Archive for April, 2010
Time to Revamp Clinical Trials
April 25, 2010
In an editorial today in the New York Times, the editors call for major changes in how cancer clinical trials should be run. Just two facts are enough to document the problem:
- The average time between developing the concept for a study and getting it started is about 2.5 years.
- about 40 percent of all advanced clinical trials sponsored by the Cancer Institute are never completed
One of the recommendations is to reduce the number of cooperative groups and the levels of approval required.
In a related post on The Medical Quack, there is discussion of the clinical trial experience for the patient with an excellent video below.
In both cases what I hope we all come to realize soon is the lethal lag time – a articulate by e-patient White Paper – these long lead time for studies can prove lethal for those waiting for new treatments.
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Robotic Pancreas – Beyond Home Monitoring and the Quantified Self
April 19, 2010
Just as home monitoring using medical devices is beginning to gain traction and be reimbursed, e-visits as well and the movement toward the Quantified Self, implanted devices are now added to the mix. In a new article in Wired Magazine, The Robotic Pancreas, One man’s quest to put millions of diabetics on autopilot, implanted devices move into the popular press. After a successful trial of 17 teens at Yale, the next step is FDA approval. Medtronic is supporting the effort. There is already approval in some European countries and the devices does have an low glucose suspend feature to protect the patient. The FDA is accelerating the availability of an artificial pancreas; will it really take the predicted 5 years for approval and broadened use? What will be the next device which combines the quantified self with a medical device?
Share this:New PHR Report from California Healthcare Foundation
April 13, 2010
Titled “Consumers and Health Information Technology: A National Survey“, the survey shows some promising progress:
- users cite taking steps to improve their own health, knowing more about their health care, and asking their doctors questions
- lower-income adults, those with chronic conditions, and those without a college degree are more likely to experience positive effects of having their information accessible online
- Two-thirds remain concerned about the privacy and security
- should not let privacy concerns stop us from learning how health IT can improve health care
- almost half are interested in medical devices that can be connected to the Internet.
- Of those who do not have a PHR, 40% express interest in using one.
Also just released is a major report from Price Waterhouse Coopers, The customization of diagnosis, care and cure. A key part of this report is patient touchpoints inlcuding:
- coordinated care teams
- fluent navigators
- patient experience benchmarks
- medical proving grounds
- care anywhere networks (aka, mHealth).
The common theme here is participatory medicine, which as it turns out, appeared in a post by Roni Zeiger of Google Health in Huffinton Post. His key quote is, “Data on its own is useless. It’s all about conversations.” Health data whether in personal health records or social networking sites or other tools is essential in creating a conversation about how to improve and maintain health.
Share this:Group on Information Resources (GIR) Leadership Institute
April 6, 2010
I have been invited to attend this leadership institute of the American Association of Medical Colleges. This “provides IT leaders the information and tools to understand how to excel at the nexus of academic, research, and clinical systems to support organizations as they move to more integrated and data driven models.” The five day institute in July is limited to 30 through a competitive process; I was nominated by my department chairman. I am looking forward to this interactive program. If anyone has participated or will be attending this summer, I’d like to hear from you.
Share this:Hospital as Software Service Providers
April 3, 2010
In an article on HealthLeaders, how health systems can provide an EMR via Software as a Service (SaaS) is presented. Five requirements are noted:
Cleveland Clinic is noted as an example. Dr. C. Martin Harris says, “”Success to me is that we are not just installing technology in an office to replace paper, but we are putting in technology that enables interoperability,”
Of course, Cleveland Clinic provides other software to help hospitals and providers:
- explorys to utilize EMRs for research and discovery
- Intellis - business intelligence
- A PHR which connects to Google Health
- Home Monitoring which utilizes Microsoft HealthVault to connect with the PHR and EMR
- Risk calculators for Prostate Cancer and heart surgery
What are other hospitals doing? How about an award program for the hospital or health system which produces the most useful software?
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