Tri-Care Left Out On Adding Children to Health Insurance – Mistake That Needs To Be Fixed

<p> We have by now probably all heard about the new provision whereby children are allowed to remain on their parents policy for a longer period of time; however at Tri-Care (DOD) these folks were left out and here’s another fix that Congress might want to look at. <a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S__SEkdBTTI/AAAAAAAAeYU/YPEwl_CCxSI/s1600-h/image%5B3%5D.png"><img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="100" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S__SEwO4f1I/AAAAAAAAeYY/j3lf5QAhK9U/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="168" /></a> </p> <p>Of all the groups insured, I think Tri-Care would represent a good amount of families who would take a real interest here.  Meanwhile, back at the ranch HHS is urging more to take advantage of the provisions with employers being slow to add.  BD  </p> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/05/sebelius-urges-employers-to-expand.html"><font size="2">Sebelius Urges Employers to Expand Health Plans While Many Companies Are Looking At Paying Fines Instead Of Offering Employee Benefits– Cheaper that Way</font></a></h4> <blockquote>Thanks to the new healthcare reform law, Americans will have the choice of keeping their children on their insurance plans until age 26—unless the policyholder happens to be in the military, where adult child coverage stops at 21, or 23 if the child is at college. During the long debate over how to revise the healthcare system, some Republicans claimed that the Democrat-sponsored bill would threaten coverage for TRICARE, the medical insurance program for the armed forces. In response, the House voted 403-0 to leave TRICARE untouched. <strong>This meant that military families were left out of the new provision that also gives civilians the choice of putting dependants back on their policies.</strong></blockquote> <p><a href="http://www.allgov.com/Where_is_the_Money_Going/ViewNews/Defense_of_Military_Health_Insurance_System_Backfires_as_Families_Left_Out_of_New_Benefit_100527">AllGov - News - Defense of Military Health Insurance System Backfires, as Families Left Out of New Benefit</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:d4d89b31-85a2-46be-b6a1-9607a708bec8" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://www.example.com/Tri-Care" rel="tag">Tri-Care</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/DOD" rel="tag">DOD</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/health+insurance" rel="tag">health insurance</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/healthcare+reform" rel="tag">healthcare reform</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/Congress" rel="tag">Congress</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/military" rel="tag">military</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/HHS" rel="tag">HHS</a></div>

Tri-Care Left Out On Adding Children to Health Insurance – Mistake That Needs To Be Fixed

We have by now probably all heard about the new provision whereby children are allowed to remain on their parents policy for a longer perio...

Read more »

The Next Phase of Accelerometers – Sensors In Healthcare that Detect Motion Like What’s in Your Iphone

<p>If you have an IPhone, then you know what I am talking about as it reacts to how it is positioned.  This is a good article about the next wave that is up and coming <a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_9b1u75H4I/AAAAAAAAeX4/kVG5eLLmJSQ/s1600-h/image%5B3%5D.png"><img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="194" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_9b2KrVMoI/AAAAAAAAeX8/ghKfniuKg6g/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="240" /></a>and being promoted by HP, so I guess we can now say that soon we will have a “smart accelerometer” that can give even further detail on your activity.  The video is a bit spooky when you look.  Of course sensors are meant to be helpful, but it all depends on the eyes of the beholder and hopefully not an effort to disrupt as well.</p> <p><strong>Wellness programs that use biotechnology?</strong>  This could be a future wellness coach watching everything you do and how you move, as they have programs set up that if you are not moving often enough, your phone will give you a text message telling your to move more and email you too. </p> <p><strong>I would love to members of Congress trying to go about the business of creating laws and being interrupted with text messages telling them to move around a bit more, would make a great video for YouTube and we could all see members slowly becoming participants on what is being professed and enacted for all of us.</strong>  </p> <p>The 80s were the years of the PC, the 90s were the years of the internet and guess what, <strong>2000s are going to be the decade of the “sensors”.</strong>  The devices in your cell phones are not as sophisticated as to what is shown here, but how long does the development take these days, well not very long so keep an eye out. <strong> It is in fact the underestimated area of meaningful use and kind of hard to line up as every day it changes a bit, and this is where my usual comment comes in about needing participants and leadership with some IT knowledge, otherwise we are sunk.  </strong></p> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/02/wireless-future-of-medicine-forgotten.html"><font size="2">The Wireless Future of Medicine – The Forgotten Element of Meaningful Use -Eric Topol –TED 2010 (Video)</font></a></h4> <p>Medical Device =  Algorithms  =  Medical Data  =  Data Reports  =  PHR  =  EHR  =  _____.  I placed a lot of related links below on past articles in case you want to take a look.  <strong>The health insurance business likes the whole idea and I’m sure would have us all stuck with a device whether we like it or not and probably get some really bad implementations as they continue with “behavioral underwriting” algorithmic calculations.</strong>  </p> <p>More about behavioral underwriting and the folks involved with some of this and you can see Red Brick, who is a client of Ingenix, (a wholly owned subsidiary of United Healthcare) going at it with investing .  I get a funny feeling when I listen to the CEO of Red Brick like this is all rehearsed and he looks like either an actor or a kind of a puppet in being coached all the way through.  </p> <p><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/12/behavioral-underwriting-with-biometric.html"><font size="2">Behavioral Underwriting With Biometric Employee Screenings – Red Brick Secures 3 More Clients</font></a></p> <p>They sell the biometric monitoring to employers and monitor you from the wellness coaching area and by the way did you know that United bought yet another wellness company in February of 2010 this year that uses biometrics, check it out?</p> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/02/unitedhealth-buys-another-wellness.html"><font size="2">UnitedHealth Buys Another Wellness Company – Biometric Monitoring For Data With Employer Contracts</font></a></h4> <p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:7ba454e5-8514-4967-9522-feec633d46e0" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><div id="72386cc7-3019-413f-9558-9a18cb4f24ab" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline;"><div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scpBPxWWK2Q" target="_new"><img alt="" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('72386cc7-3019-413f-9558-9a18cb4f24ab'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "<div><object width=\"332\" height=\"249\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/scpBPxWWK2Q&hl=en\"><\/param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/scpBPxWWK2Q&hl=en\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"332\" height=\"249\"><\/embed><\/object><\/div>";" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_9b2qK-xlI/AAAAAAAAeYA/5uXAqAfShbw/videoe7ab37c2166f%5B2%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-style: none"></a></div></div></div> </p> <blockquote> <p>Earlier this month I had the chance to visit <a href="http://www.hpl.hp.com/">Hewlett Packard Labs</a> in Palo Alto. I spent my time there talking to a number of senior engineers and scientists about the exciting technology they're working on, much of it related to the <a href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/internet-of-things/">Internet of Things</a> (a trend I've paid particularly close attention to over the past 18 months).</p> <p>I started the morning with a visit to the laboratory of Dr. Peter Hartwell, a senior researcher at HP Labs and one of the brains behind <a href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/cense_hp_labs.php">HP's ambitious CeNSE project</a> ("Central Nervous System for the Earth"). As I walked into the lab, Hartwell was busy playing with a new accelerometer that measures very fine vibrations - which I would soon find out has potential applications in industries such as medicine and mass transport. </p> </blockquote> <p><a href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/sensors_next_big_wave_of_computing.php">Why HP Thinks Sensors Will Lead to The Next Big Wave of Computing</a></p> <p><strong><u>Related Reading:</u></strong></p> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/04/heart-monitoring-patch-wireless.html">The Heart Monitoring Patch – Wireless Connection to the Server for Reporting and Alerting the Doctor</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/06/zeo-personal-sleep-coach-device-you.html">Zeo's Personal Sleep Coach – A Device you Snuggle up with to help Understand Your Sleep Patterns</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/10/venahub-medical-device-hub-wirelessly.html">The VenaHub Medical Device Hub Wirelessly Reports Health Data Compliance and the Blue Tooth Inhaler</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/05/smart-inhaler-with-blue-tooth-and.html">The Smart Inhaler with Blue Tooth and Wireless Capabilities</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/06/fda-approves-healthpal-bluetooth-device.html">FDA approves HealthPal – Bluetooth Device that Collects from Other Reporting Devices and Sends Information to PHR – HealthVault or Google Health</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/12/behavioral-underwriting-with-biometric.html">Behavioral Underwriting With Biometric Employee Screenings – Red Brick Secures 3 More Clients</a></h6> <p><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/09/wellpoint-enters-wellness-program.html"><font size="1">Wellpoint Enters Contract Agreement with Red Brick for Behavioral Underwriting</font></a></p> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/05/more-inhaled-drugs-on-way-levadex-for.html">More Inhaled Drugs on the Way – Levadex for Migraines Met Trial Goals</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/10/directlife-from-phillips-one-more.html">DirectLife From Phillips – One More Electronic Activity Monitoring Device</a></h6> <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/wellness-programs-payouts-to-those-who.html">The Wellness Programs: Payouts to Those Who Work Out - Insurers give discounts on premiums</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/high-tech-gadgets-hit-doctor-patient.html">High-tech gadgets hit doctor-patient relationships and more..</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/10/pill-bottle-that-talks-to-your-cell.html">The Pill Bottle That Talks To Your Cell Phone, Creates Data Reports and More…</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/09/future-of-drug-delivery-lies-with.html">The Future of Drug Delivery Lies with Technology – Panel of Experts From Cambridge Consultants</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/08/bluetooth-stethoscope-available-from-3m.html">Bluetooth stethoscope Available from 3M HealthCare – Wireless Heartbeats</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/01/double-amputee-walks-again-due-to.html">Double amputee walks again due to Bluetooth</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/09/implantable-devices-getting-wireless.html">Implantable Devices Getting Wireless External Power Supplies – Bionic Man/Woman</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/01/novartis-invests-24-million-with.html">Novartis Invests 24 Million with Proteus – Chip On A Pill Also Known as IMeds as Discussed at TEDMED</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/02/positiveid-corporation-acquires-easy.html">PositiveID Corporation Acquires Easy Check Medical Diagnostics Non-Invasive Glucose Breath Detection</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/12/accent-rf-pacemaker-using-wireless.html">Accent RF Pacemaker Using Wireless Technology From St. Jude – First Implant Successful With A Pacemaker Sending Data to EHRs and PHRs</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/02/wireless-biometric-monitoring-device.html">Wireless Biometric Monitoring Device Gets Sticky – It Wants to Be Attached Near the Heart of the Issue</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/09/fitbit-wireless-device-monitors-your.html">Fitbit Wireless Device Monitors your Daily Activity and Movements Released</a></h6> <p></p> <p></p> <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-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:5a278608-2674-41c2-8ddd-6eefed16da7c" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://www.example.com/biometric+monitoring" rel="tag">biometric monitoring</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/health+insurance" rel="tag">health insurance</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/heatlhcare" rel="tag">heatlhcare</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/Fitbit" rel="tag">Fitbit</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/Muve" rel="tag">Muve</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/healthcare" rel="tag">healthcare</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/wireless" rel="tag">wireless</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/blue+tooth" rel="tag">blue tooth</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/cell+phone" rel="tag">cell phone</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/devices+that+report+data" rel="tag">devices that report data</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/medical+devices" rel="tag">medical devices</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/HP" rel="tag">HP</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/sensors" rel="tag">sensors</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/monitoring+devices" rel="tag">monitoring devices</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/wellness+coaches" rel="tag">wellness coaches</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/UnitedHealthcare" rel="tag">UnitedHealthcare</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/Ingenix" rel="tag">Ingenix</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/Red+Brick" rel="tag">Red Brick</a></div>

The Next Phase of Accelerometers – Sensors In Healthcare that Detect Motion Like What’s in Your Iphone

If you have an IPhone, then you know what I am talking about as it reacts to how it is positioned.  This is a good article about the next wa...

Read more »

Sebelius Urges Employers to Expand Health Plans While Many Companies Are Looking At Paying Fines Instead Of Offering Employee Benefits– Cheaper that Way

<p>The problem here is the math or the algorithms used in Business Plans don’t match so knowledge of Health IT is once again being tested. <strong> I made comments last year that leaders in US Government areas of healthcare were going to need some of that knowledge and it looks like this is beginning to come to fruition.</strong>  <a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_9QQRwF65I/AAAAAAAAeXs/AEl0cTxK-Lk/s1600-h/image%5B5%5D.png"><img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="180" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_9QQzB-f0I/AAAAAAAAeXw/wPszygzFcHA/image_thumb%5B3%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="192" /></a>Having <strong>collaboration skills on one’s resume for negotiating with insurance companies is almost pretty useless</strong> as they pretty much do what they want anyway and only respond when issues bring them under the radar.  Here’s the recent article about how employers are weighing their odds and calculating what direction they may decide to go.  </p> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/05/big-companies-are-finding-out-with.html"><font size="2">Big Companies are Finding Out With Employer-Sponsored Insurance It Just Might Be Cheaper to Pay The Fines</font></a> </h4> <p>Sure the option may be out there, but are there folks who can afford it or that want to afford it?  We are seeing double digit increases coming along and granted with employer insurance there is less of a bite for the individual, but what if the employer says “I’m out of here” and decides to pay fines.  The urging to hold down premium increases doesn’t look like it’s getting the bull by the horns either.  </p> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/05/health-insurance-rate-hikes-for-most.html"><font size="2">Health Insurance Rate Hikes For Most Pretty Much All Look Like Double Digits – Employer Provided Insurance</font></a></h4> <p>In Massachusetts the carriers are suing the insurance commissioner and the carriers are trying to negotiate about a 10% cut with hospitals and providers.  </p> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/04/6-health-insurers-suing-massachusetts.html"><font size="2">6 Health Insurers Suing Massachusetts Insurance Commissioner Over Capping Premium Rates</font></a></h4> <p>If you don’t have a Department of Algorithms to audit and ensure the calculations are correct, there’s not much of a leg to stand on here.<strong>  I would say about 70% of what is done in all areas with the “business of healthcare” requires some real strong Health IT knowledge</strong> so one can battle back and understand what’s happening on the other side, otherwise,<strong> not much gets done and health insurers, as far as compliance goes, and they can sit back and rely on the world of the non participants and the distracted to keep the wolves at bay</strong> while it’s business as usual with additional algorithms for profit.  </p> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/05/unitedhealth-to-pay-out-higher-and-more.html"><font size="2">UnitedHealth To Pay Out Higher and More Frequent Dividends to Share Holders, No Caps on Earnings for Executives or What Is Spent on Lobbying Says the Board</font></a></h4> <p>A good example today was United boosting up their dividends to share holders and the board voted not to be concerned with what their top executives make and how much they spend on lobbying, they just want their money at any cost,<strong> even though this is the healthcare business with ethics, those seem to have been thrown out the window, so again with a county living on distraction and disruptions constantly, they just keep running those algorithms for profit</strong> as figure heads don’t quite get what is going on behind the scenes.  BD  </p> <blockquote> <p>WASHINGTON — <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/kathleen_sebelius/index.html?inline=nyt-per">Kathleen Sebelius</a>, the secretary of health and human services, said Thursday that employers should immediately offer or continue <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/health_insurance_and_managed_care/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier">health insurance</a> coverage for workers’ children up to the age of 26, at little or no additional cost. </p> <p>Employers will have to offer such coverage under the new health care law, and Ms. Sebelius said they should act sooner, without waiting for the requirement to take effect. </p> <p>The chief executives who met with Ms. Sebelius were Angela F. Braly of WellPoint; David M. Cordani of Cigna; Scott P. Serota of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association; and Patricia A. Hemingway Hall of the Health Care Service Corporation, which operates Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans in several states.</p> </blockquote> <p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/28/health/policy/28insure.html?src=twt&twt=nytimeshealth">Employers Urged to Act Now to Expand Health Plans - NYTimes.com</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:e18ea0c2-08b9-453a-9e60-faba98ec34e1" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://www.example.com/Health+IT" rel="tag">Health IT</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/health+insurance" rel="tag">health insurance</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/healthcare" rel="tag">healthcare</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/algorithms" rel="tag">algorithms</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/premiums" rel="tag">premiums</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/government" rel="tag">government</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/healthcare+reform" rel="tag">healthcare reform</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/fines" rel="tag">fines</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/employer+insurance" rel="tag">employer insurance</a></div>

Sebelius Urges Employers to Expand Health Plans While Many Companies Are Looking At Paying Fines Instead Of Offering Employee Benefits– Cheaper that Way

The problem here is the math or the algorithms used in Business Plans don’t match so knowledge of Health IT is once again being tested. I m...

Read more »

Microsoft Tag Officially Out of Beta – New Features And Tag Format Added - Suggestions for Healthcare/FDA Use

<p>If you have been reading here at the Medical Quack I have several posts on how Tags can work in healthcare and you can follow the link below to read more and here’s a <a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_68bYLPfuI/AAAAAAAAeW4/QTVz7lesoFg/s1600-h/image%5B23%5D.png"><img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="124" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_68cwY89QI/AAAAAAAAeW8/r3J4YhNvGeE/image_thumb%5B13%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="234" /></a>couple paragraphs from the introduction area.  French, Spanish, Turkish, Simplified Chinese and Italian have been added to the languages supported.  There’s also word on a "heat map" feature which SEO folks know all about, but if you don’t know this is a visual that shows where your tags are being viewed, neat stuff and will be anxious for that feature to come out.  </p> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/05/microsoft-tags-microsoft-msdn-posts.html"><font size="2">Microsoft Tags – Microsoft MSDN Posts Ideas from the Medical Quack About Use in Healthcare!</font></a></h4> <p><em>“If you are a regular reader here at the Quack, I have had a small campaign going on with posts about how this technology could solve a lot of issues, main one being some ideas with recalls at the FDA.  Microsoft Tags was kind enough today to include my thoughts today so in case you are not on Twitter or one of the other social networks, here’s the article below.  Many thanks again to Microsoft for the consideration here, I was speaking out loud here a bit on what I thought might be a simple for consumer to use technology that could save lives.  </em></p> <p><em>You can also view the entire article here at <strong><a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/tag/archive/2010/05/19/do-microsoft-tags-belong-in-healthcare.aspx">Microsoft Tags</a></strong> and by all means </em><a href="http://www.microsoft.com/tag/"><em>download and get try it out on your phone,</em></a><em> very simple and easy to use.  Try making a tag of your own.  I keep a couple of my Tag samples on the blog for anyone to practice with as well under the resources on the right hand side. </em></p> <p><em>Also, check out Microsoft Gov who also posted about this potential life saving technology too:</em></p> <p><a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/bright_side_of_government/archive/2010/05/20/do-microsoft-tags-belong-in-healthcare.aspx"><strong><em>Do Microsoft Tags Belong in Healthcare?</em></strong></a><em> (Same post but directed toward government use/readers)”</em></p> <p>The website has a whole new look too.  </p> <p>The link below explores the use with Surface and contains a nice comment from a “Mom” who would really like to be able to scan medications at the store or at home for recalls, as she had 7 J and J products to look up as a mother of 2 children that were using the products.  </p> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/05/microsoft-tags-in-healthcare-comments.html"><font size="2">Microsoft Tags in Healthcare – Comments and Demonstration at “Microsoft Connected Conference” with Surface</font></a></h4> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_68dHfpk5I/AAAAAAAAeXA/7J4E5TJ5kNM/s1600-h/image%5B27%5D.png"><img alt="image" border="0" height="91" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_68donXHmI/AAAAAAAAeXE/c8WsvEvhmdY/image_thumb%5B15%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="image" width="388" /></a> </p> <p>The purpose of my campaign here at the blog is safely and information as <strong>many devices miss getting pulled from the hospital shelves and people die getting implanted with devices that are defective and have been recalled</strong>.  In addition <strong>with all the recall notices we are receiving today from the FDA, and this will continue to grow, the ability to find and verify a product on a shelf would be huge for the consumer</strong>, versus what we have to do now, go the web, do a search, and rummage through the FDA pages and search.  </p> <p>If you read <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/05/microsoft-tags-microsoft-msdn-posts.html" target="_blank">the post above,</a> some FDA recalls were missed as they ended up in a different area of the recall notices where the public couldn’t find the, Yaz and Premrpo so enough said on that topic.</p> <p>Sample of how to create a tag and quite a few choices here too.  </p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_68eKTkMLI/AAAAAAAAeXI/cRQEJ-1KzAI/s1600-h/image%5B13%5D.png"><img alt="image" border="0" height="496" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_68ekm4aHI/AAAAAAAAeXM/79OgoNy3Bk0/image_thumb%5B7%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="image" width="391" /></a> </p> <p>The new “tag” format is now available and you can make your tag black and white too.</p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_68fExyFGI/AAAAAAAAeXQ/EMydc1AE-KQ/s1600-h/image%5B17%5D.png"><img alt="image" border="0" height="323" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_68fb9OEwI/AAAAAAAAeXU/5R15FfTfHBI/image_thumb%5B9%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="image" width="398" /></a> </p> <p>I found I already had some statistic on my Tags and how many were checking them out.  Here’s a sample of one of them and you can see<strong> I made this tag way back in April of 2009! </strong></p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_68f9GxgsI/AAAAAAAAeXY/g47PiGpf4YA/s1600-h/image%5B3%5D.png"><img alt="image" border="0" height="243" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_68gf-uCJI/AAAAAAAAeXc/PWhljM6d96Y/image_thumb%5B1%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="image" width="384" /></a> </p> <p>There are quite a few <a href="http://tag.microsoft.com/resources/mobile-support.aspx" target="_blank">supported devices</a> too, the page allows you to click on the drop down area to find your phone.</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_68gpqK4hI/AAAAAAAAeXg/xqkjXoAEtRU/s1600-h/image%5B21%5D.png"><img alt="image" border="0" height="435" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_68hMuQwHI/AAAAAAAAeXk/7Y2Iiecsbz0/image_thumb%5B11%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="image" width="386" /></a> </p> <p>As you can see at the site the use is growing outside of healthcare for advertising and promotions so why not add some educational and helpful information that relates to something we all have “health” in one form or another.  BD </p> <p>Eighteen months ago we launched <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/tag/">Microsoft Tag</a>, our mobile barcode technology. Since then more than 1 billion Tags have been printed by people and businesses all over the world. In the month of April alone, more than 20 million magazines with Tags were in the hands of U.S. consumers. </p> <p><a href="http://tag.microsoft.com/community/blog.aspx">Today we’re announcing that Tag is coming out of beta</a> and that basic use of Tags will be free of charge. This means you will be able to generate and use Tags that link to our standard scenarios, such as linking directly to webpages, and use the reader application at no cost. By simply going to <a href="http://tag.microsoft.com/">Tag.Microsoft.com</a>, you can create Tags and deliver rich interactive experiences on mobile phones, track your Tags, and read about how companies such as Conde Nast and others are using Tag. </p> <p>Because of the feedback from businesses using Tag, we also plan to offer the ability to create more powerful solutions through a variety of value-added services, such as advanced reporting and analytics and real-time location services. We will add these and other value-added features over time.</p> <a href="chrome://ietab/content/reloaded.html?url=http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoft_blog/archive/2010/05/27/beyond-beta-microsoft-tag-takes-off.aspx" title="http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoft_blog/archive/2010/05/27/beyond-beta-microsoft-tag-takes-off.aspx">http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoft_blog/archive/2010/05/27/beyond-beta-microsoft-tag-takes-off.aspx</a> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <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:d80ee950-4784-411f-a498-19bfef0fafa3" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://www.example.com/recalls" rel="tag">recalls</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/FDA" rel="tag">FDA</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/Windows+Tags" rel="tag">Windows Tags</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/safely" rel="tag">safely</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/medical+devices.+heatlhcare" rel="tag">medical devices. heatlhcare</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/technology" rel="tag">technology</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/scanning" rel="tag">scanning</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/drugs" rel="tag">drugs</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/cell+phones" rel="tag">cell phones</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/Tags" rel="tag">Tags</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/information" rel="tag">information</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/RazCode" rel="tag">RazCode</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/Iphone" rel="tag">Iphone</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/BlackBerry" rel="tag">BlackBerry</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/Windows+Mobile" rel="tag">Windows Mobile</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/mobility" rel="tag">mobility</a></div>

Microsoft Tag Officially Out of Beta – New Features And Tag Format Added - Suggestions for Healthcare/FDA Use

If you have been reading here at the Medical Quack I have several posts on how Tags can work in healthcare and you can follow the link below...

Read more »

Health Insurance Rate Hikes For Most Pretty Much All Look Like Double Digits – Employer Provided Insurance

<p>Aetna and Blue Shield are each increasing premiums 18% on average this year, but some  Aetna customers who renew policies this summer will see increases of as much as 23%.  Kaiser Permanente is raising rates 12% on average. Health Net Inc. said its customers would see "low double-digit rate increases."  No word yet from UnitedHealthcare on their increases and we have all heard the ups and downs of Blue Cross in California.  </p> <p>The same types of increases for small businesses are also being felt outside of California.  Blue Shield clients as noted below are looking as some huge increases as <a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_4aNWA8CSI/AAAAAAAAeWs/Q2Yv5hEDJFI/s1600-h/image%5B4%5D.png"><img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="197" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_4aN_x1O9I/AAAAAAAAeWw/qm2PXMqt0fk/image_thumb%5B2%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="162" /></a>high as 76% and I wonder how many the carrier will keep at those rates.  BD     </p> <blockquote> <p>Small businesses in California are being hit this year with double-digit hikes in health insurance costs that could hurt the state's economic recovery as companies curtail plans for hiring and expansion to pay their insurance bills.</p> <p>Five major insurers in California's small-business market are raising rates 12% to 23% for firms with fewer than 50 employees, according to a survey by The Times.</p> <p><strong>Overall premiums for small firms in California rose 180% cumulatively over the last decade, according to the California Employer Health Benefits Survey. Larger firms' rates increased 146%.</strong></p> <p>Similar increases are being felt by many small businesses across the nation, including those in Texas, Ohio and Florida — mainly the result of escalating costs for medical care and pharmaceuticals, insurers say.</p> <p>In California, some small businesses say they are stunned by their latest insurance bills. Longtime customers of Blue Shield of California, for instance, are facing rate hikes as high as 76% after the insurer lost money on a handful of plans.</p> <p>Financial pressures are also squeezing Tessier Cabinet Co., a 59-year-old family business in Montclair. Its president is reluctant to hire because of weak demand for his goods amid a 14% rate hike from Kaiser Permanente. "I'm ready to hang it up," Dan Tessier said.</p> <p>California insurers defend their rate hikes as sound and fair, saying they struggle to balance affordable rates with the need to remain competitive and turn a modest profit.</p> <p>Blue Shield, for example, said hospital charges rose nearly 20% last year, while physician costs and pharmaceutical fees increased almost as much. Anthem Blue Cross also cited the cost of medical care in explaining its average rate hikes of 13% this year.</p> </blockquote> <p><a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-smallbiz-insurance-20100526,0,4004715.story"></a></p> <p><a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-smallbiz-insurance-20100526,0,4004715.story" target="_blank">http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-smallbiz-insurance-20100526,0,4004715.story</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-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:34cb7656-4837-42ea-8a76-e16c99935f48" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://www.example.com/health+insurance" rel="tag">health insurance</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/increases" rel="tag">increases</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/premiums" rel="tag">premiums</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/healthcare" rel="tag">healthcare</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/HMO" rel="tag">HMO</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/hospitals" rel="tag">hospitals</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/doctors" rel="tag">doctors</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/California" rel="tag">California</a></div>

Health Insurance Rate Hikes For Most Pretty Much All Look Like Double Digits – Employer Provided Insurance

Aetna and Blue Shield are each increasing premiums 18% on average this year, but some  Aetna customers who renew policies this summer will s...

Read more »

Fat Baby in Indonesia Has a 2 Pack A Day Smoking Habit – Company Offers Family A Car If He Quits

<p>This is a strange post and obviously I don’t think we would see any chance of something like this here in the US, otherwise the parents would be in court, jail or something of the sort.  </p> <p>This is almost too weird to watch this child smoke.  Someone has offered the family a free car if the the baby will stop smoking so perhaps this will improve and the baby will quit.  BD  </p> <p><object alt="EMBED-Ardi Rizal - The real SMOKING BABY !! free videos" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" height="291" id="1844126" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="404"><param name="movie" value="http://embed.break.com/MTg0NDEyNg=="></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://embed.break.com/MTg0NDEyNg==" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowScriptAccess="always" width="404" height="291"></embed></object> <br /><font size="1"><a href="http://www.break.com/usercontent/2010/5/26/ardi-rizal-the-real-smoking-baby-1844126" target="_blank">EMBED-Ardi Rizal - The real SMOKING BABY !!</a> - Watch more <a href="http://www.break.com" target="_blank">free videos</a></font> </p> <blockquote> <p>Rizal is now 2 and, based on this video, smokes like an old pro these days, even blowing smoke rings.</p> <p>Over at <em>The Frisky</em> they say he <a href="http://www.thefrisky.com/post/246-the-baby-smokes-40-cigarette-a-day/">throws tantrums</a> if he doesn't get his favorite brand, which is the only toddler-appropriate part of this entire story.</p> <p>Rizal lives in Indonesia -- is it horrible to say I was crossing my fingers this wasn't here in the US? -- and his father claims he "looks healthy."</p> </blockquote> <p><a href="http://thestir.cafemom.com/toddler/104004/Smoking_Baby_Has_a_40">Smoking 'Baby' Has a 40-Cigarette a Day Habit - Toddler on The Stir by CafeMom</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-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:2702ca56-1127-4b5b-844e-e07f424c2cb4" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://www.example.com/Indonesia" rel="tag">Indonesia</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/baby" rel="tag">baby</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/smoking" rel="tag">smoking</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/healthcare" rel="tag">healthcare</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/child" rel="tag">child</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/childcare" rel="tag">childcare</a></div>

Fat Baby in Indonesia Has a 2 Pack A Day Smoking Habit – Company Offers Family A Car If He Quits

This is a strange post and obviously I don’t think we would see any chance of something like this here in the US, otherwise the parents woul...

Read more »

AstraZeneca And NIH Working Together on Research For Drug Induced Liver Injury – Public-Private Partnership

<p>This is something we all worry about when taking drugs as the liver is the organ that usually stands the chance of being damaged and it is the most common cause of liver failure in the US, so yes we want to know what drugs are potentially toxic, whether in dose or over extended use.  <a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_32LEnPWKI/AAAAAAAAeWg/GfifanFBS9o/s1600-h/image%5B3%5D.png"><img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="240" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_32LpuY01I/AAAAAAAAeWk/4Yyyvw8X1hs/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="206" /></a></p> <p>If you call alcohol a drug, well we all know that long term use damages the liver and some drugs are capable of doing the same.  The study is to also examine existing research and look at herbs and other potential area of danger.  AstraZeneca is of course donating financial support here and drug companies too would like to know which ones can or are more toxic than others and at what levels.  </p> <p>No too long ago the <a href="http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm201286.htm">FDA released an update with a focus on genetic information</a> on drug-induced liver injury and serious skin reactions.  BD  </p> <p><b></b></p> <p><b><u>Press Release:</u></b></p> <p><b>BETHESDA, MD—May 26, 2010</b>--A new public-private partnership between <strong>AstraZeneca and NIH’s National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases</strong> (NIDDK) will focus on supporting the work of the Drug Induced Liver Injury Network (DILIN). DILIN is a group working to bring together essential scientific and financial resources to better understand drug-induce liver injury as well as effective screening, diagnostic and treatment options. <br /><strong>Drug-induced liver injury, whether caused by prescription or non-prescription medication, is the most common cause of acute liver failure in the United States.</strong> It is the major reason for non-approval, withdrawal and limiting the prescribing of medications by the Food and Drug Administration. <br />Under the terms of the partnership,<strong> AstraZeneca will join other companies to provide funding for the project</strong>. AstraZeneca will also have a seat on a DILI scientific board, a group convened by FNIH that includes representatives of all the partners in this endeavor, to provide expertise and input on scientific and technical matters. <strong>No details of the financial support were disclosed.</strong> <br />“AstraZeneca is keen to support this important project to help the industry and the medical community better understand and mitigate the risks of liver damage associated with the use of some medicines,” said Joachim Forsgren, VP and Global Head of Patient Safety at AstraZeneca. <strong>“The safety of patients who need drugs to treat many different kinds of conditions and illnesses is paramount in both developing new medicines and safely and effectively using products currently on the market.</strong> We want to play our part in furthering this critical work, which will provide valuable insight to all those engaged in the research and development of drugs.” <br /><strong>“We welcome the support of AstraZeneca’s underlying commitment to work with the Foundation for NIH, and NIH,</strong> as we pursue advances in research and potential treatment options for drug-induced liver injury. Bringing together a team of experts in a collaborative environment is essential to this project’s overall success,” said Foundation for NIH Chairman, Charles A. Sanders, M.D. <br />NIDDK launched the Drug-Induced Liver Injury Network in 2004 to address this increasingly frequent health problem, The network gathers clinical information and biological specimens in cases of suspected liver injury due to drug and/or herbal remedy use and promotes research on the underlying causes, means of prevention, and approaches to management and therapy. <br /><strong>Since 2004, the network has characterized more than 700 cases of drug-induced liver injury and collected comprehensive clinical, laboratory and imaging data through its eight partner clinical centers. It has also developed a standardized means of assessing drug-induced liver injury. <br /></strong>The eight clinical centers in the DILIN Network are: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Indiana University, University of Michigan, University of Texas Southwestern, University of Southern California/University of California Los Angeles, Mayo Clinic, Thomas Jefferson University/University of Pennsylvania and California Pacific Medical Center <br />NOTES TO EDITORS: <br /><b>Foundation for NIH</b> <br />Established by the United States Congress to support the mission of the NIH—improving health through scientific discovery in the search for cures—the Foundation for NIH is a leader in identifying and addressing complex scientific and health issues. The foundation is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) corporation, which raises private-sector funds for a broad portfolio of unique programs that complement and enhance NIH priorities and activities. For additional information about the Foundation for NIH, please visit <a href="http://www.fnih.org">http://www.fnih.org</a>. <br /><b>NIDDK</b> <br />The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) conducts and supports basic and clinical research and research training on some of the most common, severe and disabling conditions affecting Americans. The Institute's research interests include diabetes and other endocrine and metabolic diseases; digestive diseases, nutrition, and obesity; and kidney, urologic and hematologic diseases. For more information, please visit <a href="http://www.niddk.nih.gov">http://www.niddk.nih.gov</a>. <br /><b>DILIN</b> <br />Additional details on DILIN are available at the project website, <a href="https://dilin.dcri.duke.edu/">https://dilin.dcri.duke.edu/</a>. <br /><b>About AstraZeneca</b> <br />AstraZeneca is a global, innovation-driven biopharmaceutical business with a primary focus on the discovery, development and commercialization of prescription medicines. As a leader in gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, neuroscience, respiratory and inflammation, oncology and infectious disease medicines, AstraZeneca generated global revenues of US $32.8 billion in 2009. For more information, please visit: <a href="http://www.astrazeneca.com">http://www.astrazeneca.com</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:eac90688-eda8-4270-8513-1f19fd678176" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://www.example.com/NIH+Foundation" rel="tag">NIH Foundation</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/NIDDK" rel="tag">NIDDK</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/diabetes" rel="tag">diabetes</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/kidneys" rel="tag">kidneys</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/healthcare" rel="tag">healthcare</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/research+and+development" rel="tag">research and development</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/nutrition" rel="tag">nutrition</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/urology" rel="tag">urology</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/liver" rel="tag">liver</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/drugs" rel="tag">drugs</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/side+effects+AstraZeneca" rel="tag">side effects AstraZeneca</a></div>

AstraZeneca And NIH Working Together on Research For Drug Induced Liver Injury – Public-Private Partnership

This is something we all worry about when taking drugs as the liver is the organ that usually stands the chance of being damaged and it is t...

Read more »

UnitedHealth To Pay Out Higher and More Frequent Dividends to Share Holders, No Caps on Earnings for Executives or What Is Spent on Lobbying Says the Board

<p>Also the shareholders said “we don’t care” pay money and spent what you want on lobbying and executive pay.  Now shareholders are “gold” here and will receive higher and more frequent dividends, don’ know what kind of shareholders and board members these are here.  <a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_2_xnllSUI/AAAAAAAAeWU/tfKJYylSQaM/s1600-h/image%5B6%5D.png"><img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="193" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_2_yoSsH0I/AAAAAAAAeWY/LAceJxOwV7c/image_thumb%5B4%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="290" /></a>The CEO is holding to his words “our shareholders will prosper” and whether or not members get care when they need it remains to be seen. </p> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/04/employers-in-orange-county-looking-for.html"><font size="2">Employers in Orange County Looking for New HMO Contracts as St. Josephs and Some Others Begin Cancelling Agreements with Pacificare (UnitedHeatlhCare) – Employer Capitation Contracts</font></a></h4> <p>We have some of that action going on now in California with major employers with the merging of Pacificare having to make other arrangements for their HMO Services,</p> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/05/unitedhealth-shareholders-say-we-dont.html"><font size="2">UnitedHealth Shareholders Say We Don’t Care What Executives Earn and What Is Spent on Lobbying – Go For It</font></a> </h4> <p><strong>United just bought a big company in China to</strong> help get Chinese drugs and medical devices to market and that includes the US where they claim to already have collaborative efforts with the FDA.</p> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/05/unitedhealth-subsidiary-ingenix.html"><font size="2">UnitedHealth subsidiary (Ingenix Subsidiary I3) Acquires ChinaGate – Working to Sell Chinese Products Globally</font></a></h4> <p>Is healthcare being created and analyzed for better patient care here?  Looks like all profit to me.  The link below goes through a number of their technology interests and the new wellness and other companies they have purchased within the last few months.  </p> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/05/ingenix-unitedhealthcare-subsidiary.html"><font size="2">Ingenix (UnitedHealthCare Subsidiary) Creates Desktop Software for Employers to Analyze Employee Benefit Use To Help Cut Costs – More Analytics and Algorithms To Save That Buck</font></a></h4> <p>You might find some other interesting items in this post below on how companies are using algorithms for profit.  Don’t forget the pay for performance efforts going to Walgreens and the YMCA to run you down and sign up for one of their programs too, they will be motivated if there’s a few dollars to be made.  </p> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/01/technology-has-been-abused-for-profit.html"><font size="2">Technology Has Been Abused for Profit –Algorithmic Formulas Used to Further the Stance of Greed on Wall Street and in Healthcare Organizations Traded on the Exchanges</font></a></h4> <p>I try to keep all updated as best I can on what is perhaps going on behind the scenes as within short amounts of time they surface and sometimes without provisions or laws to govern as they are way ahead of Congress with their knowledge, analysis processes and use of algorithms for profit.  BD  </p> <blockquote> <p><a href="http://profiles.portfolio.com/company/us/mn/minneapolis/unitedhealth_group_incorporated/2585207/"><strong>UnitedHealth Group Inc.</strong></a>'s shareholders have griped in the past that the company doesn't distribute large enough dividends. Now, the health insurer is sharply boosting its dividends, and will begin paying them out quarterly, rather than once a year.</p> <p>The Minnetonka-based company said Wednesday it will begin paying a quarterly dividend of 12.5 cents per share. Previously, it paid an annual dividend of 3 cents per share.</p> </blockquote> <p><a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/triad/stories/2010/05/24/daily43.html">UnitedHealth to pay much higher dividends - The Business Journal of the Greater Triad Area</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-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:1f31fd91-4692-451b-ac67-539a3a979098" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://www.example.com/UnitedHealthcare" rel="tag">UnitedHealthcare</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/shareholders" rel="tag">shareholders</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/meeting" rel="tag">meeting</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/lobbying" rel="tag">lobbying</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/executives" rel="tag">executives</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/vote" rel="tag">vote</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/dividends" rel="tag">dividends</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/healthcare" rel="tag">healthcare</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/health+insurance" rel="tag">health insurance</a></div>

UnitedHealth To Pay Out Higher and More Frequent Dividends to Share Holders, No Caps on Earnings for Executives or What Is Spent on Lobbying Says the Board

Also the shareholders said “we don’t care” pay money and spent what you want on lobbying and executive pay.  Now shareholders are “gold” her...

Read more »

Microsoft Tags (Booth Tags) Coming to A Convention Soon – Maybe A Healthcare Show?

<p>The technology is hot and you can watch the video below with folks taking their phone and pointing and aiming for instant information.  Below you can see if you have not already caught my thoughts for their use in healthcare, which we need now for safety, recalls, etc.  It would certainly be nice to see both companies and the FDA finally work together and bring information and safety to all of us instead of “no system” which is what we have now.  At a show, no more having to carry “bags” of paper around, just the goodies.  BD  </p> <li>Create personal engagement and connections between exhibitors and attendees through mobile technology </li> <li>Generate value for attendees, exhibitors and tradeshow producers with data reporting, contact information and analytics</li> <p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:a607f7f7-b7cd-414d-91e2-8011ce63edfd" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><div id="e37a3790-0668-48f6-87d5-0b1b35a87f0a" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline;"><div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6sIGd1zU8c&rel=0&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xd0d0d0&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1" target="_new"><img alt="" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('e37a3790-0668-48f6-87d5-0b1b35a87f0a'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "<div><object width=\"302\" height=\"226\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/S6sIGd1zU8c&rel=0&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xd0d0d0&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1&hl=en\"><\/param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/S6sIGd1zU8c&rel=0&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xd0d0d0&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1&hl=en\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"302\" height=\"226\"><\/embed><\/object><\/div>";" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_21u7IYTFI/AAAAAAAAeWM/tbxkA8jSEpU/video7a6fa38c163e%5B2%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-style: none"></a></div></div></div> </p> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/05/microsoft-tags-microsoft-msdn-posts.html"><font size="2">Microsoft Tags – Microsoft MSDN Posts Ideas from the Medical Quack About Use in Healthcare!</font></a></h4> <p><em>“If you are a regular reader here at the Quack, I have had a small campaign going on with posts about how this technology could solve a lot of issues, main one being some ideas with recalls at the FDA.  Microsoft Tags was kind enough today to include my thoughts today so in case you are not on Twitter or one of the other social networks, here’s the article below.  Many thanks again to Microsoft for the consideration here, I was speaking out loud here a bit on what I thought might be a simple for consumer to use technology that could save lives.”</em> </p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_ReX58-e_I/AAAAAAAAeIk/ZY_g0_1MTfI/s1600-h/image%5B24%5D.png"><img alt="image" border="0" height="101" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_ReYf_5wxI/AAAAAAAAeIo/3ctOSDuT-lw/image_thumb%5B16%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="display: inline" title="image" width="326" /></a></p> <p><a href="http://boothtag.com/">BoothTag | creating micro-local communities</a></p> <p></p> <p></p> <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-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:85c88e79-6e96-4bea-b835-4068dac63ee4" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://www.example.com/Microsoft" rel="tag">Microsoft</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/technology" rel="tag">technology</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/conventions" rel="tag">conventions</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/booths" rel="tag">booths</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/cell+phones" rel="tag">cell phones</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/information" rel="tag">information</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/mobility" rel="tag">mobility</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/healthcare" rel="tag">healthcare</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/devices" rel="tag">devices</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/FDA" rel="tag">FDA</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/Tags" rel="tag">Tags</a></div>

Microsoft Tags (Booth Tags) Coming to A Convention Soon – Maybe A Healthcare Show?

The technology is hot and you can watch the video below with folks taking their phone and pointing and aiming for instant information.  Belo...

Read more »

First HIPAA Violator – UCLA School of Medicine Goes to Jail for 4 Months – He Snooped

<p> He snooped after being told he was going to be fired.  This may have been before the refined audit trails we have in place today, and no word on any actions he <a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_2xFb9-nbI/AAAAAAAAeWA/5TbKA0rX3tE/s1600-h/image%5B4%5D.png"><img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="134" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_2xGMnq1DI/AAAAAAAAeWE/01iLVGPlzTQ/image_thumb%5B2%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="190" /></a>took due to snooping.  It only took 7 years for this case to be resolved (grin).  BD  </p> <blockquote> <p>Huping Zhou was a researcher at the UCLA School of Medicine — he is also a licensed surgeon in China. After being told in 2003 that he was about to be fired for performance issues, he accessed patient records over the course of three weeks. </p> <p>He started by looking up records of his supervisor and co-workers, and eventually expanded the snooping to celebrities. In all, 323 records were compromised.</p> <p>Zhou pleaded guilty and was sentenced to four months in jail, according to the U.S. District Attorney’s Office.</p> </blockquote> <p><a href="http://healthexecnews.com/precedent-set-first-hipaa-violator-heads-to-jail">HealthExecNews.com » Blog Archive » Precedent set: First HIPAA violator heads to jail</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:cdc33789-84ad-4b20-a951-55c2d1c97e86" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://www.example.com/HIPAA" rel="tag">HIPAA</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/Jail" rel="tag">Jail</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/UCLA" rel="tag">UCLA</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/healthare" rel="tag">healthare</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/medical+records" rel="tag">medical records</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/breach" rel="tag">breach</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/China" rel="tag">China</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/research" rel="tag">research</a></div>

First HIPAA Violator – UCLA School of Medicine Goes to Jail for 4 Months – He Snooped

He snooped after being told he was going to be fired.  This may have been before the refined audit trails we have in place today, and no wo...

Read more »

The War on Obesity Has Gone to the Dogs – Treadmills at the Kennel

<p>This kennel is in Maine and I guess when it comes to cold weather days perhaps having an outlet for exercise inside could help.  In my way of thinking, me the owner <a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_2j03cLVYI/AAAAAAAAeV0/1FbCUGEfWpc/s1600-h/image%5B7%5D.png"><img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="89" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_2j1rjE5jI/AAAAAAAAeV4/682Z1u6D-L4/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="175" /></a>needs the exercise too so we do walks together.    </p> <p>Don’t let that dog become a couch potato.  BD  </p> <p> <object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,47,0" height="312" id="flashObj" width="386"><param name="movie" value="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9/35031947001?isVid=1" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="flashVars" value="omnitureAccountID=gntbcstwcsh,gntbcstglobal&pageContentCategory=video&pageContentSubcategory=&marketName=Portland, ME:wcsh&revSciSeg=J06575_10052|J06575_10055|J06575_10254|J06575_10298|J06575_10352|J06575_10385|J06575_10395|J06575_10396|J06575_10406|D08734_70033|D08734_70065|D08734_70117|D08734_70121|D08734_70098|D08734_70023|D08734_70026|D08734_70028|D08734_70045|D08734_70054|J06575_50366|J06575_50367|J06575_50374|J06575_50507|J06575_50558|J06575_50640&revSciZip=&revSciAge=&revSciGender=male&division=Broadcast&SSTSCode=News&videoId=87945904001&playerID=35031947001&domain=embed&dynamicStreaming=true" /><param name="base" value="http://admin.brightcove.com" /><param name="seamlesstabbing" value="false" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="swLiveConnect" value="true" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9/35031947001?isVid=1" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashVars="omnitureAccountID=gntbcstwcsh,gntbcstglobal&pageContentCategory=video&pageContentSubcategory=&marketName=Portland, ME:wcsh&revSciSeg=J06575_10052|J06575_10055|J06575_10254|J06575_10298|J06575_10352|J06575_10385|J06575_10395|J06575_10396|J06575_10406|D08734_70033|D08734_70065|D08734_70117|D08734_70121|D08734_70098|D08734_70023|D08734_70026|D08734_70028|D08734_70045|D08734_70054|J06575_50366|J06575_50367|J06575_50374|J06575_50507|J06575_50558|J06575_50640&revSciZip=&revSciAge=&revSciGender=male&division=Broadcast&SSTSCode=News&videoId=87945904001&playerID=35031947001&domain=embed&dynamicStreaming=true" base="http://admin.brightcove.com" name="flashObj" width="386" height="312" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true" swLiveConnect="true" allowScriptAccess="always" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed></object></p> <blockquote> <p><strong>BANGOR, Maine</strong> (NEWS CENTER) -- One kennel and doggy day care in Bangor is using a treadmill to keep their pups in shape year-round.</p> <p>Obesity among pets can lead to diabetes, skin problems, and joint pain. In the winter months, it's difficult for pet owners to keep their pets active because of the weather. This treadmill for dogs can help dogs stay in shape or get in shape if they need to shed a few pounds. Just like humans, a balanced diet and frequent activity is the key to a healthy pup.</p> <p>"We go to work, they sleep on the couch," veterinarian Laura Buckley said. "They're not getting the activity.  Maybe they wander around the yard or maybe they run after a ball a few times , but it's not heavy activity for a half an hour a day every day."</p> </blockquote> <p><a href="http://www.wcsh6.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=118244&catid=2">WCSH6.com | Portland, ME | Dogs get in shape with a treadmill designed just for them</a></p> <p></p> <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-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:8ac19d2b-d0fe-41da-bdff-8791ca5e3d07" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://www.example.com/Obesity" rel="tag">Obesity</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/Dogs" rel="tag">Dogs</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/treatmills" rel="tag">treatmills</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/healthcare" rel="tag">healthcare</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/exercise" rel="tag">exercise</a></div>

The War on Obesity Has Gone to the Dogs – Treadmills at the Kennel

This kennel is in Maine and I guess when it comes to cold weather days perhaps having an outlet for exercise inside could help.  In my way o...

Read more »

S.E.C. Proposes Audit Trails for Securities – About Much of Healthcare Has Had Audit Trails for Years

<p>On the flash crash, as an observer and reader, I added my technology guesses here as from what I read this is what it sounded like to me.<strong>  Some trading house have upgraded to some new powerful Xeon processors and we are at the speeds right now where this has to be taken into consideration as perhaps the “load balancers” on the software may not be ready for a new influx of maybe up to 66% more power on some virtual hard drives,</strong> while others have less.  I’ll leave it at that and not get too technical here, but check out the link below for more detail, darn servers go down all the time and on the web too, but as an average user you just don’t know <a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_2f4rFobTI/AAAAAAAAeVg/jD6Os57D4t4/s1600-h/image%5B4%5D.png"><img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="141" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_2f5GEZgWI/AAAAAAAAeVk/x7nKPitV84U/image_thumb%5B2%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="181" /></a>it’s happening because IT lives of of back up and mirroring drives and virtual drives.  Audit trails would indeed be able to help us nail down what has happened in days of flash crashes.  <strong>Do you think a hospital today is without audit trails that is using technology, heck no.  </strong></p> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/05/was-server-fall-over-taking-place-on.html"><font size="2">Was a Server Fail Over Taking Place on Wall Street During a “Perfect Storm” of Heavy Transactions?</font></a></h6> <p><strong>We still have some real “8-track” people around in big positions</strong> and Harry Markopoulos reminded us of that fact when he turned over information to the SEC and they had no clue on what to do with it, not to mention the stories out about the SEC folks playing porn on their computers too.   Someone though has become educated here as we are now <strong>hearing the words “audit trails”</strong> coming from the SEC and the real word is used too, unlike the<strong> silly connotation of the words “circuit breakers” that is used to explain an algorithm</strong> that slows down trading as need on exchanges.  A circuit breaker sits in my house and is a piece of hardware, on the exchange this is not a piece of hardware, it’s software.  </p> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/05/algorithms-of-wall-street-did-we-forget.html"><font size="2">The Algorithms of Wall Street - Did We Forget How to Create Capital for Businesses</font></a></h4> <p>I started talking over 2 years ago about audit trails and a “Department of Algorithms” so see if you reading here, there’s some interesting forecasting going on around this blog sometimes, as I predict through the data world and how it operates.  </p> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/08/department-of-algorithms-do-we-need-one.html"><font size="2">“Department of Algorithms – Do We Need One of These to Regulate Upcoming Laws?</font></a> </h6> <p>Now this is also a pretty big data house project too to set up audit trails and it’s not done overnight but is something that should have been done years ago, but duh, <strong>we had very few people in areas of responsibility that could see value as we go back to the world of the “non participants” once more.</strong> </p> <p><strong>During the Senate testimonies, this is what was given to the CEO of Goldman, paper audit trails?  Duh?</strong>  BD</p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_2f5_Ok_GI/AAAAAAAAeVo/u4V3bPOwIOY/s1600-h/image%5B7%5D.png"><img alt="image" border="0" height="185" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_2f68-wkWI/AAAAAAAAeVs/uV9zDSQRltw/image_thumb%5B3%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="image" width="207" /></a> </p> <blockquote> <p>WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal regulators moved Wednesday toward requiring a uniform system for tracking all securities orders on American exchanges, in hopes of making it easier to investigate market disruptions like the plunge on May 6. </p> <p>Members of the <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/s/securities_and_exchange_commission/index.html?inline=nyt-org">Securities and Exchange Commission</a> proposed, on a 5-0 vote, requiring exchanges to maintain an audit trail covering trading orders from start to routing to execution. </p> <p>The regulators said that would make it easier to investigate market disruptions like the so-called flash crash this month that sent the Dow Jones industrials down nearly 1,000 points in less than 30 minutes.</p> <p>After the May 6 plunge, the S.E.C. and the major exchanges introduced a plan to adopt marketwide “circuit breakers” to pause trading during periods of high volatility. </p> <p>Under that plan, trading of any Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index that rises or falls 10 percent or more within a five-minute period would be halted for five minutes. The rules would be applied if the price swing occurs between 9:45 a.m. and 3:35 p.m. — nearly the entire day. </p> </blockquote> <p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/27/business/27sec.html?src=twt&twt=nytimesbusiness">S.E.C. Proposes Uniform Audit Trail for Trades - NYTimes.com</a></p> <p></p> <p></p> <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-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:05e60431-7443-44d0-abf3-42a9a38f92f9" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://www.example.com/SEC" rel="tag">SEC</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/audit+trails" rel="tag">audit trails</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/exchanges" rel="tag">exchanges</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/securities" rel="tag">securities</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/healthcare" rel="tag">healthcare</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/Wall+Street" rel="tag">Wall Street</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/non+participants" rel="tag">non participants</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/stock+market" rel="tag">stock market</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/technology" rel="tag">technology</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/algorithms" rel="tag">algorithms</a></div>

S.E.C. Proposes Audit Trails for Securities – About Much of Healthcare Has Had Audit Trails for Years

On the flash crash, as an observer and reader, I added my technology guesses here as from what I read this is what it sounded like to me.   ...

Read more »

Blue Cross/Blue Shield Efforts With Anti-Fraud Yield Half A Billion – Information On How to Report Fraud

<p> Nobody likes fraud and every time someone is caught is is a plus.  From prior posts and articles, this is more than just an effort on running algorithms as the people committing fraud are usually “better billers” as they have one focus only and don’t see patients.   The link below contains a video of a sting operation from Nightline that shows how actual physical surveillance is required to catch fraud too.  <a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_2S_ZcTeaI/AAAAAAAAeVM/oeJvCURSaI8/s1600-h/image%5B7%5D.png"><img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="68" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_2TAK3I_NI/AAAAAAAAeVQ/ymcCEbmzD8c/image_thumb%5B3%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="240" /></a> </p> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/03/medicare-fraud-criminals-do-better-job.html"><font size="2">Medicare Fraud – Criminals Do a Better Job With Filing Claims And Coding Than Providers</font></a></h4> <p>On the automated side of the business in fighting fraud and the world of algorithms though, <strong>1 out of every 14 claims is denied initially</strong> and some of this comes from <strong>anti fraud algorithmic mechanisms</strong> that check for certain conditions suspected to be fraud so <strong>there are false positives generated here with every carrier and company that provides this service.  You might want to read up at the link below on how this happens.  </strong></p> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/02/how-to-fight-algorithmically-scored.html"><font size="2">How to Fight Algorithmically “Scored” Health Care Claim Denials – Line Up and Deliver Your Own Data</font></a> </h4> <p>A we all know sometimes it is hard enough to get the benefits we are supposed to be covered for while the fraud folks roll in the money.  BD  </p> <blockquote> <p>WASHINGTON, May 26 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --<b> </b>Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies' anti-fraud investigations resulted in overall savings and <a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_2TAg8PuPI/AAAAAAAAeVU/b_pUOP0O9sk/s1600-h/image%5B8%5D.png"><img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="163" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_2TBKZqPeI/AAAAAAAAeVY/a_39fnYqhLU/image_thumb%5B4%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="151" /></a>recoveries of more than $510 million in 2009, according to data released today by the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association (BCBSA).  This represents a significant increase compared to 2008, and contributed to a three-year average return of $7 dollars for every $1 dollar spent on anti-fraud efforts.</p> <p>BCBSA released the findings from its annual survey at a press briefing highlighting the Blue system's commitment to fighting healthcare fraud in an effort to save healthcare dollars and protect consumers.</p> <p>"Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies are achieving significant gains in the war against healthcare fraud," said Scott P. Serota, CEO and president of BCBSA.  "Blue companies are actively identifying and pursuing healthcare fraud in partnership with federal and state authorities, law enforcement, and licensing boards.  These efforts protect consumers' healthcare safety and safeguard healthcare affordability.  Aggressive anti-fraud investigations help ensure critical healthcare dollars are being spent appropriately."</p> <p>Blue Cross and Blue Shield members can report suspected fraud through a national hotline number, 1.877.327.BLUE, and Web site (<a href="http://www.bcbs.com/blueresources/anti-fraud/report-fraud.html">www.bcbs.com/blueresources/anti-fraud/report-fraud.html</a>).  In addition, a brochure for consumers, "<a href="http://www.bcbs.com/blueresources/anti-fraud/anti-fraud-consumer-brochure.pdf">One Problem. 300 Million Victims. What You Need to Know About Healthcare Fraud</a>," is located at:  <a href="http://www.bcbs.com/blueresources/anti-fraud/anti-fraud-consumer-brochure.pdf">www.bcbs.com/blueresources/anti-fraud/anti-fraud-consumer-brochure.pdf</a>.  An interactive Explanation of Benefits tool is located at:  <a href="http://www.bcbs.com/blueresources/anti-fraud/explanation-of-benefits.html">www.bcbs.com/blueresources/anti-fraud/explanation-of-benefits.html</a>.</p> </blockquote> <p><a href="http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/blue-cross-and-blue-shield-companies-anti-fraud-efforts-collect-more-than-half-a-billion-dollars-in-2009-94941204.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter">Blue Cross and Blue Shield Companies' Anti-Fraud Efforts Collect More Than Half a Billion... -- WASHINGTON, May 26 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --</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-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:7f2d0d89-261c-480d-80d1-dc9ce4344683" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://www.example.com/algorithms+fraud" rel="tag">algorithms fraud</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/healthcare" rel="tag">healthcare</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/formulas" rel="tag">formulas</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/claim+denials" rel="tag">claim denials</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/Ingenix" rel="tag">Ingenix</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/Blue+Cross" rel="tag">Blue Cross</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/scoring+health+claims" rel="tag">scoring health claims</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/health+insurance" rel="tag">health insurance</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/contracts" rel="tag">contracts</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/patients" rel="tag">patients</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/Blue+Shield" rel="tag">Blue Shield</a></div>

Blue Cross/Blue Shield Efforts With Anti-Fraud Yield Half A Billion – Information On How to Report Fraud

Nobody likes fraud and every time someone is caught is is a plus.  From prior posts and articles, this is more than just an effort on runni...

Read more »

WellPoint To Standardize Clinical Guidelines for Breast Cancer Care – Offer 48 Hour Minimum Hospital Stay for Mastectomy

<p>If you read here often enough you see the world algorithm quite a bit as that is what it is all about.  If you read about Wall Street, it’s the algorithms there too.  I do somewhat get a bit puzzled as to why we call these mathematical formulas “circuit breakers” and other strange names as it helps to maintain a common description so people can learn about how our processes work.  In order to audit such processes our government needs major infrastructure updates and educated IT people <a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_1-5p_WAqI/AAAAAAAAeU4/5byaQljl1Bs/s1600-h/image%5B4%5D.png"><img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="172" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_1-59kdKbI/AAAAAAAAeU8/OBSQ5GuzC6g/image_thumb%5B2%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="173" /></a>who can put such in place.  </p> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/04/my-algorithm-didnt-do-that-did-it-is.html"><font size="2">My Algorithm Didn’t Do That, Did It? Is There a “Department of Algorithms” in Our Future?</font></a> </h6> <p>Of course their algorithm lead to the decision making processes to cancel women who had breast cancer and we are talking semantics here with perhaps the formula being run for a different purpose, and then someone else views the results and uses it for other purposes, goes on all the time.  </p> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/05/blue-cross-ceo-writes-obama.html"><font size="2">Blue Cross CEO Writes Obama Administration – We Are Not The Villains, It Was the Patients Not Giving Us All the Data We Needed To Run Our Costing Algorithms</font></a></h4> <p>They don’t want to take any responsibility for this and try to over shadow with words and soft talking but bottom line in data if you use it that way for decisions, it shows.  </p> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/04/wellpoint-ran-breast-cancer-algorithm.html"><font size="2">WellPoint Ran a Breast Cancer Algorithm to Target Members for Cancellation of Policies - “Fraud Detection” is the Catch All that Justifies the Reporting</font></a></h6> <p>Hopefully things will become a bit more ethical with women needing care and the bean counting algorithms can take second place to giving needed patient care without all the awful justifications on saving money.  Reuters is absolutely right in standing behind what they reported here as the glimmer of light is starting to show through as we all are getting smarter about how money and algorithms work together, and they are not always applied equally and hopefully we will get the talent and systems at the SEC soon to help us out, they have machine guns, we have swords.  BD<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_1-6V0SabI/AAAAAAAAeVA/PMCBIO66OHw/s1600-h/image%5B9%5D.png"><img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="121" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_1-66duDlI/AAAAAAAAeVE/PJsNJnnzdxE/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="309" /></a> </p> <blockquote> <p>Beginning July 1, WellPoint said it will standardize clinical guidelines for women recovering from mastectomy to offer a voluntary 48-hour minimum hospital stay.</p> <p>The vast majority of WellPoint's members already receive the standard of care indicated in the legislation, the company said, but it believes applying the provision widely will encourage others in the industry to adopt it as well.</p> <p>Other provisions of the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act introduced by U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro include more transparent benefit language.</p> <p>WellPoint has come under heavy criticism from lawmakers and President Barack Obama's administration following a Reuters article last month that said the company used computer algorithms to target women with breast cancer for an investigation, with the intent of canceling their policies.</p> </blockquote> <p><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63M2YM20100526?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FhealthNews+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Health+News%29">WellPoint adopting parts of breast cancer act | Reuters</a></p> <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:b34de984-b10f-4eb2-a27b-a9d30c0c9fcc" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://www.example.com/Blue+Cross" rel="tag">Blue Cross</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/Wellpoint" rel="tag">Wellpoint</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/health+insurance" rel="tag">health insurance</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/Obama" rel="tag">Obama</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/claims" rel="tag">claims</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/ethics" rel="tag">ethics</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/algorithms" rel="tag">algorithms</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/business+intelligence" rel="tag">business intelligence</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/paradigms" rel="tag">paradigms</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/villians" rel="tag">villians</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/healthcare+reform" rel="tag">healthcare reform</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/patients" rel="tag">patients</a></div>

WellPoint To Standardize Clinical Guidelines for Breast Cancer Care – Offer 48 Hour Minimum Hospital Stay for Mastectomy

If you read here often enough you see the world algorithm quite a bit as that is what it is all about.  If you read about Wall Street, it’s ...

Read more »

Medtronic Invests $70 million in Israeli Heart Stimulation Company And Has Option to Buy BioControl Medical

<p>Everyone knows the product and implants that Medronic has and now this represents a substantial investment in a company in Israel that also makes implanted heart <a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_11wyH15VI/AAAAAAAAeUc/FvSoFw7kDd4/s1600-h/image%5B9%5D.png"><img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="110" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_11xY78ItI/AAAAAAAAeUg/-RbSHQptDCI/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="110" /></a>devices.  The implanted device works by stimulating the vagus nerve and is the first that treats heart conditions with nerve stimulation.</p> <p>The device is approved by the European CE Mark and it working on approval here in the US.  The device has been available in Europe since 2008.  The investment from Medtronic will help finance trials here in the US.  The device can be used in combination with drug therapies.  BD  </p> <p><strong><u>From the Website:</u></strong></p> <p><em> “BioControl Medical develops implantable devices that apply electrical stimulation technology. The <strong><a href="http://www.biocontrol-medical.com/site/products_video.htm">CardioFit system</a></strong> consists of an electro-stimulator device with a nerve cuff electrode and an intra-cardiac electrogram (EGM) sensor. By continuously monitoring the EGM signal, stimulation is adjusted to the patient’s optimal heart rate. The vagus nerve is stimulated through a propriety tri-polar cuff electrode that provides accurate control over specific nerve fibers, thus avoiding cross activation of undesired fibers. The device is implanted in a short, procedure in which the electrode is positioned </em><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_11yIsAjpI/AAAAAAAAeUk/SOIuuInFm20/s1600-h/image%5B10%5D.png"><em><img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="143" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_11yjjGxZI/AAAAAAAAeUo/D22oePEkI9s/image_thumb%5B6%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="128" /></em></a><em>around the vagus nerve in the neck and the device is placed in a subcutaneous pocket in the chest.”</em> </p> <blockquote> <p>Medtronic Inc. (NYSE:MDT) plans to invest $70 million in neurostimulation device maker <strong><a href="http://www.biocontrol-medical.com/site/products_video.htm">BioControl Medical Ltd.,</a></strong> according to a report from an Israeli media outlet. </p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_11zZXCrJI/AAAAAAAAeUs/_UgY6_KyrE8/s1600-h/image%5B13%5D.png"><img alt="image" border="0" height="183" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_11zwhSfCI/AAAAAAAAeUw/C5HaUq7r4zc/image_thumb%5B7%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="image" width="240" /></a> </p> <p>The deal also gives Medtronic the option to acquire the Yehud, Israel-based firm for $550 million if BioControl’s heart-stimulation device receives U.S. regulatory approval, <a href="http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000561592&fid=942"><em>Globes</em></a> reported. If the device doesn’t receive Food & Drug Administration approval , the price of the option drops to $350 million.</p> </blockquote> <p><a href="http://www.massdevice.com/news/report-medtronic-invest-70-million-israeli-heart-firm">Report: Medtronic to invest $70 million in Israeli heart firm | MassDevice - Medical Device Industry News</a></p> <p></p> <p></p> <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-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:0c3dd778-3944-4dd1-88b4-03755929742c" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://www.example.com/Medtronics" rel="tag">Medtronics</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/BioControlMedical" rel="tag">BioControlMedical</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/healthcare" rel="tag">healthcare</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/cardiology" rel="tag">cardiology</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/Israel" rel="tag">Israel</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/CE+Mark" rel="tag">CE Mark</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/sensors" rel="tag">sensors</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/stimulation" rel="tag">stimulation</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/medical+devices" rel="tag">medical devices</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/implants" rel="tag">implants</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/Cardiofit" rel="tag">Cardiofit</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/heaert+failure" rel="tag">heaert failure</a></div>

Medtronic Invests $70 million in Israeli Heart Stimulation Company And Has Option to Buy BioControl Medical

Everyone knows the product and implants that Medronic has and now this represents a substantial investment in a company in Israel that also ...

Read more »

Viagra for Women – Jimmy Kimmel on How Pfizer Could Market Viagra V (Video-Humor)

<p>Viagra V – great humor here and the secret is out! </p> <p>Dopamine and Serotonin are the keys here and could this be the new ad campaign!  The US Copyright office however <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/02/viagra-patent-rejected-by-us-trademark.html">refused to give Pfizer the copyright</a> as they stated the active ingredient was too close to what is available today with an herb called “horny goat weed”, a name that nobody forgets (grin).  </p> <p> <a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_1YOQ1tKgI/AAAAAAAAeT8/mULNqgiQEzg/s1600-h/image%5B8%5D.png"><img alt="image" border="0" height="183" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_1YPDm8_dI/AAAAAAAAeUA/7jWrdKJ3x6c/image_thumb%5B4%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="image" width="291" /></a> </p> <p>Science though is <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/11/regenerative-medicine-news-fully.html">working on alternatives for men</a> so here’s the pitch for the women!  So far one happy rabbit has been the outcome with regenerative medicine and there’s a <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/10/suffering-from-ed-medtronic-may-have.html">stent from Medtronic</a> too.  </p> <p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:db0c4f21-ce8c-4140-ab40-93072c464e8d" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><div id="28d41edd-4f68-4dd4-a940-ad9bf874d84d" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline;"><div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVSZoiQCFzg&rel=0&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xd0d0d0&hl=en_US&feature=player_profilepage&fs=1" target="_new"><img alt="" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('28d41edd-4f68-4dd4-a940-ad9bf874d84d'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "<div><object width=\"293\" height=\"220\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/kVSZoiQCFzg&rel=0&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xd0d0d0&hl=en_US&feature=player_profilepage&fs=1&hl=en\"><\/param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/kVSZoiQCFzg&rel=0&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xd0d0d0&hl=en_US&feature=player_profilepage&fs=1&hl=en\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"293\" height=\"220\"><\/embed><\/object><\/div>";" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_1YPrIHZ6I/AAAAAAAAeUE/YF9KT_5-QaM/video85479c292fb0%5B2%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-style: none"></a></div></div></div> </p> <p>I wonder what the cost will be too as it is not cheap for men and will it be more expensive for women?</p> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/09/what-does-viagra-cost.html"><font size="2">What Does Viagra Cost?</font></a></h4> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_1YQd5yoVI/AAAAAAAAeUI/i774KISqfLQ/s1600-h/image%5B7%5D.png"><img alt="image" border="0" height="176" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_1YQ5zcDiI/AAAAAAAAeUM/02qUH-kF5Ws/image_thumb%5B3%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="image" width="302" /></a></p> <p>No we don’t want “jock itch” we have enough issues of our own as women!  </p> <p>Jimmy Kimmel is really taking on healthcare and not too long ago had a visit from Dr. Oz with helping the cause on early diagnosing.  You can follow the link below if you missed that show for the highlights!  BD</p> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/05/dr-oz-visits-jimmy-kimmel-and-discusses.html"><font size="2">Dr. Oz Visits Jimmy Kimmel and Discusses Nutrition, Obesity, Size and Gives a Few Impromptu Exams (Videos)</font></a></h4> <p><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/05/dr-oz-visits-jimmy-kimmel-and-discusses.html"><img alt="image" border="0" height="208" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_1YRY9Ah8I/AAAAAAAAeUU/myh5B1WMmZA/image%5B13%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="image" width="324" /></a> </p> <p>It’s nice to see late night television taking this approach to help educate us on what is going on with drugs and healthcare today, enjoy!  BD</p> <p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/JimmyKimmelLive" title="http://www.youtube.com/user/JimmyKimmelLive">http://www.youtube.com/user/JimmyKimmelLive</a></p> <p></p> <p></p> <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-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:1eeb50ae-7e38-4553-8cf5-6689197d65c3" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://www.example.com/Viagra" rel="tag">Viagra</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/Jimmy+Kimmel" rel="tag">Jimmy Kimmel</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/Pfizer" rel="tag">Pfizer</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/drugs" rel="tag">drugs</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/humor" rel="tag">humor</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/medical+humor" rel="tag">medical humor</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/advertising" rel="tag">advertising</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/FDA" rel="tag">FDA</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/healthcare" rel="tag">healthcare</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/ED" rel="tag">ED</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/horny+Goat+Weed" rel="tag">horny Goat Weed</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/Viagra+V" rel="tag">Viagra V</a></div>

Viagra for Women – Jimmy Kimmel on How Pfizer Could Market Viagra V (Video-Humor)

Viagra V – great humor here and the secret is out! Dopamine and Serotonin are the keys here and could this be the new ad campaign!  The US...

Read more »

Acid Inhibitors Like Nexium, Prilosec, Prevacid and Protonix Prolonged Use – FDA Says Watch It With Prolonged Use

<p> Bone fractures are the big call item here and it seems the longer the product is used, the greater the potential exposure would be.  The purple pills is kind of expensive too.  You can read more at the link about the marketing and prescribing news on the purple pill.  </p> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/01/drug-deals-nexium-and-teva-purple-pill.html"><font size="2">Drug Deals – Nexium and Teva Purple Pill Agreement, And What Is This Costing Us?</font></a></h4> <p>Consumer reports is trying to help you out with some affordable over the counter alternatives.  Astra <a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S1NruV--y_I/AAAAAAAAcGk/ETf5_OSbSTs/s1600-h/image%5B3%5D.png"><img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="139" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S1Nru1zklOI/AAAAAAAAcGo/0WhCquRHHV0/image_thumb%5B1%5D.png?imgmax=800" title="image" width="143" /></a>Zeneca already cut a deal with Ranbaxy to delay it’s release of a generic version of the drug.  Who’s on the list for the next deal I wonder?  The drug is the biggest seller for Astra Zeneca too, and we have all seen the massive TV commercial media on how it is effective, there’s been a ton of marketing done here to equate everyone with “the purple pill”.   Interesting too in this survey that Nexium made the list of 8 drugs doctors wouldn’t take themselves…hmmmmm. </p> <p><strong>There are some other alternatives for GERD though, like surgery and devices.</strong></p> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/05/incisionless-surgery-for-gerd-through.html"><font size="2">Incisionless Surgery for GERD Through the Mouth Performed on First Patient at Scripps – Acid Reflux Fixed</font></a></h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2010/04/torax-medical-gerd-implant-device-is.html"><font size="2">Torax Medical GERD Implant Device is Granted European CE Mark Approval – Trials in US Continue</font></a></h4> <p>If you are one that has chronic GERD, maybe looking into these areas might be worthwhile as this is where the FDA notice seems to be placed, on prolonged and frequent use.  BD  </p> <blockquote> <p>The Food and Drug Administration cautioned Tuesday against prolonged use or high dosages of the family of acid reducers called proton pump inhibitors, a family that includes such well-known drugs as <strong>Nexium, Prilosec, Prevacid and Protonix.</strong> The agency said it would order revised labeling on packages of the drugs to reflect the fact that they have been associated with an increased risk of fractures of the hip, wrist and spine.<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_x1esX-dhI/AAAAAAAAeTw/GhbzppliMz4/s1600-h/image%5B3%5D.png"><img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="162" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_x1fQMWPzI/AAAAAAAAeT0/SWNnBkFCEkY/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="240" /></a> </p> <p>Other drugs in the family include Losec, Zegerid, Aciphex and omeprazole. An estimated 113.4 million prescriptions for the drugs are written each year and large numbers are sold over the counter.</p> <p>The drugs block the production of acid in the stomach and provide important benefits for many people with conditions such as erosive esophagitis, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug-induced ulcers and gastroesophageal reflux disease. But most people take them primarily to control heartburn.</p> <p><strong>Two newer drugs, esomeprazole and dexlansoprazole are now being evaluated specifically for their effects on bone and results are expected by the end of 2011.</strong></p> </blockquote> <p><a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/booster_shots/2010/05/the-fda-cautions-against-high-doseages-or-prolonged-use-of-acid-inhibitors.html">The FDA cautions against high dosages or prolonged use of acid inhibitors | Booster Shots | Los Angeles Times</a></p> <p></p> <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-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:62b4c963-f092-4e5a-bcb9-e93e2b040f45" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://www.example.com/Nexium" rel="tag">Nexium</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/Prilosec" rel="tag">Prilosec</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/Prevacid" rel="tag">Prevacid</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/FDA" rel="tag">FDA</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/warning+letters" rel="tag">warning letters</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/calcium" rel="tag">calcium</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/healthcare" rel="tag">healthcare</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/drugs" rel="tag">drugs</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/safety" rel="tag">safety</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/GERD" rel="tag">GERD</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/acid+reflux" rel="tag">acid reflux</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/Protonix" rel="tag">Protonix</a></div>

Acid Inhibitors Like Nexium, Prilosec, Prevacid and Protonix Prolonged Use – FDA Says Watch It With Prolonged Use

Bone fractures are the big call item here and it seems the longer the product is used, the greater the potential exposure would be.  The pu...

Read more »

Pfizer Whistle Blower Lawsuit Wyeth – Sales Reps Disguised As Doctors to Sell Kidney Drugs

<p> In addition to the dressing in white lab coats and strategic seating arrangements, it is alleged that the company made some software changes to not have certain activities recorded when talking with physicians.  What is also worth a note is the instructions about not to accidentally pith FDA officials, so all were made aware of <a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_xuyqeunWI/AAAAAAAAeTk/fltyW6QxJY0/s1600-h/image%5B4%5D.png"><img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="248" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/S_xuzWXbyCI/AAAAAAAAeTo/7l2d1A5eSdI/image_thumb%5B2%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="238" /></a>who they were and where they were.  </p> <p>This is an interesting case filed yesterday and I’m sure we will hear more.  The most serious part of the entire case looks to be the alleged recommendations for treating patients by the reps wearing the white lab coats.  BD   </p> <blockquote> <p>The whistleblower suit filed against <a href="http://industry.bnet.com/pharma/10008307/wyeth-targeted-high-risk-black-patients-for-off-label-kidney-drug-sales-despite-lack-of-data-suit-claims/"><strong>Pfizer </strong>(PFE) yesterday over alleged off-label sales of the kidney transplant drug <strong>Rapamune</strong></a> reads in part like a spy novel. It describes the cloak-and-dagger methods that the company’s employees allegedly used to persuade doctors to use the drug in ways they shouldn’t, including disguising reps as white-coated doctors, altering sales software to prevent off-label material being recorded, and arranging dinners at which the seating plan was controlled so that guests would always sit next to a doctor who was already enthusiastic about off-label use.</p> <p>The most sinister allegation in <a href="http://i.bnet.com/blogs/second-amended-complaint.pdf">the case</a> comes in the form of a description of how far Wyeth went to infiltrate the ranks of kidney transplant doctors and nephrologists, including wearing lab coats and making treatment suggestions for hospitalized patients.</p> <p>…Wyeth management “upgraded” Salesworks, which was an electronic company system designed to record physician “calls” by TAMs. The “upgrade” was made so that TAMs could no longer place details about sales issues discussed with physicians in the notes section. Relator Sandler believes that the change in the system stemmed from Wyeth’s fear that the Company would be charged with off-label marketing several Wyeth drugs, including Rapamune. Wyeth management also advised TAMs not to use “alternative” methods like “handwritten notes or e-mail” to commemorate the selling interaction. Wyeth justified the change in Salesworks by stating, “[w]e believe that it is appropriate and will serve the Company’s best interests in the future.”</p> </blockquote> <p><a href="http://industry.bnet.com/pharma/10008316/the-drug-spies-who-loved-me-wyeth-allegedly-disguised-sales-reps-as-doctors-to-sell-kidney-drug/">Cloak & Dagger: Wyeth Allegedly Disguised Sales Reps as Doctors to Sell Kidney Drug | BNET Pharma Blog | BNET</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-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:65eedacc-9c6e-4697-a326-489b1def98b5" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://www.example.com/Pfizer" rel="tag">Pfizer</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/Wyeth" rel="tag">Wyeth</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/FDA" rel="tag">FDA</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/healthcare" rel="tag">healthcare</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/drugs" rel="tag">drugs</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/lawsuit" rel="tag">lawsuit</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/Whistelblower" rel="tag">Whistelblower</a></div>

Pfizer Whistle Blower Lawsuit Wyeth – Sales Reps Disguised As Doctors to Sell Kidney Drugs

In addition to the dressing in white lab coats and strategic seating arrangements, it is alleged that the company made some software change...

Read more »