| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Melinda Gates | ||||
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http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/415947/june-27-2012/melinda-gates
This is nice to have the two of them together, policies, people and permission are the 3 “P”s that VanRoekel begins with and nice to hear “permission” included in there. They discuss the Blue Button in healthcare in one area and the importance of exposing government to new technologies.
Open data is being used in government where ever they can and we have seen this with new stats and reports such as weather data for one example. I do have to say one thing, since these two have 
moved into these key positions the content we hear from the technology areas has certainly improved and not that the former executives did a bad job by any means, but we are now hearing a “more focused” group with actual “hands on” backgrounds and it makes a difference. Both are working on changing the “government culture” and we know what that has been in the past. Parks speaks too about the “stifled” atmosphere that has existed and the talent that has not been either used or exposed in government and he is working to bring a lot of their ideas and methodologies to fruition, in other words let the folks with the talent and ideas function to a greater capacity to make a difference and the talent exists in all government agencies. BD
US CTO and CIO
U.S. Chief Information Officer Steven VanRoekel and Chief Technology Officer Todd Park discuss government innovation with FedScoopTV. Park and VanRoekel touch on the White House Presidential Fellows Program, open data, mobile, consumerization of technology and changing the culture of government.
http://fedscoop.com/park-vanroekel-on-unlocking-governments-innovation-mojo-video/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
This is post worth taking a look at and I’ll just try to summarize what is covered here relative to healthcare from the “Next at Microsoft” blog. This apparently was a big day for VCs to come
and take a look at what’s happening with Kinect and healthcare was represented well. Dr. Crounse from Microsoft was present and introduced one new Kinect technology I had not seen yet but it looks like there’s some serious work going on here with using Kinect with privacy as a monitoring tool. You can also read his blog for the latest Health IT information happening at Microsoft. Dr. Crounse as well as myself and few others were the early users of Tablet PC “before they were cool” as they are now. Years ago at one of the Microsoft User’s groups I attended I remember the night to where we all were given a first glimpse and presentation of this new technology that was to be announced in a couple days and look at where we are now. Back on topic ZebCare was one of the innovative products shown.
Perhaps one of the best known Kinect technologies is GestSure which you may have already seen as it has received a lot of publicity and is used at a hospital in Toronto to where it is used in the surgery room to view medical images and other information, giving the surgeons a “hands free” atmosphere to where they don’t need to “touch” anything.
Jintronix was yet another application that works with Kinect to make physical rehabilitation easier and interesting. I don’t know about you but rehab is something is needed but its always a bit of drudgery to get through it.
It’s amazing as to what is being developed with Kinect. I attended the Israel Conference a few weeks ago and found another interesting development with Kinvestix which is a vest you can wear that figures in resistance so you can do this instead of having to actually pack on a lot of weights and still get the same benefits with a work out.
There’s also an application that is pretty wild to where Kinect can scan a room and you can use a 3D printer to print what’s the in the room so if your best friend comes over to visit Kinect with a 3D printer can print him/or her out. Also at the Israel Conference I did get to see one of those 3D printers and it’s amazing what they do. Printing a pipe wrench has received a lot of attention and that was the first thing I asked, “where’s your pipe wrench” sample. In 2011 I attended the same conference and spent a bit of time talking with Microsoft/XBOX Corporate VP Ilan Spillinger and got to hear the story about how Kinect came into being with it’s roots, interesting story on how the developer was able to connect with Microsoft and the rest is history. You can use the link at the bottom here and see what else was featured. Kinect has certainly earned its place in healthcare and I’m sure there lots more to come in the near future. BD
Kinect Demo Day At Microsoft–Getting Prepared
Corporate acquisitions certainly are not simple today. Humana purchased Arcadian and in the interest of not having a monopoly they need to sell off and divest part of that business. This is fine for the that sake, but the current policy holders get shuffled to Cigna. In addition there are additional plans that need to be sold off and as you can read they are up for grabs to purchase and may end up with Blue Cross or United Healthcare. The purchase was announced back in August of 2011, almost a year ago. The blue states are where Arcadian operates, 15 states.
So here we go again with the “insured shuffle” for healthcare. BD
CIGNA Corp. (CI) announced its plans to purchase selected Medicare Advantage (“MA”) plans in the state of Texas and Arkansas. Cigna will buy the plans in three markets - Amarillo, Longview-Marshall and Texarkana - from Humana.
The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to be complete by the end of 2012.
Humana got regulatory approval to buy Arcadian only on the condition that the former will divest Arcadian’s Medicare Advantage business in 51 counties in five states, namely, Arizona, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas. These divestitures were aimed at preventing monopoly in the states where the merging entities were the chief rivals before the acquisition, and hence, a union will virtually leave no competition.
While Cigna has bought Texas and Arkansas MA plans, other contenders for the remaining plans may be WellPoint Inc. (WLP) and UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH).
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/cigna-buy-ma-plans-210134288.html
He was no longer able to make the big payments on his house
in Phoenix and the jury found him guilty of setting his home on fire in order to cash in on the insurance. This appears from what everyone is saying to be suicide in the courtroom and as others are saying this may end up being a book or a movie as he was quite the person with his extravagant lifestyle and even climbed Mount Everest.
It is wild when you watch the video as it does appear that he did take something but toxicology reports when done will tell the story I think. He went into convulsions and you watch the video below and see what you think. It was in 2009 that he set his house on fire. The video is a bit graphic. BD
"Burning Man" Michael Marin died after his "medical emergency" in the courtroom yesterday, which came after a jury handed down a guilty verdict in Marin's arson case.
Fox 10 had its camera on Marin's face as the verdict came in, and it sure looks like he put something in his mouth before he started having an apparent seizure and fell unconscious in the courtroom.
CPR was performed on Marin before he was transported to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
A court spokesman said Marin was transported to a hospital after he collapsed, and Judge Bruce Cohen ruled that "footage of [Marin's] medical treatment" could not be aired, but thanks to Fox 10, there's footage of what happened before that medical treatment was needed.
http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2012/06/michael_marin_burning_man_may.php
