Health Business Blog

From the San Jose Mercury News:

A popular snack food sold nationwide is being recalled because of concerns about contamination.All lots and sizes of Veggie Booty Snack Food are being recalled, the manufacturer said, because of 51 cases of salmonella poisoning in 17 states that may be associated with the product.

A spokeswoman for Robert’s American Gourmet in Sea Cliff, N.Y., said consumers who have Veggie Booty in their homes should discard the contents and contact the company at (800) 626-7557 for reimbursement. None of the other Booty snacks – Pirate’s Booty, Cocoa Booty and Fruity Booty – are included in the recall.

Hey, I eat that stuff!

Share

I’ve posted before about harmful myths associated with HIV/AIDS. I’ve now found a website at AIDSTruth.org, which is dedicated to presenting scientific evidence about HIV/AIDS and treatments. The site has an excellent set of resources and I encourage you to have a look.

As is stated in the Durban declaration the evidence that AIDS is caused by HIV-1 or HIV-2 is clear-cut, exhaustive and unambiguous, meeting the highest standards of science. However, a few vocal people – AIDS denialists – refuse to acknowledge the facts, and continue to conduct a duplicitous propaganda campaign aimed at convincing people, including HIV-infected individuals and government health officials, that the virus is harmless (or, in some extreme cases, non-existent) and that standard medical practice should be abandoned. The purpose of this website is to expose the denialist propaganda campaign for what it is, in order to prevent further harm being done to individual and public health.

Share

I spoke recently with Stephanie Sulger, who founded Medical Tours International back in 2002. Stephanie and many of her colleagues at MTI are nurses, and she described to me how she’s translated her nursing perspective into how MTI cares for its customers. I also spoke to her about quality control, SiCKO, travel friendly doctors in the US, and several other topics.

Listen in and hear what she has to say.

Share

Standard Podcast Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Change of shift, the nursing blog carnival, is up at NursingLink.

Share

From PharmaLive:

Almost two-thirds of physicians favor a moratorium on DTC advertising, with half supporting a 1 to 2 year wait before manufacturers can begin promoting new drugs directly to consumers, according to a new study from TNS Healthcare.  The study shows that fewer than half of consumers—44%—agree with doctors that a DTC moratorium should be implemented.

I’m with the consumers. Withholding information from consumers for marketed drugs is not the answer.

Share

Two-thirds of Massachusetts residents who have heard of the new health care law support it, according to a new survey from Kaiser Family Foundation, the Harvard School of Public Health and the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation.

“Given reports of sticker shock and ongoing debate about the law, we might have expected overall support to fall, but in fact, support is widespread and has gone up,” said Kaiser President and CEO Drew E. Altman, Ph.D. “If Massachusetts succeeds, it will have a big impact on the momentum for national health reform.”

Residents who support the law mainly say it is because they believe “it is the right thing to do” (90% of those who support say this is a major reason) and because they believe broader coverage will keep costs down by providing more incentives for preventive care (79%). Among the small group of residents who oppose the law, most say people shouldn’t be required to buy insurance if they can’t afford it (72%) or if they don’t want it (61%).

That strong public support comes at least partly from how well various constituencies have worked together on implementation. Success isn’t a slam dunk, but Massachusetts is doing a better job on health care reform than other states.

Share

Patrick Marsek is Managing Director of medical tourism operator MedRetreat, which has helped almost 1000 Americans go overseas for medical care. I spoke with Patrick earlier today and asked him about what kinds of patients are good candidates for medical travel, who should use a medical travel agency instead of planning a trip themselves, and what some of the differences are between medical travel to Central/South America and travel to Southeast Asia.

Listen in and hear what he has to say.

Share

Interview with MedRetreat's Patrick Marsek [ 0:01 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Medical tourism author Josef Woodman is following up with a Singapore edition of Patients Beyond Borders, just four months after the release of the original, groundbreaking book. (Listen to or read the transcript of my interview with Joe for more on the first book.)

According to the press release:

The 336-page guidebook features an in-depth overview of Singapore’s hospitals and clinics serving international patients, including detailed coverage of Centers of Excellence, specialties and super-specialties, patient liaison services, accommodation options, travel destinations and more.

The new book will be launched in Singapore in late July during the World Conference of Family Doctors. SingaporeMedicine and Mr. Woodman will hold a joint press conference on the 23rd of July, followed by a media tour of some of Singapore’s finest hospitals.

Singapore sets the gold standard for international medical travel, with at least 11 JCI-accredited hospitals, high standards of medical care and excellent patient service. Prices tend to be higher than other places in Asia, but much lower than the in the US.

At the 4th WHCC in Washington, I met Dr. Jason Yap, Director of Healthcare Services of the Singapore Tourism Board. He laid out Singapore’s medical tourism strategy, which I found to be particularly clever. The logic goes something like this:

• Singapore aspires to have world-class health care for its citizens
• With a population of under 5 million, the country lacks the minimum efficient scale required to support the various sub-specialties
• By orienting itself to serve the global market, Singapore can achieve sufficient patient volumes to support sub-specialists, and can make it attractive for Sinagporean and other world-class physicians to work there
• The strategy is supported by Singapore’s overall positioning as a modern, efficient, clean, technologically-advanced, orderly place with high customer service levels

I can’t wait to read the book, and I’m also hoping to join the media tour in Singapore next month. If I make it, I’ll have a lot more to write about.

Share

From what I’ve been reading so far, the bipartisan Senatorial agreement on biogenerics sounds fairly reasonable. Apparently the bill would:

1. Guarantee 4 years of exclusivity for the innovator firm, even if the patent is at or near expiration at launch. Seems reasonable
2. Require a clinical trial, but allow FDA to waive that requirement. I like the second part
3. Allow FDA to approve a drug as interchangeable –not just similar. That’s extremely important to the market’s development
4. Provide one year of exclusivity to the first generic product. That’s ok, I suppose, but it means more time before prices drop significantly

The devil is in the details, so I’ll be interested to learn more. It’s also far from clear that this bill will ultimately be enacted. However, it’s better than what I expected to emerge.

I’m still in favor of my proposal for price regulation post-patent expiry. It’s more economically efficient and safer. Maybe someone will take up the idea if this current effort fails.

Share

The Providence Journal has a good article on travel abroad for medical care, sometimes called medical tourism. I comment on it at MedTripInfo, a new site I am developing. (I’ll explain more about MedTripInfo when I officially launch the site in a couple of weeks.)

Share