November 6th, 2011 by DrWes in Health Policy, Opinion
Tags: Busy, Cost, Deductibles, Efficiency, Health Care Reform, Health Insurance, Holiday, New Year, Payment, Regulations, Vacation
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Like Christmas season advertising, the holiday crunch for procedural medicine is coming earlier every year.
Perhaps that’s why the posting on this blog as suffered: we’re busier than ever.
Why is this?
I suspect it’s because of a variety of forces that are coming together to create the great procedural “perfect storm” this time of year.
Perhaps the most important contributor to the holiday rush is the patients themselves. Patients are Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*
November 6th, 2011 by John Mandrola, M.D. in Better Health Network, Opinion, Research
Tags: Athlete, Coronary Artery Disease, Exercise, Future, Healthy Living, Heart Health, Inflammation, Mindset, Optimism, Performance, Pessimism, Research, Stroke Risk
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An athletic lifestyle offers many health benefits. This is hardly news. Exercise, attention to good eating and getting adequate rest makes everything better: lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels, higher heart rate turbulence and better survival in the event of heart attack and Cancer, just to name a few. The list of positives approaches infinity. We athletes do a lot that is healthy.
But tonight, I want to muse about yet another benefit of being a competitive athlete—you know, the kind of person that signs up for a challenge and then sees it through. No, it’s not just about bike racing, it could be anything that involves pinning a number and seeing results published on the word wide web.
What extra benefit? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr John M*
November 5th, 2011 by MuinKhouryMDPhD in Opinion, Research
Tags: Base pairs, CDC, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Disease, DNA, Environmental Factors, Genomics, Influence, Nature, Nurture, Pharmacogenomics, Public Health, Technology, WGS, Whole Genome Sequence
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The popular proverbial saying “you cannot have your cake and eat it too” implies that one cannot consume something and preserve it at the same time–in other words, we cannot have it both ways. Well, for once, maybe we can have our cake–our whole genome sequence (WGS)–and eat it too. I believe having our WGS and consuming it in small bite sizes over a lifetime may be the only way to integrate it into medicine and public health.
Rapid advances in genomic sequencing technologies are making the possibility of reliable and affordable whole genome sequencing (WGS) a reality in the next few years. We all carry about 6 billion base pairs of DNA in each of our cells, with 5-10 million inherited variants that are different among us. This genetic variation along with environmental influences provides a blueprint for health throughout the life span, and is related to virtually every disease of public health significance. There is definite interest among the public and scientists about the personal utility of this information. In a recent survey by Nature, attitudes towards genome sequencing were explored among a sample dominated by scientists and professionals from medicine and public health. Although only 18.2% of respondents had had their genome sequenced or analyzed, 2/3 of those who had not reported they would take the opportunity should it arise. Curiosity was reported as the main single factor influencing respondents.
Can this information be useful today in improving medical care and preventing disease? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Genomics and Health Impact Blog*
November 5th, 2011 by AndrewSchorr in Opinion
Tags: Cancer, Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia, CML, Educational Resources, Empowered, Engaged, Field of Dreams, Informed, Internet, Movie, Multiple Myeloma, Outreach, Patients, Reliable Information
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I can’t get the 1989 baseball movie Field of Dreams out of my head. That’s especially true right now as I can’t wait for the seventh game of the World Series. My son, Eitan, and I sat on the couch and watched the sixth game last night and it was probably the most exciting game I’ve ever seen. Plot twists galore. You can bet the audience for tonight’s game will be HUGE.
What’s so cool in thinking back about the movie is the famous line said to the baseball fanatic farmer: “If you build it they will come.” So he built a baseball field behind his house and the greats of baseball history came to play. I have never forgotten that line and have applied it to what we “build” at Patient Power – interview programs for people living with serious health concerns.
In the past few weeks, and continuing from now on, we have been focusing on two blood-related cancers: multiple myeloma and chronic myelogenous leukemia. While there are other educational resources out there, people living with these serious conditions always want more – as well they should. Fortunately, Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Andrew's Blog*
November 4th, 2011 by DavidHarlow in Health Policy, Opinion
Tags: Accountable Care Organization, ACO, Camel, CMS, Health Reform, Hospitals, Medicare, MSSP, New, Pay For Performance, Physicians, Regulations, Unicorn, Updated
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The final Accountable Care Organization regulations are out, the initial flurry of commentary is out (including my own ACO webinar with simultaneous #ACOchat tweetchat – available for replay; slides here : “ACOs, Bundled Payments and the Future of Health Care“), and we can now all catch our collective breath and contemplate the draft vs. final ACO regulation comparisons, the meaning of this new, final set of regulations, guidances and statements from CMS, FTC, DOJ, OIG, and IRS on ACOs and Medicare Shared Savings Programs, and all of the attendant antitrust, antikickback, Stark, and other fraud and abuse matters, and of course tax issues.
So, now that these final regulations are out, and the mythical characteristics of the ACO will soon be dispelled (see under: unicorn), I propose a new animal kingdom metaphor for discussion of Accountable Care Organizations:
The Camel’s Nose is in the Tent.
The definition of a camel, as those of you who tuned into my ACO webinar already know, is Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at HealthBlawg :: David Harlow's Health Care Law Blog*
