December 2009 Blog Posts (77)

Misconception - Universal coverage for all Americans will reduce costs

Unfortunately that is not the case; indeed it will create substantial added expenditures. Today we spend about $7500 per capita for medical care each year. That is built into our insurance whether it is commercial or Medicare along with co-pays and deductibles. In my view it is unfortunate that Congress has not done much to address the high and rising costs of medical care in the reform bills.

America is the only country in the developed world that does not have some system to ensure… Continue

Added by Stephen C Schimpff on December 23, 2009 at 11:59am — No Comments

Obama calls local talk show: 'Barry from DC'

Outgoing Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine hosted his last call-in radio show this morning and greeted a guest identifed only as "Barry from DC."

Turned out to be none other than Pennsylvania Avenue resident Barack Obama.

"Barry" dialed in to "Ask The Governor" to pay tribute to the man he almost picked for vice president and did tap for Democratic Party chair… Continue

Added by bloglist on December 23, 2009 at 6:18am — No Comments

International Journal of Computer Assisted Radiology and Surgery (IJCARS) Accepted for Indexing in Medline & Index Medicus.

Colleagues,

Please see message below from organizers of CARS...Computer Assisted Radiology & Surgery 2010...

CC

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Dear colleague,

We are pleased to announce that the International Journal of Computer

Assisted Radiology and Surgery (IJCARS) has been accepted for indexing in

Medline and Index Medicus. This news should encourage potential… Continue

Added by CC-Conrad Clyburn-MedForeSight on December 23, 2009 at 5:30am — No Comments

Avatar Dominates At Box Office

Director James Cameron's new movie "Avatar," considered one of the most expensive movies ever made, on Monday saw its initial weekend ticket sales raised to $77 million in the United States and Canada.

The movie's box office performance has been widely watched given its cost. Sunday's initial estimates showed ticket sales at $73 million in the U.S. and… Continue

Added by bloglist on December 22, 2009 at 2:58pm — No Comments

PricewaterhouseCoopers' Top 10 Healthcare Trends for 2010

Colleagues,

See below ... the top 10 healthcare trends to expect in 2010, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers.

According to David Chin, MD, partner and leader of PricewaterhouseCoopers' Health Research Institute, the primary emphasis for healthcare organizations next year will be on reducing costs and creating greater value in the health system. This focus "will have a domino effect from one sector to another and redefine roles, responsibilities and relationships," Chin… Continue

Added by CC-Conrad Clyburn-MedForeSight on December 22, 2009 at 10:17am — No Comments

Avatar Dominates At Box Office

The mysterious world of Pandora is as beautiful as it is dangerous, and it's that very combination that helped draw the masses to James Cameron's "Avatar," the director's first feature film in over a decade.

It's hardly surprising that the fantasy epic debuted in first place this weekend, dominating the closest competitor by more than $60 million. The 3-D flick… Continue

Added by bloglist on December 22, 2009 at 3:42am — No Comments

Premarital Pregnancy

For the past years, the number of premarital pregnancy all over the globe had alarmingly been increasing. There are numerous factors that cause this sort of case, which can be even avoided with proper guidance and discipline – also awareness. Parents can save their children from this situation; there are a lot of ways to avoid this. A close family always shunts rebellion out of their kids’ lives, if the children are close to their parents and has an open relationship with them, which makes them… Continue

Added by Lacey Cormier on December 22, 2009 at 2:15am — No Comments

Long Lost Friend

So, I have a friend back in high school that I met yesterday and we sort of had coffee on a shop near my place. We talked about things in college (because he went to a different university and took up a different course) and other random things until he brought up the formal party he’s about to attend later that evening. He was having some problems finding suits that are not that so expensive because he’s currently cost-cutting because of the global recession (who’s not?). So I gave him some… Continue

Added by Austin Pearman on December 21, 2009 at 9:34pm — No Comments

Good bye Motorola, Hello Blackberry! :D

There’s good and bad news for my post today and as the title gives it out, it’s about my cell phones. My old one, which I bought from my own money, a Motorola, fell on the tub this morning because I was cramming and late for school. I told my mom I need a new phone, and she willingly offered money for me to buy a new one. And so, hello to lovely Blackberry! I love it so much, yeah. It rocks! Anyway, aside from my phone, I also need to buy a new tuxedo.… Continue

Added by Austin Pearman on December 21, 2009 at 9:33pm — No Comments

AN AWESOME INSTALLMENT TO THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON

Is there anyone who hasn’t heard about the newest vampire movie for this year? TWILIGHT’s 2nd movie hit the silver screens like a bomb resulting to standing rooms and long lines for the tickets. But who wouldn’t want to see the lead role Edward Cullen on a dashing black tuxedo again, asking for his love interest Bella Swan to dance again? But unlike Twilight, New Moon isn’t all about soggy things like the first movie. New Moon (from the book Stephenie… Continue

Added by Austin Pearman on December 21, 2009 at 9:32pm — No Comments

Misconception – Healthcare reform will fundamentally improve how we receive care going forward.

This is also not at all likely except for those who do not now have medical care insurance. For the rest of us, medical care delivery will change but it will change not because of reform but because of some fundamental societal and demographic reasons along with a marked change in the types, severity and chronicity of illnesses that is occurring right now. The combination of an aging population and our non-healthy lifestyles (obesity, poor nutrition, lack of exercise, stress and smoking) are… Continue

Added by Stephen C Schimpff on December 21, 2009 at 2:12pm — No Comments

Guest Blog ... Richard L. Reece, MD, "Vitual Medicine: The Lever That Might Save Independent Practice"

Colleagues,

Thank you to MedTech-IQ member, Ronald J. Pion MD, for this link to an intriguing blog post by Richard L. Reece, MD. We'll start with these introductory words, and then link to the full blog below… Continue

Added by CC-Conrad Clyburn-MedForeSight on December 21, 2009 at 1:59pm — No Comments

'Deep Impact'

FierceHealth publishes their rendition of the 5 stories with the greatest impact on Healthcare IT over the last decade. Agree or not with the editors' prioritization, none can characterize any of their 5 issues as trivia or fluff. It all makes for an interesting retrospective, with implications for the decade ahead.

Added by Clymer/JR on December 21, 2009 at 12:30pm — No Comments

Dark Matter Detected for First Time?

Dark matter may have been "felt" for the first time deep in a Minnesota mine, physicists say.

Detectors in the mine, part of the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search experiment, were tripped recently by what might be weakly interacting massive particles, or WIMPs.

WIMPs are among the most popular candidates for dark matter, the invisible material that… Continue

Added by bloglist on December 18, 2009 at 6:55pm — No Comments

'Avatar' Fans Rave About Film After Midnight Screening

"Avatar" opened in midnight screenings early Friday, and fans leaving those screenings generally seemed to agree that the movie was worth the wait, the epic runtime and the massive budget.

One fan raved to MTV News after catching a midnight screening in New York City, saying, "The imagination that James Cameron brought about was well worth the 15 years that he put into… Continue

Added by bloglist on December 18, 2009 at 4:22pm — No Comments

A New Eden, Both Cosmic and Cinematic

With “Avatar” James Cameron has turned one man’s dream of the movies into a trippy joy ride about the end of life — our moviegoing life included — as we know it. Several decades in the dreaming and four years in the actual making, the movie is a song to the natural world that was largely produced with software, an Emersonian exploration of the invisible world of the spirit… Continue

Added by bloglist on December 17, 2009 at 4:22pm — No Comments

Sealing the Senate deal

If and when Senate Democratic leaders finish healthcare negotiations and nail down 60 votes, they will begin the process spelled out in Senate rules for ending the expected Republican filibusters and moving to a final vote on the legislation. The expected sequence of events is likely to stretch well into next week, possibly culminating in a Senate session on Christmas Day:

Step… Continue

Added by bloglist on December 17, 2009 at 12:28pm — No Comments

Susan Powell notebook seized by West Valley police, sources say

A notebook that Susan Powell kept in her desk at work, possibly containing information about her relationship with her husband, was among the items seized by investigators last week, several sources have told the Deseret News.

The notebook, according to one source, detailed threats allegedly made against the missing West Valley City woman about a year… Continue

Added by bloglist on December 17, 2009 at 1:58am — No Comments

Facts Are Stubborn Things

There is no more hotly contested issue now than "healthcare reform". Like apple pie, everybody rallies around the concept, but there is striking division over what constitutes "healthy" reform. Beyond the arguments over the merits of the current bill (whatever that happens to be today), is the green eye-shade claim of deficit neutrality, something most people (for good reason) simply are not buying; they smell what is under the rug. Many peer right through the CBO flim-flam… Continue

Added by Clymer/JR on December 16, 2009 at 5:30pm — No Comments

Misconception – The remarkable medical scientific advances are rapidly made available to the care delivery system.

We should so hope but often that it is just not the case.

Laparoscopic surgery took medicine by storm 20 years ago but some new technologies of great value are slow to be adopted, such as simulation for teaching procedures rather than learning by practicing on the patient. Sometimes it is because the old way is “the way we have always done it” and sometimes it is because those holding the purse strings just do not appreciate the underlying value. Laparoscopic surgery got patients out… Continue

Added by Stephen C Schimpff on December 16, 2009 at 5:20pm — No Comments