Highlights of the important and interesting in the world of healthcare:
Dropping out of Medicaid? Huge budget shortfalls are prompting a handful of states including Washington, Texas and South Carolina to begin discussing a once-unthinkable scenario: dropping out of the Medicaid insurance program for the poor, reports the Wall Street Journal.
Nurses’ union gains clout. National Nurses United, the largest nurses union in the country, has helped organize strikes or threatened them this year at hospitals in California, Pennsylvania, Maine, Michigan and Minnesota, gaining national strength as it taps into concerns of registered nurses worried about losing jobs at a time when hospitals and healthcare organizations are under enormous pressure to cut costs, the Washington Post reports.
With the Rise of AI, What IP Disputes in Healthcare Are Likely to Emerge?
Munck Wilson Mandala Partner Greg Howison shared his perspective on some of the legal ramifications around AI, IP, connected devices and the data they generate, in response to emailed questions.
Insurers’ profits rise as medical care falls. People are going to doctors less frequently for a handful of reasons. But don’t expect insurers to reduce their premium increases or increase spending on care, according to American Medical News.
mHealth apps could explode. The rapid adoption of smartphones and now touch-screen tablets (iPads) by clinicians will trigger enormous growth in the use of mHealth applications within healthcare organizations, reaching an enterprise market size of $1.7 billion by end of year 2014, according to a new report by Chilmark Research.
Darvon, Darvocet pulled. Newport, Kentucky, drug maker Xanodyne Pharmaceuticals has pulled painkillers Darvon and Darvocet from the market at the behest of the Food and Drug Administration, which is concerned the decades-old medications could cause deadly heart rhythms, the Indianapolis Star reports.
A Personalized Approach to Medication Nonadherence
At the Abarca Forward conference earlier this year, George Van Antwerp, managing director at Deloitte, discussed how social determinants of health and a personalized member experience can improve medication adherence and health outcomes.
The impossible entrepreneur. At 37, Daniel Skovronsky seems impossibly young for his accomplishments, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. There is the molecular biochemistry degree from Yale, the medical degree and doctorate in neuropathology from Penn, the groundbreaking work in Alzheimer’s research, and now Avid Radiopharmaceutical Inc., the company he founded, nurtured, and grew until its sale Nov. 8 to Eli Lilly & Co. for up to $800 million.
For some comic relief… Check out the Dilbert cartoons about medicine posted by Dr. Ivor Kovic…. Hilarious!
Photo illustration: Flickr user zack-attack
