Scott Mace on Health Care

Short, to the point, and misleading

Scott — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 19:12:04 PST

More trouble for an AdWords-happy and tweet-happy advertising world: Google and Yahoo Claim FDA Warning Resulted In Fuzzier Pharma Ads.

Report slams FDA oversight of studies on commercially-available drugs

Scott — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:31:35 PST

As I study the drug development process, this news item from last week caught my eye:

FDA Oversight of Postmarketing Studies Slammed

"Postmarketing" is FDA-speak for all the studies of a drug's safety and effectiveness that follow the commercial release of the drug into the general patient population.

Social networks accelerate medical research

Scott — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 10:56:23 PDT

My Opening Move podcast is back, with guest Lance Hill of Within3, talking about how the right kind of social networks can accelerate the year-round pace of medical research commonly shared at annual conferences. I recorded this at the Health 2.0 conference.

Money-Driven Medicine

Scott — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 01:54:59 PDT

A new documentary, Money-Driven Medicine, based on the book of the same name, is currently available for screening for free on the Internet via a digital stream. The free stream is available until November 10. I haven't watched it yet but plan to soon. I learned about this through an article in yesterday's Oakland Tribune.

As I pursue medical writing work, this sort of context informs me greatly.

The sad state of interoper(ating room)ability

Scott — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 07:15:33 PDT

This Investors.com story nicely sums up a press tour I attended Monday at Kaiser Permanente's Sidney Garfield Health Care Innovation Center in San Leandro, California. One of the doctors quoted, Jim Lewis, also had a telling insight into the sad state of operating room interoperability. To paraphrase, Dr. Lewis noted that it was now possible for someone to purchase a breathalyzer gadget at Radio Shack that could, properly configured, prevent me from starting my car if I were to get behind the wheel with sufficient alcohol on my breath; and yet, in the operating room, when a ventilator device needs to start supporting breathing for a patient, other critical devices in the room aren't able to signal the ventilator to begin its work. Instead, human intervention is still required.

This is the strongest call yet for interoperability between medical devices. Dr. Lewis put it in plainer language than I just did, and I'll try to follow up with him to record a podcast at some point. He's an articulate spokesman on the issue, and the Garfield Center is a true outpost of advocacy, demanding change, on behalf of all us patients.

Straight talk from Al Franken

Scott — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 10:00:00 PDT

This YouTube clip of Al Franken explaining health care reform, which I found via BoingBoing, is the straightest talk I've heard yet about the situation. Let's do something!

Misleading science

Scott — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 10:16:33 PDT

Science Is Leading Us to More Answers, but It's Also Misleading Us. (The Washington Post via The Health Care Blog)

What's in your medical record?

Scott — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 11:58:03 PDT

e-Patient Dave tells a chilling story about the misinformation that lurks in many online medical records.

Ferrari Medicine

Scott — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 15:28:04 PDT

I read a fair number of health care IT blogs. This is my favorite recent post: Ferrari Medicine: We don't need more horsepower.

Intel Health Guide: The next must-have home gadget?

Scott — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 09:28:32 PST

The gadget guy in me is excited to see Intel announce its Health Guide today. The journalist in me is more skeptical. The device doesn't easily integrate with existing online medical records. That needs to be fixed. The announcement didn't include any pricing. Health providers are expected to pay for it and they have to get reimbursed by health plans, which will need to be convinced of the Health Guide's efficacy, which means time-consuming clinical trials. But the idea of simple ways of monitoring patients remotely, delivering info, video and even real-time videoconferencing over the Internet, all in something the size of that small white box you see on the table in this picture -- it's a compelling vision. It's great to see an industry focused for so long on business and entertainment now pivoting to focus on our own personal well-being.