Ranbaxy Recall of Generic Lipitor: Dose Mix Up 20 Milligram Bottles Found To Contain 10 Milligram Does

<p>The FDA upon their latest recent visit has pretty much stopped all exports of the drug or the active ingredient exports to the US and now a US pharmacist found this most recent problem with<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="143" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-89_OMyg18YE/UxzFIuqRmwI/AAAAAAABJjY/JRKdpbfiUoE/image%25255B3%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" title="image" width="232" /> the mix up with 10 milligram products in the 20 milligram bottles.  Once the patent came off Lipitor both Teva and Ranbaxy raced to get the generic product on the market.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/01/fda-halts-drug-exports-from-fourth.html">FDA Halts Drug Exports From A Fourth Ranbaxy Laboratory In India</a></h5> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/11/ranbaxy-recalling-generic-version-of.html">Ranbaxy Recalling Generic Version of Lipitor–Small Particles of Glass Contamination Cites</a></h5> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2011/11/teva-and-ranbaxy-agreement-announced.html">Teva and Ranbaxy Agreement Announced for the Sale of Generic Lipitor</a></h5> <p>It’s a good thing we have “some” checks and balances here with a pharmacist verifying content here in the sealed bottle which of course tells us it came from the manufacturing end of the business.  BD</p> <p><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/RBXY:IN"> <hr />Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. (RBXY)</a>, <a href="http://topics.bloomberg.com/india/">India</a>’s largest drugmaker, has recalled two batches of the company’s generic version of <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/PFE:US">Pfizer Inc. (PFE)</a>’s cholesterol-lowering medicine Lipitor after a dose mix-up was detected. </p> <p>Ranbaxy, a unit of Tokyo-based <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/4568:JP">Daiichi Sankyo Co. (4568)</a>, is pulling back pills in 64,626 bottles of atorvastatin calcium in the U.S. after a “product complaint” was received by a pharmacist, the U.S. <a href="http://topics.bloomberg.com/food-and-drug-administration/">Food and Drug Administration</a> <a href="http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/enforcement/enforce_rpt-Product-Tabs.cfm?action=select&recall_number=D-1086-2014&w=03052014&lang=eng">said</a> on its website. The pharmacist had discovered a 20 milligram tablet in a sealed bottle marked for 10 milligram pills, the FDA said. </p> <p>The nationwide recall comes on the back of increasing <a href="http://www.fda.gov/drugs/guidancecomplianceregulatoryinformation/enforcementactivitiesbyfda/ucm118411.htm">scrutiny</a> on Ranbaxy, all four of whose Indian facilities are suspended from selling in the U.S. for failing to meet the FDA’s current Good Manufacturing Practices. The drugmaker had previously called back its generic version of Lipitor pills in November 2012 for possibly containing small particles of glass. </p> <p>Soon after visiting the Toansa factory, the FDA banned the export of drug ingredients from the facility to the U.S. The Toansa ban means all four of its Indian plants have been banned from selling in the U.S. </p> <p><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-08/ranbaxy-recalls-generic-lipitor-in-u-s-after-dose-mix-up-found.html?cmpid=yhoo" title="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-08/ranbaxy-recalls-generic-lipitor-in-u-s-after-dose-mix-up-found.html?cmpid=yhoo">http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-08/ranbaxy-recalls-generic-lipitor-in-u-s-after-dose-mix-up-found.html?cmpid=yhoo</a></p>

Ranbaxy Recall of Generic Lipitor: Dose Mix Up 20 Milligram Bottles Found To Contain 10 Milligram Does

The FDA upon their latest recent visit has pretty much stopped all exports of the drug or the active ingredient exports to the US and now a ...

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American Telemedicine Association Asked HHS to Lift Restrictions on Telehealth - Good Idea But CMS Should Build a Model First For Proper Implementation & Further Collaborate With ATA Focus Groups

<p>We do live in complex times today and certainly there’s some goodness to be had here but a “model” is required as we all know that the insurance business is “for profit” and whatever CMS does is pretty much followed by commercial insurers and thus so a “good working model” is needed first to see how it would work and look for any unintended consequences in a model before they show up in the the “real world”.  Granted models<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="92" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-9qACsZIdzeo/Uxy8RyRGEoI/AAAAAAABJjA/QaZx-2NnCoA/image%25255B3%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" title="image" width="253" /> are not 100% as many seem to think today but they are useful in finding issues that need to be addressed before giving such approval to telehealth in some of these areas.  </p> <p>Even on the consumer side this has to be watched a bit too as you can’t have a busy executive giving grandma a device and only expect to interact when there’s an issue and ignore the “human” side of communicating as a human with grandma too.  We know that happens and it may not be on purpose but it does as we still have big issues out there today with folks in every walk of life trying to determine where the boundaries are with the virtual and the real worlds.  A few weeks ago Oracle CEO Larry Ellison did such a fine job explaining this as he did a Q and A about their human resources software.  We are lucky too that we have the maturity here of Mr. Ellison and Bill Gates too as those guys wrote the original code and have grown up with all of this.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/02/larry-ellison-ceo-oracle-hcm.html">Larry Ellison, CEO Oracle, HCM Conference Keynote–”Be Careful About Virtual Relationships With Artificially Intelligent Pieces of Software That’s Smarter Than You“, It’s Really All About People”–Algo Duping and the Killer Algorithms Living Amongst Us…(Update) Video </a></h5> <p>So circling back around here, sure there’s some benefits to be had here but right now with the gray issues of defining where virtual and real work together or need to separate, a model is needed to pursue this further rather than to just cast your fate to the wind and connect everybody up.  If you want that kind of what I call “billionaire immaturity” then go look at Facebook with a big firehouse of algorithms that tell you what they thin you should read and where importance is…big difference here by all means.</p> <p>Again with Sebelius and Tavenner I would hope this level of<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="331" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-2KKkJhF_BOM/Uxy8SfE-CBI/AAAAAAABJjI/7Wsc0LrCeqU/image%25255B7%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" title="image" width="354" /> maturity exists before jumping in feet first and not repeating the  “algorithm fairy” type of actions we saw with Healthcare.Gov would be on their list of considerations here.  Of course the ATA wants it as there’s money to be made and saved, both ends.  Again though you do not want the “patient care and safety” to be compromised with implementations that don’t work.  We are seeing a lot of that today with folks that just connect folks up and say “you got your connection” you’re fixed and set up.  It still goes beyond that as this is a “human” business of course with healthcare.  The weird perceptions of non tech folks are clearly spelled out with this story that was in the news…where the “Sebelius Syndrome” spoke loud and clear..again asking the OIG to do an audit when they don’t have the resources to kind of blame shift here.  So again this is why I say build a model so we don’t have more statements and “pass the buck” statements like this show up.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/12/sebelius-asks-inspector-general-to.html">Sebelius Asks Inspector General To Review Healthcare.Gov, How Many JBoss, Red Hat, Linux, Oracle, MarkLogic And Other Experts Does OIG Have? Time Elements of Baking A Cake From Scratch With Writing Custom Code Was Just Not There..</a></h5> <p>With data you could skew the use to keep people out of the hospital too as we see data used and abused today in the name of efficiencies and to save and make money.  So if this is to be considered, we need much more work here other than just sending a letter as we do need to model this and have a collaboration of both the ATA and CMS work together rather than just your fate to the wind.  There are some good efforts in Telehealth so far and mostly controlled at the hospital level such as what Banner does with monitoring patients after surgery and I’m sure they worked on their model for a while before rolling it out and it constituted a lot of planning so again this is where we come back to “modeling” before just giving a cart blanche on some of this and the patient is given a choice of the telehealth doctor or a real human.  Of course the telehealth doctor is connected to the local help at the hospital to alert them immediately during monitoring.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2011/07/banner-medical-centers-in-phoenix.html">Banner Medical Centers in Phoenix Offering Telehealth Monitoring in Intensive Care Unit–iCare System Option</a></h5> <p>We live in very complex times today and again a letter asking is not just sufficient without a pilot working model to be tested first as all telehealth applications are not created equal and the ATA seems to have quite a few focus groups as well.  BD</p> <p> <hr />The <a href="http://www.americantelemed.org/">American Telemedicine Association</a> has asked the Department of Health and Human Services to "lift unnecessary restrictions on health care delivery that prohibits millions of Americans from accessing quality medical care."</p> <p>In a March 4 letter to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, ATA urged her to allow Medicare providers paid under alternative payment methods the flexibility to use telehealth as a means to add value for Medicare and its beneficiaries.</p> <p>“Due to current restrictions outlined in the telehealth provisions of the Medicare statute 1835(m), providers cannot take advantage of the full capabilities of telemedicine and telehealth due to unnecessary limitations,” wrote Jonathan Linkous, chief executive officer of ATA. “The current language creates artificial barriers to care including patient location restrictions, communications technology restrictions, and it also defines a narrow list of eligible providers and covered services.”</p> <p><a href="http://www.healthdatamanagement.com/news/group-asks-sebelius-to-lift-telemedicine-restrictions-47375-1.html" title="http://www.healthdatamanagement.com/news/group-asks-sebelius-to-lift-telemedicine-restrictions-47375-1.html">http://www.healthdatamanagement.com/news/group-asks-sebelius-to-lift-telemedicine-restrictions-47375-1.html</a></p>

American Telemedicine Association Asked HHS to Lift Restrictions on Telehealth - Good Idea But CMS Should Build a Model First For Proper Implementation & Further Collaborate With ATA Focus Groups

We do live in complex times today and certainly there’s some goodness to be had here but a “model” is required as we all know that the insur...

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Algorithmic Health Insurance Subsidy Calculations in California Need Some Mathematical Adjustments - Models Used In the Real World Don’t Always Play Out As Created With a “Proof of Concept”As Designed…Real People Don’t Work That Way

<p>Here’s a video with a couple that explains what they are looking at with the “cut off points” if you will on what the cost is going to be.  When you look at the jump with just a $1.00 difference with income, the cost jump is huge and they used the Covered California calculator to help them make decisions.  There’s already been<img align="right" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-q1ZlYU3i__8/UnXCngdfnNI/AAAAAAABIbk/HRJc-_5HyMI/image%25255B9%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="float: right; display: inline" /> some of this in the news to where consumers now are having to make decisions based on “flawed models” out there that were perhaps set up to benefit insurers with keeping in line with the “risk assessments” designed but again the way it plays out with the algorithmic formulas it can be insane for those on the edge of the next income bracket.  A couple weeks ago I made the post about the “damn algorithms” with Obamacare and in one day it has over 5000 hits, which unheard of for the most part for my blog with the crowd numbers I reach…so it was read well…it is the algorithms causing all of the discrepancies and again we go back to the models as the formulas are written to work and run on servers 24/7, based on the design of the model.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/02/those-damn-killer-algorithms-keep.html">Those Damn “Killer Algorithms” Keep Screwing Up Obamacare, One more Delay Added for Small Businesses, Static Text Laws and Digital Technology Crossing Hairs, We Continue To Endure the Constant Rise And Fall Of The Machines… </a></h5> <p>Sure you can read the stories all day long on the politics side of it and sure that plays in there a little bit but what do we as consumers have to “really” deal with..the models running on the website so really no matter what politicians say or promise, until anything gets changed with a model, the machines are running the show.  It is all about the continuous rise and fall of the machines here as the models are being tested again and again and are much harder to build today for sure than the days when Medicare Advantage models were built years ago.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/01/obamacare-for-2014-how-in-world-are-all.html">Obamacare for 2014, How In the World Are All Those Algorithms Going To Play Together, World of Complex IT Infrastructures That Are Attached To Almost Every Law On the Books Might Pose Some Issues To Recently Generated House Bills…</a></h5> <p>When you go back in time the 3000 plus pages of the Affordable Care Act was written, the verbiage was of course gone over by stacks of lawyers etc. to ensure everything was legal, but again the code running on servers (as modeled and written by interpreting verbiage in the law) runs hog ass wild.  That was a tough job and if you go back in time, the folks in charge of this area like Nancy DeParle and Steve Larsen got out of it and went back to private industry for more money when the going got tough as again it’s a daunting project.  We’ll have more and more of this I seem to believe until we get some “digital centric” laws out there to where the technologies are spelled out and named in some of these processes.  Again that’s not a perfect science for sure but at least it would make lawmakers look at what runs all of the complexities with IT infrastructures instead of what we have now, a blue lagoon of models and algorithms that are not working all the way around.  </p> <p><iframe style="height: 273px; width: 476px" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/TK94K0h9_4w?list=UUosNuCC96Oicg_3CqBCfuRg" frameborder="0" width="560" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p> <p>When Congress gets stuck with complexities they like us have emotional outbursts that get attention like the <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/09/jon-stewart-discusses-little-paper.html">“fake” filibuster to where Ted Cruz decided to read Dr. Seus</a> which didn’t accomplish much and I’ll say it again, Congress really needs to restore that Office of Technology Assessment to help them and that’s’ a non partisan statement, they all need it.  I can’t figure out for the life of me why they run from or don’t consider such as we are living in the most complex times ever so hey do like everyone else does, research and get some cold hard data going to help make better found laws. </p> <p>So just watch the video and see where the “starch” dividing lines play in here…and yes to adjust this requires bringing a bunch of new “query monsters”, quants and a few others to see if this model can be adjusted to work better with humans.  If you watch Video #2 below in the footer about the Quants of Wall Street you will hear some former financial folks talk and basically come flat out and tell you “people don’t work that way”…pretty good worlds of wisdom from a current financial professor who used to be part of writing the black box code for Goldman Sachs?  You think?  Here’s a clip from it as a preview…</p> <object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://swf.tubechop.com/tubechop.swf?vurl=ed2FWNWwE3I&start=1710&end=1778&cid=2251847"></param><embed src="http://swf.tubechop.com/tubechop.swf?vurl=ed2FWNWwE3I&start=1710&end=1778&cid=2251847" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> <p>The model of insurance subsidiaries for many in California is broken.  BD  </p> <hr />Dawn and Nick LaPolla of Fair Oaks are solidly middle class, and they aren’t uninsured. <p>Yet their required switch to a new health insurance plan under federal changes puts them at a financial crossroads. </p> <p>If they earn less than $94,200 a year, the family of four’s preferred plan through the California health exchange would cost about $750 a month. But if they make even slightly more, they’ll pay about $1,040. That’s because they would exceed the threshold to qualify for federal subsidies. Their current high-deductible plan, which expires in two months, costs $573 a month.</p> <p>A 58-year-old earning $46,000 a year and living in Bakersfield would pay about $5,075 a year, or 11 percent of his pay, for the most-affordable plan. If he made $45,000 a year, he would pay $2,570, or 5.7 percent of his income, for the same plan.</p> <p>A household of three, ages 16, 45 and 46, earning $80,000 and living in San Jose would pay $8,928 a year, or more than 11 percent of their income, for one of the cheapest policies. At $75,000 a year, the cost would drop to $4,512, or 6 percent of their income.</p> <p>“We created this law because people had to to choose between paying the mortgage and paying for health insurance so they didn’t go bankrupt from medical bills,” Court said. “Now some of them need to make new choices: Should they work or cut back in the labor force to get the subsidies?” </p> <p> <a href="http://www.fresnobee.com/2014/03/08/3810084/in-california-middle-class-feels.html#storylink=cpy">http://www.fresnobee.com/2014/03/08/3810084/in-california-middle-class-feels.html#storylink=cpy</a></p>

Algorithmic Health Insurance Subsidy Calculations in California Need Some Mathematical Adjustments - Models Used In the Real World Don’t Always Play Out As Created With a “Proof of Concept”As Designed…Real People Don’t Work That Way

Here’s a video with a couple that explains what they are looking at with the “cut off points” if you will on what the cost is going to be.  ...

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Rosellini Scientific Acquires Portfolio of Remote Monitoring Patents From Medtronic

<p>Rosellini is an interesting company and I had never heard of them before but there’s a lot going on out there today.  This is a quote from their “about” page:</p> <p><em>“At Rosellini Scientific, we empower freedom from disease by<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="84" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-4Md8z2n1vYU/UxyZ0UH_gXI/AAAAAAABJiw/DwlP2n9KA_8/image%25255B3%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" title="image" width="199" /> developing intelligent medical rehabilitation devices to support patients post-procedure. Our goal is to provide a suite of medical devices designed to support patients by preventing disease, restoring function, and enhancing quality of life. Our focus begins with patient rehabilitation in their hospital bed and continues to support daily life outside of the hospital environment. To facilitate patient rehabilitation, we distribute the most advanced technological healthcare solutions on the market. Where no therapy currently exists, we are actively developing solutions utilizing the interconnection of software, hardware, and biomedical implants.</em> “</p> <p>It continues on to say they finance medical records, purchase inventions and partner with strategic device manufacturing companies and thus so it appears that some Medtronic patents came into play here with some of what they are developing.  It seems of late there’s been a lot in the news with companies “settling” patent issues and not just in healthcare as we had the big news about Twitter buying 900 patents from IBM as well.  BD</p> <p> <hr /></p> <p>Rosellini Scientific, Inc. announced today that it has acquired a medical device portfolio from Medtronic consisting of six U.S. and eight International patents. The patents, which relate to remote monitoring of implantable medical devices, will be developed in companies spun-out of Rosellini Scientific, all of whom will have a focus on enhancing the delivery of digital medicine at the point of care. This includes combinations of remote monitoring and treatment, hospital inventory management and electronic medical record integration. </p> <p>The Company has recently formed CardiaX, Inc. to develop the CardioPT™ device, which will serve as a comprehensive solution for patients with advanced heart failure, atrial fibrillation, and ventricular arrhythmias leading to sudden cardiac death. The technology has received nearly $2 million in development funding. </p> <p><a href="http://www.prweb.com/releases/2014/03/prweb11650645.htm" title="http://www.prweb.com/releases/2014/03/prweb11650645.htm">http://www.prweb.com/releases/2014/03/prweb11650645.htm</a></p>

Rosellini Scientific Acquires Portfolio of Remote Monitoring Patents From Medtronic

Rosellini is an interesting company and I had never heard of them before but there’s a lot going on out there today.  This is a quote from t...

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Obamacare - One Big “Attack of the Killer Algorithms” No Matter Which Direction You Turn, Compounded With a Lot of Government and Consumer “Algo Duping”….

<p><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/02/attack-of-killer-algorithmsdigest-links.html">“Attack of the Killer Algorithms”</a> is something I coined a few years back and actually I thought of the terminology when the “Occupy Movement” began because really, that’s what that movement was all about. <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/02/attack-of-killer-algorithmsdigest-links.html"><img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="363" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-0izDRTg1eiA/Uxp9aXgWCUI/AAAAAAABJig/-_UkQEa6MGE/image%25255B4%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" title="image" width="295" /></a> The protesters themselves didn’t understand the deep technologies at work but they knew enough to know something was not right and was not working and that was enough.  Since that time the group has expanded into several other areas and groups, one in particular is the Occupy Financial Group and a former Wall Street Quant who worked for Larry Summers years ago has a great role in that group and even they even wrote a book.  </p> <p>So when you look at how everything started and what emerged, the attention was great and the mathematicians and others went to work on the issues.  The group has even has the SEC come and speak.  In the footer of this blog #3 video is a lecture from Cathy “Weapons of Math Destruction” also the name of a new book she’s working on.  Another part of the Occupy Movement, <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/11/occupy-wall-street-group-strike-debt.html">Strike Debt bought $15 million dollars worth of debt for citizens</a>…good stuff.  I wrote almost 60 chapters on the Killer Algorithms and you can click on the image to see the digest of the links.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/09/occupy-wall-street-alternative-banking.html">Occupy Wall Street, The Alternative Banking Group Releasing New Book “Occupy Finance”–Press Conference and Presentation at 10:15 In Front of Zuccotti Park, Tuesday September 17th 2013</a></h5> <p>Everything today whether folks want to admit it or not runs on complex IT infrastructures and thus laws are tied to them as well so with today’s complexities, is it any wonder things are not working as planned and modeled?  Here’s a post below I wrote about 2 years ago with referencing devaluating the algorithms, as they still have value of course but not to where they have been inflated today, i.e. Facebook for one as all you have is a bunch of data servers with data of ours that gets sold that connects you to something or someone.  It’s nice but way over valued and PBS had a great special on the “Like Generation”.</p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/04/devaluate-algorithm-and-tax-data.html">“Devaluate the Algorithm” And “Tax the Data Sellers”–A Cure for Both Healthcare and an Economy Based Heavily on Intangibles–We’ve Lost Our Balance</a></h5> <p>Here’s yet another post that I thought was kind of odd from PLOS One but anymore I think they are on to something as I continuously watch government and others run for the hills when it comes to math.</p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/10/algo-duping-plos-one-journal.html">“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”</a></h5> <p>Even the President at one point said “I don’t write code”…and that was kind of significant as he’s telling us, he can’t fix it and that was in reference to Healthcare.Gov.  The real problem was that none of the folks either heading up HHS or CMS can write code either so they are in the same boat, no data mechanics logic and many waiting for those “algorithm fairies” to show up with a magic want to make it all work…but they don’t exist, only in people’s perceptions and that’s not good enough as we have seen over and over and over.  The system really is rigged with proprietary math models and code that we don’t have access to. </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/12/president-obama-defines-inequality-as.html">President Obama Defines Inequality As A Real Problem in the US That Needs to Be Addressed–Most of It Is Modeled By Banks and Companies With Power and Code to Move and Gain Money and Restrict Access–The System “Is” Rigged…</a></h5> <p>Here’s an interview from a couple years ago and she explains quite a bit about Quants (data scientists and then some) and math.  She talks about the mentalities of the financial quants as an outsider academia moving in and out of that territory.  Also take in the 4 videos in the footer of this blog to learn more.  “As a smart person I have the right to take advantage of others”…take advantage of everything and everyone they could.  This is sadly the way it works.  She stated nothing illegal was done when she worked at a hedge fund but unethical..like taking advantage of pension funds.  </p> <iframe height="337" marginheight="0" src="http://video.pbs.org/viralplayer/2226463504" frameborder="0" width="460" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" seamless="seamless"></iframe> <p>Well if you have read and watched this far you might be getting the picture.  Insurance companies are hiring more quants than ever today?  Why?  They are creating new models like they are going out of style.  Once you build a model, then comes the algorithms (software is nothing but a bunch of algorithms working together in the words of Bill Gates) that all have to work together.  So what you are seeing with Obamacare, the same thing with math models and those that are built for profit with insurers.  Look at their numbers, none are hurting.  </p> <p>Now we have the “other side” with politics and all trying to make a story out of it, when in fact there is nothing political about code running on servers other than the fact that it’s proprietary and very smartly written to maximize the most profit possible and some models lie.  If the models are wrong or not ethical, then so are the algorithms running on servers 24/7.</p> <p>Everyone complains that the law can’t play out as originally designed.  Well have you taken a look at how technology has evolved since the law was written?  It won’t work that way.  It’s hard for the average consumer to understand I realize but you have a choice, listen to the folks that don’t write code or the ones that do as code only does what it is written to do so when you get to see it, there’s no opinions, it’s black and white.  The problem is getting to see what is being run on server as it’s proprietary and we have to rely on what the owners (banks and companies) tell us it does.  This was in fact the most read post I have done in a long time<strong> ‘those damn algorithms”</strong> below.  I don’t know how many federal agencies read it but it was a lot.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/02/those-damn-killer-algorithms-keep.html">Those Damn “Killer Algorithms” Keep Screwing Up Obamacare, One more Delay Added for Small Businesses, Static Text Laws and Digital Technology Crossing Hairs, We Continue To Endure the Constant Rise And Fall Of The Machines… </a></h5> <p>So let’s talk about video #1 below…”It’s all about context”…watch it…with data and going back after the fact data can be contrived out of context to make you believe pure bunk and that’s a real danger zone as listen to professor Siefe tell you that “if the reporter puts an algebraic formula in the story, it must be right” even if it’s pure bunk.  He does a good job describing how you get sucked in on some clinical trials reports, medical studies, etc. and how the math is wrong.  </p> <p>So indeed we are with Obamacare under “The Attack of the Killer Algorithms”.  Everything stops until the data flows.  The link below also has his same video along with another good one about the “journobot”…if you read news, better watch that one as bots are writing news today too and I think Forbes said about 25% of their material is bot written and they are not the only ones, but look at the software that tossed out 10,000 books for sale on Amazon…a news article for the same software is piece of cake…it’s wake up time.  Not all news of course is bad at all and the newspapers are looking for more money too so they use what is called “click bait” like Facebook and others do so you get the maximum ad <img align="right" height="113" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-qWMSVrSCCJc/UrQCz_G-tUI/AAAAAAABI5s/mgUFjKNTUpo/image%25255B27%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="float: right; display: inline" width="397" />exposure and that increased just by exposure the money they make.  It’s been going on forever and in moderation of course it’s not bad but when money gets tight things get exaggerated with some stories, reports and studies at times.  Everything in life is not meant to be quantitated including every angle of Obamacare. </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/12/quantitated-justification-for-believing.html">Quantitated Justification For Believing Things That Are Not True And Using Mathematical Processes To Fool Ourselves-The Journalistic Bot Functionality Debuts As Media Can’t Resist the Formulas…</a></h5> <p>In addition, the “data selling” epidemic makes a lot of issues a lot worse too.  I don’t have issues with “sharing data” if we end up with information that helps us find cures and other such valuable information but now it’s being mined and sold and queried just for the hell of it to make a buck in some areas.  We are not balanced with our tangibles versus intangibles and both have value but it’s so easy to create some algorithms, write up a marketing plan to sell it, bogus or good data, and expect humans to work the way of the software.  Humans don’t work that way and thus the data selling business thrives as a way to hold things over our heads with information.  Insurers are good at that and want more control but education works better as people will resent the other methodology and we see this with the “dummy down” gamification projects out there.  Take time and educate is the better route.  Software can be created to use without the insult to the human race intelligence, again as people will only get mad as it doesn’t work.  </p> <p>Then you have these boneheads that think you can just yank and replace the complex IT infrastructures we have out there today…I can’t understand for the life of me why this does not sink in with some of them.  There has to be others advising them of the same thing unless there are lobbyists that “dummy them down” too?  To complicate it, we go back to the reporters needing clicks and going for the soap opera type stories too that emerge here and there so that adds to it.   Again I’m not saying all news is this way as it’s not but there’s more of this getting mixed in with the <img align="right" height="199" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-rSYG015GC3s/UrTuzX_IrII/AAAAAAABI7s/epOj5wEW9p8/image%25255B8%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="float: right; display: inline" width="304" />good stuff.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/01/repeal-and-replace-obamacare-not-hardly.html">Repeal and Replace Obamacare? Not Hardly From a Technological Standpoint As It Needs a Model-Nobody Wants to Swap Out Old Glitches For New Glitches: Modeling, Virtual Software Worlds and More Importantly Complex IT Infrastructure Reality, Get Hip…</a></h5> <p>So no surprise on this last extension as the complex IT infrastructures have to be ready to handle it all, both government and insurers as well as doctors and hospitals.  They are all connected today.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/03/absolutely-no-surprise-here-hhs-states.html">Absolutely No Surprise Here, HHS States It Will Extend Time Frame For Those With Insurance Policies That Don’t Comply With Obamacare - It’s All About Those Algorithms, Complex IT Infrastructures That Need To Work Together With Insurers, Government and Clinical Care</a></h5> <p>I just almost go insane listening to HHS and CMS at times with some of their weird perceptions on how “they think” things work. I got used to that a number of years ago with a couple of doctors when I wrote a medical records system and I had the same thing and their perception and mine were not the same so a lot of meeting of the minds.  They wanted<img align="right" src="https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRp9TBlvWqtr16ku9oa-uGY_yLITLV9hYmtozmPi5XdbJ5RW7Sm" style="float: right; display: inline" /> things in a fashion I could not provide, be it security, HIPAA, etc. and that took some explaining and some sit down time to even show them but that worked, no matter how difficult and it sure was better than trying to make up a story like we get so often from HHS and CMS based on “their perceptions” when it’s not true.  </p> <p>Here’s a classic below…how can OIG audit the Healthcare.Gov project…(grin)…you have to laugh as the White House had to bring in these experts when things went wrong, otherwise they would have pulled a few from the OIG to fix the website project…but guess what…none existed, so exactly why you have to laugh when Sebelius pulls this stunt.  Guess the OIG has to go out and hire some to do the investigation she wants?  Interesting topic since they keep cutting the budget of the OIG and they are spreadsheet and MS Access (RAT-STATS the OIG VB6 audit software) folks for a lot of their work. You can download their software if you want and use it at the link below.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/12/sebelius-asks-inspector-general-to.html">Sebelius Asks Inspector General To Review Healthcare.Gov, How Many JBoss, Red Hat, Linux, Oracle, MarkLogic And Other Experts Does OIG Have? Time Elements of Baking A Cake From Scratch With Writing Custom Code Was Just Not There..</a></h5> <p>All I’m wishing for here is some reality here and kiss the algo fairies goodbye, please!  It’s about models, math and algorithms and it takes time today, not like the old days and I miss those too.  Yeah it was a lot easier when things were silos but that’s the world today.  There’s also more resources over at the Algo Duping page and it’s<img align="right" border="0" height="78" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-MdcQ51oZRKs/UDz9pcW4fBI/AAAAAAAA9PM/5H-RdgxYtf8/image%25255B11%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" width="365" /> a good idea to just watch and see how you get sucked in and don’t even know it.  </p> <p>All software and systems do not work with humans the way they are modeled…people want to think so but it doesn’t work that way and along with a lot of flawed data, there’s a lot of the problem with Obamacare.  Here’s the answer if anyone decides to ever go there.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/01/not-only-is-it-time-to-hold-banks-and.html">Not Only Is It Time to Hold Banks and Corporations Accountable, But Rather Hold Their CEOs, Math Model Creations and Proprietary Computer Code Accountable As Well…</a></h5> <p><font color="#000000">Another great article from a journalist at Reuters who sees this as well.  <a href="http://www.wired.com/business/2014/01/quants-dont-know-everything/">Felix Salmon can’t make it any clearer</a></font><font color="#000000"></font><font color="#d16349"><font color="#000000"> with this quote from his article…so there you go, models that encourage cheating…anyone ever going to ask about the models and code?  Probably not, there’s too much verbiage to look at to think about this side that executes everything (grin).</font>  </font></p> <p><strong><em><font color="#d16349"><u>“Once quants disrupt an industry, they often don’t know when to stop—and they create systems that encourage cheating.”</u></font></em></strong></p> <p><em><font color="#d16349">“On a managerial level, once the quants come into an industry and disrupt it, they often don’t know when to stop. They tend not to have decades of institutional knowledge about the field in which they have found themselves. And once they’re empowered, quants tend to <u>create systems that favor something pretty close to cheating</u>. As soon as <img align="right" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-plljo-PUd4Q/UV2UCf3JAXI/AAAAAAABGWU/TJC27hEzgmA/image%25255B7%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="float: right; display: inline" />managers pick a numerical metric as a way to measure whether they’re achieving their desired outcome, everybody starts maximizing that metric rather than doing the rest of their job—just as Campbell’s law predicts.”</font></em></p> <p><em><font color="#d16349">“Campbell’s law: “The more any quantitative social indicator is used for social decision-making,” he wrote, “the more subject it </font></em></p> <p><em><font color="#d16349">will be to corruption pressures and the more apt it will be to distort and corrupt the social processes it is intended to monitor</font>.” </em></p> <p>So here’s the big challenge…separating virtual and real world values, at least in our heads…so expect more changes, challenges and disruption and forget about repeal as you would just be bringing in some newer and bigger glitches in place of the old ones and there’s politics to this side of the story, it’s all models and math and as the IT Infrastructure has to run and the algorithms have to all play together.  Sure you can adjust some portions of the system and even that today is a challenge with complexities, but don’t look for any politicians to give you any answers unless they bone up a bit on technology soon. </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/01/big-challenge-at-davos-this-year-will.html">Big Challenge at Davos This Year Will Be On How To Unite The Virtual Technology World With The Real World To Simplify Getting Things Done, Making The World Less Complex As We Are Hostages Of Our Own IT Infrastructures, Open Target Day On “Killer Algorithms” Please...</a></h5> <p><strong>Obamacare is all about the “Attack of the Killer Algorithms”…probably some of the biggest created so far.  BD  </strong></p> <h5 align="center"><a href="http://www.ducknet.net/attack-of-the-killer-algorithms/"><font size="5">Attack of the Killer Algorithms – “Algo Duping 101″</font></a></h5>

Obamacare - One Big “Attack of the Killer Algorithms” No Matter Which Direction You Turn, Compounded With a Lot of Government and Consumer “Algo Duping”….

“Attack of the Killer Algorithms” is something I coined a few years back and actually I thought of the terminology when the “Occupy Movemen...

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General Accounting Office Review of Meaningful Use Incentives, A Bit of a Farce As the “Spreadsheet Algorithm Fairies” Suffering From “The Sebelius Syndrome” Seem To Live Over There Too

<p><strong>It’s easy to come in and be the “Monday Morning Quarterback” especially when you look at data.  I recommend watching video #1 in the footer of this blog,</strong> “Context is Everything” before you get too carried away here with this report.  You can take data and put the focus on anywhere you want, I know I have done it and the challenge here is to do it right with the “correct” context.  In reading this article, I don’t see that at all.  <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="71" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-ZHZD33hKRD8/UxoFwcSN4wI/AAAAAAABJiI/VqXWIOrYDV4/image%25255B3%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" title="image" width="259" /></p> <p>The GAO office is way above their heads if you will and it just is what it is.  To go back in retrospect and not have “lived” through the experience and all the emerging technologies that also took place during the stimulus program for medical records incentives is almost impossible. There were tons of challenges and it’s not like the old days where data was in silos either.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/02/dr-halamka-at-himss-providers-are.html">Dr. Halamka At HIMSS - Providers Are Getting to the Breaking Point Trying To Figure Out How To Survive..He Gets A Lot of Emails… </a></h5> <p>Stating that “strategy” lacked…well you had a brand new ONC office and you know it takes time and you can’t expect miracles so again I think they did a good job with what they had to work with not to mention the short time element.  Nobody seems to take into consideration how new technologies with medical records during this time were emerging right and left and thus new areas to qualify to keep up with the technology were constantly on a roll.  Try that on for size, ok?</p> <p><strong>These are the “spreadsheet” folks over at the GAO and</strong> their focus is analytics and not “data mechanics” in the overall review.  You might as well forget about Meaningful Use 3 as in it’s present form, it’s become very complex like everything else out there.  Here’s another example of the “syndrome” in action with CMS announcing no delay to ICD10?  They were not even going to test originally and this is the work of digital illiterates with no data mechanics input, aka the “algorithm fairy seekers” again.  Myself, having a choice of reality or fairies, I pick the real world as you still have humans writing code and algorithms and that’s what runs the complex IT Infrastructures we have today.  To gain credibility it would seem to serve them better to “test” first and then make an announcement, a tech folks know this is what should be done by all means as that’s the way it works and no technologist would make such a statement without testing as of course “it’s their neck on the line”.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/02/cms-says-no-more-delay-on-icd-10-why.html">CMS Says No More Delay on ICD-10, Why Doesn’t CMS Wait and Complete More Testing First Before Announcing Such </a></h5> <p><strong>So in summary to state that CMS and ONC lack critical information, well who in the world <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="132" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-sIYpgJj4CU0/UxoFw8-MBoI/AAAAAAABJiQ/YgVJ49_TW7o/image%25255B7%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" title="image" width="237" />today does not lack critical information?</strong>  We all lack critical information and thus so I don’t see where this report uncovered anything substantial at all.  It’s that “Sebelius Syndrome” that keeps growing and growing with unrealistic expectations coming from those who still believe in the “Algorithm Fairies” with little or no comprehension of time elements and “data mechanics”.  <strong>They want too much too soon and the reality of complex digital IT infrastructures just gets swept under the carpet.  Visit the <a href="http://www.ducknet.net/attack-of-the-killer-algorithms/">Algo Duping/Killer Algorithm page</a> for videos that help explain how all of this works today.  </strong></p> <p>How’s this project going to be accomplished too one might ask with OIG reviewing Healthcare. Gov project?  It’s the same thing and partly where I came up with the “Sebelius Syndrome” coin.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/12/sebelius-asks-inspector-general-to.html">Sebelius Asks Inspector General To Review Healthcare.Gov, How Many JBoss, Red Hat, Linux, Oracle, MarkLogic And Other Experts Does OIG Have? Time Elements of Baking A Cake From Scratch With Writing Custom Code Was Just Not There..</a></h5> <p><strong>The old saying “walk a mile in my shoes” seems to be very appropriate here as <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/02/larry-ellison-ceo-oracle-hcm.html">being in touch with reality and where the virtual and real worlds mix and don’t mix is a very big deal today</a>. .  BD</strong></p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/02/those-damn-killer-algorithms-keep.html">Those Damn “Killer Algorithms” Keep Screwing Up Obamacare, One more Delay Added for Small Businesses, Static Text Laws and Digital Technology Crossing Hairs, We Continue To Endure the Constant Rise And Fall Of The Machines…</a></h5> <p> <hr />The GAO recently took a swipe at the government's <a href="http://www.healthcareitnews.com/directory/meaningful-use">Meaningful Use</a> <a href="http://www.healthcareitnews.com/directory/electronic-health-record-ehr">EHR</a> Incentive Program, saying it lacked strategy and called for action to establish a strategy in order to achieve its goals, especially those aimed at improving care. <br />Specifically, GAO called for establishing a strategy to better ensure the reliability of clinical quality measures, known as CQM, and collected using EHRs and develop and use outcome oriented performance measures to monitor progress toward goals.</p> <p>As Pamela McNutt, senior vice president and CIO of Methodist Health System in Dallas, told <em>Healthcare IT News</em> in an interview last month, "This notion that we're going to extract every piece of data that we need to do clinical quality reporting solely from the <a href="http://www.healthcareitnews.com/directory/electronic-medical-record-emr">electronic medical record</a> is folly."</p> <p><a href="http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/gao-hits-ehr-incentive-program-hard-0?topic=,08,29" title="http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/gao-hits-ehr-incentive-program-hard-0?topic=,08,29">http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/gao-hits-ehr-incentive-program-hard-0?topic=,08,29</a></p>

General Accounting Office Review of Meaningful Use Incentives, A Bit of a Farce As the “Spreadsheet Algorithm Fairies” Suffering From “The Sebelius Syndrome” Seem To Live Over There Too

It’s easy to come in and be the “Monday Morning Quarterback” especially when you look at data.  I recommend watching video #1 in the footer ...

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Gary Cohen, CMS US Insurance Regulator Of Consumer Information and Oversight Center Resigns Effective the End of March, Missed His Oversight Target on Healthcare.Gov

<p>He was a former California insurance regulator so who knows if he will end up back in some kind of position here when he returns?  Again I look at this in the fact that he’s an attorney and that’s not quite what we need today as <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="67" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-l4EyypCG9hU/UxiQW8Y3sTI/AAAAAAABJh4/60_8B_JJ6HA/image%25255B3%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" title="image" width="232" />so much time is spent on “verbiage” of laws and very little on the technology side so while all the verbiage is perhaps as precise as it can get it seems, computer code runs “hog wild” and that’s what we are seeing today for sure.  There’s more than just one part with laws today and perhaps we need some digital centric laws on the books soon.  </p> <p>I just wrote about the latest extension with insurance policies yesterday and it’s time some folks wake up out there and see the reality of the “real” world and where the virtual side leaves off.  Didn’t surprise me one bit and there will be more instances as such as due to the way we are structured today, if all the data doesn’t play together, well everything comes to a stop with decision making, cost of insurance, ethics and so on.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/03/absolutely-no-surprise-here-hhs-states.html">Absolutely No Surprise Here, HHS States It Will Extend Time Frame For Those With Insurance Policies That Don’t Comply With Obamacare - It’s All About Those Algorithms, Complex IT Infrastructures That Need To Work Together With Insurers, Government and Clinical Care </a></h5> <p>As referenced here, well you had a lawyer misleading Congress on the opening of Healthcare.Gov…just one more in the “algorithms fairy” bunch who gave the go ahead to launch the site before it was ready.  Again, this is what we end up with when doing only half the job and not taking technology into full account.  We can’t function like we used to and there are several out there still trying to do it that way and we all suffer due to that fact.  At least the White House finally saw that changes were needed with the website and brought someone in with some expertise that was not suffering from the “Sebelius Syndrome”.  BD  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/12/white-house-names-former-microsoft.html">White House Names Former Microsoft Executive To Head Up Fixing “The Sebelius Syndrome” Plaguing What Ended Up On Healthcare.Gov</a></h5> <p> <hr />Gary Cohen, the top U.S. health insurance regulator accused by congressional Republicans of misleading them before the troubled start of the Obamacare insurance website, will resign. </p> <p>Cohen will step down as director of the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight at the end of the month, when the first enrollment period for the health-care law concludes, <a href="http://topics.bloomberg.com/marilyn-tavenner/">Marilyn Tavenner</a>, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and Cohen’s boss, said yesterday in an e-mail to employees. Cohen’s office is part of Tavenner’s agency. </p> <p>Cohen’s departure is voluntary, Tavenner said. His agency devised the regulations for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’s insurance exchanges, though it wasn’t responsible for building healthcare.gov, the federal exchange that failed in October, leaving millions of Americans unable to enroll in health plans. Cohen’s office also monitors insurers’ premiums and enforces consumer protections under the health law. </p> <p><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-06/u-s-health-insurance-regulator-gary-cohen-to-resign.html" title="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-06/u-s-health-insurance-regulator-gary-cohen-to-resign.html">http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-06/u-s-health-insurance-regulator-gary-cohen-to-resign.html</a></p>

Gary Cohen, CMS US Insurance Regulator Of Consumer Information and Oversight Center Resigns Effective the End of March, Missed His Oversight Target on Healthcare.Gov

He was a former California insurance regulator so who knows if he will end up back in some kind of position here when he returns?  Again I l...

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Walgreens and MyMedicalRecords Reach Settlement Agreement Related to Patent Infringements

<p>This is one of several patent infringements suits filed by MMRGlobal and if you read here often<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="89" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-hbCIwkzizdQ/UxiG8NNjFWI/AAAAAAABJhg/jBEKV08j-mc/image%25255B6%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" title="image" width="187" /> enough I have covered several of them to include <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/05/mmrglobal-files-patent-infringement.html">Allscripts</a> for one.   This is an interesting settlement as part of the agreement also states that the subsidiary of Walgreens, Drugstore.com will also be selling the PHR from MMRGlobal, MyMedicalRecords.com on their website.  Here’s the original post from my archives with additional details regarding the patents that were in question.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/01/mmrglobal-mymedicalrecordscom-files.html">MMRglobal (MyMedicalRecords.Com) Files Complaint In California Against Walgreen For Technology Patent Violations</a></h5> <p>Just a few days ago I also had a post with Walgreens filing patent infringements against CVS and Rite-Aid.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/03/walgreens-suing-cvs-rite-aid-wants.html">Walgreens Suing CVS, Rite Aid, Wants License and IP Damage Reimbursement, Patent Violations, Software Used For Refilling Prescriptions Via Mobile Phone Scanners…Not Getting Enough Data to Sell?</a></h5> <p>There have been a couple other patent infringement cases settled such as <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/01/mmrglobal-and-interbit-data-enter.html">Interbit</a>  but this appears to be the largest so far.  A couple years ago I spoke with Bob Lorsch about the patent violations before many of the larger cases had been filed.  Their original PHR patents filed go back a number of years and there are some additional pending applications that I assume relate to the original technologies that were covered.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/12/mmrglobal-patent-portfolio-bob-lorsch.html">MMRglobal Patent Portfolio, Bob Lorsch, CEO Answers Questions Relative to Patented Technologies</a></h5> <p>The dollar amount of the settlement was not stated as far as what Walgreens paid for the license purchased.  Below is the press release from today.  BD  </p> <p><strong><u> <hr />Press Release:</u></strong></p> <p>LOS ANGELES, CA and DEERFIELD, IL -- (Marketwired) -- 03/06/14 -- <a href="http://ctt.marketwire.com/?release=1095780&id=3970597&type=1&url=http%3a%2f%2fmmrglobal.com%2f">MMRGlobal, Inc.</a> (OTCQB: MMRF), through its wholly owned subsidiary MyMedicalRecords, Inc. (collectively, "MMR"), and Walgreen Co. (NYSE: WAG) (NASDAQ: WAG) ("Walgreens") announced today that they have entered into a Settlement and Licensing Agreement (the "Agreement") to resolve two patent infringement lawsuits brought by MMR. Pursuant to the terms of the <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="61" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-ux6MpHqNoWo/UxiG8tMHL_I/AAAAAAABJho/6FiLezR9VUg/image%25255B10%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" title="image" width="197" />Agreement, Walgreens purchased a Non-Exclusive License to the MMR family of patents. </p> <p><strong>The settlement arises from litigation involving MMR's U.S. Patent No. 8,301,466 and U.S. Patent No. 8,498,883. MMR's patent portfolio also includes U.S. Patent Nos. 8,121,855; 8,117,045; 8,117,646; 8,301,466; 8,321,240; 8,352,287; 8,352,288; 8,498,883; 8,626,532 and 8,645,161 as well as numerous pending applications</strong>. Pursuant to the terms of the Agreement, Walgreens has also agreed to sell MMR's MyMedicalRecords <a href="http://ctt.marketwire.com/?release=1095780&id=3970600&type=1&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.mmrvideos.com%2f">Personal Health Record</a> (the "MMR-PHR") on drugstore.com. The remaining terms of the Agreement are confidential. </p> <p><em>About MMRGlobal <br /></em>MMRGlobal, Inc., through its wholly-owned subsidiary, MyMedicalRecords, Inc., (MMR) is a leading provider of secure and easy-to-use online Personal Health Records ("PHRs") and electronic safe deposit box storage solutions incorporating its patented <a href="http://ctt.marketwire.com/?release=1095780&id=3970603&type=1&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.mmrvideos.com%2f">MyMedicalRecords PHR</a>. Each <a href="http://ctt.marketwire.com/?release=1095780&id=3970606&type=1&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.mymedicalrecords.com%2f">MyMedicalRecords</a> account covers up to 10 family members, including pets, and enables users to safely store medical records and images and other important documents, such as copies of birth certificates, passports, insurance policies, financial information, wills and advance directives, in the system and access and share them anytime from anywhere over an Internet-connected device anywhere in the world. MyMedicalRecords is currently available in English and Spanish, with other languages being added. Each MMR account includes file upload, e-mail, inbound/outbound fax and voice messaging as well as a special Emergency Login, which makes potentially life-saving health information accessible to medical personnel and first responders. Critical data is pre-selected by users to protect the confidentiality of records in the account. Additionally, each account includes numerous health management tools such as automatic prescription alerts and appointment reminders as well as a drug interaction tool that checks for adverse reactions between over 30,000 prescriptions and over-the-counter medications. The Company's professional offering, MMRPro, is designed to give physicians' offices an easy and cost-effective solution to digitize paper-based medical records and share them with patients through an integrated patient portal. The Company also owns a portfolio of biotech assets that include anti-CD20 antibodies, data and samples from the FavId™ vaccine clinical trials for the treatment of B-Cell Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. To learn more about MMRGlobal, Inc. visit <a href="http://ctt.marketwire.com/?release=1095780&id=3970609&type=1&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.mmrglobal.com%2f">www.mmrglobal.com</a>. View demos and video tutorials of the Company's products and services at <a href="http://ctt.marketwire.com/?release=1095780&id=3970612&type=1&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.mmrtheater.com%2f">www.mmrtheater.com</a>. </p> <p><em>About Walgreens <br /></em>As the nation's largest drugstore chain with fiscal 2013 sales of $72 billion, Walgreens (<a href="http://ctt.marketwire.com/?release=1095780&id=3970615&type=1&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.walgreens.com%2f">www.walgreens.com</a>) vision is to be the first choice in health and daily living for everyone in America, and beyond. Each day, Walgreens provides more than 6 million customers the most convenient, multichannel access to consumer goods and services and trusted, cost-effective pharmacy, health and wellness services and advice in communities across America. Walgreens scope of pharmacy services includes retail, specialty, infusion, medical facility and mail service, along with respiratory services. These services improve health outcomes and lower costs for payers including employers, managed care organizations, health systems, pharmacy benefit managers and the public sector. The company operates 8,206 drugstores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Take Care Health Systems is a Walgreens subsidiary that is the largest and most comprehensive manager of worksite health and wellness centers and in-store convenient care clinics, with more than 750 locations throughout the country.</p> <p><a href="http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=178404&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1906761&highlight=" title="http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=178404&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1906761&highlight=">http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=178404&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1906761&highlight=</a></p>

Walgreens and MyMedicalRecords Reach Settlement Agreement Related to Patent Infringements

This is one of several patent infringements suits filed by MMRGlobal and if you read here often enough I have covered several of them to in...

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Absolutely No Surprise Here, HHS States It Will Extend Time Frame For Those With Insurance Policies That Don’t Comply With Obamacare - It’s All About Those Algorithms, Complex IT Infrastructures That Need To Work Together With Insurers, Government and Clinical Care

<p>Anyone who read my blog has been beat over the head with this and the fact that times have changed. <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="111" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-lUu8Fc76wxo/Uxfb_r3vYWI/AAAAAAABJhQ/p21f7tsX0p4/image%25255B3%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" title="image" width="223" /> I used to write code folks and understand the changes, it’s not like it used to be as we are not in silos anymore with our data and we have too many politicians and in government that still think the “Algo Fairies” are going to show up at the last minute, well they are not.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/02/those-damn-killer-algorithms-keep.html">Screwing Up Obamacare, One more Delay Added for Small Businesses, Static Text Laws and Digital Technology Crossing Hairs, We Continue To Endure the Constant Rise And Fall Of The Machines… </a></h5> <p>Just had a <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/health-reform-implementation/199784-new-obamacare-delay-to-help-midterm-dems#comment-1271942453">great comment over at The Hill</a> today and it’s important enough to bring forward here, its reality and the fact that humans still write algorithms and code and you just can’t move it any faster, thus we have this announcement today.  If you want reality, it’s here at the Quack and if you want the OMG and soap opera news, well it’s everywhere else.  </p> <p><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="270" id="flashObj" width="480"><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=3291732450001&playerID=407451912001&playerKey=AQ~~,AAAAAEA-5AE~,7pYsU79IKz1jyZLSY9Sb290m5ARebDo_&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=3291732450001&playerID=407451912001&playerKey=AQ~~,AAAAAEA-5AE~,7pYsU79IKz1jyZLSY9Sb290m5ARebDo_&domain=embed&dynamicStreaming=true" base="http://admin.brightcove.com" name="flashObj" width="480" height="270" 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></p> <p><em>“Ding....Ding....Ding.....WOW!!!! You ma'am are the first person on this site or any other "political" site to even scratch this topic. YES THIS IS HOW CORPORATE AMERICA IS WINNING!!!!! Obviously it's much deeper than this as the levels of "robbery" in this nation are across multiple platforms and affect multiple people in multiple ways. But for you to post this and try to explain this to the readers here is......very admirable I must say.</em></p> <p><em>This is a thick headed crowd you are trying to communicate with but keep it up. Money has become nothing more than numbers, commas, and decimals that are ALL CAPABLE of being manipulated. The algorithms that you speak of control the entire "back-end" of our financial system......YES BELIEVE IT OR NOT CORPORATE AMERICA HAS THE GAME RIGGED FOLKS!!!!!</em></p> <p><em>I'm an IT technician for.......(can't or won't say where I work) so I have known and have understood this for many, many years now. Trying to get "non" information technology folks to understand that delicate equation is tough.......so I normally use words and terms WE ALL know and understand to inform people of Corporate America. Keep posting the good stuff.”</em></p> <p>Yes it’s ugly and it makes you mad but do you want the virtual world or the real world?  I’m in this too and have been writing for 3 to 4 years about this and as you read in the IT tech’s comments above, he’s<img align="right" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-fpaB8yOE0io/USv18tNlXUI/AAAAAAABFxM/25MkrAmeTq8/AlgoFairy1%25255B11%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="float: right; display: inline" /> been seeing it for years, just like me so I’m not unique.  Long and short of all of this is that time is needed to write the complex IT infrastructures to make it work, both on the government and private industry sides.  Wake up time and here’s the cold hard lesson…stop listening to the folks that believe in the algorithm fairies…that would include about 99% of the politicians for now.  Here’s why you can’t repeal it either, you want to trade in some old glitches for new ones?  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/01/repeal-and-replace-obamacare-not-hardly.html">Repeal and Replace Obamacare? Not Hardly From a Technological Standpoint As It Needs a Model-Nobody Wants to Swap Out Old Glitches For New Glitches: Modeling, Virtual Software Worlds and More Importantly Complex IT Infrastructure Reality, Get Hip…</a></h5> <p>A lot of this too is due to the fact that folks are confused too and can’t tell where the virtual world leaves off and where the real world values are and the link below goes into detail on that topic.  Who created the movie “HER”?  The daughter of Larry Ellison that grew up with all of this, <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/02/larry-ellison-ceo-oracle-hcm.html">she knows as well as her father does.</a>  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/01/movie-her-good-example-on-how-folks.html">Movie “HER”– Good Example On How Folks Can’t Separate And/Or Unite The Virtual With The Real World, Billionaires Are Made Out of Those Who Know How to Keep These Areas “Gray” With Creating and Maintaining The Addictive Code That Does It… </a></h5> <p>I would have thought the roll out of Healthcare.Gov would have had more of an impression but still looks like we have folks all over the place with looking for “Algorithm Fairies” and suffering from the “Sebelius Syndrome”.   If you want to believe the delay was for political reasons, then knock yourself out, real reason is that time is needed to write code for the complex IT infrastructures so things work and don’t come to a standstill.  Again look back at Healthcare.Gov and realize this is even a bigger project all the way around.  <a href="http://www.ducknet.net/attack-of-the-killer-algorithms/">Hop on over the the Algo Duping Page</a> if you want to learn more about how math models work with companies and banks.  There’s a lot there so come back and watch additional videos when you have time.  BD</p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/02/senator-grassley-and-kathleen-sebelius.html">Senator Grassley and Kathleen Sebelius Duking It Out Over Hospitals Paying Patient Premiums–A Case of One “Who Believes In Algorithm Fairies” Talking To Another… </a></h5> <p> <hr />The other shoe dropped Wednesday afternoon as the Department of Health and Human Services announced it would extend the time frame during which those with health insurance plans that don’t comply with Obamacare can keep their plans.</p> <p>There was one surprise, however, as HHS said that deadline would be extended by two years, not one as had been expected. President Barack Obama had said last fall that health plans consumers wanted to keep that didn’t comply with provisions of the Affordable Care Act could be extended by a year through 2014. It was <a href="http://blogs.marketwatch.com/health-exchange/2014/03/05/another-obamacare-delay-imminent-on-non-compliant-health-coverage/">reported earlier today</a> that could extend into 2015.</p> <p>Now, any small business or individual health policy that begins on or before Oct. 1, 2016, can remain in effect.  That means non-compliant plans could be in use through the end of September in 2017.</p> <p><a href="http://blogs.marketwatch.com/health-exchange/2014/03/05/non-compliant-health-plans-given-2-year-extension-not-one/" title="http://blogs.marketwatch.com/health-exchange/2014/03/05/non-compliant-health-plans-given-2-year-extension-not-one/">http://blogs.marketwatch.com/health-exchange/2014/03/05/non-compliant-health-plans-given-2-year-extension-not-one/</a></p>

Absolutely No Surprise Here, HHS States It Will Extend Time Frame For Those With Insurance Policies That Don’t Comply With Obamacare - It’s All About Those Algorithms, Complex IT Infrastructures That Need To Work Together With Insurers, Government and Clinical Care

Anyone who read my blog has been beat over the head with this and the fact that times have changed. I used to write code folks and understa...

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NHS Patient Data Used By Marketing Consultant to Advise Clients On Where To Target Facebook and Other Social Media Ads, And Let’s Not Forget the Barclay’s Breach While We Are At It, Medical Information Used and Sold As “Data Selling Epidemic” Continues to Grow

<p>We get that all the time here and we don’t know who’s using what.  This is why we need to license (and tax) all data sellers in the US and maybe the world for that matter.  The query monsters don’t ever stop <img align="right" height="125" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-56g3oTdzB-o/UvhKCsHwmjI/AAAAAAABJXI/HhyWxPEU4Gk/image%25255B8%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="float: right; display: inline" width="214" />and all of what they do is not bad as we get some really good stuff too but the bottom feeders with selling data, well most of them are just that, at the bottom.  In the UK a friend told me that being an insurance rep was at the bottom of the line too as it is in Germany with being the #1 ranked worst job.  The problem is the imbalance between the intangible versus the tangible business and I can’t fry a “Facebook Like” in the skillet yet for breakfast so I stay with what matters first and that is tangibles and technology used to create them.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/02/big-data-in-farming-back-to-data.html">Big Data In Farming, Back to the Data Selling Business Once Again With Concerns of Where the Data is Sold and Who Uses It To Profit, Paying for IP With the Food We Eat Today</a></h5> <p><strong>The folks at the NHS have a brand new boss coming in from United Healthcare on April 1st and it will be interesting to see what analytics and crafty algorithms come up as United Healthcare is one of the biggest data sellers in the US</strong> and what methodologies with the new “United Healthcare” trained head come up with?  I just say keep your eyes open as United is a “too big to fail” insurance company that grew by acquisitions as nobody pays any attention to massive and frequent acquisitions.  </p> <h5 align="left"><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/11/united-healthcare-executive-to-leave-us.html">United Healthcare Executive to Leave the US and Run the NHS in England-Big Data Math Models and Algorithmic Business Intelligence Formulas On the Move…All About Money…</a></h5> <p>Over in the UK you also now have Facebook partnering up with Barclays bank to teach folks to code and what they really want is “cheap code” and not have to hire developers……oh yes and let’s look at that privacy breach too…the UK seems to be in the front line of all of this.</p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/02/barclays-brokers-caught-selling.html">Barclays Brokers Caught Selling Confidential Data of Thousand of Clients–Whistleblower Exposes The Largest Detailed Information Bank Data Breach On Record, Information Included Health Information, Mortgages, Earnings and So On…Kind of Reads Like An Inside Job…</a></h5> <p>It’s like  pack of thieves as it’s basically money for nothing and the profits for free.  I’m telling you good or bad, the query masters can’t help themselves…I know I used to write them…good ones for efficiencies and not profit…but the scumbags are out there too.  Keep an eye out too on clinical trials, this is starting to leak over there too.  BD</p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/12/next-up-in-us-data-selling-epidemic.html">Next Up In The US Data Selling Epidemic- Clinical Trial Data Mining Recruiters Buying From Credits Agencies, Banks And Who Knows Where Else…</a></h5> <p> <hr />The security of NHS data was thrown into further doubt yesterday after it emerged anonymous<a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/11/united-healthcare-executive-to-leave-us.html"><img align="right" border="0" height="130" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-sEazwu7ZOGE/UrQC1h7qjJI/AAAAAAABI6E/_sRDx8Aki9E/image%25255B20%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" width="166" /></a> patient information has been used by a marketing consultancy to advise clients on targeting their social media campaigns.</p> <p>It comes amid growing concerns over plans to trawl patient records from every GP surgery in England, which were postponed last month after NHS chiefs admitted they had not done enough to inform and reassure the public about the scheme, known as care.data. MPs sought reassurances last week that the GP data, which could be accessed by researchers and approved private companies, would not be vulnerable to breaches of patient confidentiality.</p> <p><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/hospital-records-used-to-target-ads-on-twitter-and-facebook-say-privacy-campaigners-in-latest-nhs-data-concerns-9166633.html" title="http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/hospital-records-used-to-target-ads-on-twitter-and-facebook-say-privacy-campaigners-in-latest-nhs-data-concerns-9166633.html">http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/hospital-records-used-to-target-ads-on-twitter-and-facebook-say-privacy-campaigners-in-latest-nhs-data-concerns-9166633.html</a></p>

NHS Patient Data Used By Marketing Consultant to Advise Clients On Where To Target Facebook and Other Social Media Ads, And Let’s Not Forget the Barclay’s Breach While We Are At It, Medical Information Used and Sold As “Data Selling Epidemic” Continues to Grow

We get that all the time here and we don’t know who’s using what.  This is why we need to license (and tax) all data sellers in the US and m...

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InterSystems Joins Global Alliance for Genomics and Health - Group of World Experts in Healthcare, Biomedical Research, Technology, Ethics & Patient Advocacy

<p>Intersystems is that kind of “sleepy” technology company that most may not be aware of but you can read below how they work with Partners in Boston and how their technology is rooted in Epic <a href="http://genomicsandhealth.org/"><img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="77" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-zi6s3DWUa_k/UxdwstQBeQI/AAAAAAABJg4/dEZ82Xwuf-Y/image%25255B4%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" title="image" width="235" /></a>Medical Records. </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/10/partners-to-work-with-intersystems.html">Partners To Work With Intersystems Caché Database System, Same Embedded Components Used By Epic Medical Records And Others…</a></h5> <p>In addition the CEO last year was one of the latest billionaires to surface and again you can also see where the VA had some of their roots with InterSystems technologies.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/09/software-billionaire-ceo-of.html">Software Billionaire CEO of Intersystems Health IT in Framingham Massachusetts A Leader With Philanthropy And Where the VA Medical Records System Got It’s Start</a></h5> <p>All together there are about 200 organizations that are members.  The initial meeting of the group was held in January of 2013.  You can <a href="http://genomicsandhealth.org/files/public/Partner%20List%20Final_0.pdf">view all the members here</a> and there are quite a few universities on board as well as many oncology associations.   InterSystems appears to be one of the first “Health IT” companies to join.  </p> <p><a href="http://genomicsandhealth.org/our-work/working-groups">From the website (Current Working Groups)</a></p> <p><em>“The Global Alliance for Genomics and Health (Global Alliance) has formed four Working Groups to meet the challenge of creating a common framework of standards. These harmonized approaches will enable the responsible, voluntary, and secure sharing of genomic and clinical data.</em></p> <p><em>Each Working Group is tasked with developing the key products in a specific issue area that are necessary to catalyze the sharing of genomic and clinical data in an effective, responsible, and interpretable manner. As such outputs are developed, they will be shared among Global Alliance partners for comment, refinement, and improvement.”</em></p> <p><a href="http://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.intersystems.com&esheet=50816633&newsitemid=20140304006347&lan=en-US&anchor=InterSystems&index=1&md5=f6c789143b90361b4d884943de9d59ee"> <hr />InterSystems</a>, a global leader in software for connected care, has joined the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health (GA4GH), an alliance of 148 of the world's leading biomedical<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="64" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-MzMU2F8SJSc/UxdwtY20knI/AAAAAAABJhA/6Mbey0aIlzk/image%25255B8%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" title="image" width="222" /> research institutions, healthcare providers, information technology and life science companies, funders of research, and disease and patient advocacy organizations. </p> <p>Meeting today at the Wellcome Trust in London for the first face-to-face GA4GH partner meeting, InterSystems joins 200 of the world's leading experts in healthcare, biomedical research, technology, ethics, and patient advocacy. The non-profit partnership brings organizations from Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and the Americas. </p> <p> <a href="http://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwgeeks/article/InterSystems-Joins-Global-Alliance-for-Genomics-and-Health-Attends-First-Partner-Meeting-in-London-20140304#HT3UPVXtIZBWkavS.99">http://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwgeeks/article/InterSystems-Joins-Global-Alliance-for-Genomics-and-Health-Attends-First-Partner-Meeting-in-London-20140304#HT3UPVXtIZBWkavS.99</a></p>

InterSystems Joins Global Alliance for Genomics and Health - Group of World Experts in Healthcare, Biomedical Research, Technology, Ethics & Patient Advocacy

Intersystems is that kind of “sleepy” technology company that most may not be aware of but you can read below how they work with Partners ...

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Screwball Study of the Week, Meat and Dairy Products May Be As Detrimental To Your Health As Smoking, Proteins Are the New Bad Guy…

<p>Oh boy here we go again with the “click bait” news here.  Well some can just give up milk and steak and keep smoking I guess (grin)…yes that was satire.  Sure there’s some science to what was reported on the effects of milk and dairy products but not to the extent of the headlines here.  Must be a slow news week.  <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="132" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-rGC3v9iTg3c/UxbQBgLgw9I/AAAAAAABJgo/FsExKdoY_iQ/image%25255B2%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" title="image" width="187" /></p> <p><strong>Protein now is the new “bad guy”</strong> with diets according to this article and those who eat more of it will die sooner.  Plant protein is supposed to be better.  The study was done with mice so this is very early number crunching here.  One scientist already knocked the headlines too saying about what I did in the first paragraph.  Another study was done with over 6000 humans over 50 with how much protein they ate and who knows, some of them may have lied too.  </p> <p>Just scroll on down and watch video #1 in the footer here “Context is Everything” and see how professor Siefe tells you about how some of these studies are done and how some as just bunk, so with that I’ll just go back and finish my cup of coffee:)  BD</p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2011/01/numbers-dont-lie-but-people-do.html">Numbers Don’t Lie, But People Do”–Radio Interview</a></h5> <p> <hr />A new study, published in <a href="http://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/abstract/S1550-4131%2814%2900062-X">Cell Metabolism</a> on March 4, shows that middle-aged people who eat a diet high in animal proteins from milk, meat and cheese are more likely to die of cancer than someone who eats a low-protein diet. The research also showed the people who ate lots of meat and dairy were more likely to die at an earlier age. </p> <p>"There's a misconception that because we all eat, understanding nutrition is simple. But the question is not whether a certain diet allows you to do well for three days, but can it help you survive to be 100?" study co-author Valter Longo, Edna M. Jones professor of biogerontology at the USC Davis School of Gerontology and director of the USC Longevity Institute in Los Angeles, said in a <a href="http://news.usc.edu/#%21/article/59199/meat-and-cheese-may-be-as-bad-for-you-as-smoking/">press release</a>.</p> <p><a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/meat-dairy-may-be-as-detrimental-to-your-health-as-smoking-cigarettes/" title="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/meat-dairy-may-be-as-detrimental-to-your-health-as-smoking-cigarettes/">http://www.cbsnews.com/news/meat-dairy-may-be-as-detrimental-to-your-health-as-smoking-cigarettes/</a></p>

Screwball Study of the Week, Meat and Dairy Products May Be As Detrimental To Your Health As Smoking, Proteins Are the New Bad Guy…

Oh boy here we go again with the “click bait” news here.  Well some can just give up milk and steak and keep smoking I guess (grin)…yes that...

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Nursing Home Investigations in Los Angeles County Were Closed Without Investigations

<p>This is a sad story indeed as nursing home safety is important and gets overlooked all the time when it comes to safety.  There have been issues too with the VA with disability cased that were tossed<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="122" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-GgnDdD6zNpE/UxbKYueQMLI/AAAAAAABJgY/0zLJNaarIy8/image%25255B3%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" title="image" width="197" /> as I read a couple weeks ago.  We certainly don’t want this to take over with closing out investigations when people can’t get them done properly.</p> <p>CMS is also said to be conducting their own investigation of nursing homes.  One third of the nursing homes in California are in Los Angeles county.  Complaints that were anonymously filed were on the top of the list to be closed so something to keep in mind when filing a complaint is that those go to the bottom of the stack it sounds like.  Make sure any complaint has a name so folks are accountable to someone.</p> <p>Some of the open cases go back to 2001 and there are said to be over 9000 open.  BD </p> <p> <hr />Facing a backlog of hundreds of health and safety complaints about nursing homes, Los Angeles County public health officials told inspectors to close cases without fully investigating them, according to internal documents and interviews.</p> <p>The effort — known as the <strong>“Complaint Workload Clean Up Project”</strong> — has been going on since at least the summer of 2012, according to internal memoranda sent to managers and inspectors by county Department of Public Health supervisors.</p> <p>State and federal officials, who contract with Los Angeles County to inspect nursing homes on their behalf, said they are now investigating the matter.</p> <p>Statewide, public health officials have said there are more than 9,000 open cases dating as far back as 2001 and that they are addressing the backlog. A substantial portion of those cases are in L.A. County, but it is unclear precisely how many.</p> <p><a href="http://www.scpr.org/news/2014/03/04/42579/la-county-closed-nursing-home-safety-cases-without/" title="http://www.scpr.org/news/2014/03/04/42579/la-county-closed-nursing-home-safety-cases-without/">http://www.scpr.org/news/2014/03/04/42579/la-county-closed-nursing-home-safety-cases-without/</a></p>

Nursing Home Investigations in Los Angeles County Were Closed Without Investigations

This is a sad story indeed as nursing home safety is important and gets overlooked all the time when it comes to safety.  There have been is...

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McLaren Hospital System Announces Lay Offs and Cuts - Patient Deductibles Going Up, Provisions of Affordable Care Act With Lower Reimbursements At the Root of the Problem

<p>The CEO said it wouldn’t be surprised to see other hospitals doing the same in the next 6 months.  Just a couple weeks ago we had McLaren signing up with Shared Clarity, a United Healthcare subsidiary.  Along with</p> <p><img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="187" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-z3TJrktaXUo/UxU3CSrdigI/AAAAAAABJgI/wrtxA_Ng6fE/image%25255B6%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" title="image" width="181" /></p> <p> getting data to sell the association has a purchasing arrangement to where members can get lower costs on devices.  It was in the news today that stents would be primarily bought from Medtronic and Abbott.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/02/united-healthcare-adds-mclaren-care.html">United Healthcare Adds McLaren Care Health System Into the Shared Clarity Data Mining And Selling Venture Along With Dignity Health </a></h5> <p>The hospitals wouldn’t be doing this if they didn’t need the money but as the CEO states, a lot of their costs are fixed and this is the only answer.  You can also see Mayo out doing something similar with almost being a commercial for another division of United Healthcare, Optum Labs.  <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/11/mayo-clinic-receives-67-million-dollar.html">Mayo took in 9 billion in revenue</a> last year and showed $367 million in excess revenue (profits) and $300 million of that was a gift.  On the other side of the coin you have UMPC making a billion in excess profits and Cedar Sinai with over $600 million in excess revenue, so demographics and patient payer type mix does make a difference.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/04/more-data-for-sale-soon-with-shared.html">More Data For Sale Soon With Shared Clarity With United Healthcare Labs and Dignity Health–Crunching Numbers on Medical Devices With Shared Clarity</a></h5> <p><iframe style="height: 284px; width: 420px" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/PQu4utuu60U" frameborder="0" width="420" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p> <p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQu4utuu60U" title="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQu4utuu60U">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQu4utuu60U</a></p>

McLaren Hospital System Announces Lay Offs and Cuts - Patient Deductibles Going Up, Provisions of Affordable Care Act With Lower Reimbursements At the Root of the Problem

The CEO said it wouldn’t be surprised to see other hospitals doing the same in the next 6 months.  Just a couple weeks ago we had McLaren si...

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Duck Injuries Due to Cold Weather Are Soaring This Year Too…

<p>Ok time for a “duck” break here and they have had tough winter as well as the human. <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="174" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-v9BafdecfGQ/UxUwiqj_tAI/AAAAAAABJf4/JVoKYcE-jDA/image%25255B4%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" title="image" width="221" /> In Milwaukee they have a “rehab” center for “ducks”.  </p> <p>The ice is doing a number on the diving ducks that are confusing ice and water.  Poor things, notice the sign on the duck cage here “beware of attack duck”…well humans when they hurt are not the easiest to get along with either.</p> <p>Cages are cute they have a tiny pond in their cage.  The ducks will be turned back into the wild once they are back in good health.  Shoot these guys are getting better care I think than some human patients get:)  BD  </p> <p><iframe height="288" src="http://live.wsj.com/public/page/embed-ADEAEE9D_B0D1_4285_AE21_149659EC1B9A.html" frameborder="0" width="412" scrolling="no"></iframe></p> <p><a href="http://live.wsj.com/video/cold-winter-causes-duck-injuries-to-soar/ADEAEE9D-B0D1-4285-AE21-149659EC1B9A.html#!ADEAEE9D-B0D1-4285-AE21-149659EC1B9A" title="http://live.wsj.com/video/cold-winter-causes-duck-injuries-to-soar/ADEAEE9D-B0D1-4285-AE21-149659EC1B9A.html#!ADEAEE9D-B0D1-4285-AE21-149659EC1B9A">http://live.wsj.com/video/cold-winter-causes-duck-injuries-to-soar/ADEAEE9D-B0D1-4285-AE21-149659EC1B9A.html#!ADEAEE9D-B0D1-4285-AE21-149659EC1B9A</a></p>

Duck Injuries Due to Cold Weather Are Soaring This Year Too…

Ok time for a “duck” break here and they have had tough winter as well as the human. In Milwaukee they have a “rehab” center for “ducks”.  ...

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Aetna To End InvolveCare mHealth App-Didn’t Seem To Reduce Loneliness and Depression as Hoped

<p>They had a year’s go at it in beta and now are closing it down.  So many apps look good as a “proof of concept” and when you get them out there, all to often we find out the “model” doesn’t work in the “real” world as it appears in the “virtual” world and this must be one of those.  I swear we are absolutely “drowning” in apps, ideas that someone has to help connect and then you have a software developer that brings it to life.<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="118" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-s48EdpZDhMs/UxUIzzrvxmI/AAAAAAABJfo/mDre4LpQJjs/image%25255B2%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" title="image" width="187" />  If it doesn’t have the appeal of the real world as it appears in the virtual world, then it doesn’t make it.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/01/movie-her-good-example-on-how-folks.html">Movie “HER”– Good Example On How Folks Can’t Separate And/Or Unite The Virtual With The Real World, Billionaires Are Made Out of Those Who Know How to Keep These Areas “Gray” With Creating and Maintaining The Addictive Code That Does It…</a></h5> <p>The CEO came from <a href="http://www.patientslikeme.com/">“Patients Like Me”..</a>a website platform with similar idea of connecting the patient, caregivers and others to track health conditions and offer support.  </p> <p>This is a big issue today with virtual and real worlds and where the line gets drawn and folks can’t figure it out.  You have apps that few use and frustrated developers that thought their idea would work.  I think sometimes myself if I wrote an app for every idea I had…well you get the drift of that one.  A lot of things sound good but don’t end up being used and sometimes portions of the app end up somewhere else being an integrated module code to work with other code.  We have a lot of that going on with the “cash for code” projects to where developers get paid a few thousand for their efforts and the sponsors get “inexpensive” code.  W have enough out there to choke a horse in mobile apps.  Insurers do quite a bit of this and it looks like this is what Aetna will do with perhaps moving some of the features to <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/02/aetna-creates-branding-name-for-health.html">Healthagen,</a> another company Aetna bought.  </p> <p><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/01/verizon-latest-to-enter-code-for-cash.html"><strong>Verizon Latest to Enter “code for cash” Prize Format With $1 Million Top Pay Out for Writing Healthcare Apps That Use Their Platform, Is This the New “Corporate Business Model” To Yield Inexpensive Code?</strong></a></p> <p> <hr />As we reported in our <a href="http://mobihealthnews.com/30425/in-depth-payer-news-and-moves-at-himss-2014/"><strong>Friday in-depth report on payers at HIMSS</strong></a>, Aetna is <a href="https://www.involvecare.com/?q=important-message"><strong>shutting down its InvolveCare caregiver support app</strong></a>. The app has been in full beta, but will not receive a full commercial launch. Users will have until April 28 to download their data before having it deleted.</p> <p>“InvolveCare was introduced last fall and was in the late stage of a Beta roll-out,” Aetna Communications Director Sherry Sanderford wrote in an email to MobiHealthNews. “At this time, we decided not to move into full commercial operation. Instead, we are moving the technology and learnings from the endeavor into Healthagen for possible future offerings.”</p> <p>“When you look at creating a support network, with the enablement of technology it’s pushing toward actual integration and interaction between families,” he said. “Now you have something that actually encourages families to work together and then uses technology to enable it. And that actually, we believe in the long term is going to make a much more supported senior and ultimately reduce healthcare costs. And if we can reduce the loneliness, the depression, we will have changed their lives.”</p> <p><a href="http://mobihealthnews.com/30461/aetna-to-shut-down-new-caregiver-app-involvecare/" title="http://mobihealthnews.com/30461/aetna-to-shut-down-new-caregiver-app-involvecare/">http://mobihealthnews.com/30461/aetna-to-shut-down-new-caregiver-app-involvecare/</a></p>

Aetna To End InvolveCare mHealth App-Didn’t Seem To Reduce Loneliness and Depression as Hoped

They had a year’s go at it in beta and now are closing it down.  So many apps look good as a “proof of concept” and when you get them out th...

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Walgreens Suing CVS, Rite Aid, Wants License and IP Damage Reimbursement, Patent Violations, Software Used For Refilling Prescriptions Via Mobile Phone Scanners…Not Getting Enough Data to Sell?

<p>I missed this a couple weeks ago but thought it was still worth a mention.  Now is Walgreens a troll too?  <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="279" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-Dixiq5S5knY/UxQzNcsOyQI/AAAAAAABJfY/S6aS59ijzvQ/image%25255B9%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" title="image" width="166" />The reason I say this is they “just received the patent” a month ago and mobile phone scanning has been going on for a number of years now.  Shoot 6-6 years ago I was scanning with my old Windows Mobile phone.  Speaking of such, the patent case seems to specifically mention mobile apps on iPhones, Android phones and BlackBerrys, so I guess current day Windows phones are out the loop on this one.  </p> <p>So the deal here is to get CVS and Rite-Aid to pay up and buy some licenses.  “Express Refill” is the name of the software or program, Patent Number <a href="http://www.law360.com/patents/8626530">8,626,530</a>, titled “System and method for express refill.”  So this is the future with drug store kings that are cash rich suing each other right?  Walgreens is missing out on some data too if other drug stores are refilling those prescriptions:)  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/10/walgreens-cashing-in-big-in-data.html">Walgreens Cashing in Big In the Data Selling Epidemic Arena–Incentives Connected to Apps and Devices That Sell, Re-Query and Re-Sell Our Data And Data Profiles</a></h5> <p>A while back MMRGlobal filed suit against Walgreens for violations on patents they filed many years ago.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/01/mmrglobal-mymedicalrecordscom-files.html">MMRGlobal (MyMedicalRecords.Com) Files Complaint In California Against Walgreen For Technology Patent Violations</a></h5> <p>The complaint here also discusses the fact that customers are also being encouraged to use such programs at CVS and Rite-Aid stores too…stay tuned.  BD  </p> <p> <hr />Walgreen Co. (WAG)</p> , armed with a new patent, sued <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/RAD:US">Rite Aid Corp. (RAD)</a>, <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/CVS:US">CVS (CVS)</a> Caremark Corp. and Shopko Stores Inc., claiming they’re misappropriating its technology for refilling prescriptions with mobile-phone scanners. <p>Walgreen, the <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/WAG:US">largest</a> U.S. drugstore chain, with $72 billion in sales last fiscal year, got a patent last month for a system to “express refill” prescriptions and is entitled to exclusive use of the invention, the Deerfield, Illinois-based company said in complaints filed Jan. 31 in federal court in Wilmington, <a href="http://topics.bloomberg.com/delaware/">Delaware</a>. </p> <p>The chain said it “owns, offers and operates” mobile applications that run on iPhones, Android-equipped phones and BlackBerrys. Rite Aid, CVS and Shopko are using the methods without a license, according to Walgreen’s filing, which seeks unspecified damages and orders to stop the infringement. </p> <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-03/walgreen-sues-rite-aid-cvs-shopko-over-mobile-refills.html" title="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-03/walgreen-sues-rite-aid-cvs-shopko-over-mobile-refills.html">http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-03/walgreen-sues-rite-aid-cvs-shopko-over-mobile-refills.html</a>

Walgreens Suing CVS, Rite Aid, Wants License and IP Damage Reimbursement, Patent Violations, Software Used For Refilling Prescriptions Via Mobile Phone Scanners…Not Getting Enough Data to Sell?

I missed this a couple weeks ago but thought it was still worth a mention.  Now is Walgreens a troll too?  The reason I say this is they “ju...

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Greenway Medical Records Purchases PeopleLYNK Patient Engagement Software Company

<p>You may or may not be aware that Walgreens uses Greenway medical records at their retail clinics and this looks to be one more layer to reach out to patients.  There was a lot going on at Greenway last year <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="63" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-XY1gbdI7BSI/UxIYGb19wfI/AAAAAAABJek/lNShuFmg0VU/image%25255B6%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" title="image" width="187" />as it returned back to being a private company from being traded for only a couple years as a <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2011/07/greenway-medical-records-company-files.html">public company</a>.  You can read more at the link below on that topic from a few months ago.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/09/greenway-becomes-private-company-again.html">Greenway Becomes A Private Company Again As Merger With Vitera Healthcare, Owned By Vista Equity Partners Private Equity Is Approved by the Board</a></h5> <p>In addition, Greenway has partnered with Humana, the health insurer to also bring incentives to providers for purchasing their systems with  PrimeSUITE .</p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/08/humana-offers-financial-incentives-for.html">Humana Offers Financial Incentives for Primary Care Physicians To Use Greenway EHR PrimeSUITE–Up to 85% Reimbursement Possible</a></h5> <p>We heard at HIMSS this year patient engagement was going to be a prime topic and this <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="50" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-9egXhbAU4Gs/UxIYG-w0EPI/AAAAAAABJes/C-qbm5ee3hU/image%25255B3%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" title="image" width="138" />acquisition seems to be right in line there.  The software will reach out and remind patients of appointments and other items related to their care so as I read this is appears this will be integrated into the Greenway system as that would make sense versus another separate platform.  We have enough of that out there today with competition.  </p> <p>I would hope patients will be able to set their alert levels PeopleLYNK as well.  We a lot of choices out there today and selecting what we want and where we want it is a big deal so we don’t end up with overdoing it with too many alerts and get the ones we think as a patients is what we need.  </p> <div id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:416ccc6d-c81f-4b16-abb4-872c8b4ce409" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px"><div><object height="252" width="448"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/-YoBI93hIRU?hl=en&hd=1"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/-YoBI93hIRU?hl=en&hd=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="448" height="252"></embed></object></div><div style="width:448px;clear:both;font-size:.8em">PeopleLYNK</div></div> <b> <p> <hr /></p> <p>Carrollton, GA — Feb. 24, 2014 — </p> Greenway^®, a leading information technology partner to healthcare providers, has announced its acquisition of PeopleLYNK, an innovative patient engagement solution.</b> <p>PeopleLYNK promotes patient engagement in cooperation with PrimeSUITE^®, Greenway’s integrated practice management and electronic health record offering. Based on criteria in PrimeSUITE established by the provider organization, PeopleLYNK automates certain interactions with patients, including reminders, lab results, prescription notifications, clinical alerts and other communications. PeopleLYNK’s capabilities are intended to be made available to all Greenway customers over time.</p> <p><a href="http://www.greenwayhealth.com/press-releases/2014/02/extends-patient-engagement-service-acquisition-peoplelynk/" title="http://www.greenwayhealth.com/press-releases/2014/02/extends-patient-engagement-service-acquisition-peoplelynk/">http://www.greenwayhealth.com/press-releases/2014/02/extends-patient-engagement-service-acquisition-peoplelynk/</a></p>

Greenway Medical Records Purchases PeopleLYNK Patient Engagement Software Company

You may or may not be aware that Walgreens uses Greenway medical records at their retail clinics and this looks to be one more layer to reac...

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