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The Costs of Aging

While we all will face our mortality at some point, those of us with aging parents are already there on a regular basis. How we treat our elders is a medical, economic and moral issue that will only loom larger as more people live longer. The longevity revolution that has ushered in unprecedented growth of the senior population has also brought the diseases of aging--heart disease, diabetes, cancer and aged-related dementia--to the forefront. If you have aging parents, this issue can get very personal, but as a public policy issue, each of these chronic conditions can be ameliorated, not necessarily eliminated, by a strong investment in basic and medical research. 

Noted gerontologist Ken Dychtwald recently testified before Congress on the looming crisis and opportunity to do something meaningful.

Hearing Loss Genetics: the Future of Fast, Affordable Hearing Loss Screening

Looking to the future of hearing loss diagnostics, there is work being done to dramatically bring down the cost of screening for hearing loss at the molecular level. While most hearing loss is sensorineural and comes with age, there are significant younger patient populations who have loss due to genetic causes. Eliot Shearer of the National Institute on Deafness and Communication Disorders is on the case. The ultimate goal is a low-cost procedure that will allow for pinpointed genetic diagnosis.  Pretty cool!

Back Yard Biotech Firms

Building on a theme I hit fairly regularly, being smart about taking costs out of healthcare, I came across an interesting article in the Atlantic about a biotech startup that is using all of the modern tools of technology and communications to create a virtual team to support the development of a new drug to treat certain congenital anemias. It's a pretty compelling read.

Managing the Cost Side of Health Care

 

While most of the discussion about health care insurance is fixated on rising premium rates which are certainly a problem, not nearly enough time and energy is spent on looking at the cost side of health care. In a recently published article in USA Today it was revealed that 5% of all patients in the US account for fully half of health care spending. This is not an indictment of these patients, all of whom are obviously in poor health. Rather, it should be a jab to the ribs of those on the delivery side of health care to look for ways to intervene sooner with these patients.

Dr. Atul Gawande has been covering this beat for several years now, but his work and that of others who are on the front lines of providing health care need to become part of the national discussion about health care. The extreme costs associated with treating the sickest patients are often due to some surprising non-medical social problems such as lack of affordable housing, punitive immigration legislation, and non-medical follow up with patients who are chronic users of emergency services. If we strip away the politics of how these patients ended up in such dire straits, reducing their usage of medical services can often be done at a surprising low cost. The result is better patient care at a much lower cost. These lower costs reduce the cost of both private medical insurance and public plans such as Medicare and Medicaid. Until we tackle the difficult issue of managing costs, we will hover on the surface of health care reform where political posturing trumps substantive discussion. 

Social Media Tools You Can Use

If you haven't yet discovered ping.fm, you are in for a treat. It's the easiest, most comprehensive tool I have seen yet for updating the social networks you use. It does it all at one time. Any professional who is considered an expert at anything, and who is using other social media to post content, needs to take a look at ping.fm. Really.

Want vs. Need

Ad Age pubished an interesting article on the changing consumer perceptions about what they want vs. what they need. They want a spa treatment but they need internet connectivity. They want designer clothes but they need a mobile phone. A health club membership would be nice but routine healthcare is essential. They want a pet sitter but they absolutely need a vacation. Check out the chart below for some more interesting insights. 

 

 



Hey fellow diabetics: they may be on to something here!

The holy grail of treating Type I diabetes is an integrated system that combines a continuous blood sugar monitoring system with an insulin delivery system. Medtronic has such a system in clinical trials right now. The key to this treatment approach is that the insulin delivery changes according to the data from the monitoring system--in real time. This study could eventually lead to a true artificial pancreatic system that is dynamic and useful for diabetics within a wide range of lifestyles and exercise habits.

If this thing works, it could mean much better control for all diabetics, leading to fewer complications, less medical utilization, happier patients, and happier physicians who treat them. Now, that's a scary thought!

Surrendering to Facebook

I'm not sure I like the idea of surrendering my business identity or my personal identity to algorithms devised by Google, Facebook and the plethora of online rating systems, each of whom is trying to second guess me. They all assure me that whatever they are doing is for my own good especially if I am willing to pay more to "optimize" myself. I'm all for self improvement but is Yelp or Google+ the answer?

California Rate Regulation Still In the Wings

Despite continual rate increases, healthcare insurance rate relief in California is still not politically viable according to the S.F. Chronicle and the L.A. Times. While the insurance companies and the political forces battle this one out, the real drivers of healthcare costs remain woefully under-examined. We desperately need more research on how to get people into care sooner for chronic conditions in order to avoid costly hospital stays later. 

Simple Rules for Social Media on the Job

If you as an employer are wondering where to draw the line, check out this video

 

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