Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Your Medical Record
For those interested in Todd's information from yesterday's post go to www.lifetrackllc/todd.oldfield and view his web-site.
"Your Medical Record in Your Wallet"
I spoke with a colleague of mine today, Todd Oldfield. He is working with a fantastic new product. I called him after an e-mail he sent to me because I thought that it was a great companion to medical travel. This product is an electronic card that stores all of an individual's medical information in one place. Imagine travelling overseas for surgery and having to make several calls back to various physicians in your own country because the overseas physician needed more information. With this product, you carry your medical records with you everywhere (and not just overseas).
What a fantastic way to ensure coordination of care when you have multiple physicians. I can't tell you how many times I had patients that were receiving contradictory treatments from doctors because either the healthcare providers didn't communicate or the patient failed to tell their healthcare provider that they were receiving a different treatment for the same illness. (Unfortunately I believe it is usually the latter, patients don't know that every physician needs to know everything in which they are receiving treatment-but then, the healthcare provider also doesn't routinely ask about all other physician treatments either).
I took the below information from Todd's website. Please visit his web-site, it is listed below.
"More people die from medical errors each year than from colon cancer and breast cancer combined. The easiest way for you to protect yourself from these errors is to insure that the medical staff treating you have the most up to date, and accurate information possible, when you need it. LifeTrack allows you to have this information with you at all times.
The LifeTrack software has much more functionality than just a personal health record. It allows you to securely store information that you would need in the event of an emergency. You can store financial information and other critical information. You can also store information about your kids including photos and information on their after school activities. This could save precious time in the event they were missing."
www.lifetrackllc.com/toddoldfield
What a fantastic way to ensure coordination of care when you have multiple physicians. I can't tell you how many times I had patients that were receiving contradictory treatments from doctors because either the healthcare providers didn't communicate or the patient failed to tell their healthcare provider that they were receiving a different treatment for the same illness. (Unfortunately I believe it is usually the latter, patients don't know that every physician needs to know everything in which they are receiving treatment-but then, the healthcare provider also doesn't routinely ask about all other physician treatments either).
I took the below information from Todd's website. Please visit his web-site, it is listed below.
"More people die from medical errors each year than from colon cancer and breast cancer combined. The easiest way for you to protect yourself from these errors is to insure that the medical staff treating you have the most up to date, and accurate information possible, when you need it. LifeTrack allows you to have this information with you at all times.
The LifeTrack software has much more functionality than just a personal health record. It allows you to securely store information that you would need in the event of an emergency. You can store financial information and other critical information. You can also store information about your kids including photos and information on their after school activities. This could save precious time in the event they were missing."
www.lifetrackllc.com/toddoldfield
Monday, June 22, 2009
"Medical Tourism Primer for Physicians" -article review
I recently read an article entitled "Medical Tourism Primer for Physicians" from a web-site http://www.medicaltraveltoday.com/. The article is written by Laura Carabello. The introduction is what caught my eye:
"As healthcare in the United States has been changing rapidly over the past few decades, so has the manne in which healthcare has been provided, billed and paid for. There is an increasing need for Americans to reach beyond domestic borders to the international community for certain medical procedues, treatment, and care at more affordable costs. This impacts not only consumers and their physicians, but also employers, benefit plan payors, administrators, and other industrystakeholders-including America's hospitals. This article provides a framework for discussion points for physician-patient communications regarding medical tourism"
In the article, she provides costs comparisons, theorizes that more insurers will start taking advantage of global competition, discusses accreditation bodies such as Joint Commission, and other items of interest. It is a four page article, quick to read, with lots of information. It can be found at the following site.
http://www.medicaltraveltoday.com/MTTE08/Mar_Apr_2008_291-294.pdf
"As healthcare in the United States has been changing rapidly over the past few decades, so has the manne in which healthcare has been provided, billed and paid for. There is an increasing need for Americans to reach beyond domestic borders to the international community for certain medical procedues, treatment, and care at more affordable costs. This impacts not only consumers and their physicians, but also employers, benefit plan payors, administrators, and other industrystakeholders-including America's hospitals. This article provides a framework for discussion points for physician-patient communications regarding medical tourism"
In the article, she provides costs comparisons, theorizes that more insurers will start taking advantage of global competition, discusses accreditation bodies such as Joint Commission, and other items of interest. It is a four page article, quick to read, with lots of information. It can be found at the following site.
http://www.medicaltraveltoday.com/MTTE08/Mar_Apr_2008_291-294.pdf
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Happy Birthday to Me
Well, no work today for me! It is my princess day (Happy Birthday to me) and I don't know how I will be celebrating but probably with a big 'ole mojito. Unfortunately it will be a long time before I will be able to get a "hall pass" to repeat last year's birthday party. I was able to celebrate with two dear friend in Priano on the Italian Rivera! This year will more than likely be on my back deck sipping Mojitos with Peppermint straight out my garden. But you know what? life can't get any better than that.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
What is “sleeve gastrectomy”?
Here is more information provided to me by one of the physicians we work with in Tijuana on “Sleeve Gastrectomy”
In December 2007, the Chair of the VA Central Office Bariatric Surgery Work Group asked the VA Technology Assessment Program (VATAP) to assemble and review the literature on gastric sleeve resection for obesity treatment to support clinical guidance regarding the use of this procedure in the veteran population.
Gastric sleeve resection or “sleeve gastrectomy” (SG) is an unbanded form of vertical banded gastroplasty, where a majority of the stomach is resected to reduce stomach size. Up to now it has been used in staged weight loss as a first stage procedure prior to biliopancreatic diversion or gastric bypass to reduce surgical risk in high risk patients. Preliminary evidence has shown that gastric sleeve resection may achieve substantial weight loss, thus generating interest in its use as a single-stage bariatric procedure, particularly its laparoscopic version (LSG).
For more information, go to www.destinationnewyou.com
In December 2007, the Chair of the VA Central Office Bariatric Surgery Work Group asked the VA Technology Assessment Program (VATAP) to assemble and review the literature on gastric sleeve resection for obesity treatment to support clinical guidance regarding the use of this procedure in the veteran population.
Gastric sleeve resection or “sleeve gastrectomy” (SG) is an unbanded form of vertical banded gastroplasty, where a majority of the stomach is resected to reduce stomach size. Up to now it has been used in staged weight loss as a first stage procedure prior to biliopancreatic diversion or gastric bypass to reduce surgical risk in high risk patients. Preliminary evidence has shown that gastric sleeve resection may achieve substantial weight loss, thus generating interest in its use as a single-stage bariatric procedure, particularly its laparoscopic version (LSG).
For more information, go to www.destinationnewyou.com
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Position Statement on Sleeve Gastrectomy
Here is some information regarding bariatric surgery that was recently released and provided to me by one of our medical doctors in Tijuana.
Guidelines and policy statements: An Aetna Clinical Policy Bulletin on Obesity Surgery considers sleeve gastrectomy to be an investigational procedure.2 The American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (http://www.asbs.org) issued a “Position Statement on Sleeve Gastrectomy as a Bariatric Procedure” in June, 2007. Based on similar findings from their evidence review, they stated the following:
“The ASMBS recognizes performance of sleeve gastrectomy may be an option for carefully selected patients undergoing bariatric surgical treatment, particularly those who are high risk or super-super-obese, and that the concept of staged bariatric surgery may have value as a risk reduction strategy in high-risk populations. It is suggested that surgeons performing sleeve gastrectomy prospectively collect and report outcome data for this procedure in the scientific literature. In addition, it is suggested that surgeons performing sleeve gastrectomy inform patients regarding the lack of published evidence for sustained weight loss beyond 3 years and provide them with information regarding alternative procedures with published long-term (≥ 5 years) data confirming sustained weight loss and comorbidity resolution based upon available literature at this time"
To see whole article go to www.destinationnewyou.com
Guidelines and policy statements: An Aetna Clinical Policy Bulletin on Obesity Surgery considers sleeve gastrectomy to be an investigational procedure.2 The American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (http://www.asbs.org) issued a “Position Statement on Sleeve Gastrectomy as a Bariatric Procedure” in June, 2007. Based on similar findings from their evidence review, they stated the following:
“The ASMBS recognizes performance of sleeve gastrectomy may be an option for carefully selected patients undergoing bariatric surgical treatment, particularly those who are high risk or super-super-obese, and that the concept of staged bariatric surgery may have value as a risk reduction strategy in high-risk populations. It is suggested that surgeons performing sleeve gastrectomy prospectively collect and report outcome data for this procedure in the scientific literature. In addition, it is suggested that surgeons performing sleeve gastrectomy inform patients regarding the lack of published evidence for sustained weight loss beyond 3 years and provide them with information regarding alternative procedures with published long-term (≥ 5 years) data confirming sustained weight loss and comorbidity resolution based upon available literature at this time"
To see whole article go to www.destinationnewyou.com
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Definintion of Medical Tourism
I wanted to provide you with a place to start your research on medical tourism. To understand it a little more. Go to to Wikipedia as a starting point. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_tourism
“Medical tourism (also called medical travel, health tourism or global healthcare) is a term initially coined by travel agencies and the mass media to describe the rapidly-growing practice of traveling across international borders to obtain health care.
Such services typically include elective procedures as well as complex specialized surgeries such as joint replacement (knee/hip), cardiac surgery, dental surgery, and cosmetic surgeries. However, virtually every type of health care, including psychiatry, alternative treatments, convalescent care and even burial services are available. As a practical matter, providers and customers commonly use informal channels of communication-connection-contract, and in such cases this tends to mean less regulatory or legal oversight to assure quality and less formal recourse to reimbursement or redress, if needed.
Over 50 countries have identified medical tourism as a national industry.[1] However, accreditation and other measures of quality vary widely across the globe, and there are risks and ethical issues that make this method of accessing medical care controversial. Also, some destinations may become hazardous or even dangerous for medical tourists to contemplate.”
“Medical tourism (also called medical travel, health tourism or global healthcare) is a term initially coined by travel agencies and the mass media to describe the rapidly-growing practice of traveling across international borders to obtain health care.
Such services typically include elective procedures as well as complex specialized surgeries such as joint replacement (knee/hip), cardiac surgery, dental surgery, and cosmetic surgeries. However, virtually every type of health care, including psychiatry, alternative treatments, convalescent care and even burial services are available. As a practical matter, providers and customers commonly use informal channels of communication-connection-contract, and in such cases this tends to mean less regulatory or legal oversight to assure quality and less formal recourse to reimbursement or redress, if needed.
Over 50 countries have identified medical tourism as a national industry.[1] However, accreditation and other measures of quality vary widely across the globe, and there are risks and ethical issues that make this method of accessing medical care controversial. Also, some destinations may become hazardous or even dangerous for medical tourists to contemplate.”
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