Peeling back the veil of ignorance — why medical costs vary so much, and what Health 2.0 might do to help
The burgeoning movement known as “Health 2.0″ makes some pretty big claims about the power of social networks and Web services to transform the sprawling mess we like to call the U.S. healthcare system. One of the central principles is that providing individuals with better… Continue Reading
Turkey weekend update: Brain-scan your teen, probe your Nubian ancestry, learn healthcare economics, and more
Welcome back, American readers, from what we hope was a long and leftover-filled weekend. The news was slow, but here are a few stories you might have missed while still in your post-dinner food coma.
Frustrated by your teenager? Scan his brain — Actually, that probably… Continue Reading
Personal genomics and the end of insurance
Not too long from now, your genes are likely to be at war with your health insurer — and your genes may well have the upper hand.
Within the next few years, it should become fairly easy and inexpensive to get a rough-and-ready readout of your… Continue Reading
Health Evolution Partners unveils its plans to transform healthcare
(UPDATED: See below.)
Three months ago, the California Public Employees’ Retirement Fund committed $700 million to a newly formed San Francisco private-equity firm called Health Evolution Partners, promising that the resulting investments would aim to improve healthcare efficiency and to bring down soaring medical costs. At the… Continue Reading
Google vs. Microsoft in healthcare records
(UPDATED: See below.)
Venture capitalists are throwing scads of money at online health-information startups, figuring that at least one of them might eventually emerge a powerhouse in community-building, health-related search, electronic medical records, or even some combination of the three. Today, the NYT’s Steve Lohr weighs in… Continue Reading
Extend Health raises $15M for “defined contribution” health plans
Extend Health, a Burlingame, Calif., provider of “defined contribution” health plans designed to cut costs for business, raised $15 million in a second funding round. Investors included Psilos Group Partners and Revolution Health Group.
Although it’s not all that obvious from its release or its Web… Continue Reading
Weekend update: That cold, cold artificial heart, Dendreon-related skulduggery, congressional earmarks, and more
(UPDATED: See below.)
Catching up on a few life-science related items you may have missed over the weekend:
If you prick a cyborg, does he not bleed? — The WaPo’s Joel Garreau brings us this fascinating story about Peter Houghton, the first permananent recipient of a “left ventricular… Continue Reading
Is Big Pharma down for the count?
Between the sweeping job cuts across Big Pharma, falling stock prices, stalled drug approvals, safety problems with drugs like Avandia and an expected avalanche of generic competitors to billion-dollar brand-name drugs, it’s certainly starting to look like the traditional drug industry’s best days are behind… Continue Reading
Healthcare roundup: Doctor shortages everywhere, why the states can’t do universal healthcare, how to reform consumer drug ads, and more
Patients, patients everywhere, yet not a doc to treat – From Massachusetts to Colorado, there’s an increasingly acute shortage of primary-care physicians. In Massachusetts, where the nation’s only universal healthcare plan is gearing up, hundreds of thousands of newly insured individuals are having trouble finding doctors…. Continue Reading
Best of the blogosphere’s health-policy wonkery
The Health Wonk Review, a selection of the blogosphere’s best posts on health policy, is published every two weeks by a blogger volunteer. The latest edition is now up at David Williams’ Health Business Blog.
Among the featured posts are:
An analysis of Big Pharma’s apparent… Continue Reading
Ringing in the healthcare-reform debate
(UPDATED: See below.) Ever since the Clinton health plan went down in flames 13 years ago, discussion of significant reforms to the U.S. healthcare system has been largely academic. Until now.
Suddenly, serious talk about the ills of U.S. healthcare — and what to do about them… Continue Reading
Roundup: Guilt-free stem cells, the trials of Avandia, sponsor research bias, news from ASCO, and more
Flip switch for stem cells – Three research teams reported a technique for “reprogramming” skin cells into embryonic stem cells, those primordial bits of protoplasm that can propagate themselves indefinitely and, under the right conditions, transform themselves into any type of cell in the body. Deriving… Continue Reading
Implant maker Amedica files for $75M IPO
Salt Lake City-based Amedica filed to raise up to $74.8 million in an IPO, just a week after it raised $13.2 million in a fourth funding round. The maker of ceramic implants for spinal and joint repair said it doesn’t expect its first products to… Continue Reading
Andy Grove’s placebo pill for U.S. healthcare
Having survived prostate cancer and now facing a mild form of Parkinson’s disease, former Intel chairman Andy Grove has turned his analytical eye on the increasingly dysfunctional U.S. healthcare system.
Unfortunately, his recommendations are disappointingly small-scale and reflective of the inordinate faith that many high-tech aficionados… Continue Reading