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Highlights from the important and the interesting in the world of health care:
When your doctor acts like Glenn Beck: It’s not just Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh who are spreading fear about the safety of the H1N1 vaccine. Though it’s unlikely any physicians consider the vaccine “deadly” as Beck has suggested, some doctors are advising their patients to avoid the vaccine, the Washington Post reports. Some doctors believe the vaccine is too new, too risky, or that there’s not enough data to support its safety. Needless to say, government officials aren’t amused.
With the Rise of AI, What IP Disputes in Healthcare Are Likely to Emerge?
Munck Wilson Mandala Partner Greg Howison shared his perspective on some of the legal ramifications around AI, IP, connected devices and the data they generate, in response to emailed questions.
“I am very disappointed, deeply puzzled and very disturbed by this,” said William Schaffner, president-elect of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases. “The people for whom these doctors are not recommending this vaccine are clearly high-priority patients who could have very adverse outcomes if they get infected with the virus.”Â
If you’re thinking this debate has political overtones, you’re not alone. As one anti-vaccine physician remarks: “It’s almost like Republicans and Democrats, and no one wants to toe the middle ground, because it could help the other side.”
Whatever your political persuasion, Thomas R. Frieden, director of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, makes a strong case for the H1N1 vaccine’s safety:
“The facts are that this is the same manufacturing process, the same manufacturers, the same factories, the same safeguards as the seasonal flu vaccine that has been used for more than 100 million doses each year for many years and which has an excellent safety record.”
A Personalized Approach to Medication Nonadherence
At the Abarca Forward conference earlier this year, George Van Antwerp, managing director at Deloitte, discussed how social determinants of health and a personalized member experience can improve medication adherence and health outcomes.
K Street cash registers: As the nation continues to face mounting job losses and foreclosures, we can rest easy knowing that zeroes keep adding up in the bank accounts of at least one American industry: health lobbying. Spending on health-care lobbying hit $422 million during the first nine months of the year, up 10 percent from last year, USA Today reported. In the Great Recession, that’s a growth figure that just about any business would welcome.
The reason for the big spending on lobbying is simple — it works, according to Dave Levinthal of the Center for Responsive Politics. Spend a few million now, and you might save a few hundred million down the road. Until the final bill hits President Obama’s desk, expect the cash to keep flying.
Minting money, part II: If you have a child, please encourage him or her to seek a career in health care. And if you’re in health care now, congratulations. Why? Marketwatch reports that the 52 health-care companies in the S&P 500 have seen their profits triple over the last decade. Looking at the entire S&P 500, in contrast, shows that companies have, on average, lower profits than they did 10 years ago.
Further, health-care stocks have been second only to the energy sector in the last decade, growing four-fold in market value, according to the report. If you’ve got cash to invest, you know what industry to look to. With numbers like that, Medtronic’s CEOÂ is going to have a tough time convincing a recession-suffering (or “jobless-recovery-suffering,” if you prefer) public that a tax on device makers is unfair.
Buy your surgeon a stress ball: Major medical errors by surgeons are strongly related to burnout and depression, according to a new study led by Mayo Clinic researchers and published in the Annals of Surgery. Of nearly 8,000 surgeons surveyed, 9 percent admitted to making a “major” error in the prior three months. Over 70 percent attributed the error to themselves rather than a systemic or organizational cause.
Results showed the components of surgeon burnout were related to errors, as was surgeons’ “mental quality of life” including depression. Researchers say they found no relation between errors and the work setting, method of compensation, number of nights on call per week, or number of hours worked.
