October 2011 Blog Posts (5)

Melanoma is the most virulent form of skin cancer with a rapidly rising incidence due to prior sun exposure. About 40,000 men and 30,000 women per year in the USA develop melanoma. In addition to sun exposure, there are independent genetic risk factors such as a variation in the “red hair” gene that increases in frequency the further one’s ancestral home is north of Africa.  …

Colleagues,

Consistently, one of the most interesting medical technology meetings of the year - MMVR, Medicine Meets Virtual Reality - this year returning to its historic home in beautiful Newport Beach, California. 

I can attest from personal experience, a wonderful venue...

ENJOY!

CC

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

* *…

The Next Step In The Creation Of The Open Source System

Arlington, Virginia – OSEHRA, the Open Source Electronic Health Record Agent, a notfor-

profit foundation facilitating EHR (Electronic Health Record) improvements through open

source development, announced today the launch of its Code Repository and Software Quality

Certification Process. The establishment of the repository and certification process is a

significant step in…

In an earlier post I described the problem of excessive and inappropriate drug prescribing when a patient with multiple chronic illnesses did not have good care coordination by a single primary care physician. In this post I will relate the story of a lady who had an excellent primary care physician but the communication system broke down when she went elsewhere for a single visit. In her case the problem was the recommendation of an inappropriate medical technology for her chronic…

This is the fourth post in a series on care coordination; this time focusing on other examples of team-based care.  Patients with diabetes not only have to deal with the diabetes itself and its management, such as insulin and drugs, but they have to deal with nutrition, weight and exercise.  They need to cope with potential side effects of the diabetes, such as damage to their eyes or kidneys or the blood vessels running into the lower legs that can lead to ulcerations, infections and even…