MASSDEVICE ON CALL — Cancer costs could rise 27 percent over decade. The United States’ aging population could help push the country’s medical expenditures related to cancer to $207 billion, according to a new study published by researchers at the National Cancer Institute reports MyHealthNewsDaily.
Study: Administer antibiotics early for toddler ear infections. Young children with middle ear infections (otitis media) recover faster and more completely if doctors give antibiotics right away rather than waiting to see if the kids get better on their own, accord to clinical trials conducted in the U.S. and Finland, reports WebMD.
Kansas AG wants in on health reform repeal action. Kansas attorney general Derek Schmidt sent a letter yesterday seeking to join 20 other states in challenging healthcare reform legislation, reports The Kansas City Star.
Arizona shooting healthcare fallout. Politicians are still deciding how to move forward with the healthcare reform debate in the wake of the shootings in Arizona. Meanwhile, three have been fired for breaking into electronic medical records of Arizona shooting victims.
And The New York Times provides insight into Dr. Peter Rhee, chief of trauma at the University Medical Center in Tucson, Arizona, where six of the Arizona shooting victims (including Gabrielle Giffords) are staying. “He has taken on the role with gusto, acting as a booster for both the hospital and for Tucson itself,” writes the Times.
At times, he strays from medical talk in favor of comic relief. When a reporter asked if it would have made a difference if the bullet had entered Ms. Giffords’s brain through the back rather than the front, he deadpanned: ’Well, we can try it on you and see.’
And when a group of television camera operators asked about reports that Ms. Giffords had flashed a peace sign, he scoffed. No, he said, she simply held up two fingers on command. Then he held up his middle finger and said: ’If she went like this, you’d have a story.’
Things have not always gone smoothly. Hospital officials had to correct his statement that the congresswoman was in a medically induced coma; they said she had been sedated.
Good news for consumer genetic scans. Learning the likelihood to develop certain diseases through genome scans doesn’t cause patients additional anxiety, according to a new study. “There have been proclamations that this would induce a tremendous amount of fear and trauma for people and speculation as to whether it would help at all, and there were some things [in this study] that were encouraging,” senior study author Dr. Eric Topol said.
Asthma market size: 25 million. Eight percent of the county has asthma, according to a new study.
FDA setback on Solpura. Eli Lilly’s pancreas drug did not impress an FDA panel.
Meaningful use bogeymen. Biggest concerns over meaningful use implementation: time wasted developing reports, lack of necessary staff and lack of knowledge and training to support health information exchange.
Dealflow and more. Web-based electronic medical records service WebPT raised $1 million; medical software firm iMedX raises $2.5 million; prosthetic limb company iWalk raised $15 million; eye therapy business Ocular Therapeutics raised $6 million.
And finally, check out this video on how to snow shovel and protect your back. (Be sure to take breaks to protect your heart, too!)
Material from MedCity News was used in this report.
