Dow Inaugurates Northeast Technology Center Innovation Hub

July 31, 2013, 2:07 p.m. EDT

Major Commitment Reflects Investment in the Delaware Valley; Center to Support Innovation for Advanced Materials Portfolio of Businesses

PHILADELPHIA, Jul 31, 2013 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Representing a new chapter in the company's storied history in the Delaware Valley, The Dow Chemical Company DOW +1.33% today inaugurated its brand new Northeast Technology Center (NTC) in Collegeville, Pennsylvania.

A world-class, state-of-the-art 800,000 square foot facility, the NTC is a global research and development hub of modern lab and office facilities providing a fully equipped, collaborative space for more than 800 employees and contractors. One of the largest sites of its kind in Dow's global network, the NTC will play a pivotal role as an innovation hub for many businesses in Dow's Advanced Materials portfolio - a business unit headquartered in Philadelphia, which brings differentiated solutions to customers in key end-markets including electronics, consumer and lifestyle, infrastructure and transportation and energy.

Speaking at a ribbon cutting event attended by more than 700 employees, contractors and community members, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett said, "Today Dow is making clear that it is committed to Pennsylvania, as a place of business, as a center of research and development, and as a home of innovation. This tech center is part of something special happening all over our commonwealth. Businesses are coming here to become part of our economic comeback. That comeback has led to 130,000 private sector jobs being created; a recovery of more than 60 percent of the jobs lost during the great recession and unemployment at it the lowest rate since 2009. That's progress."

"The Northeast Technology Center is yet another example of Dow's continued commitment to innovation and collaboration," said Andrew Liveris, Dow Chairman and CEO. "Working at the intersection of the sciences, Dow scientists and technologists are bridging the gap between chemistry and technology to develop solutions to some of the world's greatest challenges."

Dow Executive Vice President and Advanced Materials Portfolio Leader Howard Ungerleider noted Dow has a heritage of innovation in the Delaware Valley: "More than fifty years ago, this region saw the invention of water-based acrylic emulsion technology, an innovation that revolutionized the way we make paint and became a national historic chemical landmark," said Ungerleider. "Today, as we gather in this new space, we can only imagine what kind of milestones we will reach in the next 50 years. It is exciting to know that this will be the point of discovery for many new innovations to come."

Dow in the Delaware Valley employs approximately 2,000 people, generates $1 billion in customer sales annually and has had a presence in the region for more than 100 years. Dow employees in the region play a significant role in innovative chemistry that betters lives and contributes to the quality of life in the tri-state area and its local communities. Products developed locally include: acrylic technology for paints, coatings and construction materials; products used to fabricate electronic chips; polymer technologies for personal care, as well as technologies for enhanced water purification and laundry care. The Company has already started moving employees from its Spring House Technical Center to the NTC and will continue the transition through 2014.

About Dow

Dow DOW +1.33% combines the power of science and technology to passionately innovate what is essential to human progress. The Company connects chemistry and innovation with the principles of sustainability to help address many of the world's most challenging problems such as the need for clean water, renewable energy generation and conservation, and increasing agricultural productivity. Dow's diversified industry-leading portfolio of specialty chemical, advanced materials, agrosciences and plastics businesses delivers a broad range of technology-based products and solutions to customers in approximately 160 countries and in high growth sectors such as electronics, water, energy, coatings and agriculture. In 2012, Dow had annual sales of approximately $57 billion and employed approximately 54,000 people worldwide. The Company's more than 5,000 products are manufactured at 188 sites in 36 countries across the globe. References to "Dow" or the "Company" mean The Dow Chemical Company and its consolidated subsidiaries unless otherwise expressly noted. More information about Dow can be found at www.dow.com.

(R)Trademark of The Dow Chemical Company ("Dow") or an affiliated company of Dow

http://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=bwnews&sty=20130731006411r1&sid=cmtx6&distro=nx

SOURCE: The Dow Chemical Company

Innovation key to improving patient care, access

June 12, 2013 by Greg St. Martin

- 

Larry J. Merlo, pres­i­dent and CEO of CVS Care­mark, said on Tuesday morning at Northeastern’s CEOBreak­fast Forum that the chal­lenges pre­sented by America’s rapidly evolving health­care land­scape will require inno­v­a­tive solu­tions that lower costs and improve patient access to quality care.

Merlo said today’s health­care industry is grap­pling with chal­lenges ranging from meeting the needs of Baby Boomers to what he called the “epi­demic” of patients’ non-​​adherence to pre­scrip­tion med­ica­tion sched­ules. The Afford­able Care Act, he added, is con­stantly intro­ducing new ele­ments into the fold.

“All of the stake­holders in the system including con­sumers, employers, and hos­pi­tals, are expe­ri­encing levels of unprece­dented change,” said Merlo, the latest keynote speaker at Northeastern’s CEO Break­fast Forum series. Pres­i­dent Joseph E. Aoun hosts the events, where leading CEOs share their exper­tise with audi­ences of other CEOs and senior exec­u­tives from the Greater Boston area.

Pres­i­dent Joseph E. Aoun, right, greets Larry Merlo, pres­i­dent and CEO of CVS Care­mark, on Tuesday morning at Northeastern’s CEO Break­fast Forum.Photo by Brooks Canaday.

CVS Care­mark, Merlo explained, is dri­ving many inno­v­a­tive approaches to meet these health­care chal­lenges, par­tic­u­larly by rein­venting pharmacy’s role in the equa­tion. He detailed CVSCaremark’s Phar­macy Advisor Pro­gram, which helps patients manage the treat­ment of chronic dis­eases through a variety of resources such as coun­seling ser­vices and email noti­fi­ca­tions. He also pointed to Min­ute­Clinic, CVS Caremark’s retail med­ical clinics located in select CVS/​pharmacy stores nation­wide that Merlo said offer con­ve­nient, afford­able, high-​​quality care and ease the burden on hos­pi­tals treating non-​​emergency con­di­tions. Launched in 2000, there are now 650 Min­ute­Clinic loca­tions that have col­lec­tively treated 15 mil­lion patients.

“CVS Care­mark is uniquely posi­tioned to help stake­holders nav­i­gate the com­plex­i­ties of a changing health­care system,” said Merlo. He noted that the company’s resources and ser­vices are extending the front­lines of care for con­sumers, helping to alle­viate the primary-​​care physi­cian shortage, closing gaps in care, and improving med­ica­tion adherence.

In his intro­duc­tory remarks, Aoun high­lighted the long­standing rela­tion­ship between North­eastern and CVS Care­mark, par­tic­u­larly through part­ner­ships in the School of Phar­macy and School of Nursing in the Bouvé Col­lege of Health Sci­ences. CVS Care­mark cur­rently employs 278 alumni and nearly 700 stu­dents have com­pleted co-​​ops at CVS Care­mark since 2002. In addi­tion, 45 phar­macy stu­dents from the 2013 grad­u­ating class were placed at CVS Care­mark for their Advanced Phar­macy Prac­tice Experiences—intensive expe­ri­en­tial courses—during their final year in the Doctor of Phar­macy program.

“North­eastern grad­u­ates have cer­tainly demon­strated their lead­er­ship abil­i­ties among our work­force,” Merlo said.

Aoun noted how Northeastern’s inno­v­a­tive approach to higher edu­ca­tion through expe­ri­en­tial edu­ca­tion par­al­lels CVS Caremark’s novel approach to health­care solu­tions. “I was struck by the sim­i­lar­i­ties between the two,” he said.

During a question-​​and-​​answer ses­sion, Jack Reynolds, dean of the School of Phar­macy, asked Merlo to dis­cuss ways in which the school’s cur­ricula could inte­grate new ele­ments that align with the evolving health­care field. Merlo pointed to two areas of oppor­tu­nity: cus­tomer inter­ac­tion and the evolving nature of the phar­macy industry.

Describing the chal­lenges related to cus­tomer inter­ac­tion, Merlo told the story of a Min­ute­Clinic nurse prac­ti­tioner who noticed a high-​​school athlete’s heart murmur during a rou­tine phys­ical and directed the family to a spe­cialist. The boy’s mother ini­tially ques­tioned the finding, but the specialist’s later con­fir­ma­tion com­pelled her to write a warm letter to CVS Care­mark lauding the nurse practitioner’s careful attention.

“This is just one story about what is hap­pening out there every day, whether it’s a nurse prac­ti­tioner or a phar­ma­cist doing won­derful things that ulti­mately end up saving people’s lives,” Merlo said.

 http://www.northeastern.edu/news/2013/06/ceo-breakfast-larry-merlo/#sthash.TEGFj8WR.dpuf

Home Health Leaders Call for Targeted Program Integrity Reforms to Prevent Medicare Fraud

Published: May 16, 2013 

Read more here: http://www.heraldonline.com/2013/05/16/4868464/home-health-leaders-call-for-targeted.html#storylink=cpy

By Partnership for Quality Home Healthcare

WASHINGTON, MAY 16, 2013 — /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On behalf of the Partnership for Quality Home Healthcare - a coalition of community - and hospital-based home healthcare agencies dedicated to developing innovative reforms to improve the program integrity, quality, and efficiency of home healthcare for our nation's seniors - Chairman Billy Tauzin (R-LA) and Senator John Breaux (D-LA) made the following statement:

"Yesterday's announcement that the Medicare Fraud Strike Force has charged nearly 100 individuals for allegedly defrauding the federal government for $223 million should prompt immediate action by lawmakers and stakeholders to advance policies that stop Medicare fraud and abuse before it takes place. 

"The government's own data show that abusive billing practices in home health occur in isolated parts of the country where excessive Medicare utilization is taking place. Nearly 90 percent of all improper payments for home health services are occurring in a small number of counties in just five states. Therefore, policymakers should undertake action to address fraud and abuse in a targeted manner.

"Recognizing the critical need to prevent taxpayer dollars from entering criminal hands, the Partnership has been working for more than a year to develop targeted reforms to combat waste, fraud and abuse.

"Reforms called for in the 'Skilled Home Health and Integrity Program Savings' proposal include beneficiary protections that prevent criminals from entering the system and payment safeguards that confirm the accuracy of filed claims to ensure validity prior to payment. Targeted measures have proven to save money, and could have potentially prevented the $51 million in fraudulent payments made to the Miami-based scheme uncovered yesterday.

"As lawmakers look for federal savings, we urge them to take a hard look at how much money is being lost to fraud and abuse and address this national dilemma before asking seniors and honest providers to pay the price.

"We commend the Medicare Fraud Strike Force for rooting out these criminals and look forward to working with lawmakers in Congress to advance reforms that address weaknesses in the Medicare program that allow fraud and abuse to threaten America's seniors, the Medicare program and the nation's taxpayers."

The Partnership for Quality Home Healthcare was established in 2010 to assist government officials in ensuring access to skilled home healthcare services for seniors and disabled Americans. Representing more than 1,500 community- and hospital-based home healthcare agencies across the United States, the Partnership is dedicated to developing innovative reforms to improve the quality, efficiency and integrity of home healthcare. To learn more, visitwww.homehealth4america.org. To join the home healthcare policy conversation, connect with us on Facebook, Twitter and our blog. 

SOURCE Partnership for Quality Home Healthcare

Read more here: http://www.heraldonline.com/2013/05/16/4868464/home-health-leaders-call-for-targeted.html#storylink=cpy

The Future of Advanced Prehospital Care

By: Christopher Matthews

Point of Care (POC) testing has been used by EMS for quite a long time. It allows the EMT and Paramedic to follow up on potential causes of a patient’s condition and rule out the things that could be a distraction to good care.

With POC testing, we can check the patient’s oxygen saturation, carbon dioxide levels, heart rhythm, blood sugar, carboxyhemoglobin, other blood gases, cardiac enzymes, and even the patient’s cholesterol.

POC testing used to take several minutes for each test, but with 21st century technology, multiple test results can be returned to us in less than five minutes. Some of the POC tests we can perform have nearly instant results. This can help guide us to provide more certain patient care. It can also help us avoid performing blanket treatments for several possible conditions, like the old fashioned “coma cocktail”.

We discuss some of the new POC options available for EMS field use in this article below.(read more)

NeHC helps Healthwise spur engagement

eHealth Readiness Tool will help gauge consumer engagement processes

WASHINGTON | May 15, 2013

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National eHealth Collaborative and Healthwise, a nonprofit organization that develops patient education and engagement technology, announced Tuesday that, as part of their collaborative efforts, Healthwise will make NeHC's Consumer eHealth Readiness Tool available to clients.

NeHC officials note that Healthwise is a longtime partner in helping to advocate the use of eHealth tools to help patients become full partners in their care. Healthwise Senior Vice President for Policy Leslie Kelly Hall is a member of the NeHCBoard of Directors and NeHC's Consumer Consortium on eHealth Steering Committee. She led an effort to bring stakeholders together to develop the NeHC Patient Engagement Framework, which was developed to guide healthcare organizations in developing and strengthening their patient engagement strategies.

The Patient Engagement Framework, which was developed with input from consumer and patient advocates, policymakers, technology organizations, healthcare providers and health plans, has been downloaded from NeHC's website nearly 8,000 times, officials say, and is being used as a conceptual model to inform patient engagement strategies.

The NeHC Consumer eHealth Readiness Tool is mapped to the Patient Engagement Framework and meaningful usecriteria, and serves as an online diagnostic tool to help organizations quantify, prioritize, and focus their improvement efforts and measure their progress toward IT-enabled consumer engagement.

In addition to working with NeHC and other interested stakeholders to spread the word about the Patient Engagement Framework and the CeRT, Healthwise is sponsoring several annual CeRT subscriptions that will be provided to select Healthwise clients.

"Healthwise is a leader in the healthcare community, working to accelerate the use of health IT tools that help physicians and other providers better connect, communicate and empower their patients to take a more active role in their care," said NeHC CEO Kate Berry in a press statement.

"Engaging patients directly is critical to the transformation of healthcare - engaged patients take better care of themselves, which leads to better outcomes and lower costs," added Hall. "Making the CeRT available to Healthwise clients supports our mission of helping patients make better health decisions."

Assess for DBS is a handy app for physicians who treat patients with Parkinson’s disease

 by Jay Agarwal

App Review

Purpose of App Review

How useful is this app in identifying patients for deep brain stimulation (DBS)?

Introduction

Deep brain stimulation is an invasive treatment that uses an implanted device to create electrical signals in the brain to help alleviate various treatment resistant neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s disease.

Although DBS is an effective therapeutic treatment, patients need to be evaluated according to their condition and extent of disease in order to be eligible for the procedure. The Assess for DBS medical app was created by medtronic to help physicians evaluate and identify if patients should be referred for DBS.

User Interface

The user interface of this app makes it very easy to use and navigate. First, the app opens up with a screen that can lead you to start a patient evaluation, get background information on DBS, find information relating to the methodology of the app, as well as instructions on how to use the app.

The background information screen gives a summary of the methods the app uses to make its recommendation for DBS. The app states that it uses the RAND Appropriateness method and has an in-app link that opens up with more information about that method which includes citations. The information page also lists the doctors involved in developing that method.

The first patient evaluation screen has a series of questions about the patient that haveYes or No answers

If the answers are not Yes to all of these questions a pop-up shows up stating right away that the patient does not meet the requirements for DBS consideration.

However, if the answers are all Yes, then the next screen has another set of more specific questions such as age, duration of Parkinson’s disease, severity of dyskinesias, etc.

Some of these questions have tabs that open with more information such as definitions. Since many of the questions and answers depend on subjective information, the information tabs also include descriptions or explanations of what the patient may present with for each answer choice.

After completing these questions, a recommendation is revealed. The recommendation shows the recommendation for DBS referral as either inappropriate, uncertain or appropriate according to the answers to the questions. These results can then be sent as an email in PDF format. Overall, this app is very well made and can be a handy tool for physicians to have to help make an assessment for DBS referral.

Price

• Free

Likes

• Very well made app, easy to navigate
• Has information on the method used to make the ratings of appropriateness for referral for DBS as well as citations for more information
• The app includes tabs with helpful information about various questions

Dislikes

• Although the app contains information of the methods used to make the ratings for DBS referral, it would be more convenient if the citations were hyper-linked
• The app says that it should be used in the USA only at the very bottom of the safety page
• It may be better if this was listed on the opening screen

 Healthcare workers that would benefit from the app

• Any physician who is treats patients with Parkinson’s disease.

Conclusions

• This app is a very well developed medical tool that can be used by physicians to assess patients eligibility for DBS. The app is very easy to use and navigate and gives very quick results. This app is not available on the Android platform.

iMedicalApps recommended?

• Yes

iTunes Link

Rating: (1 to 5 stars)
Overall: 4.66 Stars

1. User Interface – 5/5 Stars. The app is easy to use and navigate and has a great layout.
2. Multimedia usage: N/a
3. Price – 5/5 Stars. Free.
4. Real world applicability – 4/5 Stars. This app can be a great tool for physicians who treat Parkinson’s disease in the USA. Although this app does help evaluate patients for referral for DBS, the questions and answer choices are still subjective.

Compatibility: Compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation), iPod touch (5th generation) and iPad. Requires iOS 5.1 or later. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.
Tested on: iPhone 4

Disclaimer:
This post does not establish, nor is it intended to establish, a patient physician relationship with anyone. It does not substitute for professional advice, and does not substitute for an in-person evaluation with your health care provider. It does not provide the definitive statement on the subject addressed. Before using these apps please consult with your own physician or health care provider as to the apps validity and accuracy as this post is not intended to affirm the validity or accuracy of the apps in question. The app(s) mentioned in this post should not be used without discussing the app first with your health care provider.

iMedicalApps is at Health:Refactored today and tomorrow, #hrefactored

by iMedicalApps Team

By: Steven Chan, MD/MBA

The Health: Refactored 2-day conference will bring together designers, developers, and health/technology professionals to discuss the economics and governmental factors influencing health tech, the latest user experience paradigms, as well as API and data sources. Speakers include US Dept. of HHS CTO Bryan Sivak, Ginger.io CEO Anmol Madan, Microsoft Chief Architect – HealthVault Sean Nolan, and more.

We’re here at the Computer History Museum in Silicon Valley today and tomorrow to share the most exciting and interesting finds from this two-day event. Follow us @iMedicalApps for the latest and keep an eye out for posts here. The event hashtag is #hrefactored.

For more information on this event, check out their website.

Carmat has won approval to proceed with the first implantations of artificial hearts

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PARIS | Tue May 14, 2013 10:00am EDT

(Reuters) - France's Carmat has won approval to proceed with the first human implantations of its artificial heart in four countries, the company said on Tuesday, sending its shares up 25 percent.

The approval were given by the four international cardiac surgery centers in Belgium, Poland, Saudi Arabia and Slovenia, where the tests will be carried out, but not in France, where Carmat's artificial heart is still to gain approval from the drug safety agency, ANSM.

Shares of Carmat rose 24.56 percent at 12.12 GMT to 129.5 euros, valuing the company at 535 million euros ($694.56 million).

Among Carmat's competitors are privately-held SynCardia Systems andAbiomed Inc., both of the United States.

The approval is "good news" that allows the French medical devices maker "to make progress on the subject of human implantation despite the growing demands of the ASNM," Portzamparc analysts wrote in a note.

The French regulator has asked Carmat to test the device on animals before it can allow implantation in humans.

"The patient selection process and the training of the clinical teams are ongoing in these four countries (...) Implantations could start shortly following the completion of the training," Carmat said in a press release.

Developed by a team of engineers from Airbus parent company EADS, the Carmat devices - expected to cost 150,000 euros ($193,600) each - mimic heart muscle contractions with two micro pumps, one for each ventricle or heart chamber.

"Carmat expects to receive additional approvals in a near future, potentially in France and in other countries," Chief Executive Marcello Conviti said in the press statement.

Last October, Carmat had said it expected to seek approval for its artificial heart from French authorities by the end of the year, enabling it to carry out its first implant in early 2013.

($1 = 0.7703 euros)

(Reporting by Alice Cannet; editing by James Jukwey)