Insurance companies deny coverage based on medications a patient is taking obtained from marketing reports…

One more way for the information to run queries to cherry pick applicants is accomplished.  When you apply for insurance, the fine writing will usually state that you are giving permission to check any medical information and records and, yes, this includes prescriptions.  Even the $4.00 generic retailers can’t help out here as they maintain records too even if you pay cash. 

Two companies supplying these pharmacy profiles—MedPoint and IntelliScript—violated federal law for years by keeping the system hidden from consumers.  They collect data and can sell the file back to the insurance company for maybe $15.00 or so.  Not only does this help to deny coverage, but it levies other reasons to charge a higher rate for coverage too, and employers pay attention too as this can result in overall higher premiums for your group plan too.  

The 2 companies buy the data bases from Pharmacy Benefit Managers like Medco as an example, but some retailers have their own Pharmacy Benefit Managers, and there are no HIPAA or other privacy laws to stop the process, scary.  The insurance companies say this helps identify high risks, well yes, so they can potentially dodge a high risk of sorts.  The insurance companies are not notifying consumers why they were denied if it was due to a pharmaceutical data mine either.  So what is the solution, go back to getting medications from Canada, and I say that with a bit of satire here.  One other item, what about fraud, could one be denied in this case, it does happen here and there. 

Just one more angle in the fight for healthcare.  The more meds you take, the greater potential of scrutiny when it comes to insurance.  The records they have access to can go back up to 5 years.  As the insurance business dwindles here due to the economy, more are opening up offices in China for their next frontier.  If you have read recent posts here you can see where several carriers have been sued in California and new laws are being passed to give the department of managed care more teeth to go up against the carriers to assure equal opportunities and cut down this type of activity, after all who can you trust anymore…that’s one good question.  BD 

That prescription you just picked up at the drugstore could hurt your chances of getting health insurance. An untold number of people have been rejected for medical coverage for a reason they never could have guessed: Insurance companies are using huge, commercially available prescription databases to screen out applicants based on their drug purchases.

Technorati Tags: Health Insurance,Healthcare,Prescriptions,Medications,Pharmaceuticals,Drugs

They Know What's in Your Medicine Cabinet

FDA, Military Health System tighten data sharing pact

Recently the FDA announced it was going to use the Medicare data base in the effort to mine and help find adverse drug side effects as well as other pertinent data relative to the approval and warning process in place at the FDA.  This is more than likely related to  the latest technology updates in progress with the new Sentinel Imitative, so by adding military records to the overall process there will be more data available to study and scrutinize. 

No doubt the information made available will also play an important role in how genomics is shaping up to play a role in helping with additional information up front for the decision making processes.  If the recent software solution from MIT could enter the picture and be effective with anonymizing the data, the processing time for mining data could improve as well.  One more step towards personalized medicine in the works.  BD

The Food and Drug Administration and the Military Health System (MHS) are planning to deepen an existing information-sharing relationship.

Cooperation between the two agencies will be expanded to include use of MHS databases to track unexpected side effects for newly approved pharmaceuticals. It will also include investigating and tracking outbreaks of food poisonings and incidents of bioterrorism.

Technorati Tags: FDA,DOD,Medical Records,MIT,Data Mining,genomics,personalized medicine

http://www.govhealthit.com/online/news/350476-1.html

Gentag and MacroArray Develop Prostate Cancer Wireless Diagnostic Processes and Technology

According to this article, a patch would transmit the results direct to a cell phone, more telemedicine in the works?  If the efforts are successful, this would allow more to be tested though the technology as the results could be relayed back to the physician or hospital.  Biotech at work once more by using a biomarker with an assay combining the lab portions of the test on the patch with the software of a cell phone to transmit.  A urine sample would be placed on the sensor test strip with a reaction time established and off to the cell phone the data would travel.  BD 

The companies will combine Gentag's cell phone technology with MacroArray's urine-based cancer diagnostic. Gentag has found a way to integrate radiofrequency identification sensors and wireless cell phone technology to provide a non-invasive, low-cost, and disposable testing method through the use of skin patches or immunoassays.

The companies hope that the new test will replace the traditional PSA blood test as a more rapid, effective method of prostate cancer diagnosis.

Technorati Tags: Medical Devices,Technology,Healthcare,Telemedicine,Prostate Cancer,PSA

Medical Devices Today: Gentag and MacroArray Develop Prostate Cancer Diagnostic

Biogenerics Would Reduce Health Care Costs For Patients, Says Generic Pharmaceutical Association

A new possible term in the world of Biotech, Biogenerics?   We currently have Pharmacogenomics working and now perhaps an interest with the Generic Drug business investing in Biotech as well or perhaps the availability of a generic without a long patent protection period?  I am not quite sure how this fits in, but perhaps more information will be available as the issue develops  The group is asking that the FDA work on a program to make it possible without the long and extensive patent protections for one.  BD  

The Generic Pharmaceutical Association (GPhA) today said the availability of a workable pathway that provides timely patient access to safe, affordable and life-saving biogeneric medicines would save consumers and the health care system billions of dollars. The skyrocketing prices of certain prescription drugs were the focus of a Joint Economic Committee hearing on Capitol Hill yesterday (www.jec.senate.gov).

Technorati Tags: FDA,Generic Drugs,Biotech,Pharmaceuticals

Biogenerics Would Reduce Health Care Costs For Patients, Says GPhA

GSK Gets on Board with The YouTube Revolution – Well Sort of…

One more Pharma company joins You Tube Channels, GSK, but this post makes a very good point, no embedding, I agree here, what’s up with Glaxo not allowing one to embed!  Also as mentioned, where’s the publicity as Eye on the FDA reports that he’s subscriber number 8!  Is big pharma still a little gun shy about using video media?  Use the link below to read the entire post, he makes some very good points here and reviews other efforts being made by Pharma in the You Tube Channels and shoot even the FDA allows embedding to help spread the news. Do you think that perhaps Twitter might enter the marketing scheme any time soon with Pharma?  Good article and worth reading.  BD 

“The first video listed is one that overviews their philanthropy. You would be surprised how little people know about the extent of philanthropy from the pharmaceutical industry. Frankly, most people don't know anything about it and pharmaceutical companies tend to believe everyone knows the extent to which drugs flow to developing countries. Here is a link to that video - unfortunately for some reason that is unfathomable, they have disabled the ability to embed the vid. Not a good idea.”

Technorati Tags: GSK,You Tube,Pharma,FDA

Eye on FDA: GSK Gets on Board with The YouTube Revolution -

Yahoo offers free Zimbra email Client on your Desktop

The race for the desktop email client continues with the latest offering from Yahoo.  Up until now you had to be online to work with email, now with the new Zimbra client, you can work with email offline, just as you have been able to do with Outlook for years. 

You can also import other email accounts, again just as Outlook has done for quite a while to include AOL, GMail, and others.  The software offers a lot of customizations and is a bit of a lengthy download.  Microsoft has a Windows Live Desktop, which is very similar to Outlook and I have used it for over a year one on of my PCs with pretty much the same capabilities, but it looks like Outlook, easier for me to work with and many of the same customization features and rules formats. 

Yahoo Mail is available with all 3 operating systems though, Windows, Linux and Apple, so if you are not a Windows person, you have some options.  My overall opinion is that it is ok so now I have an alternative to reading Yahoo mail, which cannot be brought in to Outlook unless you pay for a premium subscription, something that has always bugged me a bit as you don’t have that with GMail or Hotmail.  Oh well I guess you can’t have everything, so the battle for the desktop email client continues and this is worth a look if you are using Yahoo mail.  I still see many physicians and medical offices using it, thus I thought I would add this for information purposes.  It’s not Outlook, but it’s ok.  BD 

• Email, contacts, and calendar all in one application 
• Available for Windows, Apple, or Linux desktop computers
• Easily set up Zimbra, Yahoo! Mail Plus, AOL and Gmail email accounts with the Account Wizard
• Any POP or IMAP email account can be added to Zimbra Desktop
• No limit to the size of your email storage 
• It works online and offline

Technorati Tags: Yahoo,Email,Desktop Client,POP Mail

Zimbra on your Desktop

PEAK Surgical Receives Clearance To Market PEAK(R) Surgery System For Use In General Surgery

This appears to be a replacement to the scalpel as known today.  Less bleeding and better control are some of the benefits for surgeons.  This gives the best of both worlds to the surgeon it appears.  Other devices on the market also control bleeding but potentially cause additional tissue damage whereas the Plasma Blade is engineered to take this one step further.  The techniques used by the device were originally developed at Stanford University. 

The pulsing action leads to less surrounding tissue damage.  The Pulsar generator is a plug and play device that works with the Plasma Blade to set and monitor the Plasma Blade during surgery.  The device is set to be for sale in the very near future.  BD 

PEAK Surgical, Inc., a medical device company that has developed a  new tissue dissection system based on a proprietary technology, announced  that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted the company 510(k) clearance to market its PEAK(R) Surgery System for use in general surgery.

Technorati Tags: Surgery,Technology,Medical Devices,Hospital,FDA

PEAK Surgical Receives 510(k) Clearance To Market PEAK(R) Surgery System For Use In General Surgery

Physician Funnies – Real comments between Doctors and Patients

It is time for a bit of humor, which is needed from time to time.  I don’t know who the author was that put all of these together, but they are funny misconceptions with conversations between MDs and their patients, and it’s real life.  Communication mix ups that are just funny and thanks to the MDs who shared these moments of humor. 

California Wants Dr. Kevin Brown’s Medical License

It sounds like there are some pretty major issues here from alleged sexual misconduct to over prescribing Oxycodone and other fraud issues.  “Dr. Brown attracted controversy earlier this year when he organized a charity fundraiser at the Playboy   Mansion to which his father, the Premier, donated three all-expense paid trips to Bermuda in conjunction with Elbow Beach to this effort.”  He is accused of rape when making a house call at a patient’s residence as well. If this is the case, we certainly don’t need someone like this on the rolls of making house calls.  Six patients so far have come forward.  BD 

  The arraignment of Premier Ewart Brown's son for 19 felony charges of sexual molestation was yesterday adjourned until August 7. But the Los Angeles Superior Court was told that seven more alleged victims of Dr. Kevin Brown have come forward. Dr. Brown was remanded in custody on $4 million bail after facing 19 felony counts, including a lewd act on a 15-year-old, rape, sexual battery by fraud and sexual exploitation in the court yesterday. These alleged assaults occurred between November 6, 2006, and May 31, 2008. If convicted, he faces up to 25 years in state prison.

Technorati Tags: Doctor,California,Medical License,Rape,Assault

The Royal Gazette

Microsoft HealthVault and RelayHealth (McKesson) to Connect Doctors and Patients

Many of the Tenet hospitals are McKesson Clients. The Relay Health network will be able to connect to the patient’s file “The RelayHealth network then connects the consumer's portfolio of information with the care provider and unifies the management of the personal health record." Physicians will be able to review the information and share information with patients or other physicians. This can work well with prescribing through the network as a physician for a simple example could choose to share the medication with the HealthVault, so the patient could have it available as well.

In addition on the web page there are a number of videos that show how the HealthVault is currently and potentially used at the hospital. Also just recently in the news was the announcement from Longs Drugs to also begin offering HealthVault services in the near future.

There’s also an information site for developers who want further information about becoming a HealthVault solution provider. Health Vault and HIPPA information can be read here.

In addition, new certification logos are available for certified devices after going through the process. BD

REDMOND, Wash., July 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Microsoft Corp. today announced a strategic collaboration with RelayHealth, McKesson Corp.'s connectivity business, to accelerate and improve the relationship between doctors and patients.

HealthVault will provide physicians using RelayHealth's Software as a Service (SaaS) platform with the technology to facilitate enhanced online patient service and communications. Physicians can easily employ the RelayHealth service, which includes electronic prescribing, through a Web browser as the initial step toward clinical automation of their practice. The service is also designed to integrate with electronic medical record systems already in use. For patients, the combined solution allows access to their personal health information and an online interaction with their personal physician.

Technorati Tags: Microsoft,Healthvaut,Healthcare,McKesson,RelayHealth,PHR,Medical Records,Personal Health Records

Microsoft Corp. :: Microsoft HealthVault and RelayHealth to Connect Doctors and Patients

Complaints Undermine Hip Device – Zimmer Hip

The sales have been suspended until an investigation from the company can determine the problems and issues with the hip. 

A surgeon in Los Angeles was the initial person to voice an opinion about the cup failures.  BD 

Zimmer Holdings, the nation’s biggest producer of orthopedic devices, says it will suspend sales of an artificial hip component that some doctors have complained was failing at a high rate.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/24/business/24hip.html?partner=rssyahoo&emc=rss

State freezes Medi-Cal payments to thousands of healthcare facilities - California

We all know that this means and it stands to put many small businesses at risk if they cannot get a line of credit to carry them through until a budget is passed.  Nursing Home facilities stand to be hit the hardest.  BD 

SACRAMENTO -- -- Thousands of medical providers who care for low-income Californians are scrambling to find funds to keep their doors open, as the failure of lawmakers to pass a budget forces the state to halt payments to them. State officials put the healthcare facilities on notice that starting today, payments from the Medi-Cal insurance program for the poor will be frozen until a budget is approved. An emergency pot of cash officials had set aside to pay the healthcare clinics, nursing homes and adult day care centers in the event of a delayed budget has run dry.

State freezes Medi-Cal payments to thousands of healthcare facilities - Los Angeles Times

A sensible censor for sharing medical records – Anonymize medical records for research…

This could be great news as how many times do medical records need to be anonymized for research, a lot.  We all remember the case with the NHS and their mistake made a few months back with the records.   This will be nice too if it is open source and I hope they send the software over to Medicare to use before opening up the records for the FDA to use in research.  Actually this could be a nice blessing in disguise for both the FDA and Medicare if it proves to be truly functional and work well and quickly.  This way as citizens we might be able to have some assurance of some HIPAA compliance at the top levels too.  To manually remove the information presently by using the standard query functions can take a long time with the number of records, as you might run the query, take a weeks vacation to come back to see if the results have finished (grin), well maybe not that long, but it does take time.    BD

  In the July 24 issue of the journal BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making, a team of MIT researchers describes a computer program capable of automatically deleting details from medical records that may identify patients, while leaving important medical information intact. Patient records that are to be shared within the research community must have any identifying information removed, according to the U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). However, manual removal of identifying information is prohibitively expensive, time consuming and prone to error-constraints that have prompted considerable research toward developing automated techniques for "de-identifying" medical records.

A sensible censor for sharing medical records

Technorati Tags: Medical Records,HIPAA,Anonymize,FDA,Medicare,MIT,Techonology

AHLTA (military health records software) takes hits in latest Web hall

The physicians were stating it lacked features.  Recently the DOD and Military have been collaborating on the subject of medical records and looking at the system used by the VA, called Vista.  The use of both systems though would require interoperability to talk to each other as well, something private industry is working on presently with a vengeance, so nothing new here with the progression of medical records, as everyone is going in the same direction.  BD

Military health providers have numerous complaints about AHLTA, the Military Health System’s electronic medical record system.
That was the inescapable conclusion to be drawn from the latest Web hall sponsored by MHS and conducted June 20. Participants posted comments on a message board at the MHS Web site, to which MHS staffers responded.
There were more than 150 comments, the overwhelming majority negative. Among the more general complaints: AHLTA is too slow, it transforms health care providers into typists and clerks, and its system for generating medical notes is inefficient.

http://www.govhealthit.com/online/news/350442-1.html?GHITNLmhit=yes

Advanced Cancer Therapeutics licenses technology to develop HPV vaccine with plants

Merck may be getting some competition in time with the HPV Vaccine business, but the research here will focus on using plants, which they state will provide a vaccine at a cost less to the consumer.  BD

Advanced Cancer Therapeutics (ACT) has announced the signing of two new collaborative agreements that will advance development of the Company's novel human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine program. The vaccine, to be produced in tobacco plants, targets the L2 protein, an integral part of the papillomavirus capsid. Preclinical research indicates that this development strategy may yield a vaccine that provides broader immune protection against a greater number of the approximate 200 HPV subtypes, as well as provide a more cost-effective alternative to the currently available options to patients. As such, the vaccine could have a significant impact on reducing the global incidence of HPV-linked cancers, including cervical cancer.

Advanced Cancer Therapeutics licenses technology to develop HPV vaccine

Booming business helps patients navigate medicine – The Medical Advocacy

Some have annual contracted rates and some have a fixed or hourly fee, as complicated as healthcare has become, sometimes it can pay to get some help.  There many levels of the advocacy business and some cost a lot more, those set up to cater to the wealthy or well to do crowd, but there is help at every level. 

Employers are beginning to contract with them as well, so it depends on the individual need, short term or long term and exactly what area in healthcare you need help with.  If working with billing situations, that might be considered short term for one procedures or treatment.  The help both the insured and the uninsured.  There are also volunteers in this field who donate their time for free to help individuals find the information and healthcare they need.  If you are confused and need help, perhaps the Medical Advocacy might be in a position to offer some relief.  BD 

Currently, the health advocacy business is an industry with about $50 million to $75 million in annual revenue but only about a dozen companies of any significant size, said Richard Rakowski of Intersection LLC, a Connecticut-based investment and development firm that has researched the field. But those numbers have grown from a few years ago, and it may be on track to become a $1 billion industry based on the demand for the service, said Rakowski, the firm's principal.

Technorati Tags: Healthcare,Medical Advocacy

Booming business helps patients navigate medicine

MedAvant Bankrupt, Will Sell – Medical Clearinghouse

The clearinghouse business has become very competitive and the company was not able to maintain the stock pricing requested by NASDAQ.  BD 

Claims clearinghouse MedAvant Healthcare Solutions in Atlanta has filed for voluntary reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. The vendor also has filed a motion to sell its assets to Marlin Equity, an El Segundo, Calif.-based private equity firm, subject to better bids at an  auction sale expected in about two months. Further, MedAvant has obtained a debtor-in-possession financing commitment of $8.1 million by New York-based Laurus Master Fund Ltd. The commitment includes $2.9 million in new credit availability to support business operations during the bankruptcy case.

MedAvant Bankrupt, Will Sell

GSK chief elaborates on biotech strategy

One CEO comes out and states how biotech will be the new focus for Glaxo, as in a related story whereby patients will require genetic testing for their AIDS drug, Ziagen.  In the future I’m sure there will be more about big pharma and their biotech strategies as personalized medicine continues to grow.  BD

With profits sliding, GlaxoSmithKline CEO Andrew Witty used much of his second quarter review for analysts to amplify plans to radically alter its R&D work, abandoning its old focus on blockbusters in favor of more targeted drugs that earn more modest incomes. Glaxo is shifting more to a biotech approach, creating small units of up to 80 scientists to pursue development programs. Those groups will then apply for research funds from a central investment board.

Technorati Tags: Personalized Medicine,Pharma,Glaxo,DNA,Genomics

GSK chief elaborates on biotech strategy - FierceBiotech

California Alcohol Problems Drain $38 Billion Annually

We keep reading the articles about the problem with alcohol in the UK being a problem, well it looks like they are not alone and we give them a run for the money in California, or at least this is the only state with some statistics to report.  BD 

Marin Institute, the alcohol industry watchdog, held a news conference and town hall meeting in Los Angeles today to release the disturbing findings of its landmark report, The Annual Catastrophe of Alcohol in California. Such a comprehensive study has never been done in California.  Marin's study calculates that moderate-to-high alcohol consumption in California is costing roughly $1,000 per resident. By comparison, tobacco costs California approximately $550 per resident.

California Alcohol Problems Drain $38 Billion Annually

I have stem cells in my belly…harvesting fat..

There could be a dual purpose now to having liposuction, save those stem cells during the procedure as they could be used to generate  new tissue or bone to be used in many reconstructive ways.  Clinical trials are ongoing in other countries with fat cells, in in the US, pre-clinical research is taking place. 

In a related story, fat injections are now a new trend with plastic surgery, so one more use for the fat from one’s system.  It sounds like the fat we all hate just needs some redirection.  BD 

Fat removed from the lower abdomen and inner thigh through liposuction was found to be an excellent source of stem cells, with higher stem cell concentrations than other areas of the body, reports a Brazilian-based study in August's Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery(R), the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). This is the first study of its kind to examine whether fat tissues from different areas of the body vary in stem cell concentration.

Technorati Tags: Stem Cells,Fat,Belly,Healthcare,plastic surgery

Want A Reason To Love Your Lower Belly Fat? It's Rich In Stem Cells

UK Doctors to Face Regular Tests of Competence

In the UK a new competence regulation goes into effect in 2009, a competence test to include a review of their peers.  That’s right, every 5 years a re-check for the physicians, but at least it is a review of peers and not the government doing the audit. This constitutes one big change for the MDs in the UK.  BD

LONDON (Reuters) Jul 23 - Britain's 150,000 doctors will have to show they are fit to practice once every five years in the nation's biggest change to medical regulation for 150 years. Doctors falling below standard risk being struck off the medical register unless they improve, under plans published by England's Chief Medical Officer Liam Donaldson on Wednesday.

UK Doctors to Face Regular Tests of Competence

Schwarzenegger signs ban on health insurers' rescission reward practice - California

Hopefully this will help give some “teeth” the Department of Managed Care here in California, which recently reviewed carriers and resulted in a fine of over 13 million for Blue Cross and Blue Shield.  No more pay for performance in this area of healthcare hopefully.  BD

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law Tuesday a ban against health insurance companies rewarding employees with bonuses for canceling or limiting a patient's coverage. The law is one piece of legislative, regulatory and law enforcement efforts to curtail the practice that the industry has defended as a little-used guard against fraud that helps control costs.

Schwarzenegger signs ban on health insurers' rescission reward practice - Los Angeles Times

FDA's June 2008 Clearances of 510(k)s

How fast is the FDA clearing medical devices?  This page will show you a list of what was approved for the month of June.  The list is quite long and lists medical devices from all areas of health care.  BD  

Includes clearances for Abbott Vascular, Biomet Spint, Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Medtronic Vascular and 240 other top medical device companies. See what your competitors are doing. FDA's June 2008 Clearances of 510(k)

Technorati Tags: FDA,Medical Devices

Medical Devices Today: FDA's June 2008 Clearances of 510(k)s

Bristol-Myers Could Cut More Jobs

There is more potential downsizing going on with big Pharma.  Just yesterday an article related to the number of plants set to the be closed in the US.  I might guess this could be the sign of more outsourcing overseas.  BD 

Last year, Bristol-Myers Squibb said it was cutting some 4,000 jobs as part of a plan to save $1.5 billion. This morning, the company said it’s planning “an additional $1 billion of cost savings by 2012” — suggesting more jobs could get the ax. The company said details about the plan — which in the upside-down world of corporatespeak is called a “productivity initiative” — would be released by the end of the year.

Technorati Tags: Healthcare,Bristol-Myers,Pharma,Medication

http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2008/07/24/bristol-myers-could-cut-more-jobs/

Statin Side Effect Test: Worth the Price?

Statin side effects, weakening and sore muscles, this topic has been commented on here as well.  My question would be are they one in the same, weakening muscles or just muscular pain and are they the same?   It looks now like there is some research in the  personalized medicine area to create a test to see who and who would not be vulnerable to the side effects of many of the statin medications.  This is a common reason why patients discontinue their medications.  Do you risk a heart attack with having high cholesterol? 

There is one enzyme that has been recommended by physicians and one that I take myself for just good general health as I do not take any statins called COQ10.  I have seen and participated in this discussion on other web sites and it seems to be a popular solution to help with the muscular pain, but again there’s no scientific backing yet for the enzyme and COQ10 still remains a bit of a mystery in some the recent medical journals as well.  They key with such a test is to have available for every physician to have access as well before it could fully go mainstream.  BD 

The tens of millions of Americans who take statin drugs to control their cholesterol levels are also taking a calculated risk -- the small chance that they might experience muscle weakness, the most common side effect of the drugs.  "My first impression is that this is the first time that genomics can be useful in day-to-day clinical medicine," said Dr. Christopher Cannon, a heart researcher at Brigham and Women's Hospital, and an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, who was not involved with the study. "It seems to be a useful test, and could be one that patients would want to know when they are starting therapy."

Technorati Tags: Statins,Healthcare,Prescriptions,Medications

ABC News: Statin Side Effect Test: Worth the Price?

Saint Mary's warns of possible data leak - Nevada

 Data breach story of the week, this was not the main health care records files, but data bases used for community programs.  Not too long ago I remember having this conversation with an organization too about not taking any of this information out of the area on USB sticks to work on at home.  There are a lot of letters to go out and free credit monitoring service offered as the usual temporary solution.  BD

The database, used for Saint Mary's health education classes and wellness programs, contained personal information such as names and addresses, limited health information and some Social Security numbers. The database did not contain medical records or credit card information, said Gary Aldax, marketing manager for Saint Mary's. "What happened was that an unauthorized person may have accessed the database," Aldax said. "We're currently working with Equifax, which is one of the three major credit agencies, to help handle this for us.

Technorati Tags: Data Breach,Healthcare,medical records

Saint Mary's warns of possible data leak | www.rgj.com | Reno Gazette-Journal

Senator Dr. Tom Coburn – Talks about Bloggers, Healthcare and Technology from the US Senate…

Nice interview with Senator Tom Coburn, one of two doctors in Congress, but he is the only medical doctor that continues to practice.  Imagine going to see you doctor the Congressman!  Robert Scoble in his Washington series discussed blogging, Healthcare and how Congress operates, good topics.  The Senator states that Washington is operating out of the 50’s and that the low rankings of late are deserved. 

He also believes just like Congressman Culberson that we need TRANSPARENCY in Congress for the constituents.  His office regularly monitors blogging sites and uses sites as such to get in contact versus running his own blog.  He likes bloggers! 

He states we are spending enough on healthcare, but is the money going toward helping people get well, that’s the problem!  No we are not.  He likes the technology and supports the R and D that comes along with it, and make R and D tax credits permanent.  He feels the government should step out of the way in some instances.  He fully agrees with putting the government on the net and his message to technology is to keep on doing what it’s doing.  BD 

"Tech is how we get our freedom back," Senator Tom Coburn says. He wants a totally transparent government thanks to technology. We have a wide-ranging conversation about a number of topics, but he focused in on why he thinks bloggers are changing how politicians talk to their constituency.”

Technorati Tags: Blogging,Senate,Senator,Tom Coburn,Congress,Healthcare,Politics

http://www.fastcompany.tv/video/senator-tom-coburn-tells-me-why-he-likes-bloggers

Slydial – Go Direct to Voicemail on the Cell phone you are calling without disturbing the other person by ringing the phone

This is nice from any wireless carrier and no sign up required.  Just dial the number and it will bypass the voice capabilities of the person you are calling on the cell and go directly to voice mail. 

I can see this being very helpful in healthcare for physicians so as not to disturb them with a ringing phone.  This only works in the US so far.  BD

Just call to confirm
You have several meetings scheduled for the afternoon. You want to call to confirm but you don't want to disturb them or give them the opportunity to reschedule. Being able to just leave them a voicemail is not only polite but advantageous.

1. Dial 267-SLYDIAL (267-759-3425) from any landline or mobile phone.
2. At the voice prompt, enter the U.S. mobile phone number of the person you want to slydial.
3. You will be directly connected to their voicemail. Leave them a voicemail, sit back and relax.

Technorati Tags: Cell Phone,VoiceMail,Phone calls,Messaging

http://www.slydial.com/index.php

Roche snaps up Arius platform for $189M

Mark up one more purchase for Roche this week.  Pharmaceutical companies are looking for for biotech purchases and Roche is not wasting one moment this week.  Arius fits right in with current ongoing cancer research.  Who will be on the list tomorrow?  BD 

Roche announced this morning that it is paying $189 million to buy Canada's Arius Research, a move that will help beef up its portfolio of experimental therapies for cancer and inflammation. Shareholders controlling a majority of the company's shares have already signed off on the pact, which provides a 14.5 percent price premium over Tuesday's close.

Technorati Tags: Roche,Biotech,Cancer

Roche snaps up Arius platform for $189M - FierceBiotech

Kaiser Permanente -The Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group partners with West Coast group

All locations have the the same medical records at all facilities and now they can consult with each other coast to coast.  The patients and records were already connected and now the physicians are connected.  BD 

The Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group and The Permanente Medical Group, a national medical group, have formed a bi-coastal affiliation that will unite 7,000 physicians.  Since both groups use the same electronic medical records system, physicians in both groups will be able to consult with each other to obtain additional opinions and expertise.

Robert Pearl will become Rockville-based Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group’s new president and CEO Jan. 1, 2009. He will continue is also executive director and CEO of The Permanente Medical Group, which is based in Oakland, Calif.

http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2008/07/21/daily20.html

Press Release E-MDs Health Care Records - Maryland

As an added benefit, for the participants in the program, special pricing incentives have been included for the group.  BD 

e-MDs, an industry leader in the development and implementation of electronic health records (EHRs), announces it has been selected as a qualified participant to assist the Maryland Health Care Commission (MHCC) in an aggressive initiative to accelerate the adoption of EHRs among Maryland physicians.  Full Press Release below…

 

Media-Newswire.com - Press Release Distribution - PR Agency

Technorati Tags: E-MDs,Healthcare,Medical Records,EHR

3rd Annual World Congress Leadership Summit on The Road to Interoperability – Key Note Speakers, Goals and PHRs

This week the Congress meeting is in Boston.  I referenced in a earlier post that PHR's, (personal health records) are being viewed by Healthcare leadership as the favorite vehicle for interoperability.  There is a podcast at the link below.  There was a full line up of guest speakers, including Dr. Crounse from Microsoft and you can read more from his blog here about the conference.

How important are Personal Health Records and what is being done to spread the word, as other key healthcare individuals from Microsoft are also speaking and spreading the word as well.  Dr. James R. Mault,  will be speaking in September at the Integrated Care Summit about how personal health records can help in the fight against chronic disease in the workplace.  His area of expertise includes medical devices and the pharma business and he is the director of new products and business development for the Health Care solutions group, and a key figure behind the HealthVault.  Interoperability is on everyone’s mind and plan of attack today for health care records.  Software as a Service is making this possible today.  BD 

The 3rd Annual World Congress Leadership Summit on The Road to Interoperability assembles the industry’s foremost industry practitioners and thought leaders who will address best practices in the implementation of innovative information technology strategies and solutions to improve the state of the healthcare system, to transform operations and enhance safety and quality, in an effort to meet the federally-mandated 2014 goal for nationwide health record portability and health data exchange.
Specific solution areas to be covered include:

• Electronic Medical Records (EMR)
• Personal Health Records (PHR)
• Patient-Centric Portals/Internet-based Communication Exchanges
• Regional Health Information Networks (RHIO)

Technorati Tags: Healthcare,Microsoft,Microsoft Healthcare,PHR,Medical Records,Interoperability,EMR,EHR

http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=9630

And The Next Pharma Plant To Close Will Be

This article is an eye opener when we think about reality and where pharmaceuticals are being manufactured, and there are 26 more still scheduled to close.  Some may just be old and out of date, but this might suggest to ponder how much manufacturing is done here anymore and how much is done overseas, and why the FDA is increasing their mobility to inspect more outside of the US.  Recently Australia and the UK have joined efforts with the FDA on joint inspections overseas. BD

“When we talk about shrinkage, we usually toss out the number of jobs being cut. But another way to look at consolidation is to track all the plants closing. Since January 2007, a total of 77 industry sites employing more than 14,000 people were either closed or have been put on notice, according to Industrial Info Resources, a research firm.”

Technorati Tags: Pharmaceutials,FDA,Healthcare

And The Next Pharma Plant To Close Will Be& // Pharmalot

North Hawaii hospital CEO quits after 2 months – Grady gets new CEO

Hospitals under stress with re-organization – North Hawaii also just lost their big financial supporter, Earl Bakken, founder of Medtronic.  Meanwhile, Grady in Atlanta gets a new CEO to hopefully guide them in the direction they need to go as well.  BD

Jeff Comer, chief executive of the embattled North Hawaii Community Hospital on the Big Island, has resigned. Comer joined the Waimea hospital just two months ago and the hospital board said it will start searching for a new CEO immediately.

North Hawaii hospital CEO quits after 2 months - Pacific Business News (Honolulu):

The Medical Travel RoadShow Debuts in Six U.S. Cities

If you haven’t heard enough about Medical Tourism, they are taking it on the road now.  Health screenings, including blood pressure and cholesterol testing, disease management counseling will be offered to attendees with giveaways and prizes drawn. 

It is not free and requires a $5.00 registration fee by signing up on the web.  The first show doesn’t make it’s stop until October in Dallas.  What else will go on the road next, doctors, hospitals, nurses, or MRI's?    BD 

RICHMOND, VA, DALLAS, TX and AUSTIN, TX, Jul 23, 2008 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX) -- U.S. residents will have their first look at the vast array of options for accessing high quality medical care at significantly lower costs when the Medical Travel RoadShow makes its first stops in six cities hosting Your Health Expos www.themedicalroadshow.com

Technorati Tags: Medical Tourism,Healthcare,Insurance,Surgery

First Opportunity for U.S. Consumers to Explore Medical Travel: The Medical Travel RoadShow Debuts in Six U.S. Cities - MarketWatch

Medpedia, new Wikipedia of medical information – Medical Professionals can sign up now…

We have another encyclopedia type site in addition to the new Knol from Google, except this new Wikipedia is healthcare only and membership is for Medical Professionals; however, everyone can contribute and give ideas and feedback.  The official launch is not slated until the end of 2008 but contributors are being solicited now from the site.  To take a look and sign up, follow the links on the images to find out more.  Four university Medical schools are associated with the project, teaming efforts to create the resources.  BD 

July 23, 2008 (Computerworld) A project launched today aims to create what is in essence a medical version of Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia focused on explaining conditions, drugs, procedures, medical facilities and other topics written by physicians and Ph.D.s.

“In association with Harvard Medical School, Stanford School of Medicine, Berkeley School of Public Health, University of Michigan Medical School and other leading global health organizations, the Medpedia community seeks to create the most comprehensive and collaborative medical resource in the world. Medpedia will serve as a catalog, database, and learning tool about health, medicine and the body for doctors, scientists, policymakers, students and citizens that will improve medical literacy worldwide.”

Technorati Tags: Encyclopedia,Medpedia,Healthcare,Medical Information

Doctors, Ph.D.s to edit new Wikipedia of medical information

Healthcare leaders favor personal networks (Personal Health Records) to RHIOs for data exchange

If you are not familiar with the term RHIO (regional health information organization) this is the efforts of communities working together to make medical records talk to each other and exchange information in simple terms.   Personal Health Records are looking to emerge as the more proficient way to exchange medical records data, with the patient in control.   Google Health, Microsoft's HealthVault are 2 that can be found on this site.  Anytime you want to connect and begin your online health records and forget where to go, the links are here. 

With Software as a Service available today, there are many routes to go.  The key is to have information with you or available, as it beats the heck out of starting from scratch, especially in the ER room with a real emergency where the doctor has to shoot from the hip and they don’t like that either and would rather have some background information if at all possible.  BD 

BOSTON - Personal health information networks are likely to prove better models for health data exchange than regional health information organizations, or RHIOs, speakers said Tuesday at a world conference on interoperability in Boston. The personal health record platforms, such as those provided by Microsoft, Google and Dossia, provide hope for the exchange of health information sooner than could be achieved by RHIOs, said R. Tim McNamar, founder and chief executive officer of e-certus Inc. , at the 3rd Annual Leadership Summit on the Road to Interoperability.

Technorati Tags: Medical Records,PHR,Healthcare,Microsoft,Google Health,HealthVault

Healthcare leaders favor personal networks to RHIOs for data exchange

Healthcare professionals leading source of information On company's prescription savings programs

If you forget to ask, there’s a reference on this site called “Needy Meds” that will link to a page that will offer additional assistance with getting access to many drugs, always listed in the right hand side of the site, under the $4.00 Prescription section.  BD

More than a third of the people who contacted AstraZeneca to inquire about the company's prescription savings programs learned of the programs from their doctors or pharmacists, according to a year-long survey of more than 12,000 patients. The survey found that 35 percent of the patients who called AstraZeneca's information center regarding prescription savings programs said they were referred by healthcare professionals. Another 14 percent learned of the program from brochures, which also are available in doctors' offices, hospitals, clinics and pharmacies.

AstraZeneca Survey: Healthcare professionals leading source of information On company's prescription savings programs

Google Opens Doors to Knol – Online Encyclopedia - Open for Contributions...

If you are familiar with Wikipedia, Knol will be no problem to understand and work with.  There are a few changes though with authors not being anonymous with their entries as is the case with Wikipedia. 

They would like real names, but that is an option.  Readers can also request changes to articles created, but the author has the final word.  Google will not be editing content.  Authors choosing not to use a real name will have the availability to have their real identity (especially if one chooses a pen name) to have their real identity  confirmed with a phone or credit card process, and these articles will show a ""verified" stamp. 

This looks to be very interesting with adding accountability to what is written.  What is first on the featured page, items on healthcare. 

You can use your Google email address to log in and get started.  It looks like we now have another alternative to looking up definitive information on the web.  BD 

Google has launched Knol, its user-generated online encyclopedia, which it announced in December but had kept under wraps in private testing. Although its goal and approach are similar to Wikipedia's-- to tap the collective knowledge of Internet users within an encyclopedia format-- Knol is different in several ways. Knol will encourage writers to use their real names.

Technorati Tags: Google Health,Health care,Google,Encyclopedia

Google Opens Doors to Knol - Yahoo! News

Struggling generations: Bankruptcies among seniors soaring

Senior bankruptcy rates go up, while middle ages filing go down, this clearly reflects a need to get Medicare reconnected, as this is not what the “Golden Age” should be about, and the number one cause is healthcare costs.  Where is that “Golden Age” anyway?  BD

The average age for filing bankruptcy has increased and the rate of bankruptcy among those ages 65 and older has more than doubled since 1991, say researchers Teresa Sullivan of the University of Michigan, Deborah Thorne of Ohio University and Elizabeth Warren of Harvard Law School.

http://www.physorg.com/news136042127.html

Roche Helps Catch Tour de France Cheater

Roche has been all over the news this week and one more claim to fame to their technology was the ability to catch an athlete cheating.  Athletes still keep trying but hopefully efforts like this will keep the competition honest and fair, nobody wants a cheater to win.  BD 

Ricardo Ricco, who upset some big names in biking during this year’s tour, was caught doping after the drugmaker planted a traceable molecule in the banned stamina-building drug he had taken, according to the World Anti-Doping Agency. And so the 24-year-old was kicked off after testing positive for EPO, or erythropoietin.

Technorati Tags: Roche,Tour de France,Drugs

http://www.pharmalot.com/2008/07/roche-helps-catch-tour-de-france-cheater/

Dennis Quaid tours Dallas hospital

Dennis Quaid is continuing his efforts for better safety in taking a tour of a hospital in Dallas that is using a bar coding system.  Hat’s off for his continued efforts and taking the time to find out what’s available out there.  As everyone remembers his 2 children had staff infections and were taken to Cedars-Sinai, which was the visit that ended up being disastrous with the Heparin overdose.  BD

DALLAS — Actor Dennis Quaid, whose twins were given an overdose of a blood thinner as newborns at a California hospital, toured a Dallas hospital on Tuesday to learn about a system to prevent such errors.

Officials at Children's Medical Center Dallas showed Quaid and his wife, Kimberly, the hospital's system of bar-coding medications to allow the drugs to be tracked electronically from the point of dispensing until being administered to the patient.

Technorati Tags: Heparin,Quaid,Hospital,Medical Errors

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/5901900.html

Viagra helpful to women on antidepressants, study finds

Well it sounds like the female gender could soon be enjoying the benefits of Viagra according to the study, especially when taking anti-depressants.  Viagra blocks an enzyme that inhibits blood flow and thus additional blood flow can travel to other parts of the body.  Back in March there was an article that addressed the concern of the increasing use of anti-depressants as well, so I assume as time moves on there will be more data available as far as whether depression should be treated medically or if further counseling might be an advantage prior to prescribing antidepressants. 

Also, back in March, the study conducted then stated depressed women have more sex, so I ask what might be happy medium here, and it appears that maybe Viagra may offer some answers if a course of action is taken to end depression, otherwise one can perhaps remain depressed and have better sex? (grin) BD 

The long search for the female equivalent of Viagra has led researchers to . . . Viagra. In a small study of 98 women published today, the little blue pill helped women whose sexual performance had flagged as a side effect of taking antidepressants, known as SSRIs -- a very specific finding that could open a new use for the male impotence drug.

Technorati Tags: Viagra,Depression,sex,antidepressants

Viagra helpful to women on antidepressants, study finds - Los Angeles Times

The cancer patient gives his verdict on Drug Trial - Abiraterone

At 50 diagnosed with prostate cancer, tried radiotherapy and hormone suppressants, but a few months later the cancer had spread to his bones.  He was told he had around 2 years left to live and was in a big amount of pain.  He signed up for the trial of the drug abiraterone and there were substantial improvements in his condition within a week, and within 6 weeks no longer needed pain tablets.  The downside of the drug was a little extra weight.  He’s a fan of this drug and trial and perhaps can offer hope to others as he feels without it he may not be around today.  BD 

Simon Bush was told that he had prostate cancer three years ago. In January this year he went skiing for the first time in 25 years. “I had so much fun that I went again in March,” he said.

This is remarkable, considering that a little more than a year ago Mr Bush was in such pain that he struggled simply to get in and out of a car.

http://www.genomeweb.com/issues/news/148352-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS

Generics Are Cheap, but They Could Be Cheaper

Good article from the Wall Street Journal blog here about generics, however in the example quoted below, the patient’s benefit payment of 146.53 just doesn’t come close to taking advantage of a cash prescription of the same drug for $10.00 for a 90 supply at Wal-Mart or Target.  In this case with this particular drug, the cash paying patient will win if choosing this option as more than likely there’s at least a $10 or more co-pay.  There are links on the site to PDFs that reference both the $4.00 and $10.00 prescription drugs available.  

One note though, when a patient opts to pay cash and there are a number of patients in the practice that choose to do this, P4P (pay for performance) can reflect a potential negative hash mark on the participating physician as some programs when evaluating a physician for bonus money take in to effect how many generics are prescribed and the cash records for scripts purchased at a discount may not be available, thus the physician stands a chance of getting dinged if they are outside the guidance levels of prescribing their recommended percentage of generics as they are not tracked through the insurance company.  BD 

The differences between what the PBMs pay pharmacies and what they charge the plans can range from a few dollars to well over $100. In one case, a Medicare patient filled a prescription for a 90-day supply, or 270 pills, of the generic antinausea medication prochlorperazine. The difference between what the PBM, Express Scripts, paid the pharmacy and the price that showed up on the patient’s explanation of benefits was $146.53.

Technorati Tags: Prescriptions,healthcare,Generic Drugs

http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2008/07/22/generics-are-cheap-but-they-could-be-cheaper/