“Information Blocking” Finally Revealed for the Hoax and Make Believe Story That It Is With Medical Records Sharing and Interoperating…

<p>I said from the start that this was an absolute made up story and nice to see Dr. Halamka at Harvard Medical address this.  I have seen tons of articles written about this nonsense and now it’s all the way up to the FTC and members of Congress thinking this is real!  It just goes to show you the power of News Rigging for political gain.. </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2015/04/news-rigging-has-arrived-astroturf-and.html">News Rigging Has Arrived! Astroturf and Manipulation of Media Messages-TED Video About “The Fake Grass Roots” Of Big Pharma and Other Campaigns That Fool and Fool Again…</a></h5> <p>First off, what medical record company has the time or resources to do this?  Second what interest would they have?  It’s not going to create more business or revenue dollars, so again this has been from day one a political hoax and look how many from what they read<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="136" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-AuWhu50-S9M/VV7WjWeDcXI/AAAAAAABMS0/HwPiqtPQfFM/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" /> in various news articles were sucked in.</p> <p>I look at it as selling a political perception only for someone to gain some favors and/or marketing gain here.  Way back in the early days when I still wrote code, I created a medical records program that I sold for a short time and thus I relate to my background in what I was creating as a tool for the doctors as it’s “their” tool not mine as I always said.  <strong>Why as a developer would I even “think” of writing code to create some sort of “Information Blocking” code module?  There’s absolutely no reason on earth, so again this and this entire concept and made up “concern” has been nothing but a fluke.</strong>  </p> <p>The only thing close I can get out of this hoax that’s been going through the media for a year or so now is that some EMRs are not playing with someone else's software so cleverly <strong>someone decided to make some EMR companies “the bad boys”.</strong>  Well who are they?  Nobody ever has a name do they?  It’s just this chatter and fear and the soaking of those who don’t understand data mechanics and code and look how well it stuck as a “fear factor”.  It is and was total bunk.</p> <p>Here’s a couple clips from Dr. Halamka’s post below and the 3rd paragraph is where he addresses his feelings too, as apparently he’s never seen or encountered any of this either and he’s all over the place, way beyond what I do and then some.  This what is so bad out there today and recently I wrote about “News Rigging” (link above) from several focuses, the stock market, the use of journobots and knock off news articles and the upcoming paying 20 cents to read a news article if that happens as it has been noted in the news.  Who knows, maybe that’s fake too (grin).  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2015/03/major-us-newspapers-sign-up-and-invest.html">Major US Newspapers Sign Up and Invest With New Start Up That Will Charge You To Read The News–20 Cents Per Article, Probably Written by a Bot and Goes On You Credit Card–And Bolsters the $180 Million Dollar Year Personal Data Selling Business</a></h5> <p>Watch this video below (lots of pharma fake grass roots topics covered here too) and you’ll get it with this reporter from CBS news..…we had <strong>Astro Turfing of the “EMR Information Blocking” </strong>fabricated stories to generate more fear factors<strong>…</strong>and hopefully the FTC and Congress will see what’s been on their plate, a perception of some who don’t write code, don’t understand scripting, mathematical models, and not a true reflection the real world.  All have been “astro turfed” to the max.    </p> <p><iframe style="height: 284px; width: 493px" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-bYAQ-ZZtEU" frameborder="0" width="560" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p> <p> The big issue here is the fact that people can’t tell the difference between virtual and real world values anymore and thus people get sucked in if you don’t entertain being a little bit of a skeptic when things don’t sound right.  I try with writing this blog to point out the dupers when I can and the links below are also about the same subject material.  We do have folks that are confused and can’t tell the difference between a virtual and real world value and we all get fooled sometime.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/03/virtual-worlds-real-world-we-have.html">Virtual Worlds, Real World We Have A Problem And It’s A Big One With A Lot of Gray Areas Finding Where The Defining Lines Exist, Confusing Many With A Lot of Weird Values And Strange Perceptions…</a></h5> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/05/ama-joins-people-dont-work-that-way.html">AMA Joins The “People Don’t Work That Way” Club, Creates Recommendations To Adjust Meaningful Use, Which Now Has Blossomed Into An Almost Non Comprehensible Outline Of Rules and Regulations..</a></h5> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/07/medicare-penalties-for-hospitals-to.html">Medicare Penalties for Hospitals To Take Effect Later This Year With Patient Safety - Can We Learn From the VA On Not Being “Stat Rats” And Attain The “Desired virtual Numbers” In The “Real World”?</a></h5> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/11/how-many-more-bloomberg-big-gulp-failed.html">How Many More “Bloomberg Big Gulp” Failed “Proof of Concept” Models Can We Sustain Before Everyone Splits a Gasket?</a></h5> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/05/people-dont-work-that-way-world-of.html">“People Don’t Work That Way” A World of Broken Software Models That Don’t Align To the Human Side,Too Much Push At Times With Only A Proof of Concept That Fails in the Real World..</a></h5> <p>Below the line are the clips from Dr. Halamka’s blog and there’s a link at the bottom to read his entire blog post.  When you have an expert such as himself who’s both a physician and computer scientist calling it out, time listen up to where the credibility lies.  BD  </p> <hr /> <p><em>“It does not make sense to officially sanction a “charter organization” and seed it with $10 million, creating yet another player in an already crowded field of groups working on interoperability.  I agree that coordinating the standards development organizations makes a lot of sense -- why not just direct ONC to create a permanent Task Force that reports to the HIT Standards Committee, and let ONC support it out of existing resources? <br />The drafts have other significant issues</em></p> <em> <p> <br />“standards to measure interoperability” –  I have no idea what that means.  I suggest that ONC create and report outcome measures that require interoperability rather than trying to measure the process of interoperability.  With Meaningful Use Stage 2 we experienced the failure of process measures to truly measure interoperability - transitions of care sent from and to the same organizations, transitions of care sent to an outside organization then thrown away.</p> <p> <br /><strong>“<u>information blocking”</u> - I believe this concept is like the Loch Ness Monster, often described but rarely seen.   As written, the information blocking language will result in some vendors lobbying in new political forums (Federal Trade Commission and Inspector General) to investigate every instance where they are getting beaten in the market by other vendors.  The criteria are not objective and will be unenforceable except in the most egregious cases, which none of us have ever experienced.</strong></p> <p> <br />“De-certification” makes no sense.  Every provider would have to be granted a hardship exemption, so what is the point of the decertification?”</p> <p><a href="http://geekdoctor.blogspot.com/2015/05/21st-century-cures-act.html">http://geekdoctor.blogspot.com/2015/05/21st-century-cures-act.html</a></p></em>

“Information Blocking” Finally Revealed for the Hoax and Make Believe Story That It Is With Medical Records Sharing and Interoperating…

I said from the start that this was an absolute made up story and nice to see Dr. Halamka at Harvard Medical address this.  I have seen tons...

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CVS Buys Omnicare–Selling Drugs to the Elderly Via Nursing Homes and Assisted Living Homes And Pays Over $2 Million Dollar Fine In California for False Advertising

<p>Here’s another big gobble and former White House ACA leader and Medicare Head, Nancy DeParle<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="89" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-uXAlevRMz5I/VV66Lt_IzFI/AAAAAAABMSc/vciM16h191U/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; margin: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" title="image" width="187" /> who sits on the CVS Board can count more money into her wallet.  The fine in California just happened to be announced today as well.  The fine was for selling items in the store and prescriptions for more than their advertised prices.  A few years ago Walgreens and Omni-Care did a swap of business lines so Walgreens could get the Home Infusion business from Omni-Care.</p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/09/walgreens-and-omnicare-swap.html">Walgreens and Omnicare Swap Businesses–Giving Long Term Pharmacy Care to Omni and They Get Omni’s Home Infusion Business</a></h5> <p><b>A couple years ago Omni-Care purchased this infusion business as well.  The company offers the services of a lot of in house consultants.  </b></p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/11/cvs-caremark-buys-coram-infusion.html">CVS Caremark Buys Coram Infusion Business From Apria Healthcare for Over $2 Billion</a></h5> <p>What is somewhat crazy is we had this with the FTC saying that Omni-Care couldn’t buy PharMerica and then today it doesn’t make any difference as look what all is under the CVS umbrella.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/01/ftc-says-no-to-omnicare-take-over-of.html">FTC Says No to Omnicare Take Over of PharMerica and Files Lawsuit to Block as The Combined Company Would Control 60% of Drugs Supplied to Nursing Homes</a></h5> <p>Omni-Care also bough Continuing Care RX which serves 40,000 beds of long term care facilities a couple years ago.  Both CVS and Omni-Care have certainly racked in their share of fines from the DOJ and DEA over the years too.  <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="187" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-TQDi0dGaO7g/VV66MRlHCgI/AAAAAAABMSk/lyE934H5SlU/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="169" />Omnicare employs  about 13,000 employees at 160 locations in The US.  BD </p> <p> <hr />CVS Health will spend more than $10 billion to buy pharmacy services provider Omnicare and tap a growing target for prescription drug distribution: care for the elderly.</p> <p>The deal announced Thursday will give one of the nation's biggest pharmacy benefits managers national reach in dispensing prescription drugs to assisted living and skilled nursing homes, long-term care facilities, hospitals and other health care providers. Omnicare's long-term care business operates in 47 states and the District of Columbia.</p> <p>Cincinnati's Omnicare also provides pharmacy consulting and runs another segment that provides specialty pharmacy services.</p> <p>Specialty drugs are complex medications that treat certain forms of cancer or hepatitis C, among other conditions. They often represent treatment breakthroughs but can cost considerably more than other prescriptions. Use of these drugs is climbing, and insurers and employers are looking for help containing that cost.</p> <p><a href="http://www.telegram.com/article/20150521/NEWS/150529789">http://www.telegram.com/article/20150521/NEWS/150529789</a></p>

CVS Buys Omnicare–Selling Drugs to the Elderly Via Nursing Homes and Assisted Living Homes And Pays Over $2 Million Dollar Fine In California for False Advertising

Here’s another big gobble and former White House ACA leader and Medicare Head, Nancy DeParle who sits on the CVS Board can count more money...

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“Economists, They Think That They are Scientists, They Come Up With What They Call Laws, They’re Not Laws” …

<p>Quant Paul Wilmott says it all….if you like this clip, scroll down to the second video in the footer <img align="right" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-TfmnyaGeaHk/U01vqIVntHI/AAAAAAABJ6Y/k6YIk539LMw/image7%25255B3%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="float: right; display: inline" />and watch the Quant documentary.  Read about what they do as they are designing the insurance policies you buy.   </p> <p>“It’s just an idea or a frame work that may or may not work and based on very shaky foundations with all kinds of nonsense coming out of it”….sums it up pretty well.  </p> <p>In the meantime this says for Economists and how useless they have become and why:)  BD </p> <p><object height="300" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://swf.tubechop.com/tubechop.swf?vurl=ed2FWNWwE3I&start=1962&end=2000&cid=2520137"></param><embed src="http://swf.tubechop.com/tubechop.swf?vurl=ed2FWNWwE3I&start=1962&end=2000&cid=2520137" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="300"></embed></object></p>

“Economists, They Think That They are Scientists, They Come Up With What They Call Laws, They’re Not Laws” …

Quant Paul Wilmott says it all….if you like this clip, scroll down to the second video in the footer and watch the Quant documentary.  Read ...

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“The Great Math Mystery”–Software Engineering-Looking for Where It Does and Doesn’t Work-The Physics Connection…

<p>There’s a lot of good discussion here with both the history of math and how it relates and works with the real world.  <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="157" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-oBFCJhEddRk/VVjIT8pfH5I/AAAAAAABMRs/hxVUKLraHqs/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="247">The laws of physics in a game are only mathematical rules created by a programmer says MIT.  </p> <p>To me anyway, this makes a case for data scientists to have a connection with physics as software design can get out of hand, we saw that last year with a fund raising project to where many took on the creator, his numbers were trying to defy physics.</p> <p>It’s fascinating to see how math is used to solve problems and create answers; however there are limitations in some areas.  Is math a product of the human brain, interesting question that is asked.  </p> <p>The study on Lemurs is interesting as they are trying to compare the brain and math to humans.  This is interesting but again nothing that will impact you other than more incentives giving away credit cards for you to spend more so additional data can be collected about you…</p> <p>We perceive numbers as humans, probably pre-programmed the video states.  That’s where we run into trouble today with math models that cheat and thus there goes the perception levels and people are lead into areas that are not true.  Boy do we see that in the news.  </p> <p><strong>Error bars, like daily weather is just too complex to predict for more than a week.  Interesting though as the video continues on to spot other areas to where long term models won’t work well, like the behavior of water, the stock market, human psychology and more.</strong>  This statement actually says something here too on why government healthcare models won’t work, it’s not effective long term and we have some Algo Duped folks trying to make it work long term and now one by one we are seeing such models from HHS and CMS starting to fail.  </p> <p><a href="http://www.ducknet.net/attack-of-the-killer-algorithms/">Catch the videos over at the Killer Algorithms page</a> for more on how that evolves, as right now we’re on a <a href="http://www.ducknet.net/attack-of-the-killer-algorithms/"><img align="right" border="0" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-6HDDm04lOwA/Ts0zq-EuFHI/AAAAAAAA4d8/nMT-KL0JEDY/image_thumb%25255B12%25255D.png?imgmax=172" 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"></a>no-win path with folks looking for Algo Fairies and Unicorns, they just don’t exist.  This does not mean short term models are bad though either but the longer the model, the greater the error factors.  In another topic, I write about this all the time with the data selling epidemic and sure enough the error bars grow on what is collected and sold about us, hands down.  Again the oddness of this though is getting government and the public to accept this fact so we can move forward and the perceptions sold by the media today are strong and do quite a bit of manipulation and polarization out there, by design sometimes.  </p> <p>Engineers have the elegance of math that meets the messiness of the real world.  They deal in the domain of the approximate, the practical.  The make changes, omit things and rework so things work.  They take shortcuts that approximate an answer.  </p> <p>For engineers, “approximate is close enough” so keep that in mind with the business of healthcare as it’s not like the big data projects of genomics and science to where they need more definition, but the way you get marketed and I head this all the time, they push you to have higher levels of accuracy than needed, and again look at HHS and CMS, they go out of their skulls with some of this.  Recently HHS Secretary Burwell came out with yet another “huge numbers push” and again time to think about “being close enough” here as in time as this keeps building she will drive everyone out of their minds as people don’t work that way, but she’s been Algo Duped, the Sebelius Syndrome lives on.  There’s many afflicted with this belief as well and you see it all the time with Congress, Mary Jo White at the SEC (markets are not rigged) and so on.  Most people that have written code are substantially aware of this and self included, we can’t fathom the beliefs we hear but remember the press is there pushing this perception as well so it’s all around you.  <p>So remember when you sit down in from of your medical records system, think about how engineers struggle to make things “simple enough” and how they trade precision for practicality.  Close enough was good enough to get the US to Mars.  </p> <p><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JOtAFiI39_I?rel=0" frameborder="0" width="560" allowfullscreen></iframe></p> <p>So you precision folks when it comes to the “business” of healthcare, give this some thought as we will get better but there will never be the levels of precision that the White House, HHS, CMS and more want you to believe exists as again they do have a level of duping taking place and often that all comes back to making money and further scoring US citizens out of opportunities that used to exist.  That is where math is used by those to control and make money, but that being said, this vide gives you a pretty good understanding on how things work all the way around, great video!  BD  </p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOtAFiI39_I">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOtAFiI39_I</a>

“The Great Math Mystery”–Software Engineering-Looking for Where It Does and Doesn’t Work-The Physics Connection…

There’s a lot of good discussion here with both the history of math and how it relates and works with the real world.  The laws of physics i...

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Union Protesting, Accuses Kaiser of Firing Psychologist Who Was a Whistleblower

<p>Kaiser has been under fire for a few years now with not providing adequate mental care and this appears to be a continuation of the process here with the union now bringing it to the forefront again, with the firing of a psychologist who blew the whistle<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="62" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Tnp6nsz113k/VVYPdle9IxI/AAAAAAABMRY/kO14wY5UnXw/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; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" title="image" width="187" /> on some aspects of this.</p> <p>When you read around the web you can see where Kaiser is shifting some behavioral health areas over to Optum as contracts are signed.  You can see it on the web pages themselves for some of the contracts they hold, go to Optum as a covered entity for <a href="http://mydoctor.kaiserpermanente.org/ncal/healthCenter/lchc/home/services.html">mental health care, it’s right in plain sight.</a>  One hospital executive recently told me they took the easy way out with signing such contracts versus more in house coverage.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/11/kaiser-permanente-mental-health-workers.html">Kaiser Permanente Mental Health Workers Demand a Fix for Inadequate Care</a></h5> <p>So again, keep an eye on the “too big to fail” big insurer, UHC/Optum as you may find their subsidiaries in places you may have never thought of.  BD  </p> <hr />For years, Kaiser Permanente, the <a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/subscriber-only/2014/04/04/hmos-2014.html">largest HMO in the Bay Area</a>, has been criticized by the National Union of Healthcare Workers, which represents mental health care professionals in Kaiser facilities around California, for providing insufficient mental health services for its members. In 2013, the California Department of Managed Health Care vindicated those complaints when it fined the HMO $4 million for "failing to provide mental health treatment in a timely manner," <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/health-and-medicine/article2577923.html">according to the Sacramento Bee</a>. The DMCH also ordered Kaiser to cease and desist from violating state law, which requires HMOs to provide mental as well as physical health care.  <br />Kaiser was supposed to fix the problems, but in February of this year, the DMCH issued a report slamming the company for continuing to fail to meet the legal standards for mental health care, according to the <a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-kaiser-mental-health-20150225-story.html">LA Times</a>. <p><a href="http://www.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2015/05/14/union-accuses-kaiser-of-firing-whistleblowing-psychologist">http://www.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2015/05/14/union-accuses-kaiser-of-firing-whistleblowing-psychologist</a></p>

Union Protesting, Accuses Kaiser of Firing Psychologist Who Was a Whistleblower

Kaiser has been under fire for a few years now with not providing adequate mental care and this appears to be a continuation of the process ...

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QSSI (United Healthcare Subsidiary) Calls It Quits With Healthcare.Gov-Stepping Down as Primary Contractor/Manager

<p>This is interesting and it could be due to the 8 month extension given QSSI expiring and maybe HHS/CMS decided not to renew?  There could be other reasons as well.  Our current head of Medicare, Andy Slavitt was the former CEO of this United Subsidiary and moved from that slot to where he is now and was given a rare waiver to be He received a rare waiver to allow him to be involved in contracting issues involving Optum and the United Healthcare Group.</p> <p>If you read here often enough you have probably heard me mention about the big door opening at HHS<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="144" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-i7w-qMftJsQ/VVWAKDm8lgI/AAAAAAABMRA/bQSiX2X5EDo/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="226" /> beginning back when Lois Quam, another former United Healthcare Executive was hired by Hillary Clinton with her first healthcare campaign.  Quam was also one of the key executives that escaped criminal prosecution back in 2007 when the Department of Justice investigated UHC for back dating stocks.  Many executives were found to have done it but the former CEO took the fall and Hemsley who admitted and gave his back dated stocks back right away continued to move forward and become the CEO of United Health Group today.  </p> <p>QSSI has been at the center of political controversy since the company won an HHS contract and then 2 weeks later were bought by United and Andy Slavitt, current head of Medicare came right along with the deal and a loop hole in current laws allowed him to pocket almost 5 million in tax free income.  You do kind of wonder why a millionaire several times over wants to run Medicare, right?  Before QSSI Mr. Slavitt also served as CEO of another United Healthcare company, Ingenix which also had a number of lawsuits based on false positives in anti fraud software as well as the algorithms that allowed doctors and patients to be short paid for 15 years on out of network claims.  The AMA settled that lawsuit with Ingenix and with other insurers who licensed it, such as Blue Cross and Health Net.  Aetna later would decided they could get out of the deal and built a case around lack of interest for not participating in the pay back they agreed to initially.  </p> <p>Before all of this though, Mr. Slavitt was a one time Goldman Sachs banker earlier in his career.  </p> <p>We might also remember the news of former HHS Secretary Sebelius running to register QSSI with the SEC and only to her dismay later she found out that United had not in essence violated any SEC laws with now disclosing the QSSI purchase as it appeared at the time it met the rules of non significance in the laws.</p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/06/sec-rules-ask-for-disclosure-only-when.html">SEC Rules Ask for Disclosure Only When Subsidiary Operations Are “Significant”-Was The Federal Hub Contract Awarded to QSSI Not Significant When the Company Was Bought By United Health Group?–Subsidiary Watch</a></h5> <p>So as the progression moved on, QSSI with a large India foot print and domicile continued to be awarded contract for fixing Healthcare.Gov and other health insurance exchanges at the state levels.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/10/india-technology-to-fix-us.html">India Technology To Fix US Healthcare.Gov Website Now And Has Assumed The Lead Project Manager and Integrator Role, QSSI Listed As Indian Domiciled With United Healthcare SEC Filings</a></h5> <p>So again we circle around back to this waiver that allows Mr. Slavitt, while head of Medicare to still be active in contracts negotiated for<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="160" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-OpTLU0_AraA/VVWALPAhElI/AAAAAAABMRI/P-1zYsCz3jU/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="221" /> Optum and United Healthcare.  Frankly I’m surprised other insurers have not been a little upset over the long time advantage/relationship United has had over the years with HHS and CMS as former employees tell me they were always there to mentor and help HHS/CMS with their business models, and some of which are not doing so hot right now as no set of mathematics runs forever without updates or replacements, or ditching a model all together.  </p> <p>Long and short of it is just as what occurs in the financial business, all the actions take place with subsidiaries today and if you are not paying attention, companies like United grow via their subsidiaries and are in areas of business way beyond just insurance policies and managing care.  You can search this blog and find multiple blog posts to learn up on what else they do.  <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/07/health-insurance-business-under-radar.html">Back in 2013 I did a small summary</a> to include some of their businesses to include owning and operating a custodial bank as well, and again subsidiaries do allow for the major corporation to stay outside the immediate radar.   </p> <p>So who’s going to be the head contractor now at Healthcare.Gov I guess is the question and are we going to also have “too big to fail” health insurers on the landscape just like the banks?  Here’s a new subsidiary of interest that just incorporated a couple months ago worth a read.  BD</p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2015/05/optum-clinics-holdings-new-subsidiary.html">Optum Clinics Holdings, New Subsidiary Incorporated In 2015 Raises Over 36 Million (Exchange of Shares) From Investors Unknown-Form D Used to Maintain Secrecy Of Who They Are For Now…</a></h5> <p> <hr />QSSI, the politically-connected information technology firm that rescued the problem-plagued Healthcare.gov website unexpectedly announced Thursday that it is stepping down as prime manager.</p> <p>The surprise departure of QSSI, the Columbia, Md.-based subsidiary of the IT health firm Optum and the health insurance giant United Healthcare Group, will raise new doubts about the future viability of President Obama’s signature program, Obamacare.</p> <p>Three IT companies will have managed Healthcare.gov in its brief two-year history once QSSI is replaced.</p> <p>A spokesman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, which manages Obamacare, declined to comment on QSSI’s decision, including whether the firm’s departure was voluntary.</p> <p><a href="http://dailycaller.com/2015/05/14/politically-connected-obamacare-website-company-suddenly-quits/">http://dailycaller.com/2015/05/14/politically-connected-obamacare-website-company-suddenly-quits/</a></p>

QSSI (United Healthcare Subsidiary) Calls It Quits With Healthcare.Gov-Stepping Down as Primary Contractor/Manager

This is interesting and it could be due to the 8 month extension given QSSI expiring and maybe HHS/CMS decided not to renew?  There could be...

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Optum Clinics Holdings, New Subsidiary Incorporated In 2015 Raises Over 36 Million (Exchange of Shares) From Investors Unknown-Form D Used to Maintain Secrecy Of Who They Are For Now…

<p>Here’s yet one more subsidiary of the giant insurance/technology behemoth that has been created this year.  This is probably du<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="92" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-1loaMxQKy7A/VU-sDT8oDCI/AAAAAAABMQQ/2n2MK0clCO8/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="187" />e to the fact that United/Optum just purchased MedExpress, a large chain of clinics across the US.  MedExpress by the way unless it changed on the site openly solicits doctors to get in touch with them if they want to sell their practice.  Hope not too many go that route myself.</p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2015/04/optum-united-healthcare-buys-medexpress.html">Optum (United Healthcare) Buys MedExpress Urgent Care Business- 141 Full Service Clinics In 11 States–Company Advertises They Are In the Market to Buy Your MD Practice, As A “Too Big To Fail Insurer” Moves Forward With More Acquisitions</a></h5> <p>The list of investors are not listed but we might look at the cast of companies already doing business with United/Optum to speculate, like Mayo, Dignity, etc. who are already involved in the pursuit of taking over revenue cycling in hospitals where ever they can land a contract.  This usually involves firing existing hospital employees and hiring them at a cheaper rate or with less benefits.  If you look at any job pages for comments on Optum 360, most of them say the drop in benefits is huge with being rehired by Optum 360, all to cut costs of course.  A former Dignity employee  really voiced that pretty loud on one of the jobs boards I read.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2015/04/mayo-clinic-is-latest-to-outsource.html">Mayo Clinic is the Latest to Outsource Revenue Cycling to Optum 360, A United Healthcare/Dignity Health Company Pursuing Hospital Contracts All Over the US For Profit…</a></h5> <p>There could be any kind of additional investors as well besides the usual cast of companies as well to maybe even include other subsidiaries that United and Optum owns.  As the article mentions, Optum Clinics filed a form D and the information is filed this way to keep the investors highly confidential as it’s something more than likely they don’t want to reveal right now, so a little bit of secrecy here with the new Optum/United subsidiary.  You can <a href="http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1641013/000114036115017740/xslFormDX01/primary_doc.xml">use the link here</a> to view the filing with the SEC and see who the officers are and a few other tidbits of information here.  </p> <p>We do know that Optum is very much interested in the urgent care clinics and I believe they have nine already under their own branding in Texas for one and in a couple other states. <strong> This makes me think back a bit to Zeke Emanuel and his past writings on the web where he talks about a big healthcare entity like Optum (and he loves Optum as he can’t get enough of them or write enough it seems) taking over, maybe even for a lot of what Medicare does</strong>, so seems a bit spooky does it not?  You have to remember we now have a former Optum Executive running Medicare, Andy Slavitt who’s also accredited with being a former Goldman Sachs banker too.  You can look old Zeke up and read his sometimes over zealous writings and his “love” for Optum over and over, and remember he thinks you are of little use after the age of 75, and who didn’t read that on the web a short while back.  </p> <p>What I found interesting too is the question on this page asking for people to comment and give the writer some information as “why are they doing this”.  Read what was said here in quotes too below…it’s all about money and the part about potential customers feeling more safe…there’s a choke on that one as for healthcare we go to where we get better care, not because of the fact that they are well financed.<strong>  <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="101" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-5fFrk6Df4ZI/VU-sEJD1ASI/AAAAAAABMQY/DpjPJ7DCFTA/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="350" /></strong></p> <p><strong><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.fr/2014/03/virtual-worlds-real-world-we-have.html">Oh well, back to the folks confusing virtual and real world values again, a huge problem.</a> </strong></p> <p><em>“Despite Steven R Fenlon’s reporting disadvantages, Optum Clinics Holdings, Inc. could benefit from this reporting. First, it helps potential customers feel more safe to deal with a firm that is well financed. <b>The odds are higher that it will stay in the business.</b> Second, this could attract other investors such as venture-capital firms, funds and angels. Third, positive PR effects could even bring leasing firms and venture lenders.”</em> <br /></p> <p>So one might guess they wanted the money to buy more clinics, remodel the ones they got with buying MedExpress, or both and a few other things thrown in.  If you have not looked into the huge array of subsidiaries Untied/Optum has, it’s worth a look as 2/3 of their business comes from insurance and 1/3 is coming from software and analytics, and you can go back to the old Ingenix software (which is now called Optum Insights) that’s been around for a while and was the bottom line for the AMA lawsuit a few years ago with lowballing customary fees on out of network charges for 15 years, Ingenix Algorithms you could say.  </p> <p><strong>In addition companies who own a pharmacy benefit manager like to sell drugs and make money too.  For years Optum has had their own but they bought another one to incorporate which has some data selling skeptics (besides me</strong>) on the web wondering what this is going to fully do for privacy efforts.  The amount of data for sale about you whenever you fill a prescription is huge today, making money to usually include Milleman and Optum yanking data out to analyze and sell to the likes of IMS, the biggest data seller of healthcare information out there who did an IPO last year.  So again, thinking about how subsidiary companies would maybe work together, well clinics and patients need a PBM right?  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2015/03/united-healthcare-buys-catamaran.html">United Healthcare Buys Catamaran Pharmacy Benefit Manager Just As the PBM Gets Hit With A Class Action Lawsuit For Low Balling Pharmacy Reimbursements..And More Patient Data to Sell and Analyze For Profit</a></h5> <p>So the mystery remains for now at least as to who kicked in $36 Million to fund this new Optum Clinics Holding?  We might find out in time, so stay tuned.  BD </p> <p> <hr />Optum Clinics Holdings, Inc., Corporation just submitted form D for $36.98 million financing. <b>Optum Clinics Holdings was able to sell $36.98 million</b>. That is 100.00% of the fundraising offer. The total fundraising amount was $36.98 million. The fundraising form was filled on 2015-05-05. The reason for the financing was: Exchange of shares valued at $36,979,733.</p> <p>Optum Clinics Holdings is based in Minnesota. The company’s business is not disclosed. The form D was signed by Steven R Fenlon Assistant Secretary. The company was incorporated in 2015. The filler’s address is: 9900 Bren Road East, Minnetonka, Mn, Minnesota, 55343. John L. Larsen is the related person in the form and it has address: 9900 Bren Road East, Minnetonka, Mn, Minnesota, 55343.</p> <p> <a href="http://www.octafinance.com/optum-clinics-holdings-just-had-published-form-d-regarding-36-98-million-financing/40338/#ixzz3ZlHUDaFa">http://www.octafinance.com/optum-clinics-holdings-just-had-published-form-d-regarding-36-98-million-financing/40338/#ixzz3ZlHUDaFa</a></p>

Optum Clinics Holdings, New Subsidiary Incorporated In 2015 Raises Over 36 Million (Exchange of Shares) From Investors Unknown-Form D Used to Maintain Secrecy Of Who They Are For Now…

Here’s yet one more subsidiary of the giant insurance/technology behemoth that has been created this year.  This is probably du e to the fac...

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“Tech Neck” Devices Causing New Medical Condition From Constantly Looking Down At Your Cellphone, Tablet, Etc.

<p>This is pretty interesting and does make sense and I think we can all relate to this one, again depending on how much<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="187" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-FoqOqPSdP9s/VUZSPLlI-LI/AAAAAAABMP0/tBq-lSdtpnA/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="168" /> time you spend with your nose in a device today.  </p> <p>Nobody seems to immune to this one, all ages as a matter of fact.  We all do it.  Chiropractors now say there is a bit of a switch going on from patients with lower back pain to upper back.  </p> <p>This gives a new meaning to a “pain in the neck”.  So now if you use devices frequently during the day there’s new stretching therapies out there and I guess this is yet one more possible argument that could be made with EMRs?  Oh who knows as I see a little bit of everything out there and this means that all the doctors and nurses who take care of me might have this too (grin).  This article is with a chiropractic focus here too so maybe physicians might have some input from their side too?  </p> <p>One thing is correct though, we do spend a lot of time with our noses stuck in devices:)  BD  </p> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://KCTV.images.worldnow.com/interface/js/WNVideo.js?rnd=396378;hostDomain=www.kctv5.com;playerWidth=630;playerHeight=385;isShowIcon=true;clipId=11448496;flvUri=;partnerclipid=;adTag=Video%2520Player;advertisingZone=;enableAds=false;landingPage=;islandingPageoverride=false;playerType=STANDARD_EMBEDDEDscript;controlsType=fixed"></script><a href="http://www.kctv5.com" title="KCTV5">KCTV5</a> <p> <hr />Looking down at your tablet or smart phone constantly throughout the day, he said, forces a person's head into a forward position, putting stress on muscles, nerves and vertebrae. Doctors say for every inch a person tilts or cranes their head forward, they put an extra 10 pounds of pressure on their neck.</p> <p>“We're starting to see disc degeneration at a younger age and people with chronic headaches and neck pain who never really had an issue and I think the long-term consequences of this is that people are getting arthritis in their neck at a much younger age,” Rogers said.</p> <p><a href="http://www.kctv5.com/story/28946249/hfr-tech-neck-your-devices-could-be-creating-serious-medical-problems">http://www.kctv5.com/story/28946249/hfr-tech-neck-your-devices-could-be-creating-serious-medical-problems</a></p>

“Tech Neck” Devices Causing New Medical Condition From Constantly Looking Down At Your Cellphone, Tablet, Etc.

This is pretty interesting and does make sense and I think we can all relate to this one, again depending on how much time you spend with y...

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Using BitCoin Blockchain Technology, Next Up To Secure Medical Records?

<p>This is interesting and banks are just barely trying to get into this themselves with using the technology in the financial area so waste no time here with the suggestion of using the technology to secure medical records.  </p> <p>So what’s next, a BitCoin wallet to store your medical records?  It’s an interesting idea that has yet to<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="89" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-q2A5qk75w9A/VUZDGXLDzpI/AAAAAAABMPk/HYboq9M3PNw/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" /> unfold so stay tuned as the war to protect privacy continues.  BD  </p> <p> <hr />Even though the benefits of creating and maintaining electronic medical records of patients has been established (it is found that maintaining records considerably increases the quality of care provided to patients) the exorbitant cost of managing and maintaining the system has put many hospitals off from implementing it.</p> <p>Blockchain technology, the lifeline of the Bitcoin network has the potential to address the concerns regarding access, security, scalability and privacy of electronic medical records. A centralized platform that decentralizes healthcare data is not too far. Conceptually, patient’s data can be stored on the bitcoin blockchain or similar technology creating a multisig address for each patient’s records. The patient can be provided with a private key and a <a href="http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/3718/what-are-multi-signature-transactions">multisig</a> address for his data. In addition, each healthcare provider using this record keeping system can be assigned a universal signature. Using the same multisig principle used by bitcoin wallets, a patient can choose to grant access to any healthcare provider of his choice by using his signature along with that of the hospital. This way, the patients will have full access to their own data and they can choose the healthcare provider they would like to share it with. It will also save hospitals from the huge costs associated with setting up and maintaining patients’ electronic records.</p> <p><a href="http://www.newsbtc.com/2015/05/02/blockchain-to-revolutionize-healthcare/">http://www.newsbtc.com/2015/05/02/blockchain-to-revolutionize-healthcare/</a></p>

Using BitCoin Blockchain Technology, Next Up To Secure Medical Records?

This is interesting and banks are just barely trying to get into this themselves with using the technology in the financial area so waste no...

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Woman in New Jersey Gets 3 Years in Jail for 500K Of Fraudulent Insurance Claims-Don’t Try This At Home, Health Insurers Only Ones Allowed To Commit Fraud , Not You

<p>I read this story and it’s hardly news worthy and I’m not saying I approve of fraud by any means, but look at the dollar amount?  The woman is a registered nurse, so folks wise up, she deal with claims and is on the inside track so if she’s getting caught, well you can think about that one.  In other words the point I’m trying to make here is that even insiders in the healthcare business are not smart enough to fool health insurers algorithms that do fraud prevention.  </p> <p>Seriously when you look at what’s in the news, is the media outside of the Center for Public Integrity<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="168" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-K2-OWPcPKiA/VUY2vPuBRHI/AAAAAAABMPU/E8D93COSwsc/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="273" /> covering the big $70 Billion Dollar Fraud that insurers automated over 5 years against Medicare and give us updates?  Hell no, we have to read about some nurse and 500k of fraud…what does the news media think is news?  Open your eyes here folks and see how the professionals use algorithmic formulas to rip Medicare..that’s the big story and much bigger than what Medicare spends on drugs.  The two links below will bring you up to date in case you missed it.  Kinds of sounds like banks, does it not? </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2015/03/cms-to-rerun-medicare-advantage-risk.html">CMS to Rerun the Medicare Advantage Risk Scores–Dating Back to 2008 To Catch the Automated Risk Fiddlers of Said Insurer Fraud Amounting to Around $70 Billion–Be Ready For It…</a></h5> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/08/cms-discovers-that-insurers-offering.html">CMS Discovers That Insurers Offering Medicare Advantage “Really Know How To Sharp Shoot A Model With Adjusting Risk For Profit”, A Common Everyday Occurrence in Financial Markets…</a></h5> <p><strong>So we have the news that CMS is going to re-run the Medicare Risk Assessment algorithm and keep in mind that Medicare is run by a one time Goldman Sachs banker, Andy Slavitt who was also with Ingenix as their CEO since he originally created the company United bought.</strong>   For those who may not remember, Ingenix is the subsidiary company of United Healthcare that the AMA sued in a class action lawsuit and settled with for short paying doctors and patients for 15 years on out of network medical bills.  It’s interesting when you hear Mr. Slavitt talk about it after all the lawsuits filed over “false positives” and their accusations of algorithms “fraud-fraud” if you will years later.   </p> <p>Today we hear that the anti fraud and out of network Ingenix calculators were just something that was there for years, and they kind of felt bad about it but just never got around to fixing it.  How many others today could get away with that explanation?    A while back both Humana and United discussed setting some money aside for the rerun if in fact CMS does run it as I don’t remember in the past CMS ever taking such an aggressive move for a money grab.  They should get the $70 billion or part of it back as we were ripped as taxpayers, but then again,<strong> insurers know when Medicare is backed up against the wall with insurers threatening to cut benefits for the Medicare Part D coverage they get away with it, so “fraud is ok when the risk of cutting care to seniors comes up”,</strong> been working that way for a while now with playing their “Ace in the Hole” and think about it, works every time when you hear Congress shifting from cutting Medicare D to giving insurers an increase.  </p> <p>The increase is the “legal” money for taking care of costs which is fine as we know healthcare is going up all the time in costs, but again, should insurers be allow to commit fraud and give themselves a $70 billion dollar raise?  I find it interesting to see insurers basically in the same business as Medicare ripping the algos when it comes to wanting more from the government?  Just remember insurers have tons of profiles from their Biz Intel software so from the other side of the coin they have to protect their business from fraud, but again don’t play both sides of the street and do the same thing they are trying to control.  </p> <p>So getting back to this woman in New Jersey, three yeas for 500k?  Seems like that’s a pretty stiff sentence and yes there’s a sentence to be handed out here as fraud is never good, but like I said, “Don’t Try This At Home” as insurers with their anti fraud algorithm models they have collected over the years know how most of them work and program analytical software to look for those patterns and tendencies with people.  Insurers go over the edge and then some to get as much data and information about you as they can “because they can and it’s there”.  They have error bars too in their analytics and watching for false positives is yet another concern too with insurers when suspecting fraud, so data leads you where to look but it doesn’t always mean fraud.  Humans still have to figure that out.  <strong>Keep in mind too that all the major insurers run on the S&P 500 index and they are also very active in stock buy backs to enrich their CEOs, so part of what you pay for polices is wrapped up in that too.</strong></p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/12/insurance-carrier-stock-buy-backs.html">Insurance Carrier stock Buy Backs Continue to Rise While Consumers Are Finding It Harder to Afford Some Policies and Care With Dealing With High Deductibles And Narrow Networks…</a></h5> <p><strong>One more item here worth a read is the software insurers use at their call centers, be aware as you are “scored” here too on your current state on the phone at the time and there’s tons of behavioral analytic companies that want to dig in a research all of this to layer<img align="right" height="74" src="https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRp9TBlvWqtr16ku9oa-uGY_yLITLV9hYmtozmPi5XdbJ5RW7Sm" style="float: right; display: inline" width="188" /> even more scoring here and certainly find a large degree of us a probably half insane or are potential targets to defraud them or Medicare (grin).  Insurers are a little over the top with their analytics today and you pay for that too with your policies.  </strong></p> <p><strong>It’s not that this voice analytical software is that great, it does allow for additional scoring and preventing access for you somewhere along the line.  You don’t know when you have been scored and how much the insurer made doing it.  So this registered nurse with a 3 year sentence, hmmmm…what kind of scores did she get?  It’s something to ponder as this is what’s going on out there that further creates more inequality and denies people access today.  Read on below about the millions of algorithms that go ripping around insurer call centers and more.  </strong></p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/05/this-call-may-be-recorded-for-quality.html">“This Call May Be Recorded for Quality Purposes”..Heck Not, Millions of Algorithms Have Been Turned Loose to Listen To and Analyze Your Voice When You Talk To Your Insurance Company As Algorithms Continue To Take Over the World…</a></h5> <p>Anyway I just thought this was a rather “stiff” sentence and didn’t really fit the crime in view of what else is going on out there.  BD  </p> <p><a href="http://www.nj.com/monmouth%20county/"> <hr />FREEHOLD</a> —A Middletown woman was sentenced to three years in prison for submitting more than $500,000 in fake health insurance claims.</p> <p>Donna Dzienisewski, 41, was sentenced to the prison term on Friday <a href="http://www.nj.com/monmouth/index.ssf/2014/10/middletown_woman_admits_she_tried_to_scam_health_insurance_company_of_500k.html">after admitting </a>she submitted 107 claims to Horizon Blue Cross-Blue Shield of New Jersey for reimbursement of medical procedures even though she only visited the doctor six times and only incurred slightly more than $2,600 in legitimate medical expenses, acting state Attorney General John Hoffman said.</p> <p>"More than 100 times, Dzienisewski lied to her insurer so that she could enrich herself with well over $100,000 over a two-year span," Hoffman said in a press release. "The egregious and dishonest nature of her crime has rightfully led to a prison term."</p> <p><a href="http://www.nj.com/monmouth/index.ssf/2015/05/middletown_woman_sentenced_to_prison_for_500k_heal.html">http://www.nj.com/monmouth/index.ssf/2015/05/middletown_woman_sentenced_to_prison_for_500k_heal.html</a></p>

Woman in New Jersey Gets 3 Years in Jail for 500K Of Fraudulent Insurance Claims-Don’t Try This At Home, Health Insurers Only Ones Allowed To Commit Fraud , Not You

I read this story and it’s hardly news worthy and I’m not saying I approve of fraud by any means, but look at the dollar amount?  The woman ...

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“Inside The Dark Web” Documentary -Digital Illiterate Law Makers in a Panic And the Creator of The Internet Is Soul Searching -Data Collecting and Selling That Defies Our Privacy

<p>Is the web we love been turned against us is the question raised from this video.  Some of those<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="131" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-8xQM4QZP2PY/VUGoaNxk84I/AAAAAAABMO4/o3LdTxjnmoE/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="235"> themselves who created the web are soul searching themselves on what was created and scientists are fighting back.</p> <p>This is great and says what I have said for quite a while, people confuse the virtual world values with the real world.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/03/virtual-worlds-real-world-we-have.html">Virtual Worlds, Real World We Have A Problem And It’s A Big One With A Lot of Gray Areas Finding Where The Defining Lines Exist, Confusing Many With A Lot of Weird Values And Strange Perceptions…</a></h5> <p>Your deepest secrets are sold to the highest buyer.  Many times you are repackaged (your data) and sold over and over and over and requeried again and again.  </p> <p>You may never use Wi-Fi again after watching this video.  As along as your phone is on, you can be tracked.  Why do you think Google and others want to put in more Wi-Fi.  Data gives someone control over you and convince you to buy things you may not want to buy otherwise.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/04/world-privacy-forum-report-scoring-of.html">World Privacy Forum Report - The Scoring of America: How Secret Consumer Scores Threaten Your Privacy and Your Future - One Big Element that Fuels the Continued Attack of Killer Algorithms & Demise of the Middle Class Creating Profiteering And/Or Denial of Access</a></h5> <p><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qXajND7BQzk" frameborder="0" width="560" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p> <p>Here’s another good read…</p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/04/google-partnering-with-data-brokers.html">Google Partnering With Data Brokers Acxiom And Others To Follow You Around While You Shop On a Test Project-Data Selling Data Businesses Benefit And Tech Companies Operate Off Shore Tax Havens-Do Google and Facebook Pay US Taxes on This Revenue?</a></h5> <p>Check out the Tor Browser, created by the US Navy and used by many, and not just crooks, those who want privacy.  BD  <p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXajND7BQzk" title="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXajND7BQzk">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXajND7BQzk</a></p>

“Inside The Dark Web” Documentary -Digital Illiterate Law Makers in a Panic And the Creator of The Internet Is Soul Searching -Data Collecting and Selling That Defies Our Privacy

Is the web we love been turned against us is the question raised from this video.  Some of those themselves who created the web are soul se...

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Leave It Up to Congress and the White House to Turn the SGR Repeal into a Media Circus…Daily Show..

<p>He calls it right again, Jon Stewart nails it and boy are we going to miss him.  Congress like he said is just dropping all over themselves <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="147" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-GQ4L5Zl_nHU/VTfI4fPj_sI/AAAAAAABMOc/-Sh4Ey0Q78k/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="283">with congratulating each other for doing their job.  It just goes to show how far away from reality we really are today when we need a full on media showering on something that’s been an issue since 1997, Congress can’t model very well or do math as we know.</p> <p>Don’t miss the Boehner/Pelosi kiss on the cheek, give me a break, this is not the soap opera “General Hospital” but it sure plays out that way in the news today.</p> <p>As Stewart points out Congress fixes a law and a problem that they created for themselves (and us) and the President was go giddy he let a “child” film signing the bill, that’s is so funny.  We don’t give a crap about Boehner and Pelosi and what they did, there’s no trophy needed as Jon says.</p> <p>We come back to perception here, as he says “are we supposed to throw Congress a party for that”.  Sure it’s a welcome change by all means but damn, what a frigging circus in the media.  There is a negative side here in the fact that it continues to engage those CMS models with HHS mentored by United Healthcare over the years to let the HHS Secretary determine the quality measure reporting with doctors in the US, so duped again and the Sebelius Syndrome of whacked out perceptions on what humans can actually produce and meet the numbers that Congress “thinks” can be done, just<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="99" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-CZeIhfkmZ0U/VTfI5ZhZWiI/AAAAAAABMOk/usrEeQ-vabM/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="212"> another day in algorithmic profit making.</p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/07/bill-to-restore-office-of-technology.html">Bill To Restore Office of Technology Assessment Was Defeated Again This Year As Congress Chooses to Remain In the Dark With Technology At A Time When Private Industry Is Doing Just the Opposite - “The Grays” Live On…</a></h5> <p>The reason they are really excited is that they were able to pass a bill which didn’t require much understanding of IT technology, and part two is where they really bungled things up.  Again the Sebelius Syndrome out there again with perceptions that are not realistic or attainable.  A famous Quant, Paul Wilmott said <em><u><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/04/it-will-never-be-100-bottles-of-beer.html">that 99.9 percent of financial models don’t involve the “real world” and that’s the problem, and we tend to be seeing the same thing in healthcare.</a></u></em>  Healthcare models with numerical structures and formulas, not that much different from financial models except instead of algos ripping around through stock exchanges, it’s humans being pushed to rip around through jillions of algorithmic formulas to get care when we are sick.  It’s much harder than the markets, as we are humans and not just a “piece of code” to whip around as we have a physical existence and are not virtual.  </p> <div style="width: 520px; background-color: #000000"> <div style="padding-bottom: 4px; padding-top: 4px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 4px"><iframe height="288" src="http://media.mtvnservices.com/embed/mgid:arc:video:thedailyshow.com:37eb4a2d-d91c-4660-a74b-30f2ecd439f9" frameborder="0" width="460"></iframe> <p style="margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; padding-bottom: 4px; text-align: left; padding-top: 4px; padding-left: 4px; margin-top: 4px; padding-right: 4px; background-color: #ffffff"><b><a href="http://thedailyshow.cc.com/">The Daily Show</a></b> <br>Get More: <a href="http://thedailyshow.cc.com/full-episodes/">Daily Show Full Episodes</a>,<a href="http://www.facebook.com/thedailyshow">The Daily Show on Facebook</a>,<a href="http://thedailyshow.cc.com/videos">Daily Show Video Archive</a></p></div></div> <p>So how many bots covered this story?  Sure there were some as 60% of what you read today is written by bots…let’s add on that factor to the madness.  Read this as you might have to pay to read such soon.</p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2015/03/major-us-newspapers-sign-up-and-invest.html">Major US Newspapers Sign Up and Invest With New Start Up That Will Charge You To Read The News–20 Cents Per Article, Probably Written by a Bot and Goes On You Credit Card–And Bolsters the $180 Million Dollar Year Personal Data Selling Business</a></h5> <p>In the meantime, watch this documentary on Silicon Valley and see how far apart our Government flunkies and the code and technology in Silicon Valley really are. run for the hills as this is scary as these folks just manipulate the hell out of the Hill.  It’s so painless and over the heads of Washington, they don’t even feel it but we do as consumers.  <strong>So after you watched the SGR Media Circus, tune in here and see what’s really taking place.  “We’re from California, we’re the future”…watch it.</strong>  <p><iframe style="height: 295px; width: 530px" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YQy0ZCx3UCY" frameborder="0" width="560" allowfullscreen></iframe> <p>We are as consumers under the <strong>Attack of the Killer Algorithms</strong> and if the news on the markets yesterday didn’t prove that, I don’t know how much more they need and the man arrested is not a lone wolf.  It’s hard to admit you’ve been code hosed and taken advantage of, but that’s what is going on.  Watch the videos at the Attack of the Killer Algorithms page and learn up, from folks smarter than me.  <p><em><u><a href="http://www.ducknet.net/attack-of-the-killer-algorithms/">Attack of the Killer Algorithms…</a></u></em> <p>Again, after you watch this second video, you’ll see how far apart our world of government and technology really are and they are not getting any closer.  BD</p>

Leave It Up to Congress and the White House to Turn the SGR Repeal into a Media Circus…Daily Show..

He calls it right again, Jon Stewart nails it and boy are we going to miss him.  Congress like he said is just dropping all over themselves ...

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With Lower Reimbursement from Insurers and Medicare, LabCorp To Allow Customers to To Go Online To Pay for And Schedule Tests Without a Visit to the Doctor, Looking for New Revenue Streams…

<p>We knew someday this would be coming and I would say obviously the tests are limited to those which a consumer can understand and are part of common blood work tests that are done every day.  The article mentions that years ago Quest tried the same thing and it<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="79" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-su55SiTv2MU/VTXkRd6v5LI/AAAAAAABMOI/eDBZq4ZpmR4/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" /> fizzled.  LabCorp is also the company who runs the tests for Twenty Three and Me, a Google company that does light weight genomic and ancestry testing for consumers. </p> <p>How this will take off remains to be seen.  Recently LabCorp made a fairly large acquisition of a company named Covance, a large molecular research and clinical trials company worldwide.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/11/labcorp-to-acquire-covance-for-61.html">Labcorp To Acquire Covance for $6.1 Billion Cash and Stock</a></h5> <h5><strong><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/02/labcorp-buys-covances-high-complexity.html">Labcorp Buys Covance’s High Complexity Genomic Laboratory In Seattle</a></strong></h5> <p>If you want to read the company privacy statement, you can <a href="https://www.labcorp.com/wps/portal/!ut/p/c1/04_SB8K8xLLM9MSSzPy8xBz9CP0os_hQV5NgQ09LYwMLD0tLA0_3MAsPdxcfYwMDM30_j_zcVP2CbEdFAL-Cfes!/dl2/d1/L2dQZyEvd0xNQUJKSUEvWUJweGx4dHhqeHJ3LzZfVUU0UzFJOTMwOEg5OTBJR1Y4SEdETDMwMDYvNl9RODZOUTJOMjA4MlU4MDIzRVJDMTRNMDBPNS82X1VFNFMxSTkzME9GVEEwSUtOUTlPUEgyNEQxLzZfUTg2TlEyTjIwODJVODAyM0VSQzE0TTAwNDIvNl9RODZOUTJOMjA4MlU4MDIzRVJDMTRNMDBDMw!!/">read it here</a> and see how much “sharing” is going on.  it will be interesting to see how this catches on and if they have more success than Quest did a few years ago.  In addition, the company will be looking for a drug store to collaborate with and there’s no mention of what the costs will be but in time I’m sure those will be shown as well.  More and more states are passing laws to allow consumers to get lab tests without a doctor’s prescription.  The company of course is facing some big competition from Theranos, a new lab company that charges 50% of what Medicare charges for blood tests and only requires a tiny drop of blood.  I’ve written about Theranos quite a bit here at the Quack and as they grow, this will get interesting to see what the consumer does.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/11/its-basic-human-right-for-individuals.html">“It’s A Basic Human Right for Individuals to Have Access-One Drop of Blood”Theranos CEO & Founder, Elizabeth Holmes TED Video</a></h5> <p>I don’t expect a big rush on this but there could be enough to put some money to the company bottom line.  BD </p> <strong> <p> <hr /></p> <p>NEW YORK</p> • Consumers will soon be able to bypass their doctors by going online to order cholesterol readings, thyroid tests and other bloodwork from the nation's biggest diagnostics company.</strong> <p>Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings, which has about 20 locations in the St. Louis area, will let customers go online to pay for tests, visit a service center to get blood drawn, then view the results on the Web. The company has already been doing back-office lab work for a number of Internet firms that let people order up tests without a doctor.</p> <p>LabCorp's direct-to-consumer business will initially be run online. The company is exploring a partnership with a drugstore chain as well — an idea that rival Quest Diagnostics Inc. tried and scrapped. The company didn't say precisely which tests it will offer or how much it will charge. In some states, the law will still require consumers to get a doctor to order tests.</p> <p><a href="http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/labcorp-to-let-consumers-order-own-tests/article_22731fb1-f045-542c-9bc5-2563d7015333.html">http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/labcorp-to-let-consumers-order-own-tests/article_22731fb1-f045-542c-9bc5-2563d7015333.html</a></p>

With Lower Reimbursement from Insurers and Medicare, LabCorp To Allow Customers to To Go Online To Pay for And Schedule Tests Without a Visit to the Doctor, Looking for New Revenue Streams…

We knew someday this would be coming and I would say obviously the tests are limited to those which a consumer can understand and are part o...

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Mayo Clinic is the Latest to Outsource Revenue Cycling to Optum 360, A United Healthcare/Dignity Health Company Pursuing Hospital Contracts All Over the US For Profit…

<p>If you haven’t seen this way of outsourcing hospital revenue cycling and employees, here’s the latest from the Optum 360 group.  It’s a company owned by both Untied and Dignity Health with Optum/United Healthcare being the controlling party.  You could certainly assume this provides some revenue for <img align="right" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-tijkSzKtJCo/UlyAMU3pkJI/AAAAAAABIIQ/Snjq2bIa4hg/image%25255B7%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="float: right; display: inline" />Dignity Healthcare and as they have recently been hit with employees suits stating their pension funds are not adequate.  So add on Optum 360 and bump a bunch of folks off the pension plan right?  That’s basically what has occurred as Optum 360 was rolled out through the Dignity Healthcare system of hospitals first. </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/12/dignity-health-gets-temporary-reprieve.html">Dignity Health Gets a Temporary Reprieve on Pension Plan Lawsuit–Employees Claim As Being Under Funded</a></h5> <p>A judge just recently gave Dignity a bit of a reprieve on the pension issues, but it’s not over yet.  Optum itself without the 360 combined Dignity Health subsidiary has been at the center of revenue cycling for years and if I’m not mistaken, Cerner still licenses their software modules so every time a Cerner system is sold, there’s Licensing royalty payments to be made to Optum, one more way they make money and of course they own a few other subsidiaries in the medical records business as well.</p> <p>Dignity Health also has a big fine to pay so they are looking for revenue streams I could guess and this partnership company with Optum as they gain more hospital contacts to gain business with outsourcing revenue cycling to them should help their income.  Mayo is just the latest to outsource to Optum 360.  Employees are no longer employed by the hospitals and I could guess some get hired back.  On one of the job boards one employee commented about how their benefits plan under Optum 360 really sucked compared to what they had provided formerly by Dignity and said it was all about greed.  Here’s the link on the initial announcement of the company and a couple of former Medicare employees told me they about fell over<img align="right" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-SY08Bt8wa40/UlyAOJSv2II/AAAAAAABIIo/Tg8ePmVDuL4/image%25255B27%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="float: right; display: inline" /> seeing this.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/10/united-healthcare-adding-yet-one-more.html">United Healthcare Adding Yet One More Subsidiary to the Very Large Number of Subs They Already Own/Operate-Optum and Dignity Healthcare (A System Wide Cerner EHR Client) Form New Venture Called Optum 360–Subsidiary Watch</a></h5> <p>Dignity Health is already a partner in the Optum Labs group and I believe most of their hospitals do use Cerner medical records so some of the revenue cycling coding and software may already be in place.  </p> <p>You can watch the  <a href="http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/10/creating-a-sustainable-model-for-health-care/?utm_source=Socialflow&utm_medium=Tweet&utm_campaign=Socialflow"><em>CEO of Mayo doing somewhat of a solicitation for United Labs too in the Harvard Review</em></a><em>,</em> that’s where the data selling with Humedica rolled in there will take place, another subsidiary of the giant United conglomerate.  In addition this week there was also news about Optum/UHC buying a chain of urgent care centers and of course that gets rolled right in here to with Optum 360.  As a matter of fact if you visit the website of the new subsidiary, they want to talk to doctors who might want to sell their practices too so this subsidiary goes after the doctors while the Optum 360 subsidiary goes after the hospitals. </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2015/04/optum-united-healthcare-buys-medexpress.html">Optum (United Healthcare) Buys MedExpress Urgent Care Business- 141 Full Service Clinics In 11 States–Company Advertises They Are In the Market to Buy Your MD Practice, As A “Too Big To Fail Insurer” Moves Forward With More Acquisitions</a></h5> <p>So this again is another cost cutting effort and revenue gaining proposition for Optum and is allowing huge additional market exposure.  Optum has already opened up 9 of their own urgent care centers in Texas as an example.  If you look at the job sites, you’ll even see “admitting clerks” as part of the job listings that Optum 360 is looking for.  In the OC where I am, United owns some of the biggest IPAs (doctors groups) so they used that power as well to cut payments to MDs and many of which through very complex contracts here in the southern California area of getting paid at rates less than Medicare, which doesn’t make them very happy.  Keep in mind too now that Medicare is also run by a former United Executive who got his start in life as a Goldman Sachs banker.  That’s doesn’t seem to make anyone feel very good does it?  </p> <p>United and Optum love complexities as that’s what helps make money for them so don’t look for the company to make anything any simpler for you the patient to deal with as it’s not on the agenda as the whole focus here is to shift more money over to the consumer to pay.  I might add that your premium payments with United and other insurers also go to fund stock buy backs as those cost money to facilitate as well.  Look at Walgreens as another example and their record $8 Billion dollar debt/bond issue they had last year to raise money, so they could also keep buying back their stock.  </p> <p>Here’s a little bit more about the Optum Labs operation at the link below, that makes money for their founding members such as Dignity, Mayo and of course Optum by selling data and allowing companies to use apps to research the medical records that hospitals like Mayo, Dignity, McClaren and more provide, your medical records with claim data tied in.  So far, in a couple years nothing earth shattering out of the labs as they all proclaimed the research would end up with some real life saving stuff, yet to be seen.  <strong>It’s more about making money from those who pay to use the data.</strong>  </p> <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><strong>Anyway it sounds like a bunch of Mayo folks are about to lose jobs and get rehired by Optum 360</strong> as they join the outsourcing revenue cycling company.  It is interesting on how Mayo’s participation will end up providing income for Dignity Healthcare, another company of hospitals in the west.  By the way, United has a subsidiary that helps device and drug companies get their products approved from the FDA too.  I thought this was kind of interesting after we read the news articles about how United is going to control strict authorization of C-Sections now.  They kind of walk both sides of the street here, you think? </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2011/09/united-healthcare-optum-owns-consulting.html">United Healthcare (Optum) Owns A Consulting Firm for FDA Drug and Device Approvals, Clinical Trials–CanReg - Subsidiary Watch</a></h5> <p>Again, just look at any job market page and see what positions Optum 360 is advertising for and you’ll get the picture of what parts of the hospital revenue cycling and then maybe even more they are taking over.  They have to keep those infamous Ingenix fraud detection algorithms running too.  <img align="right" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-9ifGIaOPcUg/Un2sDRQ0ZMI/AAAAAAABIi4/_yb0FA4o254/image%25255B3%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="float: right; display: inline" />Do pay attention to all the Quants that are being hired throughout United and other insurers as those are the folks now designing the insurance policies you buy too and you kind of wonder how many former bank and high frequency trader quants they are hiring as quants do change industries as their work is all math and models beyond just stock markets.  One more note worth a short mention, Optum wants to be your medical records consultant, integrator and more so pop that in here with the Optum 360 subsidiary and what are they leaving untouched?</p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/11/united-healthcare-optum-insight.html">United Healthcare (Optum Insight Subsidiary) Wants To Be Your Allscripts, Epic And GE Centricity EHR Consulting Service Starting With Implementation And Beyond</a></h5> <p>So what is the behemoth not doing?  Here’s a couple links where you can view some very lengthy lists of subsidiaries as listed with the SEC for UnitedHeatlhGroup and United Healthcare.  Look now before the individual names go away as they are incorporating most all of them under the Untied or Optum name.   There’s even a listing for their tax haven company that has no officers in the mix.  BD  </p> <h5><a href="http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/731766/000119312503075552/dex21.htm">http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/731766/000119312503075552/dex21.htm</a></h5> <h5><a href="http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/731766/000119312510027229/dex211.htm">http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/731766/000119312510027229/dex211.htm</a></h5> <p> <hr />WAKEFIELD, Mass. & ROCHESTER, Minn., Apr 14, 2015 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Optum360 and Mayo Clinic announced today that they are partnering to develop new revenue management services capabilities aimed at improving patient experiences and satisfaction while reducing administrative costs for health care providers.</p> <p>Optum360 and Mayo Clinic will collaborate on enhancing and redesigning specific elements of the revenue cycle to increase efficiency while creating a convenient, accurate, transparent and personal experience for patients. A key focus is improving the interaction between the provider and payer by opening channels of communication early in the care process. The partnership includes a next-generation patient cost estimator, streamlining prior authorization/pre-certification, enhanced claims editing functions and administrative simplification of billing activities associated with pre-care packaged pricing.</p> <p><a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/mayo-clinic-and-optum360-partner-to-improve-experience-for-patients-2015-04-14">http://www.marketwatch.com/story/mayo-clinic-and-optum360-partner-to-improve-experience-for-patients-2015-04-14</a></p>

Mayo Clinic is the Latest to Outsource Revenue Cycling to Optum 360, A United Healthcare/Dignity Health Company Pursuing Hospital Contracts All Over the US For Profit…

If you haven’t seen this way of outsourcing hospital revenue cycling and employees, here’s the latest from the Optum 360 group.  It’s a comp...

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News Rigging Has Arrived! Astroturf and Manipulation of Media Messages-TED Video About “The Fake Grass Roots” Of Big Pharma and Other Campaigns That Fool and Fool Again…

<p>This is a great video and if you read at the Medical Quack, news rigging has been a somewhat frequent content. <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="187" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-gu1Kr2Z4Dkk/VS8t4e1lzVI/AAAAAAABMNs/ZfeYqeXY6cg/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; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" title="image" width="146" /> To a degree, everyone is really becoming more skeptical of what’s in the news.  Here’s a post from a couple of years ago, from Quant Cathy O’Neill, “On Being a Skeptic”.  Who knows better than those who model as once it’s designed you have to use the darn thing, right?  Of course you do.</p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/10/on-being-data-skeptic-modelers-have.html">“On Being a Data Skeptic- Modelers Have A Bigger Responsibility Now Than Ever Before”–A Must Read Essay, Start “Sniffing the Data”…</a></h5> <p>Who are these experts on the web?  Sharyl Attkisson does a good job on telling you how it all works and how little truth there can be out there.  She brings up all the pharma companies using Twitter and Facebook accounts set up to steer your interest.  These are “fake grass roots” movements.  </p> <p>She further goes on to talk about how those selling astroturf don’t like it if you go against what they are saying and that’s the truth if I ever heard it.  God forbid you come out and say something against the fake astroturf on “wearables”…try it sometimes and see what happens as it’s almost comical in nature too.  Just put on your tough skin and watch the fire works and enjoy.  </p> <p>Throwing experts into the mix really confuses a lot of issues and who are they anyway?  Here’s another TED video that addresses that topic as we find they may not really exist and might be astroturfing instead.  Thank goodness we do still have some quality journalists out there as well and if you read the news often enough, well you end up being able to pick them out amongst the astro turfers and the click baiters who only want ad revenue anyway.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2011/02/relying-on-experts-when-they-may-not.html">Relying on Experts When They May Not Exist–Many Intelligent and Smart People But Do We Have Misconceived Paradigms-TED</a></h5> <p>Listen to what’s going on with Wikipedia.  One man was not considered a reputable expert on himself.  The algos of the peer news would not let it happen.  I think like me you might be able to recognize the Twitter and Facebook paid professionals drug companies hire.  Also listen to how the drug companies manipulate study news and Google Search on top of that!  When you get done here, one more video and it’s #1 in the footer of this page “Context is Everything” from 3 years ago, Professor Siefe will explain how you are duped with math, which also enables further attacks of the Killer Algorithms.  BD  </p> <p><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-bYAQ-ZZtEU" frameborder="0" width="560" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p> <p>So, how about when the astroturfers employ bots to react and play to the sounds of the bots on the SIP which sends news to the stock exchanges…oh yes..it becomes a bot to bot world as the journobots can read how the bots react to the news in the news feed and then quickly write up and public an article that can indeed sway stock investors in a very short time, like a few minutes or seconds.  Do you want to pay for this type of news too is the next question…20 cents to read an article written by a bot?  Read the link below for more on that topic as the big media papers have stated they are “in” with this new start up that plans to do exactly that.</p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2015/03/major-us-newspapers-sign-up-and-invest.html">Major US Newspapers Sign Up and Invest With New Start Up That Will Charge You To Read The News–20 Cents Per Article, Probably Written by a Bot and Goes On You Credit Card–And Bolsters the $180 Million Dollar Year Personal Data Selling Business</a></h5> <p>Here’s a video that shows how jounobots do their work and this is what you get today.  By the way, this video was done n 2007, so jounobots have been around for a while.  BD  </p> <p><iframe style="height: 315px; width: 570px" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SkS5PkHQphY" frameborder="0" width="420" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p> <p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bYAQ-ZZtEU&feature=youtu.be">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bYAQ-ZZtEU&feature=youtu.be</a></p>

News Rigging Has Arrived! Astroturf and Manipulation of Media Messages-TED Video About “The Fake Grass Roots” Of Big Pharma and Other Campaigns That Fool and Fool Again…

This is a great video and if you read at the Medical Quack, news rigging has been a somewhat frequent content. To a degree, everyone is rea...

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Optum (United Healthcare) Buys MedExpress Urgent Care Business- 141 Full Service Clinics In 11 States–Company Advertises They Are In the Market to Buy Your MD Practice, As A “Too Big To Fail Insurer” Moves Forward With More Acquisitions

<p>No word on how long before “rebranding” may take place with the name yet.  Optum has already been in this business to a small<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="128" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-Vv6LeCV5sf0/VStgMqliwSI/AAAAAAABMNQ/mwxWYMPjqtU/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="209" /> degree in Texas and I believe one in Kansas so far.  The link below tells you what’s going on there and I think they are up to nine clinics now.  MedExpress plans on opening 25 more clinics so now I guess they too will be “Optum” clinics.   </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/11/united-healthcare-optum-opens-three.html">United Healthcare (Optum) Opens Three More Urgent Care Clinics In Houston</a></h5> <p>Here was another recent purchase for the “too big to fail insurer”.  Yes I said that as United with health insurance is like the banks getting “too big” and if you have not looked at their truckloads of subsidiaries, where all the action takes place, do it.  It was interesting the FTC got involved with the medical records business with stating there was not enough competitions and United is following right down that path.  A week ago, there was this acquisition with the Catamaran Pharmacy Benefit Management company.  Hardly anyone mentioned the class action law suit filed against Catamaran by independent physicians across the US.  In Brazil, United owns 90% of the biggest HMO in that country and also includes managing hospitals as the laws are different there.   </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2015/03/united-healthcare-buys-catamaran.html">United Healthcare Buys Catamaran Pharmacy Benefit Manager Just As the PBM Gets Hit With A Class Action Lawsuit For Low Balling Pharmacy Reimbursements..And More Patient Data to Sell and Analyze For Profit</a></h5> <p>By the way, on electronic medical records, Optum wants part of that business too as the implementation and integrator/consultant for major medical records systems too.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/11/united-healthcare-optum-insight.html">United Healthcare (OptumInsight Subsidiary) Wants To Be Your Allscripts, Epic And GE Centricity EHR Consulting Service Starting With Implementation And Beyond</a></h5> <p>It was also in the news that Whole Foods is preparing to join the circus with retail clinics with having professionals available at the stores to see minor conditions and actually sounded like they were going to be more of a counselor.  MedExpress also runs an open advertisement on their site that they are willing to talk with doctors about buying their practices too, so a little competition you could say with hospitals who are already buying MD practices like they are going out of style.  In a recent documentary, the NHS in the UK does not appear to be very happy with United’s “take over and sell off” over there, and again all are asleep at the wheel here while one company grows in plain site and government agencies like the FTC spend their time on other less significant areas of lack of competition.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-take-over-and-sell-off-of-nhsby.html">The Take Over and Sell Off of the NHS–By Companies from the United States, United Healthcare and Others - A Documentary</a></h5> <p><a href="http://medexpress.com/about-us/newsroom.aspx">From the Website…</a></p> <p><em>“MedExpress Urgent Care is the national leader in urgent care delivery, providing high-quality, fast and affordable care to those seeking medical treatment for illness and injury. MedExpress operates multiple full-service, walk-in urgent care facilities in </em><a href="http://medexpress.com/local-centers/arkansas.aspx"><em>Arkansas</em></a><em>, </em><a href="http://medexpress.com/local-centers/delaware.aspx"><em>Delaware</em></a><em>, </em><a href="http://medexpress.com/local-centers/florida.aspx"><em>Florida</em></a><em>, </em><a href="http://medexpress.com/local-centers/indiana.aspx"><em>Indiana</em></a><em>, </em><a href="http://medexpress.com/local-centers/maryland.aspx"><em>Maryland</em></a><em>, </em><a href="http://medexpress.com/local-centers/michigan.aspx"><em>Michigan</em></a><em>, </em><a href="http://medexpress.com/local-centers/new-jersey.aspx"><em>New Jersey</em></a><em>, </em><a href="http://medexpress.com/local-centers/pennsylvania.aspx"><em>Pennsylvania</em></a><em>, </em><a href="http://medexpress.com/local-centers/tennessee.aspx"><em>Tennessee</em></a><em>, </em><a href="http://medexpress.com/local-centers/virginia.aspx"><em>Virginia</em></a><em> and </em><a href="http://medexpress.com/local-centers/west-virginia.aspx"><em>West Virginia</em></a><em>. MedExpress centers are open 12 hours per day, 7 days per week, and always have a full medical team on site. Founded in 2001, MedExpress has administrative offices in Morgantown, West Virginia, and Canonsburg, Pennsylvania.”</em></p> <p> <hr />WAKEFIELD, Mass. & MORGANTOWN, W. Va.--(<a href="http://www.businesswire.com/">BUSINESS WIRE</a>)--Optum, a leading health services company, announced it is joining with MedExpress, a national leader in high-quality, affordable walk-in care. Terms of the acquisition agreement were not disclosed.</p> <p>MedExpress and Optum share a focus on expanding access to high-quality, cost-effective<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="56" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-Z54-7eje28M/VStgNqxdj_I/AAAAAAABMNY/313H2ik_Ldc/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="221" /> health care services in communities nationwide. The combination serves the growing demand among consumers, health systems, employers and health plans for more convenient, lower-cost services on an unscheduled basis for a comprehensive scope of outpatient health care needs.</p> <p>MedExpress currently operates 141 full-service neighborhood medical centers in 11 states, and plans to accelerate its expansion by opening 25 to 30 additional centers in 2015 in both existing and new states.</p> <p>The combination will create opportunities to integrate Optum care management and clinical programs with MedExpress’ services, simplifying patient access to health resources and treatment options in their community.</p> <p><a href="http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150408006549/en/Optum-MedExpress-Join-Serve-Consumer-Health-Care#.VStYEFNtfEQ">http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150408006549/en/Optum-MedExpress-Join-Serve-Consumer-Health-Care#.VStYEFNtfEQ</a></p>

Optum (United Healthcare) Buys MedExpress Urgent Care Business- 141 Full Service Clinics In 11 States–Company Advertises They Are In the Market to Buy Your MD Practice, As A “Too Big To Fail Insurer” Moves Forward With More Acquisitions

No word on how long before “rebranding” may take place with the name yet.  Optum has already been in this business to a small degree in Tex...

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Pioneering Clinical Trials Using Man Made DNA to Battle Cancer, Ebola, Flue and HIV

<p>This is exciting stuff as scientists have now been able to create DNA strands that can mimic diseases and the <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="100" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-9dTwCmR0q3M/VStVgKLbU9I/AAAAAAABMNA/j2iY0w3XuRA/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" />clinical trials involved injecting them into patients  and that process eliminates the disease threat.  A company by the name of Inovio has begun clinical trials with humans and the first disease on the attack list is cervical cancer.  So far they have been able to cure pre-cancerous lesions.  </p> <p>Below is an introduction video that talks about what Inovio does and their methodologies to create vaccines that work by stimulating the body’s own immune system.  BD  </p> <p><iframe style="height: 286px; width: 503px" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rghAsCJiQtQ?rel=0" frameborder="0" width="560" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p> <hr />Pioneering new treatments for flu, ebola and cancer are being developed by scientists using man-made DNA. <p>Experts have worked out how to create strands of artificial DNA, each mimicking a different killer disease, and inject them into patients.</p> <p>The idea is that the patients' immune systems will then be able to recognize the threats and eliminate them.</p> <p>Inovio, one of the companies behind the technique, has begun trials in humans, after strong results in the lab.</p> <p>The American company is using the method to attack flu, ebola and certain types of cancer – as well as HIV and hepatitis.</p> <p>Experts have already started trials on female patients to see if they can stop them developing cervical cancer. </p> <p>Dr Joseph Kim, Inovio's chief executive, said: 'We are able to clear pre-cancerous lesions which, left untreated, can turn into full-blown cervical cancer.'</p> <p><a href="http://www.bostonnewstime.com/regional/99274-pioneering-trials-using-man-made-dna-begin-in-battle-against-cancer,-ebola,-flu-and-hiv-with-scientists-saying-the-treatment-could-be-the-key-to-defeating-them.html">http://www.bostonnewstime.com/regional/99274-pioneering-trials-using-man-made-dna-begin-in-battle-against-cancer,-ebola,-flu-and-hiv-with-scientists-saying-the-treatment-could-be-the-key-to-defeating-them.html</a></p>

Pioneering Clinical Trials Using Man Made DNA to Battle Cancer, Ebola, Flue and HIV

This is exciting stuff as scientists have now been able to create DNA strands that can mimic diseases and the clinical trials involved injec...

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Because They Lied About Their Code Being Done With Eclipsys EMR Software Merger, Allscripts Agrees to Pay A $10 Million Dollar Fine To Settle Shareholder Class Action Lawsuit..

<p>This is some good soap opera material here.  When this all hit, I wrote that “they lied about their code” and that turned out to be the case, it was not done.  I have a couple analysts call me and they were confused and chatted with me.  “What do you mean the code was not done, they had a deadline to meet”…and to that I say “LOL”.  You can read my original blog post below.  This was about the same time that Intuit thought they could “shove developers into a room until they got their code right”.  As a former developer, when I hear stories as such my head just rolls with people not understanding that writing code does not work that way, you can’t push it.  I know, I’ve been there and done that and you can’t push any faster as it has to be done correctly.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/05/class-action-lawsuit-filed-against.html"><strong>Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Allscripts For Misleading Investors With Merging Data Systems–Too Much Code and Not Enough Time – Attack of the Killer Algorithms Chapter 30</strong></a></h5> <p>You know that’s where the value comes with in with CEOs of companies that write or did write code, like Bill Gates, <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="125" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-cfaoTJG6Sao/VSHeDQvp2DI/AAAAAAABMMo/QkmkNMwMkfc/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="284" />Larry Ellison and more.  They know and when they sound warnings, time to listen and ditch the idiotic perceptions painted by the media about coding being s simple task and how developers can meet deadlines set by CEOs and Sales People.  The problem was amplified as they sold systems based on systems that were not done.  You can listen to some of the early days of Oracle and Larry Ellison will tell you, they did that but that was back in the early days when things were not to the level of complexities we have today.  So Allcripts tried and it cost the CEO his job and now $10 million.  CEOs who don’t have actual on hands experience, even just a little make rotten CEOs at times as they don’t get it.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/04/allscripts-cfo-resigns-along-with-few.html">Allscripts CFO Resigns Along With A Few Other Key Individuals, Board Fires Chairman–1st Quarter Had Lower Sales And Net Earnings Down–Long Haul to Get Software Technologies Merged So They Work</a></h5> <p>So in a short amount of time, Allscripts had to ask Microsoft for help since Eclipsys was written with their technologies.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/08/allscripts-turns-to-microsoft-to-expand.html">Allscripts Turns to Microsoft To Expand Their Application Development</a></h5> <p>Thins for a while were pretty grim to even where they were considering a sale.  In due time when folks finally decided to look at the real world, it was pretty apparent “they lied” about their code being done.  Now if this does not turn you into a skeptic on some of what you read today about software, I don’t know what would.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/11/allscripts-states-they-are-considering.html">Allscripts States They Are Considering Sale to Third Party–Follow the Code Technologies To Think About Caradigm As An Educated Speculation Being A Potential Match</a></h5> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/12/allscripts-ousts-ceo-glen-tullman-and.html"><strong>Allscripts Ousts CEO Glen Tullman and Lee Shapiro, President, Appoints Board Member To Take Over</strong></a></h5> <p>Then to distract and draw attention away from their lies about the integration of both software platforms, they turn around and sue NYC health, plus at the time I’m sure money was in the forefront as well.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/12/allscripts-sues-nyc-health-and-hospital.html"><strong>Allscripts Sues NYC Health and Hospital System Over Contract Award to Epic - EHR Vendor Playing the Same Game as Health Insurance Companies With Lawsuits</strong></a></h5> <p>Here’s one more with another “old” class action lawsuit with their original software which they bought from Mysis, who’s now no longer in the medical record business and went into producing banking software.  Don’t you just love it:) </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/01/allscripts-has-more-issues-with-class.html"><strong>Allscripts Has More Issues With a Class Action Lawsuit Filed in Florida Claiming MyWay EMR Product Non Performance and Large Expenditures Expenditures</strong></a></h5> <p>Last but not least, speaking of code, let’s just jab a little Healthcare. Gov in here and guess what they did?  We all remember it very well but in short, Sebelius and company pulled an Allscripts wouldn’t you say?  See this all comes back to consumers not understanding and journalists not reporting correctly as to what’s really happening out there.  In the case of Allscripts I think I was the lone soul that jumped out there and said they lied and “code’s not done”.  Again, this whacked out perceptions on how computer coding and programming was topped by HHS as we all watched.  I call these public appearances and awful and silly public exposures as “The Sebelius Syndrome” as she was so visible and techs all across the US would just about roll all over themselves when she spoke with her whacked out perceptions that were not true.  Sure she could try to fool the public but you can’t fool the people in the business.  </p> <p>So there was the sequel to the Allscripts lie…we had the even bigger lie and whacked out perceptions and stories from HHS:)  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/11/hhscms-pulls-allscripts-mistakecodes.html">HHS/CMS Pulls An “Allscripts” Mistake–”Code’s Not Done With Healthcare.Gov”…And Did Anyone Look at the Oracle and Microsoft “Turnkey” State Health Insurance Platforms…There’s a Time and Place for Open Source And The Insurance Exchanges Are Not It Right Now..</a></h5> <p>Here’s one of my back articles on the “Sebelius Syndrome” if you want to check it out below.  There’s more than just her afflicted with this which would probably be about 95% of Congress and a good chunk of the White House too.  I caught the White House using “junk science” numbers nobody could predict on one of their emails and sad but when the whacked out folks try to dazzle people with numbers that are not even feasible, it comes back to haunt them and in the long run it’s even worse.  <strong>So let’s see, you think some high frequency coders, banks and software developers might be doing some lying out there?  Of course not all are not this ruthless or in the case of HHS, that dumb, but it is out there amongst those who lean towards being a lot more honest and not fiddling with risk.</strong>  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/04/markets-are-not-rigged-spoken-like-true.html">“Markets Are Not Rigged” Spoken Like A True Data Mechanics Novice, It’s Like Sebelius at HHS All Over Again, Looking For Algo Fairies at The SEC, One More Government Agency Wrapped Up in “The Grays”…</a></h5> <p><strong><em>By the way, read the two paragraphs below…  who did Allscripts lie to for a big part of this?  Pension Funds…be a skeptic when you need to be one.  BD</em></strong> </p> <p> <hr />Law360, New York (April 03, 2015, 2:33 PM ET) -- Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Inc. has agreed to pay nearly $10 million to end a proposed shareholder class action that alleges the health care information technology company hid problems sparked by a 2010 merger with Eclipsys Corp., according to documents filed Thursday. <br />Lead plaintiffs the Government of Bermuda Contributory and Public Service Superannuation Pension Plans and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local Union 38 Pension Fund asked an Illinois federal judge for preliminary approval of the deal.</p> <p><a href="http://www.law360.com/articles/639102/allscripts-to-pay-10m-to-end-investor-suit-over-merger-woes">http://www.law360.com/articles/639102/allscripts-to-pay-10m-to-end-investor-suit-over-merger-woes</a></p>

Because They Lied About Their Code Being Done With Eclipsys EMR Software Merger, Allscripts Agrees to Pay A $10 Million Dollar Fine To Settle Shareholder Class Action Lawsuit..

This is some good soap opera material here.  When this all hit, I wrote that “they lied about their code” and that turned out to be the case...

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“RX-The Quiet Revolution”–Documentary Focuses on a Diverse Group of Doctors and Healthcare Professionals Transforming Medical Care and Putting the Patient at the Center of Their Practice…

<p>This a long documentary, 90 minutes but well worth watching.  Below the line you can read what the film is all about.  Actually you get to see some of the values we liked about Dr. Welby making a come back, combined with using modern day technology in a way where it fits.  House calls are back and there’s new cultures of respect coming back.  </p> <p>It’s very interesting to see the four different segments on what’s happening and what the doctors are doing.  </p> <p><iframe height="346" marginheight="0" src="http://video.pbs.org/viralplayer/2365443837?chapter=1" frameborder="0" width="460" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" seamless="seamless"></iframe></p> <p>There’s every day “real” patients in the video who have some tough chronic issues.  They are really focusing on getting the patient involved in their care and using some of the old tactics we saw with Dr. Welby along with modern technologies to make it work.  BD  </p> <hr> <p>In this inspiring 90-minute documentary, filmmaker David Grubin - the son of a general practitioner - takes his camera across America<img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="107" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-0gyQ6Xa98QI/VR-KSZm4nBI/AAAAAAABMMQ/4qn5THRPZ0A/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="235"> to focus on the challenges and triumphs in our country’s health care delivery system. The four segments that comprise Rx: The Quiet Revolution introduce us to a diverse group of doctors, nurses, and health care professionals who are transforming the way we receive our medical care: lowering costs by placing the patient at the center of their practice.</p> <p>A staggering 50 percent of American adults suffer from a chronic disease such as diabetes, heart disease, obesity and arthritis — and one in four has two or more chronic health conditions. In <em>Rx: The Quiet Revolution</em>, you’ll travel across America to discover a quiet revolution happening in medicine. From Maine to Mississippi, Alaska to California, see physicians, nurses and other healthcare professionals placing the patient at the center of their practice — transforming the way medical care is delivered while lowering costs and improving outcomes.</p> <p>Along the way, filmmaker David Grubin — the son of a general practitioner — brings you these compelling stories: </p> <ul> <li>In Maine, Grubin meets Dr. David Loxterkamp, who practices family medicine with a team of doctors working to treat patients with chronic illnesses. </li></ul> <ul> <li>In Mississippi, a state with more diabetes cases than any other, Grubin finds a rural health clinic fighting diabetes with the aid of an electronic communications device that provides greater access to medical care, helping patients take responsibility for managing this devastating chronic disease. </li></ul> <ul> <li>In Alaska, the documentary follows Native Alaskans who own and operate their own health system, caring for 65,000 people across 107,000 square miles. In spite of the number of patients and the vast distances between them, they are determined to foster an empathetic relationship between patients and their health care providers. </li></ul> <ul> <li>In San Francisco, Grubin visits a health care facility for seniors called On Lok, dedicated to making it possible for frail, elderly Americans in need of nursing home care to live with dignity in their own homes. </li></ul> <p><a href="http://www.pbs.org/program/rx-quiet-revolution/">http://www.pbs.org/program/rx-quiet-revolution/</a></p>

“RX-The Quiet Revolution”–Documentary Focuses on a Diverse Group of Doctors and Healthcare Professionals Transforming Medical Care and Putting the Patient at the Center of Their Practice…

This a long documentary, 90 minutes but well worth watching.  Below the line you can read what the film is all about.  Actually you get to s...

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CVS to Share More Medication Adherence Love With New Contracts–Will Have More Data to Sell…

<p>Ok, so now if you wait 2 days to pick up your prescription, your doctor is going to know.  If you don’t pick it up at all, your doctor will know.  With linking other information to paying for your prescription at CVS, you doctor may now know.  </p> <p>Here we go again with “over rated” medication adherence.  Certainly a simple intervention as to ask why a patient doesn’t fill a prescription is not the issue here and we are seeing such actions all over the place and that’s not the problem here.  We see pharmacists inquiring more frequently now everywhere.  </p> <p>All those pharmacy benefit managers have to have more information to sell to companies like <img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="134" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-kPR8KQGlBqw/VR1bPIr832I/AAAAAAABML4/52hlZ-nZrsg/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" />IMS who has about 85% of the world’s prescriptions on file and when they can add more “scoring” and I mean scoring you on medication adherence, the money they get for selling it, goes up.  For years we have had Milleman and Optum RX selling your prescription data and it’s hooked right into the PBM centers release and sell the data immediately.  Optum aka United is one of the biggest healthcare data sellers out there, along of course with IMS.</p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/11/cvs-to-open-new-e-commerce-technology.html">CVS to Open New E-Commerce Technology Centers in Boston, New York and Palo Alto– Need “New Code” to Make Bigger Profits While They And Others Continue to Destroy “US Consumer Dignity” With the Exploitations…</a></h5> <p>Remember CVS has other marketing agendas out there to be aware of as well.  </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/10/cvs-to-charge-consumers-higher-co-pays.html">CVS To Charge Consumers Higher Co-Pays With Prescriptions Filled at Drug Stores That Still Sell Tobacco Products–Killer Algorithms Attacking Once Again To Make Sure CVS Gets the Prescription Revenue And Your Data To Score And Sell</a></h5> <p>It’s just something to think about with current breaches out there with all the data selling algorithms and systems CVS has as to how this interacts with the medical records they also have there.  They are two separate systems but information flows on prescriptions.  I see nothing wrong at all with using a CVS retail clinic as price and availability rules today.  Also the sharing with physicians of a visit is helpful too, but can we cut out some of the ridiculous data selling here and keep prescriptions affordable?  I’m sure all the retail clinics are sharing consult information as that’s a good thing to do with care, so again how they do it and this “digital” addition is not really such a big deal and you can get your own copy and share it with your doctor as well with a PHR.  </p> <p>There’s money made in selling wellness programs as well with both CVS and Walgreens.  As the article states CVS clinic visits are shared via fax with other non participating MDs anyway, so we have a cash cow here for some more data to sell.  If you don’t know what medication adherence is and the money made, read about the FICO medication scoring, you socks will fall off when you see all that is generated when you fill a prescription.  BD    </p> <h5><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/06/fico-medication-adherence-scoring.html">FICO Medication Adherence Scoring Should Be Banned As It’s Quantitated Justifications for Profit That Hurts US Consumers Using Proprietary Algorithms That Cannot Be Replicated For Accuracy or Audited</a></h5> <p> <hr />“The fundamental challenge of managing chronic conditions is coordinating and monitoring care when patients are not here in the Rush physician’s office” said Anthony Perry, MD, vice president for <a href="http://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/directory/ambulatory-care">ambulatory care</a> and <a href="http://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/directory/population-health">population health</a> at Rush University Medical Center. “Oftentimes having patients schedule more frequent visits at Rush is not feasible, but this agreement extends our physicians’ reach through the hundreds of CVS pharmacies and <a href="http://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/directory/retail-health-clinic">retail clinics</a> in the area.”</p> <p><strong>In the CVS affiliations, providers at the health systems receive data on interventions conducted by CVS pharmacists to try to improve medication adherence, and alerts about non-adherence, such as failure to pick up a prescription. Clinicians at the affiliate health system are also able to work with nurse practitioners and physicians assistants at the Minute Clinics.</strong></p> <p><a href="http://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/cvs-affiliates-rush-tuscon-coordinate-care">http://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/cvs-affiliates-rush-tuscon-coordinate-care</a></p>

CVS to Share More Medication Adherence Love With New Contracts–Will Have More Data to Sell…

Ok, so now if you wait 2 days to pick up your prescription, your doctor is going to know.  If you don’t pick it up at all, your doctor will ...

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