A consulting firm dealing with long-range, leading edge technological innovations and their consequences and implications for healthcare policy and practice.
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alt="http://hfdigest.com/wp-content/gallery/pics/robomed2.jpg" Twenty-three new medical schools have either recently joined or are planning to join the 131 already in existence in the US. Six of them had been accredited as of mid-February. A shortage of places has led US students to enroll in medical schools abroad, and a shortage of graduates has led hospitals to hire foreign […]
Strategic Planning and the Pace of Change The accelerating pace of change, much of it unpredictable, means accelerating disruption to plans, for better or worse. (For “better,” think of the 18 billion dollars for healthcare information technology made suddenly available as part of the ARRA stimulus package.) Strategic plans used to look forward five to […]
Practice & Policy: Aligning the Practice of Medicine with Accelerating Science We focused the past four issues on regenerative medicine—a form of “postmodern” medicine likely to change the way many conditions are treated. There is no question that regenerative medicine will become mainstream at some point, but in light of the fact that many aspects […]
In this final part of our four-part series on regenerative medicine we digest reports of advances in engineering new tissues and organs, including methodologies and specific organs/tissues. We began the series by noting there is a “gold rush” of research and venture capital into regenerative medicine. In showing examples of nuggets unearthed so far, this […]
Policy Healthcare Innovation: Policy and Financing Issues Last December, a consumer watchdog group questioned the legality of advertising medical devices on YouTube, and called on regulators to crack down on such promotions. The videos tout the benefits of the devices but do not mention the risks, according to the group, in contravention of US Food […]
In last month’s issue we provided specific examples of stem cell therapies under development and in clinical trials. The emergence of such therapies shows why there is a “gold rush” of research and venture capital into regenerative medicine territory, as we discussed in the April issue. This month, we digest exemplary advances made over the […]
The number of Americans traveling abroad for care is disputed, but “hardly anyone disputes that medical care, once a highly local business, is going global like never before,” writes Marla Dickerson in the LA Times. It deprived domestic medical providers of about $16 billion in 2007, according to consulting firm Deloitte, which predicts the number […]
Advisory Board on Regenerative Medicine According to the Advisory Board, patients who have suffered recent heart attacks are the main target of clinical trials of adult stem cells taken from bone marrow, muscle, or skin to repair heart tissue. The cells are taken from the patient’s own body or from a donor, and are transplanted […]
Last month we wrote about bionics—the integration of human and machine, resulting in “cyborgs”—from a nervous system perspective. Specifically, we described developments in the “brain–machine interface” that connects electromechanical bionic devices—artificial limbs and organs—with the human nervous system. But bionics is not just about artificial devices. It is also about artificial materials that more or […]
Cyborgs, also known as bionic people, have been among us for some time. A heart patient with a pacemaker implant, a Parkinson’s patient with a deep-brain stimulator implant, an amputee fitted with a C-Leg… these and many more are machine-enhanced humans—cyborgs, or bionic people. Most bionic devices need to be activated and deactivated automatically, for […]
