WirelessDoc

McCain receives endorsements from both ends of the healthcare reform spectrum

In honor of this being Super Tuesday, I thought I'd post what I found to be the most interesting story so far.

In addition to his endorsement by Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger whose universal healthcare plan for California faced a recent setback, John McCain also came up with a nod from obstetrician Tom Coburn, MD, a Republican Senator from Oklahoma, and a fiscal conservative. Coburn's plan for healthcare reform, "Universal Health Care Choice and Access Act" is a free market solution that doesn't require mandatory participation. Based on these endorsements. what would McCain do to reform health care should he be elected?

McCain's view of healthcare reform from the WSJ:

Mr. McCain takes a false regulatory lunge when he says he wants prescription drug re-importation, which could harm U.S. pharmaceutical innovation. However, he's on firmer ground when he emphasizes medical malpractice reform, coordinated preventive care, and price transparency, all of which will help control health-care costs. These are also the natural complements of tilting the health-care system toward a more market-based model.

That article also says that McCain is favor of people being able to purchase health insurance across state lines which is currently prohibited. It adds, "Mr. Romney goes out of his way to trash it."

Coburn also favors McCain's open market view that the in-state coverage mandate be rescinded.

I did a breakdown, a while back, of various health care reform plans from both the Democrats and Republicans on my other blog, Lexicillin QD.

OK, now back to tech stuff.

Panel faults FDA for inadequate IT and staffing

 From Government Executive:

The Food and Drug Administration faces shortfalls in staffing and information technology, which have resulted "in a plethora of inadequacies that threaten our society," according to a report by the agency's Science Board.

Bush promotes healthcare IT in State of the Union speech

The Health Blog at the WSJ online analyzes the President remarks during Monday's State of the Union Address. "...President Bush devoted 159 words to health care in his 5,757-word State of the Union swan song...." Quoting Bush:

To build a future of quality health care, we must trust patients and doctors to make medical decisions and empower them with better information and better options. We share a common goal: making health care more affordable and accessible for all Americans. The best way to achieve that goal is by expanding consumer choice, not government control. So I have proposed ending the bias in the tax code against those who do not get their health insurance through their employer.

The use of the word "consumer" is used on purpose, I suppose, to emphasize the active role that patient must assume in making a patient-oriented system take hold. Some of us go to great pains to research and analyze our purchasing decisions when it comes to digial cameras or smartphones, it would be wise to take the same approach to our healthcare choices.

700 MHz auction: C block booming, D block moving slowly

From FierceWireless:

Provisionally winning bids for the FCC's 700 MHz auction now total more than $6 billion, with the C Block's current pricetag making up about half that figure. After eight rounds of bidding the open access block of spectrum is going for $2.98 billion, while the D Block, which requires a public-private partnership for a public safety network, has only garnered one $472 million bid from the first round. The last round brought another 890 bids and an additional $789 million in provisionally winning bids.

Larry Page: "I think we've been actually quite happy with the openness provisions that have been put into the 700-megahertz auction..."

These quotes were posted on FierceWireless back in October, based on Google's Q3 conference call:

"I think we have many, many different options available to us as a company, in terms of spectrum and connectivity for people in wireless and so forth, so I don't think we feel like there's any desperate need for us to have to bid to win or anything like that. And again, the money is not burning a hole in our pockets."

Failing grades for computer security among gov't agencies

John Paczkowski has a video describing some of the gov't computer security problems, namely losing laptops and hard drives, on his Digital Daily blog which is part of the new WSJ All Things Digital group blog.

Being a video, it's hard to quote and comment, but he did say that in a recent reportcard on federal computer security, the Dept. of Homeland Security scored a "D." Actually, it scored an "F" along with some other agencies. (see link below) "D+" was the grade for the federal gov't overall for the past 2 years.

Federal agencies due for information security report cards

Last year, the federal government scored an overall grade of D+ for the second year in a row. Eight of the 24 agencies, including the Departments of Homeland Security, Defense, State, Energy and the Interior, received failing grades. Among the seven agencies that got at least an A- were the U.S. Department of Labor, the Social Security Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency.

WaPo has the complete reportcard for 2001-2005 in the form of a table.

Technorati Tags: DHS, computer security, All Things Digital, Digital Daily, John Paczkowski

FDA proposals for update to Medical Device User Fee and Modernization Act (MDUFMA II)

The FDA is soliciting public comments on its proposals to Congress for MDUFMA II. These proposals are meant to ensure prompt approval of medical devices that have shown efficacy and safety. Public comment will be accepted until the middle of May, with a public meeting to be held on April 30.

This fee program has industry cover the costs of the FDA's pre-market review program.

Main proposal points:

Performance goals - "FDA would reach a decision on 50 percent of expedited pre-market approval (PMA) applications and expedited supplement applications within 180 days; 90 percent within 280 days. In addition, FDA would reach a decision on 90 percent of 510(k) applications within 90 days; 98 percent within 150 days." The FDA will report its performance record on a quarterly basis.

Help for small business -

•   no fees for first-time PMA submissions to small businesses with $30 million or less in annual sales or receipts;
• further reductions in full fees for 510(k) application submissions (from 80 percent to 50 percent) and for PMA submissions and related supplements (from 38 percent to 25 percent) for small businesses with $100 million or less in annual sales or receipts; and
• a provision for foreign business entities to qualify as small businesses.

Predictable fees - "Manufacturers would continue to pay fees when they submit applications for some types of medical devices, but at a lower and more stable rate than under the current program. The proposal would add several additional fees, which would generate about 50 percent of the total fee revenue and be more stable than application fees."

Fact Sheet: FDA Legislative Package for Next Medical Device User Fee Program (April 16, 2007)

For more information, visit www.fda.gov/cdrh/mdufma/.

Technorati Tags: FDA, MDUFMA, medical devices,

Robert M. Kolodner, MD to head the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) at HHS

Dr. Kolodner has served in the interim as National Coordinator since September, 2006.

Dr. Kolodner joined HHS from the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) Veterans Health Administration (VHA), where he was Chief Health Informatics Officer.  In that role, he was chief advisor to the VA’s Under Secretary for Health on information technology issues and oversaw the development of the VA’s renowned electronic health record, VistA .  Dr. Kolodner’s long-standing interest in computers and his training as a psychiatrist led to his early involvement with VA’s efforts to use automation in support of mental health care and subsequently his leadership in coordinating clinical record access across al clinical disciplines.

There are many who are hoping that VistA will be adopted by the private sector.

Tags: HHS, Robert Kolodner, ONCHIT, VistA