Medical Economics Weekly - New HIPAA rules increase your liability

In this episode of Medical Economics Weekly, doctor's liability has increased with new HIPAA rules, Google Glass has been hacked for doctors, house calls might be the future of medicine, a blog from Angelina Jolie's doctor, and more.

Below are links to the articles and social media activity mentioned in this episode. Connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, and subscribe to our YouTube channel for more episodes of our podcast. And make sure to connect with Kevin Stout and Brandon Glenn on Twitter (@kevinbstout and @BGlennWrites) or email us with suggestions at [email protected] and [email protected].

First Facial Recognition Hack for Google Glass

A programming team has hacked Google Glass and wrote an app specifically for doctors. The app, called MedRef for Glass, allows doctors to create and find patient folders by voice, add photos and voice notes, view previous notes, and find patient folders by facial recognition.

New HIPAA rules: Make sure you are in compliance because your liability has increased

September 23rd of this year looms as an important date for physicians. That’s when physician practices must have instituted new internal policies and procedures for dealing with protected health information under sweeping new changes to the HIPAA law. 

A Patient’s Journey: Angelina Jolie

Angelina Jolie's doctor, Dr. Kristi Funk of the Pink Lotus Breast Center, took advantage the rising press about Jolie and blogged about her preventative double mastectomy due to the mutated BRCA gene.

Nearly half of working adults were uninsured or underinsured last year

A report from the Commonwealth Fund finds that nearly half of working adults were either uninsured or underinsured for at least part of the last year.

Survey: 31 percent of doctors make Rx decisions from smartphones

A Kantar Media study recently released found that 31% of all U.S. physicians made prescribing decisions with their smartphones, up from 21% last year. This increase in smartphones use for professional purposes signifies the still rising growth of mobile technologies in healthcare.

How the house call may be the future of medicine

A recent article in Medical Economics’ print edition asks whether house calls could be the future of medicine.

Cancer Vaccines Get a Price Cut in Poor Nations

he two companies that make vaccines against cervical cancer, Merck and GSK, have cur their prices for the vaccines in poor countries to below $5 per dose, compared to the $130 a dose in the U.S.

Tweet of the Week

In reply to a May 10th Medical Economics article about unmoving high hypertension rate in the U.S, user @robertbaileymd replied,

"Here is a great area for life style modification incorporated with sound medical care."