A very important reason for medical care cost escalation has to do with our own personal behaviors. We are a country of people who are overweight --one-third are overweight and one-third or more are frankly obese --, under-exercised, poorly fed from a nutritional perspective and highly stressed. And it gets worse each year. Even children have progressively declining physical activity from about three hours per day at age nine to less than an hour by age fifteen. And this will correlate to…
Continue
Added by Stephen C Schimpff on July 31, 2009 at 9:08am —
No Comments
Listening to President Obama’s recent speeches on healthcare reform it is clear that the US approach to healthcare requires a radical change in thinking.
The US is now spending over
$2 trillion a year on healthcare – almost 50% more per person than the next most costly nation.
Americans are most definitely not getting “bang for their buck,” as the President himself puts it, and are…
Continue
Added by Rebecca Caroe on July 29, 2009 at 12:25pm —
No Comments
Colleagues,
As reported in PC Magazine .. Some things stay the same, others change rapidly. The PC Magazine list of the Top 100 Web Sites reflects that. They have selected 50 classic Web sites that many of us already know, and 50 new and/or undiscovered sites that you may not have heard of yet ...For your convenience the sites are broken down into categories: Applications, Information, Technology, News, Shopping and Fun.
They also provide a download application to add all…
Continue
Added by CC-Conrad Clyburn-MedForeSight on July 28, 2009 at 10:00am —
No Comments
Colleagues,
As reported in the San Francisco Chronicle ... Experts say social media skills are moving alongside knowledge of e-mail and Microsoft Word as basic job requirements. This emerging trend suggests that in finding a job, it's no longer just who you know, it's who you digitally "friend" & "connect" to ...
... said social media and career counselor Nance Rosen. "Who you have as your friends and how many people you have influence over have become a part of the…
Continue
Added by CC-Conrad Clyburn-MedForeSight on July 27, 2009 at 2:00pm —
No Comments
Ever watched two kids splitting hairs about something that they are actually both agreed upon and then mum arrives to sort things out and somewhat misses the point completely?
The principles inherent in a recent blog post interchange between
Jonathan Richman,
Fard Johnmar… Continue
Added by Rebecca Caroe on July 27, 2009 at 5:48am —
1 Comment
Last fall I was asked by Maryland Senator Benjamin Cardin to join a group evaluating whether the new Walter Reed National Military Medical Center [WRNMMC], when completed in a few years, would be “world class.” The group, a subcommittee of the Defense Health Board, met multiple times to learn about the plans and develop a report for Congress. The report is now available at http://www.health.mil/dhb/meetings/NCR%20BRAC%20HSAS%20Report%20-%20Final.pdf . Here is a brief summary. The Base…
Continue
Added by Stephen C Schimpff on July 26, 2009 at 3:23pm —
No Comments
Colleagues,
If any of you are interested in becoming a regular blogger @ "MedTech-IQ", please let us know.
Do you have a special talent, skill or expertise? Do you have something to say? I know personally, that some of you are the top experts in the world in your respective fields.
If you would like to share that expertise with an international community of over 700 fellow members (MedTech-IQ membership includes academic researchers, CEOs, corporate executives,…
Continue
Added by CC-Conrad Clyburn-MedForeSight on July 25, 2009 at 3:30pm —
3 Comments
Colleagues,
As reported in Government Computer News ... Social networking tools must be a core part of national defense, harnessing the power of communities of interest to collaborate and share knowledge to address a range of issues from analyzing intelligence data to post-war recovery initiatives, according to panelists speaking this week at the Open Government and Innovations Conference in Washington...
... Social media software is being used by activists, businesses,…
Continue
Added by CC-Conrad Clyburn-MedForeSight on July 24, 2009 at 10:30am —
No Comments
Colleagues,
As reported in the San Francisco Business Times ... The Marc Andreessen-backed social networking startup Ning has raised $15 million more at an impressive $750 million valuation. Ning is the social network platform used by "MedTech-IQ"...
... The funding from Lightspeed Venture Partners brings to $119 million the amount raised by Palo Alto-based Ning, which was founded in 2004 by Andreessen, of Netscape fame, and its current CEO Gina Bianchini ... Other…
Continue
Added by CC-Conrad Clyburn-MedForeSight on July 22, 2009 at 10:27pm —
No Comments
The switch from acute to complex chronic diseases and the wide variation in care patterns are closely related. It is the complex chronic diseases that need the most attention and hence are most expensive to treat. But as a country we have long had the tradition of the independent, autonomous practioneer in the community taking care of us. This was fine for acute illnesses. The physician could either treat you him or herself or else would refer you to a particular specialist for needed care.…
Continue
Added by Stephen C Schimpff on July 20, 2009 at 10:00am —
1 Comment
Saving serious coin
By Kelly Lewis
I'm watching the Yankees win another game on TV and that funny E*TRADE commercial comes on, the one with the baby in a high chair, with a messy face and bib while talking smack to another baby. It always brings a smile to my face. In these dog days of summer, I propose a rewrite to the next baby commercial: "Saving serious coin."
The scene: a gentle American kitchen with cute baby, messy face and bib, sitting in a high…
Continue
Added by Kelly Lewis on July 19, 2009 at 11:57am —
No Comments
The Deportation of our Best and Brightest
By Kelly Lewis
7/17/2009 - 12:21:58 PM
The annual Pennsylvania state budget extravaganza showcases the mega-recipients of state aid conducting their annual fear-mongering stunts, billboards and media blitzes. This year the cuts will be real and deep, but the extravaganza is like crying wolf after so many years of sky-is-falling, false crisis creation.
We do not advocate tax or fee increases. Instead we advocate a…
Continue
Added by Kelly Lewis on July 19, 2009 at 11:48am —
No Comments
Colleagues,
As compiled each year by RTI International for the U.S. News and World Report, please see this year's top 20 ranked hospitals in the United States ... In this year's rankings a total of 4,861 hospitals were considered; hospitals were scored on reputation, death rate, patient safety, and care-related factors such as nursing and patient services; Johns Hopkins Hospital tops the list, as it has every year since 1991...
1 Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore
2…
Continue
Added by CC-Conrad Clyburn-MedForeSight on July 19, 2009 at 10:00am —
No Comments
Colleagues,
Is it time to think differently about the
“Valley of Death” ? The gap in capital and talent that prevents so many companies from successfully translating their promising medical technology from research to mass market success?
I think so, and here is why
In the last month, we at
MedTech-IQ have experienced a number of illuminating encounters. On the U.S. West Coast, we spoke to numerous venture capitalists, investors, corporate…
Continue
Added by CC-Conrad Clyburn-MedForeSight on July 18, 2009 at 11:30am —
No Comments
Recently Conrad Cyburn posted a note about the approach of Kaiser to keep costs down while quality high. They do a good job of avoiding the variations in care that exist across the country and which are part of thereason that caare is both expensive and not as good as it could or should be. There are wide variations in care expenditures from geographic region to region. One might assume that those regions with higher expenditures reap better health but that is simply not the case.…
Continue
Added by Stephen C Schimpff on July 16, 2009 at 10:13am —
No Comments
Colleagues,
Please see excellent article published in
Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News written by MedTech-IQ Member,
Sandra P. Thompson, Ph.D.. Sandra is an expert in worldwide patent and trademark prosecution, transactional - chemistry and biotech-related businesses.
Her article gives us a preview of how two pieces of legislation currently…
Continue
Added by CC-Conrad Clyburn-MedForeSight on July 14, 2009 at 10:00pm —
No Comments
Colleagues,
As reported in Health Leaders Media ... According to an April report by Manhattan Research, the number of physicians using smartphones more than doubled to 64% over the past year.
The results of the survey indicate that physicians ... are spending more time online using smartphones to access medical and pharmaceutical resources during the course of their busy day.
"It's rare for me to have an encounter—whether it's a phone visit, a virtual visit, or…
Continue
Added by CC-Conrad Clyburn-MedForeSight on July 13, 2009 at 10:30pm —
No Comments
Colleagues,
As reported in HealthCare IT News... Social networking tools are becoming more popular in medical and nursing school curricula, according to a new study published in the Journal of the Medical Library Association ... The study found that 53% of nursing schools and 45% of medical schools include Web 2.0 tools in their curricula. The survey also found that 58% of nursing schools plan to implement social networking tools in their curricula in the upcoming year, compared with…
Continue
Added by CC-Conrad Clyburn-MedForeSight on July 13, 2009 at 10:10pm —
No Comments
Google has finally
confirmed a 2010 release of its Chrome OS. Not simply a browser any longer, Chrome represents an open source Linux based architecture which scales upward from netbooks to desktops, and downwards to provide some overlap to its smartphone platform, Android. With Windows 7 gaining such good press, it can only be beneficial to…
Continue
Added by Clymer/JR on July 10, 2009 at 12:00pm —
No Comments
Colleagues,
In the continuing quest to bring you the 3C's of "content, Community & Collaboration" we are initiating the
MedTech-IQ Spotlight.
The first spotlight shines on MedTech-IQ member, Dr. Pramod Gaur, Phd., CEO, Healthanywhere. Dr Gaur was recently recognized for outstanding individual contribution to the advancement of the telemedicine industry at the annual American Telemedicine Association in Las Vegas. Healthanywhere provides solutions addressing the…
Continue
Added by CC-Conrad Clyburn-MedForeSight on July 7, 2009 at 4:00pm —
No Comments