March 30th, 2009 by KevinMD in Better Health Network
2 Comments »
More hospitals are resorting to so-called “dayhawk” radiology services to read their x-rays.
It’s modeled after the “nighthawk” model, where radiologists (via Shadowfax), in some cases as far away as India, remotely read films in the middle of the night.
Now, the phenomenon is happening during business hours as well, which according to radiologist Giles W. L. Boland, means that “some radiologists can no longer assume long-term job security because their core value proposition can now be outsourced.”
This trend was entirely foreseeable. Cash-strapped hospitals are finding it cheaper to outsource x-ray readings, and furthermore, it seems that both nighthawks and dayhawks provide better service and more timely interpretations. This adds up to a declining need for an in-house radiology staff.
That’s bad news for some. Radiology departments at smaller hospitals may close, and eventually general radiologist salaries will come under pressure.
The answer? Like everything else in medicine, radiology sub-specialists will increasingly be in demand. Expect procedure-based, interventional radiology to grow, since what they do cannot be outsourced. Health care costs will correspondingly rise.
So, like primary care, don’t be surprised if the days of general radiology are numbered.
**This post was originally published at Dr. Kevin Pho’s blog, KevinMD.**
March 28th, 2009 by Dr. Val Jones in Quackery Exposed
13 Comments »
On January 28th I exposed the tactics of a certain unscrupulous company called Wellsphere. In a nutshell, they lured unsuspecting bloggers to join their network with a series of flattering emails from their Chief Medical Officer, Geoff Rutledge, M.D., Ph.D. The emails suggest that by being featured at Wellsphere, the bloggers would receive higher visibility and more traffic to their blogs. In reality, when the bloggers signed up to join, they unwittingly gave Wellsphere the right to take all of their blogs’ content, aggregate it on Wellsphere and then SELL it to Health Central (without compensating the bloggers a penny). The bloggers whom I spoke with did not notice any increase in their traffic – in fact, since their entire RSS feed was featured at Wellsphere, readers had no incentive to click back to their blogs.
Beyond the shady blog-scraping practices, Wellsphere encouraged bloggers to answer medical questions (regardless of their qualifications to do so) on their site. Health Central’s tagline, by the way, is “trusted, reliable, and up to date health information.” In return, they were offered a “Maven” badge which suggested that they had special authority to do so. One blogger pointed out how unsafe this was:
I’m supposed to be a “Health Maven” in the “General Medicine” group … and I got my qualifications from …. a Cracker Jacks box? Wellsphere made it appear as if I was someone knowledgeable in General Medicine, and no one was checking in to make sure I wasn’t killing someone with bad advice! Dude! In fact, most of the questions which were sent in weren’t being answered at all, or they were being answered by numbos like me. Answers from real medical professionals were meager. Imagine if the readers took Wellsphere seriously, and actually trusted our replies!!!
When I first posted the story, about 60 commenters relayed horror stories of how misled they were by Wellsphere, and how their content was not removed from the site in a timely manner when they asked to cease participation. Twitter lit up with more disgruntlement. I figured that Health Central would have issued an apology to the bloggers who felt betrayed, but instead Chris Schroeder, CEO
of Health Central, had this to say,
“Most bloggers are happy about Wellsphere.”
In an early announcement to the media about the acquisition of Wellsphere, Mr. Schroeder revealed that the blogger content would allow Health Central “to more effectively monetize their advertising” because bloggers tend to come back regularly to the site, thus increasing advertising page views.
The Plot Thickens
So after doing my part to make bloggers aware of what was happening – and let them decide if they’d like to remain members of Wellsphere – I decided to move on. However, yesterday a member of Better Health was sent a flattering email from Dr. Geoff Rutledge inviting her to join Wellsphere. This same blogger had received similar emails over a year ago, had joined Wellsphere, figured out that there was NO value proposition for her or her blog, and requested that her content be removed. Now many months later she receives this email:
Hi XXX,
I’m writing to give you an update on Wellsphere’s HealthBlogger Network, and tell you about the new and greatly increased benefits of participation in the network. My name is Dr. Geoff Rutledge — I’m a board certified physician who practiced and taught at Stanford and Harvard medical schools before joining Wellsphere. Wellsphere is the fastest-growing online health platform and is now one of the Top 5 consumer health websites, helping nearly 5 million people each month find health and healthy-living information and support.
Several months ago, I discovered your blog while searching for the best health bloggers online. After reviewing your writing, I thought your blog would be a great addition to the network, and sent you an invitation to join in the Nursing community. Since then, the benefits of participation have grown dramatically as the network has grown to nearly 2,000 bloggers, we’ve introduced a variety of blogger widgets and status badges, and the number of visitors has skyrocketed to 5 million per month — and we are still growing fast!
Once you agree to participate, we republish the articles you have already written for your blog (with links back to your blog), so there is no extra work for you to do. Your articles will appear in the Nursing community, and on all the search results and WellPages (topic pages) where your articles match a relevant topic or search query.
I would like to emphasize that YOU will RETAIN FULL COPYRIGHT TO YOUR WRITING <image001.png> the only right you give us is to republish your content on Wellsphere for AS LONG AS YOU CHOOSE. These terms are spelled out clearly on the Health Blogger Network Participation Agreement at http://www.wellsphere.com/bloggerSignUp.s?email=er_kim@emergiblog.com
When you participate in the HealthBlogger Network, you’ll be eligible for a variety of badges that will recognize you for your achievements and leadership in your fields, including the Top Health Blogger and Health Maven badges (we’ll send you information about how to become a Health Maven, if you choose to do so). Here are some of the options for these badges that are available to you.
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You will also be able to choose among a set of custom tailored widgets that you can post free of charge on your blog and provide your readers a richer experience on your site:
· Wellternatives – healthy menu options at your favorite restaurant! Gives your readers the nutrition information for restaurant menu items,
and a Wellternative – a healthier dish that is similar, but better for you. See
http://www.wellsphere.com/wellWidgets.s
Here are some examples of what your blogging colleagues have said about their experience after joining the Health Blogger Network:
“Since joining Wellsphere I’ve had numerous opportunities to accomplish my goals for Mommy Motivation, not to mention that I’ve increased my traffic by at least 40%. … Thanks, Wellsphere.“ – Cathy Tibbles
“Joining the HealthBlogger Network was a great move. I look forward to getting the great comments and feedback each time I post and knowing that there’s a growing community there all interested in the same areas. The traffic to the site has increased, too! It’s well worth getting on board if you can.“ Jeff A.
“My involvement in HBN has been great in that I’ve seen more traffic to my own site.” – Brett Blumenthal
“There are many benefits to becoming a health blogger. Wellsphere offers great promotion and a friendly atmosphere. It allows you to show your talents and share your insight with others. It has been a pleasure being a part of the Wellsphere community.“ – Lisa Robertson
Here is what some of the members have told us about the benefits of the badges and widgets:
“The badges give my blog credibility. My traffic has steadily increased since I added the awards badges from the People’s HealthBlogger Awards. I’ve also started a new related business that I’m advertising on my blog. The
increased traffic may help me make a living while I help care for my mother.” –
Jacqueline Jones
“Honestly, I have to say that the widgets I have (Top Health Blogger and Health Maven) help immensely in terms of credibility. …. I have allowed very few widgets on my blog – only the two Wellsphere ones, because it helps me, but even more important, it helps my readers find what I believe to be the BEST health site on the net. Thanks for all that you do!” – Lynette Sheppard
We invite you to join the HealthBlogger Network and experience these benefits for yourself. All you have to do is go to the Health Blogger Network Registration Page at
http://www.wellsphere.com/bloggerSignUp.s?email=er_kim@emergiblog.com , confirm your email and blog URL, and select a password! We’ll do the work to connect your blog and begin republishing your articles for Wellsphere’s millions of visitors to read. Of course, you are also welcome to participate as a user on Wellsphere, interact with other HealthBloggers and Wellsphere members, and take advantage of the many features and functions of the site.
If you have any questions about how this works, or would like to chat about it, please feel free to give me a call at ![]()
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(650) 345-2100![]()
, or send me email to Dr.Rutledge@wellsphere.com
Cheers,
Geoff
—
Geoffrey W. Rutledge MD, PhD
Chief Medical Information Officer
http://www.wellsphere.com
Dr.Rutledge@wellsphere.com
I am astonished that these emails are still being sent, and the bold faced lie at the beginning (“Several months ago I discovered your blog…”) is truly disturbing.
I personally feel that these emails are now bordering on harassment, and that something needs to be done to protect bloggers from continued contact with Wellsphere.
As a point of interest, I NEVER joined Wellsphere, yet here is a screen shot from their website, featuring blog posts about me, my headshot, and my YouTube videos of recent TV interviews where I was a guest.
What do you think should be done next?
March 27th, 2009 by Jon LaPook, M.D. in Better Health Network, Video
2 Comments »
Would you know what to do if you needed an ambulance or if you had to go to an emergency room? During 2005, an estimated 115 million visits were made to emergency rooms in the United States – up 31 percent from 1995. About 14 percent of patients arrive via ambulance. Emergency rooms across America are overloaded – partly because many of the almost 50 million uninsured use the emergency room as their primary physician (and partly because we tend to focus on treatment of illness rather than prevention – but that’s another blog post).
During the next two segments, I will take you way behind the scenes and give you tips on how to be prepared in case the unexpected happens and you end up on your way to an emergency room. This week I play the part of a patient with chest pain and take you inside a New York City ambulance with paramedics Ray Cordi and Hanan Cohen. Next week my colleague, Richard Schlesinger, and I continue your tour inside the emergency room at New York Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, the first time this institution (where I am on staff) has ever allowed such inside access to the media.
Watch CBS Videos Online
**This blog post was first published at CBSDOC.COM**
March 27th, 2009 by Medgadget in Better Health Network
No Comments »
The US Army’s National Museum of Health and Medicine stores a gigantic digitized 
archive of prints and photos from the Civil War to Vietnam. The head archivist of the museum now started a project to make the collection available to the general public through Flickr. The initial set so far contains about 800 images, but thousands more should be coming soon.
More from Wired Science blog…
Link @ Flickr…
Images: Top: Base Hospital #33. Portsmouth, England. Patient with jaw bridgework. Dental laboratory. World War 1.
Side: Soldier and horse with gas mask. World War 1.
**This post was originally published at Medgadget.com**
