Interesting Links
The Wall of Shame: It’s a government Web page that lists nearly 300 hospitals, doctors and insurance companies that have reported significant breaches of medical privacy in the last couple of years.
Investors at Risk: each 1% change in the stock index, either up or down, resulted in a nearly 2% increase in cardiac deaths.
From January 1 to April 30, 1900, not a single death from smallpox was reported. This is an example of a largely successful public health program: in the Philippines, under US martial law. HT to Tyler Cowen.
The Cleveland Clinic will close nine community hospitals. “The [new] federal health care law … as well as changing demographics and a lessening dependence on hospitals, are converging into a death knell for longstanding health institutions.”
Pfizer is conducting a drug trial in which patients participate from their homes using computers and smartphones rather than visiting a clinic. This could greatly reduce the cost of clinical trials.
I’m not sure how I feel about a Wall of Shame. At least if the government is constructing it. If it works like everything else about Obama Care, friends of Barack will never be on the wall.
Clinical trials by telemedicine. This technology holds promise for numerous clinical applications. The primary reason information technology has not become integrated in medicine the way it has transformed other industries it due to the way health care is paid for. Health IT is not something that third-party payers are willing to fund and providers see little reason to adopt systems they do not consider worthwhile.
The new method of conducting clinical trials looks interesting. I hope it works and ultimately drives down the cost of bringing new drugs to market.
I agree with Nancy. The Wall of Shame makes me uneasy.
Government itself should top the list on the “Wall of Shame.”