Healthcare

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  • Implementation of the Affordable Care Act––More Evidence That Rate Shock is Coming

    Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review
    27 Mar 2013 | 9:25 am
    The Society of Actuaries is out with another estimate of health insurance rate increases as a result of implementation of the Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare"). While there is a great deal of difference between states, they are estimating an average increase of 31.5% on account of the new underwriting reform and benefit expansion requirements of the health law: These rate increase

  • Hospital Billing Varies Wildly, Government Data Shows

    HealthLawProf Blog
    HealthLawProf Hodnicki
    14 May 2013 | 8:24 am
    Coming right on the heels of the story by Steven Brill, Why Medical Bills are Killing Us, Time (March 4, 2013), the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released the data for 3,300 hospitals that covers bills submitted from...

  • Prediction Model Can Pinpoint Readmissions

    About.com Assisted Living
    17 May 2013 | 2:00 am
    A study by Jacques Donzé, M.D., M.Sc., of Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, and colleagues suggests that a prediction model can identify before discharge the risk of potentially avoidable 30-day rreadmission in hospitalized patients....Read Full Post

  • Save A Small Fortune By Forming Your Own Retirement Village

    Forbes - Pharma & Healthcare
    Robert Lenzner
    23 May 2013 | 8:20 am
    There is no place like home for Victor King McElheny, a visiting scholar at MIT's School of Humanities, Arts and Sciences, and former director of the M.I.T Science Writing Program. At 70 years of age, he knew damned well that he didn't want to go into any assisted living facility, group housing project for retired folk, or a continuing care facility, or heaven forbid, a nursing home.

  • Six Months to Go –– Will the Health Insurance Exchanges Be Ready on Time? Survey: Health Plan Execs Don't Think So

    Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review
    26 Mar 2013 | 2:22 pm
    As the Obama administration continues its top secret effort to build federal insurance exchanges in about 34 states while 16 states are doing it on their own, that continues to be the big question. HHS is using IT consulting firm CGI for much of the work on the exchanges and the federal data hub. CGI has their plate full since they are not only working on the federal exchange but also doing work
 
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    FierceHealthcare News

  • Hospitals conduct emergency drills in the wake of Boston bombing, Oklahoma tornado

    Ilene MacDonald
    23 May 2013 | 9:30 am
    In the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing last month and this week's tornado in Oklahoma, hospitals across the country are preparing for the worst kinds of disaster by conducting emergency training drills to simulate what it would be like if they were inundated with trauma patients.read more

  • Governors team up for healthcare sustainability, innovation

    Alicia Caramenico
    23 May 2013 | 8:43 am
    Heeding healthcare industry calls for payment reform, Govs. John Kitzhaber of Oregon and Bill Haslam of Tennessee will lead the new Health Care Sustainability Task Force to help governors innovate their Medicaid programs and achieve low-cost, high-quality healthcare.read more

  • Hospitals can reap big profits from central line infections

    Ron Shinkman
    23 May 2013 | 8:36 am
    Hospital-acquired bloodstream infections--an avoidable medical condition--can rack up huge profits for hospitals, according to a new study conducted by Johns Hopkins University.read more

  • Cedars-Sinai must pay back $2.24M in Medicare overpayments

    Ilene MacDonald
    23 May 2013 | 8:35 am
    Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles owes Medicare more than $2.24 million in overpayments made during a three-and-a-half period, according to an Office of Inspector General report.read more

  • Who's afraid of Wal-Mart? Maybe hospitals should be

    Ashley Gold
    23 May 2013 | 7:37 am
    Retail health clinics may prove to be hospitals' most capable competitors in the years to come, particularly since chains like Wal-Mart have already demonstrated their abilities to move markets, according to a video from The Advisory Board Company.read more
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    Forbes - Pharma & Healthcare

  • Johnson & Johnson Is Reinventing The Party Drug Ketamine To Treat Depression

    Matthew Herper
    23 May 2013 | 10:33 am
    Until joining the company a few years ago, J&J neuroscience R&D head Husseini Manji led the mood and anxiety disorders program at the National Institutes of Health. While there, he helped run a program that led to one of the greatest breakthroughs in psychiatry in recent years: the knowledge that a brain receptor called the N-methyl- D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor played a key role in depression, and, then, some of the first evidence that a drug that hits that receptor, the anesthetic ketamine, could rapidly ease depression symptoms and even suicidal thoughts just a day after injection…

  • Do You Have ADHD?

    Next Avenue
    23 May 2013 | 9:37 am
    By Tim Bilkey, Next Avenue Contributor

  • Newly Insured? Good Luck Finding Healthcare!

    Evan Albright
    23 May 2013 | 8:37 am
    This October, millions of Americans will have the opportunity--nay, the legal obligation--to sign up for health insurance.

  • Save A Small Fortune By Forming Your Own Retirement Village

    Robert Lenzner
    23 May 2013 | 8:20 am
    There is no place like home for Victor King McElheny, a visiting scholar at MIT's School of Humanities, Arts and Sciences, and former director of the M.I.T Science Writing Program. At 70 years of age, he knew damned well that he didn't want to go into any assisted living facility, group housing project for retired folk, or a continuing care facility, or heaven forbid, a nursing home.

  • Cytori Banks On Its Real-Time Stem Cell Treatment For Heart Disease

    John Farrell
    23 May 2013 | 8:14 am
    In the near future, chronic heart disease patients in the U.S. could find themselves in an outpatient clinic, getting a new treatment that is not much more complicated than donating platelets at the Red Cross.
 
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    Health Care

  • The Scramble At Moore Medical Center As The Tornado Hit

    21 May 2013 | 2:14 pm
    Nick Stremble, a registered nurse and manager at the hospital, described what he saw Monday. As winds ripped through the facility, people started "to tumble and roll and be pushed down the hall," he said.» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

  • A Catch For Insurers That Cut Deductibles For Healthy People

    21 May 2013 | 12:53 pm
    Rewards to policyholders for claims that don't meet the annual deductible can be a boon for healthy people. But the approach might not pass the smell test in 2014 when the federal health law bans discriminating against people based on their health status.» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

  • Texas Medicaid Debate Complicated By Politics And Poverty

    21 May 2013 | 12:01 am
    In Texas, it may be politically unwise to cross the governor, but some politicians and advocates in the poor Rio Grande Valley are starting to speak out in support of expanding Medicaid. Gov. Rick Perry opposes all parts of Obamacare.» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

  • Latest Health Hurdle: Buying Insurance Without A Bank Account

    20 May 2013 | 1:27 pm
    Most health plans accept a credit card for the first month's premium and then require customers to pay monthly with a check or an electronic transfer from a bank account. For people without a banking relationship, these transactions can be tricky.» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

  • Nearly Half The Country Doesn't Know Health Law Exists

    17 May 2013 | 9:00 am
    A new poll finds 42 percent of Americans aren't sure that the Affordable Care Act is actually a law. Guest Host Celeste Headlee discusses this and other health care-related issues with Mary Agnes Carey, senior correspondent at Kaiser Health News, and NPR's Senior Washington Editor, Ron Elving.» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us
 
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    Healthcare Intelligence Network

  • Infographic: Investment in Public Health Slipping

    Patricia Donovan
    23 May 2013 | 10:35 am
    The public health systems in the United States are meant to be at the forefront of prevention, but state and federal investments are shrinking. This infographic published on the Pew Charitable Trusts Web site illustrates how public funding levels vary from state to state. For example, in 2012, Alaska received the most public funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA), while Indiana received the least. Get the latest healthcare infographics delivered to your e-inbox with Eye on Infographics, a bi-weekly,…

  • Infographic: What Customers Expect from the Healthcare Industry

    Patricia Donovan
    22 May 2013 | 10:30 am
    What do consumers think about the healthcare customer experience? Top-level healthcare executives are focusing on the customer experience to compete for patient loyalty and referrals in today’s unstable healthcare market. But, before they begin, they need to understand how customers perceive healthcare companies and how the customer experience impacts their decision-making. TeleTech® performed an in-depth study of healthcare customers and examined their sentiments about the healthcare experience. Their findings are reflected in this infographic. Get the latest healthcare infographics…

  • Infographic: Autism 101

    Patricia Donovan
    21 May 2013 | 10:37 am
    Despite growing awareness and advances in treatment, the fast-growing developmental disorder of autism has enormous personal, family, and economic impact — and no known cure. For example, one in 50 children have an autism spectrum disorder, affecting 1 to 1.5 million Americans. The disorder is five times more prevalent in males, generating over $60 billion in annual costs — $3.2 million over an individual's life span. This infographic from Guide to Nursing Degrees looks at some metrics and benchmarks related to autism, including the signs of autism, the science of autism and…

  • Healthcare Business Week in Review: Patient Surveys Revealing, Integrated Care Certification, Drug Plans Confuse Seniors

    Cheryl Miller
    21 May 2013 | 7:44 am
    Completing a quality-of-life questionnaire at a healthcare provider’s office could help patients live longer and better, according to a statement from the American Heart Association (AHA). Patient surveys can help reveal depression, which can significantly worsen cardiovascular health, but is often underdiagnosed despite being common among cardiovascular (CV) patients, researchers say. Healthcare providers can assess their patients’ CV health by using standardized patient surveys, which focus on a patient's quality of life. These surveys can directly measure the impact of heart disease on…

  • HINfographic: Healthcare ‘Apped’ to Adopt Mobile Health

    Patricia Donovan
    20 May 2013 | 10:35 am
    The use of mobile health technologies is revolutionizing the exchange and consumption of healthcare data. HIN's inaugural survey on mHealth captured mHealth trends from 150 healthcare organizations. Not surprisingly, smartphone apps emerged as the most widely applied mHealth technology, according to 58 percent of respondents. Text messaging is used by nearly half of those surveyed (47 percent), mobile Web applications by 42 percent of respondents, and apps for tablets used by 27 percent. Health/disease management was the most frequently cited use for mobile technology, according to 65 percent…
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    FierceHealthIT News

  • With risky symptoms, patients don't use portals

    Susan D. Hall
    23 May 2013 | 10:15 am
    Despite the widespread growth of patient portals, a new study from the Mayo clinic suggests that's not the communication medium patients use with time-sensitive symptoms. Unlike a phone call,...read more

  • E-mail effective for treating anxiety

    Ashley Gold
    22 May 2013 | 11:01 am
    E-mail therapy was found to be effective for treating anxiety patients, according to a trial of 62 patients conducted by professor Nazanin Alavi, M.D., of King's University in Ontario.read more

  • Security, regulatory challenges persist for medical devices

    Ashley Gold
    22 May 2013 | 10:06 am
    No single entity, healthcare delivery organization, manufacturer or technology company can mitigate all the risks that security threats pose to healthcare data, according to Dale Nordenberg, M.D., executive director of the Medical Device Innovation, Safety and Security Consortium.read more

  • ED computer simulations don't focus enough on physician relationships

    Ashley Gold
    22 May 2013 | 8:46 am
    In a study published online this week in BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making, researchers set out to present an alternative simulation approach, where physicians and their delegates in the ED are "modeled as pseudo-agents in a discrete event simulation." They then compared the new model with a traditional approach, which focuses more on patients than providers.read more

  • Colorado to pilot telemedicine for inmates

    Dan Bowman
    21 May 2013 | 10:40 am
    The Colorado Department of Corrections and Denver Health Medical Center are gearing up for the launch next month of a telemedicine pilot for treating inmates.read more
 
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    Health Business Blog

  • Uneasy about robots caring for the elderly? Read this

    David E. Williams of the Health business blog
    22 May 2013 | 2:01 pm
    The New York Times Bits blog has one of the better articles I’ve read about caregiver robots for the elderly. The aging population plus fewer family caregivers, fewer available human aides and relentless advances in technology are making the routine use of robotic assistants for the elderly all but inevitable. One way or another we should expect to see robots enter the home to take care of the elderly. Certain tasks are less controversial. For example, a robot that clears dishes from the table, loads them in the dishwasher and then unloads them when they’re done isn’t that…

  • Harvard Pilgrim CEO Eric Schultz discusses consumer engagement and transparency (transcript)

    David E. Williams of the Health business blog
    21 May 2013 | 8:21 am
    This is the transcript of my recent interview with Harvard Pilgrim’s CEO Eric Schultz. An audio version is available here. David E. Williams:  This is David Williams, President of the Health Business Group and author of the Health Business blog. I’m here today with Eric Schultz, President and CEO of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care.   Eric, there’s a lot of discussion these days about consumer engagement. What is consumer engagement and what is Harvard Pilgrim doing in that area?   Eric H. Schultz: I agree, David. Consumer engagement is finally starting to get real…

  • Harvard Pilgrim CEO Eric Schultz discusses consumer engagement and transparency

    David E. Williams of the Health business blog
    20 May 2013 | 7:05 am
    HarvardPilgrim HealthCare, which has been ranked as the best health plan in the US for the past nine years, is taking new steps in the areas of consumer engagement and price transparency. It recently became the first health plan to select transparency vendor Castlight Health to provide patient-specific price information. In this podcast interview, CEO Eric Schultz discusses the “journey” the organization has taken on price transparency, why they decided to work with Castlight, and the state of transparency tools for referring physicians. Schultz describes the concept of…

  • Skeptical about health screenings? Me, too

    David E. Williams of the Health business blog
    17 May 2013 | 2:54 pm
    Hospitals and health systems are always looking to boost brand awareness and attract new patients, so it’s not surprising that some sponsor high-profile medical screening buses to get the word out and bring patients in. I’ve always been dubious of this approach, which reminds me of garages that offer free 150 point inspections as a benefit to customers.  Obviously the garage expects to make back any cost of the diagnostic by uncovering new problems to treat. Hospitals aren’t that different. There are downsides other than cost to unnecessary screening tests. Positive…

  • Wanted: Entrepreneurial business models for doctors

    David E. Williams of the Health business blog
    16 May 2013 | 2:10 pm
    My perception is that doctors in previous generations were more likely to devote their entire lives (professional and “personal” time) to the practice of medicine. Today’s doctors are more likely to consider lifestyle and not automatically put everything into doctoring. This is partly cultural –as younger professionals in general have put more emphasis on balance– but a large part is structural, because residents are working fewer hours by law and because more doctors are working for others, which encourages an employee mentality. I don’t really have a…
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    Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review

  • A Health Insurance Exchange That Won't Be a "Train Wreck"

    30 Apr 2013 | 1:19 pm
    Every week, I get an email from the Maryland Health Connection––the state run health insurance exchange. Maryland is one of a minority of states that are building their own Affordable Care Act ("ObamaCare") exchange. You can go to their site and sign up for these weekly updates. Let me suggest that Maryland is an example of what an on-track and well organized effort looks like for any exchange

  • Implementation of the Affordable Care Act––More Evidence That Rate Shock is Coming

    27 Mar 2013 | 9:25 am
    The Society of Actuaries is out with another estimate of health insurance rate increases as a result of implementation of the Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare"). While there is a great deal of difference between states, they are estimating an average increase of 31.5% on account of the new underwriting reform and benefit expansion requirements of the health law: These rate increase

  • Six Months to Go –– Will the Health Insurance Exchanges Be Ready on Time? Survey: Health Plan Execs Don't Think So

    26 Mar 2013 | 2:22 pm
    As the Obama administration continues its top secret effort to build federal insurance exchanges in about 34 states while 16 states are doing it on their own, that continues to be the big question. HHS is using IT consulting firm CGI for much of the work on the exchanges and the federal data hub. CGI has their plate full since they are not only working on the federal exchange but also doing work

  • The Cost to Launch the California Health Insurance Exchange is $910 million––Does That Sound Like a Lot to You?

    24 Mar 2013 | 3:00 pm
    So far California has received $910 million in federal grants to launch its new health insurance exchange under the Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare"). The California exchange, "Covered California," has so far awarded a $183 million contract to Accenture to build the website, enrollment, and eligibility system and another $174 million to operate the exchange for four years. The state will also

  • Christie Removes Another Republican Excuse for Passing on the Medicaid Expansion

    27 Feb 2013 | 11:39 am
    The New Jersey Governor became the eighth Republican to take the Medicaid expansion deal. What I found notable is that he essentially mimicked Florida Republican Governor Rick Scott in reserving the right to back out in future years if the feds don't keep their funding promises. While the feds are paying 100% of the cost of expansion in the first three years, that support ultimately drops to 90%
 
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    Healthcare Economist

  • Health Care Spending Slowdown

    Jason Shafrin
    23 May 2013 | 6:55 am
    Health care spending growth is slowing, and not just due to the recent recession.  A paper by Ryu, Gibson, McKellar and Chernew in Health Affairs finds the following. During and immediately after the recent recession, national health expenditures grew exceptionally slowly. During 2009–11 per capita national health spending grew about 3 percent annually, compared to an average of 5.9 percent annually during the previous ten years. Policy experts disagree about whether the slower health spending growth was temporary or represented a long-term shift. This study examined two factors that…

  • Fixing the “Observation Status Loophole”

    Jason Shafrin
    22 May 2013 | 6:34 am
    In order for Medicare to reimburse post-acute care in a skilled nursing facility (SNF), Medicare beneficiaries must have a 3-day hospital stay. Some hospital stays, however, are not counted as hospital stays; rather, they may be defined as “observation status” care that do not merit an inpatient admission. Patients may stay overnight at the hospital and receive similar care as if they were admitted, but hospitals may still classify the patient as under “observation status”. A New York Times article cites a paper by Feng, Wright and Mor that state that…

  • Mahalanobis Distance

    Jason Shafrin
    21 May 2013 | 7:03 am
    What is Mahalanobis distance? Most people know what Euclidean distance is…it is the shortest distance between any two points.  In other words, its what we typically think of when we think of distance – the distance we would measure with a ruler, and the one given by the Pythagorean formula. Unlike Euclidean distance, Mahalanobis distance gauges the similarity of an unknown sample set to a known one. It differs from Euclidean distance in that it takes into account the correlations of the data set and is scale-invariant. In other words, it is a multivariate effect size. Wikipedia…

  • Pharmaceutical Prices Around the World in 2010

    Jason Shafrin
    20 May 2013 | 6:42 am
    As the 18th Annual International Society for Pharmacoecomoics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) begins this past weekend, today the Healthcare Economist examines drug prices around the world.  Drug prices in the U.S. are much higher than any other developed country.  This finding is robust whether the price index is created using the U.S. drug consumption basket or each countries own basket; whether the price index uses manufacturers or retail prices.   Source Panos Kanavos, Alessandra Ferrario, Sotiris Vandoros, and Gerard F. Anderson. Higher US Branded Drug Prices And Spending Compared…

  • Friday Links

    Jason Shafrin
    17 May 2013 | 7:19 am
    Enjoy the weekend with some interesting reads… The highest paid public employee in your state is… Do markets for health care work? Workers comp not paying for on-the-job ER visits? Tackling Medicare Fraud. Some of my best friends are germs. Be nice to Sebelius.
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    The Blog

  • Oakland City Council Approves Resolution to Support Robin Hood Tax

    22 May 2013 | 6:16 pm
    Registered Nurse Thorild Urdal told the Oakland City Council recently how she sees patients struggling everyday to survive during these tough economic times. They're delaying healthcare, rationing medication or not buying medication at all. “I see them coming in worse and worse shape, “ the Alta Bates Medical Center nurse said.That’s why Urdal and her fellow nurses are calling for a Robin Hood Tax to help our communities recover from the economic crisis caused by Wall Street.On Tuesday, they sought the city council’s support for U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison’s H.R.

  • Hospitals Should Be Care Providers Not Loan Sharks

    17 May 2013 | 10:07 am
    If there is one problem that symbolizes the ongoing national healthcare emergency, it is the rampant price gouging in the healthcare industry that continues to price too many Americans out of access to care and into financial ruin. Not only is the problem not solved by the Affordable Care Act, but it is a likely reason many will continue to demand more effective reform, as in expanding and extending Medicare to cover everyone. Predatory pricing practices can be found nearly everywhere in healthcare, by the drug companies, insurance companies, medical suppliers, outpatient clinics, boutique…

  • Holding California private non-profit hospitals accountable for Charity Care

    15 May 2013 | 12:13 pm
    Call on the California legislature to: Hold California private non-profit hospitals accountable to actually meet their obligation to provide charity care and community benefit in exchange for the billions of dollars they receive in subsidies as a result of their tax exempt status. The California Assembly Appropriations Committee suspense file hearing will decide the fate of a CNA sponsored bill on May 24th. Charity Care Accountability AB 975, by Assembly members Bob Wieckowski of Fremont and Rob Bonta of Oakland takes on the abuse of charity care obligations by many of California’s…

  • The time has come to expand Medi-Cal

    10 May 2013 | 4:33 pm
    As California grapples with implementation of the Affordable Care Act, it’s worth emphasizing that the significant gaps in the federal law call out for stronger action in the states to address a healthcare emergency that is far from over. One immediate step would be to expand the publicly-financed and administered California Medi-Cal program, the most efficient way to cover additional state residents still shut out by our broken healthcare system. Examples of the ongoing crisis are everywhere. The California Healthcare Foundation reported recently that over the past…

  • CNA Nursing Angels Family Fund - Please Donate and Share the Page

    9 May 2013 | 5:10 pm
    This year’s Nurses Week was sadly darkened by the death of two RNs and three other caregivers in a tragic limousine fire on the San Mateo Bridge in the San Francisco Bay Area. California Governor Jerry Brown issued a statement recognizing the incredible contribution of nurses who “work hard every day to make our state a healthier, happier place.”These women, Neriza Fojas, Michelle Estrera, Jennifer Balon, Anna Alcantara, and Felomina Geronga, dedicated their professional lives to others every day in our hospitals and clinics, lost their own unexpectedly in this horrific…
 
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    Health Affairs Blog

  • Implementing Health Reform: Contraception Coverage And The Liberty University Case

    Timothy Jost
    23 May 2013 | 10:48 am
    The first few days of the week of May 20, 2013 were quiet on the regulatory front, with no new Affordable Care Act regulations or guidance (at least that I could find). HHS released power point slides from an earlier webinar that usefully describe the different kinds of assisters who will be available in the marketplaces (navigators, in-person assisters, certified application counselors, and agents and brokers). It also has apparently updated its navigator and assister frequently-asked-questions paper, although most of these FAQs were released earlier. In other news, however, the Fourth…

  • How Ideas From Private Industry Help Combat Medicare Fraud, Waste, And Abuse

    Marco Huesch
    23 May 2013 | 6:13 am
    It is increasingly well-known that improper payments cost taxpayers as much as $50 billion each year. These include reimbursements for billing for non-existent patients, falsified diagnoses, non-covered procedures, services not rendered or simply upcoded, as well as billing errors in favor of providers. Steps are being taken to address these issues through increased acceptance of approaches, tools and techniques from private industry and from industries outside of healthcare. More than just technology, some of the most powerful ideas to come along are that incentives matter, decentralization…

  • A Life-Course Approach to Vaccination Can Drive Healthy Aging

    Michael Hodin, Javier Garau, and Alexandre Kalache
    22 May 2013 | 12:28 pm
    As life spans increase and birth-rates decrease, the world’s population is aging. From 2000 to 2025, the over-60 demographic segment will double from 600 million to almost 1.2 billion. By 2050, it will nearly double again, surpassing two billion and accounting for an incredible 22% of the total global population. A society this “old” has never before existed, and it is a social, ethical, and economic imperative to keep older adults healthy and engaged. It is timely for the global public health community to re-align its thinking, policies and activities to this new demographic reality.

  • Seven Policy Recommendations To Improve Quality Measurement

    Robert Berenson
    22 May 2013 | 7:23 am
    Performance measurement -- if done right -- can be a core activity to move the health care system to higher value for the American public, while rewarding health professionals and health care institutions for doing the right thing for their patients. Yet, policy makers, private and public, have a duty to the public, patients, and providers to get it right -- to measure and report accurately and meaningfully. Harlan Krumholz and Peter Pronovost have been among the most important contributors to the development of performance measures for quality and safety of health care. At the same time,…

  • Where Was The Leadership? The Questions Raised By Jonathan Welch’s Narrative Matters Essay

    S. Allan Adelman
    21 May 2013 | 12:38 pm
    Dr. Jonathan Welch's Narrative Matters essay in the December, 2012 edition of Health Affairs, regarding the cascade of errors and omissions he witnessed in connection with the care provided to his mother, should raise profound questions about how the hospital allowed those failures of care to happen. Dr. Welch, an emergency medicine physician, watched helplessly as his mother received indifferent care from various nurses and doctors and ultimately died. Despite having classic signs of evolving sepsis, she was not closely monitored by the nursing staff which ignored alarming signs, was not put…
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    Medicare News Blog

  • Angelina Jolie’s Disclosure

    medicare poster
    17 May 2013 | 10:00 pm
    Public awareness is raised, as are concerns about insurance coverage for preventive mastectomies. Related NewsAdministration challenges health-care disclosure rulingRuling opening health care records appealedDrug Fee Cut Disclosure May Hit Medicare

  • The Murky World of Hospital Prices

    medicare poster
    16 May 2013 | 10:00 pm
    Consumers need a clearer picture of costs to make rational decisions about medical care. Related NewsThe Federal Government’s Deeply Flawed System For Controlling Medicare CostsNo Negotiation on Medicare Rx PricesMedicare changes will mean lower prices for some services, equipment

  • New Jersey Hospital Leads List for Highest Billing Rates

    medicare poster
    16 May 2013 | 10:00 pm
    The Bayonne Medical Center charged Medicare the highest amounts in the country for nearly one-quarter of the most common hospital treatments, a New York Times analysis of 2011 data shows. Related NewsMedicare fraud: New Jersey hospital to pay over $3.02M to resolve allegationsTexas leads in suspicious billing of MedicareTexas leads in suspicious billing of Medicare

  • Acting Chief Wins Confirmation to Run Medicare and Medicaid

    medicare poster
    15 May 2013 | 10:00 pm
    The vote was 91 to 7 for Marilyn B. Tavenner, acting leader of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services since December 2011. Related NewsMedicare chief Don Berwick steps down in standoff with GOP senators over his confirmationMedicare chief Don Berwick steps down in standoff with GOP senators over his confirmationThree Obama Nominees Encounter No Opposition at Senate Confirmation Hearings

  • For Republicans, Incentives to Strike a Budget Deal With Obama

    medicare poster
    14 May 2013 | 10:00 pm
    Delaying steps to rein in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid means delaying significant attempts to curb the size of the government. Related NewsObama Budget Opens Rift for Democrats on Social BenefitsG.O.P. Split Over Bid to Revise Budget DealObama and G.O.P. Inching a Little Closer on Medicare
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    db's Medical Rants

  • Should we speak when the Emperor has no Clothes?

    rcentor
    23 May 2013 | 4:12 am
    As I regard medical blogging, I often think of the famous story. Often we who blog resemble the child who yells that the Emperor has no clothes. When we yell, too often we hear the response – “the genie is out of the bottle” or “the train has left the station” or “the cow is out of the barn”. First, I detest those phrases for no good reason. Second, who cares about genies, trains or cows? When insurers or government do things that hamper medical care we have a RESPONSIBILITY to go to our virtual Hyde Park, stand on our virtual soapbox, and scream our…

  • Statins and exercise

    rcentor
    22 May 2013 | 4:31 am
    Several years ago, one of my best friends complained that a statin was interfering with his exercise routine. While I believed him, I was a bit skeptical. We have known for some time that statins can impact muscles – pain and even rhabdomyolysis. But what about routine exercise? Can Statins Cut the Benefits of Exercise? But until the current study, no experiment scrupulously had explored the interactions of statin drugs and workouts in people. And the results, as it turns out, are worrisome. The unmedicated volunteers improved their aerobic fitness significantly after three months of…

  • Some thoughts on giving talks

    rcentor
    21 May 2013 | 12:01 pm
    No excuse for boring an audience: Advice on giving technical presentations I admit to having almost tolerance for boring lectures. The apparent brilliance of the speaker does not impress. I want, nay, I demand to be entertained. I want to hear stories that capture me, motivate me, and help me understand. We who give lectures have a responsibility to make our stories interesting. We must captivate and “grab” the audience. Talks should have a storyboard, with the speaker understanding what the listeners should and could learn. We must not regurgitate everything that we know (i.e.,…

  • If rounding did not exist, would I create it?

    rcentor
    20 May 2013 | 12:52 pm
    @JoshHerigon asks (after an interesting back and forth on Twitter yesterday): I’m saying–if you never knew what “rounding” was, would you still develop a system for meded/pt care that looks like our rounds? The answer is yes, but it deserves an explanation. One cannot avoid rounds on inpatient rotations. Rounds are simply the process of seeing all the patients and making clinical decisions with those patients. If one is caring for patients in the hospital, then one must see all the patients. Rounds in that sense are a tautology. But I do not think that is the question.

  • Treating the patient, not the disease

    rcentor
    19 May 2013 | 4:33 am
    The team presented his story during pre-rounds. He had lived his life “cleanly”, not smoking or drinking, eating in moderation. Recently he had a malignant disease present, and now had a new metastasis. As a physician, we want to like all patients, but in fact, we have favorites. This man engendered respect and concern from the first time we entered his room. In trying to reconstruct our response, I feel at a loss. I cannot explain this feeling, that I suspect all physicians have regularly. We just want to do a bit more for some patients. From the first time we met him, he knew…
 
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    retired doc's thoughts

  • James Madison on Obamacare

    13 May 2013 | 7:34 am
    "It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by those they elected, if laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood."James Madison, Federalist no. 62.According to this source while the House bill and the Senate version contained over 2,000 pages a PDF file of the final law has "only" 906 pages.I could find no  link attempting to quantify  its incoherence.

  • To discuss "high value" medical care do we need to begin with what is value

    25 Apr 2013 | 3:26 pm
    Apparently in the history of economics for a while the early thinkers in the field were a bit perplexed by what was known as the diamond-water paradox.Why was is that diamonds were worth so much more that water even though water was necessary for life.The story goes that in the late 1800s three economists working independently devised what became known as the  subjective marginal theory of value. Their notion was that value was not inherent in an object but value was in the eye and mind of the valuer.There is no such thing as value without a valuer.Further the valuers made their…

  • At least one labor union fails to recognize the social justice of Obamacare

    22 Apr 2013 | 11:39 am
    Apparently the roofers union believed the administration's claim that if you like your health care insurance plan you can keep it. Now they finally seem to have realize the bogus nature of that pre ACA passage ploy.See here for the union leaders statement asking for repeal of at least some of ACA." I am therefore calling for repeal or complete reform of the Affordable Care Act to protect our employers, our industry, and our most important asset: our members and their families.” 

  • High value health care-who gets to decide?

    18 Apr 2013 | 9:10 am
    In the 1 Feb 2011 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine,an ACP committee offers up a entry entitledHigh-Value, Cost Conscious Health Care: Concepts for clinicians to Evaluation, and Costs of Medical Intervention" with Douglass K. Owens, the lead author.They begin with their definition of value  which is " an assessment of the benefit of a intervention relative to expenditures." So balancing benefit and cost is considered value.As a possible counterpoint I quote the following from the blog, "Politics & Prosperity" :The theory of subjective value, which is a cornerstone of…

  • Another chapter in the story of Obamacare and crony capitalism

    7 Apr 2013 | 4:23 pm
    Since many states have not and may not ever establish insurance exchanges,a key component of ACA,the federal government is moving ahead to put in place a federal insurance exchange.The key to that is the "hub" which will be a gigantic computer system which will house information on everyone in  the country. Data will be imputed from  CMS  (Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services),the IRS,Homeland Security and the Justice Department as well as various state agencies.A Maryland company QSSI ( Quality Software Services Inc ) has been awarded the contract. QSSI is now owned by a…
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    Health Care Renewal

  • Executive Compensation as "Legal Corruption" - and the Continuing Example of the Troubles of Wake Forest Baptist

    21 May 2013 | 9:25 am
    "Legal corruption" was the description of current executive compensation practices appearing, of all places, in the Wall Street Journal.  The arguments, by Henry Mintzer of the Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill University, apply to health care, and provide a counterpoint to the usual talking points that are trotted out whenever a top health care manager, or his cronies, feels the need to justify his or her compensation. A Rigged Game with Other Peoples' Money Prof Mintzer's arguments start with the assertion that executive bonuses are hopelessly rigged in favor of the…

  • Marin General Hospital nurses warn that new computer system is causing errors, call for time out

    17 May 2013 | 9:08 am
    - Posted on the Healthcare Renewal Blog May 17, 2013 -Of course, the ever-present euphemism for life-threatening EHR malfunctions and defects, i.e., "glitches" are the cause (http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/search/label/glitch):Marin General Hospital nurses warn that new computer system is causing errors, call for time outBy Richard HalsteadMarin Independent JournalPosted:   05/15/2013 04:07:49 PM PDTNurses at Marin General Hospital have asked administrators to put implementation of a new computerized physician order entry system on hold until glitches can be worked out and more…

  • American Medical Association finally on board with EHR views expressed on this blog since 2004

    17 May 2013 | 6:10 am
    - Posted on the Healthcare Renewal Blog May 17, 2013 -It seems to have taken awhile, but organized medicine seems to finally be recognizing that today's commercial health IT is not quite the revolutionizing, transformative, plug-and-play panacea to healthcare's ills it is often touted as:AMA WireMay 15, 2013 AMA board chair: HHS should address EHR usability issues immediatelyThe government needs to act quickly to remedy the impaired usability of electronic health records (EHR) if the technology's touted benefits are to be realized, AMA Board of Trustees Chair Steven J. Stack, MD (left), told…

  • C R Bard Settles Allegations of Kickbacks to Promote Radiation Treatment for Prostate Cancer

    16 May 2013 | 9:28 am
    Screening for and aggressive treatment of prostate cancer has become an enormously lucrative business, if not necessarily a life-saving medical strategy.  The minimal media coverage of a recent settlement suggests that at least to some degree, it has been fueled by some questionable practices.The CR Bard SettlementAs reported by the Atlanta Journal Constitution,A medical device company on Monday agreed to pay a $48.2 million settlement to resolve claims by a Georgia employee that it paid kickbacks to doctors and customers who bought radiation treatment for prostate cancer.C.R. Bard Inc.,…

  • Six Years Later, Ranbaxy - Oops, Daiichi Sankyo - Pleads Guilty to Adulteration, Pays $500 Million

    14 May 2013 | 11:40 am
    It only took until 2013, but the US Food and Drug Administration finally secured guilty pleas and fines.  The basics are in an Associated Press story (via the Washington Post): A subsidiary of India’s largest pharmaceutical company has agreed to pay a record $500 million in fines and penalties for selling adulterated drugs and lying to federal regulators in a case that is part of an ongoing crackdown on the quality of generic drugs flowing into the U.S.Federal prosecutors say the guilty plea by Ranbaxy USA Inc. represents the largest financial penalty against a generic drug…
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    Bioethics Discussion Blog

  • A Medical Student and YOU: The "Hidden Curriculum"

    21 May 2013 | 9:19 am
    Another in a series of threads regarding the ethical/professional issues that could involve a medical student and you or a family member as a patient. This thread is based on the book Professionalism in Medicine : A Case-Based Guide for Medical Students. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press; 2010 and  from the website "Professionalism in Medicine" prepared by Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia Pennsylvania. This thread begins with a video dramatization of a vignette which is followed by a faculty member perspective commentary.First go to the following link, read, view and then…

  • A Medical Student and YOU: Like to Know Who is Closing the Incision?

    20 May 2013 | 3:29 pm
    I am putting up a series of excellent discussions about ethical/professional issues that could involve a medical student and you or a family member as a patient. Each discussion as a separate thread is based on the book Professionalism in Medicine : A Case-Based Guide for Medical Students. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press; 2010 and  from the website "Professionalism in Medicine" prepared by Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia Pennsylvania.  Each issue at the website is begun with a brief vignette, and then a brief video dramatization of the vignette and then followed by…

  • A Medical Student and YOU:Patient Confidentiality

    20 May 2013 | 3:05 pm
    I am putting up a series of excellent discussions about ethical/professional issues that could involve a medical student and you or a family member as a patient. Each discussion as a separate thread is based on the book Professionalism in Medicine : A Case-Based Guide for Medical Students. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press; 2010 and  from the website "Professionalism in Medicine" prepared by Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia Pennsylvania.  Each issue at the website is begun with a brief vignette, and then a brief video dramatization of the vignette and then followed by…

  • A Medical Student and YOU: The Matter of Honesty

    20 May 2013 | 2:44 pm
    I am putting up a series of excellent discussions about ethical/professional issues that could involve a medical student and you or a family member as a patient. Each discussion as a separate thread is based on the book Professionalism in Medicine : A Case-Based Guide for Medical Students. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press; 2010 and  from the website "Professionalism in Medicine" prepared by Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia Pennsylvania.  Each issue at the website is begun with a brief vignette, and then a brief video dramatization of the vignette and then followed by…

  • Medical Slang Leading to Logical Fallacy: A Practice to be Avoided

    3 May 2013 | 10:00 am
    The following original article which I wrote and was published today at Bioethics.Net website is reproduced here with permission.  I will put some additional comments as an Addendum at the end of the copy.  ..Maurice.05/03/2013MEDICAL SLANG LEADING TO LOGICAL FALLACY: A PRACTICE TO BE AVOIDEDMaurice Bernstein, M.D.Medical slang is a form of slang used by doctors, nurses, paramedics and other hospital or medical staff. It is expressed either in informal vocabulary as words, abbreviated terms or also as acronyms (words made up of initial letters of the…
 
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    Health Care Organizational Ethics

  • Health Care Organizational Ethics quoted in the New York Times

    Jim Sabin
    28 Apr 2013 | 6:30 am
    I'm a regular reader ot "The Ethicist" column in the Sunday New York Times. This morning's column started with a rather sordid situation: My ex-wife is a physician. We divorced when I found out she was having an affair with one of her H.I.V.-positive patients. I feel compelled to tell the state medical licensing board and the professional societies to which she belongs about her affair. My reasons for doing so are that I feel an intense urge to retaliate her breach of trust and that she potentially exposed me to H.I.V. (fortunately, I tested negative). I also know that, as a physician…

  • Public Learning about ACOs

    Jim Sabin
    24 Apr 2013 | 5:45 am
    "Culture beats strategy every time" is a truism in management consultation. The Accountable Care Organization concept is excellent strategy, but it won't get anywhere if our health system culture doesn't support it. This morning I was happy to see a front page article in the New York Times about how Advocate Health Care is developing its ACO. The article is clear and informative. But the amateur medical anthropologist in me was struck by what the language reveals about the cultural context within which ACOs will thrive or crash and burn. In what follows, snippets from the article are in…

  • Should You Kill Your Disabled Child?

    Jim Sabin
    21 Apr 2013 | 11:45 am
    I've just read a remarkable book about this question: Rescuing Jeffrey, by his father, Richard Galli. I got to the book via "Calling It Quits: When Patients or Proxies Request to Withdraw or Withhold Life-Sustaining Treatment After Spinal Cord Injury," an article assigned to Harvard Medical School students for this week's class on end of life care in the required course on "Medical Ethics and Professionalism." On July 4, 1998, Jeffrey Galli, 17 at the time, dove into the shallow end of a swimming pool and fractured his neck, injuring his spinal cord in a way that left him…

  • Keep Sound Minds

    Jim Sabin
    13 Apr 2013 | 7:00 am
    In 2008 I blogged about how after Marci Thibault, in a state of psychosis, walked into New Hampshire traffic with her twin sister Danielle's two young children, killing them all, Danielle and her husband Ken formed a not-for-profit devoted to "prevent[ing] similar incidents from occurring by improving society's understanding and management of mental health issues." Keep Sound Minds, the organization Danielle and Ken founded, is hosting an event in Woburn, Massachusetts, on Saturday evening May 18. I have the privilege of being one of the…

  • The Bias Towards Drugs in Psychiatry

    Jim Sabin
    4 Apr 2013 | 2:00 pm
    Two days ago I posted about the bias towards drugs in treating depressed older patients. The next day the New York Times published a heartbreaking op ed on the same theme by Ted Gup, whose son died of a drug overdose 18 months ago. Gup reflects with pain on his decision to allow his son to be put on stimulants for what was diagnosed as ADHD. In retrospect, he feels he contributed to his son's ultimate death: In another age, David might have been called "rambunctious." His battery was a little to large for his body. And so he would leap over the couch, spring to reach the ceiling and show…
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    Global bioethics blog

  • Health care strike in Mozambique

    20 May 2013 | 3:12 pm
    When I was in Maputo last week, the big ethics issue in the country had nothing to do with biomedical research. There was a buzz about a possible doctor's strike. But the doctors I met said it was actually a bluff: the government would open negotiations before the strike deadline, the medical association would craft some sort of compromise, and the whole thing would blow over. On the other hand, Doctors in Mozambique did go on strike back in January for nine days, though there are conflicting reports as to the extent of the strike. Well, today they are striking again. According to the…

  • Ethics of implementing male circumcision in Swaziland

    16 May 2013 | 8:06 am
    Dispatch from Maputo, Mozambique. As far as I know, the European Union has sent me here to discuss ethical issues in research with new ethics committee members. In the past, there was only one ethics committee in Mozambique, whose original mission was to review all health-related research. As requirements to get ethical approval (for funding, for publication, etc.) get more strict, and the number of local research studies involving human participants rises, having just a single committee is no longer workable or sustainable. So they are wisely decentralizing into a number of institutionalized…

  • Bioethics and guns, home and abroad

    29 Apr 2013 | 5:55 pm
    Bioethics workers, particularly in the United States, rarely talk about guns and gun-related violence. The issue is perhaps too baldly political: in the US, discussions generally center on the 2nd Amendment right to keep and bear arms, and to what extent can government create policies infringing or limiting that right. Somehow the public and personal health risks of gun possession get lost in the shuffle, or at least bioethicists in the main seem less morally worried about guns than they are about the dilemmas generated by life-saving technologies. Nevertheless, when guns are around, poor…

  • Whose ethics code is this anyway?

    18 Apr 2013 | 8:24 pm
    The Times of India reports that the Medical Council of India (MCI) is contemplating changing its Code of Medical Ethics (2002; updated 2010) to permit physicians to accept travel and hospitality sponsorship from pharmaceutical companies. This proposed amendment is aimed directly at Article 6.1.8., which excludes the acceptance of gifts, travel support, accommodation, and cash or monetary grants (unless the latter is in the context of working in pharma-funded medical research).It should not be a surprise that pressure to change this part of the code comes from ... pharmaceutical companies.

  • The medical neglect of the African mouth

    4 Apr 2013 | 6:46 pm
    In some ways, dentistry is the black sheep of the medical family. The social status of dentist in most places does not seem to be on a par with that of a (real) medical doctor. It is not entirely clear why this is the case, but there are conjectures. Perhaps because a trip to the dentist is commonly associated with pain, despite advances in dental anesthetics. Maybe it has to do with historical associations: what later was called 'dentistry' emerged from the Medieval practices of barbers, who besides cutting hair were self-proclaimed experts in tooth extraction. Or it could be that oral…
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    Health Beat by Maggie Mahar

  • Health Insurance and Tax Breaks: New Rules for the Self-Employed

    Maggie Mahar
    18 May 2013 | 11:17 am
    If you, your spouse or an adult child is self-employed, no doubt you already know just how expensive insurance is in the individual market.  Moreover, you know how difficult is to find comprehensive coverage when you’re buying your own insurance.  For example, most policies don’t cover pre-natal care, or child-birth– a huge problem for young women. But under the Affordable Care Act everything changes. Beginning in January, you will be able to purchase a policy in your state’s Exchange—a one-stop marketplace where you can shop for plans. They will be easy to compare because all…

  • Health Wonk Review: Oncologists Tell the Truth about Cancer Drugs; Will There Be Enough Plans to Choose From in the Exchanges? What Does Oregon’s Research on Medicaid Tell Us? And More . . .

    Maggie Mahar
    10 May 2013 | 1:51 pm
    The newest edition of Health Wonk Review  is up on Managed Care Matters. There, host Joe Paduda calls attention to an eye-opening post by The Health Business Group’s David E. Williams.  Williams reports on what oncologists say about cancer drugs in “The Price of Drugs for Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML); A Reflection of the Unsustainable Prices of Cancer Drug.” The article, which was published in the journal, blood, includes candid comments from more than 100 experts  They tell us  that:. Many costly treatments aren’t worth the money New treatments with tiny orno benefits often…

  • The Independent Payment Advisory Board and Medicare Spending: New Research Suggests a Change in Our Medical Culture

    Maggie Mahar
    7 May 2013 | 2:12 pm
    Launch of the ACA’s controversial Independent Advisory Board– a  panel charged with  recommending ways to curb Medicare inflation — has been delayed until 2016. Does this means that the IPAB’s critics have won? No. IPAB was, from the beginning, only meant to serve as a backstop. The law says that the board will be asked to recommend places where we could pare Medicare spending if—and only if—Medicare inflation begins to outstrip inflation in the rest of the consumer economy. But over the past three years Medicare spending has decelerated; it is no longer growing faster…

  • PSA Testing: An About-Face

    Maggie Mahar
    7 May 2013 | 1:11 pm
    If you thought U.S. doctors would never accept evidence-based medicine, consider this: Just last week, in a stunning about-face, the American Urological Association(AUA) announced that it no longer recommends routine annual PSA testing for men under 55.    The organization added that “men ages 55 to 69 who are considering the PSA test” for prostate cancer “should consult their doctors about the test’s benefits and risks.” The potential “benefit of preventing prostate cancer mortality in 1 man for every 1,000 men screened over a decade” should be weighed  “against…

  • The Affordable Care Act and the Smokers’ Penalty

    Maggie Mahar
    5 May 2013 | 11:21 am
    Under the ACA smokers  buying insurance in the Exchanges will have to pay a 50% “Premium Surcharge.” For a 55-year-old smoker, the penalty could reach nearly $4,250 a year. http://news.yahoo.com/penalty-could-keep-smokers-health-overhaul-205840155.html Does this mean that Americans who smoke won’t be able to afford coverage? NoIn the end, most smokers should be able to get health insurance without paying a stiff penalty. For one, it’s up to individual states as to whether they want to let insurers charge smokers more. By early April of 2013, Rhode Island, Vermont, Massachusetts…
 
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    Most Popular Items from healthcarefinancenews.com

  • Value-based payments picking up steam

    Chris Anderson
    13 May 2013 | 2:58 am
    Value-based payments picking up steam Daily Feature No The number of health plans that expect more than half their business will be under value-based models is expected to triple in the next five years according to a new research report released last week by health information network Availity. Featured print story read more

  • Hospital safety shows little progress

    Bernie Monegain
    10 May 2013 | 7:38 am
    Hospital safety shows little progress Daily Feature No A recent survey updating the Hospital Safety Score conducted by Leapfrog Group which assigns A through F letter grades for how well hospitals are addressing errors, accidents and infections that kill or hurt patients, shows only incremental progress over past reports. Featured print story read more

  • CMS publishes hospital price data

    Chris Anderson
    9 May 2013 | 8:05 am
    CMS publishes hospital price data Daily Feature No In an effort to take the first steps toward a more transparent pricing structure in the U.S. healthcare market, the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services yesterday published nationwide hospital charge data showing wide variations in how much Medicare pays for services in different markets. The data, which encompasses the 100 most commonly billed discharges was collected from more than 3,000 hospitals and represented more than 7 million discharges – roughly 60 percent of all Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) payments for…

  • Fraud recoveries on the rise

    Stephanie Bouchard
    8 May 2013 | 10:22 am
    Fraud recoveries on the rise No No GlaxoSmithKline, $3 billion. Abbott Laboratories, $1.5 billion. Merck, $950 million. Senior Care Action Network, $323.7 million. Actavis, $202.6 million. The numbers are eye-popping. Now for the jaw drop: of these top five healthcare False Claims Act settlements in 2012, all were initiated by whistle-blowers. The healthcare industry is on notice: Fraud recoveries in the healthcare sector are on the rise and whistle-blowers are the biggest weapon in the fight against fraud. Featured print story read more

  • mHealth needs to focus on consumers

    Eric Wicklund
    7 May 2013 | 5:28 am
    mHealth needs to focus on consumers No No A panel of telemedicine industry executives took on the topic of user-friendly design Monday afternoon at the American Telemedicine Association's18th Annual International Meeting & Trade Show. Their conclusion: Healthcare needs to design new methods of care delivery that appeal to the consumer. Featured print story read more
 
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    News from healthcarefinancenews.com

  • The price transparency argument

    Erin McCann
    23 May 2013 | 7:29 am
    The price transparency argument Daily Feature Tag as Analysis Price transparency is a touchy subject in healthcare. It’s one of the last market strongholds desperately clutching to its principles of price secrecy, and it won’t go down without a fight.  A provider generally functions as a profit-driven business, and if the consumer remains unable to compare hospital prices and outcomes, the chances of crafting effective incentives to improve quality and reduce costs are effectively nearing zilch.  Featured print story read more

  • Hospital cardiac arrest survival rates and prevention go hand-in-hand

    Kelsey Brimmer
    22 May 2013 | 11:15 am
    Prevention impacts heart attack survival No No Hospitals with the highest rates of cardiac arrests tend to have the poorest survival rates for those cases, while hospitals that do the best job of preventing cardiac arrest among their patients tend to be better at saving patients with cardiac arrest, according to new research published in JAMA Internal Medicine. [See also: Quality improvement program helps asthma outcomes, saves $1.46 per dollar spent] Featured print story read more

  • Practice profitability outlook negative

    Frank Irving
    22 May 2013 | 8:26 am
    Practice profitability outlook negative No No A new index that gauges the financial and operational health of physician practices forecasts a downward trend in profitability for the year ahead. CareCloud, a provider of cloud-based health technology and services, and QuantiaMD, a social learning and collaboration platform for physicians, introduced the Practice Profitability Index (PPI) during the HealthBeat 2013 Conference in San Francisco on May 21. Featured print story read more

  • Henry Ford, Beaumont deal dissolves

    Stephanie Bouchard
    22 May 2013 | 7:37 am
    Henry Ford, Beaumont deal dissolves Daily Feature No Henry Ford Health System and Beaumont Health System announced Tuesday that after six months of due diligence the two organizations are not going forward with their merger that would have created a $6.4 billion organization. In separate press releases, executives of the companies said they decided not to merge because it became apparent that the two companies had different perspectives on what the new organization would be. Featured print story read more

  • HHS cuts payments for Pre-Existing Conditions Insurance Plan claims

    Mary Mosquera
    22 May 2013 | 7:22 am
    Payment cuts for PCIP services No No Healthcare providers will be paid less for their for services under the federal Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP) starting next month to stretch its funding because it is fast running out of money. Many of the patients enrolled in the transitional program need expensive and ongoing treatment for cancer and other critical conditions. Featured print story read more
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    Industry News from healthcarefinancenews.com

  • The price transparency argument

    Erin McCann
    23 May 2013 | 7:29 am
    The price transparency argument Daily Feature Tag as Analysis Price transparency is a touchy subject in healthcare. It’s one of the last market strongholds desperately clutching to its principles of price secrecy, and it won’t go down without a fight.  A provider generally functions as a profit-driven business, and if the consumer remains unable to compare hospital prices and outcomes, the chances of crafting effective incentives to improve quality and reduce costs are effectively nearing zilch.  Featured print story read more

  • Henry Ford, Beaumont deal dissolves

    Stephanie Bouchard
    22 May 2013 | 7:37 am
    Henry Ford, Beaumont deal dissolves Daily Feature No Henry Ford Health System and Beaumont Health System announced Tuesday that after six months of due diligence the two organizations are not going forward with their merger that would have created a $6.4 billion organization. In separate press releases, executives of the companies said they decided not to merge because it became apparent that the two companies had different perspectives on what the new organization would be. Featured print story read more

  • Solutions to doctor shortage needed

    David Weldon
    21 May 2013 | 12:06 pm
    Solutions to doctor shortage needed No No As an estimated 14 million additional Americans become eligible for health insurance next year under the Affordable Care Act, recent survey data reveals that the number of doctors entering the healthcare field remains flat, and existing physicians are reducing the number of patients they are willing to service. Solutions to the shortage are urgently needed experts say. Featured print story read more

  • More Medicaid did not improve outcomes

    Mary Mosquera
    21 May 2013 | 10:39 am
    Expanded Medicaid cut depression No No A study containing mixed results of the effects of increased Medicaid enrollment in Oregon offers some caution about expectations for dramatic improvements in the health of millions of individuals from just expanding coverage across the nation in 2014, according to one of the authors of a recent study. Featured print story read more

  • Oklahoma tornado wrecks hospital

    Stephanie Bouchard
    21 May 2013 | 8:05 am
    Oklahoma tornado wrecks hospital Daily Feature No The tornado that devastated Moore, Oklahoma Monday has also wrecked the community’s hospital – Moore Medical Center. Norman Regional Health System, Moore Medical Center’s parent, posted a press release on its website saying that the hospital in Moore suffered “sustained significant damage,” and that the 30 patients at the hospital at the time the tornado hit have been transferred to Norman Regional Hospital or its other campus, HealthPlex Hospital, both in nearby Norman, Okla. Featured print story read more
 
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    caring-for-mom-and-dad.info

  • Aging Brains May Benefit More From Mediterranean Than Low Fat Diet

    Newsdesk
    22 May 2013 | 7:31 am
    Featured ArticleAcademic JournalMain Category: Nutrition / Diet Also Included In: Seniors / Aging;  Neurology / Neuroscience;  Alzheimer’s / Dementia Article Date: 21 May 2013 – 3:00 PDT email to a friend   printer friendly   opinions   <!– rate article Patient / Public: 4 (1 votes) Healthcare Prof: 5 (1 votes) Brain power in older people at... [Continue Reading]

  • Identification Of Molecular Trigger For Alzheimer’s Disease

    Newsdesk
    21 May 2013 | 7:28 pm
    Main Category: Alzheimer’s / Dementia Also Included In: Parkinson’s Disease;  Medical Devices / Diagnostics Article Date: 22 May 2013 – 1:00 PDT email to a friend   printer friendly   opinions   <!– rate article Patient / Public: Healthcare Prof: Researchers have pinpointed a catalytic trigger for the onset of Alzheimer’s disease – when the fundamental... [Continue Reading]

  • Vermont Governor Approves Death with Dignity Bill

    Newsdesk
    21 May 2013 | 2:24 pm
    On Monday, May 20, 2013 Vermont Gov. Peter Shulmin signed into law the Patient Choice and Control at End of Life Act, a bill that allows doctors to prescribe a lethal dose of medication to terminally ill individuals who request it and can administer it themselves. The law requires that terminally ill individuals wait 15 days... [Continue Reading]

  • UK Plans to Lead Development of a New International Approach to Address Dementia

    Newsdesk
    21 May 2013 | 2:24 pm
    The United Kingdom announced its plan to use its Presidency of the G8 – the international body comprised of the world’s eight wealthiest Western countries – to spearhead a new collaborative approach to address Alzheimer’s and dementia by advancing dementia research.  A G8 dementia summit will be held in London in September, bringing together health... [Continue Reading]

  • Relationship Discovered Between Sleep Apnea And Alzheimer’s Disease

    Newsdesk
    21 May 2013 | 7:24 am
    Main Category: Sleep / Sleep Disorders / Insomnia Also Included In: Alzheimer’s / Dementia;  Respiratory / Asthma Article Date: 21 May 2013 – 1:00 PDT email to a friend   printer friendly   opinions   <!– rate article Patient / Public: Healthcare Prof: A new study looking at sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) and markers for Alzheimer’s disease... [Continue Reading]
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    THE SECOND CHANCE SHEEPDOG

  • Riding the "Crazy Train" on Music Monday

    The Second Chance Sheepdog
    20 May 2013 | 4:55 pm
    Wow - the last time The Sheepdog held a Music Monday was the Monday after Easter. That was nearly two months ago. I'll fix that today. Cover of Blizzard of Ozz I had some inspiration for today's Music Monday. First, there was the guest appearance of Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath on last Thursday's season finale episode of CSI. Then, there's all the "crazy" stuff going in the news - we've got IRS Gate, Benghazi Gate, the Boston Marathon Bombing, the trial of the "abortion doctor," and then there's always stories of people killing, maiming, and hurting each other for no reason. Just crazy. If…

  • Absolutely Baffling

    The Second Chance Sheepdog
    17 May 2013 | 1:30 pm
    As I mentioned in Tuesday's post, I've been off the net for a while. However, I've kept up with some of the goings-on. I've noticed that the wolves have been busy and that some truly baffling things are going on. One such baffling thing was the election of Mark Sanford to the U.S. House of Representatives by the people of South Carolina. Mark Sanford, Governor of South Carolina, seen here as a U.S. Congressman. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) It all started when Jim Demint resigned his seat in the U.S. Senate in order to go to work for the Heritage Foundation. South Carolina's Republican Governor…

  • Where have you been, Sheepdog ?

    The Second Chance Sheepdog
    14 May 2013 | 3:29 pm
    Where have I been ? Well, I guess the best answer to that question is "everywhere but here." It's hard to believe it's been a month since my last post which was about my first gobbler, but it has. The time has flown. We had great seats for the game. When tax season ended, my wife closed her office for about three weeks. So, I did some more turkey hunting, without any luck. Then, we caught up on some errands and other things we had been putting off and spent some time away for a little R & R. Part of our time away was spent near Tallahassee, FL visiting some friends. The weather was great…

  • The 30-Minute 1st Gobbler

    The Second Chance Sheepdog
    16 Apr 2013 | 2:15 pm
    I love turkey hunting. It's great to get out in the woods and fields to enjoy the fresh air in the spring. The air is warming, the birds are singing, and the trees, grass, and other vegetation are greening up with signs of new life. It's rejuvenating and relaxing. The only bad thing about turkey hunting is that my luck has been much like Dale Earnhardt's in the Daytona 500 - everything imaginable that could go wrong has. Approaching Hunting Blinds (Photo credit: Travis S.) Dale saw the Daytona 500 slip away from him for 19 years in every way imaginable from wrecks, to running out of gas, to…

  • "Is America Still a Good Country ?"

    The Second Chance Sheepdog
    4 Apr 2013 | 3:01 pm
    Is America still a good country? Pat Buchanan : Nation is sharply divided on serious issues of morality (from WND.com) “Not until I went to the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.” So wrote Alexis de Tocqueville. Yet, judged by the standards of those old “pulpits aflame with righteousness,” is America still a good country? Consider the cases taken up this week by the Supreme Court. Pat Buchanan…
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    Supporting Safer Healthcare

  • CMS Provider Charge Comparison Data

    rkschwab
    11 May 2013 | 5:11 am
    Working your way through the large CMS Provider Charge Data file will take a bit of time and effort, but it’s certainly a gold-mine of comparitive costs.  Charges for the top 100 DRGs with and without major complications / comorbid conditions, is searchable across locations and organizations.  Downloadable as an Excel or comma delimited file. http://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Statistics-Trends-and-Reports/Medicare-Provider-Charge-Data/index.html

  • Reporter Finally Gets to Wear Shirt & Tie Louwana Berry Gave Him

    rkschwab
    8 May 2013 | 4:03 pm
    Since I worked nearby at the Cleveland Clinic during the time these young girls went missing, this is a story that touches my heart. 19 Action News Reporter Bill Safos has covered Amanda Berry’s disappearance since the beginning. He grew very close with the Berry family, and Amanda’s mother, Louwana. In fact, Bill’s shirt and tie were a gift from Louwana. Before she passed away, she bought the clothes for Bill and made him promise that he wear them on “the day Mandy comes home.” It was a promise Bill was more than honored to keep today.

  • Bloodless Medicine Lessons Learned: Benefiting All

    rkschwab
    28 Apr 2013 | 8:03 am
    Bloodless medicine programs have been formed in hundreds of leading hospitals around the globe in the last 20 years.  Initially established to meet the needs of patients who decline transfused blood for religious or personal reasons, as healthcare consumers become more educated a growing number of patients are now requesting care without the use of donated blood whenever possible.  What lessons in blood management have we learned during the past two decades? Transfusion triggers have been lowered.  In 1998 the “10/30 rule” (i.e., RBC transfusion indicated below a…

  • Hospital Inspections Site Launched

    rkschwab
    24 Mar 2013 | 8:48 am
    Healthcare transparency took a step forward this week.  The Association of Health Care Journalists (AHCJ) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have collaborated to bring HospitalInspections.org  online. The searchable database contains information about serious federal safety rule violations in U.S. hospitals since January, 2011.  It does not contain hospital responses to deficiencies cited during inspections. Those can be obtained by filing a request with a hospital or the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Searching is free. Example: …

  • Angry Physicians Impact Care

    rkschwab
    14 Mar 2013 | 4:49 am
    Kaiser Health Plan reports on a long-festering problem that many hospitals have been reluctant to address: disruptive and often angry behavior by doctors. Experts estimate that 3 to 5 percent of physicians engage in such behavior, berating nurses who call them in the middle of the night about a patient, flinging scalpels at trainees who aren’t moving fast enough, demeaning co-workers they consider incompetent or cutting off patients who ask a lot of questions. Experts say that doctors’ bad behavior is not merely unpleasant; it also has a corrosive effect on morale and poses a…
 
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    Alter Inspire

  • ObamaCare: Shambolic or Shining?

    John Driscoll
    2 May 2013 | 4:18 pm
    The word of the week, courtesy of NY Times columnist, David Brooks, is "shambolic" which he uses to describe ObamaCare as it becomes implemented. As the overhaul of the US health system becomes a reality, the critics on both sides of the political aisle are joining Brooks to carp on what seems like a bureaucratic nightmare. Even Max Baucaus, Democrat from Montana, has called the rollout of the healthcare exchanges a potential “train wreck” (the Obama team expects to spend $4 billion this year on setting up the 50 state-based exchanges and $1.5 billion next year running several…

  • The Concierge Revolution: Bringing Back Marcus Welby

    Roberta Greenspan
    21 Feb 2013 | 9:09 am
    During  a historic time of change within the healthcare sector, most notably the passage of the $938 billion Affordable Care Act (ACA), which will reduce healthcare spending by $138 billion according to the independent Congressional Budget Office, doctors are feeling new pressures. As the Physician Administrator for Evanston Northwestern Healthcare (now NorthShore University HealthSystem Highland Park Hospital) for more than ten years, I saw this first hand. Just think, a single physician routinely sees 1,500 to 2,000 patients in one year’s time, and the average time spent with a patient…

  • 2012 Election To Be Pivotal for Healthcare

    Donna Jarmusz
    15 Nov 2012 | 7:05 am
    The 2012 presidential election will impact healthcare delivery in the United States. The question boils down to whether the electorate believes that the free market will control the cost of healthcare while delivering quality care. According to The New Yorker’s James Surowiecki, “In most areas of the economy, free-market principles insure that products and services keep improving, and that consumers get better and better deals.”  Although the free market may be the optimal way to sell cars and refrigerators, it may not provide the same impetus for medical care.  Nearly half a century…

  • Non-Profit Hospital Fundraising Soars in 2011

    John Driscoll
    29 Oct 2012 | 7:56 am
    More than $8.9 billion was donated to non-profit hospitals and healthcare systems in 2011 — an all-time high.   According to a report from the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy (AHP), that is an 8.2 percent increase over the previous year.  The recent numbers continue a trend that started in 2010 when non-profit hospitals saw an eight percent rise in donations compared with 2009to more than $8 billion.  Individual donations totaled nearly 60 percent of that amount, according to the AHP.  That was a significant increase over 2009, when donations fell 11 percent or $944…

  • Craig Wortmann on Creating Your Business Story

    Tom Silva
    15 Oct 2012 | 10:45 am
    According to Craig Wortmann, Clinical Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, people today tend to collect too much information – via Facebook, blogging, tweeting, reading other people’s blogs – information overload typically becomes a problem shared by humanity.  In a recent interview for the Alter+Care Inspire Podcasts, Wortmann said that while the technique of telling stories is the oldest form of communication — it’s also the one form that rises above the din of our information-saturated environment and delivers…
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    Schwartz MSL PRx

  • I'll take a side of inspiration with those scrambled eggs, thank you.

    Helen Shik
    22 May 2013 | 9:02 am
    Yesterday, my day started out a bit differently than usual. I was up much earlier in order to get to the Boston Seaport Hotel for the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce Women’s Network Breakfast. Schwartz MSL Boston was the event’s corporate sponsor. Well, the traffic was awful (I intend to call the MassPike to suggest that the FAST PASS be accepted at the Cash Only toll booth)… but I digress. It was definitely worth the ride in. Our guest of honor and featured speaker that morning was Carmen Ortiz, United States Attorney. If you don’t know, Ms. Ortiz was nominated by…

  • Schwartz MSL Brings Heart Health to Denver

    Lauren Arnold
    21 May 2013 | 12:12 pm
    There are some times in your career that you feel like you are truly making a difference and the first week of May was one of those times for the Schwartz MSL Healthcare team.We had the opportunity to once again work with the wonderful folks at the Heart Rhythm Society (HRS) to raise consumer awareness in Denver and surrounding cities about the importance of heart health, and, most notably, help educate the public about two serious yet widely misunderstood arrhythmia disorders: atrial fibrillation (AFib) and sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). This patient education and awareness campaign was…

  • Which Social Media Tools Do Healthcare IT Influencers Use?

    Jordon Goulder
    9 May 2013 | 10:41 am
    It's important to keep a close eye on trends in social media, especially as adoption rates grow and communities begin to form on a range of topics. That thought process is what prompted me to reach out to a friendly group of health IT influencers on Twitter to learn more about how and if they use Facebook to stay on top of relevant companies and industry topics for their jobs as journalists. Curious how much #healthIT reporters use Facebook to watch companies & follow news. @ahier @kenonhit @donfluckinger @nversel thoughts? — Jordon Cloud Goulder (@jordoncloud) March 29, 2013 Less…

  • HIPAA, Privacy & Security at HIMSS - Its All Connected

    Doug Russell
    2 Apr 2013 | 9:58 am
    Schwartz MSL had another significant presence at HIMSS in New Orleans this year. We had a record 15 clients exhibiting, who offer an array of solutions aimed at consumers (mHealth), payers/brokers (claims management software, analytics), hospitals and health systems (health information exchange, security), healthcare providers (electronic medical records, clinical decision support) and even employers (benefits management).     Although HIMSS is not a security-focused show, three security themes had strong resonance:   Securing protected health information (PHI) and keeping it…

  • Next Stop...NOLA

    Doug Russell
    27 Feb 2013 | 11:11 am
    The biggest challenge for HIMSS 2013 attendees will be to break away from the Morial Convention Center to sample New Orleans’ many delights. We encourage you to sample New Orleans’ rich cultural experience. If you are a runner or walker, grab a map and sketch a route for a morning walk or run. Better yet, invite a client or prospect to join you. Here are a few suggestions:  Stroll through the French Quarter: The historic French Quarter is filled with shopping, dining, entertainment and fantastic architecture. Start your day with breakfast at Mother’s or Café…
 
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    About.com Assisted Living

  • No Behavioral Consequences if Patients Taken Off Antipsychotics

    22 May 2013 | 2:00 am
    Nursing homes using antipsychotic drugs for dementia care can and should take most residents off these medications, according to the international healthcare research organization the Cochrane Collaboration. Members of the Cochrane Dementia and Cognitive Improvement Group looked at nine trials with 606 participants, most of them nursing home residents. The trials all tracked what happened when people with dementia were taken off antipsychotic medications. Seven trials were conducted in nursing homes, one trial in an outpatient setting and one in both settings. In these trials, different types…

  • More Nursing Home Deficiency Data Coming to NH Compare

    20 May 2013 | 2:00 am
    From Mcknights - The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has made more information about nursing home deficiencies available online. CMS began posting deficiency report information on the Nursing Home Compare and Five-Star Nursing Home Quality Rating System websites last July. The online materials, based on data from Form CMS-2567, Statement of Deficiencies and Plan of Correction, currently include the most recent standard health survey report and complaint surveys going back 15 months....Read Full Post

  • Prediction Model Can Pinpoint Readmissions

    17 May 2013 | 2:00 am
    A study by Jacques Donzé, M.D., M.Sc., of Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, and colleagues suggests that a prediction model can identify before discharge the risk of potentially avoidable 30-day rreadmission in hospitalized patients....Read Full Post

  • Fix Financing in 5 Years - SCAN Fd. Says

    15 May 2013 | 2:00 am
    Long-term care financing system for consumers must be revamped within five years to meet the needs of aging baby boomers, according to The SCAN Foundation. In eight reports the organization laid out policy recommendations for taking pressure off government programs while increasing the availability and affordability of long-term care financing for consumers....Read Full Post

  • AHCA / NCAL Annual State AL Regulations Released

    13 May 2013 | 2:00 am
    Assisted living regulations, statutes, and policies in 18 states were changed, according to the 2013 edition of "Assisted Living State Regulatory Review" published by the National Center for Assisted Living (NCAL)....Read Full Post
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    World of DTC Marketing.com

  • Manhattan Research:Pharmacies are helping expand the point of care

    Richard Meyer
    23 May 2013 | 4:35 am
    As budgets for everything start to shrink the one research source you can’t be without is Manhattan Research.  According to a new White Paper from Manhattan Research there are a lot of... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

  • Do physicians want to engage pharma in digital marketing?

    Richard Meyer
    22 May 2013 | 8:23 am
    What if you build a great online eDetailing portal and then nobody shows up?  That is the quagmire awaiting most drug companies as they shift money into digital marketing.  At the heart of this shift... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

  • Are regulatory and legal teams limiting digital marketing ?

    Richard Meyer
    22 May 2013 | 4:38 am
    So by now you probably know that the drug industry is going to put more money into digital marketing as a business strategy to decrease costs and increase marketing ROI.  In fact it’s well... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

  • Patients just don’t like to take prescription medications

    Richard Meyer
    21 May 2013 | 4:17 am
    According to Health Prize 47% of survey respondents would rather take out the trash than take their medications.  They assert that there is a negative psychological association with taking... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

  • A well documented increase in digital media for HCP marketing

    Richard Meyer
    20 May 2013 | 6:36 am
    According to Compas, Inc. while pharma marketing budgets have remained steady, since 2010 the media mix has shifted toward more digital and targeted media. There are many reasons for this shift,... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
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    redbirdonline.com

  • 5 helpful health promotion and sustainability marketing resources

    jmulvey
    13 May 2013 | 3:37 pm
    The Redbird team has been busy creating and collecting some helpful health and social marketing resources for you. Below, you’ll find:

  • Energy Conservation Program: Helping BC Hydro Earn Big Returns From Behavioural Change

    jmulvey
    25 Feb 2013 | 10:27 am
    This article tours Redbird Communication's current energy conservation campaign for BC Hydro. We talk about what worked and offer some behavioural change lessons and insights we learned while helping reduce power consumption on university campuses across BC. 

  • [Photo] Creative tradeshow booth display

    jmulvey
    29 Oct 2012 | 1:32 pm
    By Doug Brown  Building a better media plan - tradeshow display Treehouse Media is a media-planning company based in Victoria. Their president, Steve Hutchinson, asked us to come up with a creative idea for a tradeshow display.

  • 10 simple sustainability actions every office can take

    jmulvey
    22 Oct 2012 | 11:46 am
    Last week, our sustainability program manager Trevor Bennett laid out a comprehensive set of sustainability initiatives to help make the Redbird office a greener place to work.  We will be working to put these actions into practice over the next few weeks and so we thought we’d share 10 simple sustainability actions any office can take. Trevor works with our BC Hydro account and has been helping post-secondary universities across BC to reduce their campus energy consumption. 

  • Five health marketing and sustainability resources you don't want to miss

    jmulvey
    22 Oct 2012 | 11:22 am
    Here are five health marketing and sustainability resources we found useful last month. Includes some custom advice from the Redbird blog. Enjoy!  Generate more online leads for your health company This article from Redbird’s blog shows how to generate online leads and increase brand recognition with SEO. The article also features detailed statistics on the average cost-per-lead with SEO and the optimal number of posts for higher lead generation.
 
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    Phlebotomy training

  • How can I receive phlebotomy training online?

    Winder
    16 May 2013 | 11:30 pm
    Traditional teaching methods are giving way to a more high tech method – online training. You may also see this educational method referred to as “distance learning or remote schools,” they are all one in the same. Are Online Schools Really That Good? This is a question students and employers alike have asked for years now and the answer is, Yes. Vocational schools, universities, educational institutions, and community colleges have all come into their own using technology. This includes the Internet, audio, and video media. Traditional educational means is still a viable…

  • Phlebotomy salary information

    Winder
    16 May 2013 | 11:26 pm
    If you are looking to obtain your degree and certification requirements to be a phlebotomist, you are probably wondering what type of salary you can be looking forward to once you finish school. Before going over pay information, it is first important to note that in all careers there will be a range of what you can be expected to make depending on where you live in the country. The reason for this variation is that each state differs in its cost of living, thus resulting in a difference in what one gets paid from state to state for the same job. With that in mind, let’s first discuss…
 
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    Next Level - Ideas and Inspiration Around Key Healthcare Challenges

  • Mergers and Marriages: Six Tips to Help Healthcare Organizations Live Happily Ever After

    22 May 2013 | 5:00 am
    A recent study1 from Booz Allen found that only 41% of acquired hospitals outperformed their peer group. In the U.S., approximately 50% of marriages end in divorce. Since Mergers and Acquisitions are often thought of as a "marriage" of two organizations, I was compelled by these two similar statistics to explore the "glass is half full" scenario to see what can be learned. As many private practices and hospitals are being purchased by large health systems, and many large health systems are merging with each other or payers, here are a few tips from happily married couples to consider.

  • The "Cold," Hard Truth about Patient Safety in the OR

    16 May 2013 | 5:00 am
    I recently came across a clinical paper that looked at the central role anesthesiologists play in quality initiatives to reduce the occurrence of surgical site infections (SSIs).1 The piece focused on three dynamics hypothesized to affect the risk of infections: preoperative antibiotic administration, normothermia, and hyperoxia. While there was not a clear connection made between perioperative hyperoxia and infections, findings showed that the timely administration of preoperative antibiotics and the maintenance of perioperative normothermia do significantly reduce the risk of SSI in…

  • "Where's the beef" in your leadership? - Part 2

    21 Mar 2013 | 5:00 am
    In part 1 of my blog on "Where's the beef" in your leadership? I talked about the need for personal leadership principles and traits. I discussed the value in being able to really articulate what the DNA of your leadership is and how you actualize and develop it every day. I reviewed the 11 leadership principles of the US Marine Corps and suggested some practical steps to accomplish #3 "Know your people and look out for their welfare." I'll shift now to cover the leadership traits. It may sound funny but Marines actually memorize the traits by heart with a clever 14 letter acronym: JJ DID TIE…

  • "Where's the beef" in your leadership? - Part 1

    19 Mar 2013 | 5:00 am
    To borrow from the well-known US burger chain Wendy's classic advertisement slogan: "Where's the beef" ... in your leadership? Setting organizational values, models, and behavioral anchors aside, there is a need for a core personal set of leadership principles and attributes that form your approach to leadership wherever you may lead throughout your career. For myself, I consider the foundational leadership principles and traits of the United States Marine Corps as guiding pillars along with a few well-established global leadership competencies. Exposed to these principles during officer…

  • Commit to long-term strategic transformation to reap rewards

    15 Mar 2013 | 5:00 am
    To those outside of healthcare, the term "Transformers" likely evokes images of the action-packed movie adventures where the development of transformation technology is crucial to survival. However, this comparison is not entirely unfamiliar to today's hospital C-suite. Read the full article...
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    Practice Manager Solutions

  • Minimum Necessary Requirement – Video Tip of the Day

    admin
    22 May 2013 | 5:42 am

  • ICD-10 Ready?

    admin
    15 May 2013 | 5:23 am
    Today on MORE For Your Practice, I interview Suzanne MacEwan, Senior Project Manager of Healthcare Information Technologies, about the status of ICD-10 implementation. According to Suzanne, the new – and as far as we can tell final – date for ICD-10 implementation is October 1, 2014. Marilyn Tavenner, Acting CMS Administrator, released a letter in February which, in no uncertain terms, confirmed the government’s commitment to this implementation date. What can you do to get ready for ICD-10? The #1 place to begin preparing for the ICD-10 transition is in your chart…

  • Leslie Witkin on Value-Based Payment Modifier

    Ecoughlin
    9 May 2013 | 12:36 pm
    Guest Leslie Witkin of Physicians First, Inc. discussing the Value-Based Payment Modifier which is a quality initiative under the Medicare Part B program that moves the payment for physicians to the Pay-for-Performance model. The Value-Based Payment Modifier will look at the quality and cost of the care that the physician provides. Additional discussion on how PQRS integrates with the Value-Based Payment Modifier initiative.

  • Would you know what to do if you had to close your medical practice tomorrow?

    admin
    8 May 2013 | 6:58 am
    Recently, I was approached by one of my clients who was retiring and, due to health concerns, had to close his medical practice rather quickly. He turned to me for guidance on the specific steps he needed to take to communicate this situation to his patients, including how to transfer his patients to another provider while at the same time protecting the privacy of their records. Summary of tasks: Locate the appropriate state statute which governs the closing of a medical practice in your state. Notify your patients, in writing, of the termination of the practice.  You must include: the date…

  • Kathi Browne – Healthcare Social Media Evangelist – shares her expertise

    Ecoughlin
    2 May 2013 | 12:28 pm
    Guest Kathi Browne – the “Healthcare Social Media Evangelist” – walks us through the steps for getting our practice on social media, which ones are most important for medical practices and ideas on how to manage a social media presence. Learn more about Kathi on her websitewww.browneknows.com.  
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    Beckers ASC Review

  • Muskegon Surgery Center to Submit CON for $460k Expansion

    23 May 2013 | 9:55 am
    Muskegon (Mich.) Surgery Center plans to submit a certificate of need for the addition of a $460,077 fourth operating room, according to a mlive report.

  • 5 Tips to Negotiate More Beneficial ASC Payor Contracts for Ophthalmology

    23 May 2013 | 9:24 am
    Stephen Rothenberg, JD, a consultant with Numerof & Associates, Inc., discusses how ambulatory surgery center leaders can negotiate more beneficial payor contracts for ophthalmology procedures and the outlook for eye surgery as a specialty in the future.

  • 5 Ideas on More Productive ASC Board Meetings

    23 May 2013 | 6:58 am
    Here are five ideas on how to make ambulatory surgery center board meetings more productive.Sign up for our FREE ASC E-Weekly for more coverage like this sent to your inbox!1. Communicate agenda and prior minutes in advance. At least one to three days in advance, send the minutes from the prior meeting and the current agenda, says Paul Skowron, senior vice president, operations at Regent Surgical Health. Hospital partners especially expect advance notice of agenda items and a reminder of tasks to complete in order to provide time to develop or finalize a position on any material issues (e.g.,…

  • 7 Things for ASC Leaders to Know for Thursday

    23 May 2013 | 6:22 am
    Here are seven things for ambulatory surgery center leaders to know for Thursday, May 23, 2013.

  • 4 Leadership Lessons From One of Healthcare's Most Powerful Women

    22 May 2013 | 2:57 pm
    HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius took her position in 2009 after serving as governor of Kansas for six years. In a recent Forbes article, "the most powerful woman in healthcare" shared some lessons she's learned throughout her career and tips for other leaders to strike a balance between work and their personal lives, to better lead a team and to make transitions from one job to the next.  
 
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    Georgia Health News

  • Medical history on display

    Andy Miller
    23 May 2013 | 7:11 am
    A Civil War surgeon’s instruments. A 16th-century volume on human anatomy. Notes of famed Georgia physician Crawford W. Long. An exhibit of such historic medical books and artifacts has opened at Emory University. “Medical Treasures,” on display through October, features materials from the Woodruff Health Sciences Center Library, including 18th- and 19th-century works on human anatomy, pathology, surgery, midwifery and alternative medical practices. Artifacts in the exhibit include one of the earliest stethoscopes from the 19th century, and a kit of a Civil War surgeon’s…

  • Rare truce on medical malpractice suits

    Bloomberg Businessweek
    22 May 2013 | 12:19 pm
    A new Georgia law aims to protect doctors from malpractice suits based on standards in the ACA. By Bloomberg Businessweek for Georgia Health News, 2013. | Permalink | Comment |

  • Low-wage workers find specialist care within their reach (video)

    Ian Branam
    22 May 2013 | 11:47 am
    Betting on Reno Editor’s Note: This is the third in a series of articles on the Athens uninsured initiative, produced by graduate students in the Health and Medical Journalism Program at the University of Georgia. Visit the previous article by clicking on the red button to the left.) Click here to view the embedded video. Patricia Thiessen was driving in her hometown of Reno, Nev., when she suddenly lost the sight in her right eye. It returned within moments. Six weeks later, the same thing happened to her left eye. It was obvious something was seriously wrong. Thiessen, who does not have…

  • State psychiatric hospital in Thomasville to close

    Andy Miller
    22 May 2013 | 9:14 am
    A state agency Wednesday announced that its psychiatric hospital in Thomasville will close by the end of the year. The state Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities told GHN that Southwestern State Hospital currently has a patient census of 116, divided between people with mental illness and development disabilities, and those housed in the facility’s forensic unit. The closing of the hospital continues the revamping of the state’s services for people with mental illness and developmental disabilities in the wake of Georgia’s landmark 2010 agreement with U.S.

  • Medicaid expansion popular in South, poll shows

    Andy Miller
    21 May 2013 | 9:39 am
    The political leadership in the five Deep South states is solidly against Medicaid expansion, and has been so for months. Republican governors in Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, along with their GOP-controlled legislatures, have bucked proposals to open their states’ Medicaid programs to hundreds of thousands of uninsured people, as outlined under the 2010 Affordable Care Act. But a newly released survey of adults in those five Southern states shows a different sentiment among the public. Across the region, 62.3 percent of respondents view Medicaid expansion…
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    John Goodman's Health Policy Blog

  • The Case against Universal Medicare

    John Goodman
    23 May 2013 | 10:30 am
    We are already hearing reports of doctors who do not take Medicare patients. In a 2010 survey of 9,000 physicians, the American Medical Association reported that 17 percent of doctors restricted the number of Medicare patients; among primary care physicians, a whopping 31 percent did. With universal Medicare, is the population really going to accept, and would Congress really allow, the continued reductions in prices?… By some estimates, the Medicare program loses a staggering $60 billion to fraud each year. This amounts to 11 percent of the Medicare budget and would be enough to double…

  • We-Have-To-Pass-It-To-Find-Out-What’s-In-It Fact of the Day

    John Goodman
    23 May 2013 | 9:30 am
    A chain of events would create a two-month period during which a family has medical coverage but no insurer must pay its claims. Nonpayment of premiums for subsidized policies would trigger the oddity: Federal law provides a three-month grace period before cancellation – but insurers are responsible only for the first month. Doctors say the liability might keep many physicians from participating in next year’s program. A single prostate cancer patient’s course of treatment can cost $93,000, they say. More from Jim Sanders.

  • How Psychiatry Went Crazy

    John Goodman
    23 May 2013 | 8:30 am
    The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is often called the “Bible” of psychiatric diagnosis, and the term is apt. The DSM consists of instructions from on high; readers usually disagree in their interpretations of the text; and believing it is an act of faith. The DSM-II (1968) made homosexuality a mental disorder, a decision revoked by vote in 1973…Narcissistic Personality Disorder was voted out in 1968 and voted back in 1980; where did it go for 12 years? Doctors don’t vote on whether pneumonia is a disease. The new DSM-5, with its modernized Arabic…

  • Germs

    John Goodman
    23 May 2013 | 6:15 am
    These bacteria, which number around 100 trillion, are living (and dying) right now on the surface of my skin, on my tongue and deep in the coils of my intestines, where the largest contingent of them will be found, a pound or two of microbes together forming a vast, largely uncharted interior wilderness that scientists are just beginning to map. It turns out that we are only 10 percent human: for every human cell that is intrinsic to our body, there are about 10 resident microbes — including commensals (generally harmless freeloaders) and mutualists (favor traders) and, in only a tiny…

  • Solution for Elder Care: Robots

    John Goodman
    22 May 2013 | 12:30 pm
    Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed Cody, a robotic nurse the university says is “gentle enough to bathe elderly patients.” There is also HERB, which is short for Home Exploring Robot Butler. Made by researchers at Carnegie Mellon, it is designed to fetch household objects like cups and can even clean a kitchen. Hector, a robot that is being developed by the University of Reading in England, can remind patients to take their medicine, keep track of their eyeglasses and assist in the event of a fall. The technology is nearly there. But some researchers…
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    HEALTHeCAREERS Blog | HEALTHeCAREERS Blog

  • Report Finds Hiring Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants A Smart Decision

    Guest Blogger
    23 May 2013 | 7:49 am
    By Brittany Richards, Software Advice The Profitable Practice recently published a report on why nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs) are a smarter and more cost effective hiring decision. When allowed to operate to the full extent of their training, NPs and PAs--also known as mid-level healthcare professionals--are capable of performing the same tasks expected of physicians. If you’re a physician and looking to expand your practice, there are a number of advantages to hiring NPs and PAs: 1. NPs and PAs are cost effective when building a practice Victoria Garment of…

  • Department of Veterans Affairs to Host Pharmacy Twitter Chat

    Kaitlin Olson
    22 May 2013 | 5:20 am
    Twitter has revolutionized the way we search for news, connect with friends and now search for a job. Not only are businesses sharing content with 140 characters or less, hashtags and now Twitter Chats are offering a new way to collect advice on everything -- including healthcare job search advice.  On June 10th, Pharmacy Professionals Nationwide have the opportunity to chat live with VA Recruiters and Pharmacy Professionals to learn more about Pharmacy Careers at the Department of Veterans Affairs.  With the American Pharmacists Association as a special guest, the Pharmacy VA Chat…

  • Stats on Physician Salaries, PA Interview Checklist, Concerns Over Accepting Counteroffers -- ...

    Kaitlin Olson
    20 May 2013 | 9:52 am
    Happy Monday, HEALTHeCAREERS fans! Here's the latest healthcare news!  Becker's Hospital Review: 51 Statistics on Physician Salaries vs. Hospital Revenue Generated  May 14th, 2013 -- "Although primary care physicians bring in more net revenue to the average hospital, their compensation still lags behind those in several medical and surgical specialties" according to Becker's Hospital Review. Last week Merritt Hawkins released its "2013 Physician Inpatient / Outpatient Revenue Survey." With responses from 102 hospitals and health systems CFOs.

  • Healthcare's Helping Hands

    Doug Donald
    16 May 2013 | 11:53 am
    In troubled spots throughout the world – including Syria, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo – some of North America’s finest healthcare workers are choosing business over pleasure when travelling overseas. These individuals come face-to-face with the worst that humanity – and Mother Nature – can inflict upon its own. Many, including Guelph (Ontario) surgeon Barbara LeBlanc, volunteer their talents to help the hurting through organizations like Doctors Without Borders. LeBlanc recently returned from a month in Syria, where she served only 50 kilometers…

  • Nurses Week in Review, Hidden Cost of Physician Recruitment, Your Profession Needs You -- ...

    Kaitlin Olson
    13 May 2013 | 10:53 am
    Last week was National Nurses Week, a week to honor the nursing community's commitment to bettering the lives of their patients. But that wasn't the only top healthcare news this week. Catch up with what happened this week on HeCN's Healthcare News Roundup.  HEALTHeCAREERS.com: Nursing Employment Fact Sheet May 2nd, 2013 -- In honor of National Nurses Week, which took place May 6th-12th), HEALTHeCAREERS Network created a fact sheet on nursing employment statistics and trends. Get the 411 on nursing employment on HeCN.com! How did you celebrate National Nurses Week?
 
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    International Man of Mystery's blog

  • Do you have expat DNA?

    International Man of Mystery
    23 May 2013 | 4:27 am
    DNA - or deoxyribonucleic acid, to give this molecule its full name - is a thing of wonder. Essentially it's the instruction booklet for living organisms, and it's proof that nature is a very amazing thing. I don't know if being an adventurer, traveller or expat is strictly a genetic thing. But it may well be. This cool infographic asks the question do you have expat DNA? So have a look and find out if you do. (Note, view the original here - http://www.feedbacq.com/blog/do-you-have-expat-dna/ - and you can zoom in to read the text better and also check out people's…

  • Bulgarian expat

    International Man of Mystery
    22 May 2013 | 7:13 am
    There's often quite a lot of talk in the media about the various nationalities who move to Britain to earn a living - but what about the UK nationals who go to live abroad? There's a very interesting video clip on the BBC news site right now which tells the story of an Englishman who now resides in the Bulgarian capital, Sofia. Andy Sowray is a hop owner who has an interesting retail niche - selling British food to UK expats in the city, as well as selling them to anyone else there who fancies trying the various iconic British brands such as Marmite, Bisto and so on. Andy's shop…

  • Healthy staff: an international necessity

    International Man of Mystery
    20 May 2013 | 4:27 am
    The rate of expatriation grows despite various parts of the world being in recession, and despite the overall generalised effects of the downturn. The mix of ever-evolving communications, relatively cheap travel, and constantly developing economies means that there's unlikely to be any levelling off in expat assignment numbers anytime soon.  Working abroad is something that consistently shows up in surveys as being something that employees really value. It's seen by many as a valuable part of career development as well as the chance to learn a new culture and language. But…

  • Expat blogs - the sub genres

    International Man of Mystery
    18 May 2013 | 1:16 am
    There are various different types of expat blogs, as there are different types of blogs generally. Moving abroad often means that there's a big level of change, and it's great to share new experiences by sticking them up on a blog. Part of the joy of writing is that you're putting all these new sights, experiences, sensations into words - helping in the process of getting to know your new country of residence. So, some of the different types of expat blogs inclide the following: Family expat blog - this is othe one where either or both parents have moved overseas, ususally for a…

  • Expats and China

    International Man of Mystery
    17 May 2013 | 4:43 am
    In the worlds of economics, finance and international politics, one acronym that's been pretty ubiquitous of late is BRICs. The term refers to Brazil, Russia, India and China who are often grouped together because of their similarly growing economies and large populations - the general belief being that these countries are where tomorrow's big business opportunities lie, as well as growing influence in other areas. China is of course the world's most populous nation - in fact to give an idea of its population, think of it in relation to Germany, which has 80 milllion inhabitants.
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    OptometryCEO - OptometryCEO

  • 5 roads to partnership failure

    Chad Fleming
    22 May 2013 | 9:00 am
    Think about the last time you stopped your car to ask for directions. If you own a Smart Phone, you probably haven’t done this recently because of the phone’s ability to also function as a GPS. However, if your phone uses Apple’s maps, you might have had to ask for directions because you ended up in downtown Dallas when you typed in the airport. My current opinion of the iPhone map is not very high as it made seven mistakes on my last use. Unlike utilizing the iPhone app, in business you cannot afford to be taken down a road that leads to a dead end. Below are a list of…

  • 3 reasons why high grossing and/or high netting practices don’t motivate the next generation of ODs

    Chad Fleming
    15 May 2013 | 9:00 am
    Is the next generation motivated by money? The Baby Boomer generation grew up as products of war and the Great Depression. Their work ethics are impeccable, because their motivation is to save their earnings and retire to a life of travel and leisure. In optometry we have always listened to consultants and business-minded individuals tell us about grossing over $1 million as a single doctor or netting more than $200,000. This idealism has driven ODs for years, but will this carrot drive the next generation of optometrists?  Probably not.  Don’t get me wrong, optometrists desire to…

  • Make Your Online Marketing Strategy Efficient

    Chad Fleming
    8 May 2013 | 9:00 am
    Guest post by Rachel Cunningham of iMatrix. Online marketing for optometry encompasses a broad range of mediums and tools, making it easy to get lost or side-tracked.  A comprehensive online marketing strategy should include everything from a dynamic website, to social media pages, to professional quality videos, to pay-per-click advertising, to search engine optimization. It may seem simple, but when you start to delve into each category, all of the options often become overwhelming.  For instance, when considering social media, the first question should always be which ones should I use?

  • 3 approaches to resolving staff conflict

    Chad Fleming
    1 May 2013 | 9:00 am
    Human beings are going to have conflict, no matter what. That’s why learning to resolve conflict is so important–it can mean the difference between social harmony or social disorder.  The same holds true in the community of your optometry practice. As CEO of your company you directly or indirectly manage social groups that influence the mood of the office. Staff members in conflict negatively impact the perception patients carry of the office, which can result in an office visit the patient hopes is the last. Here are 3 things to consider when you manage staff in conflict. . .

  • 3 ways for an optometrist to keep from getting sued for malpractice

    Chad Fleming
    24 Apr 2013 | 9:00 am
      We live in a litigious society that hovers over us every day waiting for us to make a mistake. The problem is we all make mistakes. An optometrist friend of mine looks at everything in life as a potential minefield. When assessing a situation, he asks himself how he can avoid a catastrophe, or at least escape with the least collateral damage. Unfortunately, this often leads to losing patients by referring them to specialists. I believe we should work to keep our patients, yet still take precautions to keep us out of court. After all, I think most optometrists would rather be in the…
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    GeriPal - Geriatrics and Palliative Care Blog

  • What Is A "Natural" Death, Anyway?

    Alex Smith
    23 May 2013 | 3:00 am
    by: Alex Smith, @alexsmithMD Eric kicked off the week posting about a study comparing use of the phrase "Allow Natural Death" with "Do Not Resuscitate."  Surrogates were far less likely to opt for CPR if the physician used the phrase Allow Natural Death. But here's the thing - what is a natural death, anyway? I get it - death is part of the cycle of life. Seasons change.  The moon waxes and wanes.  We are born. We die.  Death is natural. But what is a "natural" death?  Seriously, what comes to mind when you think of natural death?  Here is a video of a natural…

  • The Clinician as the Choice Architect - Nudging an Informed Choice About CPR

    Eric Widera
    22 May 2013 | 4:00 pm
    by: Eric Widera (@ewidera) In the first two posts of “code discussion week” we talked about how preferences for cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) are not necessarily deeply held, rather they are highly susceptible to the way we present information and choice to the decision maker. As clinicians, we can potentially use this knowledge about how to influence others to “nudge” individuals to make decisions that may be in their best interest, while still preserving their autonomy as they can easily choose otherwise. One can argue though that using these techniques to influence decisions…

  • Changing the Default Code Stus to DNR for Seriusly Ill Patients

    Alex Smith
    21 May 2013 | 3:00 am
    by: Alex Smith @alexsmithMD What if the above form was the default for patients with serious illness?  Most current advance directive forms and the POLST have no default - although one could argue that our default without a form is full code. But what if we could set a default on these forms, so that when a patient received a diagnosis of a serious life limiting-illness, the default option was Do Not Resuscitation (DNR)? Scott Halpern and colleagues tried this approach in a study published in Health Affairs of 132 seriouly ill outpatients with…

  • It’s all in the Framing: How to Influence Surrogates' Code Status Decisions

    Eric Widera
    20 May 2013 | 9:08 am
    by: Eric Widera (@ewidera) We intuitively know that the words we choose when talking about whether or not to attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) may influence the decision of a surrogate. Now we have some evidence to back this up thanks to a fascinating study published in Critical Care Medicine by Drs Amber Barnato and Bob Arnold at the University of Pittsburgh. The study randomized 256 adult children or spouses to take part of a Web-based interactive simulated family meeting.  These surrogates were asked to imagine their loved one in a hypothetical situation in which they were…

  • Point/Counterpoint: Using Deception, Study Finds Clinics Violate Disabilities Act; Should Clinics Be Protected?

    sei
    13 May 2013 | 1:00 pm
    Point: Physicians do not deserve IRB protections like vulnerable patients by: Sei Lee The recent article by Lagu and colleagues entitled, “Access to Subspecialty Care for Patients with MobilityImpairment” in Annals of Internal Medicine found that when subspecialty practices in 4 US cities were contacted about a patient who was obese and hemiparetic, 22% stated they could not accommodate this disabled patient. As disturbing as this finding was, I was even more surprised to hear that the authors were required by their Institutional Review Board to shred identifying information as soon as…
 
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    Safety un-Limited

  • EMS – What to say and Who arrives?

    Tony Howarth
    14 May 2013 | 3:16 pm
    Just what should I say when calling EMS? What happens next? What else will they do/ask me? Who arrives when I call? There seem to be common themes to some of the questions people type in to a search engine … Continue reading →

  • Disaster preparedness – Emergencies are Sexy?

    Tony Howarth
    10 May 2013 | 10:54 am
    Emergencies are Sexy – really? Let’s be honest, there’s nothing pleasant about being caught in the middle of a disaster. But perhaps, just perhaps, surviving an emergency unharmed, with that special person could, in fact, be sexy. Maybe we’ve just been … Continue reading →

  • Emergency Planning – Fire Safety

    Tony Howarth
    9 May 2013 | 9:06 am
    Earlier we talked about having a plan of emergency escape routes for your home – hope you did one because today we’re going to carry on the emergency preparedness theme by improving on the plan and discussing fire safety and … Continue reading →

  • Man takes Joyride on a car’s hood

    Tony Howarth
    7 May 2013 | 10:38 am
    Elton Kim told police he saw a woman back into his wife’s SUV in the parking lot outside of his dry cleaning business and went outside to confront her. Kim stood in front of the woman’s car, which had Alabama … Continue reading →

  • Emergency Escape Routes at Home

    Tony Howarth
    6 May 2013 | 12:10 pm
    This week is officially Emergency Preparedness Week so let’s start by talking about how to escape if something goes wrong – do you have a plan of emergency escape routes for use at home? Most of us will be aware … Continue reading →
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    Fibre View

  • Kesh King Oil

    niitesh mundra
    20 May 2013 | 9:15 pm
    Kesh King Oil ReviewIf you are one of those suffering from hair loss than you might have noticed those promising advertisements flashed on the Television every now and then.   I have been suffering from hair fall since my college days and now whenever a new product surfaces on the market I normally end up trying it.I have tried Livon hair Gain Tonic, used Minoxodil solution and plenty of other formulations and most of them seem to work for awhile but the end result is not at all promising. Recently I came across Kesh King oil and after surfing for hours online managed to buy the…

  • Jeune Hair oil

    niitesh mundra
    15 May 2013 | 9:55 pm
    Juene Hair oilIf you have been suffering from hair loss than you might come across Juene hair oil at some point or the other.  After graduating I have been suffering immensely from hair loss and I have tried almost everything from hair spa, Anoop hair oil, to Livon hair gain tonic but nothing have worked for me. Last year a friend of mine introduced me to Juene hair oil and I have been using it regularly and to some extend it has helped in controlling hair fall. I would be false to say that it has given me wonderful results but yes the sign seems to be promising enough.First of all Juene…

  • Philips PQ202 Electric Shaver review

    niitesh mundra
    26 Apr 2013 | 1:29 am
    Philips PQ202 Electric Shaver reviewWhen it comes to personal grooming Philips is one of the best in the business and it surely is the first brand name that pops up in my mind. Shaving has always been a problem for me as got a very hard beard because of which I get plenty of cuts and razor bumps. I shave once a week but that too when my beards gets intolerable and itchy.I had been thinking of buying an electric shaver for a long time and few weeks back I finally bought Philips PQ202 and today I am sharing my experience with the product. Well Philips PQ202 electric shaver is fairly priced at…

  • Metaslim Review

    niitesh mundra
    19 Apr 2013 | 10:09 pm
    Metaslim ReviewEarly morning if you are surfing the channels you come about plenty of marketing companies trying to attract customers with their catchy adverts. Today morning I came across Metaslim adverts and thought of sharing my experience with the product, just to save thousands of others from being scammed by the product.Those who are not aware of it, Metaslim claims to reduce weight within a week of starting its usage but honestly it really doesn’t seem to work and since it comes with 15 days money guarantee, I even tried returning the product but the company makes lame excuses and…

  • Trading in TCS (Tata Consultancy Service)

    niitesh mundra
    12 Apr 2013 | 4:41 am
    Trading in TCS (Tata Consultancy Service)My call put option strategy on Infosys was a super hit with Rs. 2700 Put trading above Rs.400 giving an investment return of over Rs. Rs. 20,000. Now I would like to shift my focus on Trading with TCS. Today TCS is trading around Rs.1500 and with the results round the corner (Wednesday, 17thApril,2013), it is most likely that the price of TCS will be volatile. The current market scenario of the Indian Stock market doesn’t look bright and with the result of Infosys being negative, playing a good call put option strategy would surely be beneficial.
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    Physician Burnout To Physician Wellness - one doctor at a time | The Happy MD

  • Time Management is a Myth – Manage THIS instead

    Dike Drummond
    18 May 2013 | 1:33 pm
    Time Management is a Myth There is no such thing as time management. You and I get 24 hours in each day – 168 of them in a week. No more and no less. The seconds in an hour are a fixed resource that no one can manipulate or manage or finagle or cajole or multiply. So let’s all stop focusing on ” time management ” and do something MUCH more productive instead. Manage Your Priorities and Intentions Instead - and create more work-life balance this week. Does this feel familiar. .. You have had a very busy week filled with LOTS of activity – at work and at home. And…

  • Batch Processing and Patient Flow – Get Home On Time This Week

    Dike Drummond
    11 May 2013 | 10:45 pm
    Batch Processing, Patient Flow and the science of how to Get Home On Time Do you find yourself spending too much time on things that have nothing to do with seeing patients – and then getting home later than you would like? Do you notice that for every 15 minutes you spend with a patient you spend WAY more than that messing around in the EMR and being distracted by things like prescription refills, test results and a hundred other forms of two bit clerical work in your day? Does your organization expect you to access your EMR from home to complete chart notes in the evenings after you…

  • Physician Burnout Can Kill You – CHD is just one way

    Dike Drummond
    27 Apr 2013 | 2:22 pm
    Physician Burnout and the risk of CHD A new research paper published in the journal “Psychosomatic Medicine” in 2012 is showing a solid link between Burnout and the risk of CHD for the first time. This new information proves a connection that has been suspected for decades and adds to the list of ways burnout can actually kill. Previous research has shown a correlation between burnout and the following Risk of Type II Diabetes Sleep disturbance Musculoskeletal pain Impaired fertility All cause mortality Dyslipidemia, metabolic syndrome and inflammation biomarkers Alcoholism and…

  • Physician Burnout and the Enlightened CFO

    Dike Drummond
    12 Apr 2013 | 10:06 am
    Physician Burnout and the Power of an Enlightened CFO What your CFO doesn’t know about physician burnout is hurting you right now. They are pounding the boardroom table for projects that only increase the stress for the front line care providers. We must teach them the financial impact of burnout because an enlightened CFO can be your biggest ally in battle against stress and burnout. “Fun” Burnout Fact: On average, 1 in 3 doctors are suffering from physician burnout on any given office day, worldwide, regardless of specialty. Unless your organization performs a physician stress…

  • Prevent Physician Burnout With These Mobile Apps

    Dike Drummond
    7 Apr 2013 | 11:44 am
    Prevent Physician Burnout with a Mobile App? … you betcha … here are my two favorites Forget Angry Birds and other mobile apps that do a great job of helping you waste time. And set aside for now the apps that help you find information and practice clinical medicine more efficiently. It was only a matter of time before mobile apps would be developed that can actually help you prevent physician burnout. Here are my two favorite mobile apps to help you lower stress and create more work life balance I have been using a pair of mobile apps on my iPhone for a while now that are doing a…
 
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    Professional Patient Perspective

  • Invisible Effects of Crohn’s Disease & IBD

    Michael A. Weiss
    22 May 2013 | 2:23 pm
    May 22, 2013 – Please pardon the recent inconsistent entries but I have been battling a rare and unpredictable lung condition related to my Crohn’s Disease which currently limits my ability to function on “all 8s.”  In the future, I plan to invite some Guest Bloggers to share their perspectives on Managing Chronic Illness.  I am hoping things will return back to normal during the summer sometime.  Thanks for your patience. What are “Invisible Effects” of Crohn’s & IBD? Due to the proliferation of health care social media and the relentless efforts of various Patient…

  • Chronic Diseases are expensive medical conditions even with Health Insurance

    Michael A. Weiss
    12 Apr 2013 | 12:29 pm
    I get asked this question many times by friends and acquaintances.  They care a great deal about me and can’t understand how my Crohn’s Disease has so badly damaged my financial “health” when all along the almost 30 years of my journey with the disease I have maintained my Health Insurance.   This is what I tell them when I try to explain.  The “Reasonable & Customary” Health Insurance Financial Gap Any Chronic Disease such as Crohn’s Disease and Inflammatory Bowel Disease (“IBD”), which are also incurable with autoimmune components, can create ongoing needs for…

  • How to BEST BE a Crohn’s Disease, Colitis or Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Patient?

    Michael A. Weiss
    7 Apr 2013 | 2:37 am
    This is Video Answer Number ONE (1) in a NEW Video Series of Answers to Important Questions for the Crohn’s Disease, Colitis and Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Patient.  These Answers have been compiled with the knowledge and experience of the growing members of the Crohn’s Disease Warrior Patrol (the “CDWP”).  This is NOT Medical Advice and is being offered solely for support, by Patients, for Patients.  This 6-minute Video details the following CDWP Answer to this Question: Find the Right Doctor FOR YOU; Collaborate with your Doctor; Patient “Engagement” – Don’t be…

  • Hospital Emergency Room – “Love em’ & Leave em”” – The Patient Consumer

    Michael A. Weiss
    1 Apr 2013 | 7:38 am
    What Exit in New Jersey are you from? This is a picture of MY “ROOM” IN THE EMERGENCY ROOM (”ER”), taken by me on Tuesday, March 26, 2013, at a New Jersey Hospital’s Emergency Room (“ER”).  That hospital’s security personnel demanded I delete this picture from my phone under the guise that the hospital has a policy of no pictures being taken in the hospital.  While I am certainly sympathetic to such policies, the reasoning behind such polices is to protect the privacy of anyone getting treated inside the hospital.  In that regard, I would NEVER take a picture of a patient…

  • Crohn’s Disease, Humira, FDA, Respiratory Problems & “BOOP”

    Michael A. Weiss
    30 Mar 2013 | 1:02 pm
    What Exit in New Jersey are you from? This picture of MY ROOM IN THE EMERGENCY ROOM (”ER”), taken by me on Tuesday, March 26, 2013, from a New Jersey Hospital’s Emergency Room (“ER”), was demanded to be deleted from my phone by that hospital’s security personnel as they escorted me out of the ER, after I was forced to remove my own Intra-Venous Line (“IV”) causing my blood to squirt so high it almost hit the ceiling,  No door, no curtains, no privacy; no HIPAA compliance since I was barely being treated; just a gurney, under an Exit Sign, in a hallway in the ER, where I was…
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    HEALTHeCAREERS Blog | HEALTHeCAREERS Blog

  • Report Finds Hiring Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants A Smart Decision

    Guest Blogger
    23 May 2013 | 7:49 am
    By Brittany Richards, Software Advice The Profitable Practice recently published a report on why nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs) are a smarter and more cost effective hiring decision. When allowed to operate to the full extent of their training, NPs and PAs--also known as mid-level healthcare professionals--are capable of performing the same tasks expected of physicians. If you’re a physician and looking to expand your practice, there are a number of advantages to hiring NPs and PAs: 1. NPs and PAs are cost effective when building a practice Victoria Garment of…

  • Department of Veterans Affairs to Host Pharmacy Twitter Chat

    Kaitlin Olson
    22 May 2013 | 5:20 am
    Twitter has revolutionized the way we search for news, connect with friends and now search for a job. Not only are businesses sharing content with 140 characters or less, hashtags and now Twitter Chats are offering a new way to collect advice on everything -- including healthcare job search advice.  On June 10th, Pharmacy Professionals Nationwide have the opportunity to chat live with VA Recruiters and Pharmacy Professionals to learn more about Pharmacy Careers at the Department of Veterans Affairs.  With the American Pharmacists Association as a special guest, the Pharmacy VA Chat…

  • Stats on Physician Salaries, PA Interview Checklist, Concerns Over Accepting Counteroffers -- ...

    Kaitlin Olson
    20 May 2013 | 9:52 am
    Happy Monday, HEALTHeCAREERS fans! Here's the latest healthcare news!  Becker's Hospital Review: 51 Statistics on Physician Salaries vs. Hospital Revenue Generated  May 14th, 2013 -- "Although primary care physicians bring in more net revenue to the average hospital, their compensation still lags behind those in several medical and surgical specialties" according to Becker's Hospital Review. Last week Merritt Hawkins released its "2013 Physician Inpatient / Outpatient Revenue Survey." With responses from 102 hospitals and health systems CFOs.

  • Healthcare's Helping Hands

    Doug Donald
    16 May 2013 | 11:53 am
    In troubled spots throughout the world – including Syria, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo – some of North America’s finest healthcare workers are choosing business over pleasure when travelling overseas. These individuals come face-to-face with the worst that humanity – and Mother Nature – can inflict upon its own. Many, including Guelph (Ontario) surgeon Barbara LeBlanc, volunteer their talents to help the hurting through organizations like Doctors Without Borders. LeBlanc recently returned from a month in Syria, where she served only 50 kilometers…

  • Nurses Week in Review, Hidden Cost of Physician Recruitment, Your Profession Needs You -- ...

    Kaitlin Olson
    13 May 2013 | 10:53 am
    Last week was National Nurses Week, a week to honor the nursing community's commitment to bettering the lives of their patients. But that wasn't the only top healthcare news this week. Catch up with what happened this week on HeCN's Healthcare News Roundup.  HEALTHeCAREERS.com: Nursing Employment Fact Sheet May 2nd, 2013 -- In honor of National Nurses Week, which took place May 6th-12th), HEALTHeCAREERS Network created a fact sheet on nursing employment statistics and trends. Get the 411 on nursing employment on HeCN.com! How did you celebrate National Nurses Week?
 
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    MedCity News

  • Why do Doctors shift Electronic Health Records?

    Frank Quinn
    23 May 2013 | 8:56 am
    Like other professionals, doctors and medical practitioners store, maintain and process a large number of data and information. This medical information needs to be put in order in accordance with specific grades and structures. This is why a lot of care providers these days, use Electronic Medical Records which are especially made to process a certain type of medical information efficiently and effectively. Electronic Health Records can therefore be used to access, store and receive different types of medical data such as medical history, allergies and medication, demographics, lab results,…

  • Kaiser eyes expansion in Oahu, has $320M statewide plan

    Consillio, Kristen
    23 May 2013 | 8:55 am
    Kaiser Permanente Hawaii is in discussions with Moanalua Golf Club to acquire 10 acres of the course adjacent to its flagship Oahu hospital for $4 million. An aging population and expected increase in the demand for medical services is prompting the state's largest health maintenance organization to look into the possibility of expanding the Kaiser Permanente Moanalua Medical Center and Clinic. "We plan to be in Hawaii for decades and decades to come so who can say what the needs will be in the future," said Kaiser spokeswoman Laura Lott. "We would continue to lease back the land to the golf…

  • Mobile health urinalysis diagnostic draws FDA scrutiny

    Stephanie Baum
    23 May 2013 | 8:50 am
    In a move that may reflect a growing interest by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in asserting its regulatory muscle in the mobile health app space, the regulator recently sent a letter to mobile app maker Biosense Technologies Pvt Ltd. indicating that it needs 510(k) clearance for its urinalysis diagnostic, uChek Urine analyzer. Biosense‘s uCheck urinalysis system includes an iPhone app and a kit and uses Siemens’s and Bayer’s test strips, which have been cleared by the FDA. The company outlines several uses for urinalysis on its website such as pregnancy, urinary…

  • Remote Medical scores $8M grant, predicts 60 percent revenue growth

    Christina Farr,
    23 May 2013 | 8:29 am
    Seattle-based Remote Medical just scored $8 million to bring health care to virtually anyone in need, anywhere in the world. Remote Medical serves companies and individuals in remote places; it’s a good option for military personel, research teams, law enforcement groups, or those lucky billionaires living out their days on private islands. Remote Medical offers a variety of services, including telemedicine (physicians can securely chat with patients via video), medical training, drugs, and equipment. One customer, a remote worker on an island in the South Pacific had a heart attack, but a…

  • After a restructure and an axed Merck deal, Acumen gains $20M for novel Alzheimer’s drug

    Deanna Pogorelc
    23 May 2013 | 7:29 am
    It’s been 17 years in the making, but Acumen Pharmaceuticals hasn’t given up hope for its approach to a disease-modifying drug for Alzheimer’s disease. After restructuring to become a virtual biotech and raising a $20 million Series A, Acumen is marching forward with preclinical development of an antibody that binds and captures soluble oligomers of the amyloid beta peptide in the brain. The company’s story dates back to 1996, when it was formed to protect patent filings of discoveries made by William Klein and Grant Krafft at Northwestern University and Caleb Finch at the University…
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    Healthy Debate

  • Can “bottom up” measurement improve the quality of Canadian health care?

    Jeremy Petch, Roger Palmer & Mike Tierney
    23 May 2013 | 4:00 am
    At Jack Kitts’s first performance review as CEO of The Ottawa Hospital in 2003, he was able to report that the budget was balanced and that he was “feeling good” about the hospital’s finances. He also had a plan in place to improve morale at the hospital. When the Chair of his board asked him whether the hospital was now providing quality care, Kitts replied “of course.” But then his Chair asked him a question he couldn’t answer: “How do you know?” Kitts realized that he couldn’t answer, because while he felt that The Ottawa Hospital was staffed by excellent, dedicated…

  • When cancer spreads and standard therapy no longer works

    Lisa Priest
    22 May 2013 | 4:00 am
    The Personal Health Navigator is available to all Canadian patients. Questions about your doctor, hospital or how to navigate the health care system can be sent to AskLisa@Sunnybrook.ca The Question: My wife has colon cancer that has metastasized to her liver. She has been receiving cancer treatments in Winnipeg since June 2012. I understand from Biocompatibles Inc. that Ontario hospitals may offer Debiri treatments with respect to the liver. I would be grateful if you could let me know if these treatments are available and how I might be able to access them. Thank you very much for your…

  • Maternity services disappearing in rural Canada

    Ann Silversides, Joshua Tepper & Jill Konkin
    16 May 2013 | 4:00 am
    The plan to eliminate obstetrical care at Banff’s Mountain Springs Hospital, and to replace it with enhanced vascular and plastic surgery services, was labelled a potential “quick win” in a 2012 community and rural health planning document Babies would no longer be delivered in Banff (population about 8,200) and instead obstetrical care would be “consolidated” at the Canmore General Hospital, located in the slightly larger town of Canmore (population 12,000), 22 kms east on the TransCanada highway. With the departure of obstetrics, the Mountain Springs Hospital, located in the…

  • Waiting for pathology after a cancer diagnosis

    Lisa Priest
    14 May 2013 | 4:00 am
    The Personal Health Navigator is available to all Canadian patients. Questions about your doctor, hospital or how to navigate the health care system can be sent to AskLisa@Sunnybrook.ca The Question: I have recently been diagnosed with uterine cancer and have been told it is a “high grade.” I was referred to a surgical oncologist two weeks ago. She has scheduled my surgery and I had the pre–op visit. I know that I am in good hands and I thank God for the caring and wonderful personnel I have already met. At this point, I only have one question: I was told that the pathology…

  • Canadian diabetes strategies under fire as diabetes rates continue to rise

    Ann Silversides, Christopher Doig & Terrence Sullivan
    9 May 2013 | 4:00 am
    In the past six months, the Auditor Generals of both Canada and Ontario have turned their attention to problems with strategies designed to tackle one of Canada’s biggest health threats—the epidemic of diabetes. The government watchdogs have scrutinized the value that Canadians have received from the hundreds of millions of dollars expended on the Canadian Diabetes Strategy and the Ontario Diabetes Strategy. As diabetes rates in Canada continue on a steady and alarming uphill climb, the auditors reports conclude that both strategies have come up seriously wanting. The prevalence of…
 
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    Home Health Care News

  • Home Health Providers Launch New Services To Survive CMS Cuts

    Jason Oliva
    22 May 2013 | 1:02 pm
    The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Competitive Bidding program has stirred anxiety in the home health industry, as Round 2 of the program’s 45% reimbursement cuts threaten to squeeze a number of durable medical equipment (DME) providers out of business. To weather the storm, some providers are launching new service offerings to their current home care business lines to ensure they stay afloat. Though Round 2 is expected to take effect July 1 of this year, pending a rallying support for a market pricing program that has been gaining steam in recent months, providers that…

  • Analysis: Home Health Copays Could Cost Medicare $16.7 Billion

    Alyssa Gerace
    22 May 2013 | 12:49 pm
    Home health leaders shared concerns with lawmakers Tuesday on Capitol Hill regarding the cost-sharing requirement in the Medicare home health benefit and its potential negative implications on many of the nation’s 3.5 million home health beneficiaries.  The requirement could adversely affect future Medicare costs as well, says the Partnership for Quality Home Healthcare, a trade group for home health providers that opposes the re-imposition of a cost-sharing requirement in the Medicare home health benefit. In 1972, Congress repealed a Medicare home health copay on the grounds it was…

  • NY Times: Will Robots Take the Place of Senior Care Providers?

    Elizabeth Ecker
    22 May 2013 | 11:29 am
    Robots could be the next big thing in home care, as the newest iterations are being designed to help with activities of daily living and with a specific attention to needs of seniors.  From administration of medicines to helping with the day-to-day, a number of robots currently under development are positioning to come to the aid of the aging population—namely to fill in care “gaps.” Research under way at several U.S. institutions including the Georgia Institute of Technology and Carnegie Mellon University will change the nature of caring for older people through technology,…

  • North American Home Health Market to Surpass $130 Billion in 2017

    Jason Oliva
    21 May 2013 | 3:36 pm
    Within the next five years, the home health care market is expected to surge as it offers a high cost advantage to patients and reduces their hospital spending.  While the home health marketplace was valued at $90.9 billion in 2012, it is poised to reach $130.4 billion by 2017—growing at a compound annual growth rate of 7.5% each year, according to a MarketsandMarkets report. Segmented on the basis of products, services and telehealth, factors such as rising incidences of chronic diseases and increasing healthcare costs look to fuel the market’s growth in the coming years. However,…

  • Home Health Industry Can Wave “Excessive” Margins Goodbye

    Alyssa Gerace
    21 May 2013 | 2:34 pm
    The days of excessive profit margins in the home health industry may be over, writes Healthcare Market Resources in its latest market research letter, based on downtrending Medicare home health metrics between 2008 and 2011 that include revenue and visits per episode. While Medicare’s home health business seemed unaffected by federal reimbursement policies in the last decade, the Medicare Payment Advisory Committee (MedPAC) has been consistently trying to lower what it terms “excessive margins.”  Based on MedPAC’s recommendations, the government has been combining…
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    Express Scripts Blog

  • Geography of ADD Treatment Is Dynamic

    Sharon Frazee
    21 May 2013 | 3:09 pm
    The South still leads the nation in terms of percentages of people diagnosed and people treated for attention deficit disorders, but the Northeast has the highest growth rate for diagnosis, treatment and total associated costs. These are the findings of Express Scripts research into three years of data related to claims for drugs treating ADD ...

  • Specialty Drug Spending to Jump 67% by 2015

    Glen Stettin, M.D.
    21 May 2013 | 5:01 am
    U.S. spending on specialty prescription drugs — those used to treat chronic, complex diseases such as cancer, multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis — is projected to increase 67% by the end of 2015, according to a forecast released today by Express Scripts. As we see what’s on the horizon, it’s time for employers and health ...

  • Virtual Coaching for Hepatitis C Patients

    Lab Staff
    16 May 2013 | 5:33 am
    Hepatitis C affects approximately 3.2 million U.S. patients. Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that deaths from hepatitis C surpassed deaths from AIDS in 2007. Protease inhibitors offer many patients new therapy options. Used in combination with the traditional therapies of interferon and ribavirin — as a triple-therapy regimen — these ...

  • Pulmonary Hypertension and Life’s Situations

    Linda Dugan
    14 May 2013 | 8:28 am
    For people with pulmonary hypertension, adherence to prescribed therapy is quite simply a life-or-death decision. Untreated, it is a progressive and fatal disease. Pulmonary hypertension is characterized by high blood pressure and damage to the blood vessels in the lung, which eventually leads to damage to the heart. As a specialist pharmacist, every day I focus on ...

  • Fighting Rx Abuse and the Cash-Claims Loophole

    Steve Miller, M.D.
    7 May 2013 | 7:56 am
    Prescription-drug abusers operate outside of every acceptable social norm, so we shouldn’t expect that they would politely hand over an insurance card when they go to buy more drugs at the pharmacy. They’ll have enough resources to support their habit — who knows where they got the money — and they’ll go pharmacy by pharmacy until ...
 
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    Electronic Referral Management System - Doctors and Physicians

  • Investment in Healthcare IT is on the Rise – Are We Ready for Change?

    Jonathan Govette
    11 May 2013 | 11:25 am
    We all know healthcare is massively broken, we know that we are light-years behind every other industry, we still use fax machines, we still use pagers, and we still ask patients to courier their own documents and images. But there is a glimmer of hope at the end of a long, dark, technology disengaged tunnel.   Investing in our future… Luckily for the healthcare industry, Health IT implementation and investment is growing at a rapid pace.  In April alone, $332 Million in total was invested in Health startups.  The investment has grown almost 5 times from the last year’s total in…

  • Understanding The Relationship Between HIE and Population Health Management

    Fred Pennic
    9 May 2013 | 11:57 am
    Jordan Lento, Senior Project Manager at Wellcentive breaks down the relationship between population health management and HIEs.  Electronic Health Record (EHR) technology has been a huge contributor to the increased collection of data in a consistent and quality manner. Unfortunately, EHRs effectively silo their data within the walls of individual practices and health systems – which is a major barrier to communication, care coordination and collaboration, and efficient health care delivery. HIEs were created to address this barrier by allowing HIT systems and healthcare providers to…

  • Another 11 Reasons Why Our Healthcare System is So $&@%#! Up – PART 2

    Jonathan Govette
    22 Apr 2013 | 2:55 pm
    If you have met me personally, I have been known to cuss a few times in my life, not as much as Dave McClure from 500 startups though.   If you have been under a rock lately then you may have not read our PART 1 version of the “11 Reasons Why” post that went viral in the healthcare community. It has been shared 1000’s of times and commented on in groups such as the Healthcare Executive Network on LinkedIn, which is boasting 83,000 + members. Click the image to view the 200 plus comments What inspired me to write the first post was that I was fed up with the current system and wanted…

  • 5 New Value Pathways Fueling the Big Data Revolution in Healthcare

    Fred Pennic
    16 Apr 2013 | 10:50 am
    The big data could transform the healthcare sector accelerating value and innovation. The use of “big data” could reduce the US healthcare costs by $300 billion to $450 billion, but the industry must undergo fundamental changes before stakeholders can maximize on its full value according to new report from McKinsey & Company. The report, The Big Data Revolution in Healthcare: Accelerating Value and Innovation written by Peter Groves, Basel Kayyali, Steve Van Kuiken, and David Knott discusses the analytic capabilities that will be required to capture big data’s full potential for…

  • What Is The Aim of An Accountable Care Organization? Infographic

    Fred Pennic
    4 Apr 2013 | 5:47 am
    What Is The Aim of An Accountable Care Organization and why is it important to improve costs and quality of care? The following infographic created by Healthcare IT Connect  examines the need for accountable care organizations. The ideal goal is that ACOs can achieve both cost and quality improvements, because of a care coordinated delivery model that is based on quality outcomes, instead of its volume of services. ACOs must be physician-led, primary care-centered, and a patient-focused systems of care. The infographic states a successful ACO as putting the patient  at the center  of all…
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    Better Patient Engagement

  • Improving the Patient Experience – Don’t Forget the Family

    Ian Worden
    11 May 2013 | 8:53 am
    A patient’s family is an important an often overlooked factor for improving patient engagement.  In this guest post, Rishi Reddy, CEO at Patient Updater, reminds us to be aware of and tend to the patient’s family to improve healthcare delivery.  Using mobile communications to keep a patient’s family informed not only offers the opportunity to improve the patient experience it may also help strengthen the patient’s support network.  A strong family support structure can help influence a patient’s sustained engagement in their treatment plan.  It is no secret that healthcare…

  • 3 Tips to Engage Patients with Depression

    Ian Worden
    10 May 2013 | 8:08 am
    In the United States alone, estimates for those diagnosed with depression range from 17 to 21 million people a year or roughly 10 percent of the country and depression is 15-20% higher for the chronically ill than for the average person.  Ryan Rivera  the publisher and founder of the Calm Clinic website provided the following guest post offering tips for engaging patients with depression. Caring for a depressed patient can be difficult. Oftentimes, they will be withdrawn and quiet. Unlike other disorders, depression can be hard to diagnose. Knowing whether a patient is clinically depressed…

  • The Rise of Patient Disengagement

    Ian Worden
    31 Mar 2013 | 4:23 pm
    You may find it surprising and possibly even counter-intuitive that patient engagement is actually declining.  Yet that appears to be the case.  The Deloitte Center for Health Solutions reports substantial growth among the disengaged healthcare consumer segment from 2008 to 2012.  Deloitte reports 1 in 3 healthcare consumers are currently disengaged, reporting less need for care, preventive action, interest in resources, and financial preparation.  This represents an 11 point jump in the disengaged, up to 34% of consumers in 2012 from 23% in 2008.  The Deloitte report also found an…

  • Driving Positive Behavior Change Through Patient Engagement

    Ian Worden
    9 Mar 2013 | 11:21 am
    Guest post from Scott Zimmerman a regularly-published thought leader on engaging patients via ongoing communication between office visits and President of TeleVox Software, Inc. Patient engagement, while it can have many meanings, comes down to taking the time to provide patients with ongoing, thoughtful and personalized interactions that encourage and inspire them to embrace their treatment plans. Often, people don’t follow their physician’s instructions because they don’t have adequate information regarding their condition or medication. Perhaps they haven’t been…

  • The Path to Increased Patient Engagement Lies in the Definition

    Ian Worden
    3 Mar 2013 | 1:40 pm
    One significant challenge with improving patient engagement lies in the lack of a standard and correct definition for the term “patient engagement.”  How do you go about improving patient engagement if you cannot effectively articulate what patient engagement means?  Before I give you give you a proposed definition that may unlock the improvement process, let’s look at several organizations and publications that have floated definitions or descriptions of patient engagement. A 2012 NeHC Stakeholder Survey found the following responses when it asked “How are you most likely to…
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    The Doctor's Tablet

  • Releasing Patients: When Doctors Need Reassurance

    Perri Klass, M.D.
    21 May 2013 | 7:54 am
    I will do anything not to be in a hospital bed. I checked myself out as quickly as I could each time I was admitted (three obstetrical admissions) and once, after a day-surgery procedure, got in trouble with the recovery room nurse because she found me out of bed, getting dressed, before I was supposed [...]

  • Promoting the “Sex Talk” Between Doctors and Patients

    Daniel C. Myers, M.S.W.
    16 May 2013 | 11:14 am
    Editor’s note: A recent post on The Doctor’s Tablet concerning the communication gulf between patient and doctor about sexual activity generated a lot of interest. Why is it so difficult for doctors and patients to discuss the topic openly? Here, we explore how medical education plays a key role is setting the stage for these [...]

  • Autism Community Awaits DSM 5 Changes

    Lisa Shulman, M.D.
    14 May 2013 | 8:35 am
    These days, my morning routine includes the following: after brushing my teeth, waking my kids for school and making their lunches, I check the website of the American Psychiatric Association to see if the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5 (DSM 5) has been released. It is due out this month and I [...]

  • Going the Distance for Healthy Pregnancy in the Bronx

    Chavi Eve Karkowsky, M.D.
    9 May 2013 | 7:49 am
    The patients had undergone workups and appointments with hematology experts. Most of them did not have sickle cell disease or other exotic red blood cell problems. What they had was the usual, run-of-the-mill iron deficiency—the kind most pregnant women exhibit in a mild form. But their iron deficiency was so profound, and of such long [...]

  • Psychotherapy for the Elderly: How Caregivers Benefit Too

    Gary J. Kennedy, M.D.
    7 May 2013 | 7:46 am
    Editors’ Note: A recent New York Times article on the benefits of psychotherapy for the elderly generated a lot of discussion. It led us to wonder: What benefits might such therapy have, not only for the elderly who seek it, but also for their caregivers and families? Geriatric psychiatrist Gary Kennedy shares his thoughts. Can [...]
 
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    Mimic Simulation » Blog

  • New Opportunities for Surgeons to Earn CME credits with More Hands-On Robotic Surgery Simulation Training Courses Scheduled in 2013

    hollyberkley
    16 May 2013 | 11:41 am
    Dr. Sundaram, Chair of the Laparoscopy, Robotic and New Surgical Technology Committee of the AUA, led a hands-on surgery simulation course at AUA, which focused on a  Robotic Partial Nephrectomy The success of the hands-on robotic surgery simulation courses offered at this year’s AUA event in San Diego is generating buzz among surgeons and anticipation for the next round of training courses to be offered at popular industry meetings. “The hands on courses in robotic surgery at the annual meeting of the AUA in San Diego, were very successful,”  said Dr. Chandru Sundaram, Professor…

  • The Future Of Robotic Surgery

    hollyberkley
    15 May 2013 | 2:12 pm
        There’s no doubt that robotic surgery is increasing in popularity and prominence as hospitals and medical facilities are trying to leverage technological advancement to achieve better outcomes, improve safety, and reduce costs. However, there are still some questions as to how robotic surgery will develop and evolve in the coming years. Jeff Berkley, CEO and founder of Mimic Technologies, recently spoke with Surgical Products and discussed the future of robotic surgery, the challenges and roadblocks to its development, and what is holding certain surgeons back from embracing…

  • Study Further Validates Mimic’s Dry Labs as Effective Method to Train Robotic Surgeons.

    hollyberkley
    8 May 2013 | 1:21 pm
    MLabs, a new assembly of dry lab modules used in training robotic surgeons, has been further validated in a new study conducted by the University of Southern California (USC). Dry lab exercises provide an alternative to training on animals when surgeons need to learn basic robotic surgical skills. “We evaluated the performance of surgeons from around the world as they trained with virtual reality and then matching dry lab exercises. For both novice and experienced surgeons, we found that exceptional surgeon performance on the simulator was associated with exceptional performance on the real…

  • Augmented Reality May Change the Way Surgeons Learn Robot Assisted Surgery

    hollyberkley
    7 May 2013 | 1:02 pm
    “Surgeons will now be able to have a more genuine experience prior to surgery, which will help better prepare them for actual surgery,” said Dr. Gill. USC Researchers Confirm Training Value of Simulator Prototype A new study validating a first of its kind prototype using augmented reality in surgical training was presented at a major medical meeting today. Augmented reality combines three-dimensional (3D) computer-generated objects and text superimposed onto real images and 3D surgical video footage, all in real time. “The study’s results represent a significant move forward in…

  • Major Urology Conference Sponsors Surgical Simulation Training for the First Time

    hollyberkley
    6 May 2013 | 8:32 am
    SAN DIEGO – The nation’s largest meeting of urologists will, for the first time, offer training courses in robotic surgery, using new, independently validated technology. The American Urological Association’s  Dr. Elspeth McDougall and Mimic Technologies, the company that designed the simulation software system for the da Vinci robot, will host the training. AUA’s annual conference takes place May 4-7, 2013. “Robotic surgery is critical to treating particular urological diseases, but it takes time to learn and requires adequate training,” said Dr. Elspeth McDougall, professor of…
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    DC Medical Malpractice & Patient Safety Blog

  • Lipstick Is a Host for Potentially Toxic Metals

    23 May 2013 | 7:24 am
    No one would choose to consume toxic metals such as lead, cadmium and chromium, but millions of women unknowingly do it every day. According to a study in Environmental Health Perspectives, 32 brands of lipsticks and lip glosses sold throughout the U.S. contain nine metals, some of them at potentially toxic levels. Previous research of 400 kinds of lipstick, noted a story on USAToday.com, also found lead-containing lipstick, although the FDA said those low levels were not risky. But the more recent study, by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health,…

  • FDA Issues New Warnings and Lowers Dosage for Sleep Drugs

    22 May 2013 | 7:14 am
    Earlier this year we wrote about the FDA’s concern over a certain class of sleep medication whose active ingredient is zolpidem. The feds said its dosage should be lowered. Last week, as reported on AboutLawsuits.com, the FDA approved a new warning label for these drugs and lower doses for Ambien, Ambien CR, Edluar and Zolpimist. The alert explains that the drugs’ effects may linger dangerously into the day after they’re taken, especially for women. In making the safety announcement, the FDA did not say whether the warning also would appear on Intermezzo, a short-acting version of the…

  • Treatment Risks Climb When Drug Companies Plant Stories in Research Journals

    20 May 2013 | 7:03 am
    Medical providers, insurance companies and well-informed medical consumers know that drugs, devices and treatments aren’t considered best-practice—or even credible—unless and until research has been conducted, the results reviewed by scientific peers and the results published in a reputable journal. So how was it, health reporter Martha Rosenberg asks on KevinMd.com, that blockbuster drugs such as Vioxx (an arthritis drug withdrawn from the market in 2004 because of heart risks) and Baycol (a cholesterol drug withdrawn in 2001 because of muscle degeneration) were deemed safe, and that…

  • Medicare Takes a Pass on Expanding Hospice Care—For Now

    19 May 2013 | 11:53 am
    Many Medicare recipients delay getting hospice services because they must agree to cease curative treatments such as chemotherapy. So by the time they do enter hospice, their condition is much more dire, and many often have mere days to live. Some never make it to hospice at all, and spend their final days in a hospital intensive care unit. So three years ago, Congress directed Medicare to test an expanded hospice program. It would enable beneficiaries to continue potentially lifesaving treatments, possibly to improve their quality of life, while saving money by avoiding expensive hospital…

  • Study FInds Malpractice Suits Can Make Hospitals Safer

    17 May 2013 | 10:52 am
    A new survey of hospital risk managers finds that malpractice lawsuits can give them important clues to holes in their hospitals' patient safety nets that need patching. The study by UCLA law professor Joanna Schwartz was excerpted in the New York Times op-ed page. Professor Schwartz writes: New evidence ... contradicts the conventional wisdom that malpractice litigation compromises the patient safety movement’s call for transparency. In fact, the opposite appears to be occurring: the openness and transparency promoted by patient safety advocates appear to be influencing hospitals’…
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    blog.medicaremadeclear.com

  • How to Build Brain Health

    Medicare Made Clear
    23 May 2013 | 6:00 am
    You probably know that physical activity is good for your heart and for weight management. You may know that it can reduce the symptoms of depression. But did you know that exercise may help keep your brain fit? A fit brain means you can think clearly, understand ideas and remember things. These are all part of what’s called “cognitive function.” Memory and thinking become muddled when cognitive function is impaired. Cognitive impairment is a risk factor for increasing dementia and for Alzheimer’s disease. This is a concern for older adults, many of whom are on Medicare. This is Your…

  • Caregiver Corner: Necessary Conversations Part 1

    Medicare Made Clear
    21 May 2013 | 7:00 am
    The first in a 3-part series about how to talk to your loved one about their care, by Dr. Jamie Huysman, LCSW, Vice President, UnitedHealthcare How do you, as a caregiver, begin to talk to your loved one about the need for more or different care? This is a difficult question and a difficult point to reach on your caregiving journey. The specific answer depends on your loved one’s mental and emotional state, as well as on your relationship history. You’ll need to consider these things before you raise the topic. But many people face this same situation every day, and there are some general…

  • Medicare is Not a Family Health Plan

    Medicare Made Clear
    16 May 2013 | 7:00 am
    The transition to Medicare might be smoother for many couples if every married person were the same age as their spouse. Why? Many couples get their health insurance through one spouse’s employer. If that spouse retires at age 65 and enrolls in Medicare, a younger spouse—and any dependents—may be left without coverage. This is also true for domestic partners covered under one partner’s health plan. You can only get Medicare if you yourself are 65, unless you are eligible due to disability. You are not eligible for Medicare when your spouse or partner turns 65. (The use of “spouse”…

  • Medicare Covers Diabetes Self-Management Training Services

    Medicare Made Clear
    14 May 2013 | 7:00 am
    Part 3 of a 3-part series, Education Services for Medicare Beneficiaries with Kidney Disease, from the American Kidney Fund Did you know that if you have diabetes you are at increased risk for kidney disease? That’s right. Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure, causing nearly 40 percent of all cases. Diabetes is also a leading cause of heart disease, stroke, blindness and non-traumatic amputation. Medicare knows that good diabetes self-management can help prevent diabetes-related complications. That’s why it offers a benefit that may help you learn to manage diabetes. The…

  • Happy Mother’s Day from Medicare Made Clear!

    Medicare Made Clear
    9 May 2013 | 7:00 am
    In celebration of mothers everywhere, we at Medicare Made Clear wish you and yours a very Happy Mother’s Day. One great way to celebrate Mother’s Day is to take care of your health, and help your mother take care of hers. That’s why the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office on Women’s Health created National Women’s Health Week. National Women’s Health Week kicks off each year on Mother’s Day, and runs May 12 – 18 in 2013. Communities, businesses, public health organizations and other groups come together to support women in making their health a top priority.
 
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    CareNovate MagazineCareNovate Magazine

  • The Caregiving & Caregivers Predicament {Infographic}

    DrG
    21 May 2013 | 7:47 am
     The post The Caregiving & Caregivers Predicament {Infographic} appeared first on CareNovate Magazine.

  • Digital Health: Healthcare via Smartphones {Infographic}

    admin
    19 May 2013 | 6:36 am
    What is digital health? Greatist and Rock Health explains here. The Future of Health is Your Smartphone infographic by greatist.  The post Digital Health: Healthcare via Smartphones {Infographic} appeared first on CareNovate Magazine.

  • Healthcare Extender Spotlight: Geriatric Care Managers

    DrG
    14 May 2013 | 6:28 am
    Geriatric care management provides a solution and becoming a resource for those who simply do not have the time to provide for all the care management themselves. This is where healthcare extenders called geriatric care managers (GCM) can play a huge role. The demand for professional GCMs is increasing. What is a GCM? GCMs are [...]The post Healthcare Extender Spotlight: Geriatric Care Managers appeared first on CareNovate Magazine.

  • Health Insurance Marketplace & Women’s Health {Video}

    DrG
    12 May 2013 | 3:09 am
    Women are the health care decision-makers and chief household officer in their families, but too often, women put their own health last. As the primary caregiver of the household, they are too busy scheduling doctor appointments for their family members, managing medication list for aging parents and tend to overlook their own health needs. But [...]The post Health Insurance Marketplace & Women’s Health {Video} appeared first on CareNovate Magazine.

  • Shortage of Primary Care Doctors with ObamaCare? {Inforgraphic}

    DrG
    10 May 2013 | 5:53 am
    By the time we know it, it will be 2014 and the patient protection and affordable care act (ObamaCare) will be fully implemented. Critics are worried about the impact of the ObamaCare – increasing healthcare cost, higher taxes to fund a national healthcare and shortage of primary care doctors partly driven by Medicare payment structures [...]The post Shortage of Primary Care Doctors with ObamaCare? {Inforgraphic} appeared first on CareNovate Magazine.
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    CareNovate MagazineCareNovate Magazine

  • The Caregiving & Caregivers Predicament {Infographic}

    DrG
    21 May 2013 | 7:47 am
     The post The Caregiving & Caregivers Predicament {Infographic} appeared first on CareNovate Magazine.

  • Digital Health: Healthcare via Smartphones {Infographic}

    admin
    19 May 2013 | 6:36 am
    What is digital health? Greatist and Rock Health explains here. The Future of Health is Your Smartphone infographic by greatist.  The post Digital Health: Healthcare via Smartphones {Infographic} appeared first on CareNovate Magazine.

  • Healthcare Extender Spotlight: Geriatric Care Managers

    DrG
    14 May 2013 | 6:28 am
    Geriatric care management provides a solution and becoming a resource for those who simply do not have the time to provide for all the care management themselves. This is where healthcare extenders called geriatric care managers (GCM) can play a huge role. The demand for professional GCMs is increasing. What is a GCM? GCMs are [...]The post Healthcare Extender Spotlight: Geriatric Care Managers appeared first on CareNovate Magazine.

  • Health Insurance Marketplace & Women’s Health {Video}

    DrG
    12 May 2013 | 3:09 am
    Women are the health care decision-makers and chief household officer in their families, but too often, women put their own health last. As the primary caregiver of the household, they are too busy scheduling doctor appointments for their family members, managing medication list for aging parents and tend to overlook their own health needs. But [...]The post Health Insurance Marketplace & Women’s Health {Video} appeared first on CareNovate Magazine.

  • Shortage of Primary Care Doctors with ObamaCare? {Inforgraphic}

    DrG
    10 May 2013 | 5:53 am
    By the time we know it, it will be 2014 and the patient protection and affordable care act (ObamaCare) will be fully implemented. Critics are worried about the impact of the ObamaCare – increasing healthcare cost, higher taxes to fund a national healthcare and shortage of primary care doctors partly driven by Medicare payment structures [...]The post Shortage of Primary Care Doctors with ObamaCare? {Inforgraphic} appeared first on CareNovate Magazine.
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    Healthcare Musings

  • The FDA and Plan B: Another Epic Fail

    Debra Gordon
    1 May 2013 | 7:58 am
    UPDATE: The Justice Department appealed the New York ruling tomorrow and asked for a stay on the order to make Plan B available to all women over-the-counter. Another epic fail! I’m not happy with the front-page news that greeted me this morning: The FDA has agreed to make Plan B, aka, emergency contraception, available over the counter for girls as young as 15, although all women will have to show an ID. Previously, you had to be 17 to access it without a prescription and even older women had to ask a pharmacist for it, which is not only embarrassing, but the pharmacist could refuse to…

  • Prejudice and Discrimination in the Doctor’s Office

    Debra Gordon
    22 Apr 2013 | 6:46 am
    I have a friend who is so beautiful you want to suggest that she model. She is also very overweight. She is well aware of her weight problem and it makes her miserable. This, in turn, sets up  an awful feedback loop in which she feels terrible because of her weight, which drives her to eat, which leads to weight gain, which makes her feel terrible. Last week, she had horrific abdominal pain that kept her in bed for days. Why didn’t she go to the doctor? I asked. Because, she answered, she feared what the doctor would say about her weight and how she’d be treated–like a…

  • Step Away From that Test

    Debra Gordon
    4 Apr 2013 | 10:45 am
    My best friend turned 57 in October (but you’d never know it by looking at her; she doesn’t look a day over 45). Like most of us of a certain age, she has a few medical issues. Years of working as an editor has left her with carpal tunnel syndrome. Years of living with cats has left her with asthma. Years of sun worshiping behavior has left her with basal cell skin cancer. Years of good eating have left her with a borderline high LDL level. And, as a result of being, well, 58, she has a pain in her left shoulder. Sound familiar? My friend recently switched doctors and found a new…

  • Wise Words From a Retired Hand Surgeon

    Debra Gordon
    21 Mar 2013 | 2:43 pm
    Those of you who know me know I like wine. A lot. And food. Even more. Put the two together and I’m there! So that’s where I was last night, at a wine tasting dinner enjoying the wines from Ferrari-Carano, which, by the way, are excellent and very reasonably priced (we bought a case). We were sitting across from an older couple and, of course, got to talking. Turns out he’s a retired hand surgeon from New Jersey who retired to Williamsburg. He heard me say that I was giving a talk about healthcare reform. “I figured out how to fix the healthcare system,” he said.

  • Elective Deliveries: A Sign of a Healthcare System Out of Control

    Debra Gordon
    23 Feb 2013 | 5:50 am
    My husband is always getting on me about the number of tabs I have open in my browser at any one time. I think one time I had more than 100 open. Within the past few days, at least 10 of those tabs dealt with the same topic: medical tests and procedures that we either don’t need or that don’t work. There are simply too many for a single blog, so I’m focusing on one here and will write more about others in the coming days. The lucky winner? Births. Seems like an obvious medical procedure, doesn’t it? Baby is delivered when mom goes into labor or, if problems develop or…
 
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    Dr Weil's Daily Health Tips

  • Hold the Bacon…

    Dr. Weil
    23 May 2013 | 5:08 am
    …And the sausages, the salami and all other processed meat: the more of it you eat, the greater your risks of death from heart disease, stroke and cancer. That’s the conclusion of a newly published European analysis that collected data from almost a half-million people in 10 countries. The researchers found that consuming more than 20 grams of processed meat per day (equivalent to a single thin strip of bacon) was enough to raise the risks. The good news for meat eaters is that the findings don’t apply to unprocessed red meat. Part of the risk of processed meats is the fat…

  • How to Ease Arthritis Pain

    Dr. Weil
    22 May 2013 | 5:35 am
    If you’re dealing with the aches and pains of “wear and tear” osteoarthritis, your best move may be to get on the scale. A literature review in the March 2013 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons suggests that carrying too much weight may trigger the biomechanical and inflammatory changes that lead to osteoarthritis, along with all the pain and loss of mobility this condition brings. What’s more, the authors conclude that approximately half of all cases of arthritis of the knee could be avoided if those affected were able to lose weight.

  • Beyond Organic: Victoria Maizes at TEDxTucsonSalon (Video)

    Dr. Weil
    21 May 2013 | 5:21 am
    Buying organic doesn't guarantee your food is free of chemicals arising from production, packaging or contaminated soil and water. Dr. Victoria Maizes, Executive Director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine and author of Be Fruitful, points to how we can bring truly clean food to market. This video is from Dr. Maizes' talk at TEDxTucsonSalon April 25, 2013 at the University of Arizona. Looking for more videos? Check out Dr. Weil's YouTube channel for a great selection.

  • Secret of Sound Sleep

    Dr. Weil
    20 May 2013 | 5:23 am
    Regular exercise is good for your heart, your waistline and your sleep. A new poll conducted by the National Sleep Foundation revealed that people who reported exercising vigorously were almost twice as likely to say they slept well nightly, or almost every night. They were also the least likely to complain of problems falling asleep or waking too early and not being able to nod off again. In comparison, half of poll participants who said they don’t exercise reported waking during the night, and nearly one quarter had trouble falling asleep again. Worse, poll participants who…

  • How Often Do You Check Calorie Counts? (Poll)

    Dr. Weil
    17 May 2013 | 5:20 am
    A recent Q&A discussed the number calories in food according to nutrition labels: Are Calorie Counts Accurate? Check out the article and tell us how often you check calories in the food you eat! How often do you check calorie counts?
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