Medical Quack

Cambridge Consultants Develops A Liquid Biopsy Test Without the Procedure–Only Blood Test Required

Cambridge Consultants, is working with Singapore-based Clearbridge BioMedics on a new low cost, non-invasive system to<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="179" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-GhcNsuN7AVY/UHNrn6h_6GI/AAAAAAAA-ss/u8UxmR17NwI/image%25255B6%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="214" /> improve cancer testing and diagnostics.   The ClearCell System finds circulating tumor cells that have attached to a cancerous tumor.  This got buried in my mailbox so I’m getting it out today.  I have written about several of the devices before that have been created by Cambridge and this time they are working with a company from Singapore.  Here’s a couple examples and they have also worked with Qualcomm.  The first device they created that got my attention was the blue tooth inhaler, something maybe that is still to come of age.  <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/12/cambridge-consultants-and-sun-pharma.html">Cambridge Consultants and Sun Pharma Develop a High Performance Dry Powder Drug Inhaler for Use Beginning in 2011</a> </h4> <h4> </h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/11/minder-wireless-device-connects-to.html">The Minder Wireless Device Connects to Collect Patient Medical Data and Transmit Via Wireless Network to Medical Record Systems Via HL7 Standards</a> </h4> The device is called the ClearCell system and even at low concentration levels it is able to find stray cells in the bloodstream that have detached from the tumor. BD <hr /> Press Release: Cambridge, UK and MA – September 25, 2012 – Innovative technology design and development firm <a href="http://www.cambridgeconsultants.com/">Cambridge Consultants</a> is working with Singapore-based <a href="http://www.clearbridgebiomedics.com/">Clearbridge BioMedics</a> on a groundbreaking device to improve cancer testing and research. The innovative second-generation ClearCellTM System enables tumor cells to be retrieved and detected even faster, and potentially more accurately, from a simple blood sample – paving the way for a new generation of personalized cancer treatments and increasing the chance of saving lives*.   There were an estimated 12.7 million new cancer cases diagnosed around the world in 2008 – the latest year for which figures are available – and 7.6 million deaths. The number of cases is expected to increase to 21 million by 2030. The spread of the disease around the body is the major cause of death from cancer<a name="OLE_LINK2"></a><a name="OLE_LINK3"></a><a name="OLE_LINK1"></a>*. But the traditional diagnosis method of a tumor biopsy often involves invasive surgery and cannot easily detect whether the disease has spread.   Clearbridge BioMedics’s proprietary second-generation ClearCellTM System is a new low-cost non-invasive ‘liquid biopsy’ that is drawing on the diagnostic device expertise of Cambridge Consultants – particularly in the fields of microfluidics and automation control – to give early warning of the spread of the disease. It detects circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in the bloodstream that have detached from a patient’s primary tumor – even at concentrations of as low as one in a billion blood cells.<img align="right" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/TPbtGWEELLI/AAAAAAAAkPw/uhqvW-xw4Bg/image%5B17%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="display: inline; float: right" />   Early detection of these CTCs can increase patients’ chances of survival – and tracking the cell count over time could help ensure treatment is more effective. The new testing device has also solved the technical challenge of retrieving the cells intact – offering detailed insight into the exact nature of the cancer and its unique characteristics, and so paving the way for a new generation of personalized cancer treatments to fit the needs of each patient’s unique tumor biology.   “It is a tribute to our world-leading track record in diagnostic device development that we have been approached from Singapore to help with this development work,” said Duncan Bishop, program director in the Medical Technology division of Cambridge Consultants. “We can also offer a complete end-to-end solution, including blood handling, rapid prototyping and manufacturing trial devices, which is invaluable to start-up companies.”   Clearbridge BioMedics is a spin-off from the National University of Singapore and the first member of the Clearbridge Accelerator technology incubator, which is supported by the Singapore government’s National Research Foundation and SPRING Singapore. Clearbridge BioMedics specializes in novel applications for cancer research and diagnostics, and has customers spanning Asia, Europe and North America.   Johnson Chen, managing partner of Clearbridge Accelerator, said: “The ClearCellTM System from Clearbridge BioMedics is designed to resolve the current limitations of today’s technologies for detecting and isolating circulating tumor cells. It potentially represents the next generation of cancer screening, diagnosis, personalized medicine and treatment monitoring. The world-class diagnostic device expertise of Cambridge Consultants made it the clear winner when it came to selecting a development partner.”   * World Health Organization fact sheet no 297, February 2012   Cambridge Consultants develops breakthrough products, creates and licenses intellectual property, and provides business consultancy in technology critical issues for clients worldwide. For 50 years, the company has been helping its clients turn business opportunities into commercial successes, whether they are launching first-to-market products, entering new markets or expanding existing markets through the introduction of new technologies. With a team of more than 360 staff, including scientists, mathematicians, engineers and designers, in offices in Cambridge (UK) and Boston (USA), Cambridge Consultants offers solutions across a diverse range of industries including medical technology, industrial and consumer products, transport, energy, cleantech and wireless communications. For more information visit: <a href="http://www.cambridgeconsultants.com/" target="_blank">www.CambridgeConsultants.com</a>    Cambridge Consultants is part of Altran, a global leader in innovation and high-tech engineering consulting which supports companies in the creation and development of their new products and services. With a global network of 17,000 collaborators (including 15,000 consultants) throughout more than 20 countries, and 500 major clients, the Group reported sales of €1,420m in 2011. For more information visit: <a href="http://www.altran.com/" target="_blank">www.altran.com</a>   Clearbridge BioMedics specializes in novel platforms with applications in oncology research and diagnostics. It is a National University of Singapore spin-off company that is committed to developing medical devices which will impact the world and revolutionize cancer diagnostics and patient care by leveraging groundbreaking technology from research partners. The ClearCell™ System comprises patent-pending CTChips®, which are microfluidic biochips able to effectively detect, isolate and retrieve wholly-intact circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from small quantities of patient blood samples. The isolated CTCs can then be stained directly on the CTChips® for identification and enumeration, or retrieved for further molecular analysis. Headquartered in Singapore, Clearbridge BioMedics currently has customers spanning Asia, Europe and North America. For more information visit <a href="http://www.clearbridgebiomedics.com/">www.clearbridgebiomedics.com</a>

Cambridge Consultants Develops A Liquid Biopsy Test Without the Procedure–Only Blood Test Required

Cambridge Consultants, is working with Singapore-based Clearbridge BioMedics on a new low cost, non-invasive system to improve cancer test...

Monday, October 08, 2012

Man Dies After Eating Cockroaches During a Contest at a Pet Store to Win a Python

This is sad but other participants did not get sick.  You could not pay me enough to eat roaches.  There’s women in the video eating them too.  A python snake is also something I would not get excited<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="109" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-v9_wso13DTs/UHNjjAbUeLI/AAAAAAAA-rs/YYghOzYnCGs/image%25255B3%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="153" /> about either to win, but shortly after the contest ended he started feeling sick and I might add there were worms in the mix to eat at well.  After this I can bet it might be a while before such a contest is entertained again.  He was pronounced dead at the arrival to the hospital.  Midnight Madness sale was the come on to get customers in to participate.  It will be interesting to hear what the cause of death was and if the bug and worms were part of it.  BD  <iframe style="width: 432px; height: 256px" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/CXDkfOBKFtU?rel=0" frameborder="0" width="560" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> The competition was organized by the <a href="http://www.albinonile.com/">Ben Siegel Reptiles store</a>, and the winner was to get a python. Now, <a href="http://www.bso.org">Broward Sheriff’s Office </a>detectives are investigating the death. The victim was identified as Edward Archbold. Minutes after Friday night’s contest, according to a BSO spokeswoman, Archbold started feeling ill. He started regurgitating and later collapsed shortly after exiting the store. <a href="http://gossipextra.com/2012/10/08/man-eat-cockroaches-dies-1896/">http://gossipextra.com/2012/10/08/man-eat-cockroaches-dies-1896/</a>

Man Dies After Eating Cockroaches During a Contest at a Pet Store to Win a Python

This is sad but other participants did not get sick. You could not pay me enough to eat roaches. There’s women in the video eating them to...

Monday, October 08, 2012

United Healthcare Negotiated to Buy 90 Percent of the Largest Managed Care Provider in Brazil, Where Insurers Can Own Hospitals and Physician’s Practices

Update: You can read through here and see where the market value is over $4 billion for the Brazilian HMO. They have a lot of cash on hand due to <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="141" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-fmYujXz5w_4/UHJ88xTMhKI/AAAAAAAA-qs/9Dzf3nvfUBM/image%25255B8%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="147" />people here in the US not going to the doctor. The deal was announced today, so is this a predictor of any type of medical tourism push in the future? That’s what I would ponder if down the road something along this line comes about since I don’t know if they get any hospitals in the deal or not. In the US the company has been duking it out with contracts, suing the DOD to get the big west coast Tri-Care contract and pretty much have an all out technology battle going with Blue Cross with a lot of subsidiary actions taking place. <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/09/arent-these-health-insurance-contracts.html">Aren’t These Health Insurance Contracts a Bitch! - Battle of the Algorithms</a> </h4> Ok so let’s have a song…”Down in Brazil”…..BD <iframe style="width: 420px; height: 260px" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/oDb6X7-Y6RY?rel=0" frameborder="0" width="420" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> <hr /> <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/AMIL3:BZ">Amil Participacoes SA (AMIL3)</a>, <a href="http://topics.bloomberg.com/brazil/">Brazil</a>’s largest managed-health provider, is boosting revenue at five times the pace of its biggest U.S. peers, luring a bid from <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/UNH:US">UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH)</a> as growth at home slows. UnitedHealth, the No. 1 U.S. health insurer, is negotiating to buy all or part of Rio de Janeiro-based Amil, which has a market value of 9.12 billion reais ($4.49 billion), according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named because the talks are private. While Amil is talking to other suitors, UnitedHealth has emerged as the likely buyer and a deal may be announced as soon as this week, they said. Brazil’s relatively strong private-health sector may be more enticing than other countries where governments place more control on the market, said <a href="http://topics.bloomberg.com/sheryl-skolnick/">Sheryl Skolnick</a>, a CRT Capital Group analyst who follows UnitedHealth. Brazil’s integrated-care model, where insurers also own hospitals and physicians’ practices, is another attraction, said the analyst, who is based in <a href="http://topics.bloomberg.com/stamford/">Stamford</a>, <a href="http://topics.bloomberg.com/connecticut/">Connecticut</a>. Unlike in the U.S., where the two sides are often at odds, a blended system can lead to more coordinated care for patients and better cost controls, she said. <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-08/amil-lures-unitedhealth-as-brazil-s-sales-outpace-u-s-.html?cmpid=yhoo">http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-08/amil-lures-unitedhealth-as-brazil-s-sales-outpace-u-s-.html?cmpid=yhoo</a>

United Healthcare Negotiated to Buy 90 Percent of the Largest Managed Care Provider in Brazil, Where Insurers Can Own Hospitals and Physician’s Practices

Update: You can read through here and see where the market value is over $4 billion for the Brazilian HMO. They have a lot of cash on hand d...

Monday, October 08, 2012

Fungal Meningitis Cases up to 91 and 7 Deaths So Far

This story keeps getting worse and at least there’s a full on alert to try to identify any potential recipients of the spinal injection.  <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="140" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-kM-hkKNRbSo/UHJ1bocrXxI/AAAAAAAA-ps/YxRYKehiKWQ/image%25255B3%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="129" />The product has a formal recall and what is really strange here with the compounding company is the fact that it was supplying a large supply of the drug in so many states as usually compounding companies are pretty much working in a local or one state area.  They seem to have the distribution of a mini drug company and there are drugs that are FDA approved that do the same thing, but guess what, they cost more so and from what I read it’s somewhat a substantial price break when ordering in quantity.  I read where the NECC website is now down as well. <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/10/fungal-meningitis-infections-linked-to.html">Fungal Meningitis Infections Linked to Steroid Injections Manufactured by New England Compounding Center In Massachusetts</a> </h4> Now there are 91 reported cases and I hope we have reached the end of them as patients who received injections between July and September are being contacted.  Over 17,000 potentially tainted injections were shipped from the NECC lab.  BD  <iframe style="width: 440px; height: 254px" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/YmqY9xMEO_8?rel=0" frameborder="0" width="560" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> The number of people sickened with fungal meningitis from tainted epidural steroid injections has now risen to 91 in nine states, including seven deaths, federal officials said Sunday, as investigators try to home in on the precise source of contamination at a compounding pharmacy tied to the widespread outbreak. Investigators from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and state officials are probing the Framingham, Mass., facility where the New England Compounding Center made the 17,676 potentially tainted steroid injections, which were then shipped to 75 clinics in 23 states, according to federal and state officials. <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444070104578042860922074782.html">http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444070104578042860922074782.html</a>

Fungal Meningitis Cases up to 91 and 7 Deaths So Far

This story keeps getting worse and at least there’s a full on alert to try to identify any potential recipients of the spinal injection. Th...

Sunday, October 07, 2012

Jon Stewart and Bill O’Reilly–“The Rumble in the Air Conditioned Auditorium” – Big Healthcare Discussion at the End About A Single Payer System–Video

This is great and starts out funny.  I had no idea that Jon Stewart was <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="209" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-M0Tx46NhZac/UHGz88jHOGI/AAAAAAAA-mw/eqCpE0ZdVs8/image%25255B13%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="228" />only 5 foot 7 inches.  They start out on birth control…which of course is the “default” topic for the GOP when they have the urge to control something.  “BS Mountain, pretty funny from Stewart.  Killing Big Bird is not a solution he says and the discussion moves on to investing in PBS.  Stewart has no problem with being taller…love the solution.  I certainly found this debate more entertaining than any of the others out there:)  I think Stewart won this one and hats off to O’Reilly for his participation too.  Here’s the full show if you haven’t seen it.  BD <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-real-debatejon-stewart-and-bill.html"> <iframe style="width: 441px; height: 278px" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/K4ubSV5o7Fs?rel=0" frameborder="0" width="560" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> </a> If you missed the trailers and previews, the links a below.<a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-real-debatejon-stewart-and-bill.html"></a> <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-real-debatejon-stewart-and-bill.html"></a> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-real-debatejon-stewart-and-bill.html"> The Real Debate–Jon Stewart and Bill O’Reilly “The Rumble in the Air Conditioned Auditorium” Saturday October 6th at 8 PM Eastern Time</a> </h4> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A051B-uPopM">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A051B-uPopM</a>

Jon Stewart and Bill O’Reilly–“The Rumble in the Air Conditioned Auditorium” – Big Healthcare Discussion at the End About A Single Payer System–Video

This is great and starts out funny. I had no idea that Jon Stewart was only 5 foot 7 inches. They start out on birth control…which of cour...

Sunday, October 07, 2012

TSA To Deploy New Scanners Capable of Detecting Every Molecule on Your Person from 164 Feet Away Without You Even Knowing or Giving Permission–Also the Technology Can Be Used to Find Counterfeit Drugs

Yikes!  Like any technology we have privacy issues to discuss and this article brings up some interesting potential rules as far as use.  If someone steps on a joint and it’s on the bottom of their shoe just from walking somewhere, will that person be arrested?  They shouldn’t be but how far will this go.  <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="177" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-rnKglfD2sPQ/UG-EqUQezeI/AAAAAAAA-lw/ZElAaVZZ62U/image%25255B4%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="227" />Great that it can detect gun power and the undesirable stuff we don’t want but again how far will it go?  What if you have a trace of cocaine on your dollar bill that the convenience store gave you with change?  We all know and have read how many items of currency have been tainted with the drug and there’s tons of them out there.  <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-512815/Briton-jailed-years-Dubai-customs-cannabis-weighing-grain-sugar-shoe.html">As far as the weed on the shoe, this already happened in Dubai</a> and they guy went to jail as there was a microscopic speck of cannabis stuck the bottom of one of his shoes.    The scanners have been developed by the CIA and Homeland Security with that chief that doesn’t use email will know all about you.  The units are portable and can be moved around so this item will probably appear in more than just airports as it could be on a bus, train, sporting event, a mall and even a hospital for that matter.  It can detect increased levels of adrenaline in your system.  Airports may have them as soon as next year 2013.  When you stop and think about it knowing what you just ate, maybe be even be able to tell if you recently had sex? Drug metabolites in urine can be found in less than a second.  Also they state their products can be used to detect counterfeit drugs and the observation could be done remotely.  The company is also involved with biotech scanning products to be used for research and development so I am not sure exactly other than using in a lab for molecular content to be determined at a distance, exactly what else it would do, but at any rate be ready for this one to appear at airports and other places soon and we don’t know how much of the data will be stored.  BD  <iframe style="width: 420px; height: 255px" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Ki1kdlURm90?rel=0" frameborder="0" width="420" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> <hr />If you thought the x-ray scanners at the airport were bad, wait until you find out that TSA employees will soon know what you had for breakfast and how pumped you are to sit on a plane for twelve hours. Unfortunately, you won’t know what they know, because Homeland Security’s new toy is capable of detecting every molecule on your person from over 164 feet (50 meters) away—without your permission. “Within the next year or two, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will instantly know everything about your body, clothes, and luggage with a new laser-based molecular scanner fired from 164 feet (50 meters) away. From traces of drugs or gun powder on your clothes to what you had for breakfast to the adrenaline level in your body—agents will be able to get any information they want without even touching you,” reports <a href="http://gizmodo.com/5923980/the-secret-government-laser-that-instantly-knows-everything-about-you">Gizmodo</a>. The scanner was developed by Genia Photonics before being subcontracted by In-Q-Tel, a company founded in 1999 “by a group of private citizens at the request of the Director of the CIA and the support of the U.S. Congress.” Although the technology is not new, In-Q-Tel made it exponentially faster and more convenient to use—which has its own implications. <a href="http://www.infowars.com/tsa-to-implement-body-scanners-that-instantly-know-everything-about-your-body/">http://www.infowars.com/tsa-to-implement-body-scanners-that-instantly-know-everything-about-your-body/</a>

TSA To Deploy New Scanners Capable of Detecting Every Molecule on Your Person from 164 Feet Away Without You Even Knowing or Giving Permission–Also the Technology Can Be Used to Find Counterfeit Drugs

Yikes! Like any technology we have privacy issues to discuss and this article brings up some interesting potential rules as far as use. If...

Friday, October 05, 2012

The Real Debate–Jon Stewart and Bill O’Reilly “The Rumble in the Air Conditioned Auditorium” Saturday October 6th at 8 PM Eastern Time

I don’t know about you but I’m tired of debate talk and the President did fine but you have to remember he was busy running a country <a href="http://www.therumble2012.com/index.html"><img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="122" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-BziNQscKvhM/UG9eM5zfNFI/AAAAAAAA-kw/872sfqqrz2c/image%25255B6%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="255" /></a>all day while Mitt just to get his act together and prepare. After all the craziness of what has happened with the GOP (a lot of digital illiteracy) if were Obama I wouldn’t want to be standing there debating a lot of fictitious nonsense either.  Everybody knows the full stands of each and I see the debates as more of entertainment than anything else. Now speaking of entertainment, this is it!  Steven Colbert is Jon’s coach and trainer..while it says O’Reilly consulted a professional.  You do have to give O’Reilly credit for doing these as he’s not quite on the same level as the other two:)  BD  <iframe style="width: 448px; height: 268px" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/O-WHP5FsMKQ?rel=0" frameborder="0" width="560" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> <hr /> Bill O'Reilly. Jon Stewart. 2 podiums. 1 Air-Conditioned Auditorium. "O'Reilly v Stewart 2012: The Rumble in the Air-Conditioned Auditorium" will be streamed live, Saturday, October 6th at 8pm ET from Lisner Auditorium at The George Washington University. O'Reilly and Stewart will take an entertaining and comedic approach to today's pressing political issues in an attempt to find the best direction for America.  Messages from the two below…BD  <hr /> <iframe style="width: 449px; height: 247px" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/LLnOg2D9Cl0?rel=0" frameborder="0" width="560" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> <iframe style="width: 443px; height: 242px" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Cruw6dX18pg?rel=0" frameborder="0" width="560" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> <a href="http://www.therumble2012.com/index.html">http://www.therumble2012.com/index.html</a>

The Real Debate–Jon Stewart and Bill O’Reilly “The Rumble in the Air Conditioned Auditorium” Saturday October 6th at 8 PM Eastern Time

I don’t know about you but I’m tired of debate talk and the President did fine but you have to remember he was busy running a country all da...

Friday, October 05, 2012

What If We Trusted You? Where is the Trust Today As “Algo Duping” and “Flawed Data” Continue to Grow And Erode With No or Little Accountability TED Video

This is a good video and he focuses on education and how some of this starts in the school years.  We don’t actually trust children, adults and communities to come together.  Docile consumers<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="63" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-evd_DPu8Qw8/UG9X863KYCI/AAAAAAAA-jo/Foe8GvcokPM/image%25255B3%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="207" /> are a part of the system, those who have been Algo Duped as I say.  Do we trust in healthcare?  Sometimes we do and sometimes we don’t and the secondary is usually for a reason.  You can learn from anybody on earth we seem to forget.  Anyway you can listen to the entire presentation and he states how this applies to all businesses.  <iframe style="width: 431px; height: 274px" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/k0fgtvbMT7k?rel=0" frameborder="0" width="560" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> And what adds to mistrust?  I have add my link here to why it multiplies and it has to to with greed for money and computer and Algorithms, whether you want to admit it or not create what the is called “artificial<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="234" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-bJ45XeRmwiA/UG9X9P3xmEI/AAAAAAAA-jw/WjKrD59r_k4/image%25255B10%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="231" /> scarcity” as mentioned in the video.  Again look at the links below for every day examples on how this happens as it works behind the scenes and you can’t see the formulas and code but it makes life impacting decisions about all of us and many when money and profits are involved are not playing fair.  There’s also a great video at the link below at the bottom called “quants, the alchemists of Wall Street” and watch that and you will see exactly what I mean with folks that make up code and numbers…for money.  BD  <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/02/attack-of-killer-algorithmsdigest-links.html">Attack of the Killer Algorithms–Digest & Links for All Chapters–on How Math and Crafty Formulas Today Running on Servers 24/7 Make Life Impacting Decisions About You</a> <hr /></h4> Movements around the world are finding new ways, flipping the model, building practices and institutions based on the initial gesture of trust. Building on trust, we are rediscovering how to be citizens in civilization together. The effects of this shift will catalyze every sector of human activity, a process we've only just begun. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0fgtvbMT7k&feature=youtu.be">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0fgtvbMT7k&feature=youtu.be</a>

What If We Trusted You? Where is the Trust Today As “Algo Duping” and “Flawed Data” Continue to Grow And Erode With No or Little Accountability TED Video

This is a good video and he focuses on education and how some of this starts in the school years. We don’t actually trust children,...

Friday, October 05, 2012

Hartford Hospital and United HealthCare in Contract Battle–One More Dispute in the Everyday World of Health Insurance Business Intelligence Algorithms to Grow Profits and Keep Shareholders Happy

If it isn’t a government contract to manage care it’s a dispute <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="173" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-qhdNlque2C8/UG70aLDIb5I/AAAAAAAA-io/ghV6dZjTTrc/image%25255B5%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="183" />with a hospital.  It is getting worse and more cumbersome all the time.  This contract seems to evolve around out of network charges an area United Healthcare knows a lot about if you go back to the Ingenix lawsuit settlement to where doctors and hospitals were short paid for 15 years with lowballing the customary fees last year.  Everybody wants patients to take a greater role with their care and education today, but this stuff acts as somewhat of a deterrent as it makes it difficult.  Has anyone said that yet?  Here’s an example below of Aetna and several other contract disputes and there’s a bunch of United links mentioned there as well relative to other contracts across the US.  If you read the entire source here it states that United just sent a letter cancelling the contract and didn’t even come to the table to negotiate…the algorithm did it more than likely with an automated letter that cancelled the contract as it did not meet the parameters of the query ran and probably done via business intelligence software.  They kick out and you deal with it, a lot of that going on today.  <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/09/arent-these-health-insurance-contracts.html"> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/09/arent-these-health-insurance-contracts.html">Aren’t These Health Insurance Contracts a Bitch! Aetna Suing City of Jacksonville Over Decision to Award Contract to Florida Blue- Battle of the Algorithms</a></h4> <a href="http://www.courant.com/topic/health/hospitals-clinics/hartford-hospital-PLCUL000160.topic"> </a>It is interesting today with the multi faceted insurers to see where a stall with a contract one one end is working, but on the other hand with all the subsidiaries owned today another one of their companies might give them a grant, give them a big break on pricing for Health IT, or even give them a break on cheap hearing aids, but yet the major contract for reimbursement gets left on the table all the time.  I try to keep up with this so consumers and businesses know the bottom line of the big conglomerate they are feeding with money as it helps.  It’s all about those algorithms that create business models today and some so complex that CEOs have no clue on how they work within their own company.  Algorithms move money and create profits.  <img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-MdcQ51oZRKs/UDz9pcW4fBI/AAAAAAAA9PM/5H-RdgxYtf8/image%25255B11%25255D.png?imgmax=800" /> </a> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2011/08/subsidiary-watch-corporate-conglomerate.html">Subsidiary Watch-Corporate Conglomerate Insurers Reduce Compensation Contracts Using One Subsidiary Then Market Same MDs With Another Subsidiary in Health IT</a> </h4> So in summary all these contracts do make it a lot more difficult to get consumers involved in their healthcare as they have to look at dollars first and where they can go, so with all of this we have a Catch 22 situation as insurers will offer you all kinds of tools to use, but gee, are you a party of a big contract to where they will benefit you?  Of course too many of the insurer subsidiaries sell your data too and make millions doing there as well with the “data for nothing and profits for free business model they and all other big conglomerates use to include banks.  Taxing data sellers could really help fund the NIH and FDA too for a portion of the money collected.  If you read in the news each week you can’t help but see to where someone quotes that corporate profit levels are at an all time high, why?  Because they all sell data and profit immensely.  BD    <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/09/one-more-good-reason-to-tax-data.html">One More Good Reason to Tax the Data Sellers– Create Additional Funding for the NIH and FDA From Sources That Otherwise Are Too Greedy to Share & Contribute</a> <hr /></h4> <h4></h4> Hartford Hospital and UnitedHealth Group, the nation's largest health insurer, are in a hard-fought contract negotiation that could leave thousands of customers facing higher out-of-pocket expenses if the current agreement expires Oct. 28. "Hartford Hospital wants consumers to pay 30 percent more over the next three years for services received at their facilities," said Daryl Richard, spokesman for UnitedHealth Group. "In practical terms, that means the average cost for a two-day hospital stay after delivering a baby would increase by as much as $650, and the average cost of outpatient surgery, such as arthroscopic knee surgery, would increase by almost $300." "Back in March of this year we received a termination notice from United," Hartford Hospital CEO and President Jeffrey Flaks wrote to patients in a letter dated Sept. 27. "In fact, United ended our relationship without ever exchanging proposals or trying to reach a new agreement. If United had come to the table and negotiated with us prior to terminating the agreement, we are confident a new agreement would have already been reached." <a href="http://www.courant.com/business/connecticut-insurance/hc-united-health-hartford-hospital-20121002,0,1061876.story">http://www.courant.com/business/connecticut-insurance/hc-united-health-hartford-hospital-20121002,0,1061876.story</a>

Hartford Hospital and United HealthCare in Contract Battle–One More Dispute in the Everyday World of Health Insurance Business Intelligence Algorithms to Grow Profits and Keep Shareholders Happy

If it isn’t a government contract to manage care it’s a dispute with a hospital. It is getting worse and more cumbersome all the time. Thi...

Friday, October 05, 2012

FDA Takes Action Against Online Pharmacies , Over 18,000 Illegal Websites Shut Down And Counterfeit Drugs Seized

This is an on going problem on the web for a long time, and it even got into trouble with advertising.  Since that time, Google and others <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="132" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-BrR_zL6HpO0/UG6DRvsF8gI/AAAAAAAA-ho/6aOFNOW_ehw/image%25255B4%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="178" />have cracked down on what pharmacies can advertise as well.  There were over 79 arrests made.  There are a few “legal” online pharmacies that operate out there but I think the number of illegals were largely outnumbering them.  The sales of “female Viagra” were addressed too as there is none.  The entire project involved customs and 100 countries in the crackdown.  We all remember the fake Avastin from not too long ago that got into the system via Canadadrugs, which was also a target in this sting operation.  It is also worth a mention too that this year the DEA “take back” prescription day brought in half a million pounds of unused drugs.  Every year they sponsor a drug take back day where consumers can turn in their prescription drugs they are not using, expired or what ever the case is with no questions asked.  BD  <hr /> The FDA, working with international regulatory and law enforcement agencies from about 100 countries, said on Thursday that it took action against more than 4,100 Internet pharmacies, bringing civil and criminal charges, removing offending websites and seizing drugs worldwide. The move was part of the fifth annual International Internet Week of Action, a global effort to fight the online sale and distribution of potentially counterfeit and illegal medicine. Action taken between September 25 and October 2 resulted in the shutdown of more than 18,000 illegal pharmacy websites and the seizure of 3.7 million doses of counterfeit medicines worth an estimated $10.5 million, the agency said. Warning letters to other online pharmacies cited the sale of "female Viagra," which does not exist, and unapproved variations on well-known erectile dysfunction drugs with names like "Viagra Professional" and "Cialis Super Active." <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/04/us-fda-baddrugs-idUSBRE8930SN20121004?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter">http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/04/us-fda-baddrugs-idUSBRE8930SN20121004?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter</a>

FDA Takes Action Against Online Pharmacies , Over 18,000 Illegal Websites Shut Down And Counterfeit Drugs Seized

This is an on going problem on the web for a long time, and it even got into trouble with advertising. Since that time, Google and othe...

Thursday, October 04, 2012

Man Dropped from State Health Insurance in Arizona In the Middle of His Cancer Treatment As His Wife Found A Job

This is a sad story and the man’s wife was at home<a href="http://www.youcaring.com/fundraiser_details?fundraiser_id=9231&url=letshelpcarlfightcancer"><img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="123" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-uIQs9z2zL8U/UG59KaNQ-sI/AAAAAAAA-go/fFTtXx-kX7c/image%25255B5%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="202" /></a> taking care of him and when he was stable she was able to go back out and get a job and the thanks for that, no more cancer treatments.  The article says she’s earning $13.50 an hour so we are not talking a job with huge income.  They have five kids.  Now what incentive is this?  So now because she’s working they have had to start a website to raise money.  BD <iframe style="width: 426px; height: 251px" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ZQQsKHQEq-4?rel=0" frameborder="0" width="560" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> <hr />Getting a job, especially these days, is usually a good thing. But for one Arizona family - the extra income disqualifies them for state health insurance, MyFoxPhoenix reported. Making matters worse, the Collins family needs the insurance desperately.  Carl Collins, 56, has cancer and just had a bone marrow transplant to battle it. Two years ago, Collins was diagnosed with mantle cell lymphoma, a blood cancer.  Today, he is healthier after a bone marrow transplant, but his battle now is with Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS) insurance – the state’s Medicaid agency. "If I quit my job right now, we'd have to go back to DES, get back on food stamps, food card thing. They put us all back on insurance and we would be sitting here with nothing. And that's no way to live – we're hard working people," Robin Collins told MyFoxPhoenix. <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/10/04/man-dropped-from-health-insurance-in-middle-cancer-treatment/">http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/10/04/man-dropped-from-health-insurance-in-middle-cancer-treatment/</a>

Man Dropped from State Health Insurance in Arizona In the Middle of His Cancer Treatment As His Wife Found A Job

This is a sad story and the man’s wife was at home taking care of him and when he was stable she was able to go back out and get a job and ...

Thursday, October 04, 2012

CEO of Houston Hospital, Son And 5 Others Arrested on Medicare Fraud Sweep–$158 Million Over More than 7 Years

The son of the CEO states it was the fault of the one employee <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="128" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-4mGVqDWX1Qg/UG52NRCNNcI/AAAAAAAA-fo/H-NBmPYfpXs/image%25255B4%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="171" />who had already been arrested for fraud.  Riverside hospital had a large concentration of mentally ill patients.  This was a lure and pay fraud plan with soliciting Medicare eligible patients with cigarettes, food, coupons, etc. for the the on site “Country Store”.  This was part of a big Medicare sweep today and in California there were 18 arrests and the full <a href="http://www.fbi.gov/losangeles/press-releases/2012/eighteen-los-angeles-area-residents-charged-as-part-of-nationwide-medicare-fraud-strike-force-takedown?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter">FBI report can be read here</a> and again it was DME at the focus.  The fraud cases were all pretty much services that were billed and never provided in one form or another.  BD <hr /> After 30 years as CEO of one of Houston's most historic hospitals, <a href="http://www.chron.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news%2Fhouston-texas&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Earnest+Gibson+III%22">Earnest Gibson III</a>, along with his son and five others, was arrested Thursday - part a national <a href="http://www.chron.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news%2Fhouston-texas&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Medicare%22">Medicare</a> fraud sweep involving $430 million in bogus billings and 91 health care providers in seven states. If the allegations against the 68-year-old Gibson are true, that he and others at the hospital bilked the Medicare program of $158 million over a period of more than seven years, it could prove lethal for Riverside, once the primary hospital for the city's black population. They are among dozens of individuals who were arrested or surrendered Thursday as indictments were unsealed nationwide. The Gibsons are accused of teaming up with Riverside's previously indicted assistant administrator, <a href="http://www.chron.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news%2Fhouston-texas&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Mohammad+Khan%22">Mohammad Khan</a>, who pleaded guilty in the scheme in February. Together, the indictment alleges, the three created a plan that paid up to $3,200 in cash to "patient recruiters." The recruiters, in turn, would pay Houston-area group-home owners to send patients to Riverside's satellite clinics offering "partial hospitalization programs" for the mentally ill. Three of the five recruiters: <a href="http://www.chron.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news%2Fhouston-texas&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22William+Bullock+III%22">William Bullock III</a>, <a href="http://www.chron.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news%2Fhouston-texas&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Robert+Ferguson%22">Robert Ferguson</a> and <a href="http://www.chron.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news%2Fhouston-texas&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Regina+Askew%22">Regina Askew</a>, were charged with all but the money laundering charge. A fourth recruiter, <a href="http://www.chron.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news%2Fhouston-texas&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Leslie+Clark%22">Leslie Clark</a>, faces 11 charges involving kickbacks, and the fifth, <a href="http://www.chron.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news%2Fhouston-texas&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Robert+Crane%22">Robert Crane</a>, a driver for Riverside and a recruiter, was charged only with conspiracy to defraud via kickbacks. All but Clark were released on bond Thursday. <a href="http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/FBI-arrests-historic-Houston-hospital-s-CEO-son-3918870.php#hounews">http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/FBI-arrests-historic-Houston-hospital-s-CEO-son-3918870.php#hounews</a>

CEO of Houston Hospital, Son And 5 Others Arrested on Medicare Fraud Sweep–$158 Million Over More than 7 Years

The son of the CEO states it was the fault of the one employee who had already been arrested for fraud. Riverside hospital had a large conc...

Thursday, October 04, 2012

Digital Illiterate “Algo Duped” GOP Lawmakers Call for Suspending of Incentive Payments to Providers–Also Sent Letter to HHS Telling Them To Expect More From Meaningful Users–Walk A Mile in a Healthcare CIO’s Shoes Please…

Just when you think they can’t get any dumber, they do.  I expect healthcare CIOs to chime in here with the accusation that meaningful users are not doing enough.  Obviously the stuff that’s in the news<img align="right" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/TWIVynbAGVI/AAAAAAAAr9E/zewiugyQmSI/image_thumb%5B4%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="display: inline; float: right" /> doesn’t touch these guys when every day there’s several news articles about the complexities of IT infrastructures today, healthcare and everywhere.  They just don’t get it and live in the 70s.  I made reference in an earlier post about Oracle taking 7 years to develop their “integrated Fusion” software, so how in the world do they expect doctors and technologists to move any faster on this?  They are so dumb and here’s the names:   Reps. Dave Camp (R-Mich.), Fred Upton (R-Mich.), Wally Herger (R-Calif.) and Joe Pitts (R-Pa.).  Electronic medical records and interoperability are the way to go and if it wasn’t for so much of the free enterprise business we have today in this area that the GOP likes to promote, things would be a little simpler with fewer vendors out there and fewer insurance companies owning a lot of the Health IT technologies who can cash in in more ways than just collecting premiums.  If it was not for the incentives many doctors and hospitals could not afford to transition to electronic records.  Why doesn’t Congress learn how to get better information to make laws?  I have been saying that for a couple of years now, duh?   Here’s a good example of Citibank using it for information purposes to increase profits…middle America gets hit again with the Attack of the Killer Algorithms and a dumb GOP to even put their names to such a letter.  I used to use better language on this topic but I’ve had it with the dummies!  They are so Algo Duped they can’t see straight.  <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/03/ibm-watson-going-to-work-at-citigroup.html">IBM Watson Going to Work At Citigroup on Wall Street–Congress Didn’t See Big Data As A Tool (Hadoop Framework) When They Had Their Chance…For Consumers The Attack of the Killer Algorithms–Chapter 22</a></h4> <h4></h4> They had their chance…and technology and the fictitious code and belief of the seventies are eating this country alive.  <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2011/04/ibm-watson-capabilities-being-pitched.html">IBM Watson Capabilities Being Pitched to Financial Industry-Congress Must Not Have Felt They Needed This So Further Behind We Fall With Effective Intelligent Lawmaking</a> </h4> Here’s a link about Algo Duping the Digital Illiterates and boy these folks have it bad!  So don’t believe what you saw last night on the debates as I would probably feel like the <img align="right" height="170" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/TJcGnalIlcI/AAAAAAAAhe8/0Paat1zfY1E/image%5B7%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="display: inline; float: right" width="114" />President must have with all these shenanigans to have to sit up there and debate.  <h4> </h4> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/08/complexities-in-data-systems-growing.html">Complexities in Data Systems Growing Beyond Control –“Algo Duping” Society Combined With A World of Rogue Algorithms & Flawed Data Continues In Markets As Seen With Knight Capital This Week-Attack of the Killer Algorithms Chapter 36</a></h5> <h4> </h4> This book is also recommended reading for these folks as they just don’t get it..and they have no idea how the innovative and tech world looks at them and talks about them being duped again and again and we all hurt because of this.  I’m fair about items and theirs is crap out there with people thinking an algorithm will solve all or in this case the illiterates thinking they can eliminate them I guess…balance is the word.  <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/09/proofinessthe-dark-side-of-mathematical.html">“Proofiness–The Dark Side of Mathematical Deception”–Created by Those Algorithms</a> </h4> So here you have it, the folks to vote out if you want better healthcare as they are going to kill it and us any way they can.  I still laugh too at the talk of “totally repealing healthcare” as there’s no budget big enough to do that nor would these folks create on when they really find out the huge expense, time and number of engineers it would take…maybe like Larry Ellison’s Fusion program, a good seven years maybe? It takes time to write the code and set up all the IT infrastructure and these boneheads have not figured out that software builds upon itself so there’s no total repeal, but rather possible adjustments to selected areas..again what a bunch of bone heads.  Like I said I used to be a little more politically correct but this is as dumb as they get and we do need more executive leaders in the cabinet too with some IT or coding experience to get this… <h4> </h4> Anyone in Congress every heard of CodeAcademy?  Bloomberg has and said he was going to enroll to learn.  Again I wonder how this is going to sit with many healthcare CIOs not to mention the doctors and hospitals as suspension of such stands to stop the great wheels in progress and teamwork to make interconnected medical records and better care a reality in the US not to mention the affordability for many.  BD  <hr /> HHS should suspend incentive payments to providers in the electronic health-records program and delay penalties to those that do not integrate health IT until the federal department can define clear, interoperable standards, House Republican leaders suggested Thursday in <a href="http://waysandmeans.house.gov/uploadedfiles/hhs_ehr_mu2_final.pdf">a letter to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius</a>. During a seven-week congressional recess, the chairmen of the House Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means Committees and respective health subcommittees charged that nearly $10 billion in federal dollars may have been wasted because the recent Stage 2 Meaningful Use program rules from the CMS and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology are “weaker” than the Stage 1 rules released three years ago. The conservative lawmakers also called on HHS to expect more from meaningful users. “For example, requiring a summary transfer when a patient moves to a different care setting in electronic format only 10% of the time is insufficient,” they wrote, adding that also only requiring radiology and laboratory orders to be electronic 30% of the time and medication reconciliation and electronic prescribing to happen 50% of the time is “woefully inadequate.” <hr />A good bunch of links below…get up up on the math and see how it affects you.  <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/02/attack-of-killer-algorithmsdigest-links.html">Attack of the Killer Algorithms–Digest & Links for All Chapters–See How the Math and Crafty Formulas Today Running on Servers 24/7 Make Life Impacting Decisions About You</a> <a href="http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20121004/NEWS/310049959/gop-lawmakers-urge-halt-on-meaningful-use-payments">http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20121004/NEWS/310049959/gop-lawmakers-urge-halt-on-meaningful-use-payments</a>

Digital Illiterate “Algo Duped” GOP Lawmakers Call for Suspending of Incentive Payments to Providers–Also Sent Letter to HHS Telling Them To Expect More From Meaningful Users–Walk A Mile in a Healthcare CIO’s Shoes Please…

Just when you think they can’t get any dumber, they do. I expect healthcare CIOs to chime in here with the accusation that meaningful users...

Thursday, October 04, 2012

Fungal Meningitis Infections Linked to Steroid Injections Manufactured by New England Compounding Center In Massachusetts

This is scary as it keeps growing.  Patients in 35 states now have had this injection and the infection is not contagious.  So far 5 people have died and 35 patients have become sick.  I smell a lawsuit <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="144" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-d3dpewL_1Oo/UG46tqXnC0I/AAAAAAAA-eo/u6UlkxRByE4/image%25255B3%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="194" />or two on the deaths and for good reason here.  California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Texas and West Virginia are all states who receive product from the New England Compounding Center. The Saint Thomas Outpatient Neurosurgery Center in Nashville received 2,000 vials and is where the infections began and the clinic has now been closed to continue the investigation.  The danger here too is that the infection can take weeks to to incubate.  One investigator found some foreign material in a vial and ran it under the microscope and found fungal matter so it’s looking like the origin has been found.  Anyone who has received a lower back injection should contact their doctor or clinic and inquire if they happened to be using any of the contaminated products.  There’s treatment but it requires the patient to be hospitalized and given medication via an IV and timing is important to survival.  The treatment could go on for months.  BD <hr /> (CNN) -- Patients in 23 states could have been exposed to tainted medications that are being linked to dangerous <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/02/health/tennessee-meningitis-outbreak/index.html">fungal meningitis infections</a>, health officials announced Thursday. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 35 people in six states now meet the criteria for a non-contagious, fungal form of meningitis, up from 26 just a day ago. Each one of these patients had been injected with a preservative-free steroid called methylprednisolone acetate manufactured by New England Compounding Center (NECC) in Framingham Massachusetts, according to U.S. Food and Drug Administration and CDC officials. NECC voluntarily recalled three lots of steroids last week and voluntarily shut down production at the entire facility on Wednesday, according to Ilisa Bernstein, director of the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. After analyzing the foreign material under a microscope, it was determined to be a fungal matter. Further tests to determine what type of fungus this may be is still under way. <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/04/health/us-meningitis-exposure/index.html">http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/04/health/us-meningitis-exposure/index.html</a>

Fungal Meningitis Infections Linked to Steroid Injections Manufactured by New England Compounding Center In Massachusetts

This is scary as it keeps growing. Patients in 35 states now have had this injection and the infection is not contagious. So far 5 people ...

Thursday, October 04, 2012

Larry Ellison At Oracle Open World 2012–Great Business Intelligence With Twitter - Videos

One of the big items here is the new Exadata Rack as semi conductor memory is used so the hard drives never spin, 26 Terabytes of DRAM in one rack.  Oracle is giving Amazon some real competition in the Cloud.  The video is a short version of the high lights of his keynote talk.  <iframe style="width: 430px; height: 248px" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/m4BPuQ0Da6k?rel=0" frameborder="0" width="560" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> In the second video which is almost an hour he goes through the Fusion product line and his social network intelligence that is now built in .<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="161" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-j9IyFwBGMUw/UG0ro-CljVI/AAAAAAAA-dY/n3LyVMwRcoc/image%25255B4%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="338" />  I thought this was a great presentation and there’s a little drag here and there but overall good stuff.  They are using the Twitter Fire Hose, watch to see what that is.  Larry Ellison really does like Twitter, if he would only tweet a little more.  The business Intelligence with Twitter begins about 2/3rd into the second vide.  Impressive!  <img alt="image" border="0" height="270" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-yKDlTb_xIk0/UG0rpV-0VzI/AAAAAAAA-dg/N4B-M1YUdK0/image%25255B30%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="426" /> When you hear him talk about 7 years development time on the Oracle Fusion program, think about healthcare IT aggregation and integration as this stuff doesn’t happen overnight anymore, it’s complex and a lot more entities and code to work together.  Also they do “java” and Larry Ellison talks about customers and Oracle all using the same tools and language, JAVA for one.  You can run any Oracle data base in the cloud.  “Don’t try and run that java app on SalesForce, Larry says it won’t run”….  <object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,47,0" height="360" id="flashObj" width="440"><param name="movie" value="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&isUI=1" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="flashVars" value="videoId=1873890242001&playerID=1217746023001&playerKey=AQ~~,AAAAAFcSbzI~,OkyYKKfkn3x1llKvCBQgVazGCPhNSKRX&domain=embed&dynamicStreaming=true" /><param name="base" value="http://admin.brightcove.com" /><param name="seamlesstabbing" value="false" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="swLiveConnect" value="true" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&isUI=1" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashVars="videoId=1873890242001&playerID=1217746023001&playerKey=AQ~~,AAAAAFcSbzI~,OkyYKKfkn3x1llKvCBQgVazGCPhNSKRX&domain=embed&dynamicStreaming=true" base="http://admin.brightcove.com" name="flashObj" width="440" height="360" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" swLiveConnect="true" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed></object> Big data and big iron… <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="284" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-bLj9njDq4Ww/UG0rpzs6WpI/AAAAAAAA-do/hnI6JVrvX1c/image%25255B34%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="440" /> <a href="http://www.oracle.com/openworld/live/on-demand/index.html" title="http://www.oracle.com/openworld/live/on-demand/index.html">http://www.oracle.com/openworld/live/on-demand/index.html</a>

Larry Ellison At Oracle Open World 2012–Great Business Intelligence With Twitter - Videos

One of the big items here is the new Exadata Rack as semi conductor memory is used so the hard drives never spin, 26 Terabytes of DRAM i...

Wednesday, October 03, 2012

Los Angeles's Wealthiest Man. Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, Announced ACO to Partner With Blue Shield and St. Johns Health Center Using Technology and Genomic Research - Gene Screens

Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong chairman of NantHealth and Blue <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="136" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-vCSeR85VZsQ/UG0Zm9KwBmI/AAAAAAAA-cQ/TipTNn02VUQ/image%25255B9%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="127" />Shield will work with <a href="http://topics.sacbee.com/Saint+John%27s+Health+Center/">Saint John's Health Center</a> in Santa Monica, Calif., to establish the first clinically-based "continuous learning center” to establish Accountable care organization and will work with Blue Shield to establish the Access Medical Group.  Genomic data is a big part of the plan to provide doctors with a full view of the patient’s care to look for interventions before problems occur.  This will entail monitoring patients in their homes or where ever they may happen to be.  NantHealth has a system of secure cloud based information sharing that will bring genomic information analytics of cancer into the physicians computers in 47 seconds, gene screens.  Soon-Shiong  became wealthy due to the sale of two pharmaceutical companies he founded and are now traded on the stock market.  Like all the other programs out there this will be interesting to see how it works and it certainly can’t hurt by all means if it means saving lives to ensure patient get the right treatments.  One MD in San Francisco somewhat wondered how this will work as he said they have a hard time dealing with all the information they have now and they can have genomic studies back in a week so the time element, if all the data flows in a usable format in 47 seconds should be interesting.  Remember the GlowCaps prescription pill bottle that has wireless capabilities to remind you to take your meds and reports it back to the drug stores?  Well he bought that company too so will this new ACO involved the GlowCaps too with monitoring?   <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/10/pill-bottle-that-talks-to-your-cell.html">The Pill Bottle That Talks To Your Cell Phone, Creates Data Reports and More…</a></h4> Yes and then all that data gets sold for profit.  We shall see how the design comes across because yes there is a gap between science and practicing medicine, some where there’s been little innovation in some areas and then the other extreme with technology to where patients get overloaded with alerts on phones, land line phones, software apps…you name it so a good design that people can live with and not end up being disrupted would be interesting to see, and seeing some developers use their own products on the consumer side, as that always gets me is that they tell you how good it is for you but then they don’t eat their own dog food:)  BD <hr /> Now that healthcare has been overhauled, it's time to give medical care a major reboot, according to Los Angeles's wealthiest man. Dr. <a href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/economy-business-finance/patrick-soon-shiong-PEBSL000560.topic">Patrick Soon-Shiong</a>, a physician-entrepreneur and chairman of the<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="68" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-ZkizptmZzsk/UG0ZnViDYGI/AAAAAAAA-cY/t5FhRz5hWWc/image%25255B3%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="115" /> California company NantHealth, unveiled a pilot program that he says will do just that, transforming the way medicine is practiced and medical care is delivered across the nation.  Among the collaborative effort's key goals: to make deadly <a href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/health/diseases-illnesses/cancer-HEDAI0000010.topic">cancers</a> a condition that patients can survive and manage for years after diagnosis. Soon-Shiong on Wednesday <a href="http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nanthealth-and-blue-shield-of-california-form-proactive-healthcare-collaborative-to-coordinate-and-personalize-care-172269511.html">outlined</a> his testbed for a new model of medical care: a system that lashes together genomic processing, supercomputing, high-speed data networks and the same mobile devices that people use to make dinner reservations. All of this technology will put the best information available in the hands of doctors instantly, he said at a Washington, D.C., conference put on by the Bipartisan Policy Center and a nonprofit called Doctors Helping Doctors. The new project is designed to remedy a mismatch between technology and medical science on the one hand and medical practice on the other. <a href="http://www.latimes.com/health/boostershots/la-heb-medical-records-california-consortium-20121003,0,798800.story">http://www.latimes.com/health/boostershots/la-heb-medical-records-california-consortium-20121003,0,798800.story</a>

Los Angeles's Wealthiest Man. Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, Announced ACO to Partner With Blue Shield and St. Johns Health Center Using Technology and Genomic Research - Gene Screens

Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong chairman of NantHealth and Blue Shield will work with Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, Cali...

Wednesday, October 03, 2012

Servers Take 18 Story Plunge While System Failover of Hospital Medical Records Systems Takes Place During the Fall- Dramatization Video

This is a bit of a sales video but it is also very entertaining.  <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="146" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-M_Gey9LZgrs/UGzVIiw6hAI/AAAAAAAA-bQ/ljUxmKWpds8/image%25255B6%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="145" />The server going down literally is a mock up hospital rack weighing 500#.  When it goes off the roof the technicians are there and “failover” takes place with the medical record being used still available and no loss of input. They have too much fun in the Silicon Valley.  This is a dramatic showing here of how important fail over is and how fast it reacts today.  Watch the first video and then the 2nd video has the details and behind the scenes of the big server crash.  Larry Ellison should like this as it’s an Oracle Data Base that goes over the edge:) <iframe style="width: 428px; height: 278px" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/RQPBPKY9aOw?rel=0" frameborder="0" width="560" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> After watching this you can’t help but think about disaster recovery when using an electronic medical records system.  BD <iframe style="width: 432px; height: 253px" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/NuBm59m9Gxg?rel=0" frameborder="0" width="560" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=NuBm59m9Gxg">http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=NuBm59m9Gxg</a>

Servers Take 18 Story Plunge While System Failover of Hospital Medical Records Systems Takes Place During the Fall- Dramatization Video

This is a bit of a sales video but it is also very entertaining. The server going down literally is a mock up hospital rack weighing 500#. ...

Wednesday, October 03, 2012

Wellbutrin Generic Pulled Off Market by FDA–Didn’t Work As Well as Wellbutrin XL 300

This is only for the XL 300 extended use and the 150 strength i<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="122" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-WniSdk8wdlE/UGzMPgtiAdI/AAAAAAAA-aQ/TCe1sEJWhA0/image%25255B3%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="138" />s not affected so one less extended Wellbutrin generic out there.  There are other generics of Wellbutrin.  The FDA stated this particular generic version failed to release the the same amount of the drug into the blood stream at the same rate as the name brand.  The FDA also said they are going to test 4 other generic manufacturers and compare it as well so we shall see what the next test results bring.  There’s no danger here just the fact that the anti depressant might not be doing as good as a job as it should.  BD <hr /> WASHINGTON—The highest strength of a generic version of the antidepressant Wellbutrin, marketed by a unit of <a href="http://online.wsj.com/public/quotes/main.html?type=djn&symbol=TEVA">Teva Pharmaceuticals</a> Ltd., <a href="http://online.wsj.com/public/quotes/main.html?type=djn&symbol=TEVA?mod=inlineTicker">TEVA -1.04%</a> will be taken off the U.S. market after tests showed it didn't work as well as the brand-name drug. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday the product, Budeprion XL 300 milligrams, which is manufactured by <a href="http://online.wsj.com/public/quotes/main.html?type=djn&symbol=IPXL">Impax Laboratories</a> Inc. <a href="http://online.wsj.com/public/quotes/main.html?type=djn&symbol=IPXL?mod=inlineTicker">IPXL -2.33%</a> and marketed by Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc., "is not therapeutically equivalent to Wellbutrin XL 300 mg" or the extended-release version of Wellbutrin.  Impax has requested that the FDA withdraw approval of the product, the agency said. Impax and Teva have stopped shipping the product. <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443768804578034794190077594.html">http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443768804578034794190077594.html</a>

Wellbutrin Generic Pulled Off Market by FDA–Didn’t Work As Well as Wellbutrin XL 300

This is only for the XL 300 extended use and the 150 strength i s not affected so one less extended Wellbutrin generic out there. There are...

Wednesday, October 03, 2012

Sutter Hospital Potentially Facing Another Lawsuit Not Related to MRSA Outbreak in NICU Unit in August

The infant had surgery when he was a month old and came home <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="162" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-ZiQEuRVKamM/UGy7M44ooLI/AAAAAAAA-ZQ/oHwojM8dDZU/image%25255B4%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="192" />with MRSA and since that time it is being passed around the entire family.  The family keeps getting rid of it and it keeps coming back, the gift that never stops giving it sounds like.  There is a grant for a study in southern California with using a special mouthwash and soap along with nasal ointment.  In the trial  will receive a regimen designed to “decolonize” the MRSA bacteria.  The test group also will get Mupirocin, an ointment made by GlaxoSmithKline that’s applied in the nose, because that’s where staph likes to live.  The hospital says the infection is directly related to the surgery.  <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/10/clinical-trial-on-fighting-mrsa.html">Clinical Trial on Fighting MRSA Infections in Southern California To Begin With 10 Million Dollar Grant</a></h4> MRSA is an ugly battle and it can happen anywhere and years ago I had a staph infection that I got at a hospital but now the strains are so much more potent.  BD  <iframe height="320" marginheight="0" src="http://widget.newsinc.com/single.html?WID=2&VID=23830664&freewheel=69016&sitesection=ktxl" frameborder="0" width="425" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no"></iframe> <hr />Sutter Memorial Hospital is potentially facing another lawsuit related to methicillin-resistant staph aureus, this one though, isn’t related to the August <a href="http://www.fox40.com/topic/health/diseases-illnesses/mrsa-HEDAI0000072.topic">MRSA</a> outbreak in a NICU unit. The 90-day notice alleges infant Gabriel Adams contracted the skin-borne bacteria when he had surgery at one-month-old. “Two days after his surgery, it started getting infected and he had a 104 temp,” says his mother, Beth DeRuelle. The filing says after surgery, the MRSA bacteria spread to the rest of his family. “When he came home, within a week or two, Jaslyn had a little outbreak of it on her stomach,” DeRuelle Family attorney Moseley Collins says the 90-day notice is about stopping an epidemic. “It's about stopping the hospitals from giving our children this deadly bacteria. It's about warning other hospitals you've gotta be more careful.” In a written statement in response to this latest 90-day filing, Sutter said. <a href="http://www.fox40.com/news/headlines/ktxl-infants-mrsa-infection-spread-to-family-now-wont-go-away-20121003,0,4096788.story#ixzz28H9KcXFw">http://www.fox40.com/news/headlines/ktxl-infants-mrsa-infection-spread-to-family-now-wont-go-away-20121003,0,4096788.story#ixzz28H9KcXFw</a>

Sutter Hospital Potentially Facing Another Lawsuit Not Related to MRSA Outbreak in NICU Unit in August

The infant had surgery when he was a month old and came home with MRSA and since that time it is being passed around the entire family. Th...

Wednesday, October 03, 2012

Insurance Company Data Mining With Automated Transactions? What Is Being Done With Consumer Data–My Flawed Corporate America Data Shows Up -Attack of the Killer Algorithms Chapter 45

I had an attack recently here and I’ll keep company names out of here to protect the guilty, as that’s what we do anymore:)  I had my annual statement from my auto insurer come up for me to do my odometer reading and add a few more bits of information.  I was sent a form<img align="right" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-a-7jyNBopZE/UFS4-DuKWKI/AAAAAAAA9yk/wyBkwNgpXgE/image%25255B29%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="display: inline; float: right" /> via mail to verify that the information was correct as listed.  If you read here enough I have said many times that the middle class has become data chasers for flawed data and this is an example coming up and has to to with queries and data matching that is done once the information is in hand. Ok so I look over the form and see a 2nd driver added.  I have never added a second driver in almost 20 years and have been with the same insurer for that amount of time too, so no changes there. A few months ago I sold my home and it was interesting to see the name of the second driver that was “automatically” added to my policy.  A couple purchased my home and it was name of the wife on my policy.  Again the sale is a few months old now and strange how this got there.  Obviously being a data person myself I assume an address check (possible used as the unique identifier field) was done as we all know those who mine data are not the most timely in getting updates out there.  If you have tried to fix errors on your credit, then you know what I am talking about and why it takes so long.  If you haven’t figured out why the updates take so long, that is why as some credit companies don’t update at least every quarter and one state threw out CoreLogic for mining state data for exactly that reason a while back, not to mention thy had to put additional software on the state servers to limit the mining bots as servers were slowing down to a crawl, making it difficult for consumers to get in. If I remember correctly, this is why the government sites were put <img align="right" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/TAaq67qCjII/AAAAAAAAeic/WYqVrrScJxE/image_thumb%5B6%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="display: inline; float: right" />up there right, to give consumers access?  The next time you can’t get through on busy government servers, blame data selling bots who mine and make millions in profits with overloading with bots to mine information.  This is the pits as they get their data for nothing and the profits for free from government servers. So where do insurance companies go to buy some of this data?  The MIB might be one of the places as I wrote back in 2010, as they collect more than just health insurance information these days and they market and sell analytical software.  If your data is messed up in the MIB, good luck as I have heard some real stories about how some never got theirs fixed and others took forever, all the time pending claims and other financial bills sat out there with collectors attached and calling.  <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/04/mib-health-insurance-bureau-business.html">The MIB – Health Insurance Bureau Business Intelligence Mining May Go Beyond Just Healthcare Information</a> </h5> In addition to an individual’s credit history, data collected by the Medical Information Bureau (MIB) may include medical conditions, driving records, criminal activity, drug use, participation in hazardous sports, and personal or family genetic history, among other facts. So here I am with flawed data putting the new owner of my home that I sold as a secondary driver on my auto insurance<img align="right" height="96" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/TAaq8C_bA_I/AAAAAAAAeio/XSEGUnaSopY/image_thumb%5B8%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="display: inline; float: right" width="191" />…”Bad Algorithms”…and watch for activity like this.  Of course I did correct the information and faxed it back and the form came via the US Mail as well.  Funny with all the predictive behavior analytics running with insurance companies that they still have to do so much via snail mail.   My home owners insurance “was” with a different company so no chance of an internal mix up. I just assumed a major search was conducted on data the insurer purchased and some algorithm put the second driver on my policy.  Now of course I have not lived at that address in a few months.  I called my agent who had all the information I had sent when I moved and “that part of the records system” had been updated as I had notified them <img align="right" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/TAaq9qYAC_I/AAAAAAAAei4/A6pMNFjGKh0/image_thumb%5B11%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="display: inline; float: right" />and he looked and said the other side of their system must not have updated, but indeed it had with adding a second driver, but alas the data or query to post was flawed!  It is also important to note that analytics with predictive queries have kind of gone over the top a bit too and if you read the link below, you will see what I mean as they are now assessing your risk for living too…kind of morbid.  <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/06/mib-solutions-and-hooper-holmes-working.html">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</a> </h4> <h4></h4> We are going to see a ton more errors like this with our current need for speed and not allowing the aggregators enough time to perfect a lot of this so be prepared and get ready to go chase corporate <img align="right" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-6FaL59_0dLU/UFS49WylLCI/AAAAAAAA9yU/raN7-HSvqhI/image%25255B41%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="display: inline; float: right" />data mistakes on your own dime, otherwise nothing will eventually work for you in the business world as those who control the code and algorithms rule the world. This is exactly why the data sellers should be taxed quarterly, like a sales tax as it is so ingrained in every part of business today.  So if Walgreens can make short of $800 million in selling data, imagine how big that pot is…huge with banks, brokers, social media, hedge funds and more!   Science is begging more more money and I can’t think of a better place for such tax money to go!  <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/09/one-more-good-reason-to-tax-data.html">One More Good Reason to Tax the Data Sellers– Create Additional Funding for the NIH and FDA From Sources That Otherwise Are Too Greedy to Share & Contribute</a> </h4> So with this error and I have had others I too am a data chaser<img align="right" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-nyFsMPDDLgk/UDEQa31432I/AAAAAAAA86o/sscFDo2n0LE/image%25255B21%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="display: inline; float: right" /> fixing the flawed data of corporate America and again seeing what name was added even gives me further clarity on the flawed queries and algorithms that are being produced.  Quarterly taxing and fines for errors would make these folks accountable and right now they run a gambit with no regulation that is killing the middle class and that’s part of the the problem in the US, devaluate some of these algorithms and let’s get accurate data out there so people are not denied.  <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/02/start-licensing-and-taxing-data-sellers.html">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</a> </h4> So anyone else have any ideas to contribute as to how the new owners of my former house were listed on my automobile policy?  I’d love to hear other ideas as well, but it was a Killer Algorithm that did it, as this is even beyond what a “human” would do.  BD

Insurance Company Data Mining With Automated Transactions? What Is Being Done With Consumer Data–My Flawed Corporate America Data Shows Up -Attack of the Killer Algorithms Chapter 45

I had an attack recently here and I’ll keep company names out of here to protect the guilty, as that’s what we do anymore:) I had my annua...

Tuesday, October 02, 2012

Steward Healthcare Gives Up on Acquiring Landmark Medical Center in Rhode Island and Prime Healthcare Moves In For the Deal

For three years Steward had been working on acquiring the<img align="right" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/THlkIPPuxFI/AAAAAAAAg40/1ob4p6U0wIA/image%5B6%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="display: inline; float: right" /> hospitals and the day after they give up and after loaning the hospital, Prime Healthcare steps in.  Prime has also agreed to pay back a good portion of the Steward loan.  Landmark also had issues with a Blue Cross lawsuit that was still hanging out there. <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2011/03/blue-cross-sues-financially-stressed.html"> Blue Cross Sues Financially Stressed Landmark Hospital in Rhode Island-Court To Determine New Owner in April</a> I don’t know how it will work in Rhode Island but the link below somewhat describes what happens when Prime moves in, layoffs and a lot of what is not profitable goes out the door.  They do focus on their ER services though as normally Prime does not sign agreements with insurance carriers and charges their normal customary fees.  BD <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/11/prime-healthcare-buys-alvarado-hospital.html">Prime Healthcare Buys Alvarado Hospital In San Diego–One More Cadillac ER Room On the Way</a> <hr /></h4> Steward Health Care System said Thursday that it’s terminating its agreement to acquire Landmark Medical Center, the Woonsocket, RI, hospital it had been seeking to buy for the past three years. Boston-based Steward, which said it loaned Landmark about $7 million to pay off its debt, fund operations and maintain its payroll, said it was backing out of the asset purchase agreement because health care parties in Rhode Island and the special master who had run the bankrupt hospital had failed to meet conditions specified in the deal. <a href="http://www.boston.com/businessupdates/2012/09/27/steward-health-care-terminates-its-agreement-buy-landmark-medical-center-woonsocket/Alk9JpodhkCFNm6baqqHsN/story.html">http://www.boston.com/businessupdates/2012/09/27/steward-health-care-terminates-its-agreement-buy-landmark-medical-center-woonsocket/Alk9JpodhkCFNm6baqqHsN/story.html</a>

Steward Healthcare Gives Up on Acquiring Landmark Medical Center in Rhode Island and Prime Healthcare Moves In For the Deal

For three years Steward had been working on acquiring the hospitals and the day after they give up and after loaning the hospital, Prime He...

Tuesday, October 02, 2012

Washington Post Newspaper Buys a Hospice Company–Celtic Healthcare Heavily Reliant on Medicare for Benefits

Well what do you know a newspaper has figured out too how to get some of that Medicare money.  The company is located in <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="37" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-7cjl5IvJOyc/UGnrqKCeBUI/AAAAAAAA-YI/GxRcdAlvrf4/image%25255B7%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="122" />Pennsylvania with branches throughout and a few in Maryland.  Chronic disease management is their specialty as well as hospice care. We all know newspapers have not been doing so well in recent years so will we see more of this type of activity from papers?  BD  <iframe style="width: 435px; height: 231px" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/aRPTM80dkrg?list=UULpiu_pLpKA2s4cWtAY9BNQ&hl=en_US" frameborder="0" width="560" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> The Washington Post Co. said Monday that it has agreed to acquire a majority stake in Celtic Healthcare, a provider of skilled home health-care and hospice services in the northeastern and mid-Atlantic regions. The purchase price was not disclosed, but Donald E. Graham, chief executive of The Washington Post Co., said in a statement that the acquisition is “part of the Post Co.’s ongoing strategy of investing in companies with demonstrated earnings potential and strong management teams attracted to our long-term investment horizon.” Celtic Healthcare relies substantially on funds from<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="69" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-9TAFDmFmah4/UGnrqy-_KxI/AAAAAAAA-YQ/XtA755uT4t8/image%25255B3%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="175" /> Medicare, which provides hospice benefits “for extended periods of time based on the assessment of the patient,” <a href="http://www.celtichealthcare.com/hospice/common-questions-about-hospice/">according to Celtic’s Web site</a>. In its blog last November and again last month, the company posted appeals from health industry groups asking people to lobby Congress to defeat Medicare funding cuts and increases in co-pays. <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/washington-post-buys-hospice-firm/2012/10/01/f9100d34-0bd4-11e2-bb5e-492c0d30bff6_story.html">http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/washington-post-buys-hospice-firm/2012/10/01/f9100d34-0bd4-11e2-bb5e-492c0d30bff6_story.html</a>

Washington Post Newspaper Buys a Hospice Company–Celtic Healthcare Heavily Reliant on Medicare for Benefits

Well what do you know a newspaper has figured out too how to get some of that Medicare money. The company is located in Pennsylvania with b...

Monday, October 01, 2012

McKesson Buys MED3000 Hosted Applications and Cloud Technology Company

Tenet Hospitals worked with this company back in 2009 to create a joint company called MED3000 Practice Resources, LLC so <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="57" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-RL80oihr8Hg/UGnjunvvqTI/AAAAAAAA-W4/b8KVI1_zuwk/image%25255B12%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="127" />I don’t know if that goes along with the deal or not.  It is getting to be tough today to know who owns who these days and much less when it comes down to tracking back responsibility, it gets even more confusing.  I was looking back at my post from 2009 and there were some different names listed at the time to include a web based Tiger and Misys EMR hosted medical records.  <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/05/tenet-announces-joint-venture-with.html"> Tenet Announces Joint Venture with MED3OOO – Focus on Electronic Medical Records and Business Intelligence</a> </h4> About a year after such, Tenet announced they were rolling out Cerner at 47 hospitals which competes with and integrates in other areas with McKesson systems and are in place at some existing facilities.  With this purchase McKesson will have another medical records system under their ownership as well as more analytics, which there is no shortage of these days in healthcare.  Below is a screenshot from the website.  <h4> <img align="left" alt="image" border="0" height="175" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-IQJHIfdH9Lc/UGnju0p2EqI/AAAAAAAA-XA/HO96S9Yv2-Y/image%25255B8%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: left; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="426" /></h4> <h4></h4> Along with integration of medical records and other clinical needs, I sure we see the same with analytics as we are going spend all our time analyzing everything before a decision can be made and data and knowledge is a good thing for sure but when you have several formats to review there’s the point to where it becomes time-consuming and actually can end up delaying care.  In addition McKesson has other divisions in the company that distributes drugs and more.  BD <hr /> ATLANTA – Just a week after its acquisition of risk management firm Medventive, McKesson has made another move to bolster its offerings for a post-reform world, announcing it will acquire <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="84" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-2qBubOceoIU/UGnjvQQTHbI/AAAAAAAA-XI/sdn2QOCMi4E/image%25255B16%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="138" />Pittsburgh-based <a href="http://www.med3000.com/">http://www.med3000.com/</a>, which develops physician group management, billing and revenue cycle tools. MED3OOO's hosted applications, third-party administrator services and proprietary, cloud-based technology are aimed at helping practices adjust to changes in healthcare without concern for server expansions, software and system upgrades or extended downtime due to hardware failure. MED3OOO employs 2,800 employees in the U.S., and its customers include more than 10,000 physicians, numerous hospitals and health systems, physician networks, state and local municipalities providing third party administration and benefits consulting for employers or state agencies, as well as revenue cycle management services for EMS providers and independent practice associations. <a href="http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/mckesson-acquire-med3ooo">http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/mckesson-acquire-med3ooo</a>

McKesson Buys MED3000 Hosted Applications and Cloud Technology Company

Tenet Hospitals worked with this company back in 2009 to create a joint company called MED3000 Practice Resources, LLC so I don’t know if th...

Monday, October 01, 2012

CalHealth Getting Ready to Launch the MD Mouse By The End of the Year–Blood Pressure Readings by A Computer Mouse

It’s been a while back that the mouse was announced and <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="129" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-F5qU92YGo60/UGnbabjzYII/AAAAAAAA-V8/GTcULU8C2-A/image%25255B4%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="134" />with the use of computers today, this can make it convenient not to have yet one more device when the folk out cuff of a mouse can do blood pressure.  There are other devices planned  as well for the mouse such as a glucose meter, a pulse oximeter and a camera.  The FDA gave it a class II device but it has taken 3 years to get the product ready for release.  The goal is to have the mouse sold as a consumer product at drug stores and other big stores such as Wal-Mart.  I see a cord here so it looks like the device is not wireless, yet.   BD  <hr /> A California startup is transforming the familiar computer mouse into a health monitor by inserting devices like blood pressure monitors and blood glucose monitors in it. <a href="http://www.mdmouse.com/">CalHealth Inc</a>., based in Irvine, is getting ready to launch the MD Mouse by the end of the year. The product will be able to measure blood pressure by having a person’s finger slide inside a cuff that folds out from the middle section of the mouse. The mouse also comes with a personal health record such that the reading is automatically entered into it. The device also has the potential to connect the data to a provider in preparation for a day when physicians and other healthcare providers can receive and share information from patients easily. “We got the patent from the U.S. patent office in 10 months, which I understand is a record,” said Terrance Molloy, chief operating officer, for CalHealth, in a recent phone interview. “The patent gives us the right to put any monitor so long as it fits in part or in whole inside the mouse.” “Now that companies like ours and others are connecting these devices to PHRs and EHRs and collecting the data and sending it to a healthcare provider, the FDA is saying that if you are going to be using those devices in those settings we are going to be concerned about their accuracy because now medical decisions will be based on these readings,” Molloy said. <a href="http://medcitynews.com/2012/10/california-startup-puts-a-twist-on-the-computer-mouse-by-making-it-a-health-monitoring-device/#.UGmd3LtLGCQ.twitter">http://medcitynews.com/2012/10/california-startup-puts-a-twist-on-the-computer-mouse-by-making-it-a-health-monitoring-device/#.UGmd3LtLGCQ.twitter</a>

CalHealth Getting Ready to Launch the MD Mouse By The End of the Year–Blood Pressure Readings by A Computer Mouse

It’s been a while back that the mouse was announced and with the use of computers today, this can make it convenient not to have yet one mor...

Monday, October 01, 2012

Insurance Company Celebrates 50 Billionth (F Bomb) Over of Customer–The Onion (Humor)

We all need a little bit of humor here and there and this is one is just so funny and leave to the Onion with their satire to give us a laugh.  What really even made this funnier was Wendell Potter, healthcare advocate used to have this job at Cigna and tweeted thank goodness I don’t work there anymore:)  Why Cigna, who knows as this could represent any health insurance company for sure.  I got a kick out of the coding remarks too as how often have we not heard that and we have HHS, hospitals, insurers <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/08/medicare-re-admissions.html">swapping “spit”</a> if you will with incentives and fines, makes it hard to budget for hospitals for sure.  <img alt="image" border="0" height="73" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-4fB73uwpk9k/UGnA5rnLdyI/AAAAAAAA-U4/L4VB2EFvnxE/image%25255B5%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; border-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="411" />How many times have we felt this way?  Again as I always say, it’s the <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/02/attack-of-killer-algorithmsdigest-links.html">Attack of the Killer Algorithms</a> we all face today with code and formulas running on servers 24/7 making life impacting decisions about all of us, and the the amount of flawed data is on the rise as well, so be aware.  I try to be g rated here so I changed the working but see all of it in it’s glory at the Onion and same for the image below…there’s more to it.  BD <a href="http://o.onionstatic.com/images/18/18240/16x9/635.jpg?1986"><img alt="image" border="0" height="274" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-NAUnmsSqk98/UGnA6P4KeRI/AAAAAAAA-VA/8dDvXSpbvhU/image%25255B11%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; border-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="386" /></a> <hr /> CANTON, OH—Overjoyed Cigna executives celebrated the health insurer’s 50 billionth fucking over of a customer Thursday, personally surprising 56-year-old spinal trauma victim Clyde Gershon with champagne, confetti, and hundreds of multicolored balloons as they denied his most recent disability claim. The wheelchair-bound Gershon, who has required an expensive regimen of pills and physical therapy since a 2010 car crash, was greeted at his front door by cheering, party-hat-wearing members of Cigna’s senior management, who posed for pictures while presenting him with an oversized cardboard “Claim Denied!” letter explaining that he was judged fit to return to work and would lose all coverage at the end of the month. “So congratulations, Mr. Gershon, you poor son of a bitch,” he continued, raising a flute of Dom Perigno. “On behalf of myself and the rest of our 30,600 employees, I hope you find some other way to pay for your medical care, because you are now royally f**ked!” Excitement continued to grow throughout the summer as eager employees began refusing claims for procedures the company had previously covered by saying that they “hadn’t been coded right,” which accelerated its march towards 50 billion by an additional 200,000 f**king-overs per day. Speaking to reporters on Gershon’s front yard, Nicoletti reiterated that despite reaching the long sought-after goal of 50 billion, the company was still as committed as ever to f**king more and more people over. By the 49,975,000,000 mark, a party atmosphere reportedly began to engulf Cigna’s Bloomfield, CT headquarters. Claims processors would reportedly f**k patients over first by waiting weeks to pay their medical providers, and then by sending them the wrong amount. Gleeful telephone operators f*ked over customers by openly hanging up on the ones who had called to protest being f**ked over. <a href="http://www.theonion.com/articles/insurance-company-celebrates-50-billionth-fucking,29709/">http://www.theonion.com/articles/insurance-company-celebrates-50-billionth-fucking,29709/</a>

Insurance Company Celebrates 50 Billionth (F Bomb) Over of Customer–The Onion (Humor)

We all need a little bit of humor here and there and this is one is just so funny and leave to the Onion with their satire to give us a laug...

Monday, October 01, 2012

Sergey Aleynikov Files Suit Against Goldman Sachs For $2.4 Million to Recover Court Costs and Refuses New York State Plea Offer To Admit to Stealing Trading Computer Code

This case gets more interesting by the moment.  You can read to where a judge over turned his original conviction and I commented there as<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="186" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-VE8nFn16RFU/UGm44i6yw1I/AAAAAAAA-T0/04aDoq5sFEY/image%25255B8%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="148" /> all as far as getting a jury of peers with sophisticated trials such as his.  The judge may not be a code expert who over turned his sentence due to the fact that he was not intending to use for interstate commerce, a fine line it appears in the legal interpretation.  Now the state of New York is going at it and frankly how are they going to prove their case?  I’m not saying one way or the other as far as guilt or innocence but darn there’s so much to cover here and I’m sure he was operating from subversion so everyone knows who has what code checked out for sure, how it works and keeps an audit trail. Now Aleynikov  is suing Goldman Sachs as well for his legal fees and time it took for the case that was overturned for $2.4 million.  I say go for it for sure.  Again cases as such have to be very specific and actually prove a number of items and there was no denial of taking the code as again without knowing how Goldman is set up, all code checked out runs an audit trail.  The US court system is not prepared for cases as such as they complex and again a jury of peers would be difficult to find.  I’m not saying that a regular jury is dumb by any means but the level of proving such a case has risen a number of notches in the last few years for sure.  How does a layman jury know the difference between open source and proprietary code?  They don’t.  Again the files seemed to be small and it would more than likely be a module that has to work with other queries and algorithms as well so until that was actually proven in court with a visual from a programmer that could show how this would be done, I don’t think there’s anywhere for this case to go.  BD <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/02/goldman-sachs-programmer-who-went-to.html"> Goldman Sachs Programmer Who Went to Jail for Stealing Code Has His Conviction Overturned–You Can’t Get A Jury of Peers Off the Street for Crimes With High Tech Algos</a> <hr /></h4> <h4></h4> NEW YORK -- A former Goldman Sachs Group Inc computer programmer indicted on charges of stealing trade secrets has rebuffed a plea offer that would keep him out of prison, his lawyer said on Thursday. Sergey Aleynikov, 42, was formally indicted Thursday on New <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="132" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-1f0Vj0YSHWU/UGm441_eprI/AAAAAAAA-T8/-0hZGaiOPW8/image%25255B3%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="155" />York state criminal charges of stealing proprietary trading code from the bank. The indictment is the latest development in a years-long legal battle between Aleynikov and federal and state prosecutors. Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Joanne Li told State Supreme Court Justice Ronald Zweibel that her office had offered Aleynikov a sentence of time served in exchange for a guilty plea. Under the proposed deal, he would not have to serve additional prison time beyond the roughly one year he already served following his conviction on federal charges. Aleynikov had served nearly a year of an eight-year prison sentence before the appeals court ordered him released. If convicted in state court, Aleynikov could face up to four years in prison.  His conviction was reversed in part because the appeals court said the Justice Department failed to show that the stolen code was intended for "interstate commerce," a necessary element under the federal Economic Espionage Act. Earlier this week, Aleynikov sued Goldman in New Jersey federal court for $2.4 million in legal fees, demanding that the bank cover his costs of fighting the federal prosecution. The lawsuit claims Delaware law and the bank's bylaws entitle corporate officers to indemnification when they successfully defend themselves against charges. <a href="http://www.wallstreetandtech.com/data-security/ex-goldman-programmer-rejects-plea-deal/240008144">http://www.wallstreetandtech.com/data-security/ex-goldman-programmer-rejects-plea-deal/240008144</a> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:ae718054-4b41-4c8a-aa1c-ccd92db326f9" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Sergey+Aleynikov" rel="tag">Sergey Aleynikov</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/code" rel="tag">code</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Goldman" rel="tag">Goldman</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/court" rel="tag">court</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/trading" rel="tag">trading</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/New+York" rel="tag">New York</a></div>

Sergey Aleynikov Files Suit Against Goldman Sachs For $2.4 Million to Recover Court Costs and Refuses New York State Plea Offer To Admit to Stealing Trading Computer Code

This case gets more interesting by the moment. You can read to where a judge over turned his original conviction and I commented there as ...

Monday, October 01, 2012

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Cambridge Consultants Develops A Liquid Biopsy Test Without the Procedure–Only Blood Test Required

Man Dies After Eating Cockroaches During a Contest at a Pet Store to Win a Python

United Healthcare Negotiated to Buy 90 Percent of the Largest Managed Care Provider in Brazil, Where Insurers Can Own Hospitals and Physician’s Practices

Fungal Meningitis Cases up to 91 and 7 Deaths So Far

Jon Stewart and Bill O’Reilly–“The Rumble in the Air Conditioned Auditorium” – Big Healthcare Discussion at the End About A Single Payer System–Video

TSA To Deploy New Scanners Capable of Detecting Every Molecule on Your Person from 164 Feet Away Without You Even Knowing or Giving Permission–Also the Technology Can Be Used to Find Counterfeit Drugs

The Real Debate–Jon Stewart and Bill O’Reilly “The Rumble in the Air Conditioned Auditorium” Saturday October 6th at 8 PM Eastern Time

What If We Trusted You? Where is the Trust Today As “Algo Duping” and “Flawed Data” Continue to Grow And Erode With No or Little Accountability TED Video

Hartford Hospital and United HealthCare in Contract Battle–One More Dispute in the Everyday World of Health Insurance Business Intelligence Algorithms to Grow Profits and Keep Shareholders Happy

FDA Takes Action Against Online Pharmacies , Over 18,000 Illegal Websites Shut Down And Counterfeit Drugs Seized

Man Dropped from State Health Insurance in Arizona In the Middle of His Cancer Treatment As His Wife Found A Job

CEO of Houston Hospital, Son And 5 Others Arrested on Medicare Fraud Sweep–$158 Million Over More than 7 Years

Digital Illiterate “Algo Duped” GOP Lawmakers Call for Suspending of Incentive Payments to Providers–Also Sent Letter to HHS Telling Them To Expect More From Meaningful Users–Walk A Mile in a Healthcare CIO’s Shoes Please…

Fungal Meningitis Infections Linked to Steroid Injections Manufactured by New England Compounding Center In Massachusetts

Larry Ellison At Oracle Open World 2012–Great Business Intelligence With Twitter - Videos

Los Angeles's Wealthiest Man. Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, Announced ACO to Partner With Blue Shield and St. Johns Health Center Using Technology and Genomic Research - Gene Screens

Servers Take 18 Story Plunge While System Failover of Hospital Medical Records Systems Takes Place During the Fall- Dramatization Video

Wellbutrin Generic Pulled Off Market by FDA–Didn’t Work As Well as Wellbutrin XL 300

Sutter Hospital Potentially Facing Another Lawsuit Not Related to MRSA Outbreak in NICU Unit in August

Insurance Company Data Mining With Automated Transactions? What Is Being Done With Consumer Data–My Flawed Corporate America Data Shows Up -Attack of the Killer Algorithms Chapter 45

Steward Healthcare Gives Up on Acquiring Landmark Medical Center in Rhode Island and Prime Healthcare Moves In For the Deal

Washington Post Newspaper Buys a Hospice Company–Celtic Healthcare Heavily Reliant on Medicare for Benefits

McKesson Buys MED3000 Hosted Applications and Cloud Technology Company

CalHealth Getting Ready to Launch the MD Mouse By The End of the Year–Blood Pressure Readings by A Computer Mouse

Insurance Company Celebrates 50 Billionth (F Bomb) Over of Customer–The Onion (Humor)

Sergey Aleynikov Files Suit Against Goldman Sachs For $2.4 Million to Recover Court Costs and Refuses New York State Plea Offer To Admit to Stealing Trading Computer Code

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