Deloitte Software Consulting, Also A Big ACA IT Contractor With HHS & IRS Connectivity, Failing State of California With Bugs and Glitches With State Disability And Unemployment Benefits System

<p>Seems to be a sign of the times anymore, so remember all those news articles you have been reading about “complexities” well here they are and we are all living it now, so it’s gone beyond just being newsworthy to say the least.  California is<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="140" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-x89sh0YaBnY/Umf_1W2k7uI/AAAAAAABIQU/x4XwA1Nvw0g/image%25255B3%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" title="image" width="206" /> wanting to know why the cost has gone up and why all the glitches in the in the software, <strong>so government again is now going through the same “love” that CIOs of hospitals have been experiencing for a while with IT complexities.  </strong></p> <p>The software here delayed benefits payment checks for hundreds of thousands in the state for weeks!  Now lawmakers want to know what’s going on, well folks we are back to complexities.  Consulting firms are known for talents of being able to integrate various technologies under a platform and make them all work together but with complexities today with all the code out there this is a daunting task by all means and Deloitte Consulting is right at the core on this one.  As you may or may not know Deloitte is one of the ACA contractors as well for the ACA.  Lets  look this up..thanks to the <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aj_F23RlPEC4dGdfZ3YtOTRRQWppTlplQ0pfVWtBeXc&usp=sharing#gid=0">Sunlight Foundation</a> here’s what their role is with the ACA…</p> <p><em><strong>“Multiple contracts dealing with ACA implementation, including support for IRS' project management office and evaluating HHS business processes and ACA implementation”  to the tune of almost $13 million.</strong>  </em></p> <p>They have their fingers in the pot with the CMS and IRS integration it appears and exactly what they are doing, nobody knows.  Deloitte is also one of the big accounting firms that helps US Corporations with tax shelters, and as a matter of fact if you do not have one of the<img align="right" height="193" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-cpdtzj3POgo/UiLBl1rBQ_I/AAAAAAABHks/0IRYoXkNKY8/image%25255B11%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="float: right; display: inline" width="213" /> Big 4 accounting agencies it’s kind of spoken that it may not work as well.  You can read more about <strong>the Tax Free Ride</strong> at this link below as it’s important today to know what corporations are doing via subsidiaries.  Interesting is it not to see how<strong> some of the same corporations getting big government contracts are also helping US corporations avoid taxes in the US.</strong>  The big four have also been under scrutiny too on how they are taking over the regulators with their algorithmic formulas and math models, so <a href="http://www.ducknet.net/attack-of-the-killer-algorithms/">some Algo Duping going on here</a>. </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-tax-free-tour-documentary-on-how.html">“The Tax Free Tour” Documentary on How the Tax Havens Work, Who Runs and Owns Them, How Accountants Are Taking Over the Regulators And Not Held Accountable…</a></h5> <p>Other states are also having problems with Deloitte.  In reading the article, the problems began with migrating data…ouch, ouch, ouch…technologists used to do that all the time but not so today if you can avoid it as this is huge to clean up the data as when you move it there’s going to be something not work, no matter how many times you scrub the data.  Deloitte having same problems with disability payments and as mentioned in this article, you don’t jump out mid stream on these big projects as to start all over again…whew!  The cost and time is phenomenal.  </p> <p>I wrote about the <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/10/daily-showjon-stewart-takes-on.html">Oracle and Microsoft turnkey systems for state exchanges</a> and wondered why they were not used since they had integration for insurance companies built in as well as the technologies to connect to the federal government, so here we have Deloitte with the IRS integration.  Would it not be much better to use a platform that has some of the code already written?  Why is HHS trying to build an exchange from the bottom up?  It would mean less money in the Deloitte pocket for one.  So did Deloitte write the code to connect to the IRS?  QSSI as we read is supposed to have charge of that portion of the entire program….so what is Deloitte doing with the Healthcare.Gov project?  Obviously the disability and unemployment benefit data come in to play with government subsidies with health insurance data too.  What’s even more interesting is that Deloitte comes out with “ranking” quality software companies and consultants…pot calling the kettle black here?  </p> <p><strong>If you look on the web you will see a ton of announcements where Optum Insights, the consulting and software subsidiary of Untied Healthcare hires a lot of people formerly with Deloitte and always ranks Optum high on varies studies Deloitte puts out.  BD</strong></p> <p> <hr />Deloitte LLP is one of America's big four accounting firms, and has evolved into a large player in management and information technology consulting<strong>. It's one of the big IT contractors involved in deploying the Affordable Care Act and provides tech services to the Internal Revenue Service.</strong></p> <p>In California, Deloitte has racked up more than $540 million in tech work over the last 10 years, making it the state's third-highest-paid IT contractor.<strong> </strong>Over the last two years, the company has spent more on lobbying legislators than any other competing firm in its field.</p> <p>Less than a year ago, the EDD launched an upgrade to another program it operates: the state's disability insurance. Deloitte was the contractor hired for that $86-million upgrade intended to make it easier for those temporarily disabled or on maternity leave to file online claims.</p> <p>But the software malfunctioned and delayed thousands of disability checks for weeks.<strong> </strong>It took six months to clear the backlog.</p> <p>In the last contract amendment, signed Aug. 30, the state agreed to pay Deloitte $3.5 million for five months of maintenance and operations costs. Those costs should have been figured out in the beginning, Krigsman said.</p> <p>"It's a striking oversight that maintenance was not anticipated at the beginning of the contract when the state was at a much stronger negotiation position," said Krigsman, a consultant with expertise in state IT contracts.</p> <p>By the time the middle of a project is reached, the state has no choice but to stick with Deloitte to work out bugs that arise when the system goes live, he said.</p> <p><a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-edd-deloitte-20131023,0,3509141,full.story" title="http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-edd-deloitte-20131023,0,3509141,full.story">http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-edd-deloitte-20131023,0,3509141,full.story</a></p>

Deloitte Software Consulting, Also A Big ACA IT Contractor With HHS & IRS Connectivity, Failing State of California With Bugs and Glitches With State Disability And Unemployment Benefits System

Seems to be a sign of the times anymore, so remember all those news articles you have been reading about “complexities” well here they are a...

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United Healthcare Ads Misleading? Company Takes Out Full Page Ad in Florida Blaming Cuts From Medicare For Reducing Provider Networks, But Advantage Plans Will Increase By 3.35 With Government Reimbursements Next Year…

<p>Well if you read here than you may have seen the post below to where there’s a big stink in Connecticut where United just fired thousands of doctors.  We all know they do everything by the analytics and if you look at classified ads there’s tons of them fo<img align="right" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/TXCfvYCDCBI/AAAAAAAAsv0/8biVjC7dBI0/image_thumb%5B1%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="float: right; display: inline" />r Quants, Data Miners and Analytics jobs all  over.  Many of these jobs allow the employees to work from home on contract.  You should look at this link and see the United press release about their relationship with AARP and I wonder how lawyers it could have taken to write it as it kind of says a whole lot of nothing but basically to me anyway looked like a PR type of thing.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/10/unitedhealthgroup-and-aarp-get-cozier.html">UnitedHealthGroup and AARP Get Cozier, AARP Still Gets Paid for Marketing Use of AARP Name As AARP Becomes an Optum Labs Data Selling Promoter Amidst Doctor Complaints Received Relative To United Firing of 5500 MDs–Subsidiary Watch</a></h5> <p>Florida was one of the states to where the American Academy of Family Practice Physicians confronted United on paying doctors at rates less than Medicare and I have hear that too from doctors in Florida that say Medicare is the highest paying in town.  Very complex and hard to understand contract with algorithmic math models is how they do it.  Actually on the contracts the <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/06/us-supreme-court-rules-physicians-can.html">US Supreme court handed down a decision that allows doctors to litigate as groups</a> so it’s no longer the one doctor against the big conglomerate and this was a result of United elevating it all the way up there with a lawsuit filed against their Oxford subsidiary.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-aafp-confronts-united-healthcare-on.html">The AAFP Confronts United Healthcare On Reimbursements, Some Are Below Medicare Rates In Parts of the US–Payment Algorithms/Formulas Calculated Deep Within IT Infrastructures Do the Job</a></h5> <p>Anyway in Florida it sounds like the same deal happened here as in Connecticut as they are quickly becoming a “too big to fail” health insurer and don’t even give the courtesy of a phone call or anything anymore when cutting of doctors and some just renewed contracts in August.  BD</p> <p> <hr />UnitedHealthcare, which sells AARP Medicare products including HMO-style Medicare Advantage plans, took out a full-page newspaper ad that blamed the decision to shrink provider networks in 2014 on reductions in federal funding. But as the <a href="http://www.tampabay.com/news/health/patients-scramble-after-aarp-medicare-advantage-plans-drop-providers/2148424"><em><strong>Tampa Bay Times</strong></em></a> reports,<img align="right" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/TCAStlE8YZI/AAAAAAAAfC4/HjXm9YYxs5U/image_thumb%5B1%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="float: right; display: inline" /> payments from the federal government to Medicare Advantage plans will actually increase 3.3 percent next year. <em>(Paywall after 15th click) </em></p> <p>People enrolled in UnitedHealthcare AARP Medicare Advantage plans in several Florida markets are receiving letters notifying them that doctors and hospitals have been dropped from their managed care network. That  has triggered a scramble to change plans during open enrollment, which runs through Dec. 7.</p> <p><a href="http://health.wusf.usf.edu/post/unitedhealthcare-medicare-ad-misleading" title="http://health.wusf.usf.edu/post/unitedhealthcare-medicare-ad-misleading">http://health.wusf.usf.edu/post/unitedhealthcare-medicare-ad-misleading</a></p>

United Healthcare Ads Misleading? Company Takes Out Full Page Ad in Florida Blaming Cuts From Medicare For Reducing Provider Networks, But Advantage Plans Will Increase By 3.35 With Government Reimbursements Next Year…

Well if you read here than you may have seen the post below to where there’s a big stink in Connecticut where United just fired thousands of...

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Daily Show–Jon Stewart Takes on the Healthcare.Gov Website And My Questions On Why Were Oracle and Microsoft “Turnkey” State Exchange Platforms Not Used or Mentioned–Could Have Saved Writing A Lot of Code

<p>As I said this is going to be a meeting of the digital illiterates, both sides. <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="138" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-UGRAkc1FH70/UmchhXH_wDI/AAAAAAABIQE/y-Kt28qODW8/image%25255B3%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" title="image" width="150" /> Seriously though this was a crying shame…I was very vocal in 2009 saying <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/02/kathleen-sebelius-kansas-governor-for.html">HHS is all about Health IT get someone in there who can focus on this</a> when she was nominated…</p> <h5><strong><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/10/healthcaregovhhs-sebelius-testimony.html">Healthcare.Gov–HHS Sebelius Testimony With House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Technologists Pull Up a Chair And Get the Popcorn Ready for “One Heck of a Show”- We Are Going To Learn About The Sorry State of Affairs Of Digital Literacy With Our Government All The Way Around…</a></strong></h5> <p>This is Part two below of the 3 Part video series.</p> <p>With IT costs of the exchanges, the government is sharing the love that hospitals are experiencing today as well.  I did also tell my  readers to be prepared to use the old style methods in September as well as when we heard <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/02/speed-up-rate-of-change-in-health.html">“Speed up Health IT”</a> those were the words of a very tech novice Sebelius and that told me we are in trouble and plus just being in tech and knowing about the complexities today you know they got a very late start at all of this.  <strong>Again I thought using the word “beta” would have bought some sympathy here as well.</strong>  </p> <div style="width: 520px; background-color: #000000"> <div style="padding-bottom: 4px; padding-top: 4px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 4px"><iframe height="288" src="http://media.mtvnservices.com/embed/mgid:cms:video:thedailyshow.com:429813" frameborder="0" width="512"></iframe> <p style="margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; padding-bottom: 4px; text-align: left; padding-top: 4px; padding-left: 4px; margin-top: 4px; padding-right: 4px; background-color: #ffffff"><b>The Daily Show</b> <br />Get More: <a href="http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/">Daily Show Full Episodes</a>,<a href="http://www.facebook.com/thedailyshow">The Daily Show on Facebook</a></p> </div> </div> <p>Here’s a paragraph clip of what I told my readers on September 11th.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/09/health-insurance-exchange-contractors.html">Health Insurance Exchange Contractors Give Update Report to House Energy & Commerce Committee–The Federal Data Hub Beta</a></h5> <p><em><strong>“As I said before so what if all the automation is not ready, the fact is you will be able to apply for health insurance on that day, whether it is the old paper and faxing methods or if the big Beta Federal Data Hub is up to the task.</strong>  This is a lot of data work and there will be updates and the states can more than likely look forward to updates to their systems for connectivity as the Hub and the rest of it will be updated.  Come on who makes a perfect data system out there today..nobody.  Just this week speaking of code issues, United had another recall on one of their medical systems.  It was the sixth one but this was the first we heard about it.  They wrote a fix and distributed the update so the exchange system can join the crowd in that respect:)”</em></p> <hr /> <p>Now we have the tech surge…I do have to say it sounds like running to the Alamo…this one is funny as he’s “stuck in the code”…..and PacMan comes running through to get him…</p> <div style="width: 520px; background-color: #000000"> <div style="padding-bottom: 4px; padding-top: 4px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 4px"><iframe height="288" src="http://media.mtvnservices.com/embed/mgid:cms:video:thedailyshow.com:429814" frameborder="0" width="512"></iframe> <p style="margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; padding-bottom: 4px; text-align: left; padding-top: 4px; padding-left: 4px; margin-top: 4px; padding-right: 4px; background-color: #ffffff"><b>The Daily Show</b> <br />Get More: <a href="http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/">Daily Show Full Episodes</a>,<a href="http://www.facebook.com/thedailyshow">The Daily Show on Facebook</a></p> </div> </div> <p>I have couple questions of my own and the big one is why did the government<strong> build</strong> a integrated ID and Access system as well as a full on exchange when there were two off the shelf models from Oracle and Microsoft that could have done the trick with some scripting and code adjustment, beats the heck out of writing it from the bottom up and there’s a ton of Oracle technologies in the system so why not? <strong>You know time was of the essence…and as I understand the government did buy the Oracle Access and ID component from Oracle so why not an integrated turkey exchange platform to go with it as technologies were written to integrate!  </strong></p> <p><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2011/09/oracle-announces-insurance-exchange.html"><strong><font color="#ff0000">Oracle turnkey State Exchange Software platform…</font></strong></a></p> <p><img height="189" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-OShAUorkm_c/ToPkWCvH91I/AAAAAAAA33c/LeKCE2MR_Ok/image_thumb%25255B2%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; margin-right: auto" width="528" /></p> <p><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2011/02/microsoft-announces-new-low-cost.html"><strong><font color="#ff0000">Microsoft turnkey State Exchange Software platform…</font></strong></a></p> <p><strong><u>Microsoft’s HIX</u></strong> offering also gives states access to the extensive Microsoft partner network for solid expertise in crucial areas such as systems integration, Medicaid Management Information Systems and Medicaid Information Technology Architecture requirements.  Microsoft integrates with Oracle and has for years, like since Windows 95 with open data base driver connectivity and it’s better and beyond that today.  </p> <p><img height="316" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/TVHgrz_OnpI/AAAAAAAAq2g/AD6rTrdaQ18/image_thumb%5B4%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; margin-right: auto" width="534" /></p> <p>Did I miss anything here?<strong>  I am really am curious as to why CGI and QSSI were writing a platform as I understand it from the ground up when there was already a lot of coding work done.</strong>  Granted I understand as being a former coder myself you have to script and modify some code to integrate but<strong> damn buying some code sure beats building form the ground up and when I wrote software, I bought  a few VB 6 modules to use in my software, I’m not a fool and in thinking I needed to re-invent the wheel by all means.  I would use those modules and adapt and change my models to work with it in Microsoft Visual Studio.  </strong></p> <p>There’s nothing wrong at all with this thought process as software folks  all do it and pay for it if it has the value to do what we need to have done, so again my questions here are what the heck went on with writing it from scratch?  If I have missed something in all of this, let me know.  BD  </p> <p><a href="http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-october-21-2013/the-weakest-link" title="http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-october-21-2013/the-weakest-link">http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-october-21-2013/the-weakest-link</a></p>

Daily Show–Jon Stewart Takes on the Healthcare.Gov Website And My Questions On Why Were Oracle and Microsoft “Turnkey” State Exchange Platforms Not Used or Mentioned–Could Have Saved Writing A Lot of Code

As I said this is going to be a meeting of the digital illiterates, both sides. Seriously though this was a crying shame…I was very vocal i...

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CIOs Have Everything To Worry About Compared to CEOs Fiddling Around With Branding Perceptions Related to Profits, No Popularity Contests for the CIOs

<p>This is not to say CIOs don’t worry about branding as they do but they have a lot of other items that come first by all means, like IT security, bring your own device security and just running their enterprise IT infrastructures, so that leaves the CEO with plenty of time to make blog posts about what they consider important with branding. <strong> Many CIOs <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="163" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-ZXmNTm58SWo/UmcIqM8DkEI/AAAAAAABIPs/BSoZPwux3Ck/image%25255B3%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" title="image" width="163" />are also technologists as well so there’s even a great level of expertise in what they do as well.  Some companies are lucky to have “hybrid” people in those positions to where they have more than one point of view.</strong>  Bill Gates said in commencement speech at Berkeley a couple years ago that <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/04/bill-gates-speaks-at-uc-berkeley-global.html">the “hybrids” were going to be the people in most demand and I think that’s true,</a> ask any CIO as he’s juggling a lot while the CEO continues to talk about branding:)</p> <p>I used this <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-wall-street-code-movie-trailer.html">video in another blog post</a> and I’m going to use it here as it discusses how journalists use big data and the future of what they do to report the news since I am talking about CEOs that like to spend a lot of time on branding.  Branding is actually kind of dangerous in some areas as it does push the corporate image but when pushed down a people level the things it instills are not as good so you interview a data base instead of a person.  With a stronger tie with branding, people in their every day life lose the “people” connections if you will and we see it all the time with less communication and less sympathy and empathy.  It’s the bad side effect of the branding game when marketed to the inth degree.  If you liked this video then scroll down and watch the Quants of Wall Street and learn a bit more, one of best documentaries that explains bank math to the layman. </p> <div id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:0a8e0953-a7cf-4b44-8660-7ddd70965c2f" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px"><div><object height="252" width="448"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/arJTMfytwJo?hl=en&hd=1"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/arJTMfytwJo?hl=en&hd=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="448" height="252"></embed></object></div><div style="width:448px;clear:both;font-size:.8em">Interviewing the data and branding</div></div> <p>Today on his blog, Dr. Halamka from Harvard had a very interesting post as well in which he is discussing his job as a healthcare CIO “<a href="http://geekdoctor.blogspot.com/2013/10/losing-popularity-battle-but-winning.html">Losing the popularity battle but winning the career war”</a> and it’s well worth reading if you want to gather some valuable insight into what these folks do.  As far as I’m concerned it’s too bad we don’t have him running HHS as he would be a good one as he is what I would call a “hybrid extraordinaire” as he is both a computer science genius and a medical doctor and has both focuses and folks like him are hard to find.<img align="right" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-k7eb5hCE0Cw/URmsuxqKL2I/AAAAAAABE10/O63bU7iMwDQ/image%25255B3%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="float: right; display: inline" />  Here’s what he says about ICD10 and keep in mind he’s hands on guy all the way around.  By the way <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/02/icd10-software-being-sold-with-hold.html">ICD10 software is now being sold with a “hold harmless” clause</a>, sign of the times as when you read below the codes will have every bit of software modified to accommodate them and it’s a lot of work and time.  </p> <p><em>“ICD10 - this federal requirement is pass/fail and involves the entire inpatient/outpatient revenue cycle.   Every piece of software, workflow, and process needs to modified.    It will cost the country billions, have limited benefits, and should be considered high risk, given the coordination needed among payer/provider organizations.   It's bigger than Y2K for healthcare and has a firm October 1, 2014 deadline that no one in government is willing to change.</em> “</p> <p>What is the impact..he tells you as he has to do all of this…and he’s only one human…and tells you he’s not going to be popular as it’s going to take everything humanly possible to do the job…and anyone outside of Health IT has probably never been exposed to the very time consuming and exhausting work load.  </p> <p><em><strong>“What is the implication for CIOs?</strong>   Spreading a message that ICD10, MU2, HIPAA/Audits, ACA, and mergers have consumed all available IT resources for the next year is not going to be popular.   I truly expect many stakeholders to acknowledge that these priorities are reasonable as long as their departmental needs are also met.   The needs of the many are good as long as they don't outweigh the needs of the few.   Unfortunately, the answer for the next year needs to be "not now" if institutional survival is the main thing.</em></p> <p><em><strong>So over the next few months, I expect my waning popularity to wane even further.   I will lose the popularity battle.</strong>   However, when the regulatory mandates are done and the institution's longevity is assured, my career will be intact.   Losing the popularity battle but winning the career war for the benefit of the institution sounds like right long term strategy but certainly will require strength of will, a thick skin, and constant communication.”</em></p> <p>In my opinion too<strong> the news is way over done with touting chief digital officers and other such titles that have NO tech backgrounds as they will end up being a pain to the CIO unless they work with them as an extension of the CIO efforts</strong>.  Having a chief digital officer <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="173" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-TT0iXlwX9-M/UmcIqobKT2I/AAAAAAABIP0/ryjJLcH3bb4/image%25255B7%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" title="image" width="228" />running around with a big “I Want” list doesn’t do anyone any real good unless they can see the entire technological big picture as a whole.   As I said consumers and the government are learning a read hard cold lesson on the complexities of IT Infrastructures today and don’t think that CIOs are magicians to make it all happen in an instant.  It’s not like it used to be at all.  I remember those days and yes I liked it as well as it was easier to create software solutions when they were in silos but that’s not what we have out there today at all.</p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/10/us-consumers-and-government-are.html">US Consumers and Government Are Learning a Cold Hard Reality Lesson About IT Infrastructure Complexities With Models and Algorithms Thanks to Health Insurance Exchanges</a></h5> <p><strong><em>Digital Illiteracies Running Hog Wild In Congress & White House & No Sign of Letting Up Anytime Soon As The Soap Operas and Competition For Attention Continues..</em></strong></p> <p>So hopefully we can keep enough really good hybrids around doing the job of a CIO and not put an over abundance of pressure on them as they do and will break and when that happens we can pretty much say<strong> the perceptions of complex IT infrastructures and the undue demands of those who do not understand will be the cause of having fewer amongst us.  BD</strong>  </p> <p> <hr />CISOs think that 41 percent of CEOs worry about the loss of brand reputation and trust that comes with security breaches. CISOs believe that their CFOs will most worry about the financial loss the company may incur (47 percent), while again unsurprising, the largest number of COOs will worry about downtime, 42 percent.</p> <p>But how about CIOs? Well none of them (according to the research) feel financial loss is of any concern to them. In terms of other concerns, they are more or less evenly split with 26 percent worried about loss of brand reputation, 24 percent operation down time and a lowly 18 percent worried about compliance violation. <strong>But most CIOs (32 percent) ticked the box marked 'Other': so CIOs worry about everything or nothing in particular, depending on which way you look at it.</strong></p> <p><a href="http://www.zdnet.com/even-more-than-ceos-cios-have-everything-to-worry-about-7000022257/" title="http://www.zdnet.com/even-more-than-ceos-cios-have-everything-to-worry-about-7000022257/">http://www.zdnet.com/even-more-than-ceos-cios-have-everything-to-worry-about-7000022257/</a></p>

CIOs Have Everything To Worry About Compared to CEOs Fiddling Around With Branding Perceptions Related to Profits, No Popularity Contests for the CIOs

This is not to say CIOs don’t worry about branding as they do but they have a lot of other items that come first by all means, like IT secur...

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And Now For A Word From The Companies That Certify EHR Software Systems Relative To Views On Complexities With Meaningful Use Two–Are We Hostages of Our Own Tools and Infrastructure? I Think That Can Be Safely Said…

<p>These are the companies the certify the medical record systems that will enable hospitals and physicians to get their stimulus incentives.  They too have issues and questions.  A lot of it is just the way technologies have evolved along with bringing in revenue cycling and more data and integration from insurance companies.  As we all know it’s not<img align="right" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-3YK0eJdWKe4/UQbuqWLIbOI/AAAAAAABD20/7X7QNJ4qjDw/image%25255B3%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="float: right; display: inline" /> a big secret in the industry that the focus of being a tool for doctors with medical records, has shifted to an even bigger focus as being the tool for the payers who want all the data formatted for claim payments and Medicare is right in there as well.  There are areas to where this needs to come together like clearinghouses to scrub claims which have been around for quite a while as well as the ability to submit electronic claims with a medical records system.</p> <p>The CCHIT was the lone group for a while that did all the certifications but as the number of companies grew, there were a few more added on to perform the same with medical record vendors.   There are <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/01/allscripts-has-more-issues-with-class.html">medical record vendors out there who are not certified</a> either so I thought that was worth a quick mention here as to be qualified for the stimulus dollars, a certified software program is needed by a doctor or a hospital.  It was just in January that trade groups were wanting to know when the certification software would be up and running again as they had some software issues.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/01/emr-trade-group-asking-onc-when-are-you.html">EMR Trade Group Asking the ONC When Are You Going to Have the Certification Software Up and Working Again-Can’t Get Systems Approved for Stage Two Meaningful Use–”Killer Algorithms Chapter 52”</a></h5> <p>Along this journey due to complexities some “certified” records systems had issues and stalled the attestation process for some of their clients, like GE.  Part one of Meaningful use was pretty straight forward but like everything else when the parameters of part two were added there was a lot of other things going on that had either a direct or non direct impact, and software just builds on itself. </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2011/10/ge-centricity-ehrs-need-to-fix-their.html">GE Centricity EHRs Need To Fix Their Algorithms (Math)-Some Customers May Not Be Able to Attest Until The End of November After the Software Update</a></h5> <p>You can read some of the comments below but right now Stage 2 is a bit of a struggle if you will.  Some doctors may end up giving up, but we shall see how it evolves here.  One vendor said there has been a drop off of vendors seeking <img align="right" border="0" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-iAYIxCUQzBg/UV2UCP7NHQI/AAAAAAABGWM/TQKKLzd0GCk/image%25255B3%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" />certification.  Again the software vendors have to work, rewrite, recompile their software over and over before even attempting certification of course. </p> <p> The <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/12/onc-gives-surescripts-ability-to.html">ONC gave SureScripts</a> the ability to certify EHR modules for e-prescribing but  not complete EHRs so it gets a little more complicated.  What we are going to end up with are fewer vendors for doctors and hospitals to choose from it appears.  CMS could certainly use the ability to “model” a bit better as they drive hospitals and doctors nut at times with their parameters they want met as sometimes better record keeping gets confused with in government  <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/09/hhs-and-doj-send-letters-to-hospital.html">thinking doctors and hospitals are big cheaters on billing.</a> </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/09/electronic-medical-records-still-bug.html">Electronic Medical Records Still Bug CMS With Doctors Creating Better Documentation For Their Services–A Big Reason For The Increases-They Can Bill For Their Actual Time Easier Without Risking Stalling Claim Payments</a></h5> <p>In summary EHR vendors are looking to perhaps  need more time to prepare to be certified as well as the certifying agencies themselves to make sure they are completely on target with Meaningful Use Two.  Nobody intended all of this to grow to where we are today, but just look at what insurance has grown to with complexities and they do a lot of it by design as it increases their profits in some areas as well.  Of course all of this keeps the folks at the ONC very busy as again you may think you have everything set and all it takes is something or some algorithm out of the blue and it’s right back to the drawing board.  BD </p> <p> <hr />As the end of 2013 closes in, most federal certification bodies are noticing an uptick in the number of vendors who are applying to become certified under the 2014 criteria — the same criteria that will be required for the EHR products providers must use to attest to meaningful use Stage 2.</p> <p>“It has been a slow start. They’re working hard. They’re<img align="right" height="66" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/TRqaPmuc5fI/AAAAAAAAmk4/nIn-daNNyO4/image%5B4%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="float: right; display: inline" width="156" /> struggling a little bit, said Alisa Ray, executive director and CEO of the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology, CCHIT, adding that when comparing Stage 1 to Stage 2 certification, vendors are “navigating a higher bar and increased complexity.”</p> <p>Ray said there are three areas of Stage 2 that are proving the most challenging for certification: clinical quality measures, interoperability, and automated measure calculation for reporting metrics.</p> <p>Automated measure calculation “requires almost a whole day of testing,” she said. “There are just a lot fewer products than were there with the Stage 1 or 2011 criteria.”</p> <p>And without naming names, Ray said that “almost everyone has struggled and been surprised by the complexities,” and a number of them have had to go through several certification trials, after not meeting certain criteria.</p> <p>Mark Shin, COO at InfoGard Laboratories, Inc. said when the meaningful use Stage 2 requirements came out earlier this year, his company saw “an extreme drop-off” in the number of applications for certification. </p> <p><a href="http://www.govhealthit.com/news/vendors-struggle-mu-stage-2-EHR-ONC" title="http://www.govhealthit.com/news/vendors-struggle-mu-stage-2-EHR-ONC">http://www.govhealthit.com/news/vendors-struggle-mu-stage-2-EHR-ONC</a></p>

And Now For A Word From The Companies That Certify EHR Software Systems Relative To Views On Complexities With Meaningful Use Two–Are We Hostages of Our Own Tools and Infrastructure? I Think That Can Be Safely Said…

These are the companies the certify the medical record systems that will enable hospitals and physicians to get their stimulus incentives.  ...

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Judge Orders Goldman To Pay Legal Bills For Sergey Aleynikov, The Former Programmer With The Botched “Stolen Code” Legal Cases

<p>This has been a long ongoing process and the first case brought against the former programmer was totally botched and the man did not have a jury of peers as where do you get one for sophisticated while collar technology crimes?  He didn’t have one and eventually a judge tossed it out, who must have done some real research to see the scam legal case Goldman put on.<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="196" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-wnbKa8lkyes/Uma0L9CIA2I/AAAAAAABIPU/pXWhdhw2x78/image%25255B9%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" title="image" width="200" />  It was really bad as anyone could flash some written code on a screen and court and say that was it and a jury of common consumers would have no clue.  Now it appears there a bit of restitution for Mr. Aleynikov who has been through hell to say the least.<strong>  </strong></p> <p><strong>The state of New York is now trying to prove the case, good luck!  Digital illiterates live on and the time would be better spent asking Goldman to get some of their code and models reverse engineered so we can see if they in fact were using clean code through out the processes of their business for years, but of course first we need some real quants and sleuths that understand this employed by the SEC</strong> and looks like with a lawyer at the top that's not a reality we could look forward to seeing, but it’s where the action takes place with math models and code.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/08/former-goldman-programmer-sergey.html">Former Goldman Programmer Sergey Aleynikov Case–Digital Illiteracy of FBI, A Duped Jury-How Goldman Played It And Is Still Not Accountable for Their Own Risk Altering Models…</a></h5> <p>Scroll down to the footer here and watch video 2, the Quants of Wall Street and you will get it.  The link below tells kind of an odd story with the FBI agent misunderstanding what “subversion” is by his own admission, there you go, more digital illiteracy with investigating such cases:)</p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/08/another-stolen-code-case-on-wall-street.html">Another “Stolen Code” Case on Wall Street Emerges–Hope They Get It Right This Time And Either Prosecute the Case Correctly or Dismiss It-The “Evil” Drop Box Share…</a></h5> <p>Now Sergey is getting some court ordered relief on the legal bills as the judge said they need to pay up as they have an established procedure of covering legal bills for officers and the judge say that is what Sergey was.  Actually from what I read about his background he’s very smart and maybe Goldman should hire him back as his talent goes beyond just programming and he has qu<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="177" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-Hst1hm60EcE/Uma0MXNGmpI/AAAAAAABIPc/CIO3B2uJo_o/image%25255B4%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" title="image" width="169" />ite a bit of software engineering experience under his belt.  In August <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/goldman-knight-capital-trading-errors-2013-8">Goldman has their massive trading errors hit them</a>, a programming error.  We all know bank CEOs don’t understand their own models thanks to Jamie Dimon who was on video a few times saying “I don’t know” when asked about the JP Morgan models.  </p> <p>Goldman can seek reimbursement if Sergey is not successful in his court case and again the state of New York would be wise to drop it.  The man needs to get a “life” back.  The case might cost Goldman $4 million, a drop in the bucket for the bank.  If stolen code is the issue, I would say let’s run what gets confiscated by law agencies and see what it does to determine if in fact the code has value.  I asked back in 2009 how far this has gone in healthcare as well with math models and algorithms that are proprietary code?  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/08/goldman-stolen-code-has-algorithmic.html">Goldman Stolen Code – Has Algorithmic Fraud Become A Business Model in HealthCare Too?</a></h5> <p>It’s going to be interesting to see what the state of New York does..again with recent IT infrastructure stories n the news and with no real ability to prove this case it appears at this point, I think they should drop it and move on.  BD  </p> <p> <hr />It has paid more than $35 million in lawyer fees for a former director, Rajat K. Gupta, who was convicted in an insider trading case of leaking boardroom talks to the hedge fund magnate <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/r/raj_rajaratnam/index.html?inline=nyt-per">Raj Rajaratnam</a>. In the case of Mr. Gupta, as a director, he was entitled to have his legal fees paid under the bank’s bylaws. Mr. Gupta has agreed to refund Goldman if a court denies his appeal.A federal judge has ruled that <a href="http://dealbook.on.nytimes.com/public/overview?symbol=GS&inline=nyt-org">Goldman Sachs</a> must pay the legal fees of a former computer programmer accused of stealing code from the bank, a decision that wades into a hot-button issue as more and more Wall Street employees find themselves ensnared in lawsuits and investigations.</p> <p>In an opinion issued on Tuesday, Judge Kevin McNulty of Federal District Court in New Jersey said Goldman had a legal obligation to pay certain lawyer bills for the former Goldman programmer, Sergey Aleynikov, because he was an officer of the bank during the time in question. </p> <p>“I hold that the term officer encompasses Aleynikov’s position as a vice president of GSCo,” the judge wrote. </p> <p>Mr. Aleynikov’s situation has been one of the more unusual white-collar criminal prosecutions in recent years. After Goldman reported him to the authorities, both federal and state officials have each brought charges against him. Now, depending on the final outcome, the government’s actions against Mr. Aleynikov could cost Goldman more than $4 million.</p> <p>Judge McNulty disagreed with the bank. He ordered that Goldman advance Mr. Aleynikov the money that he was spending to fight the state case, an amount already exceeding $700,000. Goldman is expected to seek reimbursement from Mr. Aleynikov if he is unsuccessful in his defense.</p> <p>The court also said the bank must pay reasonable legal fees that have been incurred by Mr. Aleynikov fighting Goldman on the legal-fee issue. Thus far, those fees are $1.1 million, though Goldman could dispute the amount as unreasonable.</p> <p><a href="http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/10/22/judge-orders-goldman-to-pay-programmers-legal-bills/?smid=tw-share&_r=0" title="http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/10/22/judge-orders-goldman-to-pay-programmers-legal-bills/?smid=tw-share&_r=0">http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/10/22/judge-orders-goldman-to-pay-programmers-legal-bills/?smid=tw-share&_r=0</a></p>

Judge Orders Goldman To Pay Legal Bills For Sergey Aleynikov, The Former Programmer With The Botched “Stolen Code” Legal Cases

This has been a long ongoing process and the first case brought against the former programmer was totally botched and the man did not have a...

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Healthcare.Gov–HHS Sebelius Testimony With House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Technologists Pull Up a Chair And Get the Popcorn Ready for “One Heck of a Show”- We Are Going To Learn About The Sorry State of Affairs Of Digital Literacy With Our Government All The Way Around…

<p>If you read my blog often enough then you know I hate gamification and this show down looks like it’s going to be some version of that:)  This goes for both sides.  <strong>All we need now is a final encore of Diane Feinstein telling us more about what the NSA does at the end:)</strong></p> <p><strong>Both sides are going to be very entertaining as there’s not an adequate understanding of how complexities of IT Infrastructures work today on either side.</strong> <img align="right" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-3XPX3CvwmPo/UIESBxtDIEI/AAAAAAAA_CI/X7TwW73PfoQ/image%25255B21%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="float: right; display: inline" />  This entire project with the insurance exchanges has been a hard learning experience for government and consumers as it is a lot more difficult than it used to be, I know I used to write code and was one of those who spent many late hours on the computer developing and getting the code to compile correctly as well as extensive time working with some complex SQL queries and it’s much more complex today.  You can read the link below and I said in September exactly what the President said today, use alternative methods to enroll.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/09/health-insurance-exchange-contractors.html">Health Insurance Exchange Contractors Give Update Report to House Energy & Commerce Committee–The Federal Data Hub Beta</a></h5> <p>I said back in 2009 that Health IT would eat her up and questioned Deparle as well.  Here’s the links below from the archives and the DOJ and SEC have the same problem as we need “hybrids” in there to run IT Intense agencies, as the old figureheads can’t cut it in today’s complex world.  I don’t think any of them realize that all laws have some pretty screeching algorithms and IT infrastructures attached to everything they do in Congress either.  That side needs to have the Office of Technology Assessment restored, for all of them, non partisan.  Here’s from the Quack in 2009…and I’m not a genius I just think logically and use data mechanics methodologies with all of this.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/02/kathleen-sebelius-kansas-governor-for.html">Kathleen Sebelius, Kansas Governor for HHS – Please not! Put the “Smart” People in these key positions</a></h5> <p><em><font color="#ff0000">“Now if she has some IT background in addition to experience in the insurance area, then I can take all of this back, but when are we going to quit focusing on the “political” folks and put the <b>“smart” folks in</b> these crucial positions. Other positions may not require the same levels of <b>“hands on” experience,</b> i.e. the Secretary of State where that is a highly diplomatic position,<b> but HHS, come on, this all about Health IT</b>, so we are getting the very short end of the deal if we shop at the “political” store.”</font></em> </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/03/nancy-ann-deparle-and-kathleen-sebelius.html">Nancy-Ann DeParle and Kathleen Sebelius – Business Intelligence?</a></h5> <p><em><font color="#ff0000">“I hope we have 2 individuals with some brass tactics experience with Health IT here.  The responsibilities for both positions has changed so much in getting reliable systems and data in place for the agencies to function.  Without some first hand Health IT knowledge I’m afraid of what the ending results could be.  Again, nothing personal here, just my opinions on what I feel is needed for success.”</font></em></p> <p><strong>If you go back to 2012 you have the GOP members wanting an update from HHS on Meaningful Use and this was way over the head of the GOP as well,<img align="right" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/TKYXI9HNaQI/AAAAAAAAh1M/7da7_nnWx-c/image_thumb%5B7%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="float: right; display: inline" /><u> both sides suck and are just as equally digital illiterate!   Even <a href="http://geekdoctor.blogspot.com/2012/10/a-time-for-boundless-energy-and-optimism.html">Dr. Halamka</a> wanted to explain to the committee as he wrote on his blog at Harvard.</u></strong></p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/10/senate-gop-members-call-for-meeting.html">Senate GOP Members Call for a Meeting with HHS To Explain Meaningful Use and Incentives Given to Doctors and Hospitals for Electronic Medical Records–Due Time for Congressional Digital Literacy to Expand</a></h5> <p>At this point I don’t know which side is going to sound worse, both are just as bad as the GOP lacks luster as well, maybe more green eggs and ham.  </p> <p>                               <strong><em><u>“The short order code kitchen burned down a few years ago”</u> </em></strong></p> <p>Now I do not believe in repealing Obamacare at all but HHS needs new leadership and the exchanges will get fixed in time, so pick up the phone and enroll.  There may need to be more adjustments but damn folks, wake up, all of this could not have been avoided.  Here’s a Senator from Illinois that was her friend and is demanding she resign.  I said about a year ago it was time to resign with dignity.   Health IT has eaten her up and she’s no contest for the extreme math models and algorithmic formulas used by insurers and gets duped and duped again.  </p> <div id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:a116f2b9-3bcb-4c62-aa5e-a464067f4238" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px"><div><object height="277" width="493"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/mQf_c7SNv-U#t=51?hl=en&hd=1"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/mQf_c7SNv-U#t=51?hl=en&hd=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="493" height="277"></embed></object></div><div style="width:493px;clear:both;font-size:.8em">Senator Pat Roberts…</div></div> <p><strong>Now for a little about the other side who’s also going to take this and jump all over and complain, and many of them are just as bad and couldn’t have done this job either.</strong>  It’s like a bunch of kids anymore and we as consumers suffer.  Here’s a popular post of mine from a few days ago, let’s put Congress on pay for performance and get them a wellness portal so we can start creating performance metrics and sock them with a few behavior modification algorithms and see if we can help fix them like insurance companies all want to do with us.  It’s time for some real assessments on all of them making laws!  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/10/congress-needs-wellness-portal-as.html">Congress Needs a “Wellness Portal” As Predictive Behavior Analytics And Behavior Modification Is Needed So Consumers Can Start Scoring Congressmen To Create Risk Assessments Along With Adding Pay for Performance Assessments To Their Positions….</a><img align="right" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-KoNJiXeI5jE/UkvRBVOpPhI/AAAAAAABIBA/7A-3ki8Oo2w/image%25255B8%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="float: right; display: inline" /></h5> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/09/jon-stewart-discusses-little-paper.html">Jon Stewart Discusses “Little Paper Senator Cruz”–Yet More Startling Proof For the Need to Restore the Tool Congress Needs–The Office of Technology Assessment</a></h5> <p>And this there’s this one who gets bored with his job making laws and listening to others…</p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/09/senator-john-mccain-another.html">Senator John McCain: Another Demonstration of Why Congress Should Reinstitute the Office of <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="98" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-eJDCwaF9Qo0/UkvRAy7VPfI/AAAAAAABIA4/AfP2M4fxxTM/image%25255B3%25255D.png?imgmax=800" title="image" width="98" />Technology Assessment, When Education Takes Place, Less Distractions With Boredom And More Respect for Consumers…</a></h5> <p><em>Put John McCain and Ted Cruz in the same room so John McCain can sit and play poker on his cellphone while Ted Cruz reads Dr. Seuss, a match made in heaven no less:)</em></p> <p><strong><em>Ok enough of my rant…and maybe let’s work on this below as well as getting the insurance exchange website up and going…BD  </em></strong></p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/02/congress-needs-bigger-brainrestore_18.html">Congress Needs a Bigger Brain–Restore the Office of Technology Assessment And Truly Assess What is Useful And Remove The Algo Duping Permeating In Government–Fantasy Perceptions That Are Not Real Can Be A Dangerous Thing</a></h5> <hr />What's unexpected is that the effort is being led by a senator from Sebelius' home state, Kansas Republican Pat Roberts — someone she's long had close family <img align="right" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-L58nQYhdyO4/UIESCmpuAJI/AAAAAAAA_CQ/DGVdPGl1Z1Q/image%25255B20%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="float: right; display: inline" />and professional ties to. <p>Sebelius had served six years as governor of Kansas before she came to Washington at the start of the Obama administration. When she did so, no one seemed prouder than Roberts.</p> <p>"It is a special and great opportunity for ... a Kansan to be represented as a member of the president's Cabinet," Roberts said at Sebelius' confirmation hearing in 2009.</p> <p><a href="http://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/npr/236697003/obamacare-fight-leads-sen-roberts-to-turn-against-old-friend-sebelius" title="http://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/npr/236697003/obamacare-fight-leads-sen-roberts-to-turn-against-old-friend-sebelius">http://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/npr/236697003/obamacare-fight-leads-sen-roberts-to-turn-against-old-friend-sebelius</a></p>

Healthcare.Gov–HHS Sebelius Testimony With House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Technologists Pull Up a Chair And Get the Popcorn Ready for “One Heck of a Show”- We Are Going To Learn About The Sorry State of Affairs Of Digital Literacy With Our Government All The Way Around…

If you read my blog often enough then you know I hate gamification and this show down looks like it’s going to be some version of that:)  Th...

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DEA Annual Drug Take Back Day–October 26, 2013

<p>This is the 7th event and I thought I would put this out as a reminder that it’s coming up.  I don’t know how we jumped to seven though as in 2010 the DEA said it was the first ever…maybe I missed something but blogged it back in 2010.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/08/dea-heads-up-first-ever-nationwide.html">DEA Heads Up First Ever Nationwide Prescription Drug Take Back Day–No Questions Asked On September 25, 2010</a></h5> <p>The 7th National Prescription Drug Take Back Day</p> <p>Saturday, October 26, 2013</p> <p>10:00 am - 2:00 pm</p> <p><img align="left" alt="image" border="0" height="227" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-rvNfCEC-fJA/UmVapMZzvfI/AAAAAAABIPE/ww2I_9SZBno/image%25255B3%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: left; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" title="image" width="372" /></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p>You can visit the website here to find a location near you, this is a no questions asked “<a href="https://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/NTBI/NTBI-PUB.pub?_flowExecutionKey=_c829A9621-C9E2-A9DB-9255-68C4FF7E2DBF_k003353EC-5A38-6989-8ED1-8E6415631C32">get rid of old prescriptions”</a> event.  Most local police departments seem to be listed in my area and you can search via zip code.  BD  </p>

DEA Annual Drug Take Back Day–October 26, 2013

This is the 7th event and I thought I would put this out as a reminder that it’s coming up.  I don’t know how we jumped to seven though as i...

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“The Wall Street Code” –Movie Trailer Premieres November 2013, How Manipulation of Math Models and Computer Code Created Billionaire Banks And Individuals-Promoting Corporation “Brands” At the Cost of “Real People”

<p>This looks to another great production from Backlight Productions.  They do a really good job of bringing technical coding issues and the subsequent back lashes in society and to the economy in a way that the average consumer can understand how this happens, <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="126" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-rGzvu2RvDW4/UmQ0b2bzAyI/AAAAAAABIOc/CtWHurcncCo/image%25255B23%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" title="image" width="177" />well those who want to understand why.  In the footer of this blog you will find the “Quants of Wall Street” Documentary along with what I think are 3 other videos that are truly eye openers, again for those who want to understand the complexities of math models and computer code and how it works with and sometimes destroys current day IT infrastructures and further more how those who know how to work it at a level above what most consumers presently understand to tremendously profit.  </p> <p>Recently I wrote a post relative to the current state of affairs with health insurance exchanges and readers at the Quack I think get this as I have several other posts on the same target of education.  All the big news outlets have been talking “complexities” in a number of news articles, well here it is right in front of you with the coding and technologies with health insurance exchanges.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/10/us-consumers-and-government-are.html">US Consumers and Government Are Learning a Cold Hard Reality Lesson About IT Infrastructure Complexities With Models and Algorithms Thanks to Health Insurance Exchanges</a></h5> <p>Sadly we have a group of lawmakers who still also live in the “old world” of how technologies were created to improve efficiencies that can’t see how this has progressed in markets to make huge amounts of money as well, so we end up with <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/04/modeling-for-inequality-with.html">“Modeling for Inequality With Segmentation”…</a>good video <img align="right" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-nyFsMPDDLgk/UDEQa31432I/AAAAAAAA86o/sscFDo2n0LE/image%25255B21%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="float: right; display: inline" />at the link helps explain this from a Quant as she sees it.  We have a lot of good efforts out there to bring this to the forefront but movies from <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/07/capitalism-love-story-michael-moores.html">Michael Moore</a> and  <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/09/inequality-for-all-movie-trailer-in.html">Robert Reich</a> do their job and get your attention but that’s where it stops with leaving out the next move and that is requiring accountability for math models and computer code, everything today runs on it, servers running 24/7 making life impacting decisions about all of us, designed with math models and code.  Here’s another post from Cathy O’Neill that speaks out about how all this works, she’s a mathematician and quant and she knows.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/12/cathy-oneil-mathematicianquant-wall.html">Cathy O’Neil, Mathematician/Quant: Wall Street Quants The Culture, Big Data Mechanics, Algorithms, Data Mining, Lack of Privacy, Web Profiling, Health Insurance Profiles and Modeling Abuse…</a></h5> <p>Way back over two years ago I did my own interpretation called <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/02/attack-of-killer-algorithmsdigest-links.html">“The Attack of the Killer Algorithms”</a>..with showing everyday events on how consumers and others get hurt when bad code and bad models running servers make automated decisions based on the parameters entered in the computer code.  I have the Occupy movement to thank that generated the series as that’s what it was all about, even though those protesting didn’t understand it themselves but knew something was wrong and thus you saw in the news, as they didn’t get it either all kinds of articles stating <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2011/10/occupying-wall-streetits-all-about.html">“what is their purpose, I felt the Killer Algorithms were are the root.</a>   Since the original group of blog posts I now graduated many videos that help educate at <a href="http://www.ducknet.net/attack-of-the-killer-algorithms/">the Algo Duping page,</a> a grouping of educational videos done by people smarter than me. </p> <div id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:7b644acb-5052-43c2-a8ef-caa53bdc7bcd" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px"><div><object height="252" width="448"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/klfGe2QEUiI?hl=en&hd=1"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/klfGe2QEUiI?hl=en&hd=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="448" height="252"></embed></object></div><div style="width:448px;clear:both;font-size:.8em">They Do Not Understand…nobody wants to talk</div></div> <h5><em></em></h5> <div id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:37e9cffa-67b6-441a-9ad6-cded0fc46503" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px"><div><object height="252" width="448"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/51Zc23faz3o#t=16?hl=en&hd=1"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/51Zc23faz3o#t=16?hl=en&hd=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="448" height="252"></embed></object></div><div style="width:448px;clear:both;font-size:.8em">The Wall Street Code–Trailer</div></div> <p><strong>11-1-2013  New Trailer…Goldman Sachs one made a killing on the flash crash..Nanex…</strong></p> <div id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:7c161494-70ff-460b-8f5f-37bc865828db" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px"><div><object height="252" width="448"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_HB5Gfo6ouQ?hl=en&hd=1"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_HB5Gfo6ouQ?hl=en&hd=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="448" height="252"></embed></object></div><div style="width:448px;clear:both;font-size:.8em">Bonus Video Wall Street Code</div></div> <p>Insurance companies have a big stake here as well, just look at the classifieds of late, they are looking for tons of Quants, analysts, data miners and so on.  This is also another great video from the same production company, talking about “brands” that big corporations sell and his opinion on how we buy from “brands” instead of “people”…we no longer think of things coming from other people and now we look at a company or corporation as where we put our faith, something to be said for this and makes sense to me on how this has evolved over years.  “Advertising is here to make us believe human relationships are mediated by corporate products” he states, buy that cool device or clothes that make you cool.  </p> <div id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:cd61c9d4-cd10-4b53-b161-e2ecbdc50a21" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px"><div><object height="252" width="448"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/A-AwAHyHaT4?hl=en&hd=1"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/A-AwAHyHaT4?hl=en&hd=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="448" height="252"></embed></object></div><div style="width:448px;clear:both;font-size:.8em">Brands Instead of People…</div></div> <p>Think about this when you are buying health insurance, I think it’s pretty profound there as you see people, insurance brokers struggling for their existence and buying “the brand”..well the “brand” is not promoting the people…use the link below as an example to where doctors<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="74" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-1OEhMMtdtdM/UmQ0cUxambI/AAAAAAABIOk/tmZG5tc7OCs/image%25255B13%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" title="image" width="116" /> (the people) are somewhat being casted off.  <strong>You are buying the “insurance brand” and the doctors in network, not the people if you will.  You need the “brand” of what they have considered to be the place to go and be “cool” and get your healthcare needs.</strong>  </p> <h5><strong><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/10/united-healthcare-drops-300-southwest.html">United Healthcare Drops 300 Southwest Florida Doctors While Aetna Announces It Is Expanding Medicare Advantage Doctor Networks With Employer Sponsored Medicare Advantage Plans, No Word Yet On Individual Polices–Clustered Algorithm Analytics Creating “Black Box” Risk Assessments</a></strong></h5> <p>The more distance you have between your house and your neighbors house the more unhappy we are he states and you need to fill those voids with the offerings of corporations…thinks he’s on to something here with stating that we are so far removed and engaged in the buying and selling of money itself which has nothing to do with buying and selling goods.  I have said this a few times with a few different works with way too many corporations “flipping algorithms” for<img align="right" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/SgyYmrRtv_I/AAAAAAAAPr0/zj6tygciyAg/image%5B5%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="float: right; display: inline" /> profits and how the tangible world suffers as a result and we have a huge imbalance.  Here’s one example I spotted a while back on buying brands and the use of marketing and selling data…an insurance company and a big pharma company…in my small opinion we are again promoting brands and not all contributing to the “good” with competing with the FDA who is the government agency responsible for determining safety for all of us…sell that brand instead of donating data?  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/08/pharma-and-health-insurance-companies.html">Pharma and Health Insurance Companies Pairing Up, Humana’s Analytics Subsidiary and Lilly To Figure Out How to Save (Make) Money and Provide Better Patient Care–Selling Research Data That Competes With FDA Sentinel Initiative</a></h5> <p>Furthermore in the video he states the reason things are so expensive today is that 80% of the dollars we spend are going to bankers, who do nothing except run some math models and code.  Money has become to expensive the video estates and we end up with situations like “Greece”.  Corporate money is always going to be the life blood and humans don’t live off of that, we need food and other items which is true, I can’t eat an algorithms or math model for lunch:)</p> <h4><strong><u>Journalism and Big Data:</u></strong> </h4> <p><strong>Last but not least here’s a discussion on Big Data…what would a blog post today be without it:)</strong>  This is a gentleman with a very interesting perspective on how journalists do their work today “let’s interview a data base instead of a person” he states.  He talks about the kind of tools that journalists use today versus how it has been in the past.  Scroll on down to the footer here and watch the first video and watch Professor Siefe tell you about how some of the news and data is presented today…a good reason to be a skeptic of some of what you read.  There’s a very good essay on this topic that can be found at the link below…why math modelers have an even bigger responsibility today…and there’s some interference run here with “branding” at times I would say too. </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/10/on-being-data-skeptic-modelers-have.html">“On Being a Data Skeptic- Modelers Have A Bigger Responsibility Now Than Ever Before”–A Must Read Essay, Start “Sniffing the Data”…</a></h5> <div id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:2db56c1c-8d62-4f77-a6cd-4d8c59607210" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px"><div><object height="252" width="448"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/arJTMfytwJo?hl=en&hd=1"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/arJTMfytwJo?hl=en&hd=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="448" height="252"></embed></object></div><div style="width:448px;clear:both;font-size:.8em">Big Data Talks and How It Works with Journalism</div></div> <p>He states journalists instead of getting a quick few quotes from a CEO should really look more behind the scenes to find out what the corporation or bank is doing that they really don’t want the public to see.  I write a series of posts that I label <a href="http://www.google.com/cse?cx=partner-pub-3361913584384474:8587195737&ie=UTF-8&q=subsidiary+watch&sa=Search#gsc.tab=0&gsc.q=subsidiary%20watch&gsc.page=1">“subsidiary watch”</a> that kind of goes along with that idea.  Are journalists hooked on data?  The journalist of the future he says is going to have to be different and know about working with statistics he states in the video.  The same art of story telling will no go away and new ways of interacting with data will be needed.  He states the news rooms will look different as you will have “teams” working together, the journalists, programmers, analysts and perhaps even some data scientists included.  </p> <p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/VPROBacklight?feature=watch">VProBacklight</a>  does a really good job with almost anything they put out and really dig to present things in a way consumers can understand the coding and math models that occurs at more than just one level.  Data on it’s own can be very misleading he states and if you read here that’s been a staple for a few years.  He states The Economist is changing how they present material with presenting more opinions or how they think or if this is just an article with “raw facts”.  Another good video worth a watch is <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aq1Ln1UCoEU&feature=c4-overview-vl&list=PLVhS7OMlNhVtFG2ShNYLAStMPmIGjthMa">“Money and Speed: Inside the Black Box”</a> which features <a href="http://www.nanex.net/">Nanex</a> who we depend on for all our “real” charts out there today with the interactions of algorithms , as well as the #1 Quant in the World, Paul Wilmott and several <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="96" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-ZBocko_BliA/UmQ0cwALI9I/AAAAAAABIOo/y8Z-aN9YPUI/image%25255B19%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" title="image" width="173" />other players.  You don’t hardly find any physicists who talk about Wall Street Math not including Nanex charts and the information they offer.  If you scroll down to <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2011/07/how-algorithms-shape-our-worldted-talks.html">watch the video from Kevin Slavin</a> that had such a huge impact with speaking about algorithms and math models, <strong>he talks Nanex as they give us the big data picture on stock market algorithms every day and even provided the SEC with the full version of why the Flash Crash took place.</strong>  I still wonder about the cases with “stolen code” and if they were a bit of a sham as even the the FBI agent on this case didn’t know what “subversion” was  with investigating his case and somewhat really took it out of context with his case:) </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/08/another-stolen-code-case-on-wall-street.html">Another “Stolen Code” Case on Wall Street Emerges–Hope They Get It Right This Time And Either Prosecute the Case Correctly or Dismiss It-The “Evil” Drop Box Share…</a></h5> <p>So in summary one does wonder why health insurance just might be so expensive, how much of the policy payments are going to the banks one could ask?  When you see health insurers going into investments like this in real estate…one could ask “what’s really going on here”…and do we know the full extent of how expensive this “money” is?  What is the cut US Bank and United Healthcare  (who also owns a bank but unrelated to this particular story) gets from this for basically doing nothing?  How expensive is this money and we do know their profits are still on the rise with 3rd quarter for this year beyond $1.5 Billion.    BD  </p> <h5><strong><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/10/unitedhealthcare-doesnt-want-to-let.html">UnitedHealthcare Doesn’t Want To Let Wall Street Own All the Rentals, One More Housing Community Opened in Ohio With An Almost a $9 Million Dollar Investment, While Doctors Caring for Medicare Advantage Patients Are Being Cut From Their Networks…</a></strong></h5> <p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51Zc23faz3o#t=16">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51Zc23faz3o#t=16</a></p>

“The Wall Street Code” –Movie Trailer Premieres November 2013, How Manipulation of Math Models and Computer Code Created Billionaire Banks And Individuals-Promoting Corporation “Brands” At the Cost of “Real People”

This looks to another great production from Backlight Productions.  They do a really good job of bringing technical coding issues and the su...

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Steve Wynn Donates $25 Million Along With His Retinal Stem Cells to Support Research At The University of Iowa Institute For Vision Research

<p>You probably know who Steve Wynn is, think casinos and Las Vegas and that how he made his way up the money pyramid.  He also has a rare eye disease he was diagnosed with in his 20s and now has night blindness and has a lack of peripheral vision.<a href="http://www.wivr.uiowa.edu/"><img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="59" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-Cmx56OTpLXA/UmOYNQCmSXI/AAAAAAABIOM/MdT_l8Vnrko/image%25255B5%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" title="image" width="242" /></a>  Wynn is now 71 years old and stated in the article, all the mice, 100 of them now have his cells.</p> <p>The money will help build a new laboratory at the University to grow stem cells and hire additional scientists.  He had little to do with the University and gives credit to his director of his foundation with following the research  over the last 20 years and suggested the University of a recipient.  Wynn did state the donation was not to help himself specifically and we see that a lot as when someone has been touched personally with a disease they do seem to find organizations where donations can be put to work as more than just himself will benefit…what ever works is what I say and with NIH funds being tight I’m sure the school elated and they are naming the new institute after Steve Wynn.  The website for the Institute can be <a href="http://www.wivr.uiowa.edu/">found here.</a>   The video below tells the story.  BD  </p> <div id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:2d1bfcef-133f-44e8-8541-02f0965d4081" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px"><div><object height="252" width="448"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ufFrR2N1nPc?hl=en&hd=1"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ufFrR2N1nPc?hl=en&hd=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="448" height="252"></embed></object></div><div style="width:448px;clear:both;font-size:.8em">University of Iowa Institute For Vision Research</div></div> <p> <hr />Las Vegas casino tycoon Steve Wynn said Friday that he gave $25 million to support blindness research at the University of Iowa after becoming convinced that its scientists were leading the way in the search for a cure.</p> <p>Wynn, 71, said that university researchers were "knocking on the door" of a discovery that was unthinkable when he was diagnosed with a rare eye defect when he was in his 20s. He said there was no hope then for individuals inflicted with diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa, which has slowly compromised Wynn's vision and causes nighttime blindness and a lack of peripheral vision.</p> <p>Today, he believes it is possible that within his lifetime, scientists will be able to use stem cells to restore vision by growing new cells that are not defective and transplanting them into patient's eyes. He spoke with amazement as he described how Iowa researchers have learned how to grow the cells and are testing them on mice, some of whom have been implanted with Wynn's cells.</p> <p><a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/steve-wynn-iowa-path-blindness-cure-20617622" title="http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/steve-wynn-iowa-path-blindness-cure-20617622">http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/steve-wynn-iowa-path-blindness-cure-20617622</a> <hr /></p>

Steve Wynn Donates $25 Million Along With His Retinal Stem Cells to Support Research At The University of Iowa Institute For Vision Research

You probably know who Steve Wynn is, think casinos and Las Vegas and that how he made his way up the money pyramid.  He also has a rare eye ...

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United Healthcare Drops 300 Southwest Florida Doctors While Aetna Announces It Is Expanding Medicare Advantage Doctor Networks With Employer Sponsored Medicare Advantage Plans, No Word Yet On Individual Polices–Clustered Algorithm Analytics Creating “Black Box” Risk Assessments

<p>Cluster Algorithm Analytics, some of the complex math models that the government can’t keep up with at CMS as they change rapidly and are based on profitability.<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="167" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-jlY5K3g1zcA/UmFqDLyC1DI/AAAAAAABIN0/-QYG3C7J2Cg/image%25255B7%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" title="image" width="199" />  Here’s a partial explanation of what this is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluster_analysis">from Wikipedia</a> and yes it’s a bit deep for the layman but I keep saying government needs some better data sleuths to keep up with and understand the data mechanics used by insurers so if you get nothing more than the fact that this is a very complex methodology, then I have made the point.   It’s taking basic segmentation and applying a number of additional analytical algorithms for decision making.  The same methodologies are used in genomic research and we all know how intense and complex that is, well same methodologies are used by health insurance companies and so you wonder why it’s so complex out there, well here’s your answer…here’s a company that is <a href="http://healix.com/services/medical-underwriting-tools/travel-black-box/how-does-it-work/">even selling the term “black box”</a> <strong>like you hear on Wall Street with Hedge Funds..</strong>a bunch of algorithms…and reading the couple paragraphs below you will understand why you get hit with a survey right and left anymore (grin).  <hr /></p> <p><em>“Cluster analysis itself is not one specific </em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algorithm"><em>algorithm</em></a><em>, but the general task to be solved. It can be achieved by various algorithms that differ significantly in their notion of what constitutes a cluster and how to efficiently find them. Popular notions of clusters include groups with small </em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distance_function"><em>distances</em></a><em> among the cluster members, dense areas <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="231" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-gCA58WLkf0A/UmFqDiyiZRI/AAAAAAABIN4/vUEQzgNZ3Xs/image%25255B3%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" title="image" width="300" />of the data space, intervals or particular </em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statistical_distribution"><em>statistical distributions</em></a><em>. Clustering can therefore be formulated as a </em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-objective_optimization"><em>multi-objective optimization</em></a><em> problem. The appropriate clustering algorithm and parameter settings (including values such as the </em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metric_%28mathematics%29"><em>distance function</em></a><em> to use, a density threshold or the number of expected clusters) depend on the individual data set and intended use of the results. Cluster analysis as such is not an automatic task, but an iterative process of </em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge_discovery"><em>knowledge discovery</em></a><em> or interactive multi-objective optimization that involves trial and failure. It will often be necessary to modify data preprocessing and model parameters until the result achieves the desired properties.”</em></p> <p><em>“Cluster analysis is widely used in market research when working with multivariate data from </em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statistical_survey"><em>surveys</em></a><em> and test panels. Market researchers use cluster analysis to partition the general </em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population"><em>population</em></a><em> of </em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer"><em>consumers</em></a><em> into market segments and to better understand the relationships between different groups of consumers/potential </em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customers"><em>customers</em></a><em>, and for use in </em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_segmentation"><em>market segmentation</em></a><em>, </em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positioning_%28marketing%29"><em>Product positioning</em></a><em>, </em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_product_development"><em>New product development</em></a><em> and Selecting test markets.” <hr /></em></p> <p>So now when we read about United Healthcare and cutting more MDs from their Medicare Advantage network one has to begin to wonder what are the clustered algorithms they are using to make these deductions?  <a href="http://articles.courant.com/2013-10-15/business/hc-aetna-medicare-advantage-network-20131014_1_medicare-supplement-network-expansion-private-insurers">Why is Aetna opening the door</a> when the other one changes.  These are all the complexities and can create quick decisions with model building insurance companies with little notice, <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/10/united-healthcare-firing-thousand-of.html">like what happened with United Healthcare.</a>    Below is a link where I recently covered the error factors and how they are creating mass confusion as an insurance company will run the algorithms and then decide to act on them quickly or immediately, like United did with no explanation, it’s a numbers thing.  The ability to participate in certain types of insurance today lies in the “black box”…just like the ones used by Hedge Funds. </p> <h5><strong><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/10/insurance-company-in-network-complex.html">Insurance Company “In-Network” Complex Erroneous Algorithms Continue to Wreak Havoc With Patients and Doctors When It Comes To Coverage and Purchasing Insurance–Time to Begin “Sniffing Some Data”, To Include Labeling And Identifying Killer Algorithms</a></strong></h5> <p>Thank goodness the insurance industry is not into speed like Wall Street with their “black box” cluster algorithms that search out and interact with other algorithms as we would never know what type of insurance coverage we would have by the second (grin). <img align="right" height="97" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-6HDDm04lOwA/Ts0zq-EuFHI/AAAAAAAA4d8/nMT-KL0JEDY/image_thumb%25255B12%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="float: right; display: inline" width="208" /> If you have not looked at how financial models work then take a look at the <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.hk/2012/09/quants-alchemists-of-wall-street-video.html">Quants of Wall Street Documentary</a> as they do a very good job explaining how math intersects with financials and the same types of algorithms are applied with health insurance, so do you see why I keep saying we need more data sleuths in government so they don’t get <a href="http://www.ducknet.net/attack-of-the-killer-algorithms/">Algo Duped?</a>  This is where the <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/02/attack-of-killer-algorithmsdigest-links.html">Killer Algorithms</a> come in to play.   The Quant documentary is also located in the footer of this blog along with 3 other great educational videos created by people smarter than me that are the level to where a layman can benefit, scroll down and watch them.  </p> <p>In California, with the exception of employer based insurance, both United and Aetna are out of the game with individual policies.  Aetna couldn’t find enough doctors for quite a while out here to accept their payment contracts as they were so low as I was told by a few doctors and yes it was hard to find doctors in California for policies purchased via AARP so they gave up and left town.  Both companies, Aetna and United focus on employer policies, where the money is.  It will be interesting to see what Aetna comes up with as far as their big announcement on expanding their networks, will the the individual polices gain members or is this only for more employer backed insurance?  </p> <p>So the doctors in Florida appear to be in the same “risk” and “profit” black box as the <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/10/united-healthcare-firing-thousand-of.html">doctors in Connecticut</a> with the same type of cuts being orchestrated.  It’s all about the shareholders as the CEO of United tells us that “they will prosper”..one way or another it seems.  I questioned even this last press release as well and how do share holders even interpret some of this I said and how many lawyers might it take to write press releases anymore as the complex clustered algorithms drive business directions?  Furthermore, <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/10/united-healthcare-adding-yet-one-more.html">how do you make sense out of this new subsidiary to where Dignity is paying United and somewhat paying themselves a little money and Cerner, the medical records company will benefit with software sales</a>.  </p> <p><strong>THESE ARE COMPLEXIES DRIVEN BY CLUSTERED ALGORITHMS USING SEGMENTATION. </strong></p> <h5><strong><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/10/unitedhealthgroup-and-aarp-get-cozier.html">UnitedHealthGroup and AARP Get Cozier, AARP Still Gets Paid for Marketing Use of AARP Name As AARP Becomes an Optum Labs Data Selling Promoter Amidst Doctor Complaints Received Relative To United Firing of 5500 MDs–Subsidiary Watch</a></strong></h5> <p>As a policy holder and a doctor today, that you are just another brick in the wall when it comes to cluster analytics…and those can change overnight.  Medicare Advantage plans are those that use insurers to run the HMO like policy here and what’s interesting is with all of this is the fact that you see insurers handing to like contracts to where they manage Medicaid which is supposed to be the bottom of the barrel with compensation, right?  BD  </p> <p> <hr />A Medicare Advantage plan that covers 35,000 beneficiaries in Southwest Florida is dropping at least 300 doctors and hard-to-find medical specialists from its Southwest Florida network, a move that beneficiaries and affected physicians say may make it difficult to find needed medical providers.</p> <p>The AARP/Medicare Complete plan offered through United Healthcare notified patients last month in advance of the Oct. 15 start of the Medicare enrollment period. In the letters, and in subsequent interviews with The News-Press, the company said reduced government funding of such plans was a contributing factor.</p> <p>“We’re looking at a more focused network of physicians, especially to deal with some of the financial pressures that have come down and cutbacks, quite honestly, in the Medicare Advantage program and other government-sponsored programs,” said spokesman Tyler Mason.</p> <p>The changes do not apply to United Healthcare’s commercial, Medicaid and Medicare supplement plans, according to the company.</p> <p>United Healthcare would not say how many providers it will remove from plans in 2014, nor would it provide the entire list of practices affected.</p> <p><a href="http://www.news-press.com/article/20131018/HEALTH/310180009/United-Healthcare-drops-300-Southwest-Florida-doctors" title="http://www.news-press.com/article/20131018/HEALTH/310180009/United-Healthcare-drops-300-Southwest-Florida-doctors">http://www.news-press.com/article/20131018/HEALTH/310180009/United-Healthcare-drops-300-Southwest-Florida-doctors</a></p>

United Healthcare Drops 300 Southwest Florida Doctors While Aetna Announces It Is Expanding Medicare Advantage Doctor Networks With Employer Sponsored Medicare Advantage Plans, No Word Yet On Individual Polices–Clustered Algorithm Analytics Creating “Black Box” Risk Assessments

Cluster Algorithm Analytics, some of the complex math models that the government can’t keep up with at CMS as they change rapidly and are ba...

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UnitedHealthcare Doesn’t Want To Let Wall Street Own All the Rentals, One More Housing Community Opened in Ohio With An Almost a $9 Million Dollar Investment, While Doctors Caring for Medicare Advantage Patients Are Being Cut From Their Networks…

<p>This is called the Germantown village and it’s rentals and United sunk in $8.9 Million with partnering with US Bank and yes there were tax credits for this project.  By the way speaking of banks, United has their own bank with health savings accounts that generate <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="114" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-cOCVFGTtmx8/UmB-R83r4zI/AAAAAAABIMY/0H4-dbr3Oeo/image%25255B7%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" title="image" width="177" />most of the money but they use it to make loans too.  It falls under their Optum subsidiary.  I wrote the blog post a couple years ago and they had over a billion on deposit so I’m sure that may have grown as recently they stated they have over a millions health savings accounts.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/07/unitedhealth-group-owns-bank-with.html">UnitedHealth Group Owns a Bank With Deposits Surpassing a Billion – OptumHealth Bank FDIC Insured</a></h5> <p><strong><u>From the website:</u></strong></p> <p><em>“OptumHealth Bank, Member FDIC, is dedicated to health care banking. It is a leading administrator of </em><a href="http://www.optumhealthbank.com/about_hsa.html"><em>health savings accounts (HSAs)</em></a><em> for individuals and families, with more than 500,000 accounts. OptumHealth Bank also offers credit programs to individual account holders to help them pay for out-of-pocket medical expenses. </em></p> <p>The bank has other investments that are outside of the FDIC insurance area of health savings accounts as well and you can get a MasterCard debit card.  </p> <p>Back in 2011 United got into the low income housing in New Mexico as well with another investment there.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2011/12/united-healthcare-gets-in-low-income.html">United Healthcare Gets in The Low Income Housing Business With Partnership to Finance Housing Projects in New Mexico</a></h5> <p>About a year ago United bought the largest HMO in Brazil which included owning hospitals, as the laws are different there and the hospitals were part of the deal worth around $ 9<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="45" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-rSUUxG1YYgY/UmB-RfWXRrI/AAAAAAABIMQ/cj1wRKTsglI/image%25255B8%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" title="image" width="116" /> billion.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/10/united-healthcare-negotiating-to-buy.html">United Healthcare Negotiated to Buy 90 Percent of the Largest Managed Care Provider in Brazil, Where Insurers Can Own Hospitals and Physician’s Practices</a></h5> <p>So coming back around we have the “other” news about <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/10/united-healthcare-firing-thousand-of.html">Medicare Part D doctors being cut loose from United’s “network</a>”…and this weird press release about AARP members being a new big part of Optum Labs…had to take a couple lawyers to write this mess of a press release and you can read it and see what you think as with the huge number of subsidiaries owned, it’s getting to be a bit of creative writing and notice the CEO of Mayo doing a bit of a commercial for Optum Labs.  We know Mayo has a bond issue going and wants to expand and need more money than they bring in.  Then there’s  also a contract with Dignity in a crafty new subsidiary <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/10/united-healthcare-adding-yet-one-more.html">Dignity will pay the new subsidiary of which they are a minor part of over $2 billion</a> for billing services and software. </p> <h5><strong><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/10/unitedhealthgroup-and-aarp-get-cozier.html">UnitedHealthGroup and AARP Get Cozier, AARP Still Gets Paid for Marketing Use of AARP Name As AARP Becomes an Optum Labs Data Selling Promoter Amidst Doctor Complaints Received Relative To United Firing of 5500 MDs–Subsidiary Watch</a></strong></h5> <p>So here we go with all kinds of actions taking place with subsidiaries <strong><em>so for those who are getting to pay rent in Dayton, think of the seniors who now have to find new doctors or Medicare Part D plans in Connecticut, Florida and Rhode Island as around 5500 doctors were axed by United and have been not given one word explaining why</em></strong>.  BD</p> <p>If the video link with Fox interviewing a doctor does not come through, <a href="http://video.foxnews.com/v/2749230817001/unitedhealthcare-drops-medicare-advantage-doctors/?playlist_id=930909787001">you can go here to watch.</a></p> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://video.foxnews.com/v/embed.js?id=2749230817001&w=466&h=263"></script> <hr />DAYTON, Ohio, Oct 17, 2013 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- UnitedHealthcare and U.S. Bank joined community leaders, development partners and new residents to celebrate the grand opening of Germantown Village. The new, 60-unit affordable-housing community represents a major milestone for the area as the first completed development in a neighborhood revitalization initiative that is bringing new housing and other improvements to Dayton's Germantown-Broadway area. <p>UnitedHealthcare invested $8.9 million for the $12.8 million affordable-housing community through a partnership with U.S. Bank subsidiary U.S. Bancorp Community Development Corporation. UnitedHealthcare's funding was secured through the use of Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC), approved by the Ohio Housing Finance Agency. U.S. Bank also provided a construction loan for the benefit of the development, bridging the LIHTC equity during construction. Additional funding was provided by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Ohio Housing Finance Agency and the City of Dayton.</p> <p>The 60 apartments, in five two- and three-story buildings, consist of 20 one-bedroom, 20 two-bedroom and 20 three-bedroom units. Apartments include Energy Star appliances, ceramic tile, and ceiling fans, among other amenities. Ten percent of the units are Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)-compliant. The new community will also include a playground, a garden, walkways and a community room. </p> <p><a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/89-million-investment-by-unitedhealthcare-in-partnership-with-us-bank-helps-bring-new-affordable-housing-to-dayton-2013-10-17?reflink=MW_news_stmp" title="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/89-million-investment-by-unitedhealthcare-in-partnership-with-us-bank-helps-bring-new-affordable-housing-to-dayton-2013-10-17?reflink=MW_news_stmp">http://www.marketwatch.com/story/89-million-investment-by-unitedhealthcare-in-partnership-with-us-bank-helps-bring-new-affordable-housing-to-dayton-2013-10-17?reflink=MW_news_stmp</a></p>

UnitedHealthcare Doesn’t Want To Let Wall Street Own All the Rentals, One More Housing Community Opened in Ohio With An Almost a $9 Million Dollar Investment, While Doctors Caring for Medicare Advantage Patients Are Being Cut From Their Networks…

This is called the Germantown village and it’s rentals and United sunk in $8.9 Million with partnering with US Bank and yes there were tax c...

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McKesson Sells Hospital Pharmacy Automation Division And Jumps In To The Mobile App Business For Community Pharmacies-Now They Can Sell Data Too

<p>Well away goes the hospital prescription automation system, which requires hardware and software and in comings a mobile app to help community pharmacies keep up with the big boys.  Francisco Partners, is the private equity firm buying the hospital prescription system.   </p> <p><a href="http://mobihealthnews.com/26413/mckesson-pharmacies-play-catch-up-with-new-app/">Now over here on the app news</a>…there’s money to be made selling data and we all know that Walgreens takes in about a billion a year just selling data so McKesson is getting in on that end of the business and it keeps customers in the store longer too.<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="177" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-wspnu26135s/Ul8c4m1bcXI/AAAAAAABIMA/efQKF5YMS9w/image%25255B3%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" title="image" width="286" />  This way the smaller pharmacies can offer consumers services and get some data to sell too and compete with the big guys.  The app is free and we all know free ends up costing us along the line somewhere and this looks to be more data.  Here’s your privacy statement from the <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mckesson.healthmart">Android download page for the McKesson software</a>…when it comes to privacy I think we all know the Google privacy rules or lack of…the app goes by the Google privacy rules..hmmmm…remember prescription data does not fall under HIPAA.  </p> <p><em>“This Google Play Store application and website are operated by Google Inc.</em></p> <p><em>“The </em><a href="http://www.google.com/intl/en/privacy/privacy-policy.html"><em>Google Privacy Policy</em></a><em> describes how we treat personal information when you use Google’s products and services, including Android apps, movies, music, and magazines on the Google Play Store app and website.</em></p> <p><em>The </em><a href="http://books.google.com/googlebooks/privacy.html"><em>Google Books Privacy Policy</em></a><em> describes additional privacy information related to your use of the “Books” section.”</em></p> <p>I wrote the post below back in 2012 about independent pharmacies not being able to compete with the money made by the big pharmacies in selling data so it looks like McKesson is offering a solution so they too can collect and sell data, we know those insurance companies will be looking for it and this was Chapter 23 of the <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/02/attack-of-killer-algorithmsdigest-links.html">Attack of the Killer Algorithms,</a> a 50 plus group of blog posts that talk about how algorithms running on servers 24/7 move and take your money and data one way or another.  I guess with this move it looks like selling data has a brighter future than maintaining prescription hardware systems in hospitals.  BD</p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/03/independent-pharmacies-not-able-to.html">Independent Pharmacies Not Able to Compete with Big Chains and Fear Going Out of Business–They Don’t Have Same High Levels of Data To Sell to Profit- Attack of the Killer Algorithms Chapter 23</a></h5> <p> <hr />SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 16, 2013 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Francisco Partners, a leading technology-focused private equity firm, today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire McKesson Automation, a unit of McKesson Corporation that offers integrated pharmacy automation solutions for hospitals and health systems. McKesson Corporation previously announced its intent to divest this division, which will operate under a new name after the transaction closes. The transaction is expected to close this quarter and is subject to customary closing conditions. </p> <p>"McKesson Automation is highly regarded in the healthcare industry for its system-wide approach to and deep understanding of the medication delivery process," said Chris Adams, a principal at Francisco Partners. "We are excited to work closely with the existing leadership team to expand the automation business as a standalone company. We will maintain a close working relationship with McKesson Corporation to ensure that the companies' collective solutions for hospitals and healthcare providers are complementary and effective." </p> <p><a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/francisco-partners-to-acquire-mckessons-automation-unit-2013-10-16?reflink=MW_news_stmp" title="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/francisco-partners-to-acquire-mckessons-automation-unit-2013-10-16?reflink=MW_news_stmp">http://www.marketwatch.com/story/francisco-partners-to-acquire-mckessons-automation-unit-2013-10-16?reflink=MW_news_stmp</a></p>

McKesson Sells Hospital Pharmacy Automation Division And Jumps In To The Mobile App Business For Community Pharmacies-Now They Can Sell Data Too

Well away goes the hospital prescription automation system, which requires hardware and software and in comings a mobile app to help communi...

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e-MDs Medical Records and Phreesia Announce Partnership, Making Data Entry Easier for Patients, Doctors And Collects the Co-Pay

<p>These are actually pretty simple and easy units from Phreesia to set up and are wireless from a normal WiFi set up.  They have advanced quite a bit with more features since they were originally introduced and now it calculates co-payments.  This<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="143" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-OOj8fbV3VdM/Ul8A6k5UbkI/AAAAAAABILo/xbMf3NiD0Fg/image%25255B7%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" title="image" width="237" /> gives a little privacy for the patient as well and they can now make their payments via the tablet platform.  It has been a while since I wrote about the tablets. </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/05/blue-cross-venture-capital-investment.html">Blue Cross Venture Capital Investment in Phreesia Tablets Appears to be Paying Off</a></h5> <p>e-MDs is one of the longest standing ambulatory medical records system that was founded and is backed by doctors so with their system you don’t lose the MD focus as we are seeing on many medical records systems.  As the Phreesia website states, it doesn’t forget to ask for payments.  </p> <p>When seeing a new patient, data entry is much easier as the office may only have to confirm data instead of doing all of it.  In addition the tablets are also available by specialty which fits very well with e-MDs as they have their specialty versions of the medical records software.  It was just a few months ago that e-MDs launched their cloud based practice management and EHR systems and have been promoting it with a number of roadshows.  BD  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/03/e-mds-launches-cloud-based-ehrpractice.html">e-MDs Launches Cloud-Based EHR/Practice Management System</a></h5> <strong> <p> <hr /></p> <p>AUSTIN, TX</p> —<strong>October 15, 2013</strong>—<a href="http://www.phreesia.com/">Phreesia</a>, the nation’s leader in point-of-service healthcare solutions, today announced that it is partnering with <a href="http://www.e-mds.com/">e-MDs</a>, a leading provider of electronic health records (EHRs) and practice management (PM) solutions, to provide medical practices with the highest level of integration possible to streamline the check-in process within their EHR solution.</strong> <p>This partnership provides an automated interface<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="155" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-CNzYuYbq8A4/Ul8A7LNk1MI/AAAAAAABILs/KxEoXsQLkDI/image%25255B3%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" title="image" width="241" /> between the two systems allowing practices to increase cash flow and save staff time, improving the economics for the practice. The bi-directional interface electronically populates demographic, financial and clinical data collected by Phreesia at check-in into e-MDs Solution Series, eliminating the need for manual data entry from practice staff.</p> <p>“Medical practices are looking for integrated solutions that can help them improve operations,” says Michelle Steil, LPN/Practice Manager at VIP Pediatric Associates, a Vanderbilt Integrated Provider. “Together, Phreesia and e-MDs give us the ability to maximize our time with our patients by eliminating the manual work involved in patient intake and managing finances.”</p> <p><a href="http://www.e-mds.com/news/integration-between-phreesia-and-e-mds-reduces-administrative-burden-medical-practices" title="http://www.e-mds.com/news/integration-between-phreesia-and-e-mds-reduces-administrative-burden-medical-practices">http://www.e-mds.com/news/integration-between-phreesia-and-e-mds-reduces-administrative-burden-medical-practices</a></p>

e-MDs Medical Records and Phreesia Announce Partnership, Making Data Entry Easier for Patients, Doctors And Collects the Co-Pay

These are actually pretty simple and easy units from Phreesia to set up and are wireless from a normal WiFi set up.  They have advanced quit...

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