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Technology Changing Doctor-Patient Interactions
| If ever an industry were ready for disruption, it is the American health care industry. Americans spend about $7,600 a year per person on health care, one in two adults lives with a chronic disease and the average wait time to see a doctor in a metropolitan area is 20 days. Entrepreneurs have responded by starting health care technology companies that are changing the way we interact with the entire system.
In 2005 Stephen Moore, software engineer, asked Dr. Cameron Powell, an obstetrician, to describe an ideal mobile app, one that would make his job easier and improve the quality of care. Dr. Powell suggested an app that would let him see on his smartphone - even when he was not at the hospital - the fetal heartbeat and mother's contractions in high-risk deliveries. That idea prompted the partnership between Mr. Moore and Dr. Powell that became AirStrip Technologies. Its first product, the AirStrip OB, was introduced in 2008.
AirStrip's technology connects a hospital's various bedside devices - an E.K.G. machine, a ventilator, a fetal heart monitor, for example - to its server and then transmits the data to a smartphone or tablet. It can also transmit data from monitors in an ambulance to the emergency room, so the staff is ready to treat patients as soon as they arrive, said Alan W. Portela, the company's chief executive. Airstrip's three products, for obstetrics, cardiology and patient monitoring, have been cleared by the federal Food and Drug Administration. (Read about more healthcare innovations at the NY Times)
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Good News: Huntington's protects against cancer; Bad News: They have Huntington's.
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People who have Huntington's disease are much less likely to develop cancer than people without the inherited disorder, according to a new study that suggests the diseases share a common genetic mechanism. The Swedish researchers found that those with Huntington's had a 53 percent lower risk of being diagnosed with cancer compared to the general population.
Besides Huntington's disease, the lower cancer risk applies to the other eight rare neurodegenerative disorders known as polyglutamine (polyQ) diseases. Those diseases, which result in the progressive degeneration of neurons involved in motor control, include spinobulbar muscular atrophy (also known as Kennedy's disease); dentatorubral-pallidoluysian atrophy; and six types of spinocerebellar ataxia.
The study, published online April 11 in The Lancet Oncology, determined those with spinobulbar muscular atrophy had a 35 percent lower risk of cancer, and patients with hereditary ataxia had a 23 percent lower risk. Before being diagnosed with a polyQ disease, the patient's risk of cancer was even lower, the researchers said. "Our findings suggest a common mechanism in patients with polyQ diseases that protects against the development of cancer," said the authors. (HealthDay News) |
Next Generation of Docs Sees Gloomy Future
| | A majority of young doctors feel pessimistic about the future of the U.S. healthcare system, with the new healthcare law cited as the main reason, according to a survey released to Reuters on Wednesday. Nearly half of the 500 doctors surveyed think the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama's signature domestic policy achievement, will have a negative effect on their practices, compared with 23% who think it will be positive.
Of the 57% of young doctors who are pessimistic, 34% cite the new healthcare law or regulations as the reason for pessimism. Other reasons include declining reimbursement for doctors and a decrease in incomes. Twenty-one percent of the doctors, who were all under the age of 40, said they were neutral about the future of U.S. healthcare, while 22% were optimistic. The reasons for optimism included better patient care and that the United States was moving in the right direction with its healthcare system.
The survey was commissioned by The Physicians Foundation, a non-profit organization that promotes the work of practicing doctors through grants, research and policy impact studies.
Lou Goodman, president of the Foundation, said the medical profession is still attractive and people are applying in record numbers to medical schools. "But what we're seeing is that once they get out, it's not what they expected," he said. "Young doctors are finding upheaval and transition in the way the healthcare system is structured right now ... And when our doctors are dissatisfied, we've got a problem with the system." (Medscape)
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