Healthcare

Are You Listening, God? Apparently Not.

Jeff O'Connor — Thu, 06 Apr 2006 06:28:00 GMT

William Saletan summed-up the most recent multi-million dollar study concerning the impact of prayer on one's health in a recent Slate.com piece this way:

Warning: The surgeon general may determine that prayer is hazardous to your health. That's what can happen when faith sets out to prove its power through science.

Mr. Saletan's wry observation is based upon the results of a three-year, $2.4M study of the impact of other peoples prayers on the recovery of patients who recently underwent heart surgery.

Patients who knowingly received prayers developed more post-surgery complications than did patients who unknowingly received prayers—and patients who were prayed for did no better than patients who weren't prayed for. In fact, patients who received prayers without their knowledge ended up with more major complications than did patients who received no prayers at all.

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While witty, I prefer the conclusion reached by Dr. Bruce Flamm as quoted in The Washington Post:

"I would hope that these results, combined with similar recent findings, would encourage scientists to stick to science and stop dabbling in the supernatural," said Bruce Flamm of the University of California at Irvine.

Food for thought during the upcoming election cycle. It only takes a single vote to impose the unsubstantiated beliefs of a few concerning important matters of personal privacy and public policy, ranging from a woman's right to choose to stemcell research funding, on all of us.

Microsoft to Take-On the Ultimate Operating System

Jeff O'Connor — Wed, 05 Apr 2006 00:02:00 GMT

Microsoft Tackles Bioinformatics
April 4, 2006

Stacey Lawrence / Ziff Davis Internet

Microsoft on April 4 announced the formation of the BioIT Alliance, a cross-industry group created to enhance the ability to use and share biomedical data, at the Life Sciences Conference and Expo in Boston.

The working group will take on a series of "proof-of-concept" projects to understand how Microsoft's platforms can enhance the integration of the life sciences and IT.

"Advances in our understanding of the human genome promise to revolutionize medicine and open the door to therapies that are tailored to individuals," said Bill Gates, chairman and chief software architect of Microsoft, in a statement...

Life sciences companies have unique technical challenges that often stymie existing pre-packaged and homegrown software solutions, such as the need for more comprehensive data integration solutions, better technical collaboration and stronger knowledge management capabilities.

For example, at least 15 percent of life sciences research is a duplicate of existing studies largely because all of the most appropriate references can't be found. This is one of the issues the alliance is working to address, according to Microsoft platform strategy advisor Don Rule. "We have just one customer who estimates spending $350 million a year duplicating research that already exists."

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Newt Gingrich and I Find Common Ground! Dogs and Cats Living Together! Mass Hysteria!

Jeff O'Connor — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 23:49:00 GMT

Apparently I'm not the only one who thinks the Henry ford Health System's E-Prescribe system is a model for the nation to emulate.

Health cost savings backed
Gingrich calls for national reform
April 4, 2006

BY KATIE MERX
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER

Former U.S. Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich applauded a southeast Michigan effort to save lives and save dollars through collaboration, but said it is just a beginning and called for nationwide reform of the health care system...

"You are as close as any region of the country at beginning to be the health system of the future," Gingrich told about 300 conference attendees. He cited regional advances in electronic prescribing and the collaboration among industry, labor, government and the health industry to improve quality and lower costs in the region's health system...

"I am very impressed with what you have begun to do," Gingrich said. But achieving widespread systemic change at the rate needed to save American businesses from collapsing from the enormous burden of health care costs is "going to be an enormous challenge."

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The current system of employer-funded healthcare puts this country and its businesses at a competitive disadvantage in the global market. While I'm not a big fan of Newt's I'm glad to see that there's at least one registered Republican out there who doesn't think the cure for America's healthcare ills is as simple as throwing more public money at a handful of well-connected public companies.

New Media for Doctors and Healthcare Geeks - The Medical Blog Network

Jeff O'Connor — Mon, 20 Mar 2006 05:46:00 GMT

I was very excited to find Healthvoices.com: The Medical Blog Network this morning through Technorati (I couldn't sleep and it was either browse Technorati or play Civ IV for the umpteenth time). As I've alluded to in previous posts, the healthcare field can be a lonely place for a geek because so few people in it understand what it is their IT and IS support are trying to tell them most of the time.

(In my situation I am doubly-damned because my primary customers are the Sales and Marketing department and, to a lesser extent, the Planning and Marketing Support group. Although they're my favorite people within my company to work with, well, suffice it to say that from a geek's perspective there's a reason those organizations' initials are S&M and PMS.)

At any rate, it's nice to see that there's an on-line community and blog aggregator for members of the medical profession. I'm thrilled that there are doctors, nurses, and other folks who are passionate about the health and wellbeing of others who understand the sea change that Web 2.0 and the social software paradigm is unleashing on their vocation.

From their site:

HealthVoices.com is the premier medical blog network and aggregator, that organizes user-generated medical content by easy-to-find categories. Unprecedented consumer access to "unvarnished" medical information created from the first-hand experience of medical consumers and professionals encourages greater trust and confidence in their decisions. The service provides independent medical professionals with unmatched opportunity to build reputation, trust and referral base online.

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Now if I can only someone at work outside of the IS Department to get as enthusiastic about this as I am...