Monthly Archives: November 2012

Medical Comedy Relief: Jesus and the 1st Healthcare Debate

Posted on November 29, 2012 by
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Total irreverence alert, as if you need one if you read my blog regularly.

I figure now that it is officially Christmastime (which you can tell because they are already playing that damn Jingle Bells music on the radio and all the stores have freaking reindeer posters up already), I would share my current favorite video on health reform.  No matter what religion you are, it’s pretty funny.

In it, circa 30 A.D., a crippled man is stranded and howling for help; Jesus appears before him in the obligatory flash of light.

Jesus: “I am Jesus and I will heal you and take away your pain.” Jesus starts laying his hands on the man.
Crippled Guy: “Woah, woah, woah, wait up, what are you doing?!!  I already have a healer and I am really happy with the results.”
Jesus: “What results? You’re still a cripple.”
Crippled Guy: “Oh yeah, you know what? You think you can do any better?”
Jesus: “As a matter of fact I think I can….” 

And thus begins a pretty hilarious debate on healthcare that has apparently been going on for … (read the rest)

Posted in Healthcare Reform, Medical Comedy Relief, Uncategorized | Tagged , | 1 Comment

A Yawn May Not Be Polite, But At Least It Is an Honest Opinion

Posted on November 24, 2012 by
Actual scan from 4D imaging modality

“A yawn may not be polite, but at least it is an honest opinion”–Voltaire

I read the following lede sentence today in an article about 4-dimensional (4D) imaging and fetuses (don’t worry, this isn’t headed into a political rant on transvaginal ultrasound): “Growing into a fully formed human being is a long process, and scientists have found that unborn babies not only hiccup, swallow and stretch in the womb, they yawn too. “

Having read it, all I could think was:  Sounds like what everyone was doing after Thanksgiving dinner, not just the fetuses.  Think back to the table on Thursday night and who wasn’t stretching, hiccupping and yawning, having downed enough food and suffered enough drama to fuel the space shuttle to Mars and back?  What’s just funny is that even unborn babies are overwhelmed by the food coma, family dynamics and predictable jokes, or at least that’s my interpretation.

OK, it’s probable that the 4D scans of the babies weren’t done on Thanksgiving, but it would have made the story even more incredible, right?  As if it has to be.  It is unbelievable to imagine that medical imaging … (read the rest)

Posted in Diagnostics and Screening, Medical Devices, Real Science, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Rap Genius: Healthcare to a Hip Hop Beat?

Posted on November 20, 2012 by
This is a Nelly and those are his Grillz

So I read an article the other day about a new company called Rap Genius.  The company consists primarily of a website that relies on crowdsourcing to explain rap lyrics to the masses who are not down with the urban vibe (aka, people over 30).  The company takes lyrics such as these from Kanye West’s Gold Digger….

“She was supposed to buy your shorty Tyco with your money
She went to the doctor got lipo with your money
She walking around looking like Michael with your money“

…and explains that they mean, to wit:  The ex-wife was supposed to buy your baby some toys with the child support money but instead spent it all on so much plastic surgery that she looks like Michael Jackson (presumably before he died—my edit).

Here’s another example:  Nelly’s song Grillz gets explained thusly:  “Got 30 down at the bottom, 30 more at the top, all invisible set in little ice cube blocks” refers to the fact that Nelly is wearing “grillz” aka jewelry worn over the teeth, which are worth $30,000 on the top and another $30,000 on the bottom, with … (read the rest)

Posted in Consumer Engagement, Healthcare, Healthcare Policy, Random Thoughts of the Day, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Tattoo You

Posted on November 14, 2012 by
Adam Levine and the arm of many tattoos

A week or so ago my family went out for dinner at a nearby Italian restaurant.  Upon entering, the first person we saw was an elegant looking woman, probably mid-40s, dressed in a classy but casual sleeveless blouse.  She was at the table with what appeared to be her friends and her kids.  And when she turned around, she had a full arm’s worth of tattoos, shoulder to wrist, Adam Levine style.  It looked like she had accidentally put on the wrong arm, so out of place did it look with her otherwise elegant countenance.  My daughter’s comment: “Wow, that looks ridiculous.”

I had to laugh because I am constantly cautioning her about the risks of getting tattoos after she is constantly telling me how cool tattoos look on younger inhabitants of the earth with whom she is acquainted.  Tattoos used to be the bastion of Hell’s Angels and military men, but today it seems damn near every teenager has or is talking about sporting ink.  It has gone from naughty and edgy to acceptable to not even noteworthy to a teenage rite of passage.  A recent Harris Poll reported … (read the rest)

Posted in Health and Wellness, Patient Safety, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Mission Not Impossible: Healthcare Reform After the Election

Posted on November 8, 2012 by
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So here we are in mid-November with no more baseball to discuss, receiving no more candidate robo-calls and with an election in the bag (the bag being a nice silk purse if you are a Democrat, a sow’s ear if you are a Republican).  As a result, we are now all blessed with an immeasurable amount of free time to sit around and read the 20-20 hindsight-infused analysis about what November 6th has wrought.   That is, unless you are Fox News and you are using your newly-freed-up time deciding whether you need a whole new business model.

As an investor in the field, I was interested to review what the National Venture Capital Association had to add to the post-election discourse and they had several things to say specifically about healthcare innovation, Obamacare and the FDA which you can read here:  NVCA 2012 Election Analysis.

In any event, I was going to add my very own two cents to the analysis paralysis by writing a VentureValkyrie post about the election’s impact on healthcare reform and related entrepreneurship when I was saved from doing so by a call from Wade … (read the rest)

Posted in Healthcare, Healthcare Policy, Healthcare private equity, Healthcare Reform, Healthcare Venture Capital, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Singing a New Tune: Redefining Innovation in the Medical Device World

Posted on November 6, 2012 by
music-clipartMUSIC1

This piece also appeared on November 6, 2012 in PE Hub.

In the world of medical devices, innovation has traditionally been defined as the invention of a new device or a new technology that can be packaged into a device, expanding the number of possible medical procedures or at least replacing old ones with those that are new, improved and lemon-scented.  For the past several decades, a parade of medical device entrepreneurs has led a drumbeat of new product development, accompanied by a chorus of venture capitalists saying, “Hey look, a new thingamajig! You’re playing my song!”

In today’s healthcare economy, those same entrepreneurs and venture capitalists are spending far more time facing the music than dancing to it.  We have reached the point where those that pay for healthcare are more than willing to turn down the volume on innovation that does anything other than reduce medical procedures and costs.  The medical device industry has felt the repercussions of this changing tune in a big way.

Last week I attended my 2nd and the Cleveland Clinic’s 10th Annual Innovation Summit and it was very interesting to … (read the rest)

Posted in Healthcare, Healthcare Venture Capital, Innovation, Medical Devices, Medical Marketing and MediA, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments