Category Archives: Healthcare Policy

A Soda A Day Keeps Your Lifespan Away

Posted on April 28, 2013 by
HighResPepsiLips_zpsda9f694c

Last week an article was published in the clinical journal Diabetologia that described a significant study performed in Europe.  The study demonstrated that people who drink even one can of sugary soda per day raise their risk of Type II diabetes by 18%.  The results echoed those of a previously performed U.S. study that suggested a 25% increase in Type II diabetes among those who drank one 12-ounce can of soda per day, on average.  There was a huge amount of press about this study, including stories from CBS News, Huffington Post and other major media outlets.  Unfortunately there was no immediate call for people to have to submit to background checks before purchasing a six-pack of Coca Cola.

By saying that I am not trying to belittle national gun control efforts, which I fully support.  To the contrary, both issues need far greater efforts in the interests of public health in my opinion.  There are about 30,000 gun-related deaths per year in the U.S., two thirds of which are suicides and all of which we should work to avoid, in my personal opinion.   There are also about 230,000 Type … (read the rest)

Posted in Consumer Engagement, Health and Wellness, Healthcare Policy, Healthy Eating, Preventive Health, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Psilos Releases Annual Healthcare Outlook Report: A Golden Age in Healthcare Investing

Posted on April 17, 2013 by
6708_psilos

Hello all.  Every year for the last five years Psilos Group, the investment firm for which I work, writes and disseminates a white paper which we call our Annual Healthcare Outlook.  Today we released our paper for 2013, which is titled: The Affordable Care Act: Catalyzing a Golden Age in Healthcare Investing. The entire Outlook can be downloaded to read in full HERE.

In that my partner, Al Waxman, has authored a nice post summarizing our 2013 Healthcare Outlook, I will let his words tell the story instead of mine today:

Now that President Obama has been reelected and the Supreme Court has upheld the Accountable Care Act, healthcare reform is here to stay.  So what does reform mean for healthcare investors? I believe it will usher in a fertile period for innovative, venture-backed companies that can navigate the brave new world of healthcare delivery and management.

The Accountable Care Act’s impact on healthcare IT investing is already being felt. Venture investment in 2013 is showing significant growth from last year. In 2012, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers, the life sciences sector, which includes healthcare IT, accounted for 25% of all … (read the rest)

Posted in Consumer Engagement, Healthcare, Healthcare Information Technology, Healthcare Policy, Healthcare private equity, Healthcare Reform, Healthcare Venture Capital | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Smoking and the Law… of Unintended Consequences

Posted on March 3, 2013 by
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No one argues about whether smoking is bad for you anymore; even the cigarette companies have kind of thrown in that towel.  And yet, despite this rare unanimity on this one particular healthcare issue, smoking  continues to be controversial at all levels of state and federal government healthcare policy.  No where is this more obvious than in my own fair state of California, considered to be the 2nd lowest smoking state in the nation, but still spending over $17.7 billion/year on direct medical costs and lost productivity due to smoking.

Back in 1998 California passed Proposition 10, which led to the establishment of the First 5 California Program administered by the California Children and Families Commission.  According to its website, First 5 “supports programs for children from prenatal to age 5 by creating a comprehensive and integrated system of information and services to promote early childhood development and school readiness.”  The funding for this program came from a share of a $.50 per pack tax on cigarettes and similar tobacco products levied in 1998. When the tax was first passed, there were nearly 50 million smokers in California and … (read the rest)

Posted in Consumer Engagement, Health and Wellness, Healthcare Policy, Healthcare Reform, Preventive Health, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Give Me Mediterranean Food or Give Me Death!

Posted on February 27, 2013 by
diet-4_3_r536_c534

On Tuesday I flew on a business trip from Germany to Boston. As with all these long flights you can never have enough to do to keep yourself occupied when sleep eludes, so on the way into the plane I grabbed the International Herald Tribune (which announced this week it will be henceforth be known as the International New York Times), it being the only paper plane side where every word didn’t start and end with “furter”.

I was captivated right away by the top front page story called “Diet Brings Clear Benefits for the Heart, Study Finds,” which details a recently completed scientifically validated study that demonstrates that the so-called Mediterranean diet is not only delicious, but may reduce heart attacks, strokes and deaths from heart disease by as much as 30%.  Viva Italia! is what I have to say to that. (here is a link to the companion story at the NY Times site).

The Mediterranean diet is basically what they eat–wait for it–in the areas around the Mediterranean Sea, and includes such staples as olive oil (4 tablespoons per day believe it or not), certain … (read the rest)

Posted in Consumer Engagement, Health and Wellness, Healthcare Policy, Healthy Eating, Preventive Health, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Consumer Reports: Medical Journal for the Masses

Posted on January 31, 2013 by
fpo_find_ratings_wide_blobs

In the March 2013 issue of Consumer Reports, sandwiched between an article called “Best TVs” (just in time for Super Bowl) and one called “Microwave Mystery: When do wayward ovens warrant a recall?” is an article entitled “Save Your Life.”

This article, ensconced as it is in the most widely respected national consumer advice magazine, is about what cancer screening tests are out there and which you, as a patient, should and shouldn’t bother seeking out.  Wow.  I guess this whole consumer engagement in healthcare thing is for real.  You can’t get more “consumerish” than Consumer Reports.

In this particular article, which starts with the premise that “cancer screening remains stuck in a 1960s view of the disease,” there is a rating scale that helps the reader determine whether a variety of commonly prescribed cancer screening tests have benefits that outweigh the harms of having such tests.  Just like they do with TVs, microwaves and interior paints (all reviewed in the same issue), Consumer Reports uses a 5-point scale illustrated with red or black dots to help consumers navigate through the tests most commonly prescribed.  It is … (read the rest)

Posted in Consumer Engagement, Diagnostics and Screening, Healthcare, Healthcare Policy, Medical Marketing and MediA, Preventive Health, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Politics of Sepsis: From President Garfield to Governor Cuomo

Posted on January 23, 2013 by
garfieldj

One of my particular side interests is American Presidential history.  I am fascinated by what makes these leaders tick and how their personal make-up drives their decision-making, and thus history. A good Presidential biography chock full of detailed psychological analysis and put into the context of the history of the times can be better than the best fiction.

I just finished reading a book called Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President by Candice Millard.  What was particularly fascinating about it, aside from the manner in which Presidential elections were conducted in the 1800s and the partisan melodrama that would give today’s party leaders a run for their money, was the intersection of Garfield’s fate with the changing face of medicine at the time.  This was particularly notable because the same medical mistakes that led to the death of President Garfield are very much in the news today.

President Garfield was elected in 1881; just 4 months later an assassin shot Garfield, who was on his way to catch a train.  The assassin, who was clearly delusional and, were the citizenry … (read the rest)

Posted in Diagnostics and Screening, Healthcare, Healthcare Policy, Patient Safety, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

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

Mission Not Impossible: Healthcare Reform After the Election

Posted on November 8, 2012 by
2012-10-04_big_bird_hope

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

It’s the Binders Full of Women, Stupid*

Posted on October 17, 2012 by
1950s-woman-cooking

Caution: Rant Ahead.

So Mitt Romney has “binders full of women” to choose from for executive positions, or at least he did, but apparently he and everyone else with such an arsenal never gets around to opening those binders.  I know it’s no fun to do homework, but if anyone bothered to look into those binders to find anything other than recipes for tuna casserole prepared June Cleaver style, they might find all those jobs they have been looking for.

Note to self:  if you go to Office Depot to buy binders full of women, will they cost 77% less than binders full of men?

Back to my point, in Dow Jones’ recent study called “Women at the Wheel,”  (the full study can be found here) researchers found:

  • The overall median proportion of female executives is 7.1% at successful companies and 3.1% at unsuccessful companies, demonstrating the value that having more females can potentially bring to a management team.
  • A company’s odds for success (versus non-success) increase with more female executives at the VP and director levels.
  • For start-ups with five or more females, 61% were successful

    • … (read the rest)

Posted in General Business Issues, Girls Rule!, Healthcare Policy, Uncategorized, Women in Venture Capital & Private Equity | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Employers and Health Innovation: Will They Go Long or Advance One Yard at a Time?

Posted on October 14, 2012 by
Innovators: Come into the light

Last week I had the honor of being asked to moderate a panel on cardiology innovations at the first Innovation Day meeting of the Pacific Business Group on Health (PBGH).  For those of you who don’t know PBGH, they are a San Francisco-based organization founded in 1989 that has 60 member companies comprised of large employers providing health care coverage to over 10 million Americans.  This is not your mom and pop crowd; companies involved in PBGH are those like Bechtel, Safeway, CalPERS, PG&E, WalMart, Exxon, Cisco, Twitter, Facebook, Intel, GE, McKesson…the everyday names everyone knows.  PBGH helps them think about healthcare policy and how to implement logical health benefit strategies that meet their corporate objectives.

The idea for the meeting, designed by Amanda Goltz, Senior Manager Director of New Initiatives for PBGH, and Aaron Apodaca, a San Francisco-based consultant who works with investors, foundations, and health and technology companies, was to engage large employers and the payers with whom they work to engage directly with entrepreneurs/innovators and venture capitalists in a discussion about new approaches to tackling employee benefit issues such as diabetes, cardiology, and other health problems … (read the rest)

Posted in Consumer Engagement, Healthcare, Healthcare Policy, Healthcare Reform, Innovation, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments