Healthcare Insurance: America ’s Collective Action Nightmare
By CHARLES SILVER
Across the country, ugly confrontations are occurring between Republican lawmakers who pledged to repeal Obamacare and Americans who are afraid of losing their healthcare coverage. The protesters’ fears are understandable. The cost of medical services can be devastating. The chief selling point for Obamacare was that, between the guarantee of coverage on the exchanges and the expansion of Medicaid, the vast majority of Americans would be protected. And the main difficulty that Republicans face in repealing Obamacare is the widespread concern that tens of millions of people might be tossed off th...
Source: The Health Care Blog - March 7, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Jonathan Halvorson Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
The state and future of robotics applied to Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS): Key Neurotech Patent #25
– Illustrative image from U.S. Patent No. 7,087,008
Today we are sharing a key 2006 patent assigned to The Regents of The University of Texas, the NIH, and the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services. (As mentioned, we are featuring a foundational Pervasive Neurotech patent a day, from older to newer by issue date)
U.S. Patent No. 7,087,008: Apparatus and methods for delivery of transcranial magnetic stimulation.
Assignee(s): The Regents of The University of Texas; The NIH, U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services Government
Inventor(s): Peter Fox, Jack Lancaster
Technology Category: Transcranial Stimulation
Is...
Source: SharpBrains - March 3, 2017 Category: Neuroscience Authors: SharpBrains Tags: Cognitive Neuroscience Health & Wellness Technology brain data neuro-technology NIH patent robotics transcranial stimulation Transcranial-Magnetic-Stimulation University of Texas Source Type: blogs
WSJ: How ObamaCare Punishes the Sick
In today ’sWall Street Journal, Idiscuss new economic research showing ObamaCare is making health insurance worse for patients with high-cost medical conditions.Republicans are nervous about repealing ObamaCare ’s supposed ban on discrimination against patients with pre-existing conditions. But a new study by Harvard and the University of Texas-Austin finds those rules penalize high-quality coverage for the sick, reward insurers who slash coverage for the sick, and leave patients unable to obtain adequat e insurance…If anything, Republicans should fear not repealing ObamaCare ’s pre-existing-conditions rules. The ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - March 1, 2017 Category: American Health Authors: Michael F. Cannon Source Type: blogs
How to Make HSAs Actually Work
By FRED TROTTER
First, let me candidly admit that I have no idea if putting Health Savings Accounts (HSAs for short) at the center of the Trump healthcare rework is a good idea. I do, however, have some insights into what made Bush-era HSA plans fail.
Bush-era HSA’s were unavailable to many Americans, because their health insurance companies and employers ultimately made the decision about whether they would be able sign up for an HSA. Many employers elected not to participate in HSA’s by not purchasing health plans that “came with an HSA”.
I was working at the UT School of Biomedical Informatics during the Bush ...
Source: The Health Care Blog - February 24, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: John Irvine Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
Nano Thread Enables Scientists to Extend Length of Brain Implant Efficacy
(A and B) As-fabricated NET-50 and NET-10 probes on substrates. (C and D) Zoom-in views of two electrodes as marked by the dashed boxes in (A) and (B), respectively. (G) A NET-50 probe suspended in water. A knot is made with a curvature of less than 50 μm to illustrate its flexibility and robustness. (H) Multiple NET-10 probes suspended in water. Scale bars, 100 μm (A), 50 μm (B, G, and H), and 10 μm (C and D).
Researcher Dr. Luan and his interdisciplinary team from the University of Texas at Austin have developed an ultra flexible nanoelectronic thread (NET) that has the potential to offer a new type of the long-term ...
Source: Medgadget - February 23, 2017 Category: Medical Equipment Authors: Thomas Obisesan Tags: Nanomedicine Neurology Neurosurgery Rehab Source Type: blogs
Scandal at M.D. Anderson -- Operating Loss and Then Watson Deep-Sixed
The second shoe recently dropped at the prestigiousM.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. First there was the news of the large operating loss for the first two months of FY 2017 (see:MD Anderson records $102.4M operating loss in first 2 months of FY 2017) followed by the recent suspension of theOncology Expert Advisor project powered by Watson due to"audit irregularities" (see:Touted IBM supercomputer project at MD Anderson on hold after audit finds spending issues). Below is an excerpt from an article on this subject:A University of Texas System audit has found irregularitie...
Source: Lab Soft News - February 22, 2017 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Clinical Lab Industry News Clinical Lab Testing Hospital Financial Lab Industry Trends Medical Research Source Type: blogs
A Breathalyzer to Detect Inflammatory Signs of Influenza Infection
Detecting diseases non-invasively by sampling exhaled breath is a growing field. Previously, we featured Owlstone Medical, who have developed breath sampling devices to store breath samples for later analysis along with an integrated unit for the detection of lung cancer biomarkers. Recent research on breath testing has suggested that viral infections, such as influenza, might be also be diagnosable using breath samples. Researchers at the University of Texas at Arlington have developed a prototype breathalyzer that could detect signs of influenza infection on a patient’s breath.
Influenza epidemics are a worry, with th...
Source: Medgadget - February 3, 2017 Category: Medical Equipment Authors: Conn Hastings Tags: Diagnostics Medicine Pathology Public Health Source Type: blogs
Insights from a Brain Training Study on Tinnitus
In this study, patients spent 40 hours working on the exercises embodied in the BrainHQ [ http://www.brainhq.com ] ‘course’ titled “Auditory Intensive” http://www.brainhq.com/welcome#challenges/auditoryrehab_1_challenge/intro
If you complete that “Challenge, I would recommend you consider adding “Focus on Auditory Memory” http://www.brainhq.com/welcome#challenges/auditory_memory_1_challenge/intro
The post Insights from a Brain Training Study on Tinnitus appeared first on "On the Brain" with Dr. Michael Merzenich. (Source: On the Br...
Source: On the Brain by Dr. Michael Merzenich, Ph.D. - January 31, 2017 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Dr. Merzenich Tags: BrainHQ Posit Science Tinnitus Source Type: blogs
Temporary Graphene Tattoo Measures Vitals
IEEE Spectrum is reporting that researchers, Deji Akinwande and Nanshu Lu at the University of Texas at Austin, have developed a bio-integrated health sensor that can be applied to the skin like a temporary “tattoo” to take measurements of vitals signs. Utilizing graphene, the tattoo has a significantly smaller form factor than conventional sensor equipment. It is graphene’s unique characteristics that lends the material to the flexible electronic tattoo. Its one atom thick structure allows it to be flexible enough to move with the skin while its mechanical resilience allows it to withstand damage from ...
Source: Medgadget - January 17, 2017 Category: Medical Equipment Authors: Thomas Obisesan Tags: Diagnostics Nanomedicine Source Type: blogs
Heath IT Mismanagement: MD Anderson to cut about 1,000 jobs due to " financial downfall officials largely attributed to its EPIC EHR implementation project "
At numerous posts on this blog I link to stories of health IT expense putting hospital financial stability at risk, e.g.:"What is more important in healthcare, computers, or nurses and other human beings? Southcoast Health cutting dozens of jobs on heels of expensive IT upgrade" athttp://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2016/04/what-is-more-important-in-healthcare.html"Lahey Health: hospital jobs lost, but computer vendors prosper" athttp://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2015/05/lahey-health-hospital-jobs-lost-but.html,"Monetary losses and layoffs from EHR expenses and EHR mismanagement"(http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2013/06/monetary-losses...
Source: Health Care Renewal - January 9, 2017 Category: Health Management Tags: Ayla Ellison Becker ' s Hospital Review EHR layoffs EPIC healthcare IT cost MD Anderson Mismanagement Source Type: blogs
The One New Year ’s Resolution To Help You Keep All Your New Year’s Resolutions
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You enjoyed the shopping and holiday season. Great!
You carefully selected one or several New Year’s Resolutions. Excellent!
Now it’s time to shift gears from resolutions to plans and realities…and there’s one thing you may have overlooked.
Dr. Sandra Bond Chapman, Founder and Chief Director of the Center for BrainHealth at The University of Texas at Dallas, puts it best: “Our health starts and ends with brain health.”
“Our health starts and ends with brain health.”
In other words, do you really believe you’ll be able to lose weight, and to maintain that weight loss, if you are constantly stressed...
Source: SharpBrains - January 6, 2017 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Alvaro Fernandez Tags: Education & Lifelong Learning Health & Wellness 2011 SharpBrains Summit Brain-Fitness Brain-health neuroplasticity New Year's Resolutions Source Type: blogs
The ASHA Convention: A Fly-on-the-Wall Perspective
During the 2016 ASHA Convention I tried taking the perspective of a fly on the wall amid the chaos of optimistic young professionals networking, seasoned experts hastily checking schedules before their next presentation, booth workers full of information for new products, and other nervously eager students attempting to soak in everything while scampering off to any session that caught their eye.
I was no exception. As a first-year graduate student, I approached Philadelphia with the same doe-eyed eagerness as every other first-timer. This was ASHA, after all—the mother of all things “communication sciences and disorde...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - December 22, 2016 Category: Speech Therapy Authors: Shannon Goodwin Tags: Audiology Speech-Language Pathology ASHA Convention Professional Development Source Type: blogs
Ten Important Signals to help reinvent Brain Health in the Digital Age & serve the needs of an Aging Population
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Dear sharp reader,
It’s been a busy year.
To summarize where we are, and to better prepare for the opportunities and challenges in the year ahead, let’s step back for a minute.
Let’s take a look at the big picture presented in the article Both Important and Urgent: Getting ready to serve the Cognitive & Brain Health needs of an Aging Population by an esteemed participant in the 2016 SharpBrains Virtual Summit held earlier this month:
“The urgency to develop innovative new technologies that will support brain health is closely linked to the fact that a growing proportion of the global population...
Source: SharpBrains - December 21, 2016 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Alvaro Fernandez Tags: Cognitive Neuroscience Education & Lifelong Learning Health & Wellness aging Brain-health cognitive therapies cognitive-assessment digital age mind training neuroplasticity Neuropsychology Source Type: blogs
Lessons From The Field: How Local Innovators Are Reshaping How Doctors Are Trained
The Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation spent the past year traveling the country to discover what different regions were doing to better align physician residency training programs with the many changes occurring in health care delivery. The model of graduate medical education (GME) in the United States is held in high esteem both here and around the world, but it needs to adapt to an environment of constrained resources coupled with expanding societal health needs.
The foundation partnered with six academic institutions (Vanderbilt University, in Nashville, Tennessee; University of Texas System MD Anderson Cancer Center in Hous...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - December 15, 2016 Category: Health Management Authors: George Thibault Tags: Featured GrantWatch Health Professionals Organization and Delivery Source Type: blogs
