Epocrates EHR Too Late For the Show and Looking to Sell Their Mobile Medical Records System

This is kind of too sad as I have used Epocrates for years on my cell phone and PDA before that to look up formularies.  Even on this blog I put a courtesy search box for their web services to make it easy to look up a drug. The problem here is that they have way too much competition and the late start didn’t help them out a bit. Epocrates Entering the Mobile EHR Market This is just yet one more merging or selling of software as it’s happening all over and I can’t even keep up with it, especially on the insurer side of payor software.  BD  The San Mateo, Calif.-based company acknowledged that building the EHR has hindered...

Judge Says No to Cardinal–Suspension Remains on Shipping Drugs from Florida Facility–Where Were The Algorithms/Analytics To Find This?

As you read on here and with the way we use business intelligence for everything and even abuse it today in some areas, here’s a case to where the CVS pharmacy would have stuck out like a sore thumb if the average store dispenses 69,000 a year and this store dispenses 1.8 million pills.  I know any intelligence report of course would have caught that in a heartbeat but the problem is, someone has to look at it as well and bring it to the forefront.  I think the judge making this ruling is being tough as the numbers are so very far out of whack here with normal and customary numbers.   DEA Raids 2 CVS Stores in Florida and...

FDA Approves First 4 in 1 FluMist Vaccine For Ages 2 to 49

We get some extra vaccine power in this FluMist vaccine it appears so I guess might as well get all you can at once and you inhale it.  Strains of two types of both strains A and B are included.  BD WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal health officials have approved the first vaccine that protects against four strains of the common flu, offering one additional layer of protection against the influenza virus that affects millions each year. The FluMist Quadrivalent vaccine from AstraZeneca's MedImmune unit protects against two strains of influenza A and two strains of influenza B. The Food and Drug Administration approved the spray-based...

Feds Bust Doctor in Dallas, Texas Area for Medicare Fraud–No Yacht and No Escape from the US Now… Biggest MD Fraud Case in History

When you read through this he had it all pretty well planned out so this was not an “accidental” case of errors with medical billing by any means.  Getting busted one and then going around to create another company to keep functioning is like really asking to be caught and there’s greed in fraud for sure.  What is also kind of funny is the book that they found that evidently was his business plan to make all the money and run, "Hide Your A$$ET$ and Disappear." Also too using folks from shelters and giving them grocery money and so forth was not a good idea either and if the folks were hungry well they maybe got some food out of the...

United Healthcare Buys Two HMOs in Florida–More Cheap or Free Hearing Aids for Seniors Perhaps–Subsidiary Watch

Not too long ago the cheap and free hearing aides were in the news.  These are distributed through yet another United Healthcare subsidiary, of which there are many, more than any other health insurer has.  As you can read below the bonus was a free hearing aid for those in Miami Dade county who enrolled in their plans, to include HMOs and Medicare Advantage.  UnitedHealthCare Throws in Free Hearing Aids for Those Who Enroll In AARP Medicare Advantage, HMO & POS Plans in Miami-Dade County From Their New Subsidiary Maybe this is yet one more way to capture more market with United.  If you read the link below you can...

Gordon Gekko Comes Back to Help the FBI With A Public Service Announcement to Help Fight Financial Crime On Wall Street

This is a little off topic but interesting that Michael Douglas, who played the role, twice, was asked to do a public service video but I guess it gets attention as he played a pretty ruthless character and I watched both movies myself just as like movies.  What’s interesting is when you read his comments below that people used to come up and congratulate him on being the bad guy, he doesn’t even get where that comes from as it was a movie.  BD  “The movie was fiction, but the problem is real,” Douglas says in the announcement. “Our economy is increasingly dependent on the success and integrity of the financial markets. If a deal looks too good to be true, it probably is. For more information on how you can identify securities fraud, or to report insider trading, contact...

More Birth Control Pill Recalls–Patient Found This Error with Pills in Bubble Pack in Reverse Order–The “Shitty Deal” With No Bar Codes to Make Them Easier to Find…

I goes pay to ask questions and look around anymore as you never know what you might find and obviously this woman knew her pills enough to the fact that she was able to recognize that the wrong colors for the wrong weeks were in the wrong places.  This time it’s generic pills on the hook. No bar bodes yet to make the recalled lots easy enough to find so worth a mention again so I can sound like a 3 years old broken record here as that’s how long my campaign has been going to get the drug, device companies and the FDA to collaborate and get this going.  A few weeks ago Pfizer had their recalls with birth control pills. Pfizer Recalls...

Blue Cross and United Healthcare Duking It Out In Nebraska Over State Health Insurance Contract–We Have More Subsidiaries My Cost Algorithms Are Better Than Yours?

Ok so the title got your attention but gee if you have followed news about insurers then you do know that United has tons of subsidiary companies and Blue Cross doesn’t even come close in number and as you have read too they are not all insurance companies.  We have all different types to include hearing aids, FDA consultants, Wellness and so on.  They have truckload of data too. The person making the decision says it will save around $8 million a year and again you wonder do subsidiary companies figure in here somewhere along the line?  We have the China Gate subsidiary that works to promote more drugs and devices for approval...

Aspects of Futile Care: What to do when there’s nothing to do

MSU's Center for Ethics and Humanities in the Life Sciences is hosting a free webinar on Wednesday, March 14th, from 12:00 - 1:00 pm CT, titled "Aspects of Futile Care:  What to Do When There’s Nothing to Do."  The presenter is Marc D. Basson, MD, PhD, MBA, Professor and Chair of the Department of Surgery at the College of Human Medicine.  The description of the presentation is "From ethical, societal, and financial perspectives, we will discuss what it would mean to consider medical care a futile effort and what physicians’ obligations might be in response to requests by patients or families for care that is deemed futile. Is the withholding of futile medical care an infringement on patient and family “autonomy?” How do costs enter into a...

Illinois to Drop Hospice Coverage?

Rick Kasper, CEO of Joliet Area Community Hospice, has an alarming article in yesterday's Illinois Herald-News.  He writes that "the state is pondering what “optional services” to do away with in an effort to save Medicaid money. . . .  Hospice is one of the services considered 'optional' . . . ."Kasper rightly notes that hospices "provide Medicaid recipients (as well as all enrolled) with the palliative comfort care services, medications, medical equipment/supplies and visits by interdisciplinary team members (nurses, physician, social worker, chaplain and volunteers as needed) who are expert at end-of-life care.  That results in quality care at the site of patients’ preference, as most patients want to fully live until they die comfortably at home or in the facility in which...

The Descendants -- Accurate Medicine Portrayal

PBS NewsHour has posted a piece by Dr. Howard Markel, pediatrician, substance abuse expert, and medical historian.  Markel examines the accuracy of the health themes in this year's Oscar-nominated films.  Here is his analysis of THE DESCENDANTS.Dr. Markel says: "This sad but funny tale of a family is partially driven by the results of a boating accident in which the matriarch, Elizabeth, suffers irreversible brain damage and coma requiring life support that is ultimately withdrawn. Her color, the machines she is hooked up to, the frozen features all fairly resemble a real person in a coma. She is probably holding a rag because sometimes comatose patients move about. The comatose Elizabeth may have been digging at her palm with her nails, which the rag prevents.  The...

HHS Facebook Application Winners Announced for the Lifeline Challenge–But Are Any Privacy Policies/Protections Included?

This is just my personal opinion but I think these are nuts and could not for the life of me figure this contest out and the press release says nothing about privacy so again we know who mines data on the web and who sells data so that is my first question here in wondering why privacy was not mentioned. Sure the intentions here are good but again in case of a hurricane for example if I were a victim, would I find my home owners insurance going up quickly and would I be receiving FEMA contractor coupons?  These are not dumb questions as that’s kind of how things work out there today with everything being connected.  On the other hand...

Standard of Care - Set by Law, Not by Clinicians

In Cuthbertson v. Rasouli, the Appellants argue to the Supreme Court that physicians should not be required to provide treatment outside the standard of care, as the lower courts held the HCCA requires.  But this assumes that the standard of care is and can be determined independent from legal obligations under the HCCA.  This assumption appears to be rejected by the Health Professions Appeals and Review Board.  The Board seems to think that the standard of care applicable to an Ontario clinician is itself shaped and determined by legal obligations under the HC...

The “Shit” Cancer Patients Say–Five Time Cancer Survivor and the Best Looking Amputee in Denver – Woody Roseland

This is quite the video and being he’s a five time survivor he knows the chemo routine and you have have to admire his humor and going though a day in the chemo session here and making the best of it.  He has a website you can visit to hear his story.  The cancer came back 4 times!  img alt="" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('f2ebbabe-119d-4a84-ae1b-ca2d2c200c26'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "";" src="//lh5.ggpht.com/-fAWl2JqLhkM/T0XKuwWs6_I/AAAAAAAA5eg/t_eEnNBG_0U/videof2052b7d2f3d%25255B23%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-style: none">Shit Cancer Patients Say Here’s a second...

FDA Finds 14 Additional Chinese Companies That Supplied Contaminated Raw Materials Used to Make Heparin And Puts Out Alert –Time To Start Raising More Pigs in the US?

We all remember the Baxter incident from a few years ago.  The FDA has put out a warning list with additional companies listed and they did not know or state if they were current distributors of the raw material that makes the blood thinning drug.  Back in October of 2010 it was back in the news again with another recall.  B. Braun Recalls Seven Lots of Heparin–Potential Contamination–FDA States Not a Signification Public Health Threat Despite Tainted Heparin, US Drug and Medical Device Companies Still Like China We need more home grown pigs intestines from the US is appears as that is one of the raw materials that goes into...

Cuthbertson v. Rasouli -- Appellants' Factum

A few days ago, the Appellants in Cuthbertson v. Rasouli filed their Factum with the Supreme Court of Canada.  Given some logical and factual errors in the Court of Appeals July 2011 opinion, the Appellants' argument is pretty strong.  But there are a few points that struck me as problematic:"The patient's beliefs are irrelevant to the question of whether a treatment offers a medical benefit. . . .  can only be based on the clinical judgment of a medical professional . . . ."  [para. 44]"The clinical judgment as to whether a treatment offers a medical benefit vary from physician to physician. Some physicians may be willing to offer . . . others are not . . . ."  [para 45]"[A]ny assertion that the Consent and Capacity Board provides an efficient mechanism to resolve...

Closed Hospitals in the Los Angeles Area Get a Second Life for Television and Movie Filming as Turn Key Sets

Some facilities are better than others but when you stop and think of the shows we see on television, hospitals are all over the place as someone is always getting shot, or something along that line.  The location though formerly used for Scrubs though was not as nice as some of the other locations used. Scrubs Television Show Hospital Filming Site Filled with Rats The one I remember though was the Bucket List which I believe used the closed Century City hospital for it’s set.  BD  img alt="" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('e91375da-f0d7-4185-abb8-682a13355ddc'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML =...

Foundation Medicine - Personalized Medicine for Biopsy DNA Studies - Will Cost $5000 for the “Pan-Cancer” Test - Any Oncologist Will Be Able To Use The Center For Testing

This is very interesting article and goes in depth to discuss how running the DNA on a biopsy can help doctors with prescribing cancer drugs and many of which are still in early testing stages.  It could also lead to more patients in that respect being referred to a clinical trial. The big problem here cited with this article is the same old same old with insurance reimbursement and the fact that some of the genes have patents like the HER2 gene which has really been scrutinized by insurance carriers with Myriad.  This however is going to be the way treating cancer will be in a few years as it makes sense rather than guessing. ...

Minute Clinics Moving to Allscripts Medical Records System So I Guess E-Clinical Works Who Started With CVS Clinics Is Out the Door? How Do Medium/Small Companies Compete with Huge Corporate Conglomerates

Back in January of 2010 this article was out with the two companies collaborating on e-prescribing so what did Allscripts do, edge out eClincalWorks with a corporate package deal?  I don’t know that’s what occurred but it’s pretty accurate about 85% of the time today with mergers and acquisitions in healthcare.  eClinical Works is an excellent EHR that is both web and client based and is used all over the US is connects with most hospital medical record systems and they have a big base of business but they are not a “corporate conglomerate” looking to feed hungry shareholders either.  CVS and AllScripts Collaborating on E-Prescribing...

AMA Selling Online Physician Portal to AT&T–The Amagine Project, There’s Money in Selling And Aggregating Those Algorithms

I guess if you are attending HIMSS this year you can find out more about it at their booth.  Writing code or in this case having an outsourced company do you development turns into money, right?   The AMA appears to have been just as busy in developing their software house as many vendors have.  Back in July they made the Allscripts e-Prescribing tool available and enhancements and other offerings have proceeded from here.  Allscripts ePrescribing Tool Will be Offered by AMA Not too long after the above announcement it was followed with working with HealthVault personal health records for access.  American Medical...

POLST - Big Challenges Remain

Much of the recent published literature on POLST is positive -- showing how POLST assures that the treatment patients want is the treatment patients get.  But enacting a law does not change practice.  A great deal of education and training is required.  Take, for example, the results of a New York City and Long Island survey published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.  Almost 1/2 of respondents agreed with the statement: "I would perform CPR on all patients rather than wasting time trying to find a MOLST document."  More than 1/3 said that slow codes are sometimes or frequently justified.  Nearly...

Futility Comprises 1/3 of Ethics Consults

In a recent article in Physician Executive Journal (37 no. 6), the University of Michigan reported that one-third of its ethics consults concerned futility.  Another third concerned end-of-life and advance directive.  The article explains how Michigan uses web-based consultation and archives older consult cases for viewing and comme...

ICU Bed Stewardship

One of the reasons that clinicians refuse non-beneficial treatment is to preserve scarce ICU beds for other patients who have a prospect of benefit.  A new study forthcoming in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care confirms that "ICU bed shortage may be associated with a loss of chance for some patients. . . .  [P]atients who were not admitted to the ICU due to a shortage of beds had a higher risk of early mortality . . . ." &nb...

Book surgery

Artist Brian Dettmer turns old reference books into new works of art using surgical tools. Isn't this gorgeous?...

Healthcare Blogger Gets Spammed by Hedge Fund Using Internet “Reputation Restore” With Some Really Bad Algos–Attack of the Killer Algorithms Chapter 20

First of all who was the blogger, it was me of course and this is my story on how this all took place.  If you are not familiar with “Reputation Restore” you can search it on the internet and find many companies who will provide this service for you if you feel you have been slammed with bad publicity on the internet or just want to hide what is out there.  You will find quite a few pages with companies that advertise on the web and run a business to fix your reputation.  Here’s  a screenshot of what a simple search turns up.  As you can see there are a lot of folks out there offering to fix your reputation on the internet. ...