Do We Need a Total-Body PET Scanner?
A research team at the University of California – Davis has received a $15.5 million grant to build the world’s first total-body positron emission tomography (PET) scanner. One could argue such scans will always find something and lead to unnecessary tests and procedures which drive up the cost of healthcare. The other side of the coin […]
40 New and Important Healthcare Apps
Venture capitalists are investing in healthcare startup companies at a fast pace. Becker’s Healthcare published a list of 40 apps they believe are important. Some of these probably will not succeed but reading the list offers a good glimpse of the future of healthcare. The apps fall in a number of categories including telehealth, prescription management, […]
Telehealth and Santa Claus
Salt Lake City-based Shriners Hospitals for Children is implementing a new telehealth system. To test it, the hospital invited visitors to participate. Instead of a physician being on the other end of a telehealth connection, it was Santa Claus. I am sure the children loved it. Shriners plans to deploy the telehealth system for orthopedics. […]
Top 10 Medical Innovations for 2016
Some amazing things are happening in the medical arena of healthcare. Each year the Cleveland Clinic’s Medical Innovation Summit looks at hundreds of innovations and publishes a list of what they believe to be the top ten. At the top of the list is vaccines to prevent public health epidemics. The Ebola crisis brought a lot […]
Telehealth for Medicare
A bipartisan bill is advancing in the Senate to enable Medicare to fund expanded telehealth for rural areas. The Telehealth Innovation and Improvement Act sounds like a good thing. I have two reservations. First is bureaucracy. The bill would allow The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services to test telehealth services of a hospital through […]
