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Two Las Vegas entrepreneurs — one a doctor, one a former gaming company executive — are embracing technology in two distinctly different quests to promote good health. And each is capitalizing on something that Las Vegas has led the way on for decades: hospitality...Constantine George, chief medical officer of the concierge practice Epitomedical, this year launched Vedius, a smartphone app that combines personalized clinical care with the kind of customer service for which Las Vegas is known...“Patients first,” George said. “They’re the center of our universe, medically speaking. Just like the hotel industry here, (where) it’s about the tourists, all about people coming to town and having a good time and wanting to come back over and over. The same concept should be applied to health care.”...Tim Stanley, a former gaming and technology executive...launched Carepoynt, a web-based health care rewards program with 15,000 members nationwide that recently began adding Las Vegas partners...“I think helping reward the right behaviors is good for our health,” Stanley said. “There are many things we can do preventatively that significantly (reduce) the ravages of time — disease, things like that. Diabetes, heart disease — these things are not completely preventable but significantly.”

Eldorado Resorts Properties teamed up with Activate Healthcare to open a family medical center inside the Circus Circus on the corner of Sixth and West Streets (Reno)...All full-time employees of the Eldorado, Silver Legacy and Circus Circus can pop in to see a doctor for general health care needs. The nearly 4,500 square-foot clinic includes three exam rooms, a pharmacy and patient resource center. Patients will not have to wait weeks to see a doctor either; they are guaranteed an appointment within 24-hours. "We’re trying to get people out of the emergency rooms and into their primary physicians which will create a healthier environment, which will be a healthier employee, which will be a healthier family and community,” explains Cindy Carano, the Executive Director of Community Relations for Eldorado Resorts, Inc.

A Rowland Heights doctor was convicted of second-degree murder…in connection with the overdose deaths of three patients, capping a landmark case that was closely watched by medical and legal professionals across the country…Dr. Hsiu-Ying “Lisa” Tseng, who prosecutors say is the first doctor convicted of murder in the United States for recklessly prescribing drugs to patients, was accused of ignoring “red flags” about her prescribing habits, including the overdose of a patient in her clinic and nine phone calls in less than three years from authorities informing her that patients had died with drugs in their system…. Tseng was one of only a handful of doctors across the country who have faced murder charges for prescribing painkillers that led to a patient's death...

Medical technology continues to lose ground when it comes to all U.S. venture capital investment as value-based care takes hold of the healthcare system and the industry fights to get rid of a device tax...The share of medical technology venture deals dropped to just 4% of total deals last year compared to the industry’s 13% share 25 years ago...There were 420 medical technology venture deals in 2016 out of more than 10,000 total venture deals...medical technology companies had been paying a 2.3% medical device tax on sales under the Affordable Care Act until a two-year moratorium began in January 2016. Before the device tax was put on hiatus, the IRS collected between $1 billion and $2 billion a year in 2013, 2014 and 2015...This move away from fee-for-service medicine to value-based models means insurance companies don't always pay for the medical device a doctor wants to use. Purchasing of devices at large multi-hospital systems has shifted from doctors to “hospital purchasing committees,”.. medtech products...have digital health elements embedded into them...Inherently, digital health solutions are more solution-based...and they have the ability to measure outcomes...Whether medical technology companies can develop products that improve outcomes and measure them will be key...

A jury...convicted Binh "Ben" Chung, a Las Vegas doctor accused of drugging and raping patients, of sexual assault and kidnapping charges...Prosecutors claimed Chung, 43, had videotaped sex acts with three unconscious women and a teenage girl who also had been drugged...Chung told jurors that he had an ongoing consensual affair with one of the women, and that she was awake in the videos jurors watched, playing a role in his "Sleeping Beauty" fantasy...He said he had somnophilia, a fetish for having sex with someone who is unconscious. He also testified that the teenager prosecutors said he molested in another video was actually the woman with whom he claimed he had an affair...Jurors deliberated the case for more than eight hours, including roughly four hours Friday, before convicting Chung of 11 of the 14 counts, including use of a minor in the production of pornography, kidnapping, battery with intent to commit sexual assault, and four counts of sexual assault...

A Las Vegas doctor who drugged and raped patients was ordered Monday to serve 50 years to life behind bars...District Judge Kathleen Delaney called the case against Binh “Ben” Chung “abhorrent and unfathomable” and “incredibly disturbing” as she handed down the sentence...Chung testified...he had an ongoing consensual affair with one of the women, and that she was awake in the videos jurors watched, playing a role in his “Sleeping Beauty” fantasy...He said he had somnophilia, a fetish for having sex with someone who is unconscious. He also testified that the teenager prosecutors said he molested in another video was actually the woman with whom he claimed he had an affair...Chung, found guilty of 11 counts, including use of a minor in the production of pornography, kidnapping, battery with intent to commit sexual assault, and four counts of sexual assault, thanked the judge and attorneys on both sides, along with his family, but did not apologize...

Israeli digital health startup Telesofia Medical has set out to be as specific as possible when it comes to developing personalized video content for health literacy program. Many of its customers are big pharma companies but some are health systems keen to prepare patients for an upcoming procedure or help patients follow a care plan when they are diagnosed with a condition or discharged from the hospital…part of the problem is people hear instructions like “take two pills twice daily” and accept it without really understanding what that means…The problem isn’t with the patient, it is with us not providing easy to understand information...or taking it for granted that patients understand the imparted information correctly…The videos, with content that can be customized by each customer, can include the patient’s care manager, doctor, or another healthcare professional. Depending on the person’s name, age and sex, the video will factor that data and address individuals personally.