Monday, September 30, 2013

Geisinger Institute for Advanced Application to Advance Innovative Solutions, Transform Health Care Delivery

Institute to leverage cross-disciplinary expertise in medicine, technology, research, engineering

Newswise — DANVILLE, Pa – Geisinger Health System announced today the formation of the Geisinger Institute for Advanced Application (GIAA) that will utilize Geisinger’s unique model and cross-disciplinary expertise to make significant, tangible contributions to improving health care quality and outcomes for patients, providers, payers and employers.
GIAA builds on Geisinger’s unique culture of innovation where new ideas, procedures and protocols are fostered from all areas of the organization − physicians, nurses, researchers, administrators, technology analysts and more − as well as outside partners. Its cross-disciplinary approach includes teams of experts tasked with designing, testing, evaluating and operationalizing new models, applications and technologies.
Led by Gregory Moore, M.D., Ph.D., an engineer, neuroscientist and neuroradiologist at Geisinger Health System, the GIAA will initially include three centers: the Center for Healthcare Re-engineering, co-directed by Kenneth Wood, D.O. and Pascale Carayon, Ph.D.; the Center for Emerging Technology and Informatics, directed by Dr. Moore; and the Center for Clinical Innovation, directed by Jonathan Darer, M.D., MPH.
“As health care costs continue to rise on a steady upward trajectory, innovation as a means to transform health care delivery and improve how we care for patients is a critical societal need and also a critical global commitment,” said Glenn D. Steele Jr., M.D., Ph.D, president and chief executive officer, Geisinger Health System. “By engaging national experts of several health care disciplines, GIAA will be a key driver of research, evaluation, analysis as well as implementation.”
Designed to redefine conventional thinking regarding the use of new technologies and innovative approaches, GIAA will engage diverse discipline experts from Geisinger and other organizations. These experts from across the country will be specialized in various aspects of health care, such as clinical, research, engineering, innovation, technology, data, informatics, mobile/telehealth, health insurance, strategy, business and finance.
“While we remain steadfast in our mission of healing, education, research and service in the central and northeast Pennsylvania communities we serve, GIAA is focused on addressing the unmet needs of health care by significantly augmenting traditional healthcare approaches with engineering, business and science,” said Dr. Steele.
GIAA will work closely with xG Health Solutions™, Geisinger’s new venture focused on scaling, disseminating and commercializing Geisinger’s intellectual property in health care performance improvement. Geisinger’s model is held up as a national model for developing and implementing advanced healthcare delivery models that improves outcomes and reduce healthcare costs all while reducing avoidable hospital readmissions.
Additionally, GIAA is expected to successfully build a grant portfolio aimed at ensuring the rigor of its innovation as ‘proven’ and build partnerships with other like-minded institutions, foundations and industry leaders that leverage expertise to transform health care.
From developing better ways of utilizing point-of-care examination devices to finding more efficient and effective ways of helping clinicians evaluate, coordinate and manage patients’ health, GIAA will pursue advanced tools to analyze, visualize and model complete health care data. This will help better predict medical outcomes, improve operational efficiencies in health care delivery and reduce the overall cost of healthcare.
“We aim to develop research-driven solutions the health care industry wants – solutions that have clinical and commercial implications,” said Dr. Steele, “With Geisinger’s recognized leadership in health care re-engineering plus the clinical and industry excellence of our strategic partners, we believe GIAA is poised to address the health challenges of today and tomorrow.”
For more details, visit www.geisinger.org/IAA

Miami Beach’s ‘Rock Doc’ busted on Medicare fraud charges

Federal agents busted the “Rock Doc” Monday morning on Medicare-fraud charges related to physical therapy cases.
Christopher Gregory Wayne was arrested at his Miami Beach home by FBI and Health and Human Services agents.
His first appearance will be Monday afternoon in Miami federal court.
Wayne, who has sported punk-style hair spikes and leather bracelets, has been in the public eye before as a focus of a Wall Street Journal profile in December 2010. According to the profile, he has used his home as a Playboy production studio and has posed with celebs Paris Hilton and Steven Tyler.
He took in more than $1.2 million from Medicare in 2008, according to the profile, mainly using physical therapy that involves heat packs and electrical stimulation.






Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/09/30/3660611/miami-beachs-rock-doc-busted-on.html#storylink=cpy