FDA May Need Major Restructuring – Catch up with Technology

<p> Some issues are a result of still being paper driven as timely reports and real time information are not available, but they are not the only government agency in this scenario, only one of the most critical though.  Also, <strong><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/04/congress-to-industry-need-your-help.html">some members of Congress don’t use computers</a></strong> either and felt uncomfortable about talking about technology, so that adds to the confusion and a few more stuck in the past with understanding where technology needs to be today and what is required with technology to regulate.  It was reported that some key employees were still writing out reports in <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/02/study-calling-for-medical-device.html">longhand</a> too.  </p> <p>A short time back I added some suggestions using technology and copied below.  The FDA does need some technology help to cover all the bases they have today as there is no way in the world they can physically have enough people to cover the world;  it’s not like it was a couple years ago by any means with the number of imported food and drug items increased, and they are feeling the same pinch as many others, except in their case it’s top priority work for all of us and time for some heavy duty Business Intelligence.  BD</p> <blockquote> <p><em>FDA is close to being at a tipping point -- the agency is hanging on by its fingertips in protecting us," said William K. Hubbard, who worked for the agency for 27 years. "If something is not done, they could become a failed institution, and no one wants that. The FDA is not only important to protecting the public health but also to the industries it regulates."</em></p> <p><em>Although the FDA has started opening offices overseas to try to better police safety standards at the source, experts say much more needs to be done. For starters, the agency needs to sharply boost inspections abroad, develop strict new regulatory standards, and update and integrate its computer systems, which are woefully antiquated and disjointed, Nielsen and others said. </em></p> <p><em><strong>"It's still largely a paper-driven agency," Nielsen said.</strong> "The agency has great information pigeonholed all over the place, but it cannot be applied in real time, which is what you need today."</em> </p> <p><strong><u>One of my ideas from a prior post:</u></strong></p> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/fda-to-detain-food-shipments-from-china.html"><strong>FDA to detain food shipments from China – Why not add some technology to the inspection processes?</strong></a></h4> <p>I don’t think in view of the current events, there was a lot of choice here for the FDA, and we do need to know that the quality of both our food and pharmaceutical products is good.</p> <p>One thing in particular that springs to mind for me here here is perhaps <strong>some use of business intelligence for monitoring.</strong>  This is not a cure all for the entire process, but technology can aid and offer some nice assistance here.  A reporting function would need to be set up to automatically<strong> report back to a central agency on criteria established for each drug or food product</strong>.  At the receiving end, anything out of tolerance would be immediately sent to an alert.  Now granted, this should be done locally from every plant, but when you can’t physically have agents in place at every factory all the time, this could offer some real relief and help.<img align="right" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/DucknetServices/SIj9P_nkLTI/AAAAAAAAIV8/aMAtC1YcAlA/fda1_thumb%5B2%5D.png?imgmax=800" /></p> <p>With today’s speed of data transmissions, a server farm could be set up to monitor this type of activity and before an over seas factory began to export to the US, this would be a prerequisite to be established.  <strong>Each lot before packaged would send the chemical content back to the central gathering agency and report in,</strong> with both the US agency and the local factory itself having the information at hand.  </p> <p><strong>Again, this comes back to adding some new software and algorithms to the process,</strong> but computers could provide this information in a couple of seconds.  <strong>Audit trails would also be there to allow for checking back on submissions.</strong>  A bank of sophisticated server farms could do the work.  This would also tend to build product credibility as well if everyone knows up front that the chemical content was being reported before the end packaging occurs.  Again, not to replace an actual physical inspection all together, but, it would also stand to make those inspections much more information rich and valuable and create safe consumable products.</p> <p><strong><img align="left" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/DucknetServices/SEmXRJB3eVI/AAAAAAAAHdk/Mt3vrM50l98/image_thumb%5B2%5D.png?imgmax=800" /> We do so much today by remote transmissions with information reporting, why not put in in place and use it where it is vital.  This could also be done globally too,</strong> with each country receiving reports on products they import from other countries.  It would sure beat some of the guesswork we see out there today, not to mention illnesses and death from products that are tainted or contaminated.  With the global economy changing every day, it makes sense to know what we are getting and it is impossible to physically monitor all the systems without using some modern day technology. </p> <p>A secondary thought here too is to ensure that all products carry a label showing the city, country, etc. of where the product was manufactured so we don’t  incur the long time delays in figuring out which lot went where,<strong> no more blind shipping documents</strong> as they exist today.  <strong>Wonder why this process has not been considered yet?  BD  </strong></p> </blockquote> <p><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/25/AR2008112502219.html">Ailing FDA May Need Major Restructuring - washingtonpost.com</a></p> <p><strong><u>Related Reading:</u></strong></p> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/fda-to-detain-food-shipments-from-china.html">FDA to detain food shipments from China – Why not add some technology to the inspection processes?</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/business-intelligence-for-fda-on-way.html">Business Intelligence for the FDA on the way</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/fda-to-detain-food-shipments-from-china.html">FDA to detain food shipments from China – Why not add some technology to the inspection processes?</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/09/medicine-is-low-tech-business-clinical.html">Medicine is a Low Tech Business - Clinical Studies still done on paper too!</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/05/sneaky-attempt-to-impose-medicaid.html">Sneaky Attempt to Impose Medicaid Regulation</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/05/bureaucracy-has-delayed-plans-for-three.html">Bureaucracy Has Delayed Plans For Three FDA Offices In China, HHS Secretary Leavitt Says</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/09/mayo-johns-hopkins-ceos-want-buffer.html">Mayo & Johns Hopkins CEOs Want Buffer Between Congress & Medicare</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/06/fda-budget-swells-as-administration.html">FDA Budget Swells as Administration Bows to Congress</a></h6> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:2c05d3e3-c49a-4c35-990b-3b9627a19d3b" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Personalized+Medicine" rel="tag">Personalized Medicine</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Healthcare" rel="tag">Healthcare</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Leavitt" rel="tag">Leavitt</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/CMS" rel="tag">CMS</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/FDA" rel="tag">FDA</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/technology" rel="tag">technology</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/medical+records" rel="tag">medical records</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/integration" rel="tag">integration</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Congress" rel="tag">Congress</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Pharma" rel="tag">Pharma</a></div>

FDA May Need Major Restructuring – Catch up with Technology

Some issues are a result of still being paper driven as timely reports and real time information are not available, but they are not the on...

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GangaGen cultures $5.4M to treat bacterial infections

<p> More investing to develop drugs to help in the battle with staph and MRSA infections.  All R and D is located in in India.  BD  </p> <blockquote> <p>Biotech firm GangaGen, based in Palo Alto, Calif., brought in $5.4 million in fifth-round funding from ATEL Ventures, Otsuka <a href="http://www.gangagen.com/newsroomframe.htm"><img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="46" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/SSze8ZIETQI/AAAAAAAAJ_U/c3hBSqDKpcU/image%5B5%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; margin-left: 0px; border-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="image" width="98" /></a>Pharmaceuticals and ICF Ltd. to develop treatments for bacterial infections. The company specializes in antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria, like Staphylococcus, in the medical, veterinary and agricultural areas. It currently has a preventative prophylactic and a topical treatment for wounds and burns in the works. </p> <p><u>From the website:</u> </p> <p><em><font size="1">GangaGen's unique business strategy is to maximize efficiency through cost-effective R & D operations in Bangalore, India, pursuing the treatment of commercially significant infections that require the most straightforward and least expensive clinical trials, some with strategic partners.Most importantly, GangaGen has developed proprietary technology for the production of phage products that address the perceived concerns about phage therapy, by killing the bacterial pathogen without bursting open the bacterial host, namely, Lysis-Deficient Phages.</font></em></p> </blockquote> <p><a href="http://venturebeat.com/2008/11/25/gangagen-cultures-54m-to-treat-bacterial-infections/">GangaGen cultures $5.4M to treat bacterial infections » VentureBeat</a></p>

GangaGen cultures $5.4M to treat bacterial infections

More investing to develop drugs to help in the battle with staph and MRSA infections.  All R and D is located in in India.  BD  Biotec...

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Senators Seek Study on Best Practices – Health IT

<p> Desmond Tutu was doing the same thing this week for developing countries with <strong><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/desmond-tutu-presents-e-health-call-to.html">his call to action</a></strong>.  BD  </p> <p><em><font size="1">” Partridge, president and chief executive of Vital Wave Consulting (Palo Alto, Calif.), says<strong> interoperability so far has failed in the U.S. because multitudes of competing interests have not fully embraced such principles.</strong> “The developing world can learn a lot from [the mistakes of] the developed world,” Partridge says.”</font></em></p> <blockquote> <p>Senators Kent Conrad (D-ND) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) have requested the Government Accountability Office study best practices used by hospitals, states and other nations to reduce health care costs and improve quality. GAO is an investigatory agency of Congress. Conrad is chair of the Senate Budget Committee. Sheldon, a strong advocate of federal action to accelerate health information technology adoption, is a committee member.</p> <p>The senators ask that the GAO study include an identification of best practices and the extent to which they can be adopted on a wide scale. "In preparation for congressional action on health reform, it would be helpful to understand how these best practices, whether from the states, integrated delivery systems or other countries, can be applied to the system as a whole," the letter states.</p> </blockquote> <p><a href="http://www.healthdatamanagement.com/news/legislation27334-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS">Senators Seek Study on Best Practices</a></p>

Senators Seek Study on Best Practices – Health IT

Desmond Tutu was doing the same thing this week for developing countries with his call to action .  BD  ” Partridge, president and chief ...

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Personalized medicine will rely on IT – It’s all about Software

<p>Let’s put it another way, it can’t exist without IT.  Again it all comes back to running algorithms to obtain desired results.  As I have mentioned before, <strong>Algorithms is one of the hottest words right now in healthcare</strong> as we all make decisions from queried results.<img align="right" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/DucknetServices/SKmIZ1kvDEI/AAAAAAAAIj8/rnUxwhJzY5w/image35.png?imgmax=800" style="display: inline; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px" /></p> <p>A while back I had the opportunity to interview <strong><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/helicos-biossciences-and-personalized.html">Dr. Patrice Milos, Chief Science Office for Helicos,</a></strong> who is one of the manufacturers of the machines that complete the sequencing of our DNA. <strong> Up front she and I were absolutely both in agreement – it’s all about software.</strong>  She was also very kind in her comments as well as she stated she was somewhat excited with talking with a tech person that understood algorithms too!   She lectures all over the country to bring the same message to universities as well with pharmacogenomics.  BD  </p> <p><em><font size="1"><strong>“One area we both strongly agreed upon is the use of software,</strong> from a data person like myself and with Dr. Milos with her area of research, we both absolutely concur that software is what makes all of this possible.”</font></em></p> <p>We still have a long way to go in healthcare all the way around and with the current state of the economy, mergers, buyouts, etc are going on every day and week with software companies.  <img align="left" height="103" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/DucknetServices/SLYBnYYnUEI/AAAAAAAAIto/_RS30_gEa-4/image_thumb[2].png?imgmax=800" style="display: inline; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px" width="135" /> </p> <p>One other item it mentions is from the clinical side of the puzzle.  Business models in healthcare do parallel those of the retail business in many ways.  In retail, everything takes place at the point of sale, or better known as the POS. <strong> Healthcare has a similar model in that everything takes place at the point of care, and I guess you could call it the POS for healthcare or POC</strong>.  </p> <p><strong>I have been having this discussion of late with the availability of alerts with clinical trials being integrated into EMR/EHR systems</strong> and personalized medicine is no different.  The information needs to be made available on screen and easy for the <strong><img align="left" height="35" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/DucknetServices/SCmrYmUInpI/AAAAAAAAGqA/e2Zfau-nbuk/image_thumb7.png?imgmax=800" style="display: inline; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px" width="99" /></strong>physician to work with, otherwise it gets buried.  So how many screens and alerts can be worked with, well that is a good question and preferences need to be allowed for each clinician to set up what works best for him or her.  </p> <p><strong>I’ll go one step further this this and once again mention the Common User Interface,</strong> which by structure is dynamic and has the ability to add new elements in a format that is simple and easy for the physicians and staff to work with.  You can read <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/microsofts-growing-push-into-life.html"><img align="left" height="93" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/DucknetServices/SOuW8CfhrdI/AAAAAAAAJX4/HkLRVrmnr_k/image_thumb5.png?imgmax=800" style="display: inline; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px" width="166" /></a>more in related reading about the software interface which is free to download from Code Plex and code donated from Microsoft and soon to be available in Linux and the dynamics contain some nice Silverlight visuals. </p> <p>  <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/microsofts-growing-push-into-life.html"><strong>Microsoft’s Growing Push into Life Sciences</strong></a></p> <p>So back on subject here, having the genetic information on certain genes present can make a big difference as to whether or not the patient could withstand taking Warfarin for a simple example, and we still don’t know yet if Medicare will pay for the test, but one simple example on how personalized medicine can make a difference based on DNA information.  The face of DNA sequencing and genomics is quickly changing too with the price coming down and a vendor in northern California promising “wholesale” sequencing with the interpretations done elsewhere.  The link below has some additional information at the physician and clinical level on personalized medicine.  BD </p> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/09/genetic-counseling-foundation.html"><strong>Genetic Counseling Foundation - References and information for Genomics in Healthcare</strong></a></h4> <p>The complexity of the personalized medicine ecosystem makes the use of information technology critical, according to Kenneth Buetow, director of the National Cancer Institute’s Center of Biomedical Informatics and Information Technology. <br />However, IT has been slow to develop in the biomedical enterprise, Buetow writes in a recent report, adding that systems are rarely connected among the laboratories of one institution, much less different institutions. <br />Buetow’s comments are in one of the papers in the second report on personalized medicine from the Department of Health and Human Services. The report also summarizes the HHS summit on the topic in October.</p> <p>In another papers, investment experts write that “HIT vendors have a unique opportunity to provide the dynamic, point-of-care decision support necessary to support the broad adoption of personalized medicine.” </p> <p><a href="http://www.govhealthit.com/online/news/350693-1.html">http://www.govhealthit.com/online/news/350693-1.html</a></p> <p><u><strong>Related Reading:</strong></u></p> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/single-cell-gene-sequencing-from.html">Single Cell Gene Sequencing from Helicos – How it works</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/helicos-biossciences-and-personalized.html">Helicos BioSciences and Personalized Medicine - Featured Interview with Dr. Patrice Milos</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/how-hot-is-genomics-and-sequencing.html">How Hot is Genomics and the Sequencing Machines?</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/helicos-ships-sequencer-to-stanford.html">Helicos Ships Sequencer to Stanford University</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/09/expression-analysis-to-award-gwas.html">Expression Analysis to Award GWAS Resequencing, Analysis Services on Helicos Platform</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/ehrs-need-standard-templates-so-lets.html">EHRs need Standard Templates – So Let’s Look at the Common User Interface Project, a lot of the work is already in progress and partially completed</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/health-care-has-managed-to-avoid.html">Health care has managed to avoid the information-technology revolution, but it won't for much longer</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/how-electronic-records-reach-your.html">How electronic records reach your doctor – Integrated through the Hospitals</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/ehr-adoption-remains-off-in-distance.html">EHR Adoption Remains Off in the Distance – Getting way to complicated</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/09/microsoft-technology-centers-software.html">Microsoft Technology Centers – Software Solutions with Assistance and Guidance</a></h6> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/common-user-interface-update-and-walk.html"><font size="1">Common User Interface – Update and walk through video</font></a></h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/cerner-incorporates-genomics-into.html"><font size="1">Cerner Incorporates Genomics Into Electronic Medical Records</font></a></h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/scripps-navigenics-affymetrix-and.html"><font size="1">Scripps, Navigenics, Affymetrix and Microsoft team on groundbreaking health study – Personalized Medicine</font></a></h4> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:7e2b12fb-ed15-4c2f-ae8d-1d48afd23284" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/genomics" rel="tag">genomics</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/personalized+medicine" rel="tag">personalized medicine</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/DNA" rel="tag">DNA</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/healthcare" rel="tag">healthcare</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/sequencing" rel="tag">sequencing</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Microsoft" rel="tag">Microsoft</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Helicos" rel="tag">Helicos</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/technology" rel="tag">technology</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Health+IT" rel="tag">Health IT</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Biotech" rel="tag">Biotech</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/medical+records" rel="tag">medical records</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/EMR" rel="tag">EMR</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/EHR" rel="tag">EHR</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/pharmacogenomics" rel="tag">pharmacogenomics</a></div>

Personalized medicine will rely on IT – It’s all about Software

Let’s put it another way, it can’t exist without IT.  Again it all comes back to running algorithms to obtain desired results.  As I have me...

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Are electronic and personal health records inevitable? – Sure they are but we need education and mentors to make it work!

<p>ZDNet just wrote about Dr. Kolodner and his recent report which is good, but we need more than reports.<strong>  I have been doing a whole lot here reporting on reports!  Can we move forward</strong> as I think we have won the battle that PHRs are worth their weight here and get the show moving?  </p> <p><strong>You know I try and do my best here to motivate and have my records set up and tell others, but gosh I could sure use some help?</strong>  </p> <p>I would really like to hear about others and their experiences too<strong> instead of someone else just posting about another report they read,</strong> wouldn’t you?  We know they are valuable so let’s get some interesting stuff out here besides more reports, it’s getting very boring.  I try to provide a mix here of both <strong>“Oh Gosh”</strong> posts and informative information too,<strong> so the PHRs could move from the informative area into the “Oh Gosh” category easily!  Let’s get some mentors going here. </strong></p> <p>I check my web logs and I see folks from Microsoft, Google, NIH, the VA, Homeland Security, the US House, US Senate, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Defense, MIT, Berkeley, Stanford, NASA, many hospitals, physicians, students, many universities, journalists, bloggers,etc. hanging out here, so some input would really be great, as it’s getting old with me talking about mine and my 84 year old mother’s online records. <strong> Anyone from any walk of life with their input can serve to be a mentor for others.</strong>  </p> <p><strong><a href="http://www.retirementdebate.com/blogs/?bbPostId=BAfMYODD5A1mB4i22hiR9pHlCz8g4JZZtQjZ1Cz32PCak4EtR8"><img alt="image" border="0" height="176" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/SSxtdEEmqsI/AAAAAAAAJ_M/jQgQ2njiNH8/image%5B11%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: 0px" title="image" width="182" /></a><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/blogBurst/health?bbPostId=BAfMYODD5A1mB4i22hiR9pHlCz8g4JZZtQjZ1Cz32PCak4EtR8"><img alt="image" border="0" height="177" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/SSxteSsu-1I/AAAAAAAAJ_Q/qa4EG-QCpZU/image%5B10%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="image" width="176" /></a> </strong></p> <h4><strong><u>Second of all, let’s get the education process in the works.</u></strong> </h4> <p><strong>The Wall Street Journal and Reuters were both kind enough to republish my small rant on how we are so lacking in educating our citizens</strong> here and I thank them for the attention hopefully this will bring about.  What good is it to put beneficial programs out there related to healthcare without some education in the process, and this is needed from all areas from the CEOs down to the janitors, after all PHRs are for everyone, not just something to continuously talk about and continue to quote reports over and over.  </p> <p>Any <strong>CEOs out there have one yet? </strong>Any physicians use one yet?  Any students?  I would really like to have some mentors and see a true endorsement of educating our citizens, something we need to target and make time for.  Great that Medicare has the pilot program starting in January in Arizona and Utah for PHRs, but where’s the support, I have not read about any yet?  Is this just something we through out there without any education or any ability to supply them with any mentors of those already using a PHR?  What gives here?  </p> <p><strong>PHRs can help reduce medical errors, if both patients and physicians understand them.  They are “cool” so as any type of administrator you don’t need to worry or feel that you are “uncool” by creating and using one and I hope that paradigm is not lurking out there, but I wouldn’t be against it.</strong></p> <p>Google Health and Microsoft HealthVault are free so all it costs is your time.  The related reading contains many of my prior posts on PHRs for more information to find out who’s incorporating the software vendors, who’s integrating and just some real benefits.  With Google Health and HealthVault, if you decide not to keep it, then delete it, nothing lost and everyone might learn something in the process and <strong>stop writing about reports about PHRs, it’s getting very boring, so perhaps time for a little learning and action.</strong>  BD  </p> <p><a href="https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?service=health&nui=1&continue=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Fhealth%2Fp%2F&followup=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Fhealth%2Fp%2F&rm=hide"><img height="38" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/DucknetServices/SGRPjPR9NVI/AAAAAAAAH30/dA55nv_qrf4/googlehealth%5B1%5D.png?imgmax=800" width="95" /></a> <a href="http://www.healthvault.com/"><img height="40" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/DucknetServices/SM3q6TdZm-I/AAAAAAAAI90/u04OgRqDvPI/image%5B14%5D.png?imgmax=800" width="96" /></a></p> <p><a href="http://www.crn.com/healthcare/212100341"><em>Kolodner</em></a><em> is the national coordinator, health information technology, at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and his background makes him a good man to have in that job.</em></p> <p><em>That’s because </em><a href="http://www.dhhs.gov/healthit/seniorstaff/kolodner.html"><em>much of his hands-on experience </em></a><em>involves VistA, the VA’s public record health system. He seems to understand the benefits of open source and open standards.</em></p> <p><em>Kolodner has </em><a href="http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=G_DRoZytka0C&dq=robert+kolodner&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=32Drnb12ki&sig=Y_7GJqiCXWKndcME5YHN2Nb7ulU&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=10&ct=result#PPA11,M1"><em>written that this year </em></a><em>represents a “tipping point” for the adoption of Electronic Health Records (EHRs) by doctors and hospitals and Personal Health Records (PHRs) by individuals.</em></p> <p><a href="http://healthcare.zdnet.com/?p=1542" title="http://healthcare.zdnet.com/?p=1542">http://healthcare.zdnet.com/?p=1542</a></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p><strong><u>Related Reading: (from prior posts and there are a lot here to read up on and see who’s integrating and promoting their use too)</u></strong></p> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/study-predicts-big-savings-from-phrs.html">Study Predicts Big Savings from PHRs (Personal Health Records) – Best Kept Secret in Healthcare?</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/ge-mayo-clinic-others-to-develop-health.html">GE, Mayo Clinic, others to develop health record technology</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/cms-names-four-phr-vendors-for-medicare.html">CMS names four PHR vendors for Medicare pilot program and includes Google Health</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/ge-collaborates-and-will-offer-new-web.html">GE Collaborates and will offer new web based version of Centricity EHR</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/economy-one-more-reason-to-think-about.html">The Economy – One more Reason to think about a Free PHR</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/cleveland-clinic-and-microsoft.html">Cleveland Clinic and Microsoft HealthVault to track chronic diseases at home with Medical Devices</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/clinical-trials-in-us-begin-involving.html">Clinical Trials in the US – Begin involving the physicians and patients at the point of care to achieve greater success and participation with Personal Health Records</a></h6> <h6></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/09/healthvault-personal-health-records.html">HealthVault Personal Health Records gets a Facelift - Match records and find clinical trials</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/google-health-online-services.html">Google Health Online Services – Connections Beyond Medications – Personal Health Records</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/why-use-phr-because-it-is-there-and-it.html">Why Use a PHR – Because It is there and it stands to help decrease medical errors</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/military-to-unveil-early-version-of.html">Military to unveil early version of personal health record – December</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/health-cloud-personal-health-records.html">The Health Cloud – Personal Health Records</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/09/healthvault-personal-health-records.html">HealthVault Personal Health Records gets a Facelift - Match records and find clinical trials</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/healthvault-has-new-features-including.html">HealthVault Has New Features Including Fax Services for $9.00 a year – Fax to the Vault!</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/06/at-covisint-microsoft-healthvault.html">AT&T, Covisint, Microsoft HealthVault Create Health Information Exchange</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/07/microsoft-healthvault-and-relayhealth.html">Microsoft HealthVault and RelayHealth (McKesson) to Connect Doctors and Patients</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/07/approval-for-wireless-transmitter-that.html">Approval For Wireless Transmitter That Monitors Implanted Cardiac Devices</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/american-heart-association-and.html">American Heart Association and Microsoft HealthVault Unite</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/getting-organized-with-online-medical.html">Getting Organized With Online Medical Records – Personal Health Records</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/patients-can-order-up-their-own-lab.html">Patients can order up their own lab tests on line with MyMedLab.com with a referring physician and you get a free PHR to boot</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/aetna-and-microsoft-join-forces-members.html">Aetna and Microsoft join forces – Members will now be able to transfer health records to Microsoft Health Vault</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/healthline-interview-with-ceo-health-20.html">Healthline – Interview with the CEO – Health 2.0</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/07/healthcare-leaders-favor-personal.html">Healthcare leaders favor personal networks (Personal Health Records) to RHIOs for data exchange</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/google-health-online-services.html">Google Health Online Services – Connections Beyond Medications – Personal Health Records</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/06/cvs-to-offer-records-via-healthvault.html">CVS to Offer Records Via HealthVault</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2007/10/personal-health-vault-physicians-arm.html">Personal Health Vault - Physicians arm thyself..</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/scripps-navigenics-affymetrix-and.html">Scripps, Navigenics, Affymetrix and Microsoft team on groundbreaking health study – Personalized Medicine</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/getting-organized-with-online-medical.html">Getting Organized With Online Medical Records – Personal Health Records</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/patients-can-view-share-health.html">Patients can view, share health information through new Health Record Banks - Washington</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/healthvault-has-new-features-including.html">HealthVault Has New Features Including Fax Services for $9.00 a year – Fax to the Vault!</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/05/stjude-collaborates-with-microsoft.html">St.Jude Collaborates With Microsoft HealthVault</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/06/cchit-to-certify-personal-health.html">CCHIT to Certify Personal Health Records</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/09/cchit-offers-phr-web-site-personal.html">CCHIT Offers PHR Web Site – Personal Health Records</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/cchit-certification-and-hie.html">CCHIT Certification and HIE Transactions – The Process and What It Means</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/microsoft-is-lead-developer-on-military.html">Microsoft is lead developer on military Personal Health Records project</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/eclinicalworks-users-annual-meeting.html">eClinicalWorks Users Annual Meeting – Integration and the Future of EHRS and PHRs</a></h6> <p></p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:73c6edd7-dd73-4cbf-aed7-a4d6b14c61f9" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Microsoft" rel="tag">Microsoft</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/PHR" rel="tag">PHR</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/personal+heatlh+records" rel="tag">personal heatlh records</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Google+Health" rel="tag">Google Health</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/medical+records" rel="tag">medical records</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/health+IT" rel="tag">health IT</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/technology" rel="tag">technology</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/healthcare" rel="tag">healthcare</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/VA" rel="tag">VA</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Department" rel="tag">Department</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/mentors" rel="tag">mentors</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/education+of+Defense" rel="tag">education of Defense</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Military+Health+Records" rel="tag">Military Health Records</a></div>

Are electronic and personal health records inevitable? – Sure they are but we need education and mentors to make it work!

ZDNet just wrote about Dr. Kolodner and his recent report which is good, but we need more than reports.   I have been doing a whole lot here...

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Department of Defense and VA to migrate health records

<p>This is interesting, which one will prevail?  AHLTA has some nice dictation already built in with Dragon Naturally Speaking and this might be an area where the VISTA system will need some work a far as which one will prevail, but at any rate the exchange of medical records is moving forward.  Also as noted there could be the alternative of an entirely new program too, coming about as we all want and demand more scalability and integration with ease, especially with PHRs.  BD  </p> <p>The Defense and Veterans Affairs departments will migrate their respective electronic health record systems to a service-oriented architecture to enhance the interoperability of outpatient clinical data.</p> <p>Stephen Jones, principal deputy assistant secretary of Defense for health affairs, made the announcement at a Pentagon press conference yesterday.</p> <p>SOA means that the systems will rely on Web services that connect loosely coupled, reusable components.</p> <p>A study by Booz Allen Hamilton recommended the use of SOA, and officials accepted that recommendation, Jones said.</p> <p>The decision came on the heals of speculation that DOD might ditch its EHR — AHLTA — in favor of VA’s Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture or another alternative.</p> <p><a href="http://defensesystems.com/Articles/2008/11/DOD-VA-to-migrate-health-records-to-SOA.aspx?Page=1">http://defensesystems.com/Articles/2008/11/DOD-VA-to-migrate-health-records-to-SOA.aspx?Page=1</a></p> <p><strong><u>Related Reading:</u></strong></p> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/09/department-of-defense-and-va-to.html"><font size="1">Department of Defense and VA to Exchange Trauma Data – Medical Records</font></a></h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/09/kaiser-permanente-and-veterans-affairs.html"><font size="1">Kaiser Permanente And Veterans Affairs Preview Electronic Health Record Interoperability</font></a></h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/07/ahlta-military-health-records-software.html"><font size="1">AHLTA (military health records software) takes hits in latest Web hall</font></a></h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/05/us-military-embraces-nuance-dragon.html"><font size="1">U.S. Military Embraces Nuance's Dragon NaturallySpeaking Medical to Drive Clinical Documentation with AHLTA</font></a></h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/social-security-likes-phrs-too-wanting.html"><font size="1">Social Security likes PHRs too – wanting to work with EMR and PHR software with pilot program</font></a></h4> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:75afcef0-edb1-4088-a5f5-9d4dedf0ef32" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Microsoft" rel="tag">Microsoft</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/PHR" rel="tag">PHR</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/personal+heatlh+records" rel="tag">personal heatlh records</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Google+Health" rel="tag">Google Health</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/medical+records" rel="tag">medical records</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/health+IT" rel="tag">health IT</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/technology" rel="tag">technology</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/healthcare" rel="tag">healthcare</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/VA" rel="tag">VA</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Department+of+Defense" rel="tag">Department of Defense</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Military+Health+Records" rel="tag">Military Health Records</a></div>

Department of Defense and VA to migrate health records

This is interesting, which one will prevail?  AHLTA has some nice dictation already built in with Dragon Naturally Speaking and this might b...

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FDA advisers recommend approval of new gout drug Uloric

<p> Hopefully this one will make it, sounds good.  The build up of uric acid combined with someone that also suffers with diabetes can really create on restrictive diet for what they can eat and this could stand to treat as well as perhaps bring a little quality of life back to helping with allowing additional foods to consume for those who suffer with gout.  BD  </p> <blockquote>About 5 million people in the U.S. suffer from gout, a form of arthritis caused by a build-up of uric acid in the blood. Uloric, as the new drug is called, works by reducing levels of uric acid. In healthy people, uric acid is dissolved in the blood and excreted from the body in urine. But high levels lead to the formation of needle-like crystals that become deposited in the joints, causing intense pain and swelling. Many patients experience their first attack of gout in the big toe. The disease can progress, causing deformities.</blockquote> <p><a href="http://www.physorg.com/news146811608.html">FDA advisers recommend approval of new gout drug</a></p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:7cbefc0b-380b-4ed1-840b-eafaff4367b9" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/FDA" rel="tag">FDA</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Gout" rel="tag">Gout</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Uloric" rel="tag">Uloric</a></div>

FDA advisers recommend approval of new gout drug Uloric

Hopefully this one will make it, sounds good.  The build up of uric acid combined with someone that also suffers with diabetes can really c...

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Biotech may turn to Indian for clinical trials

<h6> <p><font size="2">Nothing new here in what has been posted, but this time the predictions are coming from within Ernst and Young from India.  BD</font>  </p> <p><font size="2">The Indian clinical trials market is predicted to continue its growth despite the current financial climate, according to a partner at Ernst & Young India’s Healthsciences Practice. </font></p> </h6> <p>Ajit Mahadevan told <i>The</i> <i>Economic Times </i>of India that credit restrictions will see biotechs increasingly turn to India. </p> <p>This will help drive growth from its current $200m a year, to the $600m that KPMG predicted it would reach by 2010. </p> <p><a href="http://www.outsourcing-pharma.com/Clinical-Development/Biotech-may-turn-to-Indian-for-clinical-trials">http://www.outsourcing-pharma.com/Clinical-Development/Biotech-may-turn-to-Indian-for-clinical-trials</a></p> <p><strong><u>Related Reading:</u></strong></p> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/looking-for-job-pharma-and-india-are.html"><font size="1">Looking For A Job? Pharma and India are Looking</font></a></h4> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/msd-pharma-merck-subsidiary-to-hire.html">MSD Pharma (Merck subsidiary) to hire 1,500 people in India</a></h6> <h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/wellpoint-to-begin-pilot-medical.html">WellPoint to begin pilot Medical Tourism program with India</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/mayo-clinic-says-goodbye-to-clinical.html">Mayo Clinic Says Goodbye to clinical services in the US</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/us-fda-to-open-office-in-new-delhi.html">US FDA to open office in New Delhi, Mumbai</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/09/indian-pharma-offshoring-to-be-us-25bn.html">Indian Pharma offshoring to be US $2.5bn opportunity by 2012</a></h6> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:cdbea700-891e-4569-a6dd-6085202d2e3b" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Clinical+Trials" rel="tag">Clinical Trials</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Clinic" rel="tag">Clinic</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Healthcare" rel="tag">Healthcare</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/India" rel="tag">India</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Outsourcing" rel="tag">Outsourcing</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/economics" rel="tag">economics</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Pharma" rel="tag">Pharma</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Employment" rel="tag">Employment</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/R+and+D" rel="tag">R and D</a></div></h6>

Biotech may turn to Indian for clinical trials

Nothing new here in what has been posted, but this time the predictions are coming from within Ernst and Young from India.  BD   The ...

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14 Drugs Identified As Most Urgently Needing Study For Off-label Use

<p> This is a great start in this direction and it is one big task to find all the relative data to get down to perhaps even more drugs that could have off label use, something the FDA wants to be aware of since they are the agency who is there to approve and guide the citizens of the <img align="right" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/DucknetServices/SIj9P_nkLTI/AAAAAAAAIV8/aMAtC1YcAlA/fda1_thumb[2].png?imgmax=800" style="display: inline; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px" />US for safe drug and food use. </p> <p>Perhaps the new <strong>Sentinel data mining system</strong> being put in place at the FDA can be mined to also give additional information in this area as well.  With having access to Medicare and many other resources,<strong> it’s a process of some new algorithms to produce the data.</strong>   </p> <p><u>From a prior post:</u>  </p> <p><em><font size="1">The Sentinel System will enable FDA to conduct product safety queries proactively<strong> from multiple existing data sources from remote locations, such as electronic health record systems, medical claims databases, and possibly clinical trial databases if they overlap with those of marketed products</strong>. “Data sources will be maintained by their owners and will remain behind the firewall of the data owner. We are not creating one big database,” she says.</font></em></p> <p>E-prescribing data could also be helpful here as well. They will be monitoring and querying drug side effects with the new system, so why not <strong>add a few more formulas and algorithms</strong> complete the reporting process.  Granted, this takes time to get all of this set up along with some extensive programming and security issues addressed, so it won’t happen overnight.  BD  </p> <blockquote> <p>Physicians and policy-makers know that drugs are frequently prescribed to treat certain diseases despite a lack of FDA approval - a practice known as off-label prescribing. Yet they say the problem is so big they don't know how to begin tackling it. But a potential game plan now exists. In a paper to be published in the December issue of Pharmacotherapy, a group of researchers has developed a list of 14 widely prescribed medications most urgently in need of additional study to determine how effective and safe they are for their off-label uses. Antidepressants and antipsychotics are the most prominent classes of drugs on the list, which specifically targets drugs that have high levels of off-label use without good scientific backing.</p> <p>He said that in addition to prompting the FDA and other government agencies to study the priority drugs on the list, he hopes the research spurs patients to ask their doctors why they are prescribing a particular drug. "A dialogue needs to occur more frequently between physicians and patients regarding the level of evidence that supports a particular use of a drug."</p> </blockquote> <p><a href="http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/130657.php">14 Drugs Identified As Most Urgently Needing Study For Off-label Use, Stanford Professor Says</a></p> <p><strong><u>Related Reading:</u></strong></p> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/sentinel-initiative-boosts-fda-safety.html"><font size="1">Sentinel Initiative Boosts FDA Safety Oversight</font></a></h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/07/fda-military-health-system-tighten-data.html"><font size="1">FDA, Military Health System tighten data sharing pact</font></a></h4> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:38db0ad7-cf35-4872-9dae-bd6d4a53f2bf" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/FDA" rel="tag">FDA</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Sentinel" rel="tag">Sentinel</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Data+Mining" rel="tag">Data Mining</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Drug+Safety" rel="tag">Drug Safety</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Healthcare" rel="tag">Healthcare</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/HHS" rel="tag">HHS</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Technology" rel="tag">Technology</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Stanford" rel="tag">Stanford</a></div>

14 Drugs Identified As Most Urgently Needing Study For Off-label Use

This is a great start in this direction and it is one big task to find all the relative data to get down to perhaps even more drugs that co...

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Improved Bluetooth Modules For Medical Devices

<p> With both consumer and commercial medical devices, Bluetooth has become a preferred connection.  I remember back to the early days of Bluetooth and we all used to sit around and wonder in the Windows Mobile group where Bluetooth was going to somehow fit it.  The cell <a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/SSw8oxH3jaI/AAAAAAAAJ_E/qwd31_GSYrE/s1600-h/image%5B4%5D.png"><img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="84" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/SSw8px5H7dI/AAAAAAAAJ_I/rfcrEEWNWYE/image_thumb%5B2%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: 0px" title="image" width="103" /></a>phone was the obvious answer when phone integrated PDAs hit the market.  Since this time it has also become the technology of choice in healthcare as well.  When you stop and think about it, would you rather be working with a corded connection to your PC or wireless? </p> <p>That’s a pretty simple answer there.  <strong>Now we are looking at increasing the range of up to 1 km,</strong> so medical devices in the home as an example now could be outside of the same room and still be able to transmit data.  Stop and think about PHRs, personal health records, that connect with consumer medical devices, nice that you could have your blood pressure cuff or your glucose module placed where it is convenient to use and not perhaps so close to your PC.  </p> <p>According to the article here, it is now going to be a bit easier to pair your device as well.  Anyone who has used Bluetooth is familiar with the pairing procedures.  <strong>Also, with cell phones being Bluetooth equipped, you may just be sending your information via the phone</strong> and not even using a PC, but that depends on the software and device.  Pairing of devices is important for security and additional security can be set in preferences from there.  I synchronize my phone/pda with Bluetooth all the time so I have Outlook and several other phone software programs up to date.  Recently though with Outlook I have had less of a need for this though as I used the web based version of Microsoft Office in conjunction so everything is synchronized anyway with email.  </p> <p>If you haven’t given this much thought, take a look at the devices that connect via the HealthVault to get a better idea.  Nice to connect<a href="http://www.healthvault.com/"><img align="right" height="50" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/DucknetServices/SM3q6TdZm-I/AAAAAAAAI90/u04OgRqDvPI/image%5B14%5D.png?imgmax=800" width="120" /></a> and transmit with<strong> no manual entry required on a keyboard.</strong>  <strong><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/cleveland-clinic-and-microsoft.html">Read about what’s going on at the Cleveland Clinic</a></strong> for a better idea here with devices connecting.  Nice if you have let’s say a scale to enter your weigh with Bluetooth, the phone or pc can be outside the bathroom, if this is where you might happen to keep your scale.  Let’s also not forget implantable devices too that also connect via Bluetooth too, but that is a bit more complicated subject I’ll leave for another time.  BD   </p> <blockquote> <p><img align="left" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/SRjWPeo8J4I/AAAAAAAAJ3M/J8-CWoRdgHU/image_thumb[7].png?imgmax=800" style="display: inline; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px" />St. Louis, MO - Laird Technologies, Inc. recently announced a new range of Bluetooth® modules designed to support the demands of medical equipment manufacturers. For two years the medical device community has preferred Bluetooth as the wireless standard for the next generation of interoperable wirelessly-connected medical devices. As a result, a new Health Device Profile created by the Medical Working Group of the Bluetooth SIG will be a key requirement for manufacturers  designing products for Continua Alliance Approval. </p> <p>Through its involvement in the Medical Working Group and customer collaboration, Laird Technologies has developed a new, ground-breaking array of Bluetooth modules that extends its current range to cover almost any wireless medical application. Incorporating pre-approved Bluetooth stacks, these new modules meet the new Health Device Profile and minimize the design effort required to implement short range wireless.</p> <p> </p> </blockquote> <p><a href="http://www.rfglobalnet.com/article.mvc/Laird-Technologies-Announces-Groundbreaking-0001?VNETCOOKIE=NO">Laird Technologies Announces Bluetooth Modules For Medical</a></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p><u><font size="1">Related Reading:</font></u></p> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/why-use-phr-because-it-is-there-and-it.html"><font size="1">Why Use a PHR – Because It is there and it stands to help decrease medical errors</font></a></h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/military-to-unveil-early-version-of.html"><font size="1">Military to unveil early version of personal health record – December</font></a></h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/cleveland-clinic-and-microsoft.html"><font size="1">Cleveland Clinic and Microsoft HealthVault to track chronic diseases at home with Medical Devices</font></a></h4> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:432f3a8b-c00c-486b-9bb6-50938389c69d" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/PHR" rel="tag">PHR</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/personal+health+Record" rel="tag">personal health Record</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Google+Health" rel="tag">Google Health</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Healthcre" rel="tag">Healthcre</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Bluetooth" rel="tag">Bluetooth</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/medical+records" rel="tag">medical records</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/EHR" rel="tag">EHR</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Health+IT" rel="tag">Health IT</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/technology" rel="tag">technology</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/medical+devices" rel="tag">medical devices</a></div>

Improved Bluetooth Modules For Medical Devices

With both consumer and commercial medical devices, Bluetooth has become a preferred connection.  I remember back to the early days of Bluet...

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Breast Cancer May Regress On Own, Controversial Report Says Up To 22 Percent Of Cases May Disappear Without Treatment

<p> The study is suggesting that at times it is possible for our body to heal itself, which it does with colds, flu, etc. but now breast cancer could be in the group, but not to the same extent of a cold let’s say as we are talking about something completely different as far as disease, but the study states it is possible for this to occur.  <strong>Everyone’s body is different so thus to put off any screenings would be crazy based on the report though.  </strong></p> <p>Searching through histories of mammograms show cases of such though over time, but again nothing to bank on.  Will be interesting to hear more about the study though and perhaps some scientific data on maybe what types of breast cancer could fall in to this category.  Sometimes something is on a mammogram designated to “watch” and then on the next screening is gone, but this could also be other items beyond cancer too.  I think basically the study touches on the fact that there is a possibility of our bodies healing themselves, so maybe a new awareness, <strong>but don’t bank on it when it comes to taking care of your health.</strong>  BD  </p> <p><a href="http://www.nbcam.org/"><img align="right" height="141" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/DucknetServices/SOkBxYjMNYI/AAAAAAAAJV0/8ivuWJY5VKY/image%5B4%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="display: inline; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px" width="220" /></a></p> <blockquote> <p>(CBS/AP) A significant portion of invasive breast cancers may regress on their own without treatment, a new study that is bound to provoke controversy suggests. The study, published Monday in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine, suggested breast cancer screening may be leading to overdiagnosis of cancer, with upwards of 22 percent of cases likely to resolve themselves without treatment. Once a breast cancer is found, however, it wouldn't currently be considered ethical not to treat. So - if the theory is correct - large numbers of women may be having surgeries, radiation, chemotherapy and other treatments that would never have been needed if their cancers hadn't been detected.</p> <p>Radiation can do significant and permanent damage to the heart and coronary arteries. Chemotherapy can cause cognitive confusion. And surgery that involves the removal of lymph nodes can cause lymphedema, the painful swelling of the arm closest to the involved breast.</p> <p>He notes some other types of cancers - prostate and recently lung - have been shown to spontaneously regress in some patients.</p> <p><strong>"The incontrovertible truth is that once you've screened a woman and you find an abnormality, you have to biopsy," she said.</strong></p> </blockquote> <p><a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/11/25/health/main4631996.shtml?source=RSSattr=Health_4631996">Study: Breast Cancer May Regress On Own, Controversial Report Says Up To 22 Percent Of Cases May Disappear Without Treatment - CBS News</a></p> <p><strong><u>Related Reading:</u></strong></p> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/breast-cancer-screening-radar-breast.html"><font size="1">Breast Cancer Screening – Radar Breast Imaging in Trials</font></a></h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/new-breast-cancer-clinical-trial.html"><font size="1">New Breast Cancer Clinical Trial – Genentech - Trastuzumab-DM1</font></a></h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/breast-cancer-treatments-what-is.html"><font size="1">Breast Cancer Treatments – What is a MammoSite?</font></a></h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/trial-of-their-lives-breast-cancer.html"><font size="1">The Trial of Their Lives – Breast Cancer Vaccine Report</font></a></h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/personalized-treatment-for-breast.html"><font size="1">Personalized treatment for breast cancer</font></a></h4> <p><a href="http://www.marionstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081018/NEWS01/810180303/1002"><font size="1">Nice simple explanation from an Oncologist</font></a><font size="1"> </font></p> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/what-is-lymphedema.html"><font size="1">What is Lymphedema?</font></a></h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/cancer-isn-one-size-fits-all-robin.html"><font size="1">Cancer Isn't One Size Fits All – Robin Roberts from ABC and Breast Cancer</font></a></h4> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:cf0725e3-0f9a-40b2-af75-031d641e62e4" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Breast+Cancer+Awareness" rel="tag">Breast Cancer Awareness</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Newscaster" rel="tag">Newscaster</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Nightline" rel="tag">Nightline</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Chemo" rel="tag">Chemo</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Radiation+Oncology" rel="tag">Radiation Oncology</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Cancer" rel="tag">Cancer</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Studies" rel="tag">Studies</a></div>

Breast Cancer May Regress On Own, Controversial Report Says Up To 22 Percent Of Cases May Disappear Without Treatment

The study is suggesting that at times it is possible for our body to heal itself, which it does with colds, flu, etc. but now breast cancer...

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ErecAid(R) Device Supplemental First Line Treatment for Erectile Dysfunction - Study

<p> If  Viagra(R) and Cialis(R) are not doing the trick, the study from Johns Hopkins is positive for the vacuum device, actually there were 4 studies to be sure.  It states to be used as a supplement, but there’s nothing stating it could not be used on it’s own.<a href="http://www.timmmedical.com/patients/"><img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="89" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/SSuQyYPVl0I/AAAAAAAAJ-4/1FatFZ6TJOY/image%5B5%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; margin-left: 0px; border-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="image" width="180" /></a></p> <p>It is reimbursed by Medicare and several insurers.   The units can be ordered via phone and available at some retail drug stores.  BD  </p> <p><em><font size="1">The ErecAid System uses vacuum therapy, a proven method that is easy to learn and easy to use. After just a few practice sessions, most first-time users feel entirely comfortable with the System. Should you need a little more time to get comfortable with the Erecaid System, there is no time pressure. We offer a 90-Day Money Back Return Policy.</font></em></p> <blockquote> <p>MINNEAPOLIS, Nov. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Plethora Solutions Holdings PLC ("Plethora", AIM: PLE), the specialist developer of products for the treatment and management of urological disorders, announces results of a study confirming the role its product, ErecAid(R), as a supplemental first line treatment for erectile dysfunction (ED). ErecAid(R) is marketed through Plethora's US subsidiary, Timm Medical Technologies, Inc. ("Timm Medical", Minneapolis, MN). The phosphodiesterase five inhibitors (PDE5i) such as Viagra(R) and Cialis(R) have become a major resource in the management of ED. Unfortunately, 30-50% of men report inadequate results with these oral medications. When patients fail to respond to the oral medications, physicians are often forced to consider more invasive and more complicated second line agents such as penile injections or urethral suppositories.<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/SSuQzpgXKdI/AAAAAAAAJ-8/tDSnovbni2U/s1600-h/image%5B10%5D.png"><img align="left" alt="image" border="0" height="93" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/SSuQ0QAvi_I/AAAAAAAAJ_A/8tMGK_qJMbQ/image_thumb%5B5%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; margin-left: 0px; border-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="image" width="157" /></a> </p> <p>According to Dr. Arthur Burnett, Professor of Urology at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and the lead investigator of this trial, "This study confirms an earlier trial that many patients can achieve excellent results using ErecAid(R) as an addition to oral PDE5i therapy. Based upon these results, I would encourage physicians treating ED to consider the importance of this approach in their treatment protocols and to discuss this option with their patients."</p> </blockquote> <p><a href="http://news.prnewswire.com/DisplayReleaseContent.aspx?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/11-17-2008/0004927349&EDATE=">New Study Confirms the Role of ErecAid(R) as Supplemental First Line Treatment for Erectile Dysfunction</a></p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:15e57e50-9cef-45a8-80cf-b600848ae5a5" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Erectile+Dysfunction" rel="tag">Erectile Dysfunction</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/ED" rel="tag">ED</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Urology" rel="tag">Urology</a></div> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p>Hat Tip:  <a href="http://www.medgadget.com/archives/2008/11/vacuum_erection_pumps_and_pde5i.html">Medgadget</a></p>

ErecAid(R) Device Supplemental First Line Treatment for Erectile Dysfunction - Study

If  Viagra(R) and Cialis(R) are not doing the trick, the study from Johns Hopkins is positive for the vacuum device, actually there were 4 ...

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Desmond Tutu Presents e-Health Call to Action – Learn from the mistakes of the US

<p>One of the messages coming from the meeting is that they believe they can learn from the mistake made in the US, and there were representatives from the US at the meeting.  Karl Brown believes<strong> it might be easier to achieve interoperability in developing countries than in the U.S. or Europe. “You don’t have all the legacy systems in place,” he says</strong>.<a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/SSuHPET7QKI/AAAAAAAAJ-w/lRosq4nzb-Y/s1600-h/image%5B3%5D.png"><img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="145" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/SSuHQwxt_EI/AAAAAAAAJ-0/FMdajTXsWbU/image_thumb%5B1%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; margin-left: 0px; border-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="image" width="104" /></a> </p> <p>When you stop and think about China, who had nothing in the way of phones until wireless came about, and how connected they are, there were no existing land lines to depend on, thus it was wireless or nothing, and all the added technology too that comes with wireless.</p> <p>They promoted open source software, but did not indicate a full reliance on just open source.  I am a software person in healthcare and I like technology, but do agree there are way too many choices with varying degrees of complexity, some very complex, and the reluctance to try new technologies are 2 big stumbling blocks.  <strong>For a second, this about a consultant who has to be familiar with the workings of many different medical records systems, not just one, that’s me</strong>. </p> <p>Even outside of the medical records arena,<strong> I get questions from individuals that want a 10 second answer</strong> and shoot I don’t even know <strong>what program they might have open or what they are trying to do based on the question I get</strong>, so thus I have to inquire a bit more, get some additional details and sometimes that is challenging, <strong>and then at the end sometimes I end up being the “dirty dog” as I couldn’t give the individual the “simple” answer they wanted…</strong>.well long story short <strong>there was no simple answer available</strong> due to complexity of software and the various amount of programs that were being accessed, so standards, yes I would very much favor that route.  Sometimes the <strong>challenge itself is explaining the fact that there is no simple 10 second answer!</strong>  BD  </p> <p><strong>November 18, 2008 |</strong> Health-IT and other electronic communications tools can improve health quality, efficiency, and access to care at least as much in the developing world as in industrialized countries, but there must be coordinated and aligned local and global efforts to ensure interoperability, sustainability, and replicability.</p> <p>Such is the message of a global <a href="http://www.ehealth-connection.org/content/bellagio-ehealth-call-action">“call to action”</a> on e-health issued Tuesday.</p> <p>“To achieve substantial progress on improving health quality, access, affordability, and efficiency, nations must share and work toward a global eHealth vision,” reads the action statement, which is the product of Making the eHealth Connection: Global Partnerships, Local Solutions, a series of Rockefeller Foundation conferences held last summer in Bellagio, Italy. South African Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Desmond Tutu introduced the document Tuesday at the <a href="http://www.bamako2008.org/">Global Ministerial Forum on Research and Health</a> in Bamako, Mali.</p> <p>” Partridge, president and chief executive of Vital Wave Consulting (Palo Alto, Calif.), says<strong> interoperability so far has failed in the U.S. because multitudes of competing interests have not fully embraced such principles.</strong> “The developing world can learn a lot from [the mistakes of] the developed world,” Partridge says.</p> <p><a href="http://www.digitalhcp.com/2008/11/18/bellagio.html">http://www.digitalhcp.com/2008/11/18/bellagio.html</a></p> <p><u><strong>Related Reading:</strong></u></p> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/ehrs-need-standard-templates-so-lets.html"><font size="1">EHRs need Standard Templates – So Let’s Look at the Common User Interface Project, a lot of the work is already in progress and partially completed</font></a></h4> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/health-care-has-managed-to-avoid.html">Health care has managed to avoid the information-technology revolution, but it won't for much longer</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/how-electronic-records-reach-your.html">How electronic records reach your doctor – Integrated through the Hospitals</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/ehr-adoption-remains-off-in-distance.html">EHR Adoption Remains Off in the Distance – Getting way to complicated</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/09/microsoft-technology-centers-software.html">Microsoft Technology Centers – Software Solutions with Assistance and Guidance</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/common-user-interface-update-10-2008.html">Common User Interface Update 10-2008</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/common-user-interface-ehr-development.html">Common User Interface – EHR Development Work in Progress</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/06/possibility-of-national-electronic.html">Possibility of National Electronic Medical Records System Growing</a></h6> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:4c462793-e5ca-43bf-8538-417156302c94" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Medical+Records" rel="tag">Medical Records</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Microsoft" rel="tag">Microsoft</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Common+User+Interface" rel="tag">Common User Interface</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/EHR" rel="tag">EHR</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/EMR" rel="tag">EMR</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/User+Interface" rel="tag">User Interface</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Medical+Software" rel="tag">Medical Software</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Templates" rel="tag">Templates</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/healthcare+standards" rel="tag">healthcare standards</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/ehealth" rel="tag">ehealth</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/interoperability" rel="tag">interoperability</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Desmond+Tutu" rel="tag">Desmond Tutu</a></div>

Desmond Tutu Presents e-Health Call to Action – Learn from the mistakes of the US

One of the messages coming from the meeting is that they believe they can learn from the mistake made in the US, and there were representati...

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Social Security likes PHRs too – wanting to work with EMR and PHR software with pilot program

<p>Some records are already online and will follow the Continuity of Care Document format. Back in June I had posted about the pilot program with <strong>Beth Israel Deaconess in Boston which has already been up and running for disability records</strong>, also the hospital offers patients personal health records through the hospital system and their <strong>dashboard exports the records to Google Health and Microsoft Health Vault.</strong> Currently the Social Security offices spend hours manually matching disability claim information. </p> <p><em><span style="font-size:78%;">“By the end of August or September, we will actually be requesting real data from [Beth Israel Deaconess] and receiving real live data back, which we can use to [fold] into the medical record,” Somers said. SSA officials say they envision being able to use the <strong>Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN) to send authorizations to providers electronically and automatically receive the records in return.</strong></span></em></p> <p>Beth Israel is always on the cutting edge with technology. As integration and transfer of medical records continues, Social Security has also asked EHR and PHR vendors, health providers and payers to suggest how such a process could be set up, as most adhere to the CCR or HL7 <a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/DucknetServices/SE7zRJB3f_I/AAAAAAAAHkQ/uEnj0rtM9BE/s1600-h/image%5B7%5D.png"><img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="96" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/DucknetServices/SE7zR5B3gAI/AAAAAAAAHkU/R6Qbd2OrJi8/image_thumb%5B3%5D.png?imgmax=800" title="image" width="134" /></a>standards. This makes sense for both, and especially the PHR today, since budgets and the economy are putting restraints on some areas of expansion with EMR/EHRs. </p> <p>The project is being called a<strong> “a fully automated Personal Health Records prototype system”.</strong> One more reason to think about a PHR, as in time it will be able to hold your social security records, and <strong>you can pretty much bet that Google Health and Microsoft HealthVault will be right there, my favorites as they are the most automated with vendors and the price is right, free. BD</strong></p> <p>The Social Security Administration wants to develop a prototype of a system that would automatically pull information from electronic health records to more easily deal with the more than 2.5 million disability claims it receives each year. <br />The agency obtains paper copies of claimants’ medical records to verify that the individuals involved are disabled. Getting those records from health care providers can take months and costs SSA more than $500 million a year. </p> <p>In a request for information published today, SSA invited EHR and PHR vendors, health providers and payers to suggest how such a process could be set up. <strong>SSA already is pilot-testing records retrieval with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and the Cleveland Clinic. </strong></p> <p><strong>Two regional health information exchanges, the North Carolina Healthcare Information and Communications Alliance and MedVirginia, have been working with SSA on the NHIN prototype.</strong> </p> <p><a href="http://www.govhealthit.com/online/news/350688-1.html">http://www.govhealthit.com/online/news/350688-1.html</a></p> <p><strong><u>Related Reading:</u></strong></p> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/06/ehrs-go-beyond-treatment-social.html"><span style="font-size:78%;">EHRs go beyond treatment – Social Security Pilot Program with Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Boston</span></a></h4> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/patients-can-view-share-health.html">Patients can view, share health information through new Health Record Banks – Washington</a></h6> <p><span style="font-size:78%;color:#669966;"></span></p> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/09/department-of-defense-and-va-to.html"><span style="font-size:78%;">Department of Defense and VA to Exchange Trauma Data – Medical Records</span></a></h4> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/09/healthvault-personal-health-records.html">HealthVault Personal Health Records gets a Facelift - Match records and find clinical trials</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2007/10/personal-health-vault-physicians-arm.html">Personal Health Vault - Physicians arm thyself..</a></h6> <div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline; float: none;" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:13d997d1-6826-481b-ab79-0a714804562a" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Health+Records" rel="tag">Health Records</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/EHR" rel="tag">EHR</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/PHR" rel="tag">PHR</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Healthcare" rel="tag">Healthcare</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/VA" rel="tag">VA</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Kaiser+Permanente" rel="tag">Kaiser Permanente</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Department+of+Defense" rel="tag">Department of Defense</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Social+Security" rel="tag">Social Security</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Beth+Israel+Deaconess+of+Boston" rel="tag">Beth Israel Deaconess of Boston</a></div>

Social Security likes PHRs too – wanting to work with EMR and PHR software with pilot program

Some records are already online and will follow the Continuity of Care Document format. Back in June I had posted about the pilot program w...

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Scientists Build a Case for Banning Viagra From Sports

<p><strong>Viagra, almost the everything, anything drug!</strong>  When you stop and think back about how the drug came to market and the entire story, it is pretty interesting in the fact that it was initially researched as a cardio drug and not what it used for today.</p> <p>At any rate, if you are an athlete covered by Kaiser it is not going to be covered under your insurance plan either, so I guess now it appears to be getting down to what is the drug prescribed for to hopefully tell the tale in time.  If it is prescribed for a cardio condition, and if you are a male, then you can decide whether or not you like the side effects I guess, and we all know what those are (grin) or you might entertain some <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/09/goat-weed-shows-promise-in-lab-studies.html">“Horney Goat Weed”</a> if that is perhaps what you are looking for.  <a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/DucknetServices/SDIL4mUIpZI/AAAAAAAAG4E/ptQLsmT0l4I/s1600-h/image%5B10%5D.png"><img align="left" alt="image" border="0" height="42" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/DucknetServices/SDIL5WUIpaI/AAAAAAAAG4M/8injj_ch6zA/image_thumb%5B6%5D.png?imgmax=800" width="109" /></a></p> <p>The drug has also been shown to prevent blood clots as well in recent studies, so if you are an athlete who might be taking the drug for blood clots, well then you may not be able to compete?   Also, if you are female and taking anti depressants, reports show that Viagra is now a help there as well.  Or you could forget the Viagra completely and chock up on a lot of watermelon.  If you want to monitor your blood pressure too there’s always the <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/05/erection-dysfunction-may-signal-serious.html">wireless underwear</a> to come to the rescue you could use in conjunction with any drug or for that matter without a drug.  </p> <p>A little tongue and cheek here, but how and where Viagra continues in the market place is truly a marvel as more information becomes available.  BD</p> <p>Viagra can relax blood vessels throughout the body, improving oxygen flow to all sorts of muscles and enhancing an athlete’s endurance, especially above sea level, the NYT explains. </p> <p>There are two studies going on to try to figure out Viagra’s precise effects on athletes. One, at the University of Miami, is looking into whether Viagra helps aerobic capacity at lower altitudes in which athletes typically compete, according to NYT. (An earlier <a href="http://jap.physiology.org/cgi/content/abstract/100/6/2031">study</a> at Stanford had shown it helped some participants at higher altitudes.)</p> <p><a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2008/11/24/scientists-build-a-case-for-banning-viagra-from-sports/" title="http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2008/11/24/scientists-build-a-case-for-banning-viagra-from-sports/">http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2008/11/24/scientists-build-a-case-for-banning-viagra-from-sports/</a></p> <p><strong>Related Reading:</strong></p> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/09/playing-hmo-game-kaiser-viagra-and-more.html"><font size="1">Playing The HMO Game – Kaiser, Viagra and more…</font></a></h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/09/goat-weed-shows-promise-in-lab-studies.html"><font size="1">"Horny Goat Weed" Shows Promise In Lab Studies as alternative for Viagra</font></a></h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/viagra-shows-new-potential-to-prevent.html"><font size="1">Viagra Shows New Potential To Prevent Clots</font></a></h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/07/viagra-helpful-to-women-on.html"><font size="1">Viagra helpful to women on antidepressants, study finds</font></a></h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/06/watermelon-may-have-viagra-effect.html"><font size="1">Watermelon may have Viagra-effect</font></a></h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/06/viagra-joins-hall-of-performance.html"><font size="1">Viagra Joins Hall of Performance – Athletic Boost?</font></a></h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/05/erection-dysfunction-may-signal-serious.html"><font size="1">Erection dysfunction may signal serious heart disease and Wireless Underwear might help an individual monitor their BP</font></a></h4> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:9c1bc14f-c0a5-40cf-b46e-e37f75d10669" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Viagra" rel="tag">Viagra</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Blood+Clots" rel="tag">Blood Clots</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Heart" rel="tag">Heart</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Healthcare" rel="tag">Healthcare</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/ED" rel="tag">ED</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Athletes" rel="tag">Athletes</a></div>

Scientists Build a Case for Banning Viagra From Sports

Viagra, almost the everything, anything drug!   When you stop and think back about how the drug came to market and the entire story, it is p...

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The FDA, Government and Unapproved Drugs

<p> One more story on the lack of communication between data bases here.  If queries were ran and matches were determined, this would certainly help keep a lid on some of this, but as we all know the FDA is working hard to play catch up in the technology department after years of almost no growth in that area and it takes a while to get the appropriate <strong>business intelligence software</strong> in place to track some of this activity.  You can find a <a href="http://www.fda.gov/cder/drug/unapproved_drugs/default.htm">listing here</a> of the unapproved drugs and other relative information from the FDA.</p> <p>Not only is Medicare and Medicaid paying for the drugs, also private insurers, so when it comes down to legal action with a drug with<img align="right" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/DucknetServices/SIj9P_nkLTI/AAAAAAAAIV8/aMAtC1YcAlA/fda1_thumb[2].png?imgmax=800" style="display: inline; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px" /> potential dangers and side effects, well this leaves the door wide open.  <strong>Perhaps down the road all medications will be required to provide a stamp with a certification that they have been approved by the FDA, could help</strong>, as those without approval would be missing the stamp and easily identified.  As our government is so busy in certifying products such as electronic medical records, why not here where the consequences stand to be much greater in the case of failure.  Once technology enters the picture in a bigger way, it will help to identify some of the medications and drugs that are out there without approval, in the meantime we probably have not heard the last of this issue.   This is outside the realm of clinical trial drugs in studies and pertains to products on the shelves of pharmacies today.  BD  </p> <blockquote>FDA officials say they tell Medicaid and Medicare when the agency moves to ban an unapproved drug, so the programs can stop paying. "The situation is complicated by the fact that Medicaid and Medicare have a different regulatory regime than FDA does," said FDA compliance lawyer Michael Levy. "There are products that we may consider to be illegally marketed that could be legally reimbursed under their law." The FDA began its latest crackdown on unapproved drugs two years ago and has taken action against nine types of medications and dozens of companies. Typically, the agency orders manufacturers to stop making and shipping drugs, and it also has seized millions of dollars' worth of medications. But federal law does not provide fines for selling unapproved drugs, and criminal prosecutions are rare.</blockquote> <p><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gSODvMRZvml_Pl3v9U01o6x1VXNgD94L6E980">The Associated Press: AP IMPACT: Govt pays for deadly, unapproved drugs</a></p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:ce3506b7-7043-48fd-ac6a-a2d6003a067d" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/FDA" rel="tag">FDA</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/phamaceutical+plant+inspections" rel="tag">phamaceutical plant inspections</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/FDA+funding" rel="tag">FDA funding</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Congress+Pharma" rel="tag">Congress Pharma</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Business+Intelligence" rel="tag">Business Intelligence</a></div>

The FDA, Government and Unapproved Drugs

One more story on the lack of communication between data bases here.  If queries were ran and matches were determined, this would certainly...

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Johnson & Johnson Acquire Omrix Biopharmaceuticals

<p> One more acquisition in the news, and a fairly large announcement at that.  Just one more indication of the interest and investments from Pharma expanding beyond just drugs and pursuing biotech companies with state of the art technologies for healthcare, this one in the surgical products area.  BD  </p> <blockquote> <p>NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. and NEW YORK, Nov. 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ - News) and Omrix Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: OMRI - News), a fully integrated biopharmaceutical company that develops and markets biosurgical and immunotherapy products, today announced a definitive agreement whereby Omrix will be acquired for <a href="http://www.omrix.com/products/bio_development.asp"><img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="44" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/SSrzxb0TecI/AAAAAAAAJ-k/vE4GPQORU_M/image%5B10%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; margin-left: 0px; border-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="image" width="119" /></a> approximately $438 million in a cash tender offer. Omrix is expected to operate as a stand-alone entity <a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/SSrzyJ_RoYI/AAAAAAAAJ-o/I88bmCAbMas/s1600-h/image%5B9%5D.png"><img align="left" alt="image" border="0" height="123" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/SSrzy3qQEaI/AAAAAAAAJ-s/K2Yy-3I_osk/image_thumb%5B5%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; margin-left: 0px; border-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="image" width="148" /></a>reporting through ETHICON, Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company and leading provider of suture, mesh, hemostats and other products for a wide range of surgical procedures. </p> <p>The acquisition of Omrix would provide ETHICON with an opportunity to strengthen its presence in active, biologic-based hemostats and convergent products for various surgical applications. ETHICON currently has exclusive distribution rights in the U.S. and the European Union for EVITHROM(TM) Thrombin Topical (Human) and EVICEL(TM) Fibrin Sealant (Human), two active, biologic-based hemostats manufactured by Omrix. ETHICON and Omrix are also partnering on a Fibrin Pad product candidate, currently in Phase II clinical trials, as an adjunct to control mild to moderate soft tissue bleeding.</p> </blockquote> <p><a href="http://www.fiercebiotech.com/press-releases/johnson-johnson-acquire-omrix-biopharmaceuticals-inc-438-million">Johnson & Johnson Acquire Omrix Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. for $438 Million - FierceBiotech</a></p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:5f933e7d-f6f0-43ab-a621-d709eb35f9f4" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Biotech" rel="tag">Biotech</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Johnson+and+Johnson" rel="tag">Johnson and Johnson</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Mergers+and+Acquisitions" rel="tag">Mergers and Acquisitions</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/healthcare" rel="tag">healthcare</a></div>

Johnson & Johnson Acquire Omrix Biopharmaceuticals

One more acquisition in the news, and a fairly large announcement at that.  Just one more indication of the interest and investments from P...

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Royal Phillips buys Meditronics of India – X Ray Systems

<p> Pharma is not the only industry investing in technology and companies outside the US.  In a related story, in Andover, Massachusetts the company is laying off 5 percent of their work force, <a href="http://www.boston.com/business/ticker/2008/11/royal_phillips.html">from the Boston Globe.</a>  BD  </p> <blockquote> <p>Dutch consumer electronics major <a href="http://www.usa.philips.com/index.page">Royal Phillips Electronics</a> has acquired Mumbai-based Meditronics, a leading manufacturer of general x-ray systems, targeting the economy segment in India.<a href="http://www.usa.philips.com/index.page"><img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="73" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/SSrs5iSjzEI/AAAAAAAAJ-g/nlPNbLuhZQE/image%5B5%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; margin-left: 0px; border-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="image" width="169" /></a> </p> <p>Phillips Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Gerard Kleisterlee, said: “The acquisition of Meditronics just two months after we announced the acquisition of Alpha highlights our accelerating effort to expand our healthcare business in emerging markets and India in particular.”</p> <p><strong>This is the fifth consecutive acquisition by Phillips Healthcare in emerging markets since mid-2007 and according to Kleisterlee, will lead to significant expansion of Phillips Healthcare industrial and commercial footprint in India.</strong></p> </blockquote> <p><a href="http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/philips-acquires-x-ray-machines-manufacturer-meditronics/14/09/49914/on">Royal Phillips buys Meditronics</a></p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:b4ad988c-bcf0-469f-aeb4-750ad5c754f6" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Phliips" rel="tag">Phliips</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/India" rel="tag">India</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/XRay" rel="tag">XRay</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/technology" rel="tag">technology</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/healthcare" rel="tag">healthcare</a></div>

Royal Phillips buys Meditronics of India – X Ray Systems

Pharma is not the only industry investing in technology and companies outside the US.  In a related story, in Andover, Massachusetts the co...

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New federal study shows barriers to healthcare IT - All over the place

<p> <u>There’s a lot of truth to this study</u> in more ways than one. <strong> Shoot I’m sitting around <a href="http://twitter.com/medicalquack">Twitter</a> hoping to inspire some physicians, readers, PHDs, journalists, business leaders, business organizations, students, you name it, to just<u> try</u> a FREE PHR,</strong> and see what power is there and what they do.  The <u>second paragraph in bold below</u> says all, they are effective and systems are financially difficult to support, <strong>except the PHR which free, make sense? </strong></p> <p>It is going to be a while before we are all connected, so enter <strong>Web 2.0 with free PHRs.</strong>  You can’t really specifically talk about one unless <img align="right" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/DucknetServices/SDWwLrF990I/AAAAAAAAG-8/pBFTF10TGvE/image_thumb[1].png?imgmax=800" style="display: inline; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px" />you get one, otherwise there’s no real experience to relate, and this is something for everyone alike.  Even if you decide you are not ready for one yet, <strong>create a fake one to play around</strong> with, as you can easily delete it, so the learning experience is right there too, so all we need now is the “doing” part of equation to learn, teamwork with healthcare and patients.  It’s like you did with your old AOL disc years ago, if you didn’t like it, you got rid of it, but at least you knew what it was all about.  Below is a good post to check out, as <strong>Dr. Crounse from Microsoft</strong> who I met at HIMMS this year, shares with some information from Japan, who are very anxious for <strong>Google Health and the HealthVault</strong> to arrive for use in Japan, perhaps a bit of an opposite of how we feel here?  </p> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/healthcare-in-japan-today.html">Healthcare in Japan Today</a></h4> <p>If you read further, they are doing waistline check in Japan too, and I agree with Dr. Crounse that this would probably go over like a lead balloon here, but keep in mind the growing entities of the health coaches from the insurers to negotiate to offer employers lower insurance rates and that is out growing movement here, and take a look at a prior post, the <strong><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/human-audit-trail-to-automatically.html">human audit trail for</a></strong> some interesting reading and thoughts.  There’s 2 kinds of technologies out there, <strong>good and intrusive</strong> so good watchdogs are needed to ensure a balance so it doesn’t all become intrusive and we still maintain some human dignity as the technology age evolves.  BD  </p> <p><a href="https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?service=health&nui=1&continue=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Fhealth%2Fp%2F&followup=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Fhealth%2Fp%2F&rm=hide"><img height="38" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/DucknetServices/SGRPjPR9NVI/AAAAAAAAH30/dA55nv_qrf4/googlehealth%5B1%5D.png?imgmax=800" width="95" /></a> <a href="http://www.healthvault.com/"><img height="40" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/DucknetServices/SM3q6TdZm-I/AAAAAAAAI90/u04OgRqDvPI/image%5B14%5D.png?imgmax=800" width="96" /></a></p> <blockquote> <p>WASHINGTON - A study released by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) shows that certain factors consistently prevent elderly, chronically ill and underserved consumers and their physicians from using healthcare IT or drive them away from it. The 1,422-page report, released by AHRQ on November 14 and conducted by the Oregon Health and Science University's Evidence-Based Practice Center, showed that healthcare IT systems that allow physicians to assess their patients' current health status, treatment plan and goals and provide new or adjusted treatment advice are most successfully used.</p> <p><strong>The systems are effective regardless of the type of illness the patient has, their education or income status, location or type of technology used, the study said.  "These activities are difficult to support financially under current episode-based, fee-for-service healthcare reimbursement mechanisms," researchers found.</strong></p> <p>Barriers to adoption of healthcare IT systems occur when these <strong>target groups of patients do not see the benefit of using computers or other interactive technologies for self-managing their health problems</strong>. Other barriers include time constraints for the patient, a lack of trust in the information received, technical problems and a lack of physician responsiveness to questions, the study found.</p> </blockquote> <p><a href="http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=10423">New federal study shows barriers to healthcare IT use</a></p> <p><strong><u>Related Reading:</u></strong></p> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/allstate-testing-brain-fitness-software.html">Allstate testing “brain fitness” software on older drivers</a></h6> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/wellness-programs-payouts-to-those-who.html"><font size="1">The Wellness Programs: Payouts to Those Who Work Out - Insurers give discounts on premiums</font></a></h4> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/human-audit-trail-to-automatically.html">The Human Audit Trail to automatically track your fitness and sleep and a few other things…</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/benefits-vendor-adds-assessment-tool.html">Benefits Vendor Adds Assessment Tool</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/09/john-deer-machinery-failure-of-employer.html">John Deer Machinery -failure of employer-based health insurance</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/social-network-for-your-doctor.html">A Social Network for Your Doctor, Pharmacist and Insurer</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/09/ge-to-market-home-monitoring-appliance.html">GE to Market Home Monitoring Appliance</a></h6> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/employers-in-search-of-ways-to-help.html"><font size="1">Employers in search of ways to help keep health insurance costs low – How far will it go?</font></a></h4> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/02/discrimination-and-health-insurance-big.html">Discrimination and Health Insurance: Big Brother in the Workplace and Beyond</a></h6> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/intrusive-technology.html"><font size="1">Intrusive Technology?</font></a></h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/high-tech-gadgets-hit-doctor-patient.html"><font size="1">High-tech gadgets hit doctor-patient relationships and more..</font></a></h4> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/personal-health-records-whos-in-know.html">Personal Health Records – Who’s in the Know and Who has one?</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/study-predicts-big-savings-from-phrs.html">Study Predicts Big Savings from PHRs (Personal Health Records) – Best Kept Secret in Healthcare?</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/economy-one-more-reason-to-think-about.html">The Economy – One more Reason to think about a Free PHR</a></h6> <p><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/health-cloud-personal-health-records.html"><font size="1">The Health Cloud – Personal Health Records</font></a></p> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/clinical-trials-in-us-begin-involving.html">Clinical Trials in the US – Begin involving the physicians and patients at the point of care to achieve greater success and participation with Personal Health Records</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/why-use-phr-because-it-is-there-and-it.html">Why Use a PHR – Because It is there and it stands to help decrease medical errors</a></h6> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:1ec45fd9-9226-4f5c-873e-1645b71caf5b" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Healthcare" rel="tag">Healthcare</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Technology" rel="tag">Technology</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/monitoring+devices" rel="tag">monitoring devices</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/medical+devices" rel="tag">medical devices</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Caregivers" rel="tag">Caregivers</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Intrusive+Technology" rel="tag">Intrusive Technology</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/software" rel="tag">software</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/medical+records" rel="tag">medical records</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/personal+health+records" rel="tag">personal health records</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/PHR" rel="tag">PHR</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/attitude" rel="tag">attitude</a></div>

New federal study shows barriers to healthcare IT - All over the place

  There’s a lot of truth to this study in more ways than one. Shoot I’m sitting around Twitter hoping to inspire some physicians, readers...

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Judge Rules on Balance Billing in California – Physicians not be able to balance bill

<p>This ruling puts emergency physicians in a hard spot, but protects consumers.  This goes back to the Prime/Kaiser scenario and more can be found under the related reading section here. <strong>There is a separate case pending with the California Supreme Court, so the matter is not closed yet by any means, so stay tuned.  </strong></p> <p>Who really suffers from all of this are the smaller practices and hospitals to a degree and it comes back around to low compensation <img align="right" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/DucknetServices/SGvfIRldGEI/AAAAAAAAH_c/6CMJGxVedps/image_thumb[2].png?imgmax=800" style="display: inline; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px" />contracts from insurers in California, which are some of the lowest in the country.  Who’s going to pay the bill?</p> <p>In the meantime in the midst of this situation<strong><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/bluecross-blueshield-create-new-venture.html">, Blue Cross has found its way to find 101 million to start a Venture Capital Corporation,</a></strong> I can’t help but think that the 101 million could have certainly contributed to the payment of many claims.  All insurers sit on one big hay stack of money, could even be up to a few trillion across the country at this point, but a <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/01/insurers-reserves-criticized.html">related post shows</a> the amounts of just 3 carriers in the state of Washington a couple years ago and no doubt it has grown so do the math and multiply this across 50 more states and add in a few hundred additional carriers and that might give an idea as to the cash stockpiles. <strong><a href="http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2008/11/health_care.html">In Pennsylvania the</a></strong> legislators have been asking questions about such reserves.  </p> <p><em><font size="1">“Capital maintains a financial surplus, as do the state's three other BlueCross and BlueShield plans. The Blue plans have been forced to justify those surpluses to regulators and legislators. </font></em></p> <p><em><font size="1">They have maintained that the surpluses, and the resulting investment income, help them to cushion the impact of medical cost inflation and would help keep them solvent in the event of something such as a flu outbreak that would cause widespread hospitalizations.”</font></em> </p> <p>So what is the answer here, the carriers say they need the large reserves in case of a <strong>gigantic flu outbreak,</strong> but in the meantime <strong>consumers go without the healthcare </strong>they need and some are dying in the effort.  <strong>California has even brought the insurers to task</strong> as well demanding for a certain percentage to be dedicated to paying claims, but as mentioned above, profits are allowing for the creation of new Venture Capital Companies, and where the money goes who knows, so far only one software company funding has been announced and it is the business of risk management and not directly towards better healthcare.  </p> <p>There’s also a <strong><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/wellpoint-to-begin-pilot-medical.html">pilot program going on with Blue Cross to</a></strong> begin covering surgeries done in India as it is cheaper, so where is all of this leading to, <strong>a trip on the “Brokeback Jet” to another country to get healthcare in our future?  BD  </strong></p> <p>California physicians suffered a setback in the effort to block the “balance billing” regulation this week when Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Michael Kenny denied the California Medical Association’s (CMA) petition to invalidate regulations promulgated by the California Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC) that prohibit physicians and hospitals from “balance billing” for emergency care.  </p> <p><img align="left" src="http://lh4.google.com/DucknetServices/R5BeRi6VIGI/AAAAAAAACJc/WpyKde_4edU/image_thumb[1]?imgmax=800" style="display: inline; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px" />“Balance billing” is the practice of billing patients directly for outstanding out-of-network care costs not covered by health plans. Balance billing has been a remedy to address nonpayment or underpayment by HMO’s and health plans; physicians could seek payment of “usual and customary” fees not only from the plans, but from the patients enrolled in the plans when the plans failed to pay. Until the regulations took effect, the only constraint on balance billing were contractual provisions in health plan contracts that prohibited billing patients for “covered services.”  </p> <p>The DMHC policy appears to have emerged as a negative reaction to a single provider, hospital system Prime Healthcare, which balance billed thousands of Kaiser Permanente HMO patients for out-of-network emergency care.</p> <p><a href="http://harrynelson.wordpress.com/2008/11/22/judge-denies-cma-petition-to-invalidate-balance-billing-rules/">http://harrynelson.wordpress.com/2008/11/22/judge-denies-cma-petition-to-invalidate-balance-billing-rules/</a></p> <p><strong><u>Related Reading:</u></strong></p> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/desperate-hospitals-updated-november-21.html"><font size="1">Desperate Hospitals – Updated November 21, 2008</font></a></h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/hospital-branding-is-most-expensive.html"><font size="1">Hospital Branding – Is the Most Expensive Always the Best?</font></a></h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/tenet-takes-hit-even-after-selling.html"><font size="1">Tenet Takes A Hit – Even After selling several hospitals this year</font></a></h4> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/02/eight-southern-california-hospitals-sue.html">Eight Southern California hospitals sue Kaiser</a></h6> <h6><strong><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/hospitals-protest-new-california-rules.html">Hospitals protest new California rules on patient balance billing</a> </strong></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/california-and-balance-billing.html">California and Balance Billing</a></h6> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/battle-of-medical-bills-where-nobody.html"><font size="1">The battle of the medical bills where nobody but the insurers win</font></a></h4> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/01/patients-caught-in-centinela-hospital.html">Patients caught in Centinela Hospital Medical Center's shake-up</a></h6> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/medical-bills-you-shouldn-pay-balance.html"><font size="1">Medical Bills You Shouldn't Pay - The balance billing issue is alive and well</font></a></h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/blue-crossblue-shield-of-massachusetts.html"><font size="1">Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Massachusetts reports $57.6 million profit for the 3rd quarter</font></a></h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/will-greed-lead-to-meltdown-of-health.html"><font size="1">Will Greed lead to Meltdown of the Health System?</font></a></h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/06/california-health-insurance-companies.html"><font size="1">California Health Insurance Companies Spend $10.3 Billion On Administration And Profit</font></a></h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/01/insurers-reserves-criticized.html"><font size="1">Insurers' reserves criticized</font></a></h4> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:220d7ce0-7f4e-46e5-bc87-d99aa8f23158" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Health+Insurance" rel="tag">Health Insurance</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Health+Care" rel="tag">Health Care</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Insurance+Reserves" rel="tag">Insurance Reserves</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Balance+Billing" rel="tag">Balance Billing</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Californa+Medical+Association" rel="tag">Californa Medical Association</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Kaiser+Permanente" rel="tag">Kaiser Permanente</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Prime+Healthcare" rel="tag">Prime Healthcare</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Hospital" rel="tag">Hospital</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Blue+Cross" rel="tag">Blue Cross</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Venture+Capital" rel="tag">Venture Capital</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Out+of+network+care" rel="tag">Out of network care</a></div>

Judge Rules on Balance Billing in California – Physicians not be able to balance bill

This ruling puts emergency physicians in a hard spot, but protects consumers.  This goes back to the Prime/Kaiser scenario and more can be f...

Read more »