MyMedicalRecords PHR 30 Day Account To Be Offered at Mickey Fine Pharmacy Chain in California

Who says the old traditions don’t mix with the new, and here’s an example of what is said to be the last pharmacy with a soda fountain in the store.  If you under around 40 years old, you won’t know what one looked like as pharmacies today don’t have them any longer.  MMR Global as you all know gained nationwide recognition over stocks and shares and the Hollywood suicide that occurred.  Sometimes people say any publicity is good but in this case with getting the financials in order the company did get some press.  At any rate if you have never heard of Micky Fine it’s in Beverly Hills and is a landmark.  The Medical Quack has pretty large section all about PHRs and it goes back to the beginning of when both Google and Microsoft began their programs and as we all know now Google Health is no longer around and at one point MMRGlobal connected with Google Health as well.  BD 

MMR Global PHR Law Suits and Patents–Company That Drew Attention With the Russell Armstrong Suicide in Hollywood

 

A very good target market for personal health records is seniors and I know that for a fact as a few years ago when I was guest speaker at the Computer Friends Group in Newport Beach, a senior tech group (and yes they exist) that was one of the first questions they asked about was having access and copies of their medical records, and let’s face it a we get older, more of us might see the importance as well.  The second most important topic the seniors asked me about if you look at the link below will tell you they wanted to know about speech recognition and mind you this was back in 2008 and my friends at Nuance will appreciate that plug for sure as look where we are today. 

Microsoft Speech Recognition Presentation - Computer Friends at the Oasis - Newport Beach, CA

I have mine and my mother’s records all together and with all of her medications and documents in one spot it sure is convenient for me since we don’t live real close. Today is the first day of offering, May 10th. In addition to their interest in medical records the company also is diversified with some biotech holdings as well working in the area of clinical trials.   BD

Favrille Biotech and MyMedicalRecords.com, Inc. Announce Merger Agreement

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QualityStocks would like to highlight MMRGlobal, Inc., a publicly traded company. Through its wholly-owned operating subsidiary, MyMedicalRecords, Inc., the company provides secure and easy-to-use online Personal Health Records ("PHRs") and electronic safe deposit box storage solutions, serving consumers, healthcare professionals, employers, insurance companies, financial institutions, and professional organizations and affinity groups. The MyMedicalRecords PHR enables individuals and families to access their medical records and other important documents, such as birth certificates, passports, insurance policies and wills, anytime from anywhere using the Internet.

In the company’s news last week, MMRGlobal announced it will begin offering its MyMedicalRecords PHR at the Mickey Fine Pharmacy chain in Beverly Hills beginning May 10, 2012.

MMRGlobal pointed out Mickey Fine Pharmacy’s established presence in the Los Angeles area, attracting many movie stars, athletes, business leaders, and politicians. MMRGlobal’s program offer Mickey Fine customers a 30-day MyMedicalRecords.com PHR account, which covers up to 10 family members, including pets, and incorporates the company’s MyEsafeDepositBox so that users can securely store important documents, accessible from any Internet-connected device.

http://www.virtual-strategy.com/2012/05/08/qualitystocks-news-mmrglobal-launches-mymedicalrecords-program-mickey-fine-pharmacy

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Blue Cross Venture - Blue Health Intelligence Proving to Be Very Costly And Received Another 9 Billion From Undisclosed Source–Subsidiary Watch

So far according to this article it has been hard to quantify the real dollar amounts that have been saved.  We all know there’s a lot more data out there of course with the creation of the venture.  Recently it was announced that the firm that manages the Blue Cross venture was moving to San Francisco to start up an incubator so is this a sign of perhaps where some of the funding may have come from?  With starting an incubator this is a sure sign that they are looking for more code for analytics. 

Sandbox VC Firm that Manages Blue Cross/Blue Shield VC Funds Is Moving to San Francisco–An Incubator for Some New Coders To Write Algorithms for Profit?

 

We also recently had this purchase from the Venture division.  BD 

WellPoint & Partners Buy Bloom Private Health Insurance Exchange From Their Own Venture Capital Company (Sandbox) –Subsidiary Watch

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(Crain's) — A venture of the Blue Cross & Blue Shield Association that analyzes health care information on 110 million people has raised more than $9 million in equity, as insurers comb patient records for ways to cut costs and improve medical care.

Blue Health Intelligence uses claims data that has been stripped of identifying information to study health care trends, using records covering nearly one-third of the U.S. population.

Founded in 2006, the venture is backed by the Chicago-based association and 18 of the 38 insurers that use the Blue Cross name, which is licensed to them by the association.

Despite showing promise, Blue Health Intelligence has proven to be a costly endeavor, with $31 million in revenue and $43.6 million in expenses in 2010, the most recent year available, according to the tax return for the nonprofit association.

The $9.4 million in capital was disclosed last month by Blue Health Intelligence in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which does not identify the source of the money. The funding still leaves the venture short of its goal of raising $13.1 million, according to the filing.

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20120503/NEWS03/120509903/blue-cross-association-raises-9-4-million-for-data-venture/healthcare

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Pebble Watch–Companion for iPhone and Android As a Companion for mHealth Apps With Crowd Source Funding (Video)

This entire story is interesting in going just beyond what the watch does in the fact that it was funded by a company called Kickstarter.  You can review the page and see the folks that pledged money to get the project off the ground here and this relates to the hot topic of crowd funding. 
All it took to contribute was a dollar and 283 backers jumped in.  The watch supports blue tooth and connects to your phone, so just convenience with being on your wrist to check emails, get alerts, and so on shows how this will probably be a big hit.  It is water resistant.  There have been smart watches out before and this is not the first but the design and connection to the cell phone might be the trick here.  If you were receiving alerts as an example to remind you to take your meds, this would be convenient as one example to not have to reach for your phone.  Battery life is stated to be about 7 days, less time than charging your phone.  You can listen to music, take it on the golf course and it will track GPS information from your bike, which of course is right into exercise.  I like the fact that you can shake your wrist to dismiss a message too.  A watch with apps! 
The watches have all sold out and will ship in September with “backers” getting the option to buy first, smart marketing there.  It has a built in accelerometer which by now we all know what that does.  Interesting and I can see this with mHealth Apps for sure.  BD

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Apps bring Pebble to life. We're building some amazing apps for Pebble. Cyclists can use Pebble as a bike computer, accessing the GPS on your smartphone to display speed, distance and pace data. Runners get a similar set of data displayed on their wrist. Use the music control app to play, pause or skip tracks on your phone with the touch of a button. If you're a golfer, feel free to bring Pebble onto the course. We're working with Freecaddie to create a great golf rangefinder app for Pebble that works on over 25,000 courses world-wide. Instead of using your phone, view your current distance to the green right on your wrist. These apps will be the first, with more in the works!  

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/597507018/pebble-e-paper-watch-for-iphone-and-android

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Congress Drops the Ball While Children Can’t Get Their Drugs for Cancer Treatment–And Many of the Cancers Can be Cured–Shame on Boehner’s Response–For 14 Months the Bill Has Been In the Works

Over a year ago the bills started and today drug shortages are still looming.  The bill is stuck in the Senate, why does it take 14 months before anything begins to happen.  The FDA commissioner, Dr. Margaret Hamburg  has called for the law to put through so they can be notified when there are drug shortages looming.  Watch the video and see what Boehner has to say, he respect the system..boy are in bad shape if that’s the case.  Many of the drugs in short supply are generic as some companies are no longer making them due to not enough profit. 

The bill needs a full vote of the Senate to become law and that’s where it has been stuck so one more tarnish on the GOP lawmakers for sure.  Harry Reid said they should have it on the floor shortly and his response was “it’s always been that way here, slow”.   We all know different and have seen things hit the floor and get passed, it just seems to depend on who has a sense or urgency and concern for their fellow man and children. There’s all this talk about saving money with cancer care, well not too long ago I had this story about UCLA spending two hours out of every day, calling around to borrow or work with suppliers to ensure their cancer patients when they come in for treatment, that the drugs will be there.    As long as this goes on who can even think about cost savings it goes right out the door and patients may or may not get their cancer drugs.  What is also ironic is that the Cancer facility at UCLA is making some breakthroughs with cancer research and targets.  BD 

Drug Shortages Continue–UCLA Spends 2 Hours A Day Checking on Cancer Drug Availability–ASHP Website Lists All Current Shortages

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Fifteen months ago today, Republicans and Democrats introduced bills to solve to problem. The Preserving Access to Life-saving Medications Act would require drug companies to notify the FDA if a shortage is coming. Both parties and the President support the bills, yet they haven't passed.

CBS News medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook found out more about the shortage and then traveled to a place he'd never worked before -- the U.S. capitol.

"I've been in Congress for 16 years," Degette said to CBS News. "I have never seen a Congress more difficult to pass legislation. I think you should call the leadership and ask them why they haven't brought this bill up for vote!"

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57429527/life-saving-cancer-drugs-for-children-stuck-in-federal-legislative-limbo/

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ReWalk Robot Enables Patients with Lower Limb Paralysis to Walk In Downey, CA–Only Hospital in the West That Has the System

This is very cool and it is FDA approved but costs a few dollars for sure.  The hospital was lucky as they were the recipient of a donation to make this happen.  You can read the back article below. and visit the news website here to see it in action.  BD 

FDA Approves “Rewalk” Device That Enables Paralyzed Individuals to Walk

ReWalk

DOWNEY, Calif. (KTLA) -- An amazing new exo-skeleton robot is enabling patients with lower-limb paralysis to walk again.
Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center in Downey is the only hospital in the Western U.S. to get the ReWalk system.
The ReWalk robots were donated to the facility, and they're worth about $85,000 each.

http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-exo-skeleton-robot,0,2433207.story

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Illegal Drugs Smuggled Out of China Containing “Powdered Humans” or “Flesh Pills” Contain Bacteria and Are Dangerous–South Korea Steps Up the Fight to Battle With Documentary

This is just a yucky story all the way around but the summary of this is that the pills are supposedly sold/marketed at performance drugs and the Korean government even made a documentary about the topic.  It is not known if any of these pills made it to the US.  The flesh contained is from the fetuses of aborted babies and can contain a high degree of bacteria as there is nothing known about how the pills are made.  The pills are being found in tourists luggage.

It’s an old Chinese belief that a human fetus can cure disease so thus came the pills I assume.  So far no comment from the Chinese government.  MRSA, e coli, salmonella and other bacteria could be present.  Hepatitis B is also incredibly high in China.  BD 

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South Korean customs officials are boosting efforts to stamp out illegal smuggling of drugs that are allegedly coming from China. Reason: The drugs supposedly contain human flesh.

Since August, Korean authorities have discovered nearly 17,500 of the human flesh capsules in the luggage of tourists and in international mail, the state-run Korea Customs service said in a statement Monday.

The pills, disguised as performance enhancement drugs, have been smuggled in by ethnic Koreans living in northern Chinese cities and contain so-called super bacteria that is hazardous to human health, the statement said.  The documentary claimed that DNA tests verified that the pills were made from powdered humans.

The Korean customs announcement comes less than a month after China’s drug regulators announced the suspension of sales of 13 drugs (11 Chinese traditional medicines and two antibiotics) after finding they were encased in gelatin capsules that contained excessive levels of chromium. According to China’s state broadcaster, CCTV, the toxic drug capsules were believed to originate from factories in China’s coastal Zhejiang province and had been made using scraps of leftover leather.

http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2012/05/07/south-korea-steps-up-fight-against-human-flesh-pills-from-china/

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