Author: Peter

…offsite doctors with the assistance of remote-controlled robots and direct bedside care providers to be just as effective,.., compared with typical in-person care…On-site…5 minutes per patient…offsite doctors averaged 8 minutes due to slow or dropped Internet connections and time needed to operate the robot.

Medical tourism…many patients may return from abroad with costly infections or complications. "People are travelling abroad without necessarily understanding that if (something) goes wrong they are not covered in the same way in terms of redress if they were treated by the National Health System or treated privately..."

Pharmacists and their patients can help prevent prescription drug misuse, abuse, and diversion through a new educational tool…offers tips on monitoring, safeguarding, and properly disposing of prescription drugs—especially pain medications,… the checklist helps individuals and families recognize and minimize the risk."

...five million medications have been tracked using radio frequency identification technology. system allows a hospital to track reliably from ordering through dispensing through administration at the bedside, patient safety has been greatly enhanced. "It's cutting down on medication errors,..

Novartis plans to test a novel pricing model with some customers when it launches…new heart failure drug Entresto,…system under which they would get the drug at a discount but then pay Novartis more if, …. it successfully reduces the need for costly hospital visits.

….powerful new painkiller... questions are emerging about how the drug is being sold, and to whom…FDA..should be prescribed only by oncologists and pain specialists… But just 1 percent of prescriptions are written by oncologists,.. half of the prescriptions were written by pain specialists, and a wide range of doctors prescribed the rest,…

Many patients with systemic lupus erythematosus don’t adhere to their medications, leading to significantly more emergency department visits and hospital admissions. "Patients often think that their medication is just to treat their symptoms… patients feel they can choose when to take their medication based on how they feel."

While big data, electronic health records and patient engagement tools are seen as the big solutions to improving healthcare, there are more modest goals clinicians eye to provide better care,…Using good data, instead of just big data…tools need to be used not just for documentation and billing, but also to help clinicians learn

Novartis shares are down 0.42% to $98.11 in after the U.S. government filed papers saying that the company should pay fines of up to $3.35 billion over the alleged kickbacks the company used to boost the sales of two drugs…violated the False Claims Act and received improper reimbursements for…Exjade and...Myfortic...