There is an emerging body of evidence on using sound waves (ultrasound) to raise temperature levels in tumors and dangerous blood clots in order to shrink or eliminate them. The technology company InSightec is at the forefront of experimenting with this modality in the treatment of certain types of cancers and the type of brain strokes that are caused by blood clots. In each case, a high intensity focused ultrasound beam with MRI for image guidance is used to target the tumor or blood clot. Once the target reaches a certain level, it breaks up or dies by a process called coagulative necrosis.
This is a noninvasive procedure that can be less toxic than radiation therapy for cancer patients and safer than the potent injectable drugs that break up clots in stroke patients.
February 18th, 2010 by Sean Khozin, MD, MPH Categories: TheoryNo Responses
A new editorial in Nature highlights a growing consensus among economists and policy-makers that “governments’ reliance on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as the main proxy for social well-being and progress is leading the world in wrong and unsustainable directions.”
For example, healthcare spending in the U.S., representing about 17% of our GDP, may be inflating the GDP for the wrong reasons: lack of productivity and efficiency. It appears that “GDP makes no distinction between productive investment and profligate waste.”
“What we measure affects what we do. If we have the wrong measures, we will strive for the wrong things,” says economist Joseph Stiglitz of Columbia University in New York. Stiglitz, a Nobel laureate and former chief economist at the World Bank, chaired the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress, a panel of economists convened by the French government to look for better measures. Its report, released last September, recommends that indicators should be expanded beyond GDP to include those that reflect quality of life, sustainable development and the environment
In 1972, the tiny Himalayan nation of Bhutan opted to base its policy-making on indicators of "gross national happiness"
October 12th, 2009 by Sean Khozin, MD, MPH Categories: InnovationNo Responses
An interesting study recently published in the Journal of Pediatrics shows that sending text message reminders may be an effective way to make young liver transplant recipients take their immunosuppressive medications regularly and on time. This was a small one-year study of 41 patients with a median age of 15. The study investigators saw a significant improvement in medication compliance after a year of sending regular text messages to patients or their caregivers. They measured adherence to tacrolimus (Prograf) and/or sirolimus (Rapamune).
The increase in adherence to medications was followed by a drop in the number of “histologically proven acute cellular rejection episodes,” from 12 in the year before the study to two after one year of receiving the reminders.
Small study but I’ve also noticed a trend towards better compliance in my patients using secure email, instant messaging, and video chat to communicate with them between–and in appropriate cases instead of–office visits.
October 8th, 2009 by Sean Khozin, MD, MPH Categories: Hello Health, Innovation3 Responses
Left to Right: Sean Khozin, MD, MPH (i.e, me), Roni Zeiger, MD (Google Health), and Ted Eytan, MD (Kaiser Permanente) at the Health 2.0 Conference
I’m happy to announce that Google Health now has full integration with our platform. Google recently announced the news on their official blog. Now my patients can seamlessly and securely exchange their health information with Google Health and the Hello Health platform.
This is the “3 eyes” of practical health IT design in action.
October 6th, 2009 by Sean Khozin, MD, MPH Categories: InnovationNo Responses
This year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded to three scientists for their work on how chromosomes can be copied in a complete way during cell divisions and how they are protected against degradation.
The 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics goes to three scientists who have had important roles in shaping modern information technology.
Each 2009 Nobel Prize will amount to 10 million Swedish kronor (~ $1,438,493), with the sum of the Nobel Prizes (Physics, Chemistry, Physiology/Medicine, Literature and Peace) totaling 50 million Swedish kronor (~ $7,192,465).
A recent survey of 367 healthcare executives–representing payers, providers, and pharmaceutical companies–suggests that most of them are not prepared for the changing economic conditions and the evolving prospects for reform:
Only 30 percent of executives representing the health care industry in the United States say their companies are ready for reform and changing economic conditions… 76 percent say the impact of reform on the industry will be significant, and 54 percent say the same about the effects of the current economic crisis.
This report also found that those who feel prepared are the ones that “drive innovation in a wider range of areas, including product design, customer service, and IT.”
Innovation and controlled experimentation are now necessary ingredients for healthcare organizations if they wish to survive, adapt, and truly prosper.
