WeirdMedical™

Can we really be moving into a new era where what the patient experiences – feels, touches and even smells – really matters?

Can our medical device industry be moving in the direction of consumer marketing where patient-based consumer-type-products are becoming reality?

“There’s something called value-based purchasing in [health-care reform] that actually measures patient satisfaction,” according to Bob Schwartz, general manager of global design for GE Healthcare, “— and hospitals are reimbursed, in part at least, on what those patient satisfaction scores say.”

Bob Schwartz, general manager of global design for GE Healthcare

It actually appears that the patient’s feedback and opinions are starting to matter as much as those of our medical professionals. Especially now that U.S. healthcare reform driven by the balance of better procedural outcomes, patient satisfaction through provider rating systems, and cost containment is creating a perfect storm.

Read more about this “Proctor & Gamble” marketing approach…it’s not the science of technology but the science of consumer behavior!

Now this is a good use of our federal tax dollars…

In the northwestern reaches of Washington (D.C. that is) sits a museum that is a “must see” if you like the slightly off-taste, arcane, twisted and in some cases, down-right gross medical oddities. Visit the bricks and mortar “Roadside America of American medicine,” the National Museum of Health and Medicine, America’s oldest taxpayer-funded Cabinet of Curiosities near Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

A row of little skeletons.

At the National Museum of Health and Medicine you can see precariously displayed and disturbingly barely described:

• hanging display of a complete brain and spine, suspended in liquid in an eerily lit glass cylinder
• girl’s head preserved in arsenic
• well-preserved hairball from the stomach of a 12-year old girl who compulsively ate her own hair
• skull with a huge civil war bullet buried in its frontal lobe
• and the list goes on…

To visit…virtually go to the RoadsideAmerica.com Team Field Reporters or National Museum of Health and Medicine, or in real life visit:

6900 Georgia Avenue, Washington, DC

Hours:     M-F 10 am – 5:30 pm, Sa, Su, Hol call ahead

No kidding. This is for real – so when you go to the NMHM in D.C., tell them you want your tax dollars’ worth!

Research methods in medical innovation continue to innovate…

Dozens of prescription drugs coming off patent in the next few years are encouraging researchers throughout the pharmaceutical and biotech industries to think “outside the traditional box.”

According to Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development Director Kenneth I Kaitin, “This is spurring companies across the industry to experiment with a growing range of new tools and approaches to weed out unpromising drug candidates earlier, speed development, and reduce development costs.”

Tufts CSDD has found that researchers are trying many new methodologies for developing news drugs that are expected to be faster and more efficient such those noted below.

Even though the Tufts CSDD article is a come-on for an upcoming series of conferences, it cites a critical issue. 15 years is too long from compound discovery through development and commercialization to sustain continued profitable innovation in an economy that is in a slow grinding recovery.

Consider shaving off months or even a year or more with these techniques:

• Drug development simulator software
• Blurring the lines between phases, especially Phases I & II
• Conducting FIM studies earlier similar in timing for those medical device development trials
• Partnering with other companies with knowledge in the same indication
• Conducting exploratory IND studies
• read on…

We’re in the 21st century, the age of mobile connectivity and cloud computing, we can do better than a 15 year development cycle.

Apparently…even in this economy…medtech use is still way up!

According to Cole Petrochko, Staff Writer at MedPage Today, and a report from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) – the definition of medical technology – more succinctly “medtech” – is broadly interpreted beyond just medtech but clearly its usage trend is up…way up.

Mr. Petrochko and the NCHS go on to say, “Increases among those technologies from 1996 to 2007 included the following:

• Total knee and hip replacements for patients 45 and older increased by 70% and 60% respectively, as measured by hospital discharges. Although joint replacements were more common in those 65 and older, they increased at a faster rate among younger patients.

• The number of kidney transplants increased 31% (43.7 per million in 1997 versus 57.2 per million in 2006); liver transplants were up 42% in the same time span (15.6 million in 1997 versus 22.2 per million in 2006).

• Heart transplants declined 20% from 1997 to 2004, but rose slightly from 2004 to 2006. The 2,147 heart transplants in 2006 accounted for 8% of solid organ transplants, the third most common solid organ transplant, behind kidney at 16,646, and liver at 6,136.

• Outpatient colonoscopy rates tripled in adults over age 19 but increased in all age groups. The biggest gains were posted among those 45 to 64, although the procedure is most common in those 65 to 74. Similar gains were noted for upper endoscopy procedures.

• The change in stenting practices…”
  
• Additionally, the number of patients taking at least one prescription drug grew to 47% of the population in the 2003 to…“
• Read more >>
  • according to Mr. Petrochko
  • from the NCHS 2009 Stats Report with Special MedTech Feature Section
    

Clearly medtech, as well as biotech and pharmaceutical drugs, usage is way up – so let’s challenge ourselves, to ask:

“Why aren’t the U.S. medical industry service providers thriving and why are industry jobs becoming scarce?”

We’d like to hear your thoughts.

Watch your pocket books…

For those considering cosmetic surgeries such as botox or other “enhancements” they may not wish to wait for a 2010 resolution.

The current US Senate healthcare bill is adding a 5% tax on such operations. This proposed funding source may unfairly target women ages 35-50 who make up 86% of such operations. That said, there is no such tax in the House of Representatives version. If it does make it through it is estimated to generate $5 billion over the next 10 years.

Cosmetic Surgery Funds Healthcare Reform (Source: The Wall Street Journal)

Looks like its time for “Facercize,” ladies!

Look-out brewers of America!

In a move that may send many more American workers home jobless the Senate Finance Committee has announced their consideration of a 150% hike on federal beer taxes. This increase would directly fund the Healthcare Reform promised in the 2008 election. Additionally a number of states are considering raising taxes to offset their budgets as well.

If you enjoy freedom of choice and free enterprise as well do, let your Senators know! Read more below…

Weird Way to Fund Reform (Source: Chicago Business)

For more information and to learn how to join others in you state to be heard on your position on this issue visit:

• Beer Advocate
• Beer Activists

A thought…perhaps this tax is a weird effort to reform Americans from “heathen” and “unhealthy” habits?