Here are some of the top stories at MedCity News this week:
— Billions of federal stimulus dollars are beginning to flow to organizations that are getting hospitals and doctors’ offices ready to adopt electronic medical record technologies. Once adopted, those technologies are expected to form a nationwide exchange. Who is likely to benefit from the estimated $22 billion the federal government is spending to help bring medical professionals into the electronic record fold? Hospitals and doctors’ offices, organizations that create state health information exchanges or help hospitals adopt record systems, pharmacy benefits managers and health insurers that do e-prescribing, electronic medical record companies and software companies.
— One big gripe about Minnesota’s medical device community is the lack of college graduates ready to hit the ground running. But St. Cloud State University recently added a Master’s of Science Degree in Applied Clinical Research, a program that will teach students how to design, conduct, and evaluate clinical trials in medical devices. St. Cloud stands out in Minnesota, and indeed the rest of the country, for its devotion to producing workers specifically for the medical device industry.
Inside an Automated Healthcare Practice: Redesigning Care Around People, Not Paperwork
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— A day after it publicly announced its new CEO, Entellus Medical Inc. of Maple Grove, Minnesota, has launched a new sinus-dilation tool. The company’s Xpress device uses a balloon catheter to dilate both the frontal and sphenoid sinus spaces during surgery for chronic sinusitis. The device features a shapeable tip and allows for ear, nose and throat surgeons to enlarge narrowed sinus openings by inflating the balloon through the catheter. The Xpress device received sales clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in February.
— Drive through Dayton, Ohio, on a Sunday and deep on the FM dial you’ll often hear a show that can include an interview with the deputy director of the Pan American Health Organization, a report on the American Medical Association’s “Lobby Day” event and a discussion with the director of Stanford University’s anesthesiology residency program. The broadcast is called Radio Rounds, designed for medical students by a trio of now second-year classmates at the Boonshoft School of Medicine at Wright State University.
— Telemedicine — practicing medicine through the electronic exchange of medical information — promises to improve patient access to the best care. It also could head off costly hospital admissions for patients who have chronic illnesses by getting them medical help sooner. But cut down on day-to-day healthcare costs? Well, maybe a little, according to representatives of UnitedHealth Group and its wellness unit, OptumHealth, who visited Cleveland, Ohio, on Monday and Tuesday with an 18-wheeler filled with audio and video equipment used to connect patients with doctors who are hundreds or thousands of miles away.