October 19th, 2010 by Medgadget in Better Health Network, News, Research
Tags: Bartron Medical Imaging, Breast Cancer, Cancer Diagnosis Tool, Earth Imaging Software, Goddard Space Flight Center, Hierarchial Segmentation Software, Homogeneous Areas, HSEG, James Tilton, Mammogram Enhancement, MED-SEG, Medgadget, NASA, Radiology, Satellite Data
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James C. Tilton, a scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, for some years now has been working on new image enhancement software to help automatically analyze satellite data of the Earth. Hierarchical Segmentation Software (HSEG), as the tool is called, identifies relatively homogeneous areas of an image and highlights them.
Our eyes and brains are pretty good at image analysis, but large dense maps can be quite a challenge. Although originally designed for aerial cartography, the first commercial use of the software came in the form of a mammogram enhancement and analysis system.
The lakes of northern Wisconsin (top) are very much like dense breast tissue (side) to a NASA scientist it turns out, and porting over the code and optimizing it led to the MED-SEG™ system from Bartron Medical Imaging (New Haven, Connecticut). Having received FDA approval, plans are now being made to conduct clinical trials evaluating how MED-SEG can benefit radiologists in cancer diagnosis. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*
October 19th, 2010 by RyanDuBosar in Better Health Network, News, Research
Tags: ACP Internist, American College Of Physicians, Anesthesiologists, CNN/Money, Healthcare Administrators, How Meaningful Is Medical Practice, Medical Careers, Medical Education, PayScale.com, Physician Assistants, Physician Careers, Practicing Medicine, Ryan DuBosar, Social Workers
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Doctors are the top six best-paid careers (based on median and top pay), with anesthesiologists being the best-paid, primary care being the sixth-best and nurse anesthetists the seventh best-paid, according to a survey by CNN/Money magazine and PayScale.com. But not one of the physician careers landed on the top lists for job growth or quality of life. The title of best job went to software architect and the second-best job went to physician assistant.
Take heart, though. When asked about having the most meaningful work (based on the percentage who think their job makes the world a better place), the top spot went again to anesthesiologists, and second through ninth went to some kind of medical provider or healthcare administrator. Social workers rounded out the tenth spot. (CNN/Money)
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
October 19th, 2010 by KerriSparling in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Medblogger Shout Outs, News, Opinion, True Stories
Tags: 33 Charts, Blog World Expo 2010, Dr. Bryan Vartabedian, Dr. Kevin Pho, Health Bloggers, Healthcare Social Media, Kerri Morrone Sparling, KevinMD, Kim McAllister, Medical Bloggers, Medical Blogosphere, Online Medical Communities, Six Until Me, Social Health, Social Networking Technologies, Social Networks
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I was in Las Vegas, but it wasn’t all just spending quality time with blogging buddies. There was work to do — we were there for the Social Health track of BlogWorld & New Media Expo 2010 to help inform others about the discussions taking place in the medical blogosphere, and the power of these communities.
The panel that I was participating on was Social Networks & The Medical Blogosphere: Compatible or Competitive, with fellow panelists Kevin Pho and Bryan Vartabedian (see photo) moderated by the fabulous Kim McAllister. The big question was: “Are these social networking technologies helping or hurting the blogosphere?”
We, as a panel, gave this a lot of thought as we prepared for our discussion, and we ultimately settled on the answer of “Well…both.” Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Six Until Me.*
October 18th, 2010 by DrRob in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion
Tags: Business of Healthcare, Customer Service In Healthcare, Dr. Rob Lamberts, Family Practice, General Medicine, Healthcare Policy, Medicine As A Business, Musings of a Distractible Mind, Patients As Healthcare Customers, Primary Care
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Gosh, a whole lot of huffing over a little word! “Customer.” Okay, now grab a paper bag and breathe slowly and steadily into it. I know it’s hard to hear that word. I am sorry to have caused such trouble.
Some folks misunderstood my last post, thinking that I thought patients should only be considered customers, or that they should be referred to as customers. I never said that, nor did I imply it. I simply said that patients are customers. They are. Medical care is not free, and it is being paid for by the patient (directly or indirectly). Medicine is a business that has been so mismanaged that we are now in a crisis over its financial side. The trouble is the cost of care. Cost implies money is used, and trading money for services or goods is what business is about.
We’ve been spending our dollars on healthcare like a person irresponsibly running up a credit card bill they can’t pay back. The pain doesn’t happen now, it happens down the road when the collectors knock. We can’t order whatever tests we want or prescribe gazillion dollar drugs without remembering somebody will have to pay the bill. Ignoring the business of medicine has gotten us into deep doo-doo. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Musings of a Distractible Mind*
October 18th, 2010 by Shadowfax in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion
Tags: Accountable Care Organizations, ACO, Elliot Fisher, Emergency Medicine, Fee-For-Service System, General Medicine, Health Affairs, Healthcare Costs, Healthcare Policy, Healthcare Quality, Healthcare reform, Independent Practice Associations, Integrated Delivery Systems, Multispecialty Group Practices, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Physician-Hospital Organizations, PPACA, Virtual Physician Organizations
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Those of you who’ve read this blog for any length of time know that I have been a pretty strong advocate for healthcare reform. This has been primarily motivated by my passion for universal coverage, but also with my frustration with the cost of the current healthcare system, the generally crummy outcomes, and the overall level of fragmentation in the whole affair.
Even today, I had to repeat blood tests on a cancer patient who came to the ER. He had had blood tests at the cancer center ACROSS THE STREET before presenting, but, so sorry, our computers don’t talk to theirs and it’s after 5pm now, so forget about getting those results.
So it’s with a mixture of enthusiasm and dread that I consider the coming onslaught of accountable care organizations (ACOs). What are ACOs? They’re the buzzword of the day, that’s for sure. Everybody knows they’re the next big thing. They’re coming. We’ll all be in an ACO by next Tuesday for sure. It’ll be nirvana. Right? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Movin' Meat*
