A medical record is that piece of paper or electronic file that contains all of your medical history: family traits, past ailments and injuries, things to which you are allergic, and so on. It is a very useful document indeed. Everybody’s health and body is unique. Thus, everybody has different and unique health requirements. Medical records are maintained to help doctors know which medication and medical assistance is required for a particular patient.

Medical records also include a written or electronic account of a patient’s medical history, the illness though which the individual is currently going through, all the details of the medical treatments that were given, and so on. These records also provide a ready resource including chronological progress notes, and discharge recommendations. This provides a proper legal document which the patient is entitled to read and is authenticated by the physician’s signature.

Nevertheless, there are some strict rules laid down for it. One of them is the privacy of such legal medical documents. The kind of medical history a person holds, including the medical histories, diagnoses and medical interpretations that a medical record holds serves a great resource to track back the health intricacies of the particular person, but also contains a lot of information which the patient would like to keep out of the public eye.

Medical Transcription involves the transformation to text variant of taped SOAP notes. The recording of SOAP notes is done by medical practices but the process of transcriptioning is left to the professionals as that operation can take away all the time and resources of a medical center.

On the face of it, all it seems to need is a word processing software and a dictation recording player. Still, a truly professed medical transcription service will go further than that. It will be instrumental in effective management of amount of SOAP notes that are supplied by the medical offices, along with ably tracking and storing it.

A medical transcription project has to be executed as per the succeeding steps. Foremost, accept recording tapes from the medical practice, transcribe the first SOAP notes duplicate, save it and do the aforesaid task for the whole batch of SOAP notes recordings. Now, crosscheck the transcripts for errors and transport transcript back to the medical practice.

A point to note is that medical transcription itself is of myriad types distinguished by the specialty of medicine as well as the variety of reports transcribed. We have host of MT types like Radiology reports transcription, Cardiology reports transcription, H&P reports transcription, Surgery notes transcription, Lab reports Transcription etc.

As can be seen plainly, medical transcription occupation can be done from homes too. This means that those who have family constraints of staying at home as well as pressing business needs, can surely opt for the activity of medical transcription.

Advent Medical Services

Advent Medical Services (AMS) is a leading medical service provider based in India with accomplished and distinguished physicians and surgeons with vast experience in medical field.At AMS, we strongly believe in patient confidentiality and have put in place secure communication technology to comply with United States prescribed HIPAA regulations. We employ state of the art medical technology and equipment in providing medical care to our clients.

Breast implants and Liposuction (Cosmetic and Plastic surgery)

2) Knee and Hip replacement, Arthroscopy (Orthopaedics)

3) Cataract, Glaucoma, Spectacle removal with lasers (Opthalmology)

4) Prostrate surgery and Penile implants (Urology)

5) Angioplasty and Cardiac Bypass surgery (Cardiology)

6) Removal of Brain Tumour and slipped disk removal (Neurosurgery)

7) Laparoscopic removal of Gall Bladder stones and various abdominal tumours (general surgery)

Endoscopic nasal and microscopic ear surgeries (ENT)

In view of the rising cost and/or lack of readily available medical care in USA, UK and other western countries, increasing number of people are seeking medical treatment in India which offers comparable, or in some cases, even better medical treatment at a reasonable cost. Unlike, in USA or UK, you don’t have to wait for days or sometimes even months to get medical treatment, when you arrive at our facility in India.

Breast implants and Liposuction (Cosmetic and Plastic surgery)

2) Knee and Hip replacement, Arthroscopy (Orthopaedics)

3) Cataract, Glaucoma, Spectacle removal with lasers (Opthalmology)

4) Prostrate surgery and Penile implants (Urology)

5) Angioplasty and Cardiac Bypass surgery (Cardiology)

6) Removal of Brain Tumour and slipped disk removal (Neurosurgery)

7) Laparoscopic removal of Gall Bladder stones and various abdominal tumours (general surgery)

Endoscopic nasal and microscopic ear surgeries (ENT) …

A Medical Insurance policy is a contract between an insurance company and an individual or a group which promises to pay for medical care reasonably required by the insured policy holder for treatment in case of any injury or illness. Even now a day’s medical insurance policy is provided for disease like obesity.

If an individual has taken up a medical policy then he pays the premium according to a specific time frame as decided between the two groups. Usually, the policy takes care for the health & medical acre of an individual but if the premiums value is higher the insurance covers the family members also. In the case when the policy is taken by a group or an association, then all the individuals under the association receive the certificate of insurance. Some key points like payment of premiums, deductibles and co-pays are decided at the beginning and both the parties have to abide by these rules.

Searching a Medical Insurance Plan?

The terms in the policy may be hard to understand at times and the person may stand confused. So here is list of some terms commonly used up in an insurance plan:

Deductible-The deductible refers to the yearly amount of money that the insured would need to pay before any benefits from the health insurance policy can be used.

1. Co-insurance / Co-payments- This is the amount that would need to be paid by the insured before the insurance pays and in addition to the deductible.

2. Out-of- pocket- An out of pocket expense can refer to how much the co-payment, coinsurance, or deductible is.

3. Waiting Period- This is the time one would have to wait until certain health insurance overages are available.

4. Grace Period- This is the amount of time one has to pay their health insurance premium after the original due date and before insurance coverage would be canceled.

5. Lifetime Maximum-This is the most amount of money the health insurance policy will pay for the entire life. Pay attention to individual lifetime maximums and family lifetime maximums as they can be different.

6. Out-of-Pocket - This is the cost one would pay out of their own pocket. An out of pocket expense can refer to how much the co-payment, coinsurance, or deductible is.

Is Medical Insurance Necessary?

Man saves money for a better & safe future. But life is a string of surprises. A serious medical situation can strain one’s pocket, thereby emptying all the lifetime savings. The best option to save oneself from this situation is to secure your future with the help of a medical insurance policy

Choosing a Spanish medical translator can be a difficult task for anyone. It’s important for translators to always be as faithful as possible to the original sources, but medical translators actually often face situations that can be life or death.

Spanish medical translators translate all sorts of medical documents and information. This information can be anything from medical prescriptions to doctor transcriptions, to medical articles in medical journals. When you think about all the medical information out there that we use, it’s easy to see how badly translating this type of information can quickly lead to very bad situations, and even medical tragedies.

Because medical translation is so important, choosing a good Spanish medical translator shouldn’t be a process you go through half-heartedly.

So what are some things you should look for? Well, first of all, a good Spanish medical translator will be someone who obviously has a strong command of the Spanish language. Not only a strong command of the language is necessary however; the translator needs to have a good grasp on medical issues both in Spanish and English. Some medical treatments in Spanish-speaking countries could be different than treatments in the United States. The translator should know about these differences, or at least understand that these differences exist.

For the previous reasons, many Spanish medical translators are former or currently practicing physicians or nurses because they are better able to understand the medical industry, along with its often confusing jargon and terminology.

So if you’re in need of a Spanish medical translator, or if you have desires to become a Spansh medical translator, be sure to take the above advice to heart. Your clients deserve the best and you have a duty to provide that to them.

The medical sales field is one of the more lucrative and rewarding for new graduates in the UK. Medical sales jobs involve going to consumers, medical professionals, and facilities to sell them on new products to help them deal with medical issues. Wheel chairs, dialysis machines, and patient beds are only a few of the products offered by medical supply companies. Graduates may overlook medical sales jobs but those who enter the field find a nice mixture of financial and intrinsic reward. Medical sales professionals earn a solid wage and commission while knowing that the products they sell will help out hundreds and thousands of people.

However, the medical sales field is a highly competitive one. New graduates have to contend with their colleagues and competitors in trying to sell products to new clients. They also have to have a deep understanding of all of their product offerings and the general medical supply industry. These sales professionals need to understand a few simple methods which can help them find long term success in their field.

The most important skill that a medical sales professional can cultivate is an understanding of the customer’s needs. Sales graduates find quickly that there is definitely gravity to their position which needs to be appreciated. After all, patients at hospitals need the very supplies in which professionals are peddling on a daily basis. Home care providers and doctors need medical supplies to keep people healthy and save lives. Sales professionals who understand the importance of their position and develop a relationship with each of their customers will have great success in the field.

Another skill important for successful medical sales people is the ability to turn complex medical terms into simple language. This skill is typically gained from years of learning and relearning product specifications and competing products. However, young sales people at medical supply firms need to understand that there is plenty of competing supply companies in the marketplace. As such, a sales person’s knowledge and ability to answer questions satisfactorily can mean the difference between a sale and a lost client.

Finally, medical sales professionals need to be fully committed to the medical supply field to be successful. Unlike other fields, where the product is meant for convenience, medical sales professionals work in an industry that is born out of necessity. Sales graduates who believe in their products, their company, and their industry can go as far as they want to in their field.

Even though cancer is among the leading causes of death in the United States, due to an aging population and unhealthy environmental factors and lifestyle habits, many materials management professionals may find oncology devices and equipment something of a mystery.

That should come as no surprise. Faced with a confusing array of technological terms that seem like a semantic stew, coupled with the infrequency of capital buys and the belief (or excuse) that clinician preference drives oncology purchasing patterns, materials managers logically limit their exposure to and time spent on cancer treatment technology.

But increased clinician and patient demand for cancer treatment beyond chemotherapy and the high costs of new radiation surgery and therapy technologies is taxing the budgetary controls of hospitals and healthcare facilities to the point that administration turns to materials management for their expertise. And because oncology represents such a lucrative potential revenue stream for healthcare facilities materials managers no longer have the luxury of rubber-stamping clinical decisions and moving on.

Instead, they have to find balance and restore order to two opposing forces: Clinicians that want to treat more patients with the best technology (that typically is more expensive than a facility can afford) vs. administrators that strive to grow and protect the revenue stream while keeping expenses in check.

It’s a familiar dilemma, emerging in such areas as orthopedics, diagnostic imaging (radiology) and cardiology. But the key difference is that materials management’s influence in those areas has been rising. And oncology is shaping up to be the next big budgetary battleground in materials management’s war plan. For that reason, materials managers should acquaint themselves with some basic intelligence on cancer treatment technology before they sit across the conference room table from the oncology team.

What to buy

If the oncology department wants to have as much of the latest technology at its disposal as possible, then what basic equipment needs to be on the initial shopping list and what can be considered optional and can wait until the department can cost justify adding it to the routine?

If anything, it’s important for a facility to make realistic decisions based on demographics, location and financial support.

“Linear accelerators are probably one of the early technologies to bring in,” said Susan Levine, DVM, Ph.D., vice president, technology assessment and editor in chief, Hayes Inc., Lansdale, PA. “A linac can be used for external beam therapy and stereotactic radiosurgery. The field is moving toward image-guided technology that links diagnosis to therapy.

“But it depends so much on the type of hospital and the patient load,” Levine continued. “Certainly, the right equipment can attract referrals and patients. This applies more to the strategic planning of the hospital and the potential patient population you want to reach.” Also, such decisions allow the facility to determine how closely imaging and radiation therapy will work together, as well as relationships between the clinical laboratory and radiology. With all three departments working together–imaging to find the tumor, pathology to test the tumor and oncology to treat the tumor–they can cost justify bringing in certain types of equipment. Of course, a facility must be sited properly to support all this equipment, she added.

A fully equipped radiation therapy department probably contains linear accelerators, image-guided radiation therapy systems, radiation oncology information systems, radiation treatment planning systems and computed tomography (CT) simulation systems, according to Robert Maliff, associate director of ECRI’s Health Systems Group, Plymouth Meeting, PA. However, the essential platform includes [intensity modulated radiation therapy]-capable linear accelerators, a treatment planning system and cr simulation, he noted.

“Image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT) can wait, but is quickly advancing care applications,” Maliff noted. “And radiation oncology information systems are necessary for completely smooth operations, but are not truly necessary to deliver care. Brachytherapy is nice, but volumes indicate that only major providers should really be doing this, let alone the physics, dosimetrist and radiation oncologist support necessary.”

Furthermore, the radiation therapy equipment should be DICOM-compliant, and that means finding out at least how each device complies with at least DICOM RT Image, DICOM RT Dose, DICOM RT Plan, DICOM RT Structure Set and DICOM RT Treatment Record. The information systems and CT simulator should also comply with DICOM CT Store for simulation images, he added. DICOM is an acronym for digital imaging and communications in medicine and is a standard of communication and connectivity protocols for exchanging digital information between imaging equipment and other systems.

The roadside signs what used to be Bayer HealthCare Biological Products Div., in Clayton, N.C., now proudly bear the name of Talecris Biotherapeutics.

As of mid-April, you had to look closely to see that the Talecris name is on plastic sheets stretched over the old signs.

On April 1, Bayer, the German health care giant, spun off its blood plasma business to a group of investors who formed Talecris. The new company will continue to make plasma-derived therapies used to treat a variety of rare disorders, including immune-system disorders and alpha-1 deficiencies. The people behind Talecris are hoping to leverage improvements in processing and efficiencies in packaging, especially secondary packaging, into success in a demanding industry.

And make no mistake: Plasma products are as demanding as medicine gets. The proteins in the plasma that make up antibodies–and, thus, are the target of plasma processing–are fragile and easily denatured. Most important from a packaging standpoint, the cold chain must be preserved all the way from production to use.

It isn’t easy

“The plasma industry as a whole isn’t an easy industry,” says Lacy McMahon, Talecris’ manager of communications. “It’s very complex and requires a lot of resources. It’s not like making standard pharmaceuticals like aspirin or ibuprofin.”

Talecris markets 10 plasma-derived medications. Its flagship is Gamunex, an intravenous immunoglobulin (IGIV) used mainly to treat two conditions:

* Humoral immunodeficiency disease, a congenital inability to make immunoglobulin, the protein that forms the basis for antibodies that fight disease;

* Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, a malfunction of the immune system that leads it to attack the patient’s own red blood cells.

The Food and Drug Administration approved Gamunex in August 2003 as a replacement for a long-established IGIV called Gamimune. Gamunex was the result of an entirely new approach to the production of IGIVs, says Wytold Lebing, a research fellow with Talecris.

“With Gamunex, we started with a clean slate approach,” Lebing says. “We had Gamimune, which was a highly successful product, and we said, if we were going to start from scratch, how would we do it?”

The key difference between the two products, Lebing says, is in the way the protein that makes up the antibodies is handled. Under the Gamimune method, the protein was “precipitated out” by filtration–a process that could lead to damage. However, the process for Gamunex leaves the protein dissolved in the plasma. Another key improvement is the addition of caprylate, a substance that inactivates viruses for added safety. It’s an integral part of comprehensive pathogen safety that includes plasma screening.

Some of the packaging requirements for Gamunex and other Talecris products are shared by all forms of medication; others are unique to plasma-derived medicine.

As with all high-value medications, plasma products are liable to counterfeiting and tampering. This point was brought home in 2002 when Bayer HealthCare discovered that 13 vials of Gamimune had been diluted with saline. Although no adverse responses were reported, Bayer recalled two lots of Gamimune and announced the tampering to the FDA, the healthcare community and the press. The incident led Bayer to introduce tamper-evident seal tabs on all Gamimune cartons. A couple of months later, Bayer added tamper-evident shrink bands on all its vials.

The primary packaging for Gamunex, glass bottles to be used on IV stands, combines tamper evidence with practicality. A plastic band pulls away from the label to hang on the IV stand. Another portion of the label is a tracking tab that can be completely removed and attached to a patient’s medical chart.

Cold challenge

Gamunex and other Talecris products also face the ongoing challenge of cold-chain distribution. Plasma-based medications are extremely sensitive to heat. If they are exposed to temperatures outside specified ranges at any point in the distribution chain, it can compromise their efficacy.

Cold-chain distribution is especially daunting because of the huge variety of shipments Talecris must make. Talecris products go all around the globe, by truck, sea and airplane, in shipments ranging from a few vials to pallet loads. About one-third of all products shipped from the Clayton plant are shipped outside the U.S.

“For domestic sales, we needed to develop a range of solutions for customer orders ranging from one or two vials to full truckload shipments,” said Jim Bacon, Talecris’ director of global demand planning and customer operations.

Secondary packaging has to ensure that handling beyond the company’s control–often, beyond the ocean–won’t break the cold chain. In most cases, the allowable range of temperature is 2[degrees] to 25[degrees] C. (about 36[degrees] to 77[degrees] F.). Other distribution dynamics come into play: Product must be labeled in different languages and, in some cases, re-tested according to local regulations.

I devoted my first column in Townsend to Dr. Jennifer Daniels (Feb./March 2004). New York’s Office of Professional Medical Conduct (OPMC) had indefinitely suspended her license to practice in 2001–punishment for her refusal to submit to a comprehensive review of her records. Dr. Daniels went into State court, seeking judicial review of the indefinite suspension, and two years later the court ruled that New York law did not allow indefinite suspensions of medical licenses. The court remanded her case to the New York Health Department with instructions for an administrative review board (ARB) to come up with an “appropriate” penalty.

I promised an update on the ARB’s new penalty and subsequent actions in Dr. Daniels’ case: early in 2004, the ARB suspended her for three years, stayed the penalty, and commuted it to probation for three years. As usual, terms were attached to the probationary period. Among the conditions imposed, she had to practice under supervision by a physician approved by the OPMC, and she had to double the amount of her malpractice insurance–from three to six million.

Dr. Daniels found a mainstream MD willing to supervise her. The agency rejected her choice, stating that this physician was unfamiliar with complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Up to that moment, Dr. Daniels had no idea that the Health Department had classified her with CAM practitioners. In retrospect, she’s reconstructed how the OPMC had associated her with CAM.

Her therapeutic approach at the start was mainstream. Nonetheless, insurance companies resisted reimbursement to claims put in by her or her patients. At meetings with other Afro-American MDs in her area, she discovered that those associated with white doctors received payment. Those in solo practice were experiencing the same difficulty in getting insurers to cover their treatments.

Turning to her patients, she asked them what sort of care they would pay for out of pocket. The majority favored alternatives to the expensive, invasive treatments for many conditions recommended by most mainstream physicians; Dr. Daniels boned up on herbal, homeopathic, and nutrition-based therapies, offering these as options to her patients.

With her first choice nixed by the OPMC, she then asked a number of CAM practitioners to supervise her. Since that would involve submitting periodic reports to the Health Department, with their names attached (in effect, red-flagging them as CAM doctors), they declined.

Doubling her insurance: No insurer would cover her unless she served a year as a resident in an area hospital willing to pay half the cost of the premiums. She would have to work without pay during the whole of that period, impossible for her to do with three adolescent children to support. Further, as a resident, she would have no say over the patients she saw. Her former patients, happy under her care when she was in private practice, were unlikely to have access to her at the hospital.

Discouraged, Dr. Daniels gave up on returning to practice, only she didn’t advise the OPMC of her decision in writing–a violation of the terms of probation in the OPMC’s view. Charging her with probation violation, they opened hearings on revocation of her license. Dr. Daniels attended the first hearing, where the OPMC advised her that if she voluntarily surrendered her license–a kind of negotiated settlement of her case–she could apply for re-licensing in three years. (The ordinary waiting period is five years.) She accepted voluntary surrender.

In January of this year, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) warned Dr. Daniels in writing that she would be barred from participation in any medical program–in any occupational capacity (clerk, cook, etc., never mind as a provider of health care)–funded in whole or part by the Federal government, if she did not apply for and regain her license in New York. Should she qualify for a medical license in any other state, the HHS ban would still be binding. As a refresher on Dr. Daniels’ career, I quote from my previous column about her:

“Jennifer Daniels grew up on the south side of Syracuse in a low-income, predominantly Afro-American community. Intent on becoming a physician from elementary school on, she earned a scholarship to Harvard, graduating from the pre-med program with honors. She then earned an MD at the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA at the Wharton School, simultaneously gaining both degrees in four years.

“In 1991, she opened a family practice in her old south side neighborhood, resettling with her children in a house a few blocks from her office. Until she returned to provide medical care, her neighbors had to travel far outside their community to see a physician.

“Borrowing from a local bank, Dr. Daniels bought a vacant lot and constructed her own medical building. Six weeks after completion she began laying aside money to pay off the loans, repaying all $190,000 borrowed for construction within three years.

WHEN ED ROSENTHAL was convicted on federal marijuana cultivation charges last winter, his friends and supporters were not the only ones who were upset. So were the people who convicted him.

“‘I’m sorry’ doesn’t begin to cover it,” said one juror. “It’s the most horrible mistake I’ve ever made in my entire life.” The foreman said, “We as a jury truly were kept in the dark.”

Jurors complained they had not been told that Rosenthal had been growing marijuana in cooperation with the city of Oakland, for patients who are allowed to use it as a medicine under California law. That information was excluded by U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer because federal law does not recognize marijuana as a medicine or allow a defense of medical necessity against drug charges. Rosenthal’s conviction, which carried a five-year mandatory minimum sentence, was therefore a foregone conclusion.

Seeing the futility of defending themselves in federal court, three officers of the Los Angeles Cannabis Resource Center- Scott Imler, Jeff Yablan, and Jeffrey Farrington- have decided to plead guilty to charges of “knowingly opening and maintaining a place where [marijuana] was manufactured, distributed or used.” Without a plea, the three would have faced additional charges, carrying mandatory minimum sentences of 20 years or more. They still could face prison terms. “We are hopeful that the judge will be fair when considering our actions within the totality of the situation,” Imler said in a March 24 letter to supporters.

A bill introduced in April would give growers and distributors of medical marijuana an alternative to throwing themselves on the mercy of courts constrained by federal sentencing guidelines. The Truth in Trials Act-sponsored by two California congressmen, Democrat Sam Farr and Republican Dana Rohrabacher-would allow defendants in marijuana cases to present evidence that their actions were permitted under state law, in which case they could be acquitted.

“This is a matter of basic fairness,” said Robert Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project. “Jurors who could imprison someone for decades for trying to help the sick have a right to hear the whole truth, not a censored version that is stripped of any facts the government doesn’t like.”