December 2009 - The Medical Quack .... by Barbara Duck

Hospital Gowns Go Hi-Tech To Keep Patient Warm in the OR – Medicare Reporting Begins Friday on P4P

I wish these were around years ago when I had all my surgeries, as yes I remember the cold surgery rooms pretty well. There are several videos here to view. From the website: “The Bair Paws system is revolutionizing forced-air warming by...

Published Thu, Dec 31 2009 3:12 PM by The Medical Quack

Filed under: Medically Related, Technology, Hospital, Surgery, healthcare, Patient, Pay for Performance, OR, reports, Bair Paws, warm, gowns, patient monitoring

Business Card Reader Available for BlackBerry and iPhones

If you don’t want to manually type in all those contacts, here’s the answer and you will have to check for accuracy but correcting a few items certainly is better than inputting all the information. I don’t see anything yet for Windows Mobile but...

Published Thu, Dec 31 2009 2:37 PM by The Medical Quack

Filed under: Technology, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, Outlook, Mobility, cell phones, iPhone, camera, business card reader

TSA Eyes Full-Body Scanners – Could It Evolve To Include Looking for “Unhealthy Travelers” Too?

Right now of course the focus is on security but we have also had people arrested and tracked down who were deemed “not healthy” and scares related to healthcare with other passengers potentially being exposed to viruses that could be carried by individuals...

Published Thu, Dec 31 2009 12:56 PM by The Medical Quack

Filed under: Medically Related, Technology, My Commentaries, healthcare, Security, software, Imaging, monitoring devices, X-Ray, airports, technololgy, future, TSA, body scanning

Suggested New Year’s Resolutions for the Pharma Business - Humor

This was just too good to pass up here. The writer, Martha Rosenberg did a great job with a touch of humor, and I think said some things that could probably be on the back our minds as well. Don’t sell those pens on eBay. Now the question...

Published Thu, Dec 31 2009 3:28 AM by The Medical Quack

Filed under: Pharma/FDA News, Need a Laugh, drugs, healthcare, Pharma, Pills, Marketing, Medical Humor, Drug Companies, hormones, new years resolutions

Arizona Man Travels to New Zealand for Shoulder Surgery – Cost was 1/6 of US Customary Charges

The price for his procedure included surgery, doctors' fees, hospital fees, airfare, local transportation and local accommodations. He did have to take some time to prepare and have testing done here in the US before making his trip. He states...

Published Thu, Dec 31 2009 12:46 AM by The Medical Quack

Filed under: Medically Related, Other Items of Interest, healthcare, Medical Records, health insurance, Medical Tourism, New Zealand, Arizona, orthopedic surgery, shoulder, Cottonwood

Defibrillators Found For Sale at Second Hand Store – Stolen from Hospitals

As the economy gets tougher to deal with it appears even defibrillators are open game for resale. In this case a man who needed money apparently stole them and pawned them at a second hand store. The value of each was around 10-15k. ...

Published Wed, Dec 30 2009 11:29 PM by The Medical Quack

Filed under: Medically Related, Technology, Pharma/FDA News, Medical Devices, Security, RFID, defibrillator, theft, second hand store, stolen medical devices

Meaningful Use 556 Page Proposed Rule is Out – Thanks WSJ for the Shortcut to the Meat and Potatoes

People always tell me to send item of importance with “bullets”, any luck of seeing this here, well I just glanced through the pages and have not sat down to read it all, but gee is the shape of things to come everywhere, even outside of Congress? ...

Published Wed, Dec 30 2009 11:03 PM by The Medical Quack

Filed under: Medically Related, Technology, EMR, EHR, Medical Devices, CCHIT, Algorithms, Magpie Healthcare, Meaningful Use, healthcare reform certification, ONC, meaningless use

Rite Aid Offers H1N1 Shot for $15.00 In Several States

Technorati Tags: H1N1 , Rite Aid , flu shot , healthcare , immunization , pharmacy , Swine Flu If you have not had the chance to get a shot yet, here’s one more alternative that is affordable. You can visit the website and put in your zip code and...

Published Wed, Dec 30 2009 4:21 PM by The Medical Quack

Filed under: Medically Related, Pharma/FDA News, healthcare, Pharmacy, Rite Aid, immunization, Swine Flu, H1N1, flu shot

Nuance Buys SpinVox – Speech Recognition With Voice to Text With Cell Phones

It certainly seems that Nuance has just about captured most of the speech recognition companies out there today and with this acquisition , they are even more entrenched into the mobile market with cell phones. Just last month they introduced their...

Published Wed, Dec 30 2009 3:44 PM by The Medical Quack

Filed under: Medically Related, Technology, Windows Mobile, healthcare, Health IT, Mobility, Nuance, cell phones, Dragon Naturally Speaking, Speech Recognition, Dragon Dictation app, SpinVox

American College of Cardiology Files Legal Action Against Medicare and Kathleen Sebelius Relating Provider Reimbursement Cuts

The American College of Cardiology has has their website on the internet with their cause and battle against the proposed cuts. You can also read some additional comments from cardiologists on the site as well as as watching videos from their website...

Published Tue, Dec 29 2009 6:06 PM by The Medical Quack

Filed under: Medically Related, Insurance, My Commentaries, medicare, health insurance, Cardiology, Pay Cuts, Family Practice, Politics, Doctors, Patients, healthcare reform, legislation, Congressman, Cardiac Services

IBM Signs Contracts to Finance Medical Records with Siemens and 3 Other Healthcare Companies

IBM can make money it appears on the interest charges with implementing healthcare systems. No word on whether or not any stimulus funds may or may not compensate in this area. BD IBM in its aim to extend its benefits from the U.S. health...

Published Tue, Dec 29 2009 4:24 PM by The Medical Quack

Filed under: Medically Related, Technology, healthcare, Medical Records, Health IT, Siemens, IBM, Armonk, SCC Soft Computer, Lavender, Healthcare Management Systems, Wyatt Systems

SMP – Seniors Preventing Healthcare Fraud With Medicare and Medicaid Programs – Empowerment and Education

This group may not be as well known as other groups, but care and medications need to get to the people who need them, and fraud hurts everyone. Individuals can volunteer to serve and basically this is an outlet for when someone smells something...

Published Tue, Dec 29 2009 4:07 PM by The Medical Quack

Filed under: Medically Related, Insurance, healthcare, medicare, HHS, Seniors, investigations, SMS, identify theft, emplowerment, Senior Medicare Patrol, toolkit

Tylenol Arthritis Formula Recall Expanded to All Product Lots with Red EZ-Open Cap – Johnson and Johnson

The reason for the recall is a chemical that is used to treat shipping pallets and perhaps some of the chemical, vapor, etc. has been captured in the bottles. This is what appears to be the story here as the bottles contain a “foul” smell. ...

Published Tue, Dec 29 2009 3:28 PM by The Medical Quack

Filed under: Medically Related, Pharma/FDA News, drugs, healthcare, FDA, Johnson and Johnson, arthritis, recall, chemical, EZ-Open Cap

Dr. Oz Shows a Cardiac Catheterization Simulation – Opening Up Blood Vessels

This is interesting how Dr. Oz walks us through how the process works. The volunteer from the audience is a patient who had a stent put in place and talks about the bit of pain in her chest that she experienced when the balloon was put in...

Published Tue, Dec 29 2009 2:38 PM by The Medical Quack

Filed under: Medically Related, Technology, Cardiology, Heart Disease, Stent, simulation, Dr. Oz, heart attacks, blood vessels, cathererization, SimSuite, medical simulation

SenoRx Submits Implantable RFID Tags to FDA For Approval – Breast Tumor Surgery

This stands to change the way surgical procedures are done as relates to breast cancer and removal of tumors. Right now a wire is inserted at the time of surgery and it uses ultrasound. With the proposed process of using RFID, the tag...

Published Mon, Dec 28 2009 10:06 PM by The Medical Quack

Filed under: Medically Related, Technology, Surgery, tumors, RFID, Breast Cancer, Biopsy, Health Beacons, SenoRX