Hach ’s Automated CM130 Chlorine Monitoring System for Dialysis Clinics FDA Cleared
Hach, a company out of Loveland, Colorado, won the first FDA clearance for an automatic chlorine monitoring system for dialysis. The system performs checks of the water being used to prep dialysate every five minutes, making sure the levels stay low. If they rise too much, a monitor with an audio alarm on the patient floor will notify of the problem.
The chlorine concentration of every test is recorded for later review and to comply with any regulatory requirements. These can be downloaded via an SD card or using a more permanent Ethernet connection for direct link-up with a clinic’s computer system.
“For decad...
Source: Medgadget - May 1, 2017 Category: Medical Equipment Authors: Editors Tags: News Source Type: blogs
Managing The Beginning Of The End: Advanced Disease Management And Concurrent Care Under Current Financing
Editor’s Note: This is the second Health Affairs Blog post from the author on End of Life & Serious Illness. His first post “Why Now? Concerns About End-Of-Life Health Care Policy” was published on December 19, 2016.
The Medicare hospice benefit was passed in 1982 as part of the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act, the same bill that instituted diagnosis-related groups (DRGs) for hospital reimbursement. Since it was passed with a sunset provision, there was only modest growth in the number of beneficiaries until the hospice benefit was made permanent in 1986. Other changes included in the bill h...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - April 28, 2017 Category: Health Management Authors: Vincent Mor Tags: Costs and Spending End of Life & Serious Illness Long-term Services and Supports Medicare Organization and Delivery Quality advanced disease management End-of-Life Care Hospice care Palliative Care Source Type: blogs
CHRONIC Care Act Reintroduced in the Senate
On April 6, 2017, the Creating High-Quality Results and Outcomes Necessary to Improve Chronic (CHRONIC) Care Act of 2017 was reintroduced by the Senate Finance Committee’s Chronic Care Working Group. The bill was introduced by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch and Ranking Member Ron Wyden, along with Johnny Isakson and Mark Warner, the co-chairs of the Committee’s Chronic Care Working Group. The bill is largely unchanged from the previous version, which was introduced in December 2016.
The CHRONIC Care Act is intended to improve the Medicare program through various policies that target traditional f...
Source: Policy and Medicine - April 28, 2017 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan - Policy & Medicine Writing Staff Source Type: blogs
Making Treatment Decisions
A recentarticle on making dialysis decisions prompted me to start thinking. Basically, just because a treatment is available, do you really want it? Its your choice. I know dialysis is not a cancer treatment but my point is there.I am a strong believer in that doctors give you advice and how you choose to follow it is your decision. I usually follow my doctor ' s suggestions with medications and tests and other recommendations. But if something isn ' t making me happy I ' m quickly going to stop it - and inform my doctor ' s office of my decision.My quality of life is very important to me. I don ' t have a great quality of...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - April 20, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: medical decisions treatment options Source Type: blogs
I ’ ll let you in on an industry secret
The unspoken secret is that healthcare providers prefer treatment over prevention, expensive over inexpensive, patent-protectable over non-patent-protectable, billable procedure over nonbillable procedure, BMW over Toyota Prius.
Spiraling healthcare costs are the expected result because greater revenues are built into the basic principles that drive the system. The endless year-over-year increase in your health insurance premiums should therefore come as no surprise because this system is designed to take more and more of your money.
Health care is a business, a big business (the biggest business of all in the United Stat...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - April 18, 2017 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: News & Updates Source Type: blogs
National Healthcare Decisions Week (NHDD): Why End-Of-Life Documents Should Remain Fluid
This is National Healthcare Decisions Week (formerly "Day"). This book is a wonderful guide toward deciding what you would want in the future. Carol
"Code Blue!" A voice cries out in the Emergency Department. "Is there a doctor who can 'tube' a patient in Cardiac Cath Lab?"
These beginning lines of "Wishes To Die For: Expanding Upon Doing Less in Advanced Care Directives," by Dr. Kevin J. Haselhorst, prepare the reader for an adventure in self-examination.
The first chapter, titled "Self Determination," describes the author's own internal battle to balance his training as a doctor who cures at all costs with the wis...
Source: Minding Our Elders - April 17, 2017 Category: Geriatrics Authors: Carol Bradley Bursack Source Type: blogs
The Jittery Patient
A 22-year-old woman with no past medical history presented to the emergency department with palpitations. She reported that she had ingested a handful of caffeine tablets with a large glass of wine two hours earlier. She reported feeling "stressed out" and wanting to hurt herself. The patient was alert but appeared anxious on arrival at the ED.Her blood pressure was 90/49 mm Hg, heart rate was 115 beats/min, respiratory rate was 20 breaths/min, and SPO2 was 100% on room air. An ECG showed sinus tachycardia at 120 beats/min with normal intervals. Shortly after arrival, her blood pressure dropped to 83/42 mm Hg,...
Source: The Tox Cave - March 31, 2017 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
Mandatory Reporting of Pharmacy Prescription Errors?
Following the widely-reported 2014 case of a Cincinnati pharmacist incorrectly filling a prescription which led to a serious patient injury, the Ohio State Board of Pharmacy is now poised to promulgate a new regulation requiring pharmacists to report errors and to the board. This may be the first attempt by a US state board of pharmacy to require dispensing error reporting. (However, about six years ago, the Canadian province of Nova Scotia instituted a required reporting system that has resulted in over 20,000 reports of errors and “near-misses” each year.)
The facts of the 2014 case are direct: A pharmacist w...
Source: blog.bioethics.net - March 28, 2017 Category: Medical Ethics Authors: Bioethics Today Tags: Health Care Pharmaceuticals Pharmacy Ethics syndicated Source Type: blogs
Vitamin C and Sepsis: Resist the Urge to be Duped.
My Facebook feed has been buzzing with news of a breakthrough in the treatment of sepsis–a deadly condition caused by bacterial infection.
Do not be fooled. Please. Resist the urge to be duped.
A recent study published in the prestigious journal Chest concluded that a combination of high-dose vitamin C, anti-inflammatory corticosteroids and thiamine given to patients with sepsis “may prove to be effective.”
NPR covered the story — the headline exuded hope: Doctor Turns Up Possible Treatment For Deadly Sepsis.
The excitement surrounding this preliminary and inconclusive report is instructive on how o...
Source: Dr John M - March 26, 2017 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr John Source Type: blogs
A tribute to the pharmacist
Dear pharmacist,
You just paged me and, I must admit, I’m not feeling excited to call back. I estimate that I probably get paged, called, texted or stopped in person by you exactly X·102 per day, where “X” is the number of days I’ve been on service. Despite all of the interactions over the years, I have never stopped to really consider our relationship. Here are a few of our most memorable moments:
You once paged me while I was driving home from clinic. I had just finished a hellish day filled with overbooked patients, prior authorization requests and last minute walk-ins. I was relieved just to make it to the end...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - March 24, 2017 Category: Journals (General) Authors: < a href="http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/taison-bell" rel="tag" > Taison Bell, MD < /a > Tags: Physician Hospital Medications Source Type: blogs
‘ Going to Extremes ’ Redux
LITFL: Life in the Fast Lane Medical Blog
LITFL: Life in the Fast Lane Medical Blog - Emergency medicine and critical care medical education blog
Five years ago, based on a suggestion by Greg Kelly, we sought out the most extreme parameters clinicians have encountered in looking after their patients.
This is the league table we have assembled so far:
ParameterLevelDiagnosisSubmitted by
Fluid gain between hemodialysis sessions21 LRenal failureKT
CRP950 mg/LNicky
Highest glucose121 mmol/LHHS/ HONKGuru
Troponin I180.0 ng/mlMIWanderer
CD4 count (lowest)2 cells/uLAIDSAnne
pH (lowest in DKA, and survived...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - March 22, 2017 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Chris Nickson Tags: Emergency Medicine Intensive Care clinical extremes laboratory parameters pathophysiology Source Type: blogs
Involuntary Discharge from Dialysis
Robert Allan Bear
Health law students studying rules on the formation and termination of treatment relationships know the case of Brenda Payton.
Her nephrologist had a long, long list of reasons to involuntarily discharge her. But what... (Source: blog.bioethics.net)
Source: blog.bioethics.net - March 18, 2017 Category: Medical Ethics Authors: Thaddeus Mason Pope, JD, PhD Tags: Health Care medical futility blog syndicated Source Type: blogs
