Save info   Get password
Home Submit your blog Edit Account Rules RSS-Archive Contact
Show All




Free image upload Blog forum


shorten url


New Media for Doctors and Healthcare Geeks - The Medical Blog Network
1970-01-01 00:59:59
I was very excited to find Healthvoices.com: The Medical Blog Network this morning through Technorati (I couldn't sleep and it was either browse Technorati or play Civ IV for the umpteenth time). As I've alluded to in previous posts, the healthcare field can be a lonely place for a geek because so few people in it understand what it is their IT and IS support are trying to tell them most of the time. (In my situation I am doubly-damned because my primary customers are the Sales and Marketing department and, to a lesser extent, the Planning and Marketing Support group. Although they're my favorite people within my company to work with, well, suffice it to say that from a geek's perspective there's a reason those organizations' initials are S&M and PMS.) At any rate, it's nice to see that there's an on-line community and blog aggregator for members of the medical profession. I'm thrilled that there are doctors, nurses, and other folks who are passionate about the health
Read more: Doctors , Healthcare , Geeks , New Media

Real Life Manga Cares for Japanese Elderly
1970-01-01 00:59:59
A Japanese -led research team said it had made a seeing, hearing and smelling robot that can carry human beings and is aimed at helping care for the country's growing number of elderly. Government-backed research institute Riken said the 158-centimeter (five-foot) RI-MAN humanoid can already carry a doll weighing 12 kilograms (26 pounds) and could be capable of bearing 70 kilograms within five years. "We're hoping that through future study it will eventually be able to care for elderly people or work in rehabilitation," said Toshiharu Mukai, one of the research team leaders. [ more ]
Read more: Manga , Cares , Real Life

You are the Missing Link. Hello!
1970-01-01 00:59:59
Sure, the title to this post is a bit dated, but then again so is the skull that was found. Scientists working in Africa have discovered a Stone Age skull that could be a link between the extinct Homo erectus species and modern humans. The face and cranium of the fossil have features found in both early and modern human species. The skull is believed to be between 250,000 and 500,000 years old. "[This skull] shows the continuity of the evolutionary record, so in that sense it is a link [between Homo erectus and modern humans]," said Scott Simpson, a paleontologist from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio... The face and cranium of the fossil have characteristics similar to those of an early-human species, such as Homo erectus. But there is anatomical evidence that the fossil is part of modern humans' ancestry. Simpson says, for example, that the shape of the skull's dome, or vault, is similar to that of modern humans. "If you look at Homo erectus,
Read more: Missing , Hello

Newt Gingrich and I Find Common Ground! Dogs and Cats Living Together! Mass Hysteria!
1970-01-01 00:59:59
Apparently I'm not the only one who thinks the Henry ford Health System's E-Prescribe system is a model for the nation to emulate.Former U.S. Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich applauded a southeast Michigan effort to save lives and save dollars through collaboration, but said it is just a beginning and called for nationwide reform of the health care system..."You are as close as any region of the country at beginning to be the health system of the future," Gingrich told about 300 conference attendees. He cited regional advances in electronic prescribing and the collaboration among industry, labor, government and the health industry to improve quality and lower costs in the region's health system..."I am very impressed with what you have begun to do," Gingrich said. But achieving widespread systemic change at the rate needed to save American businesses from collapsing from the enormous burden of health care costs is "going to be an enormous challenge."[ more ]The current system of e
Read more: Common , Living , Hysteria , Newt Gingrich

Are You Listening, God? Apparently Not.
1970-01-01 00:59:59
William Saletan summed-up the most recent multi-million dollar study concerning the impact of prayer on one's health in a recent Slate.com piece this way: Warning: The surgeon general may determine that prayer is hazardous to your health. That's what can happen when faith sets out to prove its power through science.[ more ] Mr. Saletan's wry observation is based upon the results of a three-year, $2.4M study of the impact of other peoples prayers on the recovery of patients who recently underwent heart surgery. According to The New York Times: Patients who knowingly received prayers developed more post-surgery complications than did patients who unknowingly received prayers—and patients who were prayed for did no better than patients who weren't prayed for. In fact, patients who received prayers without their knowledge ended up with more major complications than did patients who received no prayers at all. While witty, I prefer the conclusion reached by Dr. Bruce Flamm as q
Read more: Listening

Global Strategies for Clinical Trial Information
1970-01-01 00:59:59
In 2003 the World Health Organization (WHO) began a series of conferences to address the issue of establishing a mechanism for conducting and reporting on clinical trials in a consistent, universally-accessible manner. Based upon internationally recognized scientific and ethical principles, the resulting program - the International Clinical Trial s Registry Platform - seeks to achieve the following: ensure that all clinical trials are registered and thus publicly declared and identifiable ensure that for all trials, a minimum set of results will be reported and made publicly availableestablish a complete and readily searchable register of clinical trials - overseen by an objective international body with the input of stakeholders assist in making treatment decisions help increase public trust in clinical research These lofty goals - among others - will be achieved through a public Web portal intended to serve as a "one-stop-shop" for clinical trial information from all over
Read more: Global , Strategies

Motown is Abuzz About E-Prescribe - Here's Why You Should Be
1970-01-01 00:59:59
The woes of the Big Three have been national news for a while now, and despite DiamlerChrysler's recent increase in buzz and market share they're not out of the woods either. What's dragging GM, Ford, and DCX down, especially with GM and Ford thriving in overseas markets and all three collectively controlling nearly half of the lucrative North American market? Among other things the rising price of healthcare for their current and retired employees, particularly the cost of prescription drugs. The Henry Ford Health System and Health Alliance Plan's E-Prescribe system is interesting enough on its own because, as I alluded to in my previous post, the automation of mundane tasks frees-up resources so that healthcare professionals can engage in more esoteric - and arguably more important - types of work. As I heard and read more and more in the local media about the importance of E-Prescribe to the automobile industry, it began to dawn on me that there's an even more important sy


Send Google Pack Packing Says Paul Thurrott
1970-01-01 00:59:59
Admittedly not directly related to healthcare information systems, I personally don't know very many people who go oneline and don't use Google 's search engine. Although I'm the first to admit there is no other search engine nearly as capable as Google that I'm aware of it, I try to avoid using it if all possible because I find some of the company's business practices suspect, arrogant, or both. Also, many of their products - from Gmail to Google Talk - are honestly pretty mediocre. While I give Google credit for the concept behind Google Pack, I agree with Paul Thurrott that Google blew the execution: While virtually every computer company on earth is scared to death of Google, and virtually every PC user seems to be in love with them, Google Pack serves nicely as a reality check. Not only is Google human, buts the flaws in Google Pack suggest that this company has a long, long way to go before it can ever justify its insanely lofty stock price. Google Pack is a mixed bag o


Have No Fear Of The Blogosphere
1970-01-01 00:59:59
Shahid Shah, known to some as the Healthcare IT Guy, did a "guest spot" over at Envisioning 2.0, a blog about healthcare marketing. For me, his article enetitled Pharma: Have No Fear of the Blogosphere is the perfect storm of blog entries, since I also work in the healthcare industry as an information systems specialist and my primary customer is the Sales and Marketing group. Mr. Shah's article discusses the lost opportunities and missed potential that the dearth of blogs in the pharmaceutical industry is allowing to exist. However, you can easily swap "pharamceutical company" out and replace it "hospital", "managed care plan", "doctor's office", etc. Here are a couple of excerpts: If you're not creating corporate blogs, it's due to a lack of vision and innovation and perhaps a lack of respect of your customers... [D]on't think that just because you're not blogging about your own products that nobody else is. Nature abhors a vacuum but so does the


Banging the Blogging Drum - Again
1970-01-01 00:59:59
Tomorrow I will put a one-page summary of the pros, cons, and who's who of corporate blogging along with a multi-point plan into the titular basket at the Basket of Ideas breakfast the healthcare organization I work for puts on every quarter. This will be my latest tactical maneauver in a two-year battle to get the word "blog" on the radar of my company's CEO. My previous efforts have largely involved me playing the role of Cyrano to the Sales and Marketing management's Christian. Unfortunately Christian, having no idea of what I was talking about, never uttered my words to Roxane. Can you tell that I wasn't a computer science major? The southeast Michigan market for healthcare is one of the most competitive and difficult in the nation right now. Plagued by layoffs and generally poor corporate performance among its subscriber base, I believe that my organization needs a more effective communications strategy than it is currently employing. Not that what we have right now is
Read more: Blogging , Again

I Have Seen the Future and it is E-Prescribe!
1970-01-01 00:59:59
Here's an excellent example of automating a vital but somewhat mundane aspect of medicine in order to free up resources for more challenging, hands-on tasks...Henry Ford Medical Group filled more than 500,000 prescriptions electronically in the last year through a program launched at the request of American automakers to cut prescription costs and reduce medical errors. Health Alliance Plan and Henry Ford Medical reported Wednesday that the year-old program, e-Prescribe, already has helped avoid potential drug complications and saved money by reducing adverse drug effects and increasing the use of generic prescriptions. Here's how it works: Every time a doctor enters a pricey brand-name drug into the e-Prescribe system, the computer stops him or her and suggests a less-expensive generic version. It also checks for potentially harmful drug interactions and allergies. The doctor doesn't have to choose the generic, but already, e-Prescribe has resulted in doctors switching 10% -- mo
Read more: Future

Expert Blogs on Yahoo! Health
1970-01-01 00:59:59
Yahoo ! has introduced Health Expert Blogs on Yahoo! Health. I'm not sure if this is part of the "social Web" model Yahoo! is gambling their future on, a symptom of what happens when 1 out of 5 Americans has no health insurance, or merely an outgrowth of the blogging phenomenon. Whatever the company's motivation, Yahoo! has really delivered. There are fourteen blogs covering twelve topics: Aging & CaregivingAsthma & AllergiesBreast CancerChild & Family HealthCholesterol & Heart DiseaseDepression & AnxietyDiabetes and Living With DiabetesNutrition & Weight LossPregnancySex & Relationships and Sexual HealthSports Medicine & ExerciseYoga Some of the bloggers are "powered by" very prestigious organizations and institutions. Nutrition & Weight Loss, for example, is provided by Johns Hopkins Medicine. Others, like Sex & Relationships are associated with third-party Web sites. Yahoo! Health has, in my opinion, always been better than its counterpart at MSN,


What's It All About Then?
1970-01-01 00:59:59
The hardest part about blogging is coming up with something interesting to say that will generate discussion without becoming just another blogosphere blowhard. The second-hardest thing about blogging is being able to reveal enough about yourself as the author that your readers can put your writing into some sort of context without turning your blog into a Web-based peep-show or tell-all. My first forray into blogging was with a LiveJournal account, and at the risk of stating the obvious (if you know anything about LiveJournal) I was guilty of both the aforementioned blogging sins. I cancelled the account after a year and took a break, excluding the occassional Yahoo! Message Board tirade, from posting online. About the same time that that happened, my division manager at work asked everyone in my department to write a vision statement that would establish where our department would be in three years (early 2008). I am very passionate about my career and the industry I work in, and


Erick Schonfeld for TimeWarner President! (or, Will AOL-TimeWarner Ever "Get It?")
1970-01-01 00:59:59
Before I get into this I want to say that I don't like to leave The Healthcare Information Systems Blog unattended for as long as I have recently. I am pretty sure that in the year or so that this blog has been around I have never let an entire month slip away without posting something, not matter how tangentially relevant.That having been said, I really felt the need to comment on this article by Erick Shonfeld discussing the new CNN Exchange.So why pull that footage off YouTube if it can get people to post that juicy video on its own site?That's the big question for this venture. On YouTube, there are no gatekeepers. So you know pretty much anything you upload will be available for anyone in the world to see. CNN.com, by necessity, will be interrupting that feedback loop. But that feedback loop is extremely important, especially in the early days, because it is the primary mechanism (aka, ego boost) that will motivate people to submit video and other reports.The other primary
Read more: President

Johns Hopkins Study Uncovers the Obvious
1970-01-01 00:59:59
I came late to the healthcare party, having only recently joined the field (and even then only as an IT/project management drone). I respect and even envy healthcare practitioners, but sometimes the things they "discover" make me wonder if healthcare as a whole has really moved all that far away from beads, rattles, and shamanism.Case in point: a recent John Hopkins study concluded that consistently tracking and analyzing errors that occur during the overall medication process improves patient safety by enabling physicians, nurses, and pharmacists to identify and correct common - and potentially life-threatening - mistakes made when prescribing, dispensing, and administering drugs.Since 2004, Johns Hopkins has implemented a hospital-wide computer reporting system that captures a variety of medication errors, the vast majority of which do not harm a patient but may have the potential to do so if systems are not corrected.In the study, researchers found that errors occurred in every ste
Read more: Study , Obvious

The ClinfoWiki and the Dangers of Wiki Proliferation
1970-01-01 00:59:59
I have a backlog of things that I've been meaning to blog about here at The Healthcare Information Systems Blog. First and foremost on my list of things to do was to post a shout-out about ClinfoWiki . For those of you who don't know, a wiki is an online document or collection of documents that is generated and maintained through a group effort. The best-known example of this is probably The Wikipedia, which - despite much criticism of varying legitimacy - is well on its way to becoming a universal repository of the collective knowledge of mankind (or, at least, Internet users with too much time on their hands). The ClinfoWiki has a much narrower scope, being limited to the discussion of topics concerning clinical informatics. It's sponsored by The Informatics Review, an online digest of informatics articles, essays, and editorials. I'm probably oversimplifying, but the ClinfoWiki is to The Informatics Review what the "From Our Readers" section is to the rest of any given magaz


Election 2006 and Healthcare IS
1970-01-01 00:59:59
With the Democratic take-over of the House of Representatives and the Senate here in the United States, there are a number of exciting opportunities for healthcare reform on the horizon, particularly as related to the use of information systems to increase accessibility and lower overall costs.The presumptive Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, has vowed to make the first 100 hours of the new Democratic majority's tenure busy ones. Pelosi has made it well-known in recent weeks that one of the first issues she intends to address is the Federal government's current prohibition against negotiating with pharmaceutical manufacturers for lower drug prices - something that is done routinely by the Veterans' Administration, large private businesses, and nearly all other countries around the world to ensure the best deal possible for the tax-payers' dollar.The good news is that despite the Bush administration's deliberate decision to exclude this capability from existing Medicare Part D le
Read more: Healthcare , Election

A Manifesto for Open Healthcare
1970-01-01 00:59:59
The Medical Blog Network is a interesting resource for people who are interested in healthcare generally; it's a must-read for people who are interested in the intersection of healthcare and information systems and technology. I believe this is a natural side-effect of being a Web-based, blog-centered community as opposed to a more traditional, "paper-based" organization, but whatever the reason they have a lot of content I like to follow.Dmitri Kruglyak posts regularly about the impact of the "Social Web" on healthcare, and today he (and many other members of the network) have offered-up The Health Train Manifesto , a 12-page PDF that establishes a set of guidelines for leveraging the "Social Web" as a tool for making healthcare more accessable and transparent to patients, while holding practioners to highers standards of accountability and responsiveness.The impact of information systems on the dissemination of information pertaining to healthcare, as well as to allocation of heal
Read more: Healthcare

UofM's "Michigan Quality System" to be People-Powered
1970-01-01 00:59:59
The University of Michigan health system is going to begin implementing the Michigan Quality System , which is itself an adaptation of The Toyota Way. The program's goal is to reduce costs and improve service through a combination of process improvement and employee empowerment.The concepts behind Toyota's strategy involve zeroing in on waste, finding ways to eliminate it, involving employees in creating a better process and continuing to find ways to improve. U-M is getting help from several experts in the manufacturing field, including a crew from General Motors Corp.Another of Toyota's key concepts is to eliminate potential errors by producing products one-at-a time, from start to finish, rather than stockpiling. The automaker used American grocery stores as model of efficiency. In a grocery store, shelves are stocked with a minimum amount of goods so products aren't wasted and it's easy to tell when something is running out.In health care, the one-at-a-time approach could me


U.S. Spent 43¢ on Your Healthcare IT in 2005
1970-01-01 00:59:59
According to Health Affairs the United States, which spends two-and-a-half times as much on healthcare per person as the average industrial democracy while providing neither universal healthcare nor a demonstrably better quality-of-life for its citizens, spent a whopping 43¢ per person on healthcare information systems and related technology last year.Collectively that comes to about 75% of what is spent each day on the war in Iraq.In contrast the United Kingdom, our primary partner in the Iraq conflict, spent $192 per person over the same period. To be fair, the population of the UK is roughly one-fifth that of the United States, so an apples-to-apples comparison would result in a figure closer to $38 per person, roughly seventy-six times the investment that has been made here in the USA.Why should you care?Because adopting something as simple as a national, uniform electronic medical record (EMR) standard could save upwards of $80B annually by improving the efficiency, accuracy, an
Read more: Healthcare

Who Was that Masked Geek?
1970-01-01 00:59:59
Until my company establishes a formal policy pertaining to the online habits of its employees, I won't mention my employer by name or refer to anything directly that might reveal who I work for here. Suffice it to say that I am employed by a regional healthcare company with at least one technical support office in southeastern Michigan. I am very dedicated to our mission of providing affordable, quality healthcare to our subscribers. I believe that information systems - when used effectively - can help people live happier, healthier lives. I enjoy tinkering with XML, Visual Basic, Microsoft ASP, and C#. I like impressionist painting and art deco. My favorite U.S. cities are San Deigo, CA and Seattle, WA (it's fair to say that you can count travelling as far away from Detroit as often as possible among my hobbies). When I read for fun, I enjoy horror and sci-fi. When I'm not parked in front of a computer (and I am routinely told at home that these times are too few and far between),
Read more: Masked , Geek

Michigan Broadens the Reach, Scope of CDHPs through Preventive Care
1970-01-01 00:59:59
For better or for worse, Michigan is way out in front of the other forty-nine states when it comes to promoting so-called consumer driven health plans (CDHPs) for its residents.I've briefly touched on the topic of CDHPs before. While I still believe there a number of legitimate criticisms that can be applied to them, I can truthfully say that I believe the recent changes to the law here in Michigan allowing HMOs to offer incentives to their subscribers to pursue healthier lifestyles is a step in the right direction for both insurance providers and the people they service.Although the Detroit News rightly pointed out that CDHPs are still not very popular in Michigan, economic realities are likely to force their adoption by more and more people regardless of their popularity:Such plans, though, are still rare. And even when they are offered, many employees don't use them. Most companies offer consumer-driven programs as an alternative rather than a replacement for traditional medical
Read more: Reach , Scope

You Can't Outsource Innovation
1970-01-01 00:59:59
Fast Company Now referenced a Harvard Business Review interview with Jeffrey Immelt about his company's "ecoimagination" campaign and related product development efforts.As the world's biggest companies give sustainable business a look, there will be challenges at every turn. Immelt has the ideas, the technology, the cash and the commitment to turn green ideas into big profits. The next hurdle: a talent shortage, on a team with arguably the deepest bench in American business.[ more ]Meanwhile, Yahoo News covered the 34th UAW Convention in Las Vegas.In a speech to about 1,300 members at the UAW's 34th convention in Las Vegas, Gettelfinger seemed to be preparing the union for a different relationship with the troubled domestic automakers as they face challenging times."Like it or not, these challenges aren't the kind that can be ridden out," he said. "They demand new and farsighted solutions — and we must be an integral part of developing these solutions."[ more ]What do these two
Read more: Outsource , Innovation

The "IT Job Boom" is B.S.
1970-01-01 00:59:59
I don't expect government to solve - or even address - all the problems pertaining to healthcare, technology, and their areas of overlap, but I expect competence and honesty when government does decide to get involved.Just as "building" hamburgers doesn't constitute manufacturing work, so too does underemployment and dropping out of the tech job market fail to qualify as a "boom" for IT workers who are earning a paycheck in the Bush economy.Dismissing industry claims to the contrary, a study released on June 14 asserts that the technology market is actually in a "jobless recovery."The study was released by the CUED (Center for Urban Economic Development) at the University of Illinois, Chicago on behalf of the WashTech/CWA (Washington Alliance of Technology Workers, an affiliate union of the Communications Workers of America).The study argues that recent hiring in the IT industry reflects cyclical recovery in IT labor markets and not sustained secular growth, finding that just 76,300


Why Whitely Was Right
1970-01-01 00:59:59
I had a run-in with one of my insurance providers today that illustrates the importance of this axiom from Richard Whiteley's The Customer-Driven Company:The Customer isn't Always Right , but the Customer is Always the Customer.That lesson - and that "Customer" should always be capitalized - are the two most important things I learned during my nine years as a consultant, and I learned them both from that book on one of my very first assignments at that.Kudos to the Carlson Media Group, for whom I worked at the time.Anyway, these rules of professional life came into focus today when I found that an insurance claim I had submitted a grievance over this past summer was again denied by the very organization that had approved it, apparently on a technicality. Specifically, I was told that if I had bothered to "read the fine print" in the letter I was sent, I would see that I was given just three months to the day of the arbitration panel's decision to make my claim; a drastically short


Wikia, Inc. to Give Away the Kitchen Sink
1970-01-01 00:59:59
This is exciting news:Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales said on Monday his for-profit company, Wikia Inc., is ready to give away—for free—all the software, computing, storage and network access that Web site builders need to create community collaboration sites.Wikia, a commercial counterpart to the non-profit Wikipedia, will go even further to provide customers—bloggers or other operators who meet its criteria for popular Web sites—100 percent of any advertising revenue from the sites they build.[ more ]I just wonder if the business model is sustainable? Apparently, even Jimmy Wales isn't sure:Wales is betting the plunging cost of computers and networks can help Wikia support the free services offer. "It is becoming more and more practical and feasible to do," he said."We don't have all the business model answers, but we are confident—as we always have been—that the wisdom of our community will prevail," he said.I would imagine that the business model that ends-up taking sha
Read more: Kitchen

"Compassionate Conservatism" Rings Hollow with Bush Regime's Approach to, Well, Everything
1970-01-01 00:59:59
I strive to keep this blog apolitical, which is no easy task considering the extent to which healthcare and related sciences have been politicized in this country - not to mention the incredible level of incompetence and corruption that all Americans have witnessed the past six years. If someone wanted to stage an exhibition of where the Republican party in general - and George W. Bush in particular - has harmed this country and its citizenry in ways that will surely exceed the lifetimes of those responsible (yet strangely unaccountable) there wouldn't be enough letters in the alphabet to label all the entries.So why bring up my disgust and contempt for this man and his cronies now? What was the straw that broke the camel's back? This:The Bush administration on Tuesday asked an appeals court to overturn a ruling that could require a redesign of the nation's currency to help the blind.Justice Department lawyers filed the appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Co
Read more: Conservatism , Rings , Hollow , Everything

AP's Odd Headline About Intel and Healthcare
1970-01-01 00:59:59
The associated press released a story this past weekend, carried by Boston.com and others, entitled Intel Head Links Technology, Healthcare . I'm always glad to see stories like this outside of professional journals and tech rags, and bookmarked it accordingly. Since I woke up a little earlier than planned this morning, I thought I would put the time to good use putting the first post of 2007 up on here, and decided to give the aforementioned story another look. To be honest, I was a bit surprised by what I read - it had almost nothing to do with healthcare at all. It was really more of a feel-good piece about the potential good that cheap computer hardware and Internet access can do in Third World countries and how Intel and IBM are finding new materials to use in increasingly smaller microchips to solve problems with loss of electrical current. Out of fifteen paragraphs, only two were event remotely healthcare related, and even then were really just stating the obvious:
Read more: Headline

iPods Save Lives - and Blogs
2007-03-26 13:44:00
This is one of those stories that reports on something so incredibly obvious that it makes you just want to slap yourself for not coming up with the idea on your own.Two years ago, Dr. Michael Barrett had a cool idea for taking his Temple University medical school classes into the high-tech future—or so he thought. He'd been teaching students to recognize the distinctive sounds of heart murmurs by playing recordings in class. "We'd give a one-hour lecture, play each sound for them, and say, 'That's your murmur, guys,'" he recalls. "Then they'd look at us blankly and file out of the room." Barrett's idea was to give his students CDs loaded with heart sounds to listen to at home. Alas, this proposal garnered equally blank looks from his students. "I was surprised," he says, "but they were like, 'Dr. Barrett, nobody listens to CDs anymore.'"Barrett didn't own an iPod at the time, and he says that "90 percent of practicing doctors over 30 probably still don't." But his student
Read more: Lives , Blogs

Bush Supports Healthcare for the Troops and Seniors Until He Doesn't
2006-03-18 18:38:00
This has been a bad news week for people who have been promised medical care by the government, either by virtue of simply being Americans or because they put their life on the line for this country and nearly lost it.Bush Rejects Push to Extend Drug Benefit DeadlineSteve Holland / ReutersU.S. President George W. Bush on Wednesday rejected calls to extend a May 15 deadline for the elderly to sign up for a new prescription drugs plan despite complaints that it is too confusing.At a meeting with residents of a senior citizen community in Silver Spring, just outside Washington, Bush said families of older Americans, particularly adult children, should help them sort out their Medicare options.One woman, saying she was having trouble helping her 75-year-old mother make a choice, asked whether the deadline should be extended."No, and the reason why is there's got to be a fixed time for people to sign up," the president said. "We want people to realize there is — now is the time…. Rolli
Read more: Healthcare , Troops , Seniors , Until

Page 1 of 3 « < 1 2 3 > »
Copyright 2006 - 2007. TopBlogArea.com All Rights reserved. Created by SEOMinds.com
eXTReMe Tracker