Here’s the mHealth App and Device That Might Bury the Rest In the Dirt, SmartMio, Sit On Your Fanny, Exercise, Etc. and Get That Muscle Twitch Going To Boost Performance & Results…

<p>This is currently being crowd funded and let’s face it, even those who do work out <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="132" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-SP_2PqOCCfA/UzB8LcHKkWI/AAAAAAABJtg/Nb1XdE7UVQ4/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="228" />religiously seem to be jumping on this one.  If you wear it to work, no problem, folks can easily get used to seeing your body parts twitch when you tell them what’s going on:)  <a href="http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/smartmio-the-world-s-first-connected-wearable-sports-muscle-stimulator">Indiegogo</a> is the place to go to find out more and contribute to back the product if you want.</p> <p>Other than sticking it on your body it looks like you don’t have to do much and spend a lot of time interacting with the device and the app on your cell phone.  The phone collects the data of course.  They are promoting the product with the hopes of you moving around and not sitting on your butt though to really benefit.  </p> <p><iframe style="height: 250px; width: 425px" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/G8ocOz9gCsY" frameborder="0" width="560" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p> <p>If hidden under your clothes folks may not even see the muscle twitching so you can sit at your desk and work as well.   The plan is eventually to make the product communicate with Google Wear Smart Watches.  The product used to stick on your body has been FDA approved.  You can also find out more about the product here at their <a href="http://getsmartmio.com/faq.html#ems">home page.</a>  BD </p> <p> <hr />Singapore-based startup Smartmissimo has just launched an Indiegogo campaign for its product <a href="http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/smartmio-the-world-s-first-connected-wearable-sports-muscle-stimulator">SmartMio</a>, a sports muscle stimulator designed to help enhance sports performance.</p> <p>SmartMio uses electronic muscle stimulation or EMS,<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="238" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-ESXNJyTHkiY/UzB8MDmD7dI/AAAAAAABJto/iO6M5uOAMjg/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="253" /> and mimics what the brain does during a workout – that is, send nerve impulses to engage the muscles.</p> <p>The device consist of two sticky electrode pads that users can attach to the part of the body they want to target during their workout. Users can initiate and control their workout via an accompanying app available for Android and iOS devices. SmartMio comes with pre-set programs for various workouts designed for athletes or enthusiasts of any level.</p> <p>The device is designed for those who don’t have enough time to exercise or those who want to complement their existing workouts. Smartmissimo founders Alex Pisarev and Filip Almakov created SmartMio to help enthusiasts and athletes enhance their workout with a muscle stimulator that they can use wherever and whenever.</p> <p><a href="http://www.psfk.com/2014/03/electroshock-muscle-fitness-stimulator.html?utm_content=bufferf32c5&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer#!BbexZ" title="http://www.psfk.com/2014/03/electroshock-muscle-fitness-stimulator.html?utm_content=bufferf32c5&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer#!BbexZ">http://www.psfk.com/2014/03/electroshock-muscle-fitness-stimulator.html?utm_content=bufferf32c5&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer#!BbexZ</a></p>

Here’s the mHealth App and Device That Might Bury the Rest In the Dirt, SmartMio, Sit On Your Fanny, Exercise, Etc. and Get That Muscle Twitch Going To Boost Performance & Results…

This is currently being crowd funded and let’s face it, even those who do work out religiously seem to be jumping on this one.  If you wear ...

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$175,098.80 To Fix A Hammer Toe Billed by New York Podiatrist And the Insurer Paid It, Well Sort Of As They Sent the Check to the Patient By Accident, A New Investigation For “Out of Network” Charges Has Resulted

<p><strong><em>This is one for the books and where were those United Healthcare “fraud detection” algorithms on this one?</em></strong>  This would be a dead hit with the procedures to be way out of customary charges!  Why did this just slide on through when they are so brutal on other smaller charges with questions?   $5000 or even a little less <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="176" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-ZRmbtk5OqWk/Uy-5utX0SgI/AAAAAAABJtQ/jTiaixcy_Kg/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="242" />for this type of procedures in New York for fixing two crooked toes, but this podiatrist works on celebrities and the bill amount kind of indicates the size of a “celebrity bill” if you will.</p> <p>The patient now and her husband are holding on to the check and the doctor’s office tried relentlessly to get it, even offering to send a special messenger over to pick it up but the patient was not budging and you can’t blame them when you look at the amount.  The office provides “foot face lifts” with Botox and other types of injections as well.  </p> <p>Well perhaps since the patient’s husband is a Manhattan banker the doctor figured they were good for it, right?  In this case with United just sliding out such a huge check one might wonder do they get any preferential considerations too?  I’m just speculating on that like anyone might do.  Not only did United pay the bill, but added on over $4000.00 in interest so I am guessing it took a while to process.  The doctor’s office tried to say later that the bill had been a mistake after all the collection efforts had failed with getting the check from the patient and her husband.  </p> <p>The doctor has fixed the toes of celebrities like Barbara Walters, Bill Cosby, Oprah Winfrey, Katie Couric, Liam Neeson and Naomi Campbell.  That could be size of the bill they get?  You can have major surgery for this price.  Here’s a 20/20 video featuring the doctor from a few years ago explaining one of her foot fix procedures.  BD</p> <p><iframe style="height: 248px; width: 420px" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/S68KJm_CHgk" frameborder="0" width="420" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p> <p> <hr />The insurer agreed to pay $170,940.04 plus $4,158.76 in interest, according to the explanation of benefits that Renee Kantrowitz received along with the check.</p> <p>The sum is more than enough to pay for major heart surgery at NYU Langone Medical Center, where it costs the average patient $125,392.</p> <p>A Park Avenue podiatrist billed $178,900 to fix two crooked toes, office procedures that lasted less than an hour.</p> <p>Amazingly, insurance giant United Healthcare/Oxford paid most of the bill, cutting a check earlier this month for $175,098.80.</p> <p><strong>Instead of sending the check to Suzanne Levine, a foot fixer with a roster of celebrity clients, United Healthcare mailed it to the shocked patient. And Levine’s office has been frantically trying to collect the money.</strong></p> <p>“I’m stunned,” said Dr. John Santa, a director of Consumer Reports Health. “Did they use a proton beam for this?”</p> <p>There are no laws regulating prices, state officials say. Other Upper East Side podiatrists say they don’t bill more than $3,000 to correct a hammertoe.</p> <p>Levine — who as a podiatrist is not a medical doctor — injects Botox to smooth out tootsies (“for that ‘angry’ look”) and touts procedures such as “foot face-lifts.” She also injects Juvéderm and other chemicals into the pads of feet as a cushion against the pain of high heels.</p> <p>Levine offered to straighten out one of Kantrowitz’s toes, making a small incision in her foot, a procedure done in one of her exam rooms that took about 25 minutes. When Kantrowitz returned for a follow-up, Levine did another toe in a similarly short session.</p> <p>Kantrowitz said he’s holding onto the uncashed check until he gets answers. A spokeswoman for United Healthcare said it has launched an investigation “into the provider’s billing for out-of-network services, as charges like these are beyond egregious. We are suspending payment in this situation pending investigation.”</p> <p><a href="http://nypost.com/2014/03/16/180k-bill-for-simple-foot-procedure-sparks-payment-fight/" title="http://nypost.com/2014/03/16/180k-bill-for-simple-foot-procedure-sparks-payment-fight/">http://nypost.com/2014/03/16/180k-bill-for-simple-foot-procedure-sparks-payment-fight/</a></p>

$175,098.80 To Fix A Hammer Toe Billed by New York Podiatrist And the Insurer Paid It, Well Sort Of As They Sent the Check to the Patient By Accident, A New Investigation For “Out of Network” Charges Has Resulted

This is one for the books and where were those United Healthcare “fraud detection” algorithms on this one?   This would be a dead hit with t...

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Senators Ask FDA About mHealth, Move the ONC Over To the FDA-Both Could Collaborate Better Together and We Get More Than One View, Help Pave The Way For Better Regulatory Processes For All of Us With Both Safety And Software Issues Working Together For the Same Goal…

<p>I said this a few months ago to move the ONC over there as they really would probably like having access to FDA software engineers and the engineers at the FDA would probably like having the<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="208" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-JYH0EI2E0X4/Uy-eA5QAGVI/AAAAAAABJtA/QbYyQcvQYko/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="244" /> input from the ONC from the clinical and user side.  It would be a win-win instead of this debate we seem to be having right now on the topic.  It’s just like a lot of other things in the world today, as technology graduates outside of given silos, no matter what kind of silo they are and I don’t mean just data, the folks that need to regulate and over see need to collaborate as well and join forces.  </p> <p>Now that medical devices are adding data to medical records in some instances you need the ONC input there as well for their view and not just the FDA from a safety standpoint.  Again collaboration here with both view points on the table at the same time would be good thing.  Now the Senators aren’t going to understand the entire picture anyway, as that’s kind of the way they work.  . </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/07/mhealth-why-battle-over-where.html">mHealth Why Battle Over Where the Responsibility Lies, Make the ONC A Division of the FDA, Better Collaboration and Software Engineering Exposure Both Ways Around </a></h5> <p>I keep talking about the non partisan re-establishment of the “Office of Technology Assessment” that could research a lot of this stuff for them and help them out, but we have deaf ears and things like fake filibusters and Dr. Seuss being read seem to take priority.  By the way, Senator Cruz is my current “poster child” for that campaign that was initiated by the Sunlight Foundation.  The only problem with it is that it has not seen any “sunlight” yet.  I do have to admit during that “fake” filibuster I joined in the tweets with some intelligent tweets with links giving information and picked up a few members of Congress now following me on Twitter, of course they were those that embrace Twitter as a good news feed.  I had a fellow geek tell me about it that day and we decided to pound on them with “intelligence” via Twitter (grin).  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/09/jon-stewart-discusses-little-paper.html">Jon Stewart Discusses “Little Paper Senator Cruz”–Yet More Startling Proof For the Need to Restore the Tool Congress Needs–The Office of Technology Assessment</a></h5> <p>I’ll be darned if I can figure it out but if I were a member of Congress I would “love” to have<img align="right" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-qddOMJw2XJw/UkScaZ0U4KI/AAAAAAABH8s/m7IGhjOfQ6M/image%25255B3%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="float: right; display: inline" /> an agency of such to get the information to help me and do the research but these folks seem to think they have to show “they know it all” and we know that’s not the case anywhere today in the world, so flash backs to the 70s I guess with old perceptions that don’t apply any more.<strong>  Shoot even if they would deploy old IBM Watson around there they could at least query and model a lot better than what gets done now as they leave too many loopholes out there that a trained system like Watson could find for them ahead of time.</strong>  <em>Those in the money business, i.e. banks didn’t waste any time,</em> so <em>it might just be time to “keep up with the banks” as the Jones moved out of town years ago </em>and you don’t have to worry about them anymore.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/03/ibm-watson-going-to-work-at-citigroup.html">IBM Watson Going to Work At Citigroup on Wall Street–Congress Didn’t See Big Data As A Tool (Hadoop Framework) When They Had Their Chance…For Consumers The Attack of the Killer Algorithms–Chapter 22</a></h5> <p>Why can I sit here and see that and others haven’t?  It’s not rocket science but rather more about “data mechanics” I guess and that’s probably why my opinionated brain goes there, it’s as clear as day.  With complexities pushing Meaningful Use to the all with a new model there needed if it is going to continue, this would be doing something right now in an area that needs to start collaborating real soon as the technology is not waiting and the ONC could go about their other business items they tend to, just in a different place with access to greater resources.  What do you think business does when they have departments begin to cover related and like portions of business, the same thing.  <img align="right" height="72" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-FxTtKvxbSjo/UXeeSoJcM8I/AAAAAAABGmQ/8o1LZjLlNeI/image%25255B15%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="float: right; display: inline" width="170" /></p> <p>With the questions listed it doesn’t sound like the Senators have found or used the FDA mobile app either and I would almost bet none of them have even touched any consumer mobile apps.  Are we not talking mHealth here..hello? </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/02/fda-sentinel-and-mini-sentinel-data.html">FDA Sentinel and “Mini” Sentinel Data Base Is Growing and Becoming A Very Useful Tool </a></h5> <p>Maybe the senators should check it out and participate like the rest of us try to do?  These guys and their questions are focusing around emails.  Another question is quite amusing as well with asking how will they determine safety on a type of devices that’s never been approved before?  Well are we talking one with software?  There you go a nice joint effort with FDA engineers and the ONC to work on together.  </p> <p>Are there better tools the FDA needs?  Well again it’s a lot of software and and of course the in house or contracted engineers at the FDA do their best as they could be that patient at the end of that device too so they are motivated.  </p> <p><strong>“What approach does the FDA use to regulate complex software”…oh golly gee…folks we can’t write this one in stone as software comes in all sizes, shapes and colors and platforms.</strong>  It conducted like anyone other software evaluation along with as much testing and debugging that can be done, <em>much unlike the release of Healthcare.Gov was done (grin).</em>  <strong>The FDA is quite a bit ahead of the game compared to the top management at HHS who had no “data mechanics” background</strong> at all and when it comes to technology <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/02/senator-grassley-and-kathleen-sebelius.html">magpie styled quotes even become difficult for her</a>.  </p> <p><strong>So come on Congress, get yourself some tools (Office of Tech Assessment and maybe IBM Watson) and help yourself out a bit, you might be glad you did and don’t be a spectator all the time</strong>.  <u>FDA Commissioner Hamburg too is already talking about mHealth and she gets it,</u> “context” which is a good thing for her input.  She can see the glut of what has emerged on the consumer side and again I think it’s a great idea to<strong> bring the ONC over to the FDA as we will all benefit and it might be a little job security for the ONC too come to think of it next time Congress decides to start looking at cutting somewhere:)  BD  </strong></p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/12/fda-commissioner-margaret-hamburg.html">FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg Addresses “Context” And Safety at mHealth Conference-More Important Than The “Latest New Thing” Out There..</a></h5> <hr />Six US senators sent the FDA a letter this week to check in on the agency’s interactions with mobile health app developers since it published its final guidelines for mobile medical app regulation last year. The senators who signed the letter – Michael Bennet, Orrin Hatch, Tom Harkin, Lamar Alexander, Mark Warner, and Richard Burr — stated that they wanted to ensure the agency’s oversight over medical apps remained current with changing technologies and that they believed the FDA should provide even more clarity on how the “range of medical software might be appropriately regulated”. That said, this group of senators lauded the agency’s risk-based approach to regulating medical apps as outlined in the final guidance. <p><a href="http://mobihealthnews.com/31183/six-senators-ask-fda-how-mobile-medical-app-regulation-is-going/" title="http://mobihealthnews.com/31183/six-senators-ask-fda-how-mobile-medical-app-regulation-is-going/">http://mobihealthnews.com/31183/six-senators-ask-fda-how-mobile-medical-app-regulation-is-going/</a></p>

Senators Ask FDA About mHealth, Move the ONC Over To the FDA-Both Could Collaborate Better Together and We Get More Than One View, Help Pave The Way For Better Regulatory Processes For All of Us With Both Safety And Software Issues Working Together For the Same Goal…

I said this a few months ago to move the ONC over there as they really would probably like having access to FDA software engineers and the e...

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Medical Device Recalls Are Rising In Big Numbers, More Devices On the Market and More Using Complex Software Solutions Than Ever Before Account For The Increase In Numbers

<p>To be fair, you almost have to ask the question as to “what area has software not touched” with either glitches or recalls, it’s everywhere and probably the last place we want to see that issue is with medical<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="121" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-cOzBqD2V-3w/Uy8BDEX5P0I/AAAAAAABJsw/FvEW_lw6CQg/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" /> devices.  Some are much more critical than others of course, especially one that is implanted as we have probably all read the stories about the potential to be hacked.  Sometimes the software is only as good as the next hacker that comes along too.</p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/07/medical-device-recalls-involve-software.html">Medical Device Recalls Involve Software Flaws in Almost 1/4 Cases–Why the FDA Needs Engineers Just the Rest of the World</a></h5> <p>A few years ago I wrote this magazine article about FDA recalls and myself I wouldn’t mind having “over the counter” drugs having a bar code that I could scan to check for recalls, and of course this would be a massive project.  The FDA has done quite a bit of work on the project, but Jay Crowley who headed the project left not too long ago for a job in private industry.  Here’s a <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/p/healthcare-bar-code-posts.html">condensed version of links</a> that I have written over the years on the topic.  </p> <table style="height: 240px; width: 270px" bgcolor="#f4f4f4"><tbody> <tr> <td valign="middle" colspan="3" align="center"><iframe height="200" src="http://www.yumpu.com/document/embed/MKdIsBRGhhb7mGCZ" frameborder="0" width="270" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> <br /></td> </tr> <tr> <td><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #555555"><a href="http://www.yumpu.com/document/view/298448" style="text-decoration: none; border-top: #ffffff 1px solid; border-right: #ffffff 1px solid; border-bottom: #ffffff 1px solid; border-left: #ffffff 1px solid; background-color: white; -moz-border-radius: 6px; -webkit-border-radius: 6px" target="_blank" title="FDA Recalls Never End - Magazine Article "><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #999999">FDA Recalls Never End</span> </a></span></td> <td> <br /></td> <td align="right"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #555555"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/rearrange?blogID=3741684961227307530&action=editWidget&sectionId=sidebartab1&widgetType=null&widgetId=HTML1" style="text-decoration: none; border-top: #ffffff 1px solid; border-right: #ffffff 1px solid; border-bottom: #ffffff 1px solid; border-left: #ffffff 1px solid; background-color: white; -moz-border-radius: 6px; -webkit-border-radius: 6px" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #999999"></span></a></span> <br /></td> </tr> </tbody></table> <p>In addition there’s different classes of devices too with everything from very basic consumer devices all the way up to devices that now algorithmically enter data into electronic medical records.  The mobile movement of mHealth is growing too and you see everything out there with all the ideas floating around too, so in that area with more integration with data and records I think it’s a good idea to put these two divisions of HHS together so we can all benefit.  It’s only going to keep growing and I see a much brighter future of the two collaboration versus dueling over who’s going to regulate.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/07/mhealth-why-battle-over-where.html">mHealth Why Battle Over Where the Responsibility Lies, Make the ONC A Division of the FDA, Better Collaboration and Software Engineering Exposure Both Ways Around</a></h5> <p>I wish there was an simpler answer to reducing recalls as does everyone I’m sure but the reality of the complex software world we live in today, I don’t think that is going away any time soon.  It’s everywhere and was very public with the release of Healthcare.gov with software issues so the reality here is that hopefully government and consumers wake up to this fact and stop believing in “miracle algorithms fairies” to come in and fix things in a hurry, it takes time with writing complex code today.  The more devices you have out there, the more recalls you are going to have and the best way to address this is to use analytics to identify big issues of course as well as small one too.  Again I go back to my original idea to make this information available to consumers and clinical personnel as soon as possible.  Bar codes could be it someday.  </p> <p>I have to admit too the consumer side of so many different devices has tendency to make me nuts as we are at the point now to where it’s like “ho hum” one more device that can do a heart rate or function as a pedometer with the addition of accelerators in cell phone.  You also have to keep in mind that there’s a commitment from the end user to interact with the data and sometimes with busy life styles today, we don’t have time and thus the model created by the software designers doesn’t work as “people don’t work that way”.  I know that song well from the days I spent designing software as I would think a screen design was something of use and then when doctors put it into use, they told me “it sucked” so again the meeting of the minds here with what a software developer “thinks” is a good model and the reality of the “real”world to use it or not.  Right  now we have software just killing us right and left with so many ideas being tossed against the wall to see what sticks, so that show goes on.</p> <p>Again too with devices we have to look at “privacy” as well and that’s another issue of it’s own as the “data selling” epidemic continues to grow as people are making money from the virtual world of data and the downside of some of this too is the lack of tangibles we seem to produce in the US.  Will the FDA someday be approving software using facial recognition?  Could be if it interacts with medical data.  FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg has her hands full in that area and lucky enough for us she’s a big safety advocate as well and puts that issue in front of the latest and greatest “Thing” out there too.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/12/fda-commissioner-margaret-hamburg.html">FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg Addresses “Context” And Safety at mHealth Conference-More Important Than The “Latest New Thing” Out There..</a></h5> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/04/fda-and-smart-phone-devices-struggle.html">FDA and Smart Phone Devices Struggle With Applications and Regulations–Get More Engineers at the FDA and Don’t Rush the Developers With Medical Software</a></h5> <p>Again you can’t overlook the impact of additional software included with devices today and this area is only going to grow.  Again if it every becomes a reality, having the ability to scan over the counter products would really be a big plus for consumers as some of those products also require FDA approval.  In addition today we have new for profit<img align="right" height="81" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-FxTtKvxbSjo/UXeeSoJcM8I/AAAAAAABGmQ/8o1LZjLlNeI/image%25255B15%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="191" /> and no profit efforts to study and research some of the best performing devices,  especially when it comes to expensive medical devices, like ones that are implanted.  The FDA has their Sentinel Program which is starting to pay off with research information but again there <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/08/pharma-and-health-insurance-companies.html">are those ready to make money from the process as well.</a> </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/02/fda-sentinel-and-mini-sentinel-data.html">FDA Sentinel and “Mini” Sentinel Data Base Is Growing and Becoming A Very Useful Tool </a></h5> <p>In addition, the FDA does have an app that offers updated information for both clinicians and consumers alike that well worth a look when you are searching for some additional information relative to devices and drugs.  BD  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/04/fda-creates-new-mobile-cellphone-app-to.html">FDA Creates New Mobile Cellphone App to Help Doctors And Consumers Report Deaths and Injuries From Medical Devices and Drugs to the Agency And They Won’t Sell Your Data Either</a></h5> <p> <hr /></p> <p>Recalls of defective medical devices nearly doubled in the decade from 2003 through 2012, according to a Food and Drug Administration report due Friday. </p> <p>The total number of recalls rose to 1,190 in 2012, up from 604 in 2003. There was a sharp increase in recalls where the defective product carried a reasonable probability of death. In 2012, there were 57 of these so-called Class I recalls, up from seven in 200</p> <p><a href="http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304756104579452062734883356?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702304756104579452062734883356.html" title="http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304756104579452062734883356?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702304756104579452062734883356.html">http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304756104579452062734883356?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702304756104579452062734883356.html</a></p>

Medical Device Recalls Are Rising In Big Numbers, More Devices On the Market and More Using Complex Software Solutions Than Ever Before Account For The Increase In Numbers

To be fair, you almost have to ask the question as to “what area has software not touched” with either glitches or recalls, it’s everywhere ...

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CVS Faces Lawsuit Filed By Employee Over Privacy Violations And Charging a $600 Fine For Non Participation In Wellness Program - The Term “Human Capital” Should Absolutely Be Abolished As Well Anymore..

<p>Ok let’s remember these are the good guys when it comes to tobacco with their big PR campaign that also got <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/02/dea-raids-2-cvs-stores-in-florida-and.html">busted by the DEA last year in Florida at two stores</a> and are <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/03/cvs-drug-stores-could-face-29-million.html">under investigation and face a potential $29 million dollar fine  in Los Angeles for letting Vicodin walk the doors of stores</a>.  You know the big PR thing definitely takes the back seat to all of the other action taking place there for sure including this new case.   I look at the big picture here and take in all of what’s going on.  <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="74" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-2rhwfzXrIyA/Uy5GTscjKVI/AAAAAAABJsY/6eE_nddle3M/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="294" />On the tobacco project there’s tons of other stores big and small so one less retailer is not going to make much difference other than the PR they get and they will just sell more data more than likely to make up the money.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/02/cvs-tobacco-announcementgood-marketing.html">CVS Tobacco Announcement–Good Marketing, Good Ethics, Good PR, But What Does It Have To Do With Filling Prescriptions And What Will Replace The Revenue Streams…</a></h5> <p>They are doing a good thing promoting Obamacare now at their stores as well as Ralphs grocery stores putting folks at tables to draw more enrollments with the insurance exchange and that just came out this week as a last minute push.  </p> <p>You just can’t push people the way that corporations are trying to do these days and education is still the better path as people are going to resist.  It was about a year ago the wellness program and it’s $600 fine was announced.<strong>  A big number of wellness companies today are owned by insurance companies</strong> as a subsidiary and I’ve covered enough of that in particular with United buying up a ton of Wellness companies for one example.  Where do you think the pressure could be coming from?    <strong>They also have Walgreens suing them over mobile software patent infringements.</strong></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>This is the same thing that Penn State tried to do with penalizing their employees for not participating and using a wellness portal.  It’s about the data they can collect, assess and potentially sell as well. </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/09/wellness-questionnaires-coming-under.html">Wellness Questionnaires Coming Under Scrutiny, Federal Lawmaker Wants Rules–Many Wellness Programs Are Subsidiaries of Health Insurance Companies and Most Mine Data For Sale</a></h5> <p>Then there’s the auto refill prescription issue that has <strong>pharmacists on pay for performance to nab up refills from competitors.</strong>  I guess it’s no wonder we have to keep making a big play of the tobacco issue, just the get the stuff out the stores and do your good deed if  and shut up about it. Tell us when it’s all gone, if you like but  take care of these other more pressing issues at hand.  They are hurting consumers and now employees.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-prescription-auto-refills-still-out.html">The Prescription Auto-Refills Still Out There With CVS and Others as Pay for Performance Efforts Ramp Up at US Corporate Retail Pharmacies To Meet Quotas and Make Those Profit Numbers for the Shareholders</a></h5> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-automatic-prescription-refill.html">The Automatic Prescription Refill Algorithm Causing Havoc at CVS When Not Personally Authorized By the Patient–Attack of the Killer Algorithms Chapter 40</a></h5> <p>I am also flat out tired of hearing the term “human capital” as that makes us look like we are <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="136" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-vovg8JKdahQ/Uy5GUuoL07I/AAAAAAABJsg/tdVvgmTuibg/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" />a “share of stock” and part of some kind of investment banking situation.<strong>  It is a way in which terminology used leaves out the human and ethical part of business.</strong>  The screening program also wanted to know if she was sexually active and if it was not completed, the $600 dollar one time fine would occur.  </p> <p>They hope to make this a class action suit from what I am reading here as well.<strong>  The employee went to her own doctor for the health assessment for $25.00 and CVS offered her the same at one of their Minute Clinics for a charge of $125.00, what a deal?</strong>   So we come back to how the wording is I guess on the health insurance as those who use the company plan have to submit to the screening or pay $600 more a year and that’s the rub, so if they want healthy employees is it not worth the company’s while to pay for the screening?  You would think so but that doesn’t appear to be the implementation methodology here at all.  BD  </p> <hr />A CVS employee is suing the pharmacy chain over its controversial health-screening program. <p>CVS cashier Roberta Watterson <a href="http://www.courthousenews.com/2014/03/17/66188.htm">claims the company made </a>her disclose personal information, including her weight and level of sexual activity, threatening to charge her $600 a year if she refused. </p> <p>CVS' so-called "wellness review," <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/20/cvs-workers-insurance_n_2915006.html">first reported last year</a>, is a fairly extreme example of a trend of companies looking to cut health-care costs by pushing employees into wellness programs. </p> <p>Critics claim such programs let employers meddle in workers' lives, unfairly penalize those who have difficulty meeting certain health targets and may put employee privacy at risk. </p> <p>Though Watterson's suit highlights the privacy concerns raised by employer health screenings, her more pressing claim in the suit <a href="http://www.courthousenews.com/2014/03/17/66188.htm">is that CVS should compensate her </a>for the cost of the health screening as well as the gas she used to travel to the doctor and the free time she spent getting tested. The suit is seeking class-action status. </p> <p><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/20/cvs-health-screening_n_4986861.html?view=print&comm_ref=false" title="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/20/cvs-health-screening_n_4986861.html?view=print&comm_ref=false">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/20/cvs-health-screening_n_4986861.html?view=print&comm_ref=false</a></p>

CVS Faces Lawsuit Filed By Employee Over Privacy Violations And Charging a $600 Fine For Non Participation In Wellness Program - The Term “Human Capital” Should Absolutely Be Abolished As Well Anymore..

Ok let’s remember these are the good guys when it comes to tobacco with their big PR campaign that also got busted by the DEA last year in F...

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Doctor Participant Information Company Relative To Medical Devices Gets Some Funding, Allows Hospitals To Review Information About Both Price and Performance From Contributors

<p>This will be interesting to see how this works.  All are in the pursuit to see what works best and to save money at the same time and thus this company has created a website to where Hospitals and doctors  can both contribute and benefit from the information provided by others, maybe like an extended version of a “Yelp” type<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="174" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-u9mISM6emAk/Uy4f-y3X96I/AAAAAAABJsI/h3c1QFxRHBo/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="254" /> platform if you will.  With contributing information one hospital might be able to see that they are paying more or less than another.  When it comes to knees and hips, Kaiser with their registry program earned it own merits a couple years ago as the information did in fact lead to better functioning devices purchased as well as some savings along the line.  </p> <p><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2011/01/kaiser-permanente-registry-information.html"><strong>Kaiser Permanente Registry Information Pays Off With Hip and Knee Replacements For Patient Having Double Hip Surgery (Video)</strong></a></p> <p>In addition since Kaiser has their own PHR with contributions from both patients and doctors there were follow up notes that could add content as well to see longer periods of time down the road as to how the devices were functioning.  </p> <p><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/07/kaiser-permanente-demonstrates-success.html"><strong>Kaiser Permanente Demonstrates Success of Large-Scale Total Joint Replacement Registry With Help from Health Connect PHR</strong></a></p> <p>It is subscription based so that’s how the site makes their money.  This is much different than Castlight that just had their IPO as their service is is dependent upon the feeds from insurance companies where this service is not.  We all know medical devices can be expensive, depending upon what they are for one so with doctors leaving feedback about devices, the hospitals can research and use it for decision making.  This is getting interesting as this business opens up and then we have this one over here (link below) wanting to do extensive analytics and “sell” the information derived from mining patient medical records with hospitals as part owners being able to participate in some of the revenue, so what will take off, will it be selling the data or a lesser expensive contributing site like this one to be of value to hospitals?  BD  </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> <hr />The medical device market is so obtuse that <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-01-10/how-much-do-medical-devices-cost-doctors-have-no-idea">most doctors are completely in the dark</a> about how much it costs to buy a blood pressure monitor or a spinal screw. <p>A tiny startup called <a href="https://procuredhealth.com/">Procured Health</a> just secured $4 million in series A funding from health care-focused firm <a href="http://www.claytonassociates.com/fca-venture-partners/">FCA Venture Partners</a>. Procured is working with U.S. hospital systems like Hoag Hospital, Asante Health, St. Charles Health, and about two dozen others to bring some much-needed transparency to medical-device pricing.</p> <p>Gross margins are so high, according to Procured’s chief executive Hani Elias, due to the “really high price points” that regularly go unchecked. It’s a common practice for medical-device manufacturers to require that purchasing departments keep prices confidential.</p> <p>This means that manufacturers can charge some hospitals more than others for the same product. A 2012 <a href="http://www.gao.gov/assets/590/587688.pdf">Government Accountability Office (GAO) report</a> found that the average cost hospitals paid for <a href="http://bcht.berkeley.edu/docs/Vol.2.2.Knee_Replacement.pdf">knee implants</a> ranged from $3,408 to $10,830, and the average price paid for <a href="http://bcht.berkeley.edu/docs/Vol.2.8.Pacemakers.pdf">implantable cardioverter-defibrillators</a> ranged from $19,578 to $35,916.</p> <p>Procured isn’t the only startup bringing transparency to insurance providers and health care systems. <a href="http://healthsparq.com">HealthSparq</a> is building an online shopping site for health care services, and <a href="http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303563304579447632330535824?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702303563304579447632330535824.html">WellPoint recently announced</a> it will work more closely with health providers to avoid costly problems.</p> <p><a href="http://venturebeat.com/2014/03/20/procured-health-gets-4m-to-find-out-why-an-artificial-knee-can-cost-3500-or-10k/" title="http://venturebeat.com/2014/03/20/procured-health-gets-4m-to-find-out-why-an-artificial-knee-can-cost-3500-or-10k/">http://venturebeat.com/2014/03/20/procured-health-gets-4m-to-find-out-why-an-artificial-knee-can-cost-3500-or-10k/</a></p>

Doctor Participant Information Company Relative To Medical Devices Gets Some Funding, Allows Hospitals To Review Information About Both Price and Performance From Contributors

This will be interesting to see how this works.  All are in the pursuit to see what works best and to save money at the same time and thus t...

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A Few More Bad Algorithms Found With Healthcare.Gov, Mostly Impacting Calculations of Subsidies in States That Have Not Expanded Medicaid

<p>This is quite a long article here but now it appears that in some areas and states there were errors with the calculations and numbers from the wrong year were used.  People were getting quotes “higher” than what should have been presented.  In addition, the transparency here is questioned too as enrollees received  yes or a no instead of a more detailed explanation.  California was said to be spot on as was the Kaiser Permanente calculator that they provided on their website.  <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" /></p> <p>Using the wrong year’s data for the calculations seems to be the crux of the matter.  We live in a very complex world today and finance and healthcare has too much math at times.  Don’t take my word for that though and scroll down and watch video #2 where the #1 quant in the world says exactly that, “finance has too much math” and of course with buying insurance we have healthcare and finance combined here.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/10/us-consumers-and-government-are.html">US Consumers and Government Are Learning a Cold Hard Reality Lesson About IT Infrastructure Complexities With Models and Algorithms Thanks to Health Insurance Exchanges</a></h5> <p>The article is correct in the fact that most will not understand this more than just “one more screw up” and again I keep telling all that the problem with Obamacare is the algorithms that all have to work and calculate such.  Government and insurance algorithms are not working together as they should.  When I made this post below I had like a record 5000 hits on this one, as it’s the truth.  You can’t blame it on anything else and the more complex the system are, the long it takes to create the math models and the subsequent operating algorithms that do the work.  </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>Again I think it’s a slow soak here with both government and consumers on the fact that we don’t live in “data silos” anymore and I missed those days too, and the complexities are growing on top of each other as that’s software and algorithms work, one on top of another, using data and queries from outside of what you or your group have “personally” created and tested.  Why else do you think we have on delay after another with the ACA?  The data has to work and folks need to write more code…that’s real end of this as there’s no algorithm fairies out there to make it happen quickly, it’s still all humans writing code and verifying accuracy and hoping it works with the code the “guy over there” wrote.  </p> <p>In short, this error factor may have ran off some individuals applying for insurance <img align="right" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/TJcGp1oHKzI/AAAAAAAAhfM/jyY8xKNrAKY/image_thumb%5B4%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="float: right; display: inline" />via the exchanges due to high pricing that appeared.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/11/obamacare-continuous-rise-and-fall-of.html">Obamacare: The Continuous Rise and Fall Of The Machines With Complex Insurance Math Models Resulting In Spasmodic, Executing “Killer Algorithms”–And Gov Can’t Model…</a></h5> <p>Health insurance has become just like the stock markets as the outcomes all rely on “those algorithms” for things to work and <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/01/repeal-and-replace-obamacare-not-hardly.html">we can’t jump into a repeal and replace</a> as all we would have would be more mass confusion with news glitches adding to and replacing old glitches.  It’s the way data works in the complex world we live in.  Even an insurance industry made a comment here that he too probably would have made a similar or same mistake, the complexities make it very difficult to be spot on.  BD</p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/09/whether-its-insurance-exchange-or-stock.html">Whether It’s An Insurance Exchange or stock exchange Nobody Knows for Sure What You May See When The Screeching & Sometimes Spasmodic Algorithms Come Out To Play..</a></h5> <p> <hr />Nearly six months after the disastrous launch of Healthcare.gov, with the website running smoothly and more than five million people signed up as open enrollment heads to a close, a new glitch has come to light: Incorrect poverty-level guidelines are automatically telling what could be tens of thousands of eligible people they do not qualify for subsidized insurance.</p> <p>The error in the federal marketplace primarily affects households with incomes just above the poverty line in states like Pennsylvania that have not expanded Medicaid. The mistake raises the price of their insurance by thousands of dollars, making insurance so unaffordable many may just give up and go without.<img align="right" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-K1o4j65QeXM/USKdyCUkMnI/AAAAAAABFRI/_fd174NJuUY/image9.png?imgmax=800" style="float: right; display: inline" /></p> <p>"It is almost impossible to work back from a decision and see what they did," said Judy Solomon, vice president for health policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington. Ideally, she said, a notice would say, "We have found that your income for 2014 will be X, and based on that income your tax credit will be Y."</p> <p>But the official determination letters simply state the amount of your tax credit and resulting insurance premium. "I would have no idea if it's right or wrong," Solomon said.</p> <p>Analysts outside CMS, however, said many if not most visitors to the site probably heed the government's advice and use the tool before applying. If it responds "not eligible," they might not go any further.</p> <p>He predicted the public would react to the news with a sense of deja vu: "They screwed it up again. Can't do anything right."</p> <p>Though many of the website's early issues had to do with its complexity, in this case the error was simple: It's the wrong year's data.</p> <p>Though 400 percent of poverty is the ceiling for subsidies, 100 percent is the floor. A couple who enter an income of $15,600 - 101 percent of poverty in 2013 - into the window-shopping calculator get this response, in big, bold letters: "Not eligible for help paying for coverage."</p> <p><strong>Some states chose to run their own marketplaces. It was unknown Thursday night whether any had made the same error; a spot check of Covered California found that state-run marketplace was correct. All those states have opted to expand Medicaid, so the impact would be minimal anyway.</strong></p> <p><a href="http://www.govtech.com/health/A-Glitch-in-Obamacare-Marketplace-no-one-Noticed.html" title="http://www.govtech.com/health/A-Glitch-in-Obamacare-Marketplace-no-one-Noticed.html">http://www.govtech.com/health/A-Glitch-in-Obamacare-Marketplace-no-one-Noticed.html</a></p>

A Few More Bad Algorithms Found With Healthcare.Gov, Mostly Impacting Calculations of Subsidies in States That Have Not Expanded Medicaid

This is quite a long article here but now it appears that in some areas and states there were errors with the calculations and numbers from ...

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FDA Approves Exenatide Pen For Diabetes 2 , Extended Release Injection

<p>The product should become available later this year.  This is a once a week dose that can be done <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="85" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-ct1LvQIOvLQ/UyxRjoSirMI/AAAAAAABJr4/82X5fzNX5xk/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="146" />at any time of the day.  The pen makes it easier for using the injection and has a pre-filled single dose so there’s no need to use a syringe.  </p> <p> <hr />Bringing a new tool to the arsenal of medications to treat type 2 diabetes, FDA recently approved the only once-weekly injectable pen for adults with type 2 diabetes—exenatide extended-release for injectable suspension (<a href="http://www.astrazeneca.com/Media/Press-releases/Article/03032014-us-fda-approves-bydureon-pen">AstraZeneca</a>, Bydureon Pen).</p> <p>The 2-mg pre-filled, single-use <a href="http://packageinserts.bms.com/pi/pi_bydureon.pdf">pen</a> for injection eliminates the need for the patient to transfer the medication between a vial and syringe during the self-injection process, according to AstraZeneca. The pen contains the same formulation and dose as the original Bydureon single-dose tray, providing the same continuous release of exenatide.</p> <p><a href="http://drugtopics.modernmedicine.com/drug-topics/news/fda-approves-exenatide-er-pen-diabetes#sthash.Bo73wLVJ.dpuf">http://drugtopics.modernmedicine.com/drug-topics/news/fda-approves-exenatide-er-pen-diabetes#sthash.Bo73wLVJ.dpuf</a></p>

FDA Approves Exenatide Pen For Diabetes 2 , Extended Release Injection

The product should become available later this year.  This is a once a week dose that can be done at any time of the day.  The pen makes it ...

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Las Vegas Resident Get Bit By a $407,000 Killer Algorithm When Signing Up for Obamacare, Algos Didn’t Talk To Each Other, Had Heart Attack And He’s On the Hook For the Cost, He Signed Had Signed Up With United…

<p>This is what I keep saying, is that the Algorithms are in control here and this is just one more example of people getting hurt with data that does not work together.  After he signed up, paid his premium, <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="187" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-yc4QXsFlRUg/UytzMynurvI/AAAAAAABJro/rrGKtJHAZZ0/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" />he had a heart attack and nobody can find evidence that he was covered (at least in the data pools) for this, so now he gets it.  It’s another glitch, what I call the “Attacks of the Killer Algorithms” as that’s much more appropriate.  <strong>A glitch in my opinion is a data error when nobody gets hurt and that’s not the case here.</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>Here’s another good one from Nevada to where a couple could not get insurance as the state government files (which I’m sure they also sell) showed the man incarcerated.  You can’t help but see how the data selling epidemic is having an impact.  Nevada and Oregon are also looking to get <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/03/oregon-and-nevada-requesting-longer.html">enrollment times</a> extended.</p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/03/couple-applying-for-health-insurance.html">Couple Applying for Health Insurance Through Exchange Encounters a Nightmare Due to “Flawed Data” With Husband’s Background Check-Said He Was Incarcerated - One More Attack of the Killer Algorithms Related Back to the Data Selling Epidemic in the US</a></h5> <p>It’s the weirdest thing that politicians when hear stories like this, just run for the hills I think.  As the article states United Healthcare said they could not find him in their system but they have their issues being so big and almost too big to fail these days.  How about this one, they bid a contract and get it in Maryland and then fined they fired all the doctors in network to see the patients so they has it rescinded.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/01/howard-county-school-board-in-maryland.html">Howard County School Board in Maryland Rescinds United Healthcare Contract As Retirees Didn’t Want the Medicare Advantage Plan, No Providers Available..</a></h5> <p>The man’s check was cashed and now the contractor is trying to get one of the other choices to maybe pick him up and cover the expense…of course you wouldn’t see United do that, it’s all about their algorithms for profit, and the article says he has proof of what he signed up and paid for.  The state just approved $1.5 millions contract to fix the exchange.  BD  </p> <p> <hr /></p> <p>Las Vegas resident Larry Basich began the laborious process of signing up for Obamacare in October of 2013 when the Nevada state healthcare exchange went live. Like other state exchanges and the now infamously flawed Healthcare.gov, the Nevada Health Link site was a nightmare to negotiate and fraught with technical errors. In fact, the site was so complicated that Basich compared it to negotiating the harder levels of the video game “Doom.” After numerous attempts to sign up for coverage,  it was not until November that Basich was finally able to choose a “silver” level plan issued by UnitedHealthcare. Basich was billed for the coverage and paid his premiums via auto withdrawals from his bank. In early 2014, due to a medical emergency he sought lifesaving medical care.</p> <p> <strong>One can only imagine his shock when he was billed $407,000 for that care and advised that in fact, his medical coverage was not yet in effect due to a flaw in the system.</strong></p> <p>The initial premium payment withdrawn from Basich’s account was before the December 23, 2013 deadline and his coverage was supposed to be in effect on January 1, 2014. Basich jumped through all the hoops the state health exchange required and when he sought confirmation of his coverage, Nevada Health Link reassured him that he had medical insurance. <strong>However, at the same time, UnitedHealthcare claimed they could not find Basich in their system. UnitedHealthcare did not issue Basich an insurance card or policy packet despite his having signed up for and paid the premiums for their “MyHPNSilver1” plan through the state exchange.</strong></p> <p>Zerox further claims that Basich chose a different health care insurance provider despite the fact that he has the confirmation paperwork showing he signed up for the “MyHPNSilver1” silver plan. In what would appear to be a tactic to avoid financial outlay, Zerox is attempting to assign responsibility for the medical coverage to Nevada Health CO-OP but the CO-OP claims they have no record of Basich ever being in their system.</p> <p><a href="http://guardianlv.com/2014/03/obamacare-flaw-leaves-man-with-407000-in-medical-bills/" title="http://guardianlv.com/2014/03/obamacare-flaw-leaves-man-with-407000-in-medical-bills/">http://guardianlv.com/2014/03/obamacare-flaw-leaves-man-with-407000-in-medical-bills/</a></p>

Las Vegas Resident Get Bit By a $407,000 Killer Algorithm When Signing Up for Obamacare, Algos Didn’t Talk To Each Other, Had Heart Attack And He’s On the Hook For the Cost, He Signed Had Signed Up With United…

This is what I keep saying, is that the Algorithms are in control here and this is just one more example of people getting hurt with data ...

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Service Coordination Incorporated of Frederick, Maryland Hacked, Provides Services to Folks With Disabilities, Personal Health Information Exposed…

<p>It’s bad enough when anyone gets hacked but here we have 14,000 folks that were hacked back in October and the FBI had an investigation ongoing so that accounted for the delay in the announcement.  </p> <p>The FBI is offering a free year of ID protection services in this case.  BD </p> <p> <hr />State health officials say a company that serves Maryland<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="67" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-ayfamBgzQPQ/UytrDsVYC7I/AAAAAAABJrY/BYYuSsx3ed4/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="204" /> residents with developmental disabilities has sent letters notifying them that their personal health information might have been compromised.</p> <p>The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene says hackers hit <a href="http://www.servicecoordinationinc.org/">Service Coordination Incorporated</a> of Frederick, which provides case management services to nearly 14,000 Maryland residents.</p> <p>SCI,in a letter provided to WBAL News, indicates that its computers were hacked between October 20th and October 30th and that access was gained to confidential information.</p> <p><a href="http://www.wbal.com/article/106118/2/thousands-notified-of-health-records-hacked" title="http://www.wbal.com/article/106118/2/thousands-notified-of-health-records-hacked">http://www.wbal.com/article/106118/2/thousands-notified-of-health-records-hacked</a></p>

Service Coordination Incorporated of Frederick, Maryland Hacked, Provides Services to Folks With Disabilities, Personal Health Information Exposed…

It’s bad enough when anyone gets hacked but here we have 14,000 folks that were hacked back in October and the FBI had an investigation ongo...

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Fitbit Rash Now Leading to Lawsuits Being Filed, Class Actions Relative to The “Force” Device

<p>For the last few months this has been in the news with the “rash” caused by using one of their products, so in addition to selling your data profiles, one device gave you a rash on top. <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="106" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-Z2WuUm07jU4/UysiZhc8nJI/AAAAAAABJrI/Tj85WKTnqDc/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="198" /> Of course this was something missed in the product design with allergies and years ago too we didn’t have the information that identified “peanut allergies” either, so this looks to be along that same line in a day and era where consumer expectations are high, but they don’t always get met.  The company did a recall but as you can see here with consumers it appears it’s not good enough.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/02/fitbit-force-wristband-recalldevice.html">Fitbit “Force Wristband” Recall–Device Causing Rashes</a></h5> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/01/some-fitbit-users-are-finding-out-they.html">Some Fitbit Users Are Finding Out They Are Allergic To Wearables And Are Developing Rashes…</a></h5> <p>You also have Jawbone out there in the wearable business collecting data and again I’m a privacy advocate so I tend to stay away from such devices as they rely on revenue streams of selling data I think to stay in business.  We’ve never been able to see what they are, but they are there and when you look at the likes of Walgreens making over a billion a year selling data, that might give you a clue in all of this.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/04/jawbone-buys-bodymedia-launches-new-up.html">Jawbone Buys BodyMedia. Launches New “Up App” Platform–Partnerships Allow for More of Your Data and Profiles To Be Sold As Data Selling Epidemic Continues to Grow</a></h5> <p>This one was pretty funny a short while back with security and data with some fools wearing their devices during sex and then a security issue putting them up on the web with a Google search.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2011/07/fitbit-profile-sexual-activity-shows-up.html">Fitbit Profile Sexual Activity Shows Up In Google Search Results–Default Privacy Settings Allow Search Engines To Post</a></h5> <p>Then this guy wanted “all” his data as Fitbit only allows what they want you to have so he hacked it.</p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/12/patients-want-their-datathis-guy-hacked.html">Patients Want their Data–This Guy Hacked a Fitbit to Get it Along With The API Algorithms</a></h5> <p><strong>So is having your data and stats worth a rash I guess is the question at hand here.  This is pretty typical of how it works out there today</strong>.  I have talked to quite a few folks who have used a Fitbit and other devices and many of them use them for a few months and then they get busy and don’t have the time to interact with the data anymore it they get put in a drawer for one and others just get bored with it.  Again we have the “behavioral data” that gets sold here too so again something to think about if you like privacy with all of them.<strong>  There is the “open sensor” device in the works that will let you “choose” your apps so maybe in the future the choice will be there to be able to choose a non data selling app too?  Most efforts like this go to crowd funding</strong> as it’s hard to get a VC in on this as they can’t substantiate a quick enough revenue stream mostly.  BD  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/12/open-sensor-company-angel-raises-over.html">Open Sensor Company, Angel Raises Over $300k With Crowd Funding–You Will Be Able to Choose Your Own mHealth Apps And Avoid Those That Sell Your Data (Video)</a></h5> <p> <hr />In a Jan. 14 post on the company’s website, Fitbit Chief Executive James Park said the cause of the irritations was most likely an allergic reaction to nickel, a component of the Force which is also found in many everyday consumer products. The company began to offer refunds for dissatisfied customers. As complaints mounted, Mr. Park released a statement on Feb. 14 asserting that the company’s continued investigation pointed to “allergic contact dermatitis.” A week later, the company announced it was halting sales of the Force and issuing a voluntary recall of the product.A month after Fitbit issued a recall of its fitness-tracking bracelet following complaints of blisters and rashes, the startup now faces its first lawsuit.</p> <p>The suit, filed on Monday in the Superior Court of California in the County of San Diego, is seeking class-action status and alleges the company misled consumers in promoting and advertising the Fitbit Force device</p> <p>Other law firms also are planning legal action related to the Fitbit Force. “We have fielded hundreds of calls on this,” says Matt Schelkopf, a partner with the Haverford, Pa., law firm Chimicles & Tikellis which specializes in class action suits. Mr. Schelkopf says he has not yet filed any suits but intends to.</p> <p><a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/03/19/fitbit-now-faces-a-class-action-suit-in-rash-fallout/" title="http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/03/19/fitbit-now-faces-a-class-action-suit-in-rash-fallout/">http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/03/19/fitbit-now-faces-a-class-action-suit-in-rash-fallout/</a></p>

Fitbit Rash Now Leading to Lawsuits Being Filed, Class Actions Relative to The “Force” Device

For the last few months this has been in the news with the “rash” caused by using one of their products, so in addition to selling your data...

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Welltok Buys Wellness App Maker, Mindbloom, The Move To “Dummy Down” Consumers Is Alive and Well With Gamification Efforts That Persist To Hook Us In…

<p>I’m not a big fan of gamification over all and there are a “few” and I mean few apps that <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="137" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-NRvvE7GK6FI/UysJ-apnmWI/AAAAAAABJq4/A9_cNW4epPI/image%25255B3%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" title="image" width="140" />might have some value but most are like this to “dummy down” consumers so they can “play a game” to learn.  I resent efforts like this and I’m not the entire population out here by any means but I’m a data mechanic and former query monster so no big deal for me to see what’s going on with some queries here and the use of the information.  Sure queries and data make us smarter and I like that but when I see efforts like this that want to “game” people versus a little common sense education, well it’s not high in my book at all, and it’s more like junk.  I’m an intelligent person and I’m not going to play a game to help myself along with information I need or desire.  Besides people like real games, like World of Warcraft when they want a “game”.  </p> <p>Recently IBM Watson invested in Welltok, so here you go with mining and collecting all kinds of data.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/02/ibm-watson-invests-in-start-up-company.html">IBM Watson Invests in Start Up Company Welltok–Big Data Joins Forces With The Data Selling Platforms…</a></h5> <p>Of course Mindbloom has insurance company backing as you find them where most of these types of apps exist, we had “take your pill” lottery from Aetna a while back and Humana had their portal trying to get you to enter data to play a health game there too.  When I went to the <a href="http://www.mindbloom.com/">Mindbloom website</a> it looked a lot like that Humana thing they had going with a tree, etc.  You just had United Healthcare too getting into another gamificaiton to “dummy you” down.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/02/unitedhealthgroup-buys-majority.html">UnitedHealthGroup Buys Majority Interest of Audax, gamification and Data Mining/Selling Platform Operation–Subsidiary Watch</a></h5> <p><strong><u>Again, there are very few instances where gamificaiton works and when you see a “tree” (grin)…</u></strong>well you can figure that out for yourself:)  Usually those “trees” like data and mine and collect it.  One thing though as more query monsters work on all of this, you get new analytics and s<img align="right" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-JbQMY7Gqb00/UvsYxjWGG_I/AAAAAAABJX4/SqNo3iGOOZY/image%25255B2%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="float: right; display: inline" />ome of which end up being not much more than <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/12/quantitated-justification-for-believing.html">quantitated justifications</a> for things that are not true in the data game.  A couple years ago an incognito banker and I both agreed that half the analytics out there will be a waste of money.  What ever happened to <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/11/health-insurer-humana-introduces-new.html">Famscape</a> from Humana? </p> <h5><strong><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/02/gamificationyou-have-won-and-now-we.html">Gamification–You Have Won and Now We Know All About You - It Didn’t Cost One Cent-Insurance Companies Have Games To Find Out More About You Too– “Attack of Killer Algorithms” Chapter 11</a></strong></h5> <p>In my opinion it appears the query monsters and the apps are going to “just keep working you” until they find one consumers will adapt and buy into the “dummy down” effect.  The big different now is “big data” analytics with IBM Watson in the game…so what.  I would much rather see “real” education moving forward versus the “dummy down” apps like this as novelty wears off for even those that fiddle around with them and and buy into the “dummy down” process and so then where are you?  If the consumer didn’t get the “real education” here and had to fiddle around with a game that mines and sells their data?  Well you get the picture.  </p> <p>As a consumer and a patient, “do you want to read up and get educated” or do you want to take “the dummy down” route and give up your data and privacy?  Not a touch question for me at all but everyone has to make their own decisions.  BD  </p> <hr />Health management platform provider Welltok announced the acquisition of wellness app maker Mindbloom today. Welltok will incorporate Mindbloom into its CafeWell Health Optimization Platform. Financial details of the transaction were not released. Since its founding in 2008, Mindbloom has disclosed about $1.8 million in funding from Seattle-area angel investors. <p><a href="http://mobihealthnews.com/31213/welltok-acquires-wellness-app-maker-mindbloom/?utm_source=twitter" title="http://mobihealthnews.com/31213/welltok-acquires-wellness-app-maker-mindbloom/?utm_source=twitter">http://mobihealthnews.com/31213/welltok-acquires-wellness-app-maker-mindbloom/?utm_source=twitter</a></p>

Welltok Buys Wellness App Maker, Mindbloom, The Move To “Dummy Down” Consumers Is Alive and Well With Gamification Efforts That Persist To Hook Us In…

I’m not a big fan of gamification over all and there are a “few” and I mean few apps that might have some value but most are like this to “d...

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Larry Page of Google Wants Anonymous Medical Records Available for All Researchers To Use, But What Would Be the Cost? Insurer Subsidiaries and Others are Already In the Game As Data Sellers To Provide Such..

<p>It’s an interesting comment you have to admit but he doesn’t address the fact that this exact project is what is starting to make money for companies, some of which are subsidiaries of insurers.  Of course the idea is <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/01/united-healthcare-buys-humedica-and.html"><img alt="image" border="0" height="113" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-rsb_5JMqNos/Uyr9n8RS0bI/AAAAAAABJqo/R6p7izhqQX8/image%25255B2%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="187" /></a>good so researchers “have” the ability to find what they need but the reality of corporate America, it’s not going to be out there unless someone dishes out some money to pay for it.  Maybe he should take a look at what United Healthcare has going on as they like to sell a lot of data when they can make money at it.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/01/united-healthcare-buys-humedica-and.html">United Healthcare Buys Humedica and Gets More Data to Analyze and Sell To Medical Device and Drug Companies–More Big Profits From Health Data</a></h5> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/10/unitedhealthgroup-and-aarp-get-cozier.html">UnitedHealthGroup and AARP Get Cozier, AARP Still Gets Paid for Marketing Use of AARP Name As AARP Becomes an Optum Labs Data Selling Promoter Amidst Doctor Complaints Received Relative To United Firing of 5500 MDs–Subsidiary Watch</a></h5> <p>So maybe with this desire to have all these records available for researchers he can dive in and see the the money that is already being made selling the information.  In addition hospitals are in partnerships to make some money too as part owners so give them some revenue streams so I guess we come full circle here with “data selling” right?  On the other hand doctors who need this information especially with senior patients are getting cut loose as well.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/11/united-healthcare-medicare-advantage.html">United Healthcare Medicare Advantage Doctor Firing Moves On Into Ohio, New York, And Maybe More? CMS Has Known For Months About the Changes And Is Monitoring….United’s Cost Algorithm Says…You’re Out the Door</a></h5> <p>Here’s  another recent addition with a hospital to give their medical records up for research and profit I guess you have to say too, so Larry’s idea comes with complexities and making money selling such data.  </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>We all know Google is no stranger to the data game as they collect and create probably some of the largest data files on us around the web.  So nice comment from Larry Paige but with all the money being made selling and mining data, it’s not going to happen unless someone makes big money at it as it already has it’s start.  BD  </p> <p><iframe style="height: 251px; width: 448px" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/67KZemno1A8" frameborder="0" width="560" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p> <p> <hr />Larry Page</p> , co-founder and CEO of Google, is not a fan of the US government's privacy intrusions. "For me, it's tremendously disappointing that the government secretly did all this stuff and didn't tell us," he told Charlie Rose during an interview on the <a href="http://www.ted.com/">TED</a> stage this week. "I don't think we can have a democracy if we have to protect you and your users from the government." <p>Not that Page is against open data. As the sufferer of a rare condition that has caused him to lose his voice, he's open to the opportunities that medical data can offer.</p> <p>"Wouldn't it be amazing to have anonymous medical records available to all research doctors?" he asked. Page also suggested that patients could be notified whenever a doctor looks at their record. As we noted in our <a href="http://www.fastcoexist.com/3024778/world-changing-ideas/medical-science-meets-data-science">list of the world-changing ideas for 2014,</a> doctors are already thinking about the possibility of transferring data from wearable health sensors into electronic medical records, de-identifying it, and making it public.</p> <p><a href="http://www.fastcoexist.com/3027942/larry-page-wants-to-open-up-anonymous-medical-records-for-all-researchers-to-use?partner=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+fastcoexist%2Ffeed+%28Co.Exist%29" title="http://www.fastcoexist.com/3027942/larry-page-wants-to-open-up-anonymous-medical-records-for-all-researchers-to-use?partner=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+fastcoexist%2Ffeed+%28Co.Exist%29">http://www.fastcoexist.com/3027942/larry-page-wants-to-open-up-anonymous-medical-records-for-all-researchers-to-use?partner=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+fastcoexist%2Ffeed+%28Co.Exist%29</a></p>

Larry Page of Google Wants Anonymous Medical Records Available for All Researchers To Use, But What Would Be the Cost? Insurer Subsidiaries and Others are Already In the Game As Data Sellers To Provide Such..

It’s an interesting comment you have to admit but he doesn’t address the fact that this exact project is what is starting to make money for ...

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Protests In Georgia Over Lack of Medicaid Expansion, Governor States Hospitals Should Be Able to Turns Patients Away As More Rural Hospitals In Georgia Close

<p>Of course this has to be a GOP governor that is proposing a repeal to this law but the good news is that there’s not a chance he would get any traction.  In other words<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="122" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-sr08eZf71Hs/Uyk11-MsQjI/AAAAAAABJqY/X6W8D9wtjxc/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="260" /> if you can get yourself to an ER room with a heart attack, he thinks the hospital should just close the door on your if they want.  Whew!</p> <p>There have been people arrested all day long today.  The state is in trouble with rural hospitals that keep closing.  </p> <p>Now we come back to expanding Medicaid and 600,000 people would be covered and the governor said he won’t do it and the Georgia House went along with him.   39 people all in all were arrested.  One of the state senators said the protesters were like “fecal matter”..geez…and all the pro Medicaid banners were tossed in the trash.  <a href="http://clatl.com/freshloaf/archives/2014/03/18/moral-monday-activists-bring-protest-inside-georgia-senate">This website</a> has a ton of pictures showing what went on today as they kept coming in “shifts” to demonstrate against the state not expanding Medicaid.  They all just want healthcare, this is sad.  BD  </p> <object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=10,0,0,0" height="245" id="msnbc10596" width="420"><param name="movie" value="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640" /><param name="FlashVars" value="launch=54714823&width=420&height=245" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /><embed name="msnbc10596" src="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640" width="420" height="245" FlashVars="launch=54714823&width=420&height=245" allowscriptaccess="always" allowFullScreen="true" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed></object> <p style="font-size: 11px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; width: 420px; background: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; color: #999; text-align: center; margin-top: 5px">Visit NBCNews.com for <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com" style="text-decoration: none !important; height: 13px; border-bottom: #999 1px dotted; font-weight: normal !important; color: #5799db !important">breaking news</a>, <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032507" style="text-decoration: none !important; height: 13px; border-bottom: #999 1px dotted; font-weight: normal !important; color: #5799db !important">world news</a>, and <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032072" style="text-decoration: none !important; height: 13px; border-bottom: #999 1px dotted; font-weight: normal !important; color: #5799db !important">news about the economy</a></p> <p><a href="http://video.msnbc.msn.com/rachel-maddow/54714656/#54714701" title="http://video.msnbc.msn.com/rachel-maddow/54714656/#54714701">http://video.msnbc.msn.com/rachel-maddow/54714656/#54714701</a></p>

Protests In Georgia Over Lack of Medicaid Expansion, Governor States Hospitals Should Be Able to Turns Patients Away As More Rural Hospitals In Georgia Close

Of course this has to be a GOP governor that is proposing a repeal to this law but the good news is that there’s not a chance he would get a...

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Broad Institute To Lay Off 22 Employees Due to Decreased Federal Grant Funding

<p>The money has not run out completely yet but the 22 employees working on genomic sequencing will be <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="187" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-74KBIJ2rP94/UykxTEzj9eI/AAAAAAABJqM/0rVTkOmVBw0/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; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" title="image" width="183" />let go as the grant when revised  included less money this time around.  The cut also affects two other institutes, the J. Craig Venter Institute and the Institute for Genome Sciences who both stated they would not be laying off any employees.  BD  </p> <p> <hr />The Broad Institute, a Cambridge genomics research center, has notified 22 employees that they will be laid off at the end of the month because of decreased federal funding for a grant.</p> <p>Nicole Davis, a spokeswoman for the Broad, would not specify which jobs were being cut, but said they included a wide array of positions, including technicians and research scientists. The institute has about 900 employees.</p> <p><a></a></p> <p>It is hard to speak with a scientist these days without hearing about how difficult the federal funding situation is. More and more researchers are finding themselves scrounging for money rather than doing science, caught in a cycle of constantly applying for grants.</p> <p><a href="http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/03/16/broad-institute-lay-off-after-research-grant-shrinks-revealing-dependence-research-ecosystem-federal-funding/JyVwBNxXUemtIuXwEYoQkI/story.html" title="http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/03/16/broad-institute-lay-off-after-research-grant-shrinks-revealing-dependence-research-ecosystem-federal-funding/JyVwBNxXUemtIuXwEYoQkI/story.html">http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/03/16/broad-institute-lay-off-after-research-grant-shrinks-revealing-dependence-research-ecosystem-federal-funding/JyVwBNxXUemtIuXwEYoQkI/story.html</a></p>

Broad Institute To Lay Off 22 Employees Due to Decreased Federal Grant Funding

The money has not run out completely yet but the 22 employees working on genomic sequencing will be let go as the grant when revised  includ...

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ICD10 The Gift That Will Keep Giving For A Long Time, CIO Tells What It’s Like Preparing For the Change, Over 2 Years and About $8 Million in Cost…

<p>This is a good article that brings about some points that “maybe” have not been mentioned yet.  This is Dr. Halamka giving his run down on what they have been and are doing to prepare for the transition.  First of all the money here and he estimates the cost will be around 8 million when done, and that is done with the work leading up to the <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="94" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-b5AhubWQQ8w/UykfMTCXRFI/AAAAAAABJpo/2yPZYyymttI/image%25255B9%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" title="image" width="202" />change.  </p> <p>This is a good point here too, 146 systems that will need to be modified.  ICD10 touches everything and everybody just about.  He had to double the size of the coding staff and assumes a 50% reduction in productivity that will be forever and not change.  He evens said they may have to use off shore coding which he pretty much leaves as a last resort if an ample amount of billers can’t be hired and kept on board as they leave it better opportunities come up.  </p> <p>Right now he stated none of the computer assisted was mature enough to add to their work flow.  Many projects in the IT area has to be deferred as the focus has been on ICD10.  So far there’s two and a half years invested.  The original cost estimate of $600,000 for the hospital to convert is long gone, as he stated around $8 million instead.  Also interesting to hear him mention the level of irritation with leadership in not understanding  federal mandates too as they see this as being distractions (well don’t we all really) but as the good doctor says, 60% of the revenue cycle of the hospital is at risk so there’s the best reason right there to take it seriously…a big chunk of money.  </p> <p>In addition, and I’m sure other will chime in here too will be the auditing down the road. <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="92" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-71lBtkucJuM/UykfMwrELuI/AAAAAAABJpw/IJnKfATvBNU/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="205" /> Shoot with what we see now can you imagine future audits with ICD 10 codes?  They will be there and probably become part of the CMS nickel and dime analytics that also just go on forever.  Below is a good example with the eRX program where the CMS data was not reliable and look what auditing they will be doing over their own mistakes.  Of course we know the problem here is going back in time when that money has already been spent.    </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/03/cms-fiddling-around-now-with-erx.html">CMS Fiddling Around Now With eRX Program To Audit and See If Claims Submitted Failed, They Want To Get Some Money Back As “Their CMS” Programs Have Data Integrity Issues… </a></h5> <p>After you read this it’s almost laughable <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/03/cms-wants-icd10-end-to-end-testers-to.html">that CMS until recently was not even going to do any end to end testing!</a>  I don’t what’s wrong with those folks and said they should have additional testing after the first run as well.  When things were in silos, testing was still needed but it was not as complex as we have out there today with everything connected.  BD  </p> <p> <hr />WALTHAM, MASS.--It’s not the new code set of ICD-10, it’s getting meaningful data into the new codes that concerns John Halamka, MD, CIO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) in Boston, speaking at the Massachusetts Health Data Consortium’s March 10 conference on ICD-10 implementation.</p> <p>BIDMC has been working on ICD-10 implementation for two-and-a-half years, including a complete redesign of workflows and retraining of every physician, nurse and member of business teams. The original ICD-10 regulations estimated an organization like BIDMC would need to spend $600,000 to successfully make the transition.<strong> Halamka said he has spent about $5 million and expects to reach about $8 million before the effort is complete.</strong></p> <p><strong>Halamka also said he is concerned about being “audit-proof” when recovery audit contractors come. It will be “bounty hunters’ delight as they find the disconnect between what we actually documented and what we coded. That’s the technical dilemma.”</strong></p> <p><strong>BIDMC has 146 different systems</strong> that have to be modified and fully tested for ICD-10, he said, to ensure that physicians will get the right code out to the billing agency.</p> <p>Halamka said he has had no choice but to double his coding staff because “we have assumed that we will have a 50 percent reduction in productivity and that’s not short term—that’s a forever expense.”</p> <p><strong>As of initial testing results, “we were passing 835s successfully. So far so good. We can mechanically pass a code but whether the code is accurate, relevant or auditable--that’s a totally different problem.”</strong></p> <p>Rather than just working to meet the Oct. 1 implementation, Halamka said “ICD-10 is the gift that keeps on giving.<strong> ICD-10 has to still be on the docket as one of our major projects” for some time to come.</strong></p> <p><a href="http://www.clinical-innovation.com/topics/policy/halamka-focusing-meaningful-data-icd-10-effort?nopaging=1" title="http://www.clinical-innovation.com/topics/policy/halamka-focusing-meaningful-data-icd-10-effort?nopaging=1">http://www.clinical-innovation.com/topics/policy/halamka-focusing-meaningful-data-icd-10-effort?nopaging=1</a></p>

ICD10 The Gift That Will Keep Giving For A Long Time, CIO Tells What It’s Like Preparing For the Change, Over 2 Years and About $8 Million in Cost…

This is a good article that brings about some points that “maybe” have not been mentioned yet.  This is Dr. Halamka giving his run down on w...

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Oregon and Nevada Requesting Longer Obamacare Enrollment Periods-Two States With Technological Hardship Issues, Those “Damn Algorithms” Again…

<p>Well if you have read the news of late we kind of all know what happened in Oregon with their state exchange.  Their problems began when the state decided to add 9 more months of coding to the project and add on some of the state social services to work with the insurance exchange which is now pretty ugly.  All the contractors who bid on the project, except Oracle withdrew their bids when that happened and Oracle tried to build it, but probably the<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="143" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-avyqkvTQE88/UykPmRrmQuI/AAAAAAABJpY/z3pHgwtK4f4/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="268" /> bottom line here is the fact that it was way too complex to create in the short time frame allowed.  The state government is seems still has a bit of a blame game going on there as well.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/02/oracle-pulls-100-programmers-from-cover.html">Oracle Pulls 100 Programmers From Cover Oregon Insurance Exchange - Remember They Were the Only Contractor That “Did Not” Withdraw Their Bid When the State Upped The Anny With Additional Social Services Coding Added</a></h5> <p>One of the examples happening in Nevada has to do with lack of integrity with the State data as by mistake they had some bad algorithms and data streams that showed many applicants being in jail when in fact they were not, so they could not buy health insurance via the exchange.  Nevada is having issues with their state exchange as well and it needs a fix. </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/03/couple-applying-for-health-insurance.html">Couple Applying for Health Insurance Through Exchange Encounters a Nightmare Due to “Flawed Data” With Husband’s Background Check-Said He Was Incarcerated - One More Attack of the Killer Algorithms Related Back to the Data Selling Epidemic in the US </a></h5> <p>Time will tell if there’s room for some more exceptions as that’s the name of the game here and no matter where you turn “its those damn algorithms” (the complex IT infrastructures) that have to work and play together that are messing things up as many systems and data contained there in get married as we have never seen before.  BD</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> <hr />At least two states are requesting a longer Obamacare enrollment period--and they might get it. <p>The Obama administration has been very clear that the enrollment deadline for health insurance purchased on the exchanges is March 31, and that it doesn't think it has the authority to extend it. But because some consumers continue to have trouble signing up, officials are eyeing a "special enrollment period" that would virtually extend the deadline to get coverage.</p> <p>Nevada and Oregon hope to qualify for one of the health law's special enrollment periods. Consumers in both states have faced technical issues in getting coverage: Oregonians still don't have a functioning online exchange, and Nevadans are receiving error messages and hitting other site glitches reminiscent of <em>HealthCare.gov</em>'s early days.</p> <p>Just under 39,000 Oregonians and 29,000 Nevadans had successfully selected a plan as of March 1, according to data from the Health and Human Services Department--fewer than 1.6 percent of all Obamacare enrollees nationwide.</p> <p>State exchange officials have reached out to HHS to request permission to extend the enrollment period. Oregon exchange spokeswoman Ariane Holm said the state is seeking an extension through the end of April. Nevada is looking at up to 60 days, as permitted by law.</p> <p><a href="http://www.nextgov.com/health/2014/03/two-states-want-extend-obamacare-deadline-because-glitchy-websites/80734/?oref=ng-channelriver" title="http://www.nextgov.com/health/2014/03/two-states-want-extend-obamacare-deadline-because-glitchy-websites/80734/?oref=ng-channelriver">http://www.nextgov.com/health/2014/03/two-states-want-extend-obamacare-deadline-because-glitchy-websites/80734/?oref=ng-channelriver</a></p>

Oregon and Nevada Requesting Longer Obamacare Enrollment Periods-Two States With Technological Hardship Issues, Those “Damn Algorithms” Again…

Well if you have read the news of late we kind of all know what happened in Oregon with their state exchange.  Their problems began when the...

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Edward Snowden On How We Take the Internet Back, Privacy Is Battle Number One, TED Video

<p><img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="198" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-lS-izCK4xLE/UykId1yg08I/AAAAAAABJpI/DQPqcilC76k/image%25255B5%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" title="image" width="288" /></p> <p>Through modern technology we have Edward Snowden again and unlike his visit in Texas recently this is a little better.  He has a full on tele-presence robot he can control this time and does as he moves around the state.  </p> <p>If you read here often enough then you get to hear me talk about banks and corporations that are mining and stealing your data right and left too, which I think is worry #1 and the NSA is worry #2 as the companies and banks do reach and touch all of us every day whereas the government has to determine an interest in looking at what you do and there’s a lot of us out there, but it’s still a concern by all means.  Read the link below to see what private industry does, worse than the NSA with mining and selling your data.</p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/03/60-minutes-blasts-data-sellers-ftc.html">60 Minutes Blasts The Data Sellers, FTC Admits They Have Lost Control - Time To License and Excise Tax “ALL” Data Sellers, Banks, Companies, Etc. - Congress Needs to Act On This… </a></h5> <p>On thing that both have in common is the use of data “out of context”.  Twice I have had to use surveillance methodologies as an IT person due to some “real” problems and even IT folks don’t like to do it, I didn’t.  When you see a person as to who they are and what they say and then look at data tracking (which was what the problem was with downloading Trojan horse type data at the time) you really see things you really shouldn’t see but you don’t have a choice at it’s all together and you never look at that same person the exact same way again even if the tracking is nothing major or controversial, it’s just a bad spot nobody should really want to be in.  Anyway case and point made here by Edward Snowden is how the context of data is used and perceived and it can be far from what was really occurring at the time and that can be the government or private industry, they both can do this and cause harm.</p> <p>It was pretty funny when Snowden was asked about Dick Cheney and I won’t spoil that for you, a must see on that part as well as the discussion about Diane Feinstein.  </p> <h4><em><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/10/us-consumers-and-government-are.html">Digital Illiteracies Running Hog Wild In Congress & White House & No Sign of Letting Up Anytime Soon As The Soap Operas and Competition For Attention Continues..</a></em></h4> <p>Scroll on down and watch the 4 videos in the footer if you want to learn a bit more on how this works with math models and algorithms and how you get duped or visit the <a href="http://www.ducknet.net/attack-of-the-killer-algorithms/">Algo duping/Killer Algorithm page.</a>  </p> <p><iframe height="315" src="http://embed.ted.com/talks/edward_snowden_here_s_how_we_take_back_the_internet.html" frameborder="0" width="460" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen"></iframe></p> <p>Not that I’m that smart, I just know data mechanics and used to be a Query Monster myself but this is what I said about a year ago and since that time it has evolved…you have all kinds of analytics going on out there with nobody questioning what kind of context is used for their interpretations and thus so we are all under attack of the killer algorithms.  Algorithms are still written by humans that are used in analytics so those who have the money or the ability to write them are the ones in control as they have you duped a lot of the time as they want to make money and need you to buy in.  BD  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/11/big-dataanalytics-if-used-out-of.html">Big Data/Analytics If Used Out of context and Without True Values Stand To Be A Huge Discriminatory Practice Against Consumers–More Honest Data Scientists Needed to Formulate Accuracy/Value To Keep Algo Duping For Profit Out of the Game</a></h5> <hr /> <p>Appearing by tele-presence robot, Edward Snowden speaks at TED2014 about surveillance and Internet freedom. The right to data privacy, he suggests, is not a partisan issue, but requires a fundamental rethink of the role of the internet in our lives — and the laws that protect it. "Your rights matter,” he say, "because you never know when you're going to need them." Chris Anderson interviews, with special guest Tim Berners-Lee. </p> <p><a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/edward_snowden_here_s_how_we_take_back_the_internet?utm_source=t.co&awesm=on.ted.com_j07FC&utm_medium=on.ted.com-none&share=138629a6f8&utm_content=roadrunner-rrshorturl&utm_campaign=" title="http://www.ted.com/talks/edward_snowden_here_s_how_we_take_back_the_internet?utm_source=t.co&awesm=on.ted.com_j07FC&utm_medium=on.ted.com-none&share=138629a6f8&utm_content=roadrunner-rrshorturl&utm_campaign=">http://www.ted.com/talks/edward_snowden_here_s_how_we_take_back_the_internet?utm_source=t.co&awesm=on.ted.com_j07FC&utm_medium=on.ted.com-none&share=138629a6f8&utm_content=roadrunner-rrshorturl&utm_campaign=</a></p>

Edward Snowden On How We Take the Internet Back, Privacy Is Battle Number One, TED Video

Through modern technology we have Edward Snowden again and unlike his visit in Texas recently this is a little better.  He has a full on t...

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NueMD Releases ICD10 Survey - Still Time to Join In, Over 800 Responses Thus Far And Yes Folks Are Concerned…

<p><strong>NueMD is a valued advertiser at the Medical Quack and I encourage you to use the link at the right to take and look and see what they have been up to.</strong>  I just changed the link today to their new website and in addition to their billing and practice management software there’s some new services that are designed to work with small practices so if you are one of those, take a look.  My big concern with ICD10 is CMS and their testing.  After the roll out of Healthcare.Gov I can’t stress enough the importance of testing and retesting in the complex world we live in today and I think a second round of testing from CMS would be wise after they do the first round as I think you need to see some bigger batches roll through successfully as well.  <strong>I know all about small spot testing and how it compares </strong><a href="http://www.nuemd.com/icd-10/survey"><strong><img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="168" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-VVp1BpytFF4/Uyj2SOWxCrI/AAAAAAABJo4/f1fNmBiUzKc/image%25255B5%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="283" /></strong></a><strong>to when you turn the fire hose on and things can and do change, so some mini fire hoses would be good thing to check out ahead of time.</strong></p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/03/cms-wants-icd10-end-to-end-testers-to.html">CMS Wants ICD10 End to End Testers To Sign Up Soon, Batches Limited to 3 At a Time and Maximum of 50 Claims Each, I Think A Second Test Date For Larger Batches Could Be A Good Idea Too </a></h5> <p>The questions are multiple choice and you even can say “there should be no ICD10” if you want.  In addition the questions asked are trying to find out if you are still on paper, bill electronically and use electronic medical records.  I did the test but I don’t think one person like me will skew it too badly:)  Here’s a video below that does a small introduction and tells you what the survey is all about along with the NueMD press release below.   It will be interesting to see what is said as a survey is a survey and there’s no right or wrongs with adding your opinion.   <strong>73% so far are worried about the negative impact as was reflected in a 2012 survey, and let’s face it there will be issues and delays and folk in Health IT are not novices at this and “we know” disruption will be there and the goal is to keep it at an absolute minimum if at all possible.</strong>  I did a recent post about a hospital that had to go out for a line of credit “just in case” as they said they could only hold out for 2 months before running out of money.  </p> <div id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:5092c342-42b9-4726-9743-0d48b407dde9" 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/_sDhjunLTQo?hl=en&hd=1"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_sDhjunLTQo?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">NueMD Survey</div></div> <p><strong><u>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:</u></strong></p> <p>Survey Invitation: Attitudes Towards ICD-10</p> <p>NueMD Launches Survey to Help the Healthcare Industry Better Prepare for Changes in HIT Standards</p> <p>ATLANTA, March 12, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- NueMD is conducting an online survey to measure healthcare professionals' attitudes towards the transition to ICD-10. All healthcare professionals who are affected by ICD-10 are encouraged to participate. Participants can access the brief survey at <a href="http://www.nuemd.com/icd-10/survey">http://www.nuemd.com/icd-10/survey</a>. The survey takes about five minutes to complete, and all responses will be kept confidential.</p> <p>As we near the October 2014 deadline, the results will help medical practices benchmark against their peers and allow HIT vendors and consultants to better prepare for changes in HIT standards. The results of the survey will be published on NueMD's website and shared with the industry as an informational resource.</p> <p>The survey aims to capture thoughts on the transition timeline, anticipated effects on specific business areas, and the reliability of different sources of information on new standards.</p> <p>Researchers from NueMD conducted a similar survey in 2012, "Attitudes Towards the Transition to ICD-10 and ANSI-5010." According to the results, 96 percent of the respondents reported they were concerned about the potential impact of the transition to ICD-10. The survey also revealed 73 percent of the respondents anticipated the process would negatively impact their operations and finances, as well as their personal and staff state of mind.</p> <p>NueMD plans to conduct a follow-up survey to reevaluate the industry's perception of ICD-10 in early 2015.</p> <p>To participate in the survey, please visit <a href="http://www.nuemd.com/icd-10/survey">http://www.nuemd.com/icd-10/survey</a></p> <hr />Is is going to be a “wrecking ball”…here’s another fun video from NueMD a parody…and it just kind of seemed to fit the venue here today (grin).  BD  <div id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:9b24d877-fd99-4d1f-82d0-bc687ddc31ba" 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/dcBbNpnlUfo?hl=en&hd=1"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/dcBbNpnlUfo?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">Wrecking Ball - ICD10?</div></div>

NueMD Releases ICD10 Survey - Still Time to Join In, Over 800 Responses Thus Far And Yes Folks Are Concerned…

NueMD is a valued advertiser at the Medical Quack and I encourage you to use the link at the right to take and look and see what they have b...

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