In the what-will-they-come-up-with-next department, a new goggle technology allows doctors to see cancer cells. They literally light up. Watch for yourself. And, then, see how the pharmaceutical industry is hiking up the cost of cancer drugs astronomically. It could bankrupt you!
With 18 Americans dying each day waiting for an organ transplant, there’s a clear need for more organs. Some people with a long wait travel to states, like Louisiana, which do not have motorcycle helmet laws; they have more organs available for transplant, and shorter waits. But, imagine if scientists could simply print up the organ you or someone you love needs?
Apparently, in as short a period as a decade, scientists could be 3D printing kidneys and livers. Already, they are printing strips of organ tissue. They harvest human cells and grow them in a petri dish.
Time will tell where we go with 3D printing of human organs and what it will cost to get one of these organs if you need one. In the meantime, we should consider revising the National Organ Transplant Act, which keeps many of us from being able to donate our organs to the people we love.
The latest data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services show that drug and device companies paid just shy of $6.5 billion to doctors and hospitals in 2014, the first full year for which data is available. This money includes payments for research, speaking fees, transportation and meals. It also helps ensure tight relationships between the drug and device manufacturers and health care providers.
Many Americans have deep concerns about these tight relationships among many doctors, hospitals and drug and device companies. They question the extent to which doctors and hospitals who take money from the drug and device companies are conflicted when they prescribe particular drugs or use specific medical devices. So, the Affordable Care Act requires the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to collect and report the amount of money the drug and device companies pay providers, by provider name and type of payment.
You can check out whether your doctors are among the 607,000 who received payments from drug or device manufacturers in 2014 and how much they received. One goal of reporting this data is to keep drug and device companies from inappropriately influencing research, education and health care decision-making.
If your doctors are receiving money from the drug or device industry, talk to them about it. Find out what they are using the money for, and how it affects the drugs they prescribe and the devices they use.
New 2013 data on Medicare drug spending from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services tells important story about drug costs and drug use among people with Medicare. You can learn about physician prescribing habits by specialty and geography. There’s also data on the top prescribed drugs based on claims submitted and the top prescribed drugs based on cost.
The data clearly show that the use of generic drugs is up. A 2014 Congressional Budget Office report on falling Medicare drug costs recognizes this increase in generic drug use; it stems in part from a loss in patent protection for several commonly prescribed high-cost drugs. In the top five medical specialties with the highest total prescription drug costs, more than three quarters of drugs prescribed are generic. And of the top ten prescribed drugs based on claims submitted, all ten are generic.
More than three of four drugs dispensed to people with Medicare were generic. People living in Texas, Hawaii and Alaska used slightly fewer generics than people in most of the rest of the country.
The top prescribed drug based on cost is Nexium. Almost 1.5 million people with Medicare Part D were prescribed Nexium costing more than $2.5 billion. But, Advair is not far behind.
Lots of work is underway to design robots that help older adults in a wide range of ways. And, significant research has been undertaken on the benefits of robots in caring for older adults. Robots can provide company and many types of stimulation and assistance to people who are living alone. The research shows that older adults like them. Time will tell whether robots become a way to keep isolated older adults engaged and happy.
In some instances, researchers have found that robots reduced stress levels for older adults and improved health. Robots also helped to keep people from feeling lonely and to make them smile. And older adults tended to be more communicative as a result of being around robots. Some evidence suggests that robots can help decrease the level of dementia for some people.
In a study of 13 moderate to severe dementia patients, a humanoid robot was programmed to conduct music therapy, storytelling, language sessions and exercises that the robot described and performed. The initial results show potential benefits for patients with moderate dementia, engaging their attention.
The Accompany Project is working to offer a robotic companion for older adults that provides social, physical and mental assistance in daily home activities. Care-O-Bot 3 can bring you a drink and open the door for you. It can also provide emotional support. Click on the link to watch a video.
According to the International Federation of Robotics, four million service robots for personal and domestic use were sold in 2013. And the market is growing. The cost is still exorbitant for a robot that provides personal assistance like the Care-O-Bot, at $270,000. But the price is expected to drop sharply.. And, these robots could allow older adults to continue to live independently in their homes rather than a nursing home. With time, we can only imagine the caring and help a robot could offer people.
A new JAMA study suggests that you are likely wasting your money on a wearable device. On their own, wearable devices do not lead to healthier behavior. They can make it easier to behave in healthy ways, such as eating well, exercising and managing your medications, but only if you are motivated to do so. And, wearable devices are expensive, generally appealing to younger and wealthier people when in fact researchers believe they are more likely to benefit older adults who are not well-off.
What is a wearable device? It is a piece of technology that you can wear on your clothing or as an accessory. It measures your behavior, including the number of steps you take in a day and sleep patterns. This could be powerful information if people changed their behavior for the better as a result of wearing a device.
However, researchers found that people who know that they should exercise more or need more sleep do not appear to change their behavior because a wearable device advises that they do so.Wearable devices are still in their infancy. Less than two percent of the population has actually used a wearable device. And, wearable devices could be better designed to nudge people to change their behavior.
That said, the best nudge might be a health care buddy, a good friend or health partner—someone you love or someone you want to impress—who can motivate you to engage in healthy behavior that you might not otherwise do.
Let’s face it, HMOs and PPOs are playing a game of bait and switch, keeping monthly premium increases down while raising their members’ out-of-pocket costs. Avalere reports that specialty drug costs are no exception with more than four out of ten state health exchange “silver” plans and more than half of the “bronze” plans requiring members to pay at least 30 percent of their cost in 2015. For many people with life-threatening illnesses who rely on these expensive drugs, this jeopardizes treatment. (And, costs for critical generic drugs also can be prohibitive.)
It is a gross injustice for Congress to allow health plans to leave people with serious and disabling conditions at the mercy of out-of-control drug costs rather than rein in prices, as every other industrialized nation does. People need to be able to budget for their care up-front. Their premiums should be seen as ample contribution to the cost. Insured people should not be forced to go without critical medications.
Of course, when you follow the money and the lobbyists, as the Center for Responsive Politics and Pro Publica have done, you see very quickly why Congress supports what’s best for the pharmaceutical industry, not ordinary Americans.
The microwaves in the Strokefinder helmet read your brain tissue to determine the kind of stroke you have with great certainty. Ideally, ambulances will use the Strokefinder so that doctors are prepared to treat the patient appropriately upon arrival in the Emergency Room. Today, doctors must first do a CAT scan to determine the type of stroke, delaying treatment and likely leading to greater brain damage.
The Strokefinder is not yet ready for prime time. It’s still being tested. But, it’s another tool for improving outcomes for stroke patients. As it is many stroke patients suffer from paralysis or weakness to one side of their body. And, strokes are the fourth leading cause of death. In the meantime, if you think someone is suffering a stroke, call 911 immediately. Getting that person to the emergency room as quickly as possible offers the best chance of minimizing disability and death.
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John Oliver does a brilliant job of explaining drug company marketing strategies and the implications for us. In short, the drug companies reward doctors to prescribe their drugs to us.
As Oliver explains, drug companies spend about $24 bilion a year marketing to doctors and generate more than fifteen times that, $329.2 billion, in revenue. They lavish doctors with free lunches and free samples; and they pay them to promote their drugs with other doctors. They buy the doctors’ influence.
And, their practices can be over the line legally. They have paid billions of dollars to settle lawsuits around allegedly irresponsible marketing practices. Clearly, these steep payments are more than worth the enormous profits the drug companies generate.
The Affordable Care Act now mandates that drug companies disclose the value of their payments to individual doctors. Check to see what your doctors are taking from them here. Once you know, it is worth considering whether you have the right doctors. And, watch the Oliver video.