Alternative Quality Contract
“In January 2009 Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts launched a new provider payment system called the Alternative Quality Contract that exemplifies the type of experimentation with novel payment models…
Drug Dispensing Robot at Hospital Pharmacy
The pharmacist is called “Riva” “Robotic ID Automation” the robot that does the compounding, filling and so on. One of the big advantages is that there’s no human hand touching…
Robot Tests Chemicals for Toxicity
The 10,000 chemicals to be tested will include chemicals in industrial and consumer products as well as food additives and drugs. So far 2500 chemicals for potential toxicity have been…
Device Companies Renew Interest in Startups
At a recent medtech conference, and discussed by WSJ, it was noted that the big device companies (e.g., J&J, Medtronic, Boston Scientific) are looking to startups to help bolster their…
CMS to Announce ACO Regs Soon
What exactly is an accountable care organization? Interestingly, the term is as much a catch-all for reform as it is a strict rubric for quantifying certain efforts of reform. The…
No Lack of Self Esteem
Ninety-four percent of college professors believe they have above-average teaching skills. A survey of high school students found that 70 percent of them have above-average leadership skills and only 2…
Comorbidity of Mental and Physical Illness
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Synthesis Project has produced an excellent report and accompanying policy brief entitled Mental disorders and medical comorbidity. The publications provide a variety of insights and…
Microsoft Innovation Awards 2011
Microsoft has opened the call for entries for the 2011 Life Sciences Innovation Awards, where customers and partners can demonstrate how they are implementing Microsoft technology to revolutionize the industry.…
First Light Develops Screening to Prevent Infections
First Light Biosciences is a development stage company developing novel medical diagnostic products for preventing and detecting healthcare associated infections. The company’s MultiPath technology, which uses digital imaging to count…
How Massachusetts’ Commonwealth Connector is Better than Utah’s Health Exchange
The range of current libertarian-conservative expert opinion on ObamaCare’s Health Benefits Exchanges has well-defined boundaries. On the one hand, there are those who believe that states are obliged to establish…
