Check Medicare Eligibility Online

New service via the web that charges a quarter for each individual check, need to sign up and establish an account before using.  Almost the same price as a phone call...BD

Check the eligibility and deductible status of Medicare patients in seconds!

This service can save you time and money! Here's how:

• Verify patient information and eligibility!
• Receive deductible amount remaining for the year!
• Receive Primary Insurance information if Medicare is the Secondary Payor
• Receive Managed Care Organization Information(MCO/HMO) if patient is enrolled.
• 25 cents per check! No minimum monthly fee!
• No Time Limit! Transactions never expire!
• Available Nationwide, 24 Hrs a day, 7 days a week!
• Uses Most Web Browsers, No Additional Software Required!*
• Optional Direct Interfaces Available for Sammy USA, Simple Sam Plus, & Simple Sam (Medisoft Coming Soon!)
• 100% HIPAA Compliant!

Sign up Today!

Check Medicare Eligibility at www.CheckMedicare.com.

TabletKiosk Now Shipping Sahara Slate i440D with Vista and Aero Glass support

 

First Slate Tablet PC with Dual Pen and Touch Screen Input Now Widely Available

TabletKiosk™, a leader in mobile computing solutions, today announced that the Sahara Slate PC® i440D featuring both pen and touch screen input, is now widely available with either Microsoft® Windows® XP Tablet PC Edition or Windows Vista® Business operating systems.

Standout features of the Sahara Slate PC i440D include:

• dual mode display that switches between touch screen and active digitizer (pen) input with Wacom® digitizer technology,
• I/O ports that include PCMCIA Type II, eSATA, USB 2.0 and IEEE1394a (6-pin),
• a biometric fingerprint reader,
• three user programmable buttons,
• user accessible memory slot,
• BTO configurations with up to 4 GB DDR2 RAM / 160GB SATA HDD,
• all powered by an Intel® Core™ Duo LV processor.

For touch entry, the screen on the Sahara Slate PC i440D relies on resistive touch technology that responds to contact from a finger, gloved hand or stylus. It does not require direct skin convergence to react. “The resistive touch screen is a key point of differentiation for us. It is advantageous for users in our targeted enterprise markets, including healthcare and field collection, who routinely wear gloves as they conduct their work,” stated Amber Chiu, GM of TabletKiosk R&D.

With its dual core processor, upgradeable system memory, DirectX 9.1 graphics support and wireless capabilities – the Sahara Slate PC i440D is designated Vista Premium Ready – making it the first dual mode slate Tablet PC shipping to run the Windows Aero Glass interface.

TabletKiosk.com - Tablet PCs, Ultra-Mobile PCs (UMPCs), Accessories and Custom Kiosk Solutions

FDA Panel OKs Osteoporosis Drug To Cut Breast Cancer Risk

 

Despite concerns over cardiovascular side effects, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration panel last Tuesday recommended the osteoporosis drug Evista (raloxifene) for use in preventing breast cancer in certain high-risk groups of older women.
In a vote of 8 to 6, the FDA's Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee recommended approval of the drug for postmenopausal women with osteoporosis, and, in a 10 to 4 vote, it also recommended the drug for postmenopausal women at high risk for breast cancer.
While the FDA usually follows the recommendations of its expert panels, it is not obligated to do so.
Evista's approval would give women a valuable option in fighting breast cancer, one expert said.

FDA Panel OKs Osteoporosis Drug To Cut Breast Cancer Risk

Blood Donors Can Answer Their Health History Questions Online

Also operates well on a touch screen tablet pc ...see below...BD

Blood donation just got easier with advent of the Internet Quality Donor System(TM) (iQDS) by Talisman Ltd., of Vienna, Virginia. The US Food & Drug Administration recently issued 510(k) clearance to market the system. As Talisman President Paul D. Cumming, PhD points out: "Now blood centers that use the Quality Donor System(TM) (QDS) can have their donors respond to  health history questions in the privacy and convenience of their home or office instead of being asked questions at the blood drive." While donors must complete the questionnaire on the day of donation, they can now do it at a time and place that best fits their schedule. The prospective donor prints a bar-coded receipt from their computer that summarizes their health history interview and presents this to center staff when they arrive at the blood collection location. Center staff ask a few qualifying questions to ensure authorship of the of the form and, if acceptable, scan the bar-coded receipt entering the interview in the center's QDS system, review the interview and ask any necessary follow up questions. It is anticipated iQDS will save over 10 minutes of donor time at the donation center. Not only is this more convenient for donors and blood centers, but it is expected to increase the appeal for sponsorship of blood drives, since donors will be absent from their work or classrooms for less time.

The preferred client configuration is a touch-screen computer such as the Sahara (see below). This same client machine can also operate in a standalone mode, by running the QDS software directly on the tablet computer.

First Time Ever: Blood Donors Can Answer Their Health History Questions Online

Sorry, folks, but it’s true: You are for sale

This is why they send out privacy notices in very small print that nobody has a tendency to read so they are within their legal boundaries when selling medical data base information.  BD

Other databases, such as Medical Marketing Service (MMS) sell specialized lists that include cross-referenced information on people with asthma, arthritis, cancer and just about any other healthcare affliction you can think of.

The Medical Information Bureau (MIB) gets its information from 600 member companies that send them information obtained “as part of their application underwriting process for life, health, disability, or long-term care insurance.”

That information can include “medical conditions represented by one or more of about 230 codes. ... (such as) height and weight, blood pressure, ECG readings, and laboratory test results,” (as well as) “information that could impact health or longevity including an adverse driving record, participation in hazardous sports, or aviation activity.”

Unfortunately, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), it is legal and yes, they can, and do sell their customers’ information — although some may choose not to. Because this is a consumer issue that is a growing concern when it comes to identity theft, the FDIC has special pages dedicated to consumer protection on its Web site at www.fdic.gov/consumers/consumer/news/index.html.
 
 “That’s why they have to send out those ‘privacy notices."

Sorry, folks, but it’s true: You are for sale

What Does a chief medical information officer do?

 

Although use of electronic medical-record systems in ambulatory care remains low, in acute care, where most CMIOs work, their institutions have passed the tipping point for IT system adoption, particularly for patient record systems and imaging archival systems, Shaffer said.

In that light, Shaffer said, "The delightful news for job security is we're leaving the era of the hard stuff (selection of clinical IT systems and their implementation) and entering the era for the really hard stuff," (leveraging clinical data to reduce variance in care processes and quality, and achieving "process agility" to be able to react quickly to incorporate new medicines, techniques and research-driven ideas to improve care.)

"Being a chief medical information officer is different than being a physician," one CMIO had said.
Most of the 150 or so physician informaticists at last week's meeting of the Association of Medical Directors of Information Systems in Ojai, Calif., sympathized with the understatement.

Modern Healthcare Online

As more patients turn to the Web every day, are doctors prepared for the influx?

A good web presence for MDs is a good thing....BD

It's surprising to me how many physicians do not yet have any presence on the Web, especially those who can set up such a presence at little or no cost. For example, many of our professional specialty organizations offer free Web space to their members. The cost is effectively part of their membership dues.

"Since many patients use the Web to look for doctors, not having a Web presence amounts to giving patients away to other physicians," he said.

Recordnet.com: As more patients turn to the Web every day, are doctors prepared for the influx?

Hat Tip:  Kevin, MD

Healthcare for profit bad : Opinion, Nurses for Social Responsibility

One person's story about utilization management....BD

I am a registered nurse. Although I have spent most of my 25-year career caring for people, I made one enormous mistake. For a brief time, I chose to work for a medical insurance company. They gave me the title, "utilization review nurse," which really meant I had control over whether people were allowed procedures, stayed in the hospital or discharged early.

Because of my discomfort with a system that left me in charge of telling a doctor by phone, some 3,000 miles away with his patient, how to practice medicine, I was far more permissive with certifications than the company liked. My phone calls were soon tapped. I was denied bonuses and raises. Harangued and threatened, I was finally booted from the insurance industry.

I watched my own license abused by a medical corporation whose interest was not in saving lives, but in saving money, and whose profits soared as they denied claims under a "managed healthcare system." Meanwhile, its CEOs got salaries in the millions and stock values doubled.

Healthcare for profit bad : Opinion : Ventura County Star

Glaxo Gets Grilled - Avandia

 

This morning, GlaxoSmithKline defended its controversial diabetes drug, Avandia, in front of a panel of federal advisers convened to decide whether the pill causes heart attacks.

The panel will help the U.S. Food and Drug Administration decide whether steps should be taken to limit sales of Avandia. Some of Glaxo's defenses were met with skepticism, and new information emerged tarring the diabetes pill. Glaxo itself said that new language on the drug's heart risks should be added to its packaging. In slides made public this morning, David Graham, an FDA drug safety expert, recommends that Avandia should be pulled from the market.

Glaxo Gets Grilled - Forbes.com

Humana 2Q Profit More Than Doubles

 

Humana Inc. reported Monday that its second-quarter profit more than doubled from a year ago on the strength of improved cost controls and sharply higher income from its government business.

For the three months ended June 30, posted net income of $216.8 million, or $1.28 a share, up from $89.5 million, or 53 cents a share, in the same period last year.

Analysts had been expecting net profit of $1.17 per share for the quarter, but the company said earlier it would exceed that by 11 cents.

Revenue rose 19 percent to $6.43 billion, compared with $5.41 billion a year ago, while premium and administrative service fees were up 18 percent, mainly driven by higher average Medicare membership.

Humana 2Q Profit More Than Doubles - Forbes.com

Votes may be harmful to parties' health

 

Republicans are calling the Democrats' action a step toward socialized medicine, and the Bush administration has vowed to veto both bills. The outcome will influence the course of the presidential election debate over how to cover about 45 million uninsured people in the U.S.; about 9 million of those are children.
The children's program, known in California as Healthy Families, must be reauthorized by Sept. 30 or it will expire.

"This is a package that helps kids, helps seniors and helps doctors, and is opposed by the tobacco and insurance industries," said John Rother, group executive officer of policy and strategy for AARP. "Which side do you think the public is going to line up with?"
Greenstein, of the antipoverty group, said Congress would probably have to roll back the 10% cut in Medicare doctors' fees later this year. Lawmakers may find it advantageous to try to work out both issues at the same time, he suggested.

"There's probably better than a 50-50 chance that the Senate will insist on taking out" the Medicare provisions, Greenstein said. "But if they can work out some Medicare changes, acceptable to the Senate, to finance a fix for the doctors, the overall bill may become stronger."

Votes may be harmful to parties' health - Los Angeles Times

Related Story:  Conflicts with California Schwarzenegger's plan

Bush also opposes a House bill that would add even more money to the program. Instead, he favors an alternative that would add $5 billion and reduce eligibility.

Bush's position set up a clash with Schwarzenegger, who has made expanding the program a top priority. It is a critical component of Schwarzenegger's plan to provide health insurance to the state's 6.5 million uninsured residents.

Schwarzenegger, who campaigned for Bush in 2004, repeatedly has disagreed with the Republican president on a variety of issues, including California's attempts to limit air pollution and greenhouse gases.

CPU-controlled artificial leg offers new freedom of natural movement for amputees

 

July 27, 2007 Prosthetics is a fascinating field – science’s ability to mimic the complicated natural function of lost limbs can make a truly life-altering difference for amputees. Nowhere is this difference more strongly felt than in the field of artificial legs that get amputees out of wheelchairs, off crutches and back to a level of mobility that lets them blend back in into ordinary life. The latest drive towards the development of advanced prosthetics includes this new microchip-controlled artificial knee joint that’s opening up an  unprecedented level of freedom of movement for above-knee amputees and allowing amputee servicemen to remain active in their jobs if they so choose. The US$30K hydraulic C-LEG’s CPU “brain” automatically adapts to changes of speed and direction, and can be pre-programmed into up to 10 switchable “modes” to enable natural driving, cycling and other programmable activities that require different leg actions to normal walking and stair climbing.

CPU-controlled artificial leg offers new freedom of natural movement for amputees - gizmag Article

Hat Tip:  Medlaunches

Does my doctor want to kill me? - California

Will be interesting to see if the bill makes it through the legislature.  BD

Hospital patients undergoing treatment in California might eventually need to speculate about whether their doctor harbors homicidal intentions. A proposed law, Assembly Bill 374, the California Compassionate Choices Act, if passed, will legalize physician-assisted suicide, a practice outlawed for more than 700 years and forbidden by every state except Oregon.

Regrettably, the poor and mentally ill are the most susceptible victims of state-sponsored doctor homicides. Those without money might resort to physician-assisted suicide as a means to spare their family the severe financial costs attendant to end-of-life health care. Likewise, AB 374 does not require hospitals to report vital statistics about patients who choose the procedure, which, if made public, could facilitate efforts to challenge the disproportionate impact of physician-assisted suicide on minorities and the poor.

Having a physician assess a patient's mental stability is ineffective because a mentally ill patient could just shop around for a physician willing to finish them off.

Does my doctor want to kill me? - North County Times / The Californian - Community Forums

N.J. fines Aetna over 9 million, saying it didn't cover services

By comparison, Kaiser got off lightly as this was over 3 times the amount of the fine...and ordered 12% interest on the unpaid claims...BD

NEWARK — New Jersey insurance regulators have fined Aetna Health Inc. nearly $9.5 million, charging that it failed to properly cover some services by out-of-network providers. 

The fine, announced Wednesday after being filed Monday, came after the state Department of Banking and Insurance received complaints following a letter issued in June by Aetna to health care providers.

In the letter, Aetna said providers outside its network would be reimbursed for services at 125 percent of the allowable Medicare amount, and 75 percent for lab fees and durable medical equipment.

Insurance Department Commissioner Steven M. Goldman ordered Aetna to halt its limited reimbursement practice and reprocess all claims for services rendered by nonparticipating providers hurt by Aetna's practices.  He ordered the company to pay providers based on the billed amount plus 12 percent interest from the date the claim was initially paid.

 

APP.COM - N.J. fines Aetna, saying it didn't cover services | Asbury Park Press Online

Suit accuses United Healthcare of fraud

Additional story details on the post made last week with the announcement of the class action lawsuit.  BD

ST. PETERSBURG - Like many older people, Charleen Edge finds today's smorgasbord of Medicare plans confusing.

Last year, she says, she found herself in a private health maintenance organization she neither requested nor desired. Her repeated requests to switch back to regular Medicare went for naught. After she broke her pelvis in April, neither Medicare nor the HMO would pay the bills, she says, so she's stuck with the $30,000 tab.

"I have no insurer," says Edge, a 78-year-old retired social worker. "I don't know whether Medicare is going to take me back."  But Edge does have one advantage: a board-certified trial lawyer for a son.

Southpinellas: Suit accuses United Healthcare of fraud

System failure - 3 contributing sectors

One person's thoughts and a bit of history on healthcare change through insurers, employers and hospitals...all who can be considered bad guys at times...due to current practices, etc.  and his thoughts on reform...BD

Why the shift? There are a lot of reasons. But a big one, surely, is the growing outrage at corporations -- starting with America's insurance companies -- that seem to make more money while the people they serve get less health care.

The commercial insurers had hit upon a bonanza, passing the Blue Cross plans in overall enrollment by the 1950s. One by one, they moved away from community rating and guaranteed issue, adopting the same underwriting practices as the private sector -- and, in many cases, converting outright to for-profit status.

Employers, too, used to act differently. One reason employer-sponsored insurance worked for as many Americans as it did, for as long as it did, was that until the 1970s the large manufacturers dominating the American economy basically agreed on the desirability of providing their employees with coverage.  

The behavior of hospitals hasn't changed as much as that of insurers and employers. Truth be told, hospitals were never that excited about treating the uninsured. But it was during the 1980s and 1990s, when the insurance companies began putting unprecedented pressure on them to reduce costs, that many changed their pricing structure -- in ways that transferred higher bills onto the uninsured -- and outsourced their collection work to specialized legal firms.

The real solution, then, is wholesale reform -- so that insurers can't game the system by picking out the healthiest people, so that employers can't gain an edge on their competitors by stiffing them on coverage, and so that hospitals can't offer lower prices simply by shirking the uninsured.  So as the debate over health care heats up, go ahead and bash the bad guys. They probably deserve it. Just remember that the bashing alone won't change the rules of the game.

System failure - The Boston Globe

Cutting Hospitals Out Of Surgery

Outpatient surgery helps some MDs with additional income and avoids the administrative hospital costs...BD

When someone has minor outpatient surgery in a hospital, payment includes the cost to cover the procedure, plus an extra few thousand dollars in so-called facility fees. If Rock Rockett has his way, more doctors will ditch the hospital and stitch out of their own offices--in theory capturing a fraction of those facility fees that insurers no longer have to pay.

Happy result: Docs make more dough, insurers save money and, just maybe, the overall cost of health care drops.

A 30-year health-insurance industry vet, Rockett is now the head of San Ramon, Calif.-based Validare, a small firm formed in 2001 to help physicians apply for formal accreditation to perform. Today the company also negotiates pricing with insurance companies and even handles doctors' back-office payment services.

Accreditation isn't cheap. Upfront costs for the certification: $11,000, including $6,000 for Validare's consulting services and $5,000 in fees to the Joint Commission. In addition, Delmonte pays Validare a kingly 15% on the fees he generates in excess of what he would have earned performing surgery in a hospital. All well worth it, says Delmonte, who claims he now pulls in an extra $1,000 or so per procedure and is able to perform more surgeries by avoiding costly hospital delays.

Cutting Hospitals Out Of Surgery - Forbes.com

New York warns of lawsuit over physician rankings by United ...

 

United Healthcare is going ahead with plans to release its physician rankings for the New York area, despite a threat of legal action from the state's attorney general, a United spokesman said.

However, the company is delaying implementation of the rankings system for a few months so physicians can get more familiar with it -- a move United says has nothing to do with the attorney general's threat.

A July 13 letter from the attorney general's office said the ranking system would influence patients to use physicians who are cheaper but not necessarily better. The letter told United it would face legal action if it released the rankings as planned at the end of July.

Mason said United will release the rankings at the end of the year, and added that the delay is not because of the letter, but because the plan had already decided to give physicians more time for input and review.

 

AMNews: Aug. 6, 2007. New York warns of lawsuit over physician rankings by United ... American Medical News

Physicians offered incentives to practice in New Orleans ...

 

The corps offers each physician:

• Up to $110,000 in loan repayment or income guarantees.
• As much as $40,000 for a sign-on bonus or medical liability insurance premium payments.
• A maximum of $20,000 for relocation expenses.
• Up to $10,000 for continuing medical education on health information technology.

AMNews: Aug. 6, 2007. Physicians offered incentives to practice in New Orleans ... American Medical News

Medicaid measures performance: The push to improve care and save money ..

 

Private health plans' push for pay-for-performance and Medicare's first steps in that direction have garnered much attention. But the trend isn't confined to these two sectors. State Medicaid agencies have quietly entered the game in an effort to try to improve enrollees' care.

As of mid-2006, at least 28 states had 35 Medicaid pay-for-performance programs. Two were specifically designed for primary care physicians, although others involve doctors.

AMNews: Aug. 6, 2007. Medicaid measures performance: The push to improve care and save money ... American Medical News

Health coaches nag employees to better care - UPS offers service to employees

Can this accomplish 2 things at once, cost and better health care?  What about privacy issues...more data mining to be used elsewhere?  Thus far only 30% have agreed to enroll. BD

NEW YORK - For Myrtha Suralie, keeping things rolling at UPS' New York sales office is no sweat, but keeping her diabetes in check during her pregnancy was another story.

She was confined to a hospital bed her entire third trimester, with a blood sugar level of 400, almost four times as high as that of a healthy person, potentially life-threatening to her and her baby.

That was when she received a life-changing call from a health coach hired by her company.  UPS has been offering health coaching to its employees for more than a year. The company hires outside firms who mine medical records for potential red flags and reach out to employees with chronic illness like diabetes and heart disease. By coaxing these at-risk employees into better sticking with prescription-drug and behavior-change regimens, the company hopes to save money by avoiding increasing health insurance premiums.

Like UPS, more companies are combating the spiraling health care costs by taking an ever more proactive approach.

But critics say programs like these can work like a Big Brother. Already some companies are asking employees to pay higher co-payments based on obesity and smoking. Giving companies free pass in digging up employees' medical records, they fear, might give away too much information.

"We are very concerned about the civil liberties implications if this data were to somehow to get out into other situations," said Michael Dixon of the Libertarian National Committee.

Health coaches nag employees to better care - CNBC Special Report: Healing Health Care - MSNBC.com

U.S. patients choosing Mexican hospitals - Medical tourism - Texas

2 Hospital organizations working with "medical tourism" in Texas...both have searches for locating hospitals in both the US and Mexico.  BD

Two North Texas-based hospital chains, Christus Health of Irving and International Hospital Corp. of Dallas, are tapping into a need and an opportunity by providing in their hospitals in Mexico what their executives say are the best of both worlds – U.S.-quality health care and relatively low Mexican prices.

"Our goal is to have the safest hospitals in the international market," said Cliff Orme, CEO of International Hospital Corp. "We're implementing U.S. standards into these hospitals so you won't notice the difference going to a hospital in Dallas than one in a Latin American country."

Some experts, including Peter Maddox of Christus Health, see Mexico as an answer to the complex question of how to treat aging and underinsured Americans at a time when the retirement of baby boomers will further tax the U.S. health care system. An estimated 43 million Americans, about 15 percent of the population, are uninsured, according to a Census Bureau study.

U.S. patients choosing Mexican hospitals for price, quality | Dallas Morning News | News for Dallas, Texas | Nation/World

More information below: 

International Hospital Corporation (IHC) is a Texas based company that develops hospitals and clinics in Latin America.

Ranked among the top 10 Catholic health systems in the United States by size, the CHRISTUS Health system includes more than 40 hospitals and facilities in six American states and Mexico, with assets of more than $4.1 billion.

Kaiser Best Provider in Colorado Springs

Last week in California, not as well...BD

Kaiser Permanente is a nonprofit insurance agency that celebrates its 10th anniversary in Colorado Springs this year.

The agency has 45,000 members in the Springs and 460,000 throughout the state. It only offers commercial products, focusing on a network model and working with community physicians that represent all specialties.

Colorado Springs Business Journal

PepsiCo to launch water-based health beverages

 

PepsiCo has announced that it’s getting ready to launch two water-based health beverages and to re-launch of its SoBe LifeWater.

The move comes in response to slowing sales of its Gatorade brand, which is the the No. 2 moneymaker for the company behind Pepsi-Cola.
The company is said to be focusing on more health-oriented products in an effort to improve its bottom line.

PepsiCo to launch water-based health beverages - Hospitality News on Barkeeper.ie

Caterpillar Sues Union Over Health Care

Contract negotiated, employees and union don't appear to be satisfied as a law suit is filed.  BD

Caterpillar Inc. filed lawsuits Wednesday to make the United Auto Workers pay if courts rule that the heavy equipment maker reneged on a promise to provide free health care for life to retirees and surviving spouses.

Peoria-based Caterpillar argues that the union negotiated and approved contracts that scaled back health care coverage, but is now backing two class-action lawsuits seeking lifetime coverage for thousands of retirees and surviving spouses.

"How can the union sponsor lawsuits that fight the very terms that the union proposed, negotiated and ratified during collective bargaining? That's the question," Caterpillar spokesman Rusty Dunn said.

Caterpillar Sues Union Over Health Care - Forbes.com

First job: Pay in to health care

Good tips in this article on various types of benefits offered by employers...it is getting a bit more complicated these days with so many choices available.  BD

If you think starting your first job is challenging, just wait until you have to sign up for the benefits your employer offers.
In olden days, new employees would typically get a thick binder filled with information, booklets and forms about health insurance, retirement plans and other benefits.

Nowadays, workers have to pore over countless Web pages to learn about their options.

First job: Pay in to health care, retirement now - Newsday.com

Safety net for Medi-Cal has run out of cash - California

 

SACRAMENTO – A $2 billion fund created to keep money flowing to Medi-Cal providers when a legislative deadlock delays a new state budget has hit empty, reducing payments yesterday to HMOs and threatening payments to hospitals and nursing homes due Thursday.

“The check-write today was supposed to be $223 million,” Palmer said. “Medi-Cal will only be able to pay $143 million.”  If there is no budget, Medi-Cal will not be able to make an estimated $227 million payment Thursday to hospitals and nursing homes.

The president of the California Hospital Association, C. Duane Dauner, warned that not getting the payment could be “disastrous” for some hospitals.

SignOnSanDiego.com > News > State -- Safety net for Medi-Cal has run out of cash

Media Members Who Covered 9/11 Now Experiencing Health Woes, asking members to come forward

 

NEW YORK The New York Press Photographers Association is asking members of the media to come forward if they are suffering from long-term health effects of covering the World Trade Center attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
David Handschuh, the NYPPA intergovernmental affairs chair and a photographer for the New York Daily News, says he has heard from about a dozen 9/11 media workers who are experiencing health problems. Handschuh, who was hit by debris and suffered a broken leg while covering the attack, said he is among those now experiencing breathing problems.

"As journalists every day we go out and fight for the underdog. In this case we're the underdog and need to go out and fight for ourselves," Handschuh says.

Some Who Covered 9/11 Now Experiencing Health Woes, Group Says

Cardinal Health To Pay $35 Million In SEC Settlement

 

WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- Cardinal Health Inc. (CAH), a drug distribution company, will pay $35 million to settle Securities and Exchange Commission civil charges that it engaged in a three-and-a-half year scheme to overstate its operating revenue and growth in order to meet analyst expectations, regulators said on Thursday.

Cardinal Health To Pay $35 Million In SEC Settlement

Diabetics: We want privacy

One word in this story bothers me...."somewhat"...being somewhat concerned with privacy issues to me is just not good enough.  BD

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Diabetes isn't infectious like tuberculosis, hepatitis or gonorrhea, so why is the city Health Department tracking people with the disease?

That's what Melissa of Eltingville, a diabetic, wants to know -- for her sake, and the sake of her mother, who also has the disease.  "We had no choice, and we've been sending the results since January or February of this year," said Linda Kraynock, chemistry laboratory manager for Richmond University Medical Center in West Brighton. "Initially I had the same complaint that (Melissa and her mother) have."

"Every time I go to have my blood-sugar checked, my test results are being wired to the (city) Health Department," said Melissa, who didn't want to have her last name included for this article due to fears that her status as a diabetic could affect her ability to get affordable insurance.

"We applaud this kind of work," Dr. Sheehan said. But he added, "We're somewhat concerned about the privacy of individual."

Diabetics: We want privacy - SILive.com

Doing Battle With the Insurance Company in a Fight to Stay Alive

Having a long battle to pay the bills...one more story, but the surgery did save his life.  BD

His doctors thought he was among the lucky few with pancreatic cancer found early enough to be cured by surgery. But they warned him not to have the surgery in his home city, Albuquerque. They said the operation he needed, a Whipple procedure, was so risky and complicated that it should be done only by a surgeon who performed it often and at a hospital with many similar cases. But neither was available locally.

But his insurer, the Presbyterian Health Plan, refused to pay for treatment in Houston. The company insisted that the operation be done in Albuquerque and sent him a list of five local surgeons.

Figuring that a small chance was better than none, Mr. Hendrickson had the surgery. It went well. But he was left with more than $80,000 in medical bills, which Presbyterian Health Plan refused to pay.  Dr. Bordenave said she was appalled: “No patient fighting for their life should have to fight for their insurance too.”   Mr. Hendrickson waged a long battle with Presbyterian. “I fought with the insurance company for over a year,” he said.

After Presbyterian rejected two appeals, he took his case to a state review board, where he represented himself because he could not afford a lawyer. Presbyterian showed up with two lawyers, a doctor and a nurse. Dr. Bordenave and a gastroenterologist from Albuquerque testified on Mr. Hendrickson’s behalf.

Ultimately, Mr. Hendrickson won the case, and Presbyterian Health Plan paid the entire bill.

Doing Battle With the Insurance Company in a Fight to Stay Alive - New York Times

Residents can weigh in on health care debate - 12 cities to be part of the national conversation

 

(July 28, 2007) — Rochester has been selected as one of 12 cities to be part of By the People, a national conversation about health care cost, access and quality, and local residents may be getting a phone call about this soon.
Beginning August 4 MacNeil/Lehrer Productions will be telephoning people in the Rochester area to invite them to be part of a program called Dialogues in Democracy: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.
The program, which is being co-sponsored by the Voice of the Voter, a media collaboration between the Democrat and Chronicle, WXXI-TV, WDKX radio and WHAM TV-13, will beheld Oct. 20, 2007 Rochester Institute of Technology.

Democrat & Chronicle: Local News

Perhaps a blog like this one dealing with broadband would be helpful with health issues as well.  Nice to see congress value blogging as a reference for legislation.  BD

OpenLeft.com, a blog focused on liberal issues, has been hosting a wide-ranging discussion on broadband policy since Tuesday. Senator Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat and assistant majority leader in the Senate, has joined the discussion, saying he'll use the ideas from OpenLeft to craft broadband legislation.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/20070729/tc_pcworld/135194

U.S. health info technology lags

Interesting story and it amazes me as well when I still see a 2 inch thick file with either staff or the the physician taking an enormous amount of time to dig through for past history and sometimes I see paper articles fall out of the charts accidentally.  Even in a small office, there are enough affordable solutions to keeping better records, even if one cannot afford the large ticket electronic medical records.   The records can be kept within the office until standards are someday created whereby a united system comes into play, but in the mean time important patient health items are simply missed with thumbing through huge paper charts.  I have also seen some physicians who take the time to document a chart in a computer, but then still have the staff drag out the old paper chart instead of viewing the chart on the screen or at minimum print a report for the file, but they still rely on the sometimes illegible and incomplete notes.  In other words they take the time to document but don't reap the rewards of their time spent documenting, thus some of the patient health concerns can be missed when the patient comes in for the next visit. 

Some MDs seem to just not "comprehend" as far as having the information available in a nice formatted screen that give a pretty good snapshot of the patient chart overall, complete with history and graphs.  Time after time I see huge drives of "Word" documents that are barely one step above paper charts, in other words, you still have to find and view the information with a search process, when medical records make this available with a couple clicks of the mouse and in a nice formatted view, and it can usually be transferred to another program with a data transfer, something you can't do with a Word document without manually manipulating each chart.  Programs are created that allow for an export to a Word document if needed too, but again, hanging on to the old "big chunks of documented text"  whether on paper or on a document created by a word processing program still seem to befuddle many.  There are 2 steps to the process, one being documentation, and two is re-using and quick referencing patient chart data, the 2nd one is the issue many MDs still seem to struggle with as it relates to viewing a chart on a computer screen and not a paper chart.  BD

Meanwhile, patient privacy issues, complaints about costs, competition among technology providers and doctors' apparent reluctance to embrace the system have left many medical records in the informational Stone Age.

According to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only 1 in 10 U.S. physicians in 2005 were using systems that included prescription and diagnostic test orders, test results and physician notes, which are vital to a complete health information network.

Insurance companies, which have come under fire for cherry picking the healthiest patients or limiting payments to members, make up another sector that stands to benefit from digital information to find the most effective treatments.

"The good and the bad is that it <keeping digital records> makes things more transparent," Agus said.

U.S. health info technology lags - washingtonpost.com

Las Vegas Now - Public Hearing Held on Major Health Insurance Merger

Looking at what has occurred as a result in other states fuels the fire and concern.  BD

potential merger between two major health insurance companies that would affect hundreds of thousands of Nevadans has critics worried about potential abuse. That merger would be between UnitedHealth Group and Sierra Health Services.

At a Friday public hearing, a packed room of politicians, practitioners and patients had a serious debate about health care and the impact of a possible monopoly.

"A monopoly is a monopoly no matter what face you put on it," said Carol Austin-Fink, cancer survivor.

Austin-Fink is a cancer survivor. She's against the merger because she says UnitedHealth denied her claims for jaw and mouth treatments after chemotherapy. But she's not the only one casting a critical eye.

Las Vegas Now - Breaking News, Local News, Weather, Traffic, Streaming Video, Classifieds, Blogs - Public Hearing Held on Major Health Insurance Merger

Poster child for rotten health care system

We have seen this done in the movie "Sicko" but others are doing the same or similar with newspaper press coverage in areas where medical care is not taking care of the problems.  Once press coverage is attained, it appears more and more of these issues get resolved immediately.  There are the appeals processes in place and we have included some of those in prior posts here as well, but again depending on the individual patient and health care situation, it appears going for the immediate "press" coverage seems to be a solution that more folks are opting for as we see more of these types of stories emerging almost daily and perhaps rightly so.  BD

Two years ago, Anthony and Maria Falzone moved here from Staten Island, from a cramped townhouse in a noisy neighborhood to a spacious home at the end of a quiet street. They invested everything they had in their new place, and then some. Now they live from paycheck to paycheck.

He is agitated. He tries to keep his voice down as best he can. His daughter is sitting on the sofa in the next room. She can hear the conversation. She doesn't understand everything her parents are talking about, but she knows it's about her, and she knows they're upset.

Now there is a sadness in the little girl's eyes that doesn't belong there. But it is there for a reason.Over the past six months, Nicolette has been shuttled back and forth between hospitals from Philadelphia to New York. Ever since they found a hard mass on her bottom in late January, she has been subjected to a series of long ambulance rides and MRI tests, PET scans and CAT scans. She has had biopsies. She has had complications, profuse bleeding. She has been diagnosed and re-diagnosed. 

Meanwhile, her parents have been put through hell, first by a doctor who blew the diagnosis and was evidently too arrogant to admit his mistake, then by a health insurance company that was always more than happy to cash the hefty check the family sent in every month, without fail.

"If I'd found him that day, I would've been arrested," Anthony said, referring to the doctor who made the initial diagnosis and stuck to it.  The doctor at Sloan, a world-renowned pediatric surgeon, immediately identified the problem as a rare malignant tumor that can be removed surgically.

Sorry, out of network, request denied. Go back to the hospital where the treatment originated, the hospital that's in the network.  Desperate, the Falzones took their case to the media. A columnist on Staten Island, a good friend of mine named Cormac Gordon, wrote a strong piece and the paper played it across the top of the front page.  The very next day, the insurance company calls and tells Maria Falzone they can go ahead and have the surgery done at Sloan Kettering.

APP.COM - Poster child for rotten health care system | Asbury Park Press Online

Doctors - Managed Care and Health Insurance - Medicine and Health - Wages and Salaries

Good insight here on how physicians are paid...and how they are under the magnifying glass with every procedure they recommend from both an HMO and now Medicare.  BD

“I don’t have a view on whether doctors take home too much money or not enough money,” Dr. Bach said. “The problem is the way they earn their money. They have to do stuff. They have to do procedures.”

Primary care doctors and pediatricians, who rarely perform complex procedures, make less than specialists. They are attracting a declining percentage of medical students, and some states are facing a shortage of primary care doctors.

Doctors are also paid whether the procedures they perform go well or badly, Dr. Bach said, and whether they are crucial to a patient’s health or not..

“Almost all expenditures pass through the pen of a doctor,” he said. So a doctor may decide to perform a test that costs a total of $4,000 in order to make $800 for himself — when a cheaper test might work equally well. “This is a highly inefficient way to pay doctors,” Dr. Bach said.

Private insurers like H.M.O.’s are more aggressive than Medicare in second-guessing physicians’ clinical decisions, and they will refuse to pay for imaging scans or other expensive new procedures.

Doctors - Managed Care and Health Insurance - Medicine and Health - Wages and Salaries - New York Times

Intel's Barrett pushes to update health care

Good insight here on medical records and their benefits.  The horses on the ranch have health records too, although they are not in the same position of having the "privacy" concerns we face with data base use and/or misuse and I doubt the horses are reading  emails, following up for appointments or filling prescriptions. 

Overall the article makes a very good point that electronic records make sense for better health care, coupled with the use of telemedicine and other electronic devices coming to the market in health care.  We have featured many articles here on how technology not only improves health care but the creative use and innovation at health care facilities is overall generally welcomed by patients as well.  As Mr. Barrett states, he doesn't want a "broken" system when he needs it too, the same thought I am sure we all share.  BD

Craig Barrett's latest cause comes partly because he's chairman of technology giant Intel Corp., which employs more than 90,000 people.
And it's partly because he's 67 and doesn't want the U.S. health-care system broken when he may need it.
Barrett is pushing the health-care industry to adopt technology to better track people who, because of chronic diseases or age, account for 80 percent of the U.S. spending on health care.

Barrett hosted a summit last week in Washington, D.C., that brought together experts from medical schools and insurers to nursing and caregiver groups to suggest steps for improving chronic care.  For Intel the employer, health-care costs could hit $600 million this year and $1 billion by the end of the decade. That's an "appreciable fraction of our operating budget," he said.

That such electronic advantages are available for animals on his Montana ranch and not in human health care amazes Barrett .   "From the high-tech perspective, I've seen every other industry in the world make the transition but this one," he said. "It's time for health care to turn from a mainframe-computer industry to a personal-computer industry."

"I have a ranch with 45 horses, and they all have electronic medical records, and they all get e-mail updates when their shots are needed," he told the summit.

Intel's Barrett pushes to update health care

Patients take doctors' visits online

 

Today consumers are increasingly comfortable with their home computers. National surveys show that patients embrace the idea of e-mailing doctors and electronically scheduling appointments and refilling prescriptions.

Following society's growing need for instant results, more health care providers are starting to offer online access to their patients - and the number of enrollees continues to climb. Patient and physician access to medical histories via computer provides safer and better quality care than paper files, experts say.

From December 2006 to May 2007, the number of Kaiser patients enrolled in KP Health Connect climbed from 25,000 to 42,000.

At UC Davis Medical Center, a similar program called MD Online offers prescription refills, referral requests, appointment scheduling and e-mails to physicians. Today 25,000 patients use the Web site, an increase from 15,200 in December 2005.

Such conveniences save time for people like Taylor, who said even her prescriptions are printed out by computer at the doctor's office or are sent directly to the pharmacy.

"That means," she joked, "no more messy doctor handwriting to deal with."

MyrtleBeachOnline.com | 07/28/2007 | Patients take doctors' visits online

Notes of outrage, caution - Get involved and ask questions regarding prescription coverage ahead of time..

 

Making a different point, Fred Horowitz, of Rockville Centre, a retired computer systems analyst, directs his criticism at Express Scripts, the mail-order pharmacy benefit manager used by his HMO, HIP-VIP. When he submitted his doctor's prescription for a 90-day supply of a drug, he should have checked the Express
Scripts formulary, because the co-pay, billed to his credit card, was a whopping $135. And despite appeals, Express Scripts refused to take the drug back (which is understandable) or give Horowitz credit.
When Horowitz inquired at a local pharmacy, the price was the same. And there was no generic equivalent. But from his doctor and a pharmacist he learned of another, much less expensive drug that would do the job.
The pharmacy benefit manager could have saved the patient and the HMO a little money by letting him know of this possibility. If you haven't done so lately, check your own prescriptions for cheaper generics or alternatives.

Saul Friedman: Notes of outrage, caution - Newsday.com

Itch Gene Found - Could Lead To New Treatment

 

If you are one of the millions of people on this planet who suffers from itching you may be pleased to read that scientists at Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, have identified the first itch sensation gene. This discovery, say the researchers, may well lead to new treatments which target itchiness precisely - providing relief from severe and chronic itching.
The itch gene is Gastrin-Releasing Peptide Receptor (GRPS), a code for a receptor found in a tiny population of spinal cord nerve cells where pain and itch signals are sent from the skin to the brain.

Itch Gene Found - Could Lead To New Treatments That Target Itching

Siemens Unveils World's First High Definition PET-CT

 

Just as the clarity of high definition television has transformed the entertainment world, Siemens Medical Solutions is redefining the quality of molecular imaging with the introduction of high definition positron emission tomography. Siemens has unveiled HD PET, the world's first and only high definition PET technology to offer consistently sharper and clearly defined images across the entire field of view beginning of June 2007 in the USA. "As the leading innovator in molecular imaging, Siemens raises the bar in innovation yet again by adding high definition to the Biograph TruePoint family of hybrid PET CT systems," said Michael Reitermann, president, Molecular Imaging, Siemens Medical Solutions. "The clarity of HD PET will provide greater specificity and accuracy and will enable physicians to more confidently delineate small lesions - including those in lymph nodes, abdomen, head and neck, and brain- to provide earlier, more targeted treatment."

Resolution Revolution: Siemens Unveils World's First High Definition PET-CT, Providing Unprecedented Clarity Through Entire Field Of View

Insurer Agrees To Pay 200,000 Dollars In Restitution; Pay Claims After Terminating Coverage After Employers Failed To Pay Premiums

Scary thought here...employers fail to pay health insurance premiums and employees had no idea they had been cut off and thought their group health insurance was still in place.  BD

Attorney General Martha Coakley filed an assurance of discontinuance in Suffolk Superior Court in connection with ConnectiCare Insurance Company, Inc.'s termination of health insurance policies of employees whose employers failed to pay their premiums. ConnectiCare, a Connecticut-based health insurer that has 5,678 Massachusetts members, violated state law by failing to provide 202 groups with notice that their employers' group health plan was terminated due to the non-payment of premiums by their employers.

"Through no fault of their own, these employees had no way of knowing that their employers had failed to send the premiums that had been withheld from their paychecks to ConnectiCare."
Under a regulation issued by the Attorney General's Office, insurers must notify employees in writing that their employers have failed to pay for their health insurance before cutting them off.

Insurer Agrees To Pay 200,000 Dollars In Restitution; Pay Claims After Terminating Coverage After Employers Failed To Pay Premiums

Tips for the small business owner buying employee health insurance

 

One of the biggest expenses to the bottom line for an employer is employee benefits. And employees consistently rank health insurance coverage as the most important benefit of all. Businesses spend billions of dollars every year on group health insurance.

Tips for the small business owner buying employee health insurance :: Naperville Sun :: Business

Communication now part of the cure

This has always been part of the case, but now finally getting some recognition, as who wants to go to a physician who will not listen to you.  In addition, the tone of how a person addresses another is also old hat, but sometimes forgotten.  We all pretty much know when we get the "blast of cold air" response of telling us what to do with an angry or arrogant tone, we have a tendency to not want to ask questions either as an effort to not receive another "blast of old air".  This really is good advice for anyone, anywhere..and even as a patient, be aware of how you address your physician too, the door swings both ways.  BD

In 2005, Fine started Bedside Advocates, a Massachusetts organization that enlists volunteers to act as patient "guides" through the confusing terrain of the health care system. Fine's job is often to "translate" information from doctors, even for those patients who are fluent in English.

"Patients will turn to someone like me and say, 'What did the doctor just say?' " he says. "They're afraid to ask questions, and if they do ask questions, they don't understand the answers."  Patients, Meaney says, are often left feeling confused, frustrated and unsure of who's in charge of their care.

Hospitals often employ teams of specialists, which can present a daunting communication challenge, according to Mark Meaney, president and chief executive of the National Institute for Patient Rights and author of 3 Secrets Hospitals Don't Want You to Know: How to Empower Patients.

Specialized care means that a patient must communicate with a different doctor for each body part that is affected by their illness, such as the heart or the liver. Often, Meaney says, specialists focus too closely on the area of the body in which they specialize and fail to diagnose the "whole" patient.

Communication now part of the cure - USATODAY.com

Help, I’m in H.M.O. hell!

Yikes....no wonder it is difficult for physicians to ensure and encourage patients to be sure to fill their prescriptions and take their medications, one person's ordeal ...BD

I went to my pharmacy to get another prescription filled, an act that’s become so routine for most of us, we go through the drive-in window to get our pills. Only this time, things were different. My health provider’s card, which used to assure me of a generally reasonable price, was rejected. I had to either pay full price, which was so outrageous I could hardly believe my eyes, or straighten it out with my provider, which quit doing business the usual way two days before.

If I paid full price, the pills cost 10 times more, I kid you not. A $10 drug was suddenly more than $100. So I decided to straighten it out with my health provider.

Go to round five of voicemail hell back to my provider where, after a good half hour, I punched into my cell phone everything a robot asked about me: my S.S. #, my H.M.O. number, my birth date, my mother’s maiden name. When the robot was satisfied, I had only three more circles of hell to go through before I found a human, who asked me the exact same information the robot had. After ascertaining that I was really me, she listened to my problem and said that she couldn’t possibly change my address, because such a change had to come on a form provided by the employment benefits office of my workplace.

I decided that instead of lowering myself deeper and deeper into the bureaucratic muck they call healthcare in this country, I’d go through unorthodox channels and beg someone in a nearby office to find this “benefits” representative for me, and have him respond.

..... he e-mailed me a hugely nonsensical form full of inexplicable language that I was supposed to sign, mail back to him, after which he’d forward my address change to my health provider, so that they could forward it to their spin-off drug company, so that they could send me a card, so that I could pay for my drug what I was supposed to pay in the first place. Not to mention the fact that this workplace “benefits” guy should have done this months before when I entered my change of address in every official document.

Help, I’m in H.M.O. hell! Just another ‘Sicko’ day

Touch N' Talk - tool for patients suffering form Stroke, ALS, MD, Autism, Cancer, Trauma and other speech communication disabilities

Nice with the USB portable version as this would allow a handicapped individual to be mobile as well and take the software with them for use on any pc so they can communicate anywhere a PC is available.  One other last thought too, is the ability to carry this around on a UMPC small tablet too, so the unit and software could be mobile and travel anywhere with the user.  BD

The Touch & Talk Speech Communication System is designed for those patients suffering from any medical condition that has caused a speech communication disability. Touch & Talk assumes that the patient has retained the ability to read and form sentences with words and allows the patient a flexible approach for direct spoken communications to family members and caregivers. The patient simply clicks or taps words from alphabetized lists or commonly used phrases and then click the green speak button for fully automated narration of the desired text in a male or female voice. Touch & Talk utilizes large buttons and text to assist the patient in regaining motor control and coordination as a quality of life therapy tool.

Touch & Talk utilizes the latest text to speech technology from Microsoft with the option of a female or male voice. The user can select the voice gender, stop, start or even repeat the desired text to speech narration. If your computer has a soundboard and speakers, the Touch & Talk Speech Communication System allows for true communication between the disabled patient, care giver and family.

The Touch & Talk Speech Communication System is also available on a USB flash disk for complete freedom of use on other computers while the patient is away from his or her home computer. Please click the order/contact link for additional information. We also offer complete portable computer solutions with the Touch & Talk Speech Communication System.

Touch N' Talk

Hat Tip:  Mobility Site       Press Release

Hospitals cashing in on grants for telemedicine and putting the funds to good use

More mobility in action...great stories on those capitalizing on mobility...as we all know in today's mobile world, things do not always begin and end with a desktop PC...mobile technology and those who embrace the technology may save your life someday.  BD

By mid-August, the family members of at least 20 local patients with congestive heart failure will be able to check their loved ones’ latest vital signs through a secure hospital Web site.

Mercy Hospital is starting Scranton’s first telemedicine system, which lets doctors provide clinical care from afar to homebound patients.
Each machine connects to a patient’s home telephone and periodically uses an automated voice to remind them to use it to test blood pressure, weight and several other health indicators.
The data is transmitted to a computer Web site constantly monitored by Mercy nurses at a hospital terminal. Patients’ doctors and family members can access the Web site.

Use of the equipment is free, but for now it will go only to a select few of Mercy’s most needy Medicare patients with heart conditions. Mercy staff will rotate the devices, allowing an estimated 300 people to use them within the next 10 months.

But telemedicine equipment can be expensive. A $25,000 grant from Mercy’s Cincinnati-based parent company, Catholic Healthcare Partners, will supply equipment for just the new program’s first year. The hospital plans to apply for more grants to continue acquiring equipment.

The Times-Tribune - Telemedicine making house calls easier

Related story below:  Hospital and School benefit

When classes resume this fall, some Akron students will be able to be examined by a doctor without leaving their school.

Computers and videoconferencing equipment at the temporary school provide a connection to doctors at the hospital's Locust Pediatric Care Group.  ``This way, they can actually be seen by the physician on the spot,'' said Karen Mascolo, director of school health services for Children's Hospital. ``Then the doctor can make a determination about whether they can stay in school or they need to be sent home.''

With parents' permission, the nurses at the temporary school can use special equipment to send information to a doctor when children get sick.

The doctors at Locust Pediatrics will send reports from the telemedicine visits to the children's primary doctors, Mascolo said.  ``There's communication between our docs and their docs,'' she said.  The enhanced telemedicine service is being provided free to the schools, thanks in part to $43,000 worth of grants the hospital received from several area foundations

http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/news/local/states/ohio/counties/summit_county/17548510.htm

Utah surgeon among medical pioneers using new heart procedure

 

Affleck says that the procedure he is teaching to other surgeons is more effective. It involves making two small incisions under each armpit, then using a surgical micro-camera 
    The Daily Herald reports that after a mini-maze surgery, patients are usually home in about two days.

Salt Lake Tribune - Utah surgeon among medical pioneers using new heart procedure

Doctors Rated but Can't Get a Second Opinion

If you don't take your medications or follow your doctor's advice, they are at risk of being rated in a negative fashion, in other words when it comes to the publicly listed physician ratings, you will perhaps see a drop in their ratings.  I agree this is far cry from being accurate and it can hurt a physician with pay for performance. These are just straight numbers ran and sometimes used with a generic data base of suggested results, but in many instances, the demographics used for evaluation purposes and those actual demographics in the physician's data base of patients vary - thus it will not be accurate.  I have seen offices have to go to bat for this exact purpose as you read below, i.e. penalizing a physician for not doing a mammogram on a woman who has had a mastectomy is a real obvious example stated below. 

I still think the best policy is to go to the government section and review to see if there are any reported incidents on public record and go from there, along with word of mouth recommendations from other patients who have been satisfied with their care.  All these new ratings are again far from being accurate and does put the physicians in a spot they would rather not be in, especially if the data is not correct. 

Physicians need to keep their own set of records as well to defend themselves too in this vain, there's almost no other way to substantiate and combat the issue otherwise.  If using electronic records, make sure you have a "patient registry" module that can compile all of this for you quickly, otherwise to create a report manually with paper methods, it is not only costly, but will take your staff away from the daily business of seeing patients.  Having this available in a report format with a couple clicks on the computer will definitely be an asset that will show a return on investment for any practice, when having to create a rebuttal on either published ratings, or simply going to bat to recover payments withheld, based on inaccurate information for performance ratings.  Unfortunately I don't think the ratings game is going to change any time soon, but let's hope it gets more accurate as time goes on, in the meantime, physicians, keep your own records in your own defense so you don't get wiped on the Internet with out a defense and also don't get short changed for P4P.  Try to find an EMR that does this for you, simply creating the reports based on the information you input with day to day charting.  BD

United Healthcare announced it would delay launching its program in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut after doctors complained and after New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo threatened legal action.

One doctor fighting ratings systems is Seattle internist Michael Schiesser, who said his rating plummeted from excellent to the 12th percentile within a few months. He said initially Regence Blue Shield, an insurer in the Northwest, ranked him in its top 90th percentile of doctors and awarded him a $5,000 check.

Later, when Regence cut him from its network and patients had to pay out-of-pocket to see him or go elsewhere, he pressed to see his report. He said he discovered that he had been penalized because of errors in data-gathering.

He said Regence faulted him for failing to control diabetes in patients who did not have the disease. He said he was docked points for not performing a Pap smear on a woman who had a hysterectomy. He added that his colleague was faulted for not performing a mammogram on a woman who had undergone a double mastectomy.

Doctors critical of ratings systems say they are held accountable for whether patients exercise, take their medications or follow their prescribed regimens.

Berkenwald, the Massachusetts internist, said he was pushed from Health New England's top 10 percent of physicians into its second tier because several of his female patients did not get the mammograms or Pap smears he But Berkenwald received a top-tier rating by several other insurers participating in the state's Clinical Performance Improvement Initiative because the health plans use different cut-points for determining who falls into which tier.prescribed. 

Doctors Rated but Can't Get a Second Opinion - washingtonpost.com

FDA Panel Recommends Approval Of Eli Lilly's Osteoporosis Drug Evista To Prevent Breast Cancer

 

An FDA advisory panel on Tuesday voted in favor of recommending that Eli Lilly's bone-strengthening drug raloxifene, sold under the brand-name Evista, be approved to reduce the risk of breast cancer in some women, the Wall Street Journal reports (Corbett Dooren, Wall Street Journal, 7/25).
FDA in 1997 approved Evista to help prevent osteoporosis and in 1999 approved it to treat the disease. Tamoxifen, which blocks the production of estrogen, is the only FDA-approved drug for reducing breast cancer risk, but it increases risk for uterine cancer and blood clots. Raloxifene, which also blocks estrogen production, has been shown to be as effective as tamoxifen at reducing breast cancer risk, though it increases risk of hot flashes and other menopause-related symptoms.

FDA Panel Recommends Approval Of Eli Lilly's Osteoporosis Drug Evista To Prevent Breast Cancer

Dramatic Increase In Antibiotic-resistant Infections In Hospitalized Patients, USA

 

Hospital stays for a type of antibiotic-resistant infection have more than tripled since 2000, and since 1995 have increased nearly 10-fold, according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
AHRQ found that the number of hospital stays for patients infected with Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA), climbed from 38,100 in 1995 to 128,500 in 2000 and then to 368,800 in 2005, the latest year for which data are available.

Dramatic Increase In Antibiotic-resistant Infections In Hospitalized Patients, USA

CIGNA Covers CHARITE® Artificial Disc, USA

 

DePuy Spine, Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company, announced that CIGNA, one of the nation's largest health insurers, will now cover artificial disc replacement for single-level degenerative disc disease.
DePuy Spine is the world leader in spine arthroplasty and the manufacturer of the CHARITE® Artificial Disc, the first artificial disc approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2004.
CIGNA, which provides health insurance to about 47 million people, joins Aetna, Kaiser Permanente, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield and dozens of regional insurers, in covering the surgical implantation of the CHARITE Disc for low back pain and disability from degenerative disc disease.

CIGNA Covers CHARITE® Artificial Disc, USA

Writing notes on your computer....

Good article about a business executive who got tired of lugging around paper and made the move to paperless!  He makes many good points here and encompasses One Note from Microsoft as part of his routine, an excellent choice as I do the very same thing and I can't tell you the time it saves in having to reference notes from a prior meeting and the convenience of having them all in one locations.  It is also nice to take notes and use the nice export to Outlook tool as well to email the notes to all attendees!  BD

DON’T ASK ME for a pen, because I might not be carrying one. That’s because I now write down all my meeting notes in a computer that understands handwriting — even mine. Read on to see how this saves countless hours a week.

I always thought this was a terrible waste of time, so when I it came time to upgrade my computer I chose a tablet PC — a machine that behaves like a regular laptop until you give the screen a twist and it turns into a computer capable of accepting handwritten input as well as pictures and diagrams.

When it comes time to enter text, a little box pops up and you just write down the information as if you were using a pen. This works for virtually any program. For e-mails and word documents, your handwriting is converted word for word into text, and it is amazing how accurate it is.

However, it is with a program called OneNote that the pen becomes mightier than the keyboard. With OneNote (an optional part of the Microsoft Office suite), the computer can interpret your writing as you go, or you can tell it to just accept anything — words, diagrams, squiggles, whatever.

I can also ask OneNote to search through my original notes for text I am looking for, just as I would do a search in Word, and it will actually find the text even though it is in my handwriting. Pretty slick!  Bottom line: If you find yourself juggling a lot of paper and you have a place to file electronic copies, you should consider going paperless, as I have,

Nova Scotia News - TheChronicleHerald.ca

Technology helping to save lives - Paramedics use touch screen tablets in the UK

This is great, the tablet right in the ambulance to enter information and send to the receiving hospital before arrival.  This year in particular tablets are really making their mark, especially in health care....but anyone can use one.   Mine goes with me to every client meeting to take notes and then some...BD

Mr Wyatt-Goody, who has trained staff to use the ePCR, said: “This technology is a breakthrough. It allows paramedics and technicians to send patient information ahead to A&E nurses via GPRS technology. When the patient arrives, A&E staff already know their medical history.”
Since June 2005, some 800 paramedics and technicians in East Anglia have been trained to use the new tablet docking system installed in 117 ambulances.
Paramedics enter data by tapping information on a screen. Updates on the patient's condition and information, such as blood pressure and ECG statistics, can also be sent to the receiving hospital.

Potentially vital clinical information about patients can be sent to hospital A&E departments using new electronic patient care reporting (ePCR) and data management software installed on ambulances.
Patient details are recorded using touch-screen technology, clearer and more accurate than written records.

Evening Star - Technology helping to save lives

Physicians Going Paperless

Louisiana taking electronic medical records seriously...BD

In the future, the rows and rows of manila folders tabbed by color-coded numbers in medical offices will be part of history.
Technological advancements have changed the way that patients receive health care and in about 15 percent of the physicians offices in the state, it's already changed the way that care is recorded in a patient's medical file.

Because converting to a paperless medical record system is costly — as much as $10,000 a year in the first five years, the state is investigating ways to ease the financial burden on physicians, said Dr. Roxane Townsend, the state deputy secretary of the Department of Health and Hospitals.

The Shreveport Times

Hospitals Going High-tech

Great use of a Tablet PC, patients use the device to check themselves in...if you can write on a piece of paper, you can easily use a tablet...after all it is handwriting...and some of it gets changed to text too!  Some tablets weigh less than a paper chart too!  BD

If you haven't been in a hospital for a few years, you might be surprised at how technology aimed at making your stay safer and more enjoyable is emerging in this notoriously paperbound industry.

Your doctor may wheel a computer into your room during an exam. Your nurse may scan the bar code on your ID bracelet before giving you a pill. If you face a long wait for a procedure, a hospital employee may give you a pager much like the ones those perpetually busy chain restaurants hand out. Your preemie may send you an e-mail.

At Bryn Mawr Hospital's new outpatient building in Newtown Square, patients can check themselves in using tablet computers. 

At the hospital's emergency department, RFID chips embedded in plastic tags tell staff where patients are, when they get an EKG, and when the doctor first sees them.

"You better get smart fast or that combination of factors will put you out of business," she said.

 

At Geisinger Health System, a national leader in IT adoption, patients can schedule their own appointments by computer. "One of the things that young people love is that you can print out your child's immunization record from home," said James Walker, chief medical information officer.

Electronic medical records at Cooper University Hospital and its outpatient doctors' offices in South Jersey mean patients have to provide their personal and insurance information only once, saving them from one of the most irritating aspects of complex medical care.

The doctors want to talk directly to patients while they are with them, he said, but the computers make it easier to enter orders and access information afterward.

Hospitals Going High-tech | Inquirer | 07/22/2007

Health Net To Transfer HMO Contract To Touchstone Health Partnership - New York

Hope this is a move for the better and does not create the scenario of having to locate a new primary MD for the seniors...BD

The transfer affects around 6,500 HN New York Medicare members covered under HN New York's Medicare Advantage HMO program in Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens and Staten Island. Around 5,700 of those individuals currently receive their health care benefits from Touchstone under terms of a contract between HN New York and Touchstone.
The transfer is expected to become effective on September 1, subject to approval by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Health Net Of New York To Transfer HMO Contract To Touchstone Health Partnership - - insurancenewsnet.com

Government warns public on fake e-mails

More potential joy on it's way to your inbox...good article to read and be aware of the latest scam.  BD

WASHINGTON - The federal agency charged with protecting consumers from Internet scams now finds itself wrapped up in one.

Identity thieves have sent thousands of bogus e-mails purporting to be from the Federal Trade Commission — as well as the Internal Revenue Service and Justice Department — in an attempt to trick consumers into divulging personal financial information.

The agencies are the latest institutions to be exploited in "phishing" scams, long the bane of large banks and credit card issuers.

Analysts who track online crime say that while financial institutions are still the most commonly hijacked brands, the use of federal agencies in the hoaxes is increasing and reflects criminals' desire to take advantage of the familiarity and authority of various government departments.

Government warns public on fake e-mails - Yahoo! News

F.D.A. Review Criticizes Diabetes Drug and Maker

Question...why was it approved if it is dangerous to diabetics?  What is the future here?  Hopefully more education on potential side effects, etc.  BD 

Patients who take Avandia, a popular but controversial diabetes medicine made by GlaxoSmithKline, are far more likely to suffer and die from heart problems than those who take Actos, a similar pill made by Takeda, according to federal drug reviewers.

Avandia is particularly dangerous to patients who also take insulin. By contrast, Actos can be taken safely with insulin, according to the review.

The findings likely spell the end of Avandia’s status as one of the nation’s most popular drugs for treating diabetics who are not dependent on insulin. Last year, more than a million patients in the United States took Avandia, and a similar number took Actos.

Avandia’s 2006 global sales were nearly $3.4 billion.

F.D.A. Review Criticizes Diabetes Drug and Maker - New York Times

NYC cabbies plan September strike over GPS units

This is not really medically related, but I included this as it somewhat reminds me of some of the folks I run in to with tablet pcs and the fears associated with something new.  If you read here enough, you know I am very much into privacy in all areas, but gee, knowing where the cab is?  Most major companies with vehicles use GPS and have they ever thought about the good side of technology, as it could help locate one in the case of an emergency?

I have to say this story fits right up there with folks I see that look at me like I am "Lucifer" carrying around a tablet pc, something very simple and easy to use, yet folks who have turned off the "I want to learn" switch mostly have nothing a a lot of negative energy to offer in this direction anyway and many of them are in positions of controlling budgets and purse strings that strangle the rest of us trying to make progress and make our lives a little easier, again with staying abreast of our privacy rights and how to deal with it as well.  You can stay away from all areas of technology by choice, and can still have your identity stolen just as easy too.  The cabbies I feel are right up there with techno fear and will hold back progress for all, and I am guessing a good portion of them have a tendency to shun technology.  This gets the techno bunk story of the week.  BD

As we told you in March, the technology-bucking drivers of New York City have put their collective foot down and said "no" to GPS systems in city taxis. The New York Taxi Workers Alliance, a non-unionized group with more than 8,400 members, claims it will call for its drivers to strike if city leaders don't retract plans to install GPS units in 13,000 cabs. No new information there, but recently the NYTWA announced that September would be its target month for the walkouts, putting a very real timetable on what would be a crippling move for the city. If you'll recall, the touchscreen devices would allow passengers to pay by credit card, check the news, and map their taxi's location. The systems would also track pickup and drop-off points (information taxi drivers already report), but cabbies fear their employers will use the information to keep tabs on their whereabouts. The NYTWA plans to specify the date and length of the strike next month, so you'll know more when we do.

NYC cabbies plan September strike over GPS - Engadget

Employee sues Fox over allegations of scabies infection

Quite a story...and she didn't have scabies after all...big lawsuit for a potential case of scabies...BD

An employee of Fox 21/27 who claims she was humiliated by false accusations that she had scabies — and who says she had to lift her shirt in front of station officials to show a rash on her stomach — is suing the station’s owner, two former managers and on-air medical adviser "Dr. Dave" for $12.2 million.
Mary King, who works with contracts for WFXR/WWCW, says in a lawsuit filed Monday in Roanoke Circuit Court that her troubles began when the Roanoke television station suffered an infestation of mites last fall.

As King’s co-workers filed past, Durham began demonstrating how she should apply a cream he was prescribing by rubbing it all over her body, saying that while it was "okay to get it in your pubic hair, don’t get it inside you" and motioning between his legs, the lawsuit says.
King began screaming that she did not have scabies, and Seffens and Durham shouted that she did, the lawsuit says.
Before she left the office that afternoon, other employees began asking why she had exposed them to the mites, the lawsuit says.

Employee sues Fox 21/27 over allegations of scabies infection - Roanoke.com

Delivery for Dummies: Simulators Walk Docs Through Childbirth

What do we not simulate today?  Good story....BD

A new generation of complex, electronic birth simulators are allowing medical students to practice labor and birth -- especially when there are complications.

"It gives us the opportunity to learn and practice but do no harm," said Dr. Kay Daniels, a clinical associate professor who trains students at Stanford University.

 

Interactive simulation robots first became popular in the 1990s after scientists developed them for anesthesiologists in training. They've since been designed for various types of medical training and even for veterinary students, who work on dog mannequins.

Noelle is part of a new wave of medical-simulation technology that has moved ob-gyn training beyond its traditional low-tech plastic pelvises. "We did simulations, but it wasn't very realistic," said Jane Mashburn, a clinical associate professor who uses robots to train nurse midwives.

 

 

Delivery for Dummies: Simulators Walk Docs Through Childbirth

Hat Tip:  Medlaunches

TabletKiosk Sahara i440D Slate Tablet PC First Look Review

Stay tuned for more to follow next week....benchmarks on the page are impressive...BD 

TabletKiosk recently introduced their newest Sahara Slate PC, the i440D and guess who got their hands on one. That is right, the i440D is in the TabletPCReview.com office and our model is running Vista. After spending a few hours with the i440D, I was quite impressed by how fast the wireless connection was and how responsive the pen was. Key factors to look for in a slate tablet considering it has no keyboard and probably will be lugged all over the place.

First Thoughts

There is a nice array of features on the i440D and it can be connected to a dock or you can use the included stand and connect a mouse and keyboard. Even though it is different not having a keyboard, the pen works great and is accurate. Overall the Sahara i440D seems to be a strong tablet with good battery life, but I need some more time to dive into those tests. Stay tuned next week for the complete review to come with video.

TabletKiosk Sahara i440D Slate Tablet PC First Look Review

Fewer Physicians Practicing In Upstate New York Causes Long Wait Times, Longer Commutes

 

The New York Times on Monday examined how "fewer young doctors want to work in many of the distressed cities and towns throughout New York state," as the "aging baby boomer population finds itself in need of more medical services." A 2006 HHS study found that the number of physicians practicing in New York increased by 6% between 2001 and 2005; however, the "way they are spread throughout the state is wildly uneven," with many new physicians seeking to practice in New York City, Long Island and Westchester County, "where there is already a glut," according to the Times.

Fewer Physicians Practicing In Upstate New York Causes Long Wait Times, Longer Commutes

Google Health vs. Microsoft e-Health

Both do a pretty good job, but who will profit the biggest? 

Detailed health knowledge is no longer the sole possession of the medical elite. Now, once elusive information is readily available to the average person. The wealth of medical and health related resources on the Web are sparking interest amongst a growing number of people who want to be involved in their own health care.
With this heightening level of interest Google and Microsoft are both eagerly vying to get a share of the online healthcare sector. The battle seems to be heating up between these two giants as they propose different approaches for an online medical system, each one hoping theirs is the more marketable option.

The unfortunate aspect of the healthcare information on the web is that it is from a mixture of sources, sometimes the information is reliable and useful, other times it is more of a hindrance than a help. Regardless of who wins this new phase of the Google vs. Microsoft popularity contest, when online healthcare systems that give consistently useful and patient specific advice have been established, their presence will be welcomed by many medical professionals and patients alike.

Google Health vs. Microsoft e-Health: Medical search war for big profits

UC settles liver transplant suits for $7.5 million - Los Angeles

 

The University of California has agreed to pay $7.5 million to settle 35 claims filed on behalf of patients who waited in vain for liver transplants at UCI Medical Center and who were unaware that the school's program lacked the staffing to perform the life-saving operations.
The university closed the program in November 2005 after The Times reported that 32 patients died awaiting operations, even as the hospital in Orange turned down scores of organs proffered on their behalf.
A subsequent investigation resulted in a rapid-fire series of resignations, reorganizations and vows to restore the credibility and oversight of the Irvine school's medical programs.
The agreement by the UC Board of Regents to settle the cases largely closes the book on another embarrassing chapter in the history of UCI's medical programs, which have been plagued by various lapses over the years: the theft of eggs and embryos from patients in a fertility clinic, the failure to properly keep track of bodies in its medical cadaver program and failings in other transplant programs such as kidney and bone marrow.
The fertility cases were settled for $20 million.

UC settles liver transplant suits for $7.5 million - Los Angeles Times

Senators introduce healthcare IT privacy bill

Should we start with the VA?   

WASHINGTON – Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt. ) and Edward Kennedy (D-Mass. ) introduced a bill last week to provide patients with more control over their electronic health records. 
The bill, introduced July 18, proposes to make changes to the current HIPAA privacy protection laws, to increase patient protection. According to a statement by Leahy, “the bill would give each citizen the power to decide when, and to whom, their health information is disclosed.”

Senators introduce healthcare IT privacy bill

State fines Kaiser again - Peer Review Issues -southern California ordered to institute a review committee

 

Overall, the report found that the HMO "lacked the ability to verify consistent handling of complaints throughout its medical centers or to determine whether serious or chronic problems were being addressed."

Kaiser Permanente will be assessed a record fine today for its haphazard investigations of questionable care, physician performance and patient complaints at its California hospitals, according to state HMO regulators.
The California Department of Managed Health Care said it will levy a $3-million fine against Kaiser, the largest HMO in the state, with 29 medical centers and more than 6 million members. If Kaiser makes necessary improvements, agency director Cindy Ehnes said, she will forgive $1 million of that.

The nine Kaiser hospitals examined as part of the report are in Woodland Hills, Fontana, Baldwin Park, West Los Angeles, south Sacramento, San Rafael, South San Francisco, Fresno and San Francisco. The state did not identify which hospitals had the weakest systems.

The managed-care agency found that under the HMO's massive umbrella, individual hospitals had their own rules: Some rigorously pursued potential medical mishaps; others did not.
The vast majority of the report focused on a system called "peer review," a standard quality-assurance mechanism at hospitals in which doctors' committees examine patient cases to determine if the care was appropriate.

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-me-kaiser26jul26,1,946559.story?page=1&coll=la-headlines-frontpage