Judy Smith: Healthcare Analytics, RHIOs and HIE

Tue, 19 Dec 2006 03:48:35 GMT

Insurance Firms Agree to Back E-health Standards. All 1,300 members of the America's Health Insurance Plans trade association have agreed to support selected industry standards in personal health record systems for their combined 200 million clients.

[Computerworld Breaking News]

Tue, 19 Dec 2006 03:46:15 GMT

Economix: What Money Doesn’t Buy in Health Care. What was in many ways a great display of American medicine was also an example of what’s wrong with our health care system. By DAVID LEONHARDT. [NYT > Health]

Fri, 06 Oct 2006 03:01:58 GMT

Washington Post in the Sky with Diamonds

Check out this pharma-neuro story from the Wapo. While the news seems heaven-sent for depression-sufferers, the writer seems a tad Tangerine Dreamy. Sampling a product mixed with Diet Coke and Mentos maybe?

Plumbing the depths of depression

Ketamine, sweet ketamine, answer to our glutamatergic dreams. In the long November night of the soul, in the ever-dark downpour of depression, it turns out that there might be a better umbrella than Prozac and Zoloft and Paxil and their serotonin-loving ilk.

Of course, when it comes to antidepressants, nobody really knows anything, anyway, so why not go with ketamine, a mild hallucinogen known to club freaks as Special K?

Yes, yes, break out the male Wistar rats and the injection needles -- researchers at the National Institute of Mental Health announced a study recently in which 18 chronically depressed patients infused with low dosages of ketamine improved within two hours. Seventy-one percent improved within a day, and nearly 30 percent were depression-free by that time. In 24 hours! These were people who had been dealing with depression from three to 47 years. They had failed to respond to just about every drug on the market.

Most of them stayed depression-free for up to a week.

Chronic depression, one of the most common, debilitating diseases known to mankind, blown away like a flower petal on a passing breeze...

Good stuff comes further including why Glutamate plugs into so many of the Dragon Dens and Dark recesses of our brains and tilts at, rotates and rebalances the Windmills of our Minds. Or something like that.

h/t boing2

[^âˆžFouroboros]

Sun, 01 Oct 2006 22:37:19 GMT

Generation Y Discusses the Baby Boom. Which companies will profit from current trends in baby boomers? [The Motley Fool]

Sun, 01 Oct 2006 22:29:19 GMT

Video games aim to spice up old people's lives (AFP).

AFP - A 93-year-old resident at an old-age home plays tennis against the wall of his bedroom, using a touch-sensitive glove and wearing a virtual helmet.

[Yahoo! News: Technology News]

Sat, 16 Sep 2006 22:14:47 GMT

The Rise of the Machine (and the social issues that will emerge). The power of NewsmapAs I perused newsmap today (thank you SEGATECH!), I came across the article which discusses the first thought controlled prosthesis and I am struck by how rapidly things can change.The First Thought Controlled ProsthesisThis first merge between human thought and a robotic prosthesis suddenly blurs the line between human and the machinery/robotics that until this point have been distinctly separate from us.As we discuss the history of computing, my computer science class has been talking about the next evolution in computing.And then it happened under our nose. So, I posted this question for next week's computer science consideration: An article appeared today about the first thought controlled prosthesis that has been created by the military. http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/bal-te.bionic14sep14,0,5964038.story?coll=bal-nationworld-headlinesAs we have begun to discuss biologic computing, I have the following question.How will we classify things as human Cool Cat Teacher Blog, September 16, 2006. [Conversation] [Stephen's Web ~ by Stephen Downes ~ Edu_RSS Most Recent - RSS old]

Tue, 12 Sep 2006 01:34:51 GMT

Remote Control for Health Care. Remote-monitoring systems will allow those with chronic health problems to have their conditions constantly monitored as they go about their daily lives. By BARNABY J. FEDER. [NYT > Technology]

Thu, 07 Sep 2006 02:23:22 GMT

A Bold Salute to Basic Science. Howard Hughes Medical Institute has created a research center that seeks to deepen understanding of the brain and consciousness itself

[BusinessWeek Online -- ]

Wed, 30 Aug 2006 00:25:25 GMT

A Conversation With Mary V. Relling: Saving Lives With Tailor-Made Medication. Mary V. Relling advocates pharmacogenetics, the use of high-tech genetic testing to custom-make drugs to patients’ individual needs. By CLAUDIA DREIFUS. [NYT > Health]

Wed, 30 Aug 2006 00:19:48 GMT

Essay: Choosing a ‘God Squad,’ When the Mind Has Faded. The demand for dialysis brings new strains to Medicare’s budget and prompts the question: When is it ethical to stop the treatment? By BARRON H. LERNER, M.D.. [NYT > Health]

Sat, 19 Aug 2006 02:58:26 GMT

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5263514.stm?ls

story on Japanese baby boomers looming retirement in 2007 -- forced retirement at age 60

Wed, 09 Aug 2006 00:40:11 GMT

IBM wins in US pensions plan appeal.

Big Blue didn't discriminate against old greys

A Federal Appeals Count has cleared IBM of discriminating against older employees when it overhauled its pension scheme in the late 1990s.â€¦

[The Register]

Wed, 09 Aug 2006 00:35:05 GMT

MP says NHS IT should be flushed.

Leaked report backs sceptics

A conservative MP has called for the Â£12.5bn National Programme for IT (NPfIT) to be scrapped after he saw a leaked report that said the NHS was better off without the computer system.â€¦

[The Register]

Sun, 30 Jul 2006 05:07:15 GMT

The New Age: So Big and Healthy Grandpa Wouldn’t Even Know You. The past 100 years has seen a change from small, sickly people to humans who are so robust their ancestors are almost unrecognizable. By GINA KOLATA. [NYT > Home Page]

Sat, 22 Jul 2006 03:34:36 GMT

Caucus convenes to scout out new technologies - Doug Beizer, Washington Technology. When triaging soldiers wounded in battle, itâ€™s not always obvious who needs attention first â€” and a misjudgment could be catastrophic. The solution is putting medics through realistic, intensive training in triage procedures, with all the sights and sound [Techno-News Blog]

Sat, 22 Jul 2006 03:24:42 GMT

Report Finds a Heavy Toll From Medication Errors. Medication errors harm 1.5 million people and kill several thousand in the U.S. annually, a report said. By GARDINER HARRIS. [NYT > Health]

Sat, 27 May 2006 04:28:32 GMT

The Check Is Not in the Mail. Insurance companies' tardiness or refusal to pay medical claims may add as much as 15 to 20 percent in overhead costs for the nation's physicians. By MILT FREUDENHEIM. [NYT > Health]

Sat, 27 May 2006 04:27:08 GMT

Technology Speeds Paying of Health Bills. A report from a trade group indicates that 75 percent of current claims are now electronic, compared with 44 percent four years ago. By MILT FREUDENHEIM. [NYT > Health]

Thu, 18 May 2006 00:32:02 GMT

New Antibiotic Aimed at Resistant Germs. Scientists have found a chemical that might one day prove critical in the ongoing fight against germs that have developed resistance to existing antibiotics. [Newsday.com Health News/Science News headlines]

Mon, 15 May 2006 03:40:04 GMT

Researchers share insights on ubiquitous computing and the classroom. Palm pilots, PCs, cellular phones--technology permeates all aspects of our lives, including the American classroom. Kent State University's Research Center for Educational Technology (RCET), a national leader in the study of ubiquitous computing, has deve Educational Technology, May 14, 2006. [Conversation] [Stephen's Web ~ by Stephen Downes ~ Edu_RSS Most Recent - RSS old]

http://www.technologyreview.com/read_article.aspx?id=16591&;ch=nanotech
additional article found in MIT Techology Review on nanotech = brain repair of stroke victims

Sun, 30 Oct 2005 18:20:35 GMT

California Seeks to Stop the Use of Child Medical Interpreters. Experts say children lack the vocabulary and the emotional maturity to serve as effective interpreters. By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS. [NYT > Health]

Sun, 30 Oct 2005 18:11:03 GMT

Memory: Remembering & Forgetting. Forget Something? We Wish We Could: A new science is being developed called Therapeutic Forgetting according to this WebMDHealth article. The notion is that if we can help people to erase traumatic experiences from memory, then they can improve their... [EDN]

Tue, 17 May 2005 00:25:47 GMT

First Aid for Health Care [Edu_RSS]

Mon, 16 May 2005 23:24:07 GMT

A Gruesome Stroll Through Medical History. The squeamish should think twice before visiting the National Museum of Health and Medicine in D.C. Founded in 1862 to document the effects of war wounds and disease on the human body, the museum displays everything from a large human hairball to skull fragments collected after Abraham Lincoln's assassination. [NPR Programs: All Things Considered]

Mon, 16 May 2005 23:23:42 GMT

Language Makes Difference to Cancer Patients. Commentator Debra Jarvis is a chaplain for the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. Recently, she met a dying patient who did not want to sign a Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) order, because it seemed like giving up. She told him that some hospitals call them ANDs - Allow Natural Death - and he was more comfortable with that language. [NPR Programs: All Things Considered]