The Case of the Ruthless Ruler With a Deadly Disease
Introduction The patient was an elderly male, a member of a prominent royal family, who became a ruthless ruler of a European principality. Little is known about his medical background, family history, or details about his final illness except that he was obese and a nonsmoker. From what is now known about his cause of […]
NPI required for all HIPAA Standard Transactions on May 23, 2008
As of May 23, Medicare FFS will require and send NPI-Only in ALL provider identifier fields for all HIPAA and paper transactions where a provider identifier is required. If you send Medicare a transaction with a Medicare legacy identifier in any of the provider fields, your claim will be rejected. These transactions include all electronic […]
Quest Diagnostics and Google Empower Patients and Physicians to Share Diagnostic Test Results Online With Launch of Google Health
MADISON, N.J., May 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Patients and physicians have a new way to share diagnostic laboratory data online, thanks to Quest Diagnostics and Google Health, a product launched today by Google. More than 100,000 physicians in the U.S. who use Quest Diagnostics’ family of Care360(TM) connectivity products will be able to securely provide diagnostic […]
Annual FIT Testing Detects Colorectal Cancer Two Years Earlier Than Colonoscopy Alone
Annual FIT Testing Detects Colorectal Cancer Two Years Earlier Than Colonoscopy Alone, Study of High-Risk Population Finds SAN DIEGO, May 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — An interim analysis of a study presented today at the 39th Annual Digestive Disease Week (DDW) Conference found that, among patients at increased risk for colorectal cancer who completed an annual fecal […]
Legislative Alert
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus crafting legislation that would provide positive Medicare payment updates through 2009 and make other needed reforms ASA has learned that the Senate will soon publicly release legislation that would provide a positive Medicare payment update to physicians through 2009. The bill would avert a disastrous 10.6% Medicare Part B […]
Ischemic Preconditioning During the Use of the Percusurge Occlusion Balloon for Carotid Angioplasty and Stenting
AbstractIschemic preconditioning (IP) uses transient ischemia to render tissues tolerant to subsequent, prolonged ischemia. This study sought to evaluate factors that contributed to the development of cerebral ischemia during PercuSurge balloon (Medtronic, Santa Rosa, CA) occlusion in patients undergoing carotid angioplasty and stenting (CAS). The PercuSurge occlusion balloon was used in 43 of 165 patients […]
Do Immigrants Help or Hurt US Healthcare?
Immigration is a hot topic these days, and its impact on the US healthcare system has been studied and debated from various angles. So it’s not surprising that healthcare entrepreneur and business consultant David E. Williams has weighed in on the issue. But you might be surprised at his particular views.
Bowel Tumor Resection Improves Outcomes in Unresectable Liver Metastases
Bowel tumor resection before chemotherapy leads to better survival than first-line chemotherapy in patients with unresectable colorectal hepatic metastases, according to a report in the April issue of the Archives of Surgery.Both approaches have been recommended for asymptomatic colorectal cancer patients with unresectable liver-only metastases, the authors explain, but the best treatment strategy remains unclear. […]
Black Rectal Cancer Patients Less Likely to Receive Adjuvant Therapy
Even though black patients and white patients with rectal cancer are seeing oncologists at equal rates, black patients are less likely to receive adjuvant care, researchers report. Black patients who had an initial consultation with an oncologist were 22.9% less likely than white patients to undergo chemotherapy and 11.6% less likely to have radiation treatment, […]
Does a Goiter Always Require Surgery?
Fate of the non-operated, non-toxic goitre in a defined population Winbladh A, Järhult JBr J Surg. 2008;95:338-343 SummaryDoes every patient with a benign goiter need surgery? To answer this question, the study authors reviewed data on 261 patients (median age, 56 years) who, at the time of clinical examination or after fine-needle aspiration (233 patients), […]