some of our well-being products with the general public,” says Louise Murphy, who heads Aetna’s behavioral health and employee assistance programs. “These online programs take the things you ‘should do’ and turn them into things you ‘will do.’ If you’re in Best Buy® purchasing a pedometer or blood pressure cuff, you might also be interested in a program to help you achieve the health goals associated with that equipment. While these products have been available to many of our Aetna members through our employee assistance and WorkLife programs, consumers can now access these wellness resources.”

Aetna has developed hanging cards for retail display that describe the programs. Each sells for just $19.99.

http://eon.businesswire.com/news/eon/20120105006588/en/Aetna-Brings-Well-Being-Buy%C2%AE?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

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Doctors Going Broke–You Can’t Even Give a Practice Away–Only Folks Buying Them Are Hospitals and Insurance Companies As It Relates to Reimbursement and/or Profits

1/06/2012 12:27:00 AM  , , ,  

That’s the word from MDs in southern California anyway from several of the ones I know and according to this CNN article it extends way beyond this geographical area.  I’m talking about cardiologists, internists and oncologists that I know so this reached beyond the family practice doctor.  Divorces when they occur get even more interesting with many that rely on their spouse to work in the office so when that happens they lose basically “free” labor too.image

What I found interesting with this article is the quote from an executive with a cancer center in Newport Beach, a pretty affluent area in the OC so give that some thought as if the doctors in Newport Beach are having issues, what does that say for the rest of the country.  This has been developing over time as when I was still developing software and spending time with MDs back 6 years ago things were tough then.  Part of some of the first work I did consulting was to create some custom data base programs and spreadsheets so doctors could reconcile their capitation payments as we always had “floating patients” and shortages were there from the HMOs years back before Health IT had evolved so been there, seen that and done that to help them get proper reimbursements. 

In California doctors are not allowed by law to work directly for a hospital so they all belong to physician’s groups.  The new graduates from medical school are looking for the salaried jobs.  The big court battle in 2010 with the City of Hope hospital and the physician's group pretty much set the stage in California for doctors having even less of a voice in healthcare.  That was a pretty ugly battle as the doctors has to disband their group and join one created by the hospital in essence. 

Judge Rules In Favor of City of Hope In Court Case Allowing the Creation of New Physicians Group - Oncology Specialists of COH

As a matter of fact, United Healthcare bought the big HMO group, Monarch healthcare in the OC not too long ago and see the havoc it’s already creating over “contracts”. 

United Healthcare Acquisition of Monarch Healthcare HMO Already Causing Confusion and Access Problems for Blue Shield Patients in Orange County

Here’s another article I wrote a few months back too as insurers reinvent themselves at IT companies with a ton of mergers and acquisitions below, one division cuts reimbursement contracts and then another subsidiary runs in to sell them additional software and analytics capabilities so they can keep what is left, so talk about control on reimbursements. 

Subsidiary Watch-Corporate Conglomerate Insurers Reduce Compensation Contracts Using One Subsidiary Then Market Same MDs With Another Subsidiary in Health IT

It’s all the math and business intelligence done for profit and doctors have been an easy target as they are doctors first and then business people and the second is not even taught in medical school for the most part.  I don’t want my doctor for that matter to be a business person either. 

Welcome to the world of discrimination by the algorithm….

One thing for sure consistent care with providers is definitely becoming one big disrupt for all, and it comes down to the buck and this is what digital illiterate Congressmen and Key Executives allow to happen, they are out of touch with the real world.

I guess again due to how I fell into Health IT and what I created for relief in reconciling EOBs years ago, that is why I pretty passionate here as you can’t help but be that way once you have seen it enough.  Once again we come back to the math and as I wrote yesterday, I sure hope our new Consumer financial watchdog knows math or we are up a creek and doctors are right in there with us. 

We have Andrew Cuomo to thank for the 15 years of short payments from insurers to doctors as well who caught the folks at Ingenix low balling the numbers.  United created it and the rest licensed it so all the big insurers paid doctors at a lesser rate for 15 years and the case was just settled by the AMA last year.  Again, this is why I look at the math and the numbers as writing code has taught me not to believe what I hear in promises but rather I look at the bottom lines, queries and so forth for my opinions and answers. 

President Appoints Richard Cordray as New Consumer Financial Protection Chief - Hope He Knows And Understands Correcting Flawed Math and Formulas To Battle the “Financial Attack of Killer Algorithms” On Consumers With Banks and Corporate USA

I know of another specialist having rounds with Aetna with “one” patient that threw off his average and now he/she is no longer a “good” doctor that does costs because the patient had to be referred to the specialist’s specialist and no carrier cover those folks but they did approve it and then later come back and denied the approval.  Most insurers do that when a patient needs the technical specialist that can save a life beyond what is normally practiced.  They want the doctor to absorb and eat all the bills for the hospital and the specialist now and will probably cancel the contract as again, it took “one sick patient” who’s life by the way was saved but it has kicked this MD out of favor with Aetna as it blew the average algorithmic scores and the risk analysis predictions on this doctor out of realm. 

Doctors too are under the attack of the killer algorithms.

Attack of the Killer Algorithms-Occupy Wall Street Part 4 Health Insurance Style - One More App For Folks Who Are Tired of Flawed Algorithms That Require A Ton of Work and Research Time To Create “Perfect” Data Files for Insurers And Others Analytics Processes

Big corporate USA and the banks are turning doctors and consumers into data chasers to clear up all the flawed data out there and we will all go broke chasing their data for analytics they use that seem to have a very low level of forgiveness when it comes to humans ethics.  You can find all the of “Killer Algorithms” posts here if you want to read more.  Peer groups don’t even understand the contract either at the hospitals, good example at the link below as the doctor tells the story.

Hospitalists, Peer Committees and Utilization Struggle to Comprehend United HealthCare Algorithms

Here’s another example from 2010 of a practice running out of money.  You can hear him say he wants to take care of patients and unfortunately this is happening in other parts of the country as well.  Insurers keep making record profits and consumers lose houses and doctors go out of business.  BD 

Cardiology Doctor Closes Office – Access for Patients to Records Resolved – Practice Ran Out of Money To Keep the Doors Open

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Doctors in America are harboring an embarrassing secret: Many of them are going broke.

This quiet reality, which is spreading nationwide, is claiming a wide range of casualties, including family physicians, cardiologists and oncologists.

Doctors list shrinking insurance reimbursements, changing regulations, rising business and drug costs among the factors preventing them from keeping their practices afloat. But some experts counter that doctors' lack of business acumen is also to blame.

Beau Donegan, senior executive with a hospital cancer center in Newport Beach, Calif., is well aware of physicians' financial woes.

http://money.cnn.com/2012/01/05/smallbusiness/doctors_broke/#comments

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President Appoints Richard Cordray as New Consumer Financial Protection Chief - Hope He Knows And Understands Correcting Flawed Math and Formulas To Battle the “Financial Attack of Killer Algorithms” On Consumers With Banks and Corporate USA

1/04/2012 09:36:00 PM  , , , ,  

Welcome to the world of discrimination by the algorithm….

Nothing will happen until new code runs through those servers as IT Infrastructure runs almost all processes today in business and government.  Below I have summarized the links on the series if you care to take a look at how consumers are being stuck and it all has to do with over indulgence in risk management with little or no levels of forgiveness with data. I don’t like writing this series but it is what it is.  It’s a technological war and few were held accountable for the big mortgage sales and most of all keeping records of who has titles and documents to homes all over the US, they were so anxious to make the big dollars that audit trails were not used! 

However, now the banks and big corporations all want complete “audit” trails on every consumer and run mismatched data for behavioral predictions against all consumers and small businesses. We are screwed. 

California did a good thing with a new law that forbids employers from using a person’s credit score when considering an applicant for a job.  I’m not sure how it will be enforced though, but it’s on the books and anyone could easily call a potential employer on it. People are being denied jobs and places to live due to flawed data as it’s not accurate.  This should be a federal law as well. 

How do you like the fact that even Social Security has 31,000 on their death index who are in fact alive??  All data is not accurate and updated.  CoreLogic has formed a partnership with FICO who is already in the process of selling algorithms with mismatched data which connects public information about you and combines it with your credit score to tell if you as a medical patient will take your prescriptions.  Somebody needs to start calling some of these folks on “mis matched data” that discriminates.

Social Security Master Death Index Data Flawed–Over 31,000 Living Found in the Index

How do we as consumers fight back, start licensing and taxing these folks and have a federal government page of disclosure, what is sold, and to who, and how much are the profits on the sale of this data.  I’m smart enough to know that you can’t create laws to govern how to write algorithms and code but we can sure go for plan B.  Someone needs to enlighten our digital illiterate Congress about this.  Read the article at the red link below and think about that excise tax you pay to put a new tire on your car and this will make sense!

The Alternative Millionaire’s Tax–License and Tax Big Corporations Who Mine and Sell Taxpayer Data They Get for Free From the Internet-Phase One to Restore Middle Class With Transparency, Disclosure and Money

The mining of data is so bad that 3 states had to fight back with more software that blocks automated data mining programs!!  They were not doing it to protect us, but their websites were inundated with mining software coming in for the “free taxpayer data” and slowing the servers down to a crawl.   It gets worse too as some states were selling the data and then charged for updates to the data for new information that was added and the data miners wouldn’t pay a few hundred bucks to update and keep sending out even more “flawed data”. 

The big culprits of flawed data are the companies that compile this information so be wary of what you put out there as well as what can appear via public records and check for accuracy.  I guess breaches someday might come in handy to fix the data <grin>.   Mathematicians know this and some of them read this blog, like this professor.

“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

All you have to do is read the news and it’s in front of you every day on how the math and algorithmic formulas are working.  In a Wisconsin town 52 businesses that have never missed a payment are being foreclosed on, and get this, the bank says the church (one of the outstanding loans) does not make enough money.  It comes down to analytics and over done risk assessments.

 

In California Bank of America is putting the pressure on small businesses as well, demanding that loans be paid in full immediately. You can read the article in the Los Angeles Times.

“Bank of America customer Babak Zahabizadeh was told in a letter that the $96,000 debt carried by his Burbank firm, Messengers & Distribution Inc., must be repaid Jan. 25. A loan officer offered multiple alternatives over the phone that imageZahabizadeh called unaffordable, including paying off the debt at 12% interest over two years.”

Caid and her husband, Tim Melchior, a video producer with a Burbank media company, insist they are not in serious financial trouble despite having laid off her eight full-time employees and downsized her business space by two-thirds during the recession, yet Bank of America says her credit line debt of 80k is due in May.

We all understand risk management and how a certain amount is needed but combined with all the data and flawed data that is out there today, the consumer is getting the brunt end with “discrimination by the algorithm”.  Back in August of 2009 I made a post at this blog pondering a Department of Algorithms and hopefully this is what the consumer financial agency will become, as it’s all about the math and lack of accuracy and many flaws today. 

Again, look at the billions of flawed transactions that took place with the mortgage schemes and how nobody keep audit trails but now they want every last tiny detail parameters to judge each and every consumer, even as to how they pay their bills as now credit agencies are “selling” that data for a premium too. I received my Verizon bill and it stated that my information on when I pay my bills could be reported to 3rd parties. 

The thanks we get today is becoming data chasers as consumers to fix all the flawed and corrupted information that has been compiled and used against us.  If everything is ok, then nothing to chase; however, “cookie cutter” employees today are not trained on how to work with flawed data and see everything as a blemish and thus there’s no level of forgiveness and understanding.  If they challenge or ask questions, they might get fired and are told to rely on that computer screen.

Maybe I was ahead of my time, but I’ll leave you with my article from August of 2009 (link below), as folks who write code see the algorithms coming before they hit. 

I sure hope Mr. Cordray knows some math, algorithms and formulas and and at least has a tiny bit of IT experience in his background, we need those “hybrids” in executive positions more than ever.  BD

“Department of Algorithms – Do We Need One of These to Regulate Upcoming Laws?
Occupying Wall Street–It’s All About the “Attack of the Killer Algorithms”–The Unfair and Marketing Exploit of Ethics Using Math–This Could be a Subject for Michael Moore to Explore and Document In a Movie
“Killer Algorithms: Part 2” Disturbing News for Consumers With Credit Scoring Adding New Data Analytics–Some of the Same Methodologies Used by Insurers With Flawed/Potential Erroneous Data–One More Reason to Continue Occupying Wall Street
“Attack of the Killer Algorithms” Part 3–Vatican Doesn’t Like It Either–Occupy Wall Street Belongs in New York As They Don’t Do Code or Algorithms in Washington–Only Find time To Talk Abortions
Attack of the Killer Algorithms-Occupy Wall Street Part 4 Health Insurance Style - One More App For Folks Who Are Tired of Flawed Algorithms That Require A Ton of Work and Research Time To Create “Perfect” Data Files for Insurers And Others Analytics Processes

“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

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

Flawed Data–Mined by Corporations Online Provides Background Checks Riddled With Errors–Attack of the Killer Algorithms Part 7

Consumers Lose More Privacy With New CoreLogic Credit Reporting–”Score” Marketed For Insurers and Employers To Gain Information-California Prohibits Potential Employers – From Using As Jan 1 - Killer Algorithms Part 8

Freddie Mac Found to be Betting Against Home Owners Being Able to Refinance - “Attack of the Killer Algorithms” On Consumers Part Nine–Home Mortgage Style

Komen Reverses Decision With Planned Parenthood–Hard Lesson on How Business Analytics Are Misunderstood And/Or Abused–Attack of the Killer Algorithms Chapter 10

Gamification–You Have Won and Now We Know All About You - It Didn’t Cost One Cent-Insurance Companies Have Games To Find Out More About You Too– “Attack of Killer Algorithms” Chapter 11

Colonoscopies–The Bait and Switch on Screenings–If Polyps Are Found You Get A Bill-Some Other Screenings Too–Killer Algorithms Part 12–Medical Billing Codes Style

Attack of the Killer Algorithms Part 13–Bank of America Style - Flawed Data With Credit Scoring Agencies–Dead Man Banking And Currently A Consumer Under Attack

Insurers to Provide User Friendly Summaries of What’s Covered–Good Luck As Constant Revisions Will Be Required as Business Intelligence Algorithms For Profit Change–Attack of the Killer Algorithms Chapter 14

Story of Duke University - The Sad Case of Flawed Data Published in Medical Journals That Was Declared Inaccurate 60 Minutes –Attack of the Killer Algorithms Chapter 15

Medicare Low Safety Rankings At Harvard Teaching Hospitals Disputed and Flawed–Attack of the Killer Algorithms Chapter 16

Start Licensing and Taxing the Data Sellers of the Internet Making Billions of Profit Dollars Mining “Free Taxpayer Data”–Attack of the Killer Algorithms Chapter 17 - “Occupy Algorithms”– Help Stop Inequality in the US

Pharmacies File Suit Against Texas Human and Health Services Commission - Managed Care Contracts Begin Delegating Reimbursements Too Soon – Attack of the Killer Algorithms Chapter 18

AMA Announces Doctors And Patients Can Expect To See the UnitedHealthCare/Ingenix Class Action Settlement Checks In the Mail Soon - Out of Network Short Payments–Attack of the Killer Algorithms Chapter 19

Healthcare Blogger Gets Spammed by Hedge Fund Using Internet “Reputation Restore” With Some Really Bad Algos–Attack of the Killer Algorithms Chapter 20

SHAKER HEIGHTS, Ohio — President Obama touched off a fierce election-year confrontation with Congressional Republicans on Wednesday, defying their deep opposition to appoint Richard Cordray as director of a new consumer protection agency and fill three labor board vacancies.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/05/us/politics/richard-cordray-named-consumer-chief-in-recess-appointment.html?_r=1

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Sermo Founder Leaves to Begin a New Start Up Called par80

1/04/2012 06:31:00 PM  , , ,  

This was reported by Pharmalot earlier today and I assume Sermo is not gone but the emphasis will be on the start up company, commons sense tells you that.  Earlier this year Sermo had partnered with FiercePharma and I am on their mailing lists and have published some of their survey information.  Stay tuned as I’m sure there’s more to follow soon.  BD 

Sermo and FiercePharma Partner to Allow Readers to Have Access to Sermo’s Online Information

From the website:

“Our team has been working on par8o for over a year now. But before we were par8o, we were SERMO and had worked together there for…well let’s just say the very beginning. We are physicians and dreamers, technologists and artists, business people and friends.  We share a passion for exceptional product design and an obsession to help fix healthcare. “

More than five years after launching the heralded and closely tracked Sermo web site that formed a burgeoning online community of physicians, Dan Palestrant has left day-to-day operations to form a new venture that he hopes will reinvigimageorate healthcare by directly connecting doctors and patients.

Called par8o, the new site is based on theories espoused by Vilfred Pareto, a 19th century economist turned sociologist, who philosophized about income distribution and efficient economies, among many other things (read more here). In this case, Palestrant hopes to apply notions of supply and demand to realign patient and physician behaviors.

http://www.pharmalot.com/2012/01/sermo-founder-leaves-for-a-new-start-up/

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Medtronic Introduces Remote Insulin Pump Monitoring for Caregivers With mySentry

1/04/2012 06:10:00 PM  ,  

Not too long ago Medtronic announced their cellular connection that works with medical records and now for children or adult monitoring they have mySentry for monitoring.  I swear we are going to have more monitoring systems available soon that it might be hard to choose which one:)

image

Medtronic CareLink(R) Network Goes Cellular – Devices That Report Data Connecting to EHR Records With HL7

You can watch the video below and see how it all works.  The child wears the pump and the care giver gets the alerts.  There are 3 parts to the system, the monitor, the power supply and the outpost device.  When the outpost connects to the pump it collects information and sends it to the monitor.  The systems need to be within 6 feet to exchange between themselves.  When the pump receives an alert the monitor goes off.  You get different alerts and the one showing high or low glucose levels would be the most important.  In addition you have hardware monitors that tell how much insulin is in the pump and the battery status.  Red, yellow and green lights on the screen quickly tell you when action is or is not needed.  It even has a night light if needed so you can find it, if the screen is not enough for you to find the monitor.  BD 

 

mySentry Remote Monitoring

mySentry is used in conjunction with the MiniMed Paradigm ® REAL-Time Revel™ System, an insulin pump with built-in continuous glucose monitoring. mySentry can be placed in the bedroom or in any room imagethroughout the house so all important information is just a glance away. mySentry provides flexibility and a wide range of uses including displaying all of the alerts and alarms available on the Paradigm Revel insulin pump: predictive alerts, continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) graph, insulin pump battery life, amount of insulin remaining, and time until the next glucose sensor calibration.

Medtronic is committed to working with health insurance providers to ensure access to and reimbursement for the product. More information is available at www.medtronicdiabetes.com/mysentry.

About the Diabetes Business at MedtronicThe Diabetes business at Medtronic ( www.medtronicdiabetes.com) is the world leader in advanced diabetes management solutions, including integrated diabetes management systems, insulin pump therapy, continuous glucose monitoring systems and therapy management software, as well as world-class, 24/7 expert consumer and professional service and support.

http://www.thestreet.com/story/11364386/2/mysentrytm-remote-glucose-monitor-photo-medtronic-inc.html

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Securities and Exchange Commission Accuses 3 Top Executives from Life Partners Life Settlement Company of Fraud With Life Expectancy Claims - Rick Perry Uses the CEO’s Plane for His Campaign Travelling

1/04/2012 03:58:00 PM  , , ,  

This is just a bad business all the way around in my book as investors are hedging imageon when the person who’s life insurance policy they have taken over. I love the fact that Rick Perry seems to be a friend and fan of the company and it goes to show how deep digital illiteracy with those running for office runs. I wonder how many people he might be invested in and waiting for them to die while he uses the CEO’s plan for his Presidential campaign?  Back in January of 2010 the SEC investigation was announced. 

Life Partners Confirms Investigation by SEC-Life Settlements Where Insured Are Living Longer Than the Risk Projections-Investors Paying Long Than They Want

Shareholders were duped on the fact that they thought the insured were going to die sooner than they did.  Again, this is a crappy business all the way around as you have some investor waiting for you to die so they can collect.  When the policies are no longer valid, they should go away and not continue on in schemes as such.  The company used a doctor with his “formulas” to give the estimated life span expected.  We now have others working on algorithms for that too and it still a sucking business in my opinion, math or no math. 

“In late 2005, a policy on the life of an 80-year-old California woman was available for purchase. Life Partners acquired the $1 million policy on behalf of its clients, paying $300,000, according to company filings in Texas.

It brokered the policy to the clients the same day for more than $492,000 plus five years of future premiums, an additional $58,000.”

In 2002, Life Partners put a life expectancy of two years or less on the insured person in a third of the 297 policies it sold, and four years or less on all but a handful. Most were listed as HIV-positive.

If the projections were accurate, almost all of those policies should have "matured," with the insured dead, by the end of 2009, but instead the insured had outlived the estimate in 283 of the 297 policies.”

The MIB, which has collected information on those insured for years has software they market for that purpose and what you body will cost.  Again this is pretty sick stuff. 

MIB Solutions and Hooper Holmes Working Together to Assess Morality Risk – Analytics and Consumer Files Used for Underwriting And To Estimate How Long You May Live And What Your Body Will Cost Over Time

If you want to read more on this “dark” business, see the link below about the Human Hedge funds…again these types of policies should be outlawed as nobody should have to live their life with a “bounty” hanging on it.  You could also say we once again have more “Attacks from the Killer Algorithms” in play.  BD  

'Dead Peasant' Life Insurance Policies - Human Hedge Funds The Next Bond Issues

Jan. 04--Waco-based Life Partners Holdings and three of its top executives were accused Tuesday by the Securities and Exchange Commission of "systematically and materially" misleading investors about the life expectancy of people whose life insurance policies it traded.

The scheme inflated the value of the company's stock, according to a suit that the SEC'sFort Worth office filed in federal court in Waco.

Investigators say CEO Brian Pardo sold about $11.5 million of Life Partners stock at inflated prices while having information not available to the public about the company's dependency on short-lifespan estimates.

The federal action could become a political embarrassment to Gov. Rick Perry, who is running for the Republican presidential nomination. Perry's campaign used Pardo's Cessna Citation X business jet and, according to The New York Times, acknowledged underpaying Pardo nearly $23,000 for nine days early in Perry's White House quest.

"The senior-most executives at Life Partners concealed significant risks to the business, manipulated financial statements with improper accounting, and knowingly profited from their misconduct by executing insider trades based on information that was not available to the public," said David Woodcock, director of the SEC'sFort Worth office.

Among misleading statements to investors, Pardo said during teleconferences in 2007 and 2008 that Life Partners was delivering "double-digit" returns, the SEC said.

But he knew such returns were impossible even in the best-case scenarios, in which all of those insured die within the company's estimated life expectancy period, the SEC said. Actually, 2,900 insured people had outlived the company's predicted lifespan, it added.

The suit seeks unspecified civil penalties from the three as well as the return of stock trade profits and bonuses from Pardo and Martin.

http://insurancenewsnet.com/article.aspx?id=322475&type=lifehealth

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Tissue Engineers Working for Lab Grown Limbs and Organs–One Soldier Benefited Who’s Leg Was Damaged in Iraq

1/04/2012 02:19:00 PM  , ,  

We all love to read about regenerative medicine and this is another update on what imageis happing at Wake Forest, University of Irvine and Pittsburg.  Neuro stem cells are also in the works to help research with restoring nerve damage. 

Physical therapy is needed with restoring some leg and arm functions.  There’s also an interview with another man who went to China and had 3 treatments to partially work on recovery.  It does take work to recover.  Some additional information on Wake Forest is at the link below.  BD 

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

Human Tissue Engineers

A new research breakthrough has enabled scientists to grow human tissue to repair or replace organs, and someday, maybe even limbs. Science correspondent Miles O'Brien reports.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLFUEEs2ouM

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Mayo Clinic Video 8675309 Parody–Know Your Numbers Blood Pressure, Lipids and BMI

1/04/2012 08:39:00 AM  , ,  

To really appreciate this you need to be a baby boomer and remember the song and imagethis is pretty much the crowd I think the video is targeting.  It’s pretty entertaining and they had to have fun making it and there’s even some outtakes you can check out. 

Blood pressure, lipids and BMI is the chorus of the song here…pretty good..

They did a good job on the music and have some great guitar players too.  BD 

Mayo Clinic–8675309

Here’s one of the outtakes of the main video they published with showing the folks how to use apps, pretty funny.  BD

Mayo Outtakes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkps4XwvxK4&feature=youtu.be

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Hospital Robot Blasts Bacteria With One UV Swoop to Disinfect Rooms And All the Contents

1/04/2012 08:27:00 AM  , ,  

This is pretty neat and there’s a case study about how it works to stop the spread of C Diff and other germs and bacteria that exist in hospitals.  Send it to every bathroom for that matter.  We are starting to see a lot of new technologies in hospitals that help fight infections that we all dread that lurk.image

The hospital cleans the room as they normally would and then the robot enters to finish up the process.  You can watch in the video how the robot is rolled into a bathroom and it goes to work.  You can see the light as it is treating the bathroom and there is some risk of exposure if a person were in the same room so all humans need to be outside the room while disinfecting is taking place.  It can zap the door knobs, bed rails, and so on.  It takes 5 minutes to run the process and the machine sells for $80,000.00, so it is not cheap but seems to have a pretty quick ROI.  We read about the curtains having bacteria all the time and for those doctors who still wear ties, take it off and leave it in room being treated:)  It certainly could not hurt.  Just yesterday the FDA approved a keyboard that also zaps germs too.  BD

FDA Approves First Ever Germ Zapping Self Sanitizing Keyboard for Use in Healthcare

http://money.cnn.com/video/technology/2012/01/03/in_robot_xenex_hospital.cnnmoney/

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Doctors Without Borders Versus Johnson and Johnson Who Will Not Donate Licenses for HIV/AIDS Drugs as Others Have

1/03/2012 06:29:00 PM  ,  

Johnson and Johnson refuses to join the Medicines Patent Pool as others have done so generic drugs can be made in developing countries.  As you can read through here, they do get some small payments from licensing the drugs and the other countries might just do a copy cat anyway.image

Johnson and Johnson said there was no urgency here but that does not seem to be the case if you just read the news.  In saying no to the Medicines Patent Pool, Johnson & Johnson has made a conscious, willful decision to turn its back on people living with HIV and there’s even one license held by the NIH that is useless as it is a partial patent for darunavir so without all being members not much gets done.  Here’s a video from South Africa with one doctor talking about their need for some of the J and J drugs.  BD

HIV-AIDS Drugs

At the end of 2011, there were about 15 million people who needed HIV/AIDS treatment, but only about 6 million people received proper care.  Part of the reason is that it is costly to treat HIV/AIDS and most people living with HIV/AIDS are poor and live in countries that simply don’t have the means to provide treatment to everyone who needs it.

Although the cost of standard HIV/AIDS treatments have gone down significantly over the years, there are still certain specialized medicines or specialized combinations of medicines that are really expensive. One idea that humanity drew up to reduce the costs of these expensive treatments is something called the Medicines Patent Pool.

The idea is pretty basic. Patent holders from western pharmaceutical giants voluntarily give up their patents for expensive AIDS drugs. A World Health Organization-certified drug manufacturer in say, in India or Kenya, produces cheap generic versions of these expensive drugs for the exclusive sale in the developing world.  They pay a royalty to the original western patent holder, but nothing too onerous.

The western pharma giant gets paid (and gains access to new markets). HIV patients in the developing world get their medicines cheap. Everyone wins, right?  Not so, says Johnson & Johnson which is refusing to turn over three of its patents to the pool.

http://www.undispatch.com/doctors-without-borders-v-johnson-johnson

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TruTouch Technologies Receives US Patent For Non-Invasive Alcohol Detection Device

1/03/2012 05:35:00 PM  , ,  

Now that we have a patent I assume we might see more of these out for sale?  I would think the ER room would be a good place for one of these machines to help determine if someone who was either conscious or unconscious has been drinking and to what level. 

In time I’m sure the device will maybe get smaller and there will be one in every patrol car but again for now guessing the price will have to come down a bit for mass distribution.  The device from TruTouch does have some competition with other technologies too.  BD 

Devices That Record and Report Data – Alcohol Compliance and Reporting Via Sensors, Games And Voice Decoding

image

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. & FRAMINGHAM, Mass.--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--TruTouch Technologies, a pioneer in non-invasive biometric intoxication detection systems, today announced that it has secured a U.S. patent that protects the use of its noninvasive optical technology for the detection of alcohol in operators of automobiles and machinery.

The patent, titled “Apparatus and Method for Controlling Operation of Vehicles or Machinery by Intoxicated or Impaired Individuals,” discloses several embodiments of the TruTouch alcohol technology that enable a rapid, noninvasive alcohol test that is verified to have come from the person seeking to operate the vehicle or machinery. The use of the TruTouch technology effectively precludes the potential for circumvention of the alcohol test, and therefore ensures safe operation of vehicles and machinery equipped with the TruTouch device.

The TruTouch products use an advanced intoxication detection technology that uses light to measure a subject's alcohol level instead of bodily fluids or other means. With TruTouch, a test subject places their finger on a near infrared measurement system, which then analyzes the alcohol concentration in the subject's system. The device can produce accurate results in seconds, and has a built-in biometric identification system to ensure test result integrity.

http://eon.businesswire.com/news/eon/20120103006278/en/TruTouch-Technologies-U.S.-Patent-Issues?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

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Dr. Eric Lander Director of the Broad Institute–There’s Power in Those Numbers And Algorithms For Cures and More–Video

1/03/2012 04:22:00 PM  , ,  

This is a very good interview and well worth watching.  If you read the Quack often enough you know I like to talk about those who know math and for good reason.  We are in a world today where math and computer formulas are both unlocking doors and also creating a world of havoc with discrimination, but for this post we are going to focus on the positive side of things and take a break from the “Attack of the Killer Algorithms” when used and interpreted by corporations and the digital illiterates. image

Dr. Eric Lander has a couple of real neat things going here, first of all his talent and love for math and secondly his “curiosity” as nothing happens in the world today if you can’t perk that interest in a person and I know that for a fact as I am very curious in nature as well and guess what, I learn a lot, but nowhere near the levels of the doctor.  He knows how to combine math with labs, business and so on and with using common sense, and we need more of that.  One more big talent of his, he collaborates, and again today that is hard to find as well as covering many areas of technology, medicine and science.  Can he sell, you bet as look what he received for the Broad Institute from Eli and Edythe Broad.  This was a good thing as their donations have made the institute what it is today. 

“Half the place is devoted to finding the basis of disease and half is devoted to trying to transform and accelerate the development of therapeutics,” Dr. Lander said. “It’s different from what you find in many university settings where you have many labs, each of whom does its own thing.”

He is also co-chairman of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology that deals with vaccines, HIT, and science education.  He’s a busy person.  Data use can make us smarter today and is the key to finding cures.  A couple years back I interviewed the Chief Science Officer of Helicos, Dr. Patrice Milos, and she was a great interview as well and was glad to talk outside the clinical arena and we talked a bit of math and algorithms and their products were and are used at MIT and at the Broad Institute for sequencing.

Helicos BioSciences and Personalized Medicine - Featured Interview with Dr. Patrice Milos

This is going to be the year anyway to where the focus will be on fixing flawed math and data too in almost every aspect around us. Thank goodness we have “good mathematicians” around like Eric Lander who know the difference and work on the “good” side for cures. 

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…

Now if you want to venture over to the other side, listen to another great mathematician who talks about how marketing and spinning numbers can be used deceptively as well.  Dr. Siefe from NYU reads here.

“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

When done correctly though in a learning institute without the marketing and bending of algorithms though in a pure educational atmosphere, we do get smarter and this again is really a nice interview and talks about the power of math and how it finds cures and is here to stay.  Not convinced yet, a related video below on how the math and algorithms affect our lives.  BD 

Kevin Slavin

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — His Ph.D. is in pure mathematics, in a subfield so esoteric and specialized that even if someone gets a great result, it can be appreciated by only a few dozen people in the entire world. But he left that world behind and, with no formal training, entered another: the world of molecular biology, medicine and genomics.

As founding director of the Broad Institute of Harvard and M.I.T., he heads a biology empire and raises money from billionaires. He also teaches freshman biology (a course he never took) at M.I.T., advises President Obama on science and runs a lab.

Eric Lander — as a friend, Prof. David Botstein of Princeton, put it — knows how to spot and seize an opportunity when one arises. And he has another quality, says his high school friend Paul Zeitz: bravery combined with optimism.

His appetite for biology whetted, he began hanging around a fruit-fly genetics lab at Harvard. A few years later, he talked the business school into giving him a leave of absence.

He told Harvard he would go to M.I.T., probably to learn about artificial intelligence. Instead, he ended up spending his time in Robert Horvitz’s worm genetics lab. And that led to the spark that changed his life.

He combined his mathematics and the biology and chemistry he’d learned hanging out in labs. And he added insights about industrial organization, achieved in his business school days, to streamline the effort and control costs.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/03/science/broad-institute-director-finds-power-in-numbers.html?scp=1&sq=power%20in%20numbers&st=cse

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