Medical Quack

Bellevue Hospital Evacuation Still Underway as Reserve Power Stopped Working And No Plumbing

This is the longest operating hospital in the US and the pride of<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="114" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-zZSlSd3wpxw/UJH0iTG2xyI/AAAAAAAA_j8/eXEKZYB9Gck/image%25255B4%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="101" /> New York which has been known over the years for it’s psychiatric care but they do a lot more.  If the hospital can re-open in 2 or e 3 weeks it will be doing good with the extensive damage suffered.  There were over 700 patients in the hospital when the evacuation began.  The national guard was called in to form a bucket brigade to get fuel to the generators.  There was no power and plumbing.  There were prisoners among the patients and several hospitals were used to transfer patients to.  What is amazing is to watch the number of ambulances that keep rolling in.  BD   <object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=10,0,0,0" height="245" id="msnbc9d434" width="420"><param name="movie" value="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640" /><param name="FlashVars" value="launch=49631076&width=420&height=245" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /><embed name="msnbc9d434" src="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640" width="420" height="245" FlashVars="launch=49631076&width=420&height=245" allowscriptaccess="always" allowFullScreen="true" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed></object> Visit NBCNews.com for <a style="border-bottom: #999 1px dotted; height: 13px; color: #5799db !important; font-weight: normal !important; text-decoration: none !important" href="http://www.nbcnews.com">breaking news</a>, <a style="border-bottom: #999 1px dotted; height: 13px; color: #5799db !important; font-weight: normal !important; text-decoration: none !important" href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032507">world news</a>, and <a style="border-bottom: #999 1px dotted; height: 13px; color: #5799db !important; font-weight: normal !important; text-decoration: none !important" href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032072">news about the economy</a> NEW YORK (AP) — Flood damage at <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=business%2Fenergy&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Bellevue+Hospital%22">Bellevue Hospital</a> is so extensive and severe that a full evacuation of patients was necessary, the president of the <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=business%2Fenergy&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22New+York+City+Health+and+Hospitals+Corporation%22">New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation</a> said Wednesday, adding that the facility would be "doing very well" if it's able to reopen in even two or three weeks. The hospital had moved out more than 400 patients by Wednesday evening and hoped to have the remaining 300 evacuated by noon Thursday, HHC President <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=business%2Fenergy&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Alan+Aviles%22">Alan Aviles</a> said. Bellevue lost power during Monday night's massive storm and had been operating on backup generators since then. The <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=business%2Fenergy&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22National+Guard%22">National Guard</a> helped carry some of the patients in more serious condition down as many as 18 flights of stairs, and on Wednesday, it became clear that the damage was so much that all of the patients needed out, Aviles said. He said Bellevue, which he said was the longest-operating hospital in the country, had never experienced anything like this. "Irene did not come close to creating a problem," he said, referring to last year's storm. He said the hospital sits about 20 feet above sea level, so "although we certainly prepared for the possibility, it seemed like it was relatively remote given" all of the projections about how high the storm surge would go. <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/business/energy/article/Restoration-at-Bellevue-Hospital-could-take-weeks-3997312.php#ixzz2Aw9tivuW">http://www.sfgate.com/business/energy/article/Restoration-at-Bellevue-Hospital-could-take-weeks-3997312.php#ixzz2Aw9tivuW</a>

Bellevue Hospital Evacuation Still Underway as Reserve Power Stopped Working And No Plumbing

This is the longest operating hospital in the US and the pride of New York which has been known over the years for it’s psychiatric care ...

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

“Algo Duping” – PLOS One Journal Publication Explains Why The Fear of Math Plays a Big Role As One Underlying Reason We All Get Duped And Those Who Don’t Fear Math Take All the Money, Gradually, Using “Mathematical Formulas & Algorithms”

Well what do you know, we have a <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0048076">PLOS One scientific study</a> that describes why the public, government and many others run away from math.  I have this page dedicated to showing all how Quants and those who do not have “Pain” with math or have healed themselves create formulas to take the money and they have.  If you run from pain created with math, they take your money a little a time via algorithms.  I actually did have to laugh a little when this came up in my reading material and I have noticed this myself.  <img align="right" height="164" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTmQCQK-KLTS53DO5NRDgnVJnvbZij8gQTou-YVM2Dy6Lg6HSWrtQ" style="display: inline; float: right" width="195" />I have never seen such an avoidance in my life from at least learning a “tiny” bit about this. The Occupy Movement was yet another great example as they knew something was wrong but couldn’t put their fingers on it and Chapter One of the Killer Algorithms was dedicated to that.  How do you battle a foe when when you can’t see it, talk to it or touch it and it runs on servers 24/7 with parameters to look for other parameters that either deny or grant.  It’s the age old query process and lives 24/7.  This journal report was just an absolute “gift” of an explanation for me to include and look at the GOP these days with their interpretations<img align="right" height="124" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/TLZdsFwnFqI/AAAAAAAAiIY/NIhj9oaZrLo/image_thumb%5B4%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="display: inline; float: right" width="107" />…the 50 shades of rape and I guess when thinking math and experiencing pain for some reason or another and this is especially dangerous when creating laws or when campaigning,  they go to something they can think about controlling and from what you have seen on the news and ridiculous statements made, I’m guessing “math” and this substantiated fear really had them running for the hills.  The content I’m talking about contains 4 videos that explains how those who have adapted or have no problem with math hurting their brain use it.  As stated in the first video from Charlie Siefe “oh the formula has a square root in it and looks ok so it must be right”…all you have to do is throw a formula in front of someone who has the “math brain fear” syndrome and it’s pretty bad and yup rather than to question, they just “dupe” on in.  The media will help you with that too with repeated topics over and over and if you hear it 6 times or more than “gee well it must be so” <grin>.    <img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-kBA-dLfLLGU/UIepz3XA3GI/AAAAAAAA_Kk/8WllR3a7ChM/image%25255B7%25255D.png?imgmax=800" /> When I was young, I too hated math but I got over it quickly when I learned how to write code and it opened a whole new world of logic, also known as reality and I try to share that here so we don’t get duped as the media will do it.  I get emails from PR people and here’s an example: “There are many more stats in the study that I think your audience would find very interesting and timely as the election is just around the corner.” Just that line above they are telling me that I should publish their study and that you would like it as a reader, but too bad you’re not going to see it as it’s junk:)  You can say thanks any time.  Ok I can’t be a tease and here’s one line of it below, total crap out junk as if I have not seen this a thousand times.  ”Registered voters in the U.S. ranked Obamacare, as one of the topics most likely to influence their vote. Interestingly, more than three in four believe that the healthcare system will stay the same or worsen if Romney is elected.” <a href="http://www.ducknet.net/attack-of-the-killer-algorithms/">READ ALGO DUPING 101</a> (there’s also a link to Algo Duping 101 at the top links here) To continue here, I feel I must apologize to my readers<img align="right" height="79" src="https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRJsy5_-1cPjzaPKJ1bNbOsyA0E5vLocojVTXPwC_UMW1X2avqTmg" style="display: inline; float: right" width="169" /> as I really don’t mean to put the fear of math into your brain every time I mention “math”.  Below are a few paragraphs from the study and it’s long and lengthy for the average reader and below is an image that shows “the fear factor in the brain” when math is discussed or a simple math test is given.  <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="280" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-l4dm_QEZlb8/UJGwLyVICHI/AAAAAAAA_io/SQUVFDu9EBs/image%25255B7%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="431" /> Additional information on how we get abused and duped is also given in everyday examples at the link to the Attack of the Killer Algorithms.  Here I took every day examples where consumers were mostly denied something or judge improperly and it was the result of algorithm.  If you look for this, it happens all around you every day, so when something doesn’t seem right, ask that question and see if you have been duped with a formula that perhaps used a priority of “corporate desired results” over accuracy.  <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/02/attack-of-killer-algorithmsdigest-links.html"></a> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/02/attack-of-killer-algorithmsdigest-links.html">Attack of the Killer Algorithms–Digest & Links for All Chapters–on How Math and Crafty Formulas Today Running on Servers 24/7 Make Life Impacting Decisions About You</a></h4> <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/02/attack-of-killer-algorithmsdigest-links.html"> </a> I guess I can sum this up and say thanks PLOS One for substantiating why our society can be such an easy target with the fear of math.  Obviously the CEOs making millions at the banks over came this fear a long time ago as well as many others.  This fear of math will, according to what is written in this journal, is so powerful that it will continue to lead those in fear down a path to where the algorithms seize more money sadly.  BD  <hr />“SUMMARY:  When anticipating an upcoming math-task, the higher one’s math anxiety, the more one increases activity in regions associated with bodily threat detection and the experience of visceral pain itself (INSp). Given our findings were specific to cue-activity, <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0048076"><img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="61" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-wDxuDur9A2g/UJGwMn51OJI/AAAAAAAA_iw/889bjQ8cNns/image%25255B12%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="234" /></a>it is not that math itself hurts; rather, merely the anticipation of math is painful. Anticipatory anxiety about math is grounded in the simulation of visceral threat and even pain. These results also provide a potential neural mechanism to explain the observation that HMAs tend to avoid math and math-related situations, which in turn can bias HMAs away from taking math classes or even entire math-related career paths”. ”Participants completed a word task and math task (block-design) while neural activity was measured using fMRI. Thirty-two blocks of each task-type (16 hard blocks and 16 easy blocks; 4 trials/block) were randomly interleaved and spread over 8 functional runs. In the math task, participants verified whether arithmetic problems of the form (a*b)−c = d were correct, where a≠b, c>0, d>0. For hard math problems, 5≤a≤9, 5≤b≤9 (a*b≥30), 15≤c≤19; subtracting c from a*b always involved a borrow operation; for foil problems, d±2. For easy math problems, 1≤a≤9, 1≤b≤9 (a*b≤9), 1≤c≤8; subtracting c from a*b never involved a borrow operation; for foil problems, d±1. In the word task, participants verified whether a word, if reversed, spelled an actual word (e.g., reversing the string yrestym generates mytsery, which is not an English word, so participants should respond ‘no’). For the word task, hard trials were seven letters in length; easy trials were four letters in length. Behavioral differences were not found between easy-math and easy-word tasks for either group (<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0048076#pone-0048076-t001">Table 1</a>). In contrast, HMA participants performed significantly worse on the hard-math relative to hard-word task, replicating prior research showing that high-math-anxious individuals underperform on difficult math problems relative to difficulty matched non-math tasks <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0048076#pone.0048076-Ashcraft2">[20]</a>. Given that we found behavioral differences only between the hard-word and hard-math tasks, only the hard-blocks are analyzed below. MRI data were acquired using a 3 Tesla Philips Achieva scanner with an 8-channel Philips Sense head-coil. A T2*-weighted echo-planar imaging sequence was used to acquire functional images covering the whole brain (32 axial slices) with a repetition time (TR) of 2000 ms and an echo time of 25 ms (ascending acquisition; FOV: 240×240×127.5 mm; 80×80×32 matrix; flip angle: 80°). In-plane resolution was 3×3 mm and the slice thickness was 3.5 mm (0.5 mm skip). Signal from the orbital frontal cortex (OFC) and surrounding tissue was recovered using additional volume shimming with a box of 60×60×60 mm centered on the OFC area. This method utilizes multiple ‘pencil beam’ acquisitions to compute shim values (algorithm provided by Philips). High-resolution anatomical images were acquired (axial plane: 300 slices; slice thickness: 1.2 mm, −.6 mm gap; x-y dimensions: 1.04×1.04; FOV: 250×250×180 mm, 240×240×300 matrix) with a standard Philips T1-weighted SENSE-Ref sequence. Our data go beyond these results and suggest that even anticipating an unpleasant event is associated with activation of neural regions involved in pain processing.” <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0048076">http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0048076</a>

“Algo Duping” – PLOS One Journal Publication Explains Why The Fear of Math Plays a Big Role As One Underlying Reason We All Get Duped And Those Who Don’t Fear Math Take All the Money, Gradually, Using “Mathematical Formulas & Algorithms”

Well what do you know, we have a PLOS One scientific study that describes why the public, government and many others run away from math. ...

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Ameridose Sister Company of NECC Company Linked to Meningitis Outbreak – FDA Recall for “All” Their Drugs Which May Worsen Existing Shortage of Sterile Injectable Drugs

So far there have not been any problems associated with any Ameridose drugs.  Ameridose is a different type of company which is FDA <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="77" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-xnS6qp55GHQ/UJGhMYJO2KI/AAAAAAAA_hc/wSxGh5hdbTo/image%25255B3%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="134" />approved for distribution of injectable drugs.  The company has the same owners as NECC and was actually a spin off of that company a few years back as business was good.  Ameridose has already ceased manufacturing in light of the NECC situation.  Ameridose is contacting customers and sending information on how to return the products.  In the past it was noted there was one issue with sterility a few years ago at the plant and this recall is precautionary.  <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/10/additional-information-about-necc-and.html"> <h5> Additional Information About NECC and Ameridose Continues as FDA Inspection Report is Released</h5> </a> Just a couple days ago Massachusetts regulators shut down another compounding company which is not related to NECC or Ameridose called Infusion Resource and it was a surprise visit by the FDA.  So far 28 people have died from the meningitis compounded drugs distributed by NECC.  In the Ameridose recall, the FDA is not requiring doctors to follow up with patients.  BD <hr /> <h5> </h5> The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced today that Ameridose, LLC, based in Westborough, Mass., is voluntarily recalling all of its unexpired products in circulation. Products from Ameridose can be identified by markings that indicate Ameridose by name or by its <a href="http://www.ameridose.com">company logo</a> <img alt="disclaimer icon" border="0" height="10" src="http://www.fda.gov/ucm/groups/fdagov-public/@system/documents/system/img_fdagov_exitdisclaimer.png" width="10" />. A complete list of all products subject to this recall can be accessed at <a href="http://www.ameridose.com/">www.ameridose.com</a> .  The FDA is currently conducting an inspection of Ameridose’s facility. Although this inspection is ongoing, the FDA’s preliminary findings have raised concerns about a lack of sterility assurance for products produced at and distributed by this facility. Use of non-sterile injectable products can represent a serious hazard to health that could lead to life-threatening injuries. Most products produced at and distributed by this facility are represented by Ameridose to be sterile products. Ameridose entered into a voluntary agreement with the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Pharmacy to cease all pharmacy and manufacturing operations starting on Oct. 10, 2012. This recall is not based on reports of patients with infections associated with any of Ameridose’s products, and the agency recommended this recall out of an abundance of caution. Therefore, at this time, the FDA is also recommending that health care professionals do not need to follow up with patients who received Ameridose products. Health care professionals should stop using Ameridose products at this time, and return them to the firm. Hospitals, clinics, health care professionals, and other customers with Ameridose products on hand should contact Ameridose at 888-820-0622 to obtain instructions on how to return products to Ameridose. Health care professionals and patients may dial the FDA’s Drug Information Line at 855-543-DRUG (3784) and press * to get the most recent information regarding the Ameridose recall and speak directly to a pharmacist. <a href="http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm326361.htm?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter">http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm326361.htm?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter</a>

Ameridose Sister Company of NECC Company Linked to Meningitis Outbreak – FDA Recall for “All” Their Drugs Which May Worsen Existing Shortage of Sterile Injectable Drugs

So far there have not been any problems associated with any Ameridose drugs. Ameridose is a different type of company which is FDA approved...

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Health Insurers in California Prepare to Negotiate Contracts with “Covered California” the Branded Name for the California Insurance Exchange–Complexities of Contracts Today Running on Corporate Servers 24/7 Opens the Door for More Sophisticated Algorithms

The insurance exchange business since it was created under the Affordable Care Act has certainly changed it’s landscape since the law was signed.  In addition to the state run insurance exchanges, there <img align="right" height="97" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-etqalgC9qeA/UE2LMCXAoRI/AAAAAAAA9mw/14rZ4SnSXqY/image%25255B16%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="display: inline; float: right" width="155" />has been a flurry of “private” exchanges, some run by insurer subsidiary companies appear.  This just goes to reinstate how things move rapidly in the world today and don’t stay the same for very long.  I would guess insurers want every opportunity they can to have exposure to consumers to get their product offerings out there, but how this rolls out, we just don’t know yet.  Are the exchanges going to be productive and carry a model that works?  We don’t know.  When you remove the over glorified word “exchange” it still health insurance contracts and a few weeks ago I wrote an article about the negotiations of such are “just a bitch” which I think pretty well describes is with the number of disputed health insurance contracts in the news.  Contracts and their negotiation processes have certainly changed and the way the insurance carriers bid…just read the news.  Complexity of course adds to this and we see things like this with once <img align="right" height="136" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/TdYNiZF0RQI/AAAAAAAAxks/UEJVJ2qMb7Y/image%5B8%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="display: inline; float: right" width="116" />carrier hiring the former executive from HHS accredited with writing a lot of the Affordable Care Act on their payroll at a VP now?  It just makes one wonder what the other insurers might have to say about this?  Are lawsuits and hiring former Assistant Attorney Generals as general counsel and other examples of such becoming the norm? It’s all about those algorithms for profit, created by Quants for banks and companies with CEOs that can’t even begin to explain to consumers and Congress for that matter as to how they work.  Scroll down and look to the left on this blog for some great educational videos and see if you have been duped a bit and see how fictional math enters into corporate business models today.  Here’s some back links on this topic. <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/10/united-healthcare-3rd-quarter-2012.html">United Healthcare 3rd Quarter 2012 Profits Increase 23%–Algorithms and Formulas Create Complex Multifaceted Business Models To Do It Again And Those Health Insurance Contracts are Still a Bitch</a> </h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2011/06/update-unitedhealthcare-sues-department.html">Update: UnitedHealthcare Sues Department of Defense Over Tri-Care Contracts–They Said They Would Do This – Is This A Case Of My Algorithms Are Better Than Yours?</a> </h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/06/us-health-insurance-regulator-leaving.html">US Health Insurance Regulator Leaving to Take a Job at UnitedHealth Care As Vice President of the Optum Division – Moving to the “For Profit Side” With Business Intelligence Algorithm Dollars To Review</a></h4> <img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-MdcQ51oZRKs/UDz9pcW4fBI/AAAAAAAA9PM/5H-RdgxYtf8/image%25255B11%25255D.png?imgmax=800" /> When you get right down to the topic, these are just more complicated health insurance contracts to be negotiated and then there’s a new line up of other folks that will sell consumers software that will help them navigate the complexities.  If they aren’t selling software to consumers they offer it free and scrape and mine your data it seems so they get you one way or another.  <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/09/arent-these-health-insurance-contracts.html">Aren’t These Health Insurance Contracts a Bitch!</a></h5> A lot of these companies show up in “Incubators” or “Accelerators” and guess what, insurance companies are right there to sponsor too, as we all know all start ups don’t make it but when looking to expand their own IT needs, it is a good place for insurers to shop for “cheap code” either by investing to maybe one day buy or buying it now.  I’m just following the code and data trails here.  <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/10/new-york-digital-health.html">New York Digital Health Accelerator–Health IT Hub For Emerging Technologies–Remember All Start Ups Don’t Make It And It’s A Potentially Good Place for Health Insurers to Shop for Inexpensive Application Code</a> </h4> I know there’s been a lot of time and money spent here on this but again the changing world around us changed the landscape once again.  What makes this even a bit more complicated too is that with the number<img align="right" height="137" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/TLZdsFwnFqI/AAAAAAAAiIY/NIhj9oaZrLo/image_thumb%5B4%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="display: inline; float: right" width="119" /> of acquisitions and mergers, heck some people don’t even know who the corporate owner is of the companies do business with as it kind of gets disguised in the long daisy chains emerging today as a subsidiary may be 2 or 3 or even more steps down the ladder of ownership.  What this can lead to is some questions for conflict of interest too.  When a subsidiary loses a bid on one end are they in place for a different contract with another service?  Yup this is happening but nobody talks much about it as again the long daisy chains kind of hide some of this.  One thing to remember though is that corporate data chains are not dumb by definition and of course the entities exchange data of some sort and how much we don’t know but they do it as all you have to do is listen to a quarterly report on profits and they mention is then, especially if the subsidiaries are contributing to big dollar bottom line profits. <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2011/08/subsidiary-watch-corporate-conglomerate.html">Subsidiary Watch-Corporate Conglomerate Insurers Reduce Compensation Contracts Using One Subsidiary Then Market Same MDs With Another Subsidiary in Health IT</a> </h4> Here’s a few examples of contracts that have or are difficult to where everyone is duking it out and there’s more, just read the news.  <hr /> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/03/blue-cross-protesting-award-of-texas.html">Blue Cross Protesting Award of Texas Employee Retirement Health Plan to United Healthcare–Price Cut by $25 Million With Little or No Out of Network Coverage for Members</a></h6> <h6></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/02/blue-cross-and-united-healthcare-duking.html">Blue Cross and United Healthcare Duking It Out In Nebraska Over State Health Insurance Contract–We Have More Subsidiaries My Cost Algorithms Are Better Than Yours?</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/08/state-of-louisiana-rejects-united.html">State of Louisiana Rejects United Healthcare’s Protest Over Awarding Blue Cross/Blue Shield Contract To Manage State Employee Health Insurance–Battle of the Insurance Algorithms Continues..</a> <hr /></h6> <h6></h6> <h6></h6> So now let’s look at the other side of the coin, how does this affect doctors and hospitals…this back link kind of sums it up.. <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/01/doctors-going-brokeyou-cant-even-give.html">Doctors Going Broke–You Can’t Even Give a Practice Away–Only Folks Buying Them Are Hospitals and Insurance Companies As It Relates to Reimbursement and/or Profits</a></h4> Here’s an example below on a private exchange and you can<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="123" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-4b6f63OdpwU/UJFh7IGPS2I/AAAAAAAA_gI/JjMSmujZlwM/image%25255B10%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="133" /> see this is a subsidiary of Wellpoint now since they bough the company.  Later down the road will folks remember that Wellpoint owns Bloom, maybe and maybe not, but if profit arise, it will be noted on those quarterly reports and conference calls.  Also don’t forget that with the bidding process, insurers now own a great number of HMOs across the country too, and big ones, so there’s a little note of interest there as well.  <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2011/09/wellpoint-partners-buy-bloom-private.html">WellPoint & Partners Buy Bloom Private Health Insurance Exchange From Their Own Venture Capital Company (Sandbox) –Subsidiary Watch</a> </h4> So to sum all of this up, the exchange are just more contracts that could end up being a “bitch” as we see in the news today. Again this is complex rhetoric I think and leads us one step closer to a single pay system as I don’t know about you, but I’m getting<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="119" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-dqgVHAr0KSY/UJFh7T4-A9I/AAAAAAAA_gQ/331Ul8Js1oI/image%25255B8%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="146" /> real tired of corporate America making more difficult for me as a consumer and the lack of Algorithm knowledge in the government as they are fighting with one hand tied behind their backs.  Consumers all hate math for the most part and dive into the OMG news in the press and the media drives so much of this and it keeps all of us distracted as to what’s really happening behind the scenes and this keeps the disparity alive in the US as you are <a href="http://www.ducknet.net/attack-of-the-killer-algorithms/">Algo Duped.</a>  Did you hear the 60 minute interview with the former Goldman executive?  He said it right out that they looked for the most non sophisticated consumers they could find, why?  Not much changed there over the years, it’s an easy sell.  I was in sales for 20 years and I didn’t sell that way at all but there are tons that do.  So these exchange contracts will be full of complexities leaving most of us again wondering what corporate America is up to with the “Algorithms for Profit” and I see this something too that states and the federal government still needs to look at before it’s too late.  The complexities and design of IT infrastructure for profit will continue to grow and the Killer Algorithms will move and take more consumer money.  It is what it is, more links on that topic below.  <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/02/attack-of-killer-algorithmsdigest-links.html"></a> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/02/attack-of-killer-algorithmsdigest-links.html">Attack of the Killer Algorithms–Digest & Links for All Chapters–on How Math and Crafty Formulas Today Running on Servers 24/7 Make Life Impacting Decisions About You</a></h4> Your exchange contracts with the insurer you pick will run on servers 24/7 and make decisions about your coverage and what is allowed today and what is allowed tomorrow as it changes as they update their business models.  So is there a “real” future here other than just another bunch of algorithms for shopping for insurance..who knows..but that’s what it will be and this whole idea right now could already be dated as corporate business models move like rockets while the government still invests in snails in way too many areas.  BD <hr /> California's health insurance exchange said more than 30 plans are expected to vie with one another for spots in the state-run marketplace opening next fall. State officials, and those in other states, are eager to flex their purchasing power under the federal healthcare law by selecting only certain individual and small-business health plans for 19 different regions across California.  The exchange, branded Tuesday as Covered California, will negotiate with insurers for the best rates and will assist consumers and small businesses in choosing a plan by separating them into five categories based on cost and level of benefits. Insurers who aren't chosen to be among the exchange's plans can still offer policies outside the exchange. But many people seeking coverage are expected to go through the exchange because they can get government financial and educational assistance. California's four largest insurers in the individual market — Kaiser Permanente, Anthem Blue Cross, Blue Shield of California and <a href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/economy-business-finance/health-net-inc.-ORCRP007164.topic">Health Net Inc.</a> — have indicated interest in the exchange. Smaller insurers and large hospital systems may offer health plans in specific areas. Officials are expected to pick the winning health plans and negotiate rates by June. Consumers will start enrolling in the exchange next October for policies taking effect in January 2014. <a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-insurance-exchange-20121031,0,1916732.story">http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-insurance-exchange-20121031,0,1916732.story</a>

Health Insurers in California Prepare to Negotiate Contracts with “Covered California” the Branded Name for the California Insurance Exchange–Complexities of Contracts Today Running on Corporate Servers 24/7 Opens the Door for More Sophisticated Algorithms

The insurance exchange business since it was created under the Affordable Care Act has certainly changed it’s landscape since the law was si...

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Hospitals In New York Encountered Data Disruptions with Electronic Medical Records Systems While NYU Scientists Scrambled to Save and Transfer Research Materials And Information During the Storm

By now we have all probably read about the dramatic evacuation at NY Langone but in addition to the patients themselves there were <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="142" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-xiCL0WZSATc/UJFIISSBJ-I/AAAAAAAA_e0/wZqtNoF43zw/image%25255B4%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="198" />a few other areas that were affected.  Of course getting patients out of the facility was the number one priority but there were a couple reports of some of the other items that are of importance as well.   Long Island Jewish Health System had their back up generators working but the data center that handles the medical records had issues and the Staten Island Hospital had to go back to paper records.  Sunrise Clinical Manager from what was Eclipsys was the system installed and is now part of Allscripts.  The NYU hospital websites as of this morning still appears to be down with a message that gives you an update on where they are in coping with the storm.  In addition during the power failure scientists were working hard to save their research material as NYU Langone is rated top in the nation for their research.  Thousands of mice were drowned  that were used for cancer research  and big refrigerators were being rolled to areas to where there was some power, for a while.  The mice that died contained a lot of genetic research information, etc. so some scientist’s work could be set back a few years.  These were mice that were genetically altered.  I don’t know but depending upon how they were changed, the alternative of the mice populating with what’s already out there in the wild could be yet something else just to maybe give some thought to as well.  If you read in the news today this is yet one more concern from the storm, where are the rats going to go.  BD <hr /> North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, one of the largest in metropolitan New York with 16 hospitals and 300 ambulatory centers, experienced power outages at several of its hospitals. Backup generators were working, but a data center that handles electronic patient records for Staten Island University Hospital lost service and forced staff to use paper records, according to the system.  <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/10/31/northeast-hospitals-carry-on-in-storm-wake/#ixzz2AtFJ4VwQ">http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/10/31/northeast-hospitals-carry-on-in-storm-wake/#ixzz2AtFJ4VwQ</a> Scientists are in a desperate frenzy to save what they can and transfer what can be moved to other areas of the hospital. In one case,<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="127" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-nz8mDfJx6oY/UJFIKLhTLiI/AAAAAAAA_e8/B_xsFrLhZ8c/image%25255B9%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="132" /> scientists were rolling a big freezer -- the size of a big refrigerator -- to an area of the hospital with emergency power, the source told the News. Even more alarming, thousands of mice that are used by scientists for cancer research and other experiments, drowned during a flood. It is unclear how the mice died, but the source told the News that many of these mice are genetically modified for certain research and took years to produce. It will likely set back several scientists' work by years, the source said. "This does not equate to a loss of life, but it is extremely disheartening to see years of research go down the drain," the source said. <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/30/nyu-hospital-storm-damage-research_n_2045844.html">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/30/nyu-hospital-storm-damage-research_n_2045844.html</a>

Hospitals In New York Encountered Data Disruptions with Electronic Medical Records Systems While NYU Scientists Scrambled to Save and Transfer Research Materials And Information During the Storm

By now we have all probably read about the dramatic evacuation at NY Langone but in addition to the patients themselves there were a few...

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Bayer Buys Utah Nutritional Supplement Company for Over 1 Billion–Schiff Nutrition

Recently too Bayer purchased the pet and animal business from <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="123" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-LkrO1ZjXrsw/UJDBvFbE8jI/AAAAAAAA_dg/i-bqiAGKjgI/image%25255B4%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="148" />TEVA and this seems go along with what others pharmaceutical companies are doing as far as diversifying as prescription drugs come off patent.  Most of the Schiff products are sold in retail locations with Costco and Wal-Mart have the lion’s share of the business and I see their products in Grocery stores too.  <hr /> Bayer AG agreed to buy Utah’s Schiff Nutrition International Inc. for $1.1 billion to add a faster- growing vitamins and nutritional supplements business to the German drugmaker’s consumer-health unit. The deal marks the third billion-dollar acquisition of a state-based company this year. Schiff has a 75 year heritage of providing consumers with quality<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="66" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-GoClNHIiyWc/UJDBvZmiaAI/AAAAAAAA_do/HB2sHhZz5AQ/image%25255B8%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="101" /> nutritional products," Tarang Amin, president and CEO of Schiff, said in a prepared statement. "We are focused on building premium brands and leading innovation. We believe Bayer is well positioned to take our leading brands to the next level." Schiff sells its brands primarily through retail outlets, with Costco and Walmart its largest customers. <a href="http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/money/55176444-79/schiff-bayer-billion-million.html.csp">http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/money/55176444-79/schiff-bayer-billion-million.html.csp</a>

Bayer Buys Utah Nutritional Supplement Company for Over 1 Billion–Schiff Nutrition

Recently too Bayer purchased the pet and animal business from TEVA and this seems go along with what others pharmaceutical companies are doi...

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Those Shoes have Teeth! Predator Shoes Just in Time for Halloween

Now you know where all those teeth go that the dentists pull:)  Well maybe not really but when you look at the teeth on these shoes it appears they are not supposed to look the same.  Each pair has over 1000 denture teeth.  I think there some some on Wall Street that these might appeal to:)  Shoes that bite for appeal:)  I always say algorithms have teeth that bite when you are not looking but you would not miss a bite off old toe here.  BD  <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="444" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-9qqfLHQjHrQ/UJCjbfi5gvI/AAAAAAAA_cU/ZExI9LRb74A/image%25255B6%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="425" /> <a href="http://streetanatomy.com/2012/10/30/predator-shoes-to-go-with-your-predator-suit/#comments">http://streetanatomy.com/2012/10/30/predator-shoes-to-go-with-your-predator-suit/#comments</a>

Those Shoes have Teeth! Predator Shoes Just in Time for Halloween

Now you know where all those teeth go that the dentists pull:) Well maybe not really but when you look at the teeth on these shoes it appea...

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Cleveland Clinic is Next Medical Center to Enroll IBM Watson–Too Bad Our Lawmakers Won’t Use This Technology to Enhance Research To Make Better Laws

Cleveland Clinic joins the ranks of a few other hospitals that are giving big data a shake to sort through the information and allow doctors<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="159" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-zzupAQi0aAE/UJCaUm1vIvI/AAAAAAAA_bI/n401BNoonJQ/image%25255B4%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="198" /> to sift down to what they need and where they need it without a huge amount of time and effort.  Memorial Sloan-Kettering made their announcement and their focus with IBM Watson is cancer.  In Los Angeles we have Wellpoint footing the bill for use at Cedar Sinai Medical Center.  The research of this is great to help treat patients and I hope that the clinical focus with IBM Watson stays at the front of the game and it doesn’t get diluted into a “payers” game with doing least cost routing and using algorithms to put patients and doctors where they would rather not be.  <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/03/ibm-watson-going-to-work-at-memorial.html"> IBM Watson Going to Work at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center–Data Loading and Training To Begin</a> </h5> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2011/12/wellpoint-to-bankroll-use-of-ibm-watson.html">Wellpoint to Bankroll Use of IBM Watson at Cedar Sinai Medical Center to Research Cancer Data/Information To Provide Guidance for Physicians</a> </h4> On the other hand let’s not forget where big data can work in the financials markets as Citigroup is also embracing the technology, more complex and complicated algorithms here and hopefully they won’t extend beyond Quant capabilities to make it even more difficult to understand as we see bank CEOs, like Jamie Dimon when asked about their business models saying “I don’t know”.  Right now this is the last thing we need is Watson becoming a computerized Quant and figuring out even more ways to get our money.  <img align="right" height="51" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-Pu029L6xrow/Tm2nUNbsj4I/AAAAAAAA3xE/w-Rf2i-gu40/image%25255B3%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="display: inline; float: right" width="186" />The human quants have done fairly well up to now and use a lot of fictitious formulas to create profits with “desired” results taking over where accuracy should be the front concern. <a href="http://www.ducknet.net/attack-of-the-killer-algorithms/">More here on that topic is you want to dig in deep.</a> <h5> </h5> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/03/ibm-watson-going-to-work-at-citigroup.html">IBM Watson Going to Work At Citigroup on Wall Street–Congress Didn’t See Big Data As A Tool (Hadoop Framework) When They Had Their Chance…For Consumers The Attack of the Killer Algorithms–Chapter 22</a> </h5> Again with a clinical focus and leaving the coding and money out of the picture IBM Watson can be a wonderful tool and too bad as I have said in several posts that our US Congress won’t use such a tool to make better laws and be better informed.  I guess they still see it working on game shows only.  There would be nothing better than to see lawmakers being able to use speech recognition together and getting all the “same” information they need and want, and then go to committees to work out the provisions of a law as right they just kind of stab in the dark and have a real lacking of the time and money it takes for IT infrastructure and don’t realize the “short order code kitchen burned down a few years ago”.  Watson can process 200 million pages of information in 3 seconds.  Maybe that’s moving too fast for those folks in DC:) <iframe style="width: 427px; height: 240px" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/k1BBV_zIkNo" frameborder="0" width="560" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> If you read the news today how many stories, and there are tons of them with coding, billing and reimbursement thus if one leaves the work of Watson to research and clinical areas without that mess, we might have some good intellectual break throughs.  I commented on that a while back as when you have multiple layers of new code running through the machine does what it learns and is taught and you run close of getting to a bottomless pit at times, but again for research and clinical use this is a good deal. With medical students using the system and asking questions, the algorithms of Watson will get smarter. BD <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2011/09/machine-learning-software-working.html">Machine Learning Software Working Behind the Scenes Should Move With Caution in Healthcare-Writing the Unreadable With Rogue Algorithms With No Human Intervention</a></h4> <hr />The announcement was released early this morning by IBM and the Clinic and will be followed up at the Cleveland Clinic Medical Innovation Summit today with a 4 p.m. panel discussion on the role of Watson in the future of healthcare. Nobody expects the giant thinking machine to graduate in a few years, don a white coat, walk into an operating room and perform surgery. The goal is to fill Watson's brain with journal articles, conference papers and more medical research than any human could possible cram into his head, then have it come up with a list of possible diagnoses to help doctors make better, faster, more accurate decisions about how to treat their patients. "This is the next big challenge for Watson and IBM," Mehta said. "They have built a second-generation software and they want us to help refine these algorithms to help Watson build its confidence in its answers." Lerner's 160 students and Watson will pose questions to each other to help the computer become a more analytical thinker, refine its ability to generate hypotheses, rank those hypotheses and come up with answers. "Every question that is asked is going to help Watson," Mehta said. "He's going to say, 'Oh, this is how humans think.' <a href="http://www.cleveland.com/healthfit/index.ssf/2012/10/ibm_supercomputer_watson_is_he.html">http://www.cleveland.com/healthfit/index.ssf/2012/10/ibm_supercomputer_watson_is_he.html</a>

Cleveland Clinic is Next Medical Center to Enroll IBM Watson–Too Bad Our Lawmakers Won’t Use This Technology to Enhance Research To Make Better Laws

Cleveland Clinic joins the ranks of a few other hospitals that are giving big data a shake to sort through the information and allow doctors...

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

“The Doctor Algorithm” –Yet One More Way to Sort and Filter Medical Big Data For Decision Making Processes–MEDgle Software as a Service

Here’s yet one more decision making tool taking advantage of sorting big data.  If we get enough of these folks they may all merge one day and have one heck of a system:)  It is working in India as the video <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="63" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-VtWI56AMHYs/UI-BriZgZKI/AAAAAAAA_Z0/4Kvs24Iy0W0/image%25255B10%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="159" />presentation states.  Yes we have financial slant here with the information offered asking “what is my financial exposure” as seen on the website.  They have apps for patients, Big Patients (I don’t it is meant for the overweight but rather playing on big data) And Clinical GPS.  The more I look at the various software platforms out there I realize how much the US spends being the only country in the world that ties ICD codes to reimbursement.  No wonder other countries move faster on some of this as the US needs jillions of more queries and data sets to make our stuff work and when we go to the new ICD 10 system, we’ll be catching up with writing the additional code and software and if you have not noticed, there’s tons of software out there already for that purpose too.  There’s also the sales pitch here for the ACOs, once we all figure out exactly what one is that again talks about saving money.  One thing with all of this and I see it day in and day out on every software company’s page is that they talk about savings through working algorithms (and if you read here often enough I tell you all the time that algorithms move money, especially on Wall Street with queries for desired results instead of accurate) but we do have to to consider that there’s a ton of disruption with emerging technologies besides analytics and that’s a moving train so as soon as you feel you have something locked down in one area for cost, another one springs up and sometimes it’s lifesaving drugs or devices that we need to hop on right away and then, depending on what you are treating, your whole business model on saving money in particular area returns to a crap shoot.  That’s why I sit by and watch as just due to everything that is happening in healthcare, the solutions are subject to change at any time:)  The analytics are only good until the next innovation hits the road.  The data input column for the API is interesting and included the usual medical information but says Withings sensors are coming soon, you know that wireless scale that is out there.  Quite a bit of information on the structure using comma delimited query strings using mostly a “get info” format for most of the desired information. If these folks that have this product that is software as a service would get together with folks like ClinicalKey and put it all together to allow easy research too at the same time, that would be nice too as if you are going to do analytics and have the algorithms set up for that, connect to the credible sources to where a doctor can read up too.  Maybe what I said two years ago in jest is coming around, data addiction and abuse is going to be the next upcoming 12 step program on the horizon.   I keep telling all who read here to get into a little math and this analytics is all about math and software, but we have to remember we are still in the people business and if not applied in a human fashion, people by the groves are going to go running to join this group…Humanism in Medicine.  BD  <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-institute-for-research-on-humanism.html">The Institute for Research on “Humanism in Medicine” Created by The Gold Foundation–To Better Define the Role of Compassion, Altruism, and Respect To Support the Importance of the Doctor/Patient Relationship </a> </h4> The institute for Humanism is definitely worth a mention here as we need to figure out what algorithms work and especially outside the clinical data area, we need to figure out how not to get Algo Duped either and the field of predictive analytics is full of it with quantative analytics that don’t scale over the years or that are a far stretch of the imagination, but there is some good information in that area too, but I see it highly abused when using non credible data for predictive purposes such as some social networks as people lie, and I do laugh at times as Charlie Siefe has said people see a formulas and gee if it has a square root in it, is has to be good..not always.  BD <iframe height="300" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/44385115" frameborder="0" width="400" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen"></iframe> <hr />There are numerous interactions between the patient and the care infrastructure. Maybe over the phone with a nurse practitioner, or at an emergency-care center, or with a physician. Each place where care is provided should be personalized. We see this trend toward hyper personalization, with Google, Amazon, and the rest. They deliver individualized experiences at scale. The question for us: How do you scale a physician’s expertise? <img alt="image" border="0" height="290" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-FwCMc5aCqyY/UI-Br3CxTHI/AAAAAAAA_Z8/JTMZEDejsBI/image%25255B6%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; border-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="393" /> We’ve mined data from the CDC, the WHO, articles, and textbooks. We’ve presented them to physicians, who have spent 20,000 hours ensuring that the data are quality. And that’s how we developed the ‘doctor algorithm.’ It’s a graph of medicine that looks at how illnesses relate to age, lifestyle, or gender. For example, what is fever plus asthma, plus the patient is 32 years old? How do you combine these data into a meaningful diagnosis? That’s what the doctor algorithm is. It’s that synthesis that makes sense of the world’s health data.” <a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/3001691/medgles-doctor-algorithm-creates-personalization-through-data?utm_source=twitter">http://www.fastcompany.com/3001691/medgles-doctor-algorithm-creates-personalization-through-data?utm_source=twitter</a>

“The Doctor Algorithm” –Yet One More Way to Sort and Filter Medical Big Data For Decision Making Processes–MEDgle Software as a Service

Here’s yet one more decision making tool taking advantage of sorting big data. If we get enough of these folks they may all merge one day a...

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

NYU Hospital Back Up Generator Fails In Manhattan, Patients Being Evacuated

NYU Hospital Back Up Generator Fails In Manhattan, Patients Being Evacuated

Patiens are being moved to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Mount Sinai. You can see the ambulances but it looks eerie with no ...

Monday, October 29, 2012

Watson Received Approval for Generic Actos Drug After Judge Orders FDA to Approve It

It was just in August that Mylan pharmaceuticals <a href="http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm315951.htm">received approval</a> for their generic and a court case came afterwards, filed by Watson.  Side<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="117" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-lJWoidbKmhs/UIyl3x8WhrI/AAAAAAAA_Ys/NWLU8tEsWG4/image%25255B7%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="150" /> effects include cold-like symptoms, headache, sinus infection, muscle pain, and sore throat and is a treatment for those with Diabetes 2.  Now there’s a second generic of the drug available.  It is usually not the first drug of choice though due to side effects and is prescribed as other drugs either don’t work for the patient or another need arises to change drugs.  Mylan may have wanted the market for themselves here but the judge ruled in favor of Watson.  ANDA is the product name for the Watson generic of ACTOS.  The drug and even the generic versions are not necessarily cheap and a prescription for ACTOS can run over $300.00 but now with one more option for the generic, possibly we could see the price drop.  Below is what consumer news has to say.  BD <object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,47,0" height="207" id="flashObj" width="400"><param name="movie" value="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&isUI=1" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="flashVars" value="videoId=77044365001&playerID=21495733001&playerKey=AQ~~,AAAAAEBLslo~,TRCIcidXIoz02P6SYQmtXfTw7cDMrhEI&domain=embed&dynamicStreaming=true" /><param name="base" value="http://admin.brightcove.com" /><param name="seamlesstabbing" value="false" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="swLiveConnect" value="true" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&isUI=1" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashVars="videoId=77044365001&playerID=21495733001&playerKey=AQ~~,AAAAAEBLslo~,TRCIcidXIoz02P6SYQmtXfTw7cDMrhEI&domain=embed&dynamicStreaming=true" base="http://admin.brightcove.com" name="flashObj" width="400" height="207" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" swLiveConnect="true" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed></object> PARSIPPANY, N.J., Oct. 26, 2012 -- /PRNewswire/ -- <a href="http://topics.sacbee.com/Watson+Pharmaceuticals/">Watson Pharmaceuticals,</a> Inc. (NYSE: WPI) today announced that Watson has launched a generic version of Actos® (Pioglitazone Hydrochloride 15mg, 30mg and 45mg tablets) after receiving final approval today from the <a href="http://topics.sacbee.com/U.S.+Food+and+Drug+Administration/">U.S. Food and Drug Administration</a> (FDA).  Watson began shipping the product immediately. On August 15, 2012, Watson announced that it had filed suit against the FDA challenging the Agency's decision regarding Watson's entitlement to shared exclusivity for its generic version of Actos®.  Mylan Pharmaceuticals, Inc. subsequently intervened as a defendant in the action.  On October 22, 2012, the U.S. District Court for the <a href="http://topics.sacbee.com/District+of+Columbia/">District of Columbia</a> granted summary judgment in favor of Watson and ordered the FDA to approve Watson's ANDA.  Mylan appealed the judgment to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The Court of Appeals has denied Mylan's motion for a stay of the judgment pending the appeal. <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/2012/10/26/4941380/watson-receives-fda-approval-for.html">http://www.sacbee.com/2012/10/26/4941380/watson-receives-fda-approval-for.html</a>

Watson Received Approval for Generic Actos Drug After Judge Orders FDA to Approve It

It was just in August that Mylan pharmaceuticals received approval for their generic and a court case came afterwards, filed by Watson. Si...

Saturday, October 27, 2012

New York Digital Health Accelerator–Health IT Hub For Emerging Technologies–Remember All Start Ups Don’t Make It And It’s A Potentially Good Place for Health Insurers to Shop for Inexpensive Application Code

This is a good thing but it is important to remember that all start up companies don’t make it.  When you look at the list of investors, you can see that Aetna and United Healthcare are in there as they <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="100" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-u5x439juLQY/UIyN3dCf42I/AAAAAAAA_Xk/UEA1MDQzpLA/image%25255B3%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="127" />are not going to miss a potential deal when the price is so reasonable versus having code written in house:)  So what did I mean by that?  As in the title, all start ups don’t make it thus so those working on areas that relate to payers if they don’t make it on their own could be bought up cheap by the insurers that may want some of the code capabilities they write…it’s cheap for them and thus so they are in here as an investor and maybe even as mentors.  If purchased by a company of size, then the creations become part of a larger Health IT system.  When you look through the list of the first 8 companies, some look like they are analytics that would attract insurance companies for sure.  When you hear “high quality care” mentioned…hint…these means analytics if you have not woken to that fact yet.  Again some are duplicated efforts that I have either read or posted about here.  The first company mentioned is about preventing re-admissions and the use of mobile tablets which is nothing new as you have the Heritage Foundation with their $3 million dollar carrot looking for the Perfect Algorithm to solve that as well, so again a little Algo Duping on the sales end as to what the “real” final expectations can be.  Even former HHS Director Leavitt got Algo Duped with his big public statements about the Heritage foundation, <img align="right" height="53" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-tIhMfiOOAic/TlgzXUttP1I/AAAAAAAA3p8/uuPnFdijJng/image_thumb.png?imgmax=800" style="display: inline; float: right" width="185" />so again keep it in context and know that some won’t make it, some may get bought, some will just go down the tubes, and I’m sure there’s a few other things that can happen too.  Here’s a screenshot to the right from the Heritage page, looks just like a gaming site with scores, etc.  <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2011/08/so-whats-going-on-over-at-heritage.html">So What’s Going on Over at the Heritage Health Prize Competition to Predict Who Ends Up Being Re-Admitted to the Hospital–A Lot of Mathematical Algorithms For One…</a> </h4> If two or three of these companies get together and end up as one company with software that does more than one thing, I would think there would be greater chances for survival too, again all code is not needed, required, or has value.  WebMD We still need humans so as a consumer and/or patient, yes get involved your care and take action and don’t sit on the sidelines, but on the other hand don’t get too duped in believing that there’s a miracle algorithm that' will do tit for you.  WebMD is mentioned as a mentor and perhaps he can shed some light on now not to become an hostile take over candidate from Icahn their largest share holder,  if the companies get that big eventually:)  WebMD has staying power as they have been around for a long time, just like people like Warren Buffett and Bill Gates have, again they have all been around for a while.  Again I didn’t see any new earth shattering here with new technologies but got to keep the coding moving along.  Also remember I was not that over whelmed with Quicken Health and Cake either as consumers are not really ready for it.  On that note, and this is personal opinion, I’m tired of a lot of the software out there as well, don’t have time for it.  The electric company called me up and I sucked in to their free power management software program a few months ago, have not had time to even log in once nor much interest but sadly what I do get is all their crappy “partner” advertising now, and with consumer health apps, you get that with some of them too..so enough already:)  If I don’t have time and I have an interest t check out consumer apps, how much time will another consumer devote?  The chances of something really valuable coming out of these places are small but not impossible and like I said the insurers have the most to gain and on the “cheap”.  One more note too, on the apps that are meant for consumers, do us a favor and eat your own dog food and “the programmers should use their own app” to show a little commitment as well. Remember to this is the human business and if<img align="right" height="57" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-AqLcVKq4ZYI/UBIrLGXmBCI/AAAAAAAA8dg/l3uBfVaM6gM/image%25255B12%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="display: inline; float: right" width="186" /> not done right instead of patients and doctors embracing technologies,, they will start running over in the groves  to join this group, the Institute for Research on Humanism in Medicine”   <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-institute-for-research-on-humanism.html">The Institute for Research on “Humanism in Medicine” Created by The Gold Foundation–To Better Define the Role of Compassion, Altruism, and Respect To Support the Importance of the Doctor/Patient Relationship </a></h5> Don’t get stuck and Algo Duped thinking that the Holy Grail will be in some of these formulas and algorithms written, as it will be a mixed bag of who knows what to roll out. Those folks in Italy who convicted the scientists for not predicting the earthquake thinking the scientists could do that as they felt they had the advanced technology to do so…completely Algo Duped! BD <h5> <hr /> </h5> NEW YORK, Oct. 15, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Today the New York eHealth Collaborative (NYeC) and the Partnership for New York City Fund (Partnership Fund) revealed the inaugural class of the <a href="http://digitalhealthaccelerator.com/">New York Digital Health Accelerator</a> (NYDHA), a program that will make New York a hub for the emerging digital health technology industry. The partnership is the largest-funded health IT accelerator program in the United States, and the first to provide access to senior-level healthcare providers who are committed to the success of the eight growth-stage companies selected. The program has selected 8 early- and growth-stage companies that are developing cutting-edge technology products in care coordination, patient engagement, analytics and message alerts for healthcare providers. The program received 250 applications from companies located in 27 states and 10 countries. Each chosen company is awarded up to $300,000 along with invaluable mentoring from senior-level executives at leading hospitals and other providers in New York for nine months. Each company has committed to opening an office in New York State. The investment capital was provided by a syndicate of investors, including Aetna, Janssen Healthcare Innovation, Milestone Venture Partners, New Leaf Venture Partners, Partnership for New York City Fund, Quaker Partners, Safeguard Scientifics, and UnitedHealth Group. The Empire State Development Corporation, Health Research Inc., and NYeC have provided additional funds to operate the NYDHA. <a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/news/york-digital-health-accelerator-reveals-140000819.html">http://finance.yahoo.com/news/york-digital-health-accelerator-reveals-140000819.html</a>

New York Digital Health Accelerator–Health IT Hub For Emerging Technologies–Remember All Start Ups Don’t Make It And It’s A Potentially Good Place for Health Insurers to Shop for Inexpensive Application Code

This is a good thing but it is important to remember that all start up companies don’t make it. When you look at the list of investors, you...

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Healthgrades Updates Their Hospital Scoring Algorithm–Hopefully the “Dead Doctors” and Errors Having Doctors on Staff At Hospitals They Have Set Foot In Gets Corrected Among Other Things..

Here we go again and I’m sure I don’t win any scoring points with the website since I have found discrepancies on their site as <img align="right" height="80" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/TFZl6I03WII/AAAAAAAAgJ8/t9v94DqoaG0/image%5B13%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="display: inline; float: right" width="252" />blogged on this site over the last couple of years.  It all started with me with finding my former doctor, who had been dead for 8 years still listed on their site and I’m sure some of the other issues have been fixed when they appear here as well:)  I’m not a big fan up front about some of the statistics we see out there today and more on that later in the post.  Even the <a href="http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2010/10/18/bica1018.htm">AMA and myself had a little interview</a> about that one, as I do try to keep folks aware of sources of flawed data we encounter on the web and it’s growing.  We knew marketing was going to improve at Healthgrades when they were merged with a marketing firm as why else would they merge?  The CEO of Healthgrades also joined the board of CPM marketing…and I guess since August they have hired their social media expert they were advertising for.  Here’s some back links for a little history. <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2011/11/healthgrades-to-merge-with-cpm.html">HealthGrades to Merge with CPM Marketing–Will Their Data and Questionable Algorithms Will Be Improved For Consumers?</a></h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2011/05/healthgrades-hospital-list-algorithm.html">HealthGrades 'Best Hospital' List Algorithm Needs Work Again - Flawed Data</a></h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/09/healthgrades-and-other-md-rating-and.html">HealthGrades And Other MD Rating and Referral Sites List “Dead Doctors” on Their MD Information Pages And Even Include the Insurance Plans the “Dead Doctors” Honor</a> </h4> I also said not too long ago that all these “doctor and hospital rating sites’ should entertain giving it up as the amount of flawed data increases out there as credible data is being combined with non-credible data and some of the results we are seeing are “incredibly flawed data” as when you bring in social network information and poll, etc. people can lie their fanny off.  Polls are usually done in an effort to somewhat sell you something anyway.  They bug me anyway on the web and not very often will I opt to participate as it all depends on who’s doing it, what the poll is and if I see any value and for about 95% what I see out there, there no value and a some are created just to scrape your data and sell it, so why bother.  Last time the report came out it nixed all the hospitals in the Boston area and we heard about that and rightly so.  It’s all about context and <img align="right" height="159" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/TJcGnalIlcI/AAAAAAAAhe8/0Paat1zfY1E/image%5B7%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="display: inline; float: right" width="106" />again what they are trying to sell you and thus I still maintain these rankings are useless as formulas, algorithms and math are in the hands of the creator.  I said earlier more on this and I’ll include one of my absolute favorite videos from Professor Siefe of NYU, who also wrote the book, “Proofiness, the Dark Arts of Mathematical Deception” and the points he made and a bit of what I say here is going to be growing importance in the near future as dirty code, code for profit, complex business plans that event he companies an banks that use them don’t understand, etc. are going to become more main stage.  It’s been going on for years and it’s time to again “look at the context” and see what message is really being relayed.  If you watch Charlie’s video, he’ll tell you and he’s a smarter than me and it’s eye opener to make you think and wonder if you have been “Algo Duped”.  <iframe style="width: 417px; height: 241px" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/qiQwZ6inbOM" frameborder="0" width="560" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> The public is not comfortable with math and thus you get duped.  People have a tendency to hold  <a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CCUQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FQuantitative&ei=1EyMUNbKLYnUiwLJk4HgCQ&usg=AFQjCNEUOL-I76qz3MAaGu4ZAHak0khySQ&sig2=pp5lkSO8gAHMkBHyPzt1mw">quantitative</a> mathematical formulas in high esteem he states even if it is all bogus.  Serious well trained researchers fall in here too.  We have a have a habit of finding quantitative as valuable, he says just look at the newspapers.  So again in reference to this grading<img align="right" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-DDt9KyAUh5A/T40e7CRy25I/AAAAAAAA6gY/XQhvz81-Qak/image%25255B27%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="display: inline; float: right" /> system I’m with him and the same thoughts.  See the example he gives on the algorithm written to tell you how perfect your “butt” is…and boy does it get play <grin>.  How can there be a standard for the perfect butt…making sense yet?  Formulas become national news.  If it has a square root in the formula, oh it must be right…not <grin>.  <img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-kBA-dLfLLGU/UIepz3XA3GI/AAAAAAAA_Kk/8WllR3a7ChM/image%25255B7%25255D.png?imgmax=800" /> The media does not understand the formulas themselves and nor do they try to for the most part.  So am I holding my breath and anxiously awaiting this new ranking…no… like I said just give this stuff up.  A listing of doctors and hospitals with patient comments, etc. is fine but again the rakings with the amount of flawed data out there are like like a lot of other things on the web are quickly becoming less valuable in nature and fewer people actually even have time for them…that’s reality as it is today.   I have a series called the <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/02/attack-of-killer-algorithmsdigest-links.html">Attack of the Killer Algorithms</a> that addresses analytics and their scoring so you can look beyond just this issue and see everyday examples.  Predictive analytics too is an area that is just ripe for abuse as well as most of the data is evaluating trending information but again you have a lot of combinations of both credible and non credible data presented in a lot of this and it’s hard to distinguish the difference with methodologies of presentation today.  BD <hr />Quality of care at 4,500 U.S. hospitals is being sliced, diced, scrutinized, and ranked yet again with a new and significantly expanded<img align="right" height="99" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-1F4WD-Cd5Kk/TrGQvURSFEI/AAAAAAAA4LI/mMjn8TPBjRM/image%25255B2%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="display: inline; float: right" width="187" /> quality ranking system from <a href="http://www.healthgrades.com/find-a-hospital">Healthgrades</a>. This time the Denver-based company, which has provided quality information about healthcare providers for 14 years, offers state-by-state analysis online for up to 28 types of care, 13 safety measures, and five-year trends for four conditions. After applying its algorithms to the data, Healthgrades gives hospitals one, three, or five gold stars on up to 28 types of care—from appendectomy to pulmonary embolism to valve repair—to indicate whether patient outcomes of were worse than expected, as expected, or better than expected. <a href="http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/page-2/QUA-285761/Healthgrades-Revs-its-Hospital-Scoring-System">http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/page-2/QUA-285761/Healthgrades-Revs-its-Hospital-Scoring-System</a>

Healthgrades Updates Their Hospital Scoring Algorithm–Hopefully the “Dead Doctors” and Errors Having Doctors on Staff At Hospitals They Have Set Foot In Gets Corrected Among Other Things..

Here we go again and I’m sure I don’t win any scoring points with the website since I have found discrepancies on their site as blogged on t...

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Additional Information About NECC and Ameridose Continues as FDA Inspection Report is Released

It appears that cleanliness of the clean rooms is what lead to the fungus contamination as well as some of the related articles used<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="147" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-us8qtlhVQNU/UItUiCYU2dI/AAAAAAAA_Wc/nDjNTbXnxds/image%25255B3%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="206" /> in the clean rooms to sterilize.  I read somewhere that they turned off the air conditioning from 8 pm to 5 am and that sounded strange.  In my prior life in sales I have seen and been in a few clean rooms and the rules are pretty stringent for cleanliness and everyone wears a mask and hair net or cap while inside the room, even if not working in the room.  If the air conditioning was in fact turned off for several hours that could explain how some of the mold and fungus may have has a little acceleration to grow as everyone that I had ever been inside was pretty cold.   So far the death toll is 25.  NECC was supplying hospital compounded drugs that were either less expensive or sometimes hard to get.  There was also leaking water from a boiler and if that sat long enough something could have been going on there as well. When you read this full article it sounds like business was booming as a few years ago Ameridose was formed by the owners of NECC and licensed by the FDA to provide drugs and compounds beyond the areas of operation that NECC could supply.  Now the FDA is asking hospitals to follow up with patients that received any injectable drug from NECC.  The company has a past of violations and complaints with violating standards for a couple compounds.  BD <hr /> <iframe height="204" src="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/video/videoEmbed.html?uuid=5b6e4d2b-c550-4c66-884a-c53cf8af2b80" frameborder="0" width="362" scrolling="no"></iframe> Interviews with former NECC employees and its customers, and a review of internal documents and newly-released state records, paint a picture of a company whose rapid growth was marred almost since its inception by breaches of regulations governing compounding practices. They also show how regulators failed to punish the company despite repeated violations of the rules. As far back as 1999, barely a year after NECC was formed, the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Pharmacy responded to a complaint from a pharmacist alleging that Barry J. Cadden, chief pharmacist and co-owner of NECC, had improperly provided a healthcare provider with prescription blanks. The Board voted to issue an informal, non-disciplinary reprimand. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which had warned NECC of violations in 2006, declined to comment on the specifics of the case due to an ongoing investigation. However, it has said a lack of clear federal authority over compounding pharmacies has inhibited its ability to take aggressive action. NECC thrived on the demand. By the time the company surrendered its license on October 3, NECC was supplying hundreds of hospitals across the country, according to a list of customers released by the FDA. The FDA said on Friday it had found "greenish black foreign matter" in 83 of the 321 vials of steroid linked to the meningitis outbreak. It also said an early October inspection had found bacteria and mold within two "clean rooms" used for production of sterile drug products at NECC. <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/26/us-usa-health-meningitis-necc-idUSBRE89P12N20121026">http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/26/us-usa-health-meningitis-necc-idUSBRE89P12N20121026</a>

Additional Information About NECC and Ameridose Continues as FDA Inspection Report is Released

It appears that cleanliness of the clean rooms is what lead to the fungus contamination as well as some of the related articles used in the...

Friday, October 26, 2012

Doctors in Germany Remove 62 Pound Tumor From Woman Who Had Been Diagnosed as Obese

This says a lot for getting a second opinion, but she lost 62 pounds in one swipe.  The woman also lost a few other body parts such as her ovary and uterus as that’s where it was attached.  The article said the tumor filled up a wheelbarrow and she was was very happy to have it gone  It sure is ugly.  BD  <hr />  AFP - Doctors in Germany said Friday they had removed a tumour weighing 28 kilogrammes (62 pounds) from a 60-year-old woman who had previously been diagnosed as obese. A spokesman from the university clinic in the eastern city of Dresden said the woman, Irmtraud Eichler, had made a full recovery after the seven-hour operation and was now able to walk again with crutches. <img alt="image" border="0" height="222" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-obEJEJN7sMo/UIs-bnBW91I/AAAAAAAA_VU/xWhDcYQQi4Q/image%25255B8%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; border-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="272" /> Her doctor put the weight gain down to a combination of diabetes and a lack of activity and prescribed a course of anti-obesity medicine. However, when she could barely stand due to the swelling, her daughter insisted on a second opinion and an ultrasound scan revealed the growing tumour, which was found to be neither benign but not especially malignant either. <a href="http://www.france24.com/en/20121026-german-doctors-remove-28-kg-tumour-woman">http://www.france24.com/en/20121026-german-doctors-remove-28-kg-tumour-woman</a>

Doctors in Germany Remove 62 Pound Tumor From Woman Who Had Been Diagnosed as Obese

This says a lot for getting a second opinion, but she lost 62 pounds in one swipe. The woman also lost a few other body parts such as her o...

Friday, October 26, 2012

Johnson and Johnson Still Not Out of the Recall Business–Surgical Staplers from Ethicon Division And Has Also Stopped Selling One of the Products

This is a class one recall now as of last week.  Notices were sent out to stop using the product immediately and to contact Ethicon.<a href="http://www.ethicon.com/home"><img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="75" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-Rcxknzy3pdY/UIrvySyz64I/AAAAAAAA_UM/2TsLlEDGdqs/image%25255B4%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="176" /></a>  One product, the Proximate HCS hemorrhoidal circular stapler has been discontinued.  The products were distributed during 2011 and 2012.  The problem was with “firing’ which may result in a non complete staple.  These products are used for colorectal surgeries and not where one wants to have a failure as the problem could also cause the damage to the rectal wall with splitting and bleeding or clogging the canal, ouch.  BD <hr /> Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) has recalled more than 157,000 surgical stapler devices and accessories used in hemorrhoids treatment procedures due to potential malfunctions that pose a serious safety risk. J&J's Ethicon Endo-Surgery division also has stopped selling one of the products in the U.S. "as part of a business decision," the company said in a statement. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said use of the recalled devices could cause serious adverse health consequences, including death. The agency assigned its most serious classification, Class 1, to the recall last week. According to the FDA, the J&J products were recalled "due to difficulty firing the device which may result in incomplete firing stroke that may result in an incomplete staple formation. "Failure to complete the firing stroke of the stapler can result in severe pain, sphincter dysfunction, rectal wall damage, sepsis, bleeding, and occlusion of the rectal canal," according to the FDA website. It can also cause splitting of rectal wall staple line and bleeding. <a href="http://www.4-traders.com/JOHNSON-JOHNSON-4832/news/Johnson-Johnson-J-J-Recalls-Surgical-Stapler-Devices-15426551/">http://www.4-traders.com/JOHNSON-JOHNSON-4832/news/Johnson-Johnson-J-J-Recalls-Surgical-Stapler-Devices-15426551/</a>

Johnson and Johnson Still Not Out of the Recall Business–Surgical Staplers from Ethicon Division And Has Also Stopped Selling One of the Products

This is a class one recall now as of last week. Notices were sent out to stop using the product immediately and to contact Ethicon. One p...

Friday, October 26, 2012

Alere Device Maker Received Warning Letter From the FDA Stating The Response To the Agency Was Not Adequate Regarding the Triage Products Recalled

The company will need to revalidate the entire assembly process of the Triage product.  The recall was made back in July of this <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="73" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-4MSz6mJZfrw/UIo2kSl5bnI/AAAAAAAA_S0/TvV7vKX9Ilw/image%25255B11%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="98" />year.  The Triage product helps diagnose health conditions such as heart attacks and heart failure, pretty important.   The FDA feels there are too many potential incidents of False Positive or False Negative results.  There were reports of patients receiving inappropriate management based on the readings the machines were giving and it could jeopardize patient safety and even lead to death.  Additional recall information can be <a href="http://www.alere.com/us/en/brands/triage.html">found here.</a>  BD <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/07/fda-class-one-recall-for-triage.html"> FDA Class One Recall for Triage Diagnostics Tests (Multiple)–Potential For Increased Frequency of False Positive or False Negative Results</a> <hr /></h5> (Reuters) - The Food and Drug Administration issued a<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="104" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-yOdjbGSabeQ/UIo2k7P6BnI/AAAAAAAA_S8/ii1L9Q6nips/image%25255B3%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="76" /> warning letter to Alere Inc saying the diagnostic device maker's response to the health regulator's earlier observations on manufacturing processes for the company's Triage products was not adequate. The FDA said in its letter on Monday that Alere will need to complete a revalidation of the entire assembly process of adding, dispensing and packaging the Triage products at its San Diego, California facility. The company recalled 104 lots of its Triage cardiology<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="102" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-40A_DsVbTdA/UIo2lf-1ymI/AAAAAAAA_TE/ydLA605UV1U/image%25255B7%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="84" /> products from the facility in May after the FDA said it did not satisfy a particular quality control method as prescribed by the regulator. "While the FDA warning letter is not material news by itself, Alere's level of transparency and execution has been frustrating," Goldman Sachs analyst Isaac Ro said in a note to clients. <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/24/us-alere-fda-idUSBRE89N14U20121024">http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/24/us-alere-fda-idUSBRE89N14U20121024</a>

Alere Device Maker Received Warning Letter From the FDA Stating The Response To the Agency Was Not Adequate Regarding the Triage Products Recalled

The company will need to revalidate the entire assembly process of the Triage product. The recall was made back in July of this year. The ...

Friday, October 26, 2012

“50 Shades of Rape” –Tina Fey Calls Out the Gray Faced Men…What Happens When Digital Illiteracy And Extreme Algo Duping Takes Over, Their “Default” Topic

This is good and really funny and makes a point.  Best I can figure is that they don’t know what else to address or talk about that is relative to making laws and protecting and helping US consumers.  Todd Akin sits on the House Science Committee….what a choice and he just can’t find the science study that supports his statements:)  Boy is he duped on this one.  <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/08/here-we-go-againdigital-illiteracy-with.html">Here We Go Again–Digital Illiteracy With Lawmakers & Those Running for Office–Back to the “Default” Topic of Women’s Health With A Need to Control Something When the Intellect Is Not There…Akin</a> <iframe height="288" src="http://live.wsj.com/public/page/embed-82DFDFFF_02C9_43C4_8986_F8996DDD545F.html" frameborder="0" width="412" scrolling="no"></iframe> </h4> Sad thing is they don’t even recognize a tool that can help them make better laws when it’s staring them in the face, so Watson went to Citibank where <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.hk/2012/09/quants-alchemists-of-wall-street-video.html">they can get more of our money by algo duping lawmakers</a> and running those formulas for profit!  <h4> </h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2011/04/ibm-watson-capabilities-being-pitched.html">IBM Watson Capabilities Being Pitched to Financial Industry-Congress Must Not Have Felt They Needed This So Further Behind We Fall With Effective Intelligent Lawmaking</a> </h4> Ok to make up for this, here’s a video that talks about real science and how it is spun from an expert and he gets into the P factor and Charlie Siefe tells you all about “algo duping” and  he reads at the Quack now and then.  <iframe style="width: 435px; height: 255px" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/qiQwZ6inbOM" frameborder="0" width="560" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>

“50 Shades of Rape” –Tina Fey Calls Out the Gray Faced Men…What Happens When Digital Illiteracy And Extreme Algo Duping Takes Over, Their “Default” Topic

This is good and really funny and makes a point. Best I can figure is that they don’t know what else to address or talk about that is relat...

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Prostate Cancer Treatment and Monitoring Working In a New Direction with Web Based Proactive Surveillance Combining Efforts of Johns Hopkins and Cedars Sinai

I have always been a fan of registries as they offer so much information that is maybe contained in the data base but is buried and not available in a format that offers intelligence.  Patient information is de-identified and there are certain provision for patient to meet to participate<a href="https://www.npsn.net/about-the-network"><img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="109" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-Ib6H6UoltuQ/UIoIuy5T4zI/AAAAAAAA_Rs/069vZkyH6D8/image%25255B5%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="146" /></a> in the National Proactive Surveillance Network.  The network was actually launched in 2010 with the combined efforts of both hospitals.  A portal is used called “myConnect” and researchers can analyze and work with the data sets and allows for the doctors and patients to review and track their own data.  As a matter of fact there was an article <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/25/us-prostate-cancer-idUSBRE89O1G620121025">in the news today from Reuters</a> stating how web information on prostate cancer is hard to understand and that the NIH recommends that sites get closer to a 4th or 6th grade reading level.  Back to the patient side, they need to commit to digital rectum exams, urine tests and PSA tests and you can read more of the specifics below.  This offers an alternative choice to radical prostate cancer therapy if such is not immediately needed.  Prostate cancer can grow very slow or it can be the opposite and genomic research with studying mutations is also helping add some light with determining which case the patient may have.  Both hospitals are studying tissue samples as well as blood and urine, one on each coast.  Whether the cancer is fast or slow growing biopsy tissue will be tested.   A good example of how a registry can pay off in another health area is at Kaiser Permanente to where they were able to analyze and provide the best fit hip and knee replacements for patients, so if it is having success in the area of orthopedics, it should also give a lot of information not only to researchers but also help the doctors and patients make better founded decisions based on the additional information that has become available.  BD <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2011/01/kaiser-permanente-registry-information.html">Kaiser Permanente Registry Information Pays Off With Hip and Knee Replacements For Patient Having Double Hip Surgery (Video)</a></h4> <hr />Newswise — Johns Hopkins Medicine, along with the Prostate Cancer Foundation and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, have launched the National Proactive Surveillance Network, an online resource for men diagnosed with low-grade prostate cancer that can be slow-growing and non-life-threatening in up to 50 percent of diagnosed cases. The network is structured to actively manage prostate cancer in patients who qualify for proactive surveillance, which entails careful monitoring rather than invasive treatment. It will also provide a national resource for prostate cancer experts to advance their knowledge with the goal of providing better care. Funded by a $5 million program grant from the Prostate Cancer Foundation, the program will use protocols developed by urologists at Johns Hopkins Medicine, which has the nation’s largest patient population under active surveillance for prostate cancer with more than 1,000 men enrolled since 1995. The network includes myConnect, an interactive patient portal designed to track the progress of a patient’s treatment with interactive charts and graphs, connect patients with network physicians, schedule appointments and personalize news content to receive proactive surveillance alerts. The service is HIPAA-compliant for patient privacy and security. Patients who join the National Proactive Surveillance Network will undergo biannual digital rectum exams, urine tests and PSA tests, as well as a yearly prostate biopsy. Patients will also answer lifestyle and nutrition questionnaires and record their medical history. In addition to providing an efficient model for proactive surveillance, the network will collect and sort data in a scientific-blinded fashion — with absolutely no patient name association — so researchers can analyze trends and the success of the program. Patient samples, including blood and urine, will also be analyzed and banked with patient consent by Johns Hopkins Medicine on the East Coast and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in the West. The repository of blood and urine will support future biomarker and genetic studies. <a href="http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/595392/?sc=rsla&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NewswiseLatestNews+%28Newswise%3A+Latest+News%29">http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/595392/?sc=rsla&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NewswiseLatestNews+%28Newswise%3A+Latest+News%29</a>

Prostate Cancer Treatment and Monitoring Working In a New Direction with Web Based Proactive Surveillance Combining Efforts of Johns Hopkins and Cedars Sinai

I have always been a fan of registries as they offer so much information that is maybe contained in the data base but is buried and not avai...

Thursday, October 25, 2012

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Bellevue Hospital Evacuation Still Underway as Reserve Power Stopped Working And No Plumbing

“Algo Duping” – PLOS One Journal Publication Explains Why The Fear of Math Plays a Big Role As One Underlying Reason We All Get Duped And Those Who Don’t Fear Math Take All the Money, Gradually, Using “Mathematical Formulas & Algorithms”

Ameridose Sister Company of NECC Company Linked to Meningitis Outbreak – FDA Recall for “All” Their Drugs Which May Worsen Existing Shortage of Sterile Injectable Drugs

Health Insurers in California Prepare to Negotiate Contracts with “Covered California” the Branded Name for the California Insurance Exchange–Complexities of Contracts Today Running on Corporate Servers 24/7 Opens the Door for More Sophisticated Algorithms

Hospitals In New York Encountered Data Disruptions with Electronic Medical Records Systems While NYU Scientists Scrambled to Save and Transfer Research Materials And Information During the Storm

Bayer Buys Utah Nutritional Supplement Company for Over 1 Billion–Schiff Nutrition

Those Shoes have Teeth! Predator Shoes Just in Time for Halloween

Cleveland Clinic is Next Medical Center to Enroll IBM Watson–Too Bad Our Lawmakers Won’t Use This Technology to Enhance Research To Make Better Laws

“The Doctor Algorithm” –Yet One More Way to Sort and Filter Medical Big Data For Decision Making Processes–MEDgle Software as a Service

NYU Hospital Back Up Generator Fails In Manhattan, Patients Being Evacuated

Watson Received Approval for Generic Actos Drug After Judge Orders FDA to Approve It

New York Digital Health Accelerator–Health IT Hub For Emerging Technologies–Remember All Start Ups Don’t Make It And It’s A Potentially Good Place for Health Insurers to Shop for Inexpensive Application Code

Healthgrades Updates Their Hospital Scoring Algorithm–Hopefully the “Dead Doctors” and Errors Having Doctors on Staff At Hospitals They Have Set Foot In Gets Corrected Among Other Things..

Additional Information About NECC and Ameridose Continues as FDA Inspection Report is Released

Doctors in Germany Remove 62 Pound Tumor From Woman Who Had Been Diagnosed as Obese

Johnson and Johnson Still Not Out of the Recall Business–Surgical Staplers from Ethicon Division And Has Also Stopped Selling One of the Products

Alere Device Maker Received Warning Letter From the FDA Stating The Response To the Agency Was Not Adequate Regarding the Triage Products Recalled

“50 Shades of Rape” –Tina Fey Calls Out the Gray Faced Men…What Happens When Digital Illiteracy And Extreme Algo Duping Takes Over, Their “Default” Topic

Prostate Cancer Treatment and Monitoring Working In a New Direction with Web Based Proactive Surveillance Combining Efforts of Johns Hopkins and Cedars Sinai

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