In Brief: SecondOpinionExpert Launches Mobile Platform, Seeks Patients; UCLA Reports Huge Cost Variation In Treating Enlarged Prostates
SecondOpinionExpert Launches Mobile Platform, Seeks Patients
SecondOpinionExpert, Inc., an Orange County-based firm that provides medical second opinions over the Internet, has launched a mobile platform.
The company's mobile apps are available for both users of the Apple iOS and Android platforms through their respective app stores. The app creates a comprehensive and personalized picture of patient health information that can be shared with any healthcare provider or family member. Physicians receiving this information can insert their remarks or recommendations directly into the eHealth Record for the patient to review. The EHR can also be the basis for obtaining medical second opinions virtually.
“This app increases patients' control over medical information and records. Unlike other personal health records apps, ours allows patients to not only easily share medical records with their physicians and family, but also receive physician feedback directly through the app,” said Mohan Ananda, SecondOpinionExpert's Chief Executive Officer.
The company is currently beta testing its platform, which provides medical second opinions via a panel of about 250 specialist physicians, primarily affiliated with Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. It is currently seeking patients in search of medical second opinions free of charge, both from payer groups and on an individual basis. The company may be contacted at 800-638-4716, extension 808, or by email at info@secondopinionexpert.com.
UCLA: Huge Cost Variations In Treating Enlarged Prostates
Researchers at UCLA used a research method known as as time-driven activity based costing to determine that there is as much as a 400% variation in the cost for treating an enlarged prostate -- with little variation in patient outcomes.
An enlarged prostate is one of the most common medical conditions that afflict men over the age of 50. Treatment options can range from relatively inexpensive medication to open surgery to reduce the size of the prostate.
"Cost can be a dirty word in medicine. People want the best healthcare money can buy," said Alan Kaplan, M.D., a resident physician in the UCLA Department of Urology and the lead author of the study, which was published in the most recent issue of Healthcare: The Journal of Delivery Science and Innovation. "A poor understanding of healthcare costs means a lot of waste and unnecessary expenses that are borne mostly by patients.”
Huntington Launches Intensivist Program
Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena has teamed with the Huntington Pulmonary Group to create an in-hospital intensivist program.
"This new program ensures that a certified expert in intensive care medicine is available around the clock in our CCU to assess patients,” said Paula Verrette, M.D., senior vice president of quality and physician services.
