“PictureWhat” ??? Super-Human Poison Ivy. What’s Going On?
By MIKE MAGEE
Connecticut loves its’ trees. And no town in Connecticut loves its’ trees more than West Hartford, CT. The town borders include an elaborate interconnected reservoir system that does double duty as a focal point for a wide range of nature paths for walkers, runners and cyclists.
While walking one path yesterday, I came a tree with the healthiest upward advancing vine I had ever seen. My “PictureThis” app took no time to identify the plant. To my surprise, it was Toxicodendron radicans, known commonly as Poison Ivy.
The description didn’t pull punches. It read, “In pop culture, poison ivy ...
Source: The Health Care Blog - September 20, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: Non-Health Global Warming Mike Magee Poison Ivy Source Type: blogs
DNA is Better at Math than You Are
By KIM BELLARD
I was tempted to write about the work being done at Wharton that suggests that AI may already be better at being entrepreneurial than most of us, and of course I’m always interested to see how nanoparticles are starting to change health care (e.g., breast cancer or cancer more generally), but when I saw what researchers at China’s Shanghai Jiao Tong University have done with DNA-based computers, well, I couldn’t pass that up.
If PCs helped change the image of computers from the big mainframes, and mobile phones further redefined what a computer is, then DNA computers may cause us to one day...
Source: The Health Care Blog - September 20, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: Health Tech DNA Future of Computing Kim Bellard Source Type: blogs
Poor Kids. Pitiful Us
By KIM BELLARD
Well, congratulations, America. The child poverty rate more than doubled from 2021 to 2022, jumping from 5.2% to 12.4%, according to new figures from the Census Bureau. Once again, we prove we sure have a funny way of showing that we love our kids.
The poverty rate is actually the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM), which takes into account government programs aimed at low income families but which are not counted in the official poverty rate. The official poverty rate stayed the same, at 11.5% while the overall SPM increased 4.6% (to 12.4%), the first time the SPM has increased since 2010....
Source: The Health Care Blog - September 18, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: Health Policy Child poverty Kim Bellard Medicaid Source Type: blogs
The Times They Are A-Changing … .Fast
By KIM BELLARD
If you have been following my Twitter – oops, I mean “X” – feed lately, you may have noticed that I’ve been emphasizing The Coming Wave, the new book from Mustafa Suleyman (with Michael Bhaskar). If you have not yet read it, or at least ordered it, I urge you to do so, because, frankly, our lives are not going to be the same, at all. And we’re woefully unprepared.
One thing I especially appreciated is that, although he made his reputation in artificial intelligence, Mr. Suleyman doesn’t only focus on AI. He also discusses synthetic biology, quantum computing, robotics, and new energ...
Source: The Health Care Blog - September 14, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: Health Tech AI Kim Bellard quantum computing Smart Pills synthetic biology The Coming Wave Source Type: blogs
Shiv Rao, CEO demos Abridge
Abridge has been trying to document the clinical encounter automatically since 2018. There’s been quit a lot of fuss about them in recent weeks. They announced becoming the first “Pal” on the Epic “Partners& Pals” program, and also that their AI based encounter capture technology was now being used at several hospitals. And they showed up in a NY Times article about tech being used for clinical documentation. But of course they’re not the only company trying to turn the messy speech in a clinician/patient encounter into a buttoned-up clinical note. Suki, Augmedix & Robin all come...
Source: The Health Care Blog - September 12, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: Health Tech THCB Spotlights abridge AI Clinical Encounter Capture Matthew Holt Microsoft Nuance Shiv Rao Source Type: blogs
“The Greatest Scientist of All Time” says Scientific American. Who is it?
BY MIKE MAGEE
When it comes to our earthly survival as a human species, words are often under-powered and off-the-mark. Clearer concepts, definitions and terms are required for clarity. Here are five terms that are useful and worth remembering:
Planetary Boundaries
Earth Systems
Human Perturbations
Planetary Scale Destabilization
Holocene Epoch vs. Anthropogenic Epoch
These terms all tie back to a single source – a child of World War II, only seven when his home in Amsterdam was overrun by Nazis. His father was a waiter, his mother a cook in a local hospital. He’d later recall with a sh...
Source: The Health Care Blog - September 11, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Ryan Bose-Roy Tags: Non-Health Chemistry Mike Magee Ozone Paul Crutzen Scientific American Source Type: blogs
Beyond the Scale: How organizations should evaluate the success of obesity management solutions
Conclusion
Organizations have much to consider when evaluating obesity solutions for their population. It’s easy to be swayed by simple metrics that seem indisputable. But, in the end, outcomes like 5% weight loss and reductions in HbA1c for the majority of an eligible population are what counts. Sustainable outcomes rely on real behavior change, a careful step-therapy approach to medication, and personalized care when it comes to social determinants of health.
Caitlyn Edwards, PhD, RDN, is a Senior Clinical Research Specialist at Vida Health (Source: The Health Care Blog)
Source: The Health Care Blog - September 8, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: Medical Practice Caitlyn Edwards GLP-1 Obesity SDoH vida health Source Type: blogs
All the Lonely People: Primary Care isn ’t a Team Sport Anymore, We’re Only Interacting with Our Computers
BY HANS DUVEFELT
In spite of all the talk these days about health care teams and in spite of more and more physicians working for bigger and bigger healthcare organizations, we are becoming more and more isolated from our colleagues and our support staffs.
Computer work, which is taking more and more time as EMRs get more and more complex, is a lonely activity. We are not just encouraged but pretty much forced to communicate with our nurses and medical assistants through computer messaging. This may provide more evidence of who said or did what at what point in time, but it is both inefficient and dehumanizing.
Wh...
Source: The Health Care Blog - September 7, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Ryan Bose-Roy Tags: Medical Practice EMR Hans Duvefelt primary care Professional Isolation Social Isolation Source Type: blogs
Smells like AI Spirit
By KIM BELLARD
There are so many exciting developments in artificial intelligence (AI) these days that one almost becomes numb to them. Then along comes something that makes me think, hmm, I didn’t see that coming.
For example, AI can now smell.
Strictly speaking, that’s not quite true, at least not in the way humans and other creatures smell. There’s no olfactory organ, like our nose or a snake’s tongue. What AI has been trained to do is to look at a molecular structure and predict what it would smell like.
If you’re wondering (as I certainly did when I heard AI could smell), AI has also starte...
Source: The Health Care Blog - September 6, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: Health Tech AI Diagnosis diagnosis automation Kim Bellard Smell Source Type: blogs
Has Sensemaking Collapsed When It Comes To U.S. Healthcare?
By MIKE MAGEE
This past week my wife and I were at a family event to celebrate my brother-in-law’s 70th birthday. Our extended family has more than a few doctors. A physician nephew who had read CODE BLUE and had a strong interest in health policy asked if I felt I (and others) were too hard on doctors. My response was yes, but that it was intentional and came with the territory. Combining scientific, sometimes life and death expertise, with high-touch compassion, understanding and partnership has always been a “big ask” but that was what we and others had signed up for as “health professionals.”
But can a ...
Source: The Health Care Blog - September 5, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: Health Policy Deming Don Berwick ESCAPE FIRE Karl E. Weick Mike Magee Physicians Sensemaking Source Type: blogs
THCB Gang Episode 134, Thursday August 31
Joining Matthew Holt (@boltyboy) on #THCBGang on Thursday August 31 at 1pm PST 4pm EST are the small but mighty pairing of Kim Bellard (@kimbbellard); and patient safety expert and all around wit Michael Millenson (@mlmillenson).
You can see the video below & if you’d rather listen than watch, the audio is preserved as a weekly podcast available on our iTunes & Spotify channels. (Source: The Health Care Blog)
Source: The Health Care Blog - August 31, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Abdul Ghafar Tags: THCB Gang Kim Bellard matthew hot Michael Millenson Source Type: blogs
The One Question FOX News Moderators Should Ask Tonight
This article was published a week after the Republican Party Primary debate
BY MIKE MAGEE
This evening, the Republican Party will sponsor their first Primary Debate. It will be historic in featuring the absence of their lead contender for the 2024 Presidential campaign, a candidate who appears committed to the destruction of their own political party
Events over the past year clearly have confirmed that we are a “work in progress” even as we stubbornly affirm our good intentions to create a society committed to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
With the Dobbs’ decision, our Supreme C...
Source: The Health Care Blog - August 30, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Ryan Bose-Roy Tags: Non-Health Dobbs Mike Magee Republican Primary Source Type: blogs
Let ’ s Start Over
BY KIM BELLARD
When I first read the reports about some Silicon Valley billionaires wanting to start a new city, I figured, oh, it’s just a bunch of rich white guys wanting to take their toys and go to a new, better home. After all, they’ve seen what’s been happening to downtown San Francisco (or Portland, or Chicago – pick your preferred city).
Cities these days may be an what one expert calls an “urban doom loop” – struggling to recover after having been hollowed out by the pandemic. These so-called elites probably figured it’s easier to build something new rather than to try to fix what already ...
Source: The Health Care Blog - August 29, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Ryan Bose-Roy Tags: The Business of Health Care Flanner Associates Kim Bellard Silicon Valley Urban Doom Loop Zoning Source Type: blogs
20th Birthday Classic: “Healthcare” vs. “Health Care”: The Definitive Word(s)
This is the last of the classics that THCB will run to celebrate our 20th birthday. And we are finally tackling the most important of questions. Is what we call this thing one word or two? Back in 2012 Michael Millenson had the definitive answer–Matthew Holt
By MICHAEL L. MILLENSON
A recent contributor to this blog wondered about the correctness of “health care” versus “healthcare.” I’d like to answer that question by channeling my inner William Safire (the late, great New York Times language maven). If you’ll stick with me, I’ll also disclose why the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Serv...
Source: The Health Care Blog - August 25, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: Health Policy health care Healthcare Michael Millenson Source Type: blogs
THCB 20th Birthday Classic: Value-based care – no progress since 1997?
As the 20th Birthday rolls on I thought I’d bring out a more recent piece first published in October 2020, albeit one that relies heavily on 25 year old data to make a point. This is some evidence to back up Jeff Goldsmith’s comment on the original that for all the talk “ ‘Value based” payment is a religious movement, not a business trend’ ” By the way, Humana updated these numbers last year and there’s been basically no change — Matthew Holt
By MATTHEW HOLT
Humana is out with a report saying that its Medicare Advantage members who are covered by value-based care (VBC) ar...
Source: The Health Care Blog - August 24, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: The Business of Health Care Capitation Humana Medicare Advantage VBC Source Type: blogs
