The purpose of biotech regulation is to avoid growing bone in your eye

Unproven Stem-Cell Cosmetic Treatments Can Grow Bones In Your Eyes
By Paul Adams, popsci.com

New cosmetic creams and therapies that make use of stem cells carry bizarre, gruesome risks.

A woman in Los Ange­les went to her doc­tor with pain and click­ing in her eye­lid, fol­low­ing a cos­met­ic pro­ce­dure a few months ear­li­er. The…

Unproven Stem-Cell Cosmetic Treatments Can Grow Bones In Your Eyes http://flip.it/mVhLj http://flip.it/weMXp

The Consumerization of Healthcare

English:
English: (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

by Lauren Soelberg Treasure, orcahealth.com

The sys­temic change in US health­care deliv­ery has been called many things, but they all refer to one thing: the future of health­care will be in the hands of the con­sumers. Today, con­sumers are bet­ter able to make choic­es about their…

http://flip.it/e36yc

The Consumerization of Healthcare

Why health IT is the core of reform

Why IT is the core of the healthcare renaissance
kevinmd.com

Warning! I am a practicing doctor who sees real patients using an electronic medical record (EMR). My sole agenda is to provide the best patient care. I have no financial stake in information technology (IT). However, unlike the editorial board at…

http://flip.it/YDFkX

Health 2.0: this year will be all about big data

Health 2.0 Conference: Big Data Making A Big Impact
Richard MacManus, readwrite.com

At the end of the Health 2.0 Con­fer­ence ear­li­er this month, I sat down with the event’s co-founders Matthew Holt and Indu Sub­aiya to dis­cuss the big trends. I’d been impressed and excit­ed by the inno­va­tion demon­strat­ed at Health 2.0. It…

http://flpbd.it/sqjx2

Could ePatient Networks Become the Superdoctors of the Future?

Could ePatient Networks Become the Superdoctors of the Future?
BY ANITA HAMILTON, fastcoexist.com

As technology allows patients to pool their knowledge, can the collective experience of the sick create better care?

There’s some­thing seri­ous­ly wrong with a health care sys­tem that makes patients wait a month or more just to get a doc­tor’s…

http://flpbd.it/5v6PX

FDA final rule on safety info, but still no word on social media

Fda
Fda (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

FDA issues final rule on safety information during clinical trials

This is an interesting announcement and reveals to me the fact that the FDA is coming to grips with the fact that the current process for reporting adverse events needs an overhaul including refining what qualifies as an AE and how they are reported. I believe the landscape for AE reporting is about to change dramatically owing to another trend which is quite outside the FDA’s control, namely social media. A number of articles show that due to the growth of online medical communities and web 2.0 means of sharing science and medical knowledge, the idea of capturing AEs via phone call or other report to a drug company from an HCP is becoming increasingly obsolete. Reportable adverse events are far less common than most people suspect. As of 2009 there were only approximately 166 reportable adverse events per day recorded across the entire pharma industry. Increasingly pharma companies are examining how (and to what extent) they will be required to capture and monitor AEs in online discussions occurring on their brands. The amount of content to monitor is potentially staggering and yet algorithms are being developed that will automate this to some extent. This has the potential to be much more useful than simply tracking isolated AE incidents for the FDA since it will allow both regulators and industry to gain much more sophisticated intelligence on the experience of mass numbers of customers with the products.

References
http://www.eyeonfda.com/eye_on_fda/2009/07/change-coming-to-pharmacovigilance.html
http://www.doseofdigital.com/2009/12/monitoring-adverse-events-social-media-pharmas-biggest-brands/
http://www.nakedmedicine.com/how-useful-is-social-media-in-pharmacovigilance
http://www.slideshare.net/johnmackjr/jmack-smandae-rfuturewdsc2010

Brandeis University Health Informatics program integrates computer, social and bio sciences

English: Electronic patient chart of Care2x, a...
English: Electronic patient chart of Care2x, an open source integrated healthcare information system. for verifications contact legal@care2x.org (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Yet another Boston area school has launched a health and medical informatics program, largely online. Know for its bioinformatics degree, Brandeis is now adding courses in these other areas.

Health and Medical Informatics | Programs and Courses | Graduate Professional Studies | Brandeis University.

The doctor will tweet you now

It's Me Again
It’s Me Again (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

via www.computerworld.com

Good overview of SAAS, social computing and e-health


Health Informatics: New Northeastern University Masters degree

English: Logo of the Health Informatics Societ...
English: Logo of the Health Informatics Society of Australia P/L (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Health Informatics Degree Online | Master’s Degrees | Northeastern University Online.

A simple change could dramatically improve hospitals and American health care – The Boston Globe

It’s refreshing to see a variety of experts take a stab at improving the healthcare system from a unique angle. This article looks at the work of a businessman who decided to create workflows of hospitals to see how much the experience could be improved by making a few, small tweaks..
A simple change could dramatically improve hospitals {ndash} and American health care – The Boston Globe.