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  1. Re:iPhad; hardware is sexy? on Computex 2010 Tablet PC Round-Up With Video · · Score: 1

    I'm glad someone has created an improvement. Your points are valid though I have been using a tablet for FIVE YEARS. The Ipad is neither new -or- magical, just different. The viewsonic has a consumer replaceable battery. TWO USB ports (Keyboard & Mouse), a speaker (lame-one at that) and separate mic & speaker outs. Sadly, no camera but I realize time marches on and I wondered what was taking so long for an actual tablet to get wide-market acceptance. It's still great for browsing the web while I chill and watch TV for the 2 hours a night. When I am done, I put it in the dock to recharge it. The battery life issue does not affect me. I simply cannot wait to replace the Viewsonic tablet with something else. Not necessarily Apple...Most likely not...

  2. Re:iPhad; hardware is sexy? on Computex 2010 Tablet PC Round-Up With Video · · Score: 1

    What I've been using for the last FIVE years. The form-factor can't really be much different.

  3. Re:EMR is much more than record keeping. on Medical Professionals Aren't Leaping For E-Medicine · · Score: 1

    The only way doctors are going to go to EMR systems is when they improve the bottom line.

    I believe 2014 is the target date to decrease physician reimbursement by 5% for not using EMR software

    I currently do my patients records on paper. I bill much lower than I could, because I'm scared about penalties associated with being caught over-billing.

    You should NOT be billing defensively! You need to have competent chart-audits regularly and bill for what you actually perform. You need to keep meticulous notes to verify your charges. Just because your office is "going EMR within the next year" and "amount you bill will increase" means absolutely NOTHING. They will still pay you the UCR rate in your area for whatever you bill for. Couple that with the fact that major insurers and Medicare/Medicaid are probably going to start paying a set fee on the diagnosis because of things like PQRI (see below), chances are you'll never make that up.

    Case in point:

    We have a doctor that bill $4000.00 for arthroscopic knee surgery. He only gets $600.00 and is very unhappy about it. We told him to stop doing surgery altogether and just do joint injections instead because they (payers) actually pay for that what it's worth, plus he'll save on malpractice insurance. If he takes our proposal seriously, he'll make more money for less work. Software won't give you that.

    We have another doctor that tried out PQRI but for that extra 2% reimbursement it takes an extra 20 minutes of reporting per claim by the doctor herself. A chart-audit showed that all she had to do was bill her initial visit (9920X's) and she'd increase her monthly revenues by 7-15% (dermatologist - lots of new patients a month).
    A different doctor (Psych) of ours asked about PORI and with what we came to the conclusion that it is nothing but research and for quantifying the data into a database to be able to start paying on the DX and not on the actual work performed. If you're a GP/Internist and you have a diabetic patient you're getting office visit reimbursement now. In the future you won't. You'll get a set-fee for the year and if it takes 2 visits, well maybe you're ahead on that patient but if it takes 20 visits you're out quite a bit of revenue... It's hard to stay on top of the reimbursement game.

    Is EMR going to reduce the cost of health care? Almost certainly not. It will likely allow physicians to drill down into their database of patients to see:

    Any decent billing software allows you to do the same exact thing. Even if it can't do it out of the box, chances are you can find someone who can get that data out of it with simple SQL queries. Our software does for the most part but since it is SQL based, I can extend any reporting easily either with CrystalReports or SSRS (SqlServerReportingServices) and in no time at all. Need to know reimbusement percentage? easy... Need to know detailed reimbursement analysis by CPT code and Insurance Company? easy... Need a recall list with specific parameters, again easy...You don't need EMR software to do that.

    I don't presume to know your actual payer mix but if it's the normal 55% Insurance/ 45% the two M's/ 10% other you need a competent certified coder/biller/auditor who plays by the rules and investigates trends. You'll still end up with EMR down the road though some old-timers who still use ledger cards won't, but until more providers use it or it's a requirement to actually get paid... I'd wait.

  4. Re:Oh well on Beliefs Conform To Cultural Identities · · Score: 1
    From online etymology:

    homosexual (adj.) 1892, in C.G. Craddock's translation of Krafft-Ebbing's "Psychopathia Sexualis"
    heterosexual (adj.) 1892, in C.G. Craddock's translation of Krafft-Ebbing's "Psychopathia Sexualis"

    Now a quick search does not reveal who C.G. Craddock actually is, though I suspect he was a man of some science.
    His son(?) C.G. Craddock Jr. is attributed as a co-author for
    "LEUKEMIC CELL PROLIFERATION AS DETERMINED BY IN VITRO DEOXYRIBONUCLEIC ACID SYNTHESIS* C. G. Craddock and G. S. Nakai"

    He also is referenced as CRADDOCK CG., Jr The physiology of granulocytic cells in normal and leukemic states. Am J Med. 1960 May;28:711-725

    Sometimes it's enlightening to look up the etymological root of terms and this one is certainly worth noting. My original point was only that the poster was being less than honest about the time-frame of the usage of those terms and anyone of some age (anyone being born before the "Age of Aquarius...) knows that.

  5. Re:Oh well on Beliefs Conform To Cultural Identities · · Score: 1

    It's because "homosexual" is a dirty word because of centuries of religious meddling

    Correct me if I'm wrong but weren't they referred to as "Sodomites" in the King James Bible version. Though the term "Homosexual" appears in the New International Edition I am pretty sure it's actually a scientific term.

    Meanwhile, the term "Gay" and "Lesbian" probably only became common in the last half-century. Other than that I sorta understand what you're trying to say.

  6. Re:Magic on Fuel Cell Marvel "Bloom Box" Gaining Momentum · · Score: 1

    My wife has a "bloom box"...

  7. Re:No flash support on Apple's "iPad" Out In the Open · · Score: 1

    We have a Dell Inspiron Mini 10, It has an Atom Z5xx with 1G RAM running XP Home. It has HDMI out and we watch Netflix all the time over a wifi-G connection. It drives a 52in. plasma and looks beautiful for what it is. That's about all we use it for.

  8. Apple won't approve of some apps domestically on China Lauds iPhone App That Spreads Gov't Views · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Cartoonist Tom Richmond was very excited about his new iPhone application project: He was approached to contribute cartoon caricatures of members of Congress for an app that would allow users to locate and contact their representatives using zipcodes and/or the iPhone's GPS capabilities. But then Apple rejected the app, after Richmond had done all 540 caricatures, claiming that "it contains content that ridicules public figures and is in violation of Section 3.3.14 from the iPhone Developer Program License Agreement."

    From Here

  9. Re:Rising Sea Levels on Giant Rift In Africa Will Create a New Ocean · · Score: 1

    Vanuatu will love you.

  10. Re:we care on Towards a Permission-Based Web · · Score: 1

    And like any state run enterprise they'll implode under their own weight. Case in point: Apple touts 100,000 apps. When my local fox affiliate feels the need to publish an app to access their site or Nationwide Insurance publishes an app to post a claim for your latest wreck, why have an "app for that" at all? I thought that's what the internet was for. Why wall it off?
    To me it's just silly...

  11. Re:Pivot on Asus Launches Eee PC T91, a Touch-Screen Tablet Netbook · · Score: 1

    Oh, it's cheaper, but if you are always zooming in and out, resizing the working window. Yes productivity will suffer. Read the post again and I make it clear that 4:3 works with landscape & portrait about the same. Sorry, I don't have any study other than personal experience with BOTH formats. Yes, I can claim that 4:3 subsidizes 16:9's because the price per pixel is way out of line.

    1.90 cents vs. 1.03 cents is almost double in my book.

  12. Re:Pivot on Asus Launches Eee PC T91, a Touch-Screen Tablet Netbook · · Score: 1

    Sorry, I've tried that, I have screen rotate support. I use pdf's on one screen, data/email/filesys in the other... yes that works with letter/portrait but I also get legal/landscape pdf's. Needless to say, 16:9 works for legal/landscape but sucks for letter/portrait. 4:3 works for both marvelously. Also too you get crappy viewing angles when in portrait mode

    Widescreen is a current darling, maybe so. 4:3 works for business and there is the reason they are so much more expensive. Productivity often suffers on those 16:9's and the makers know it. They probably count on getting 400.00 for a 4:3 that subsidizes the 149.00 16:9. Just let me buy Samsung 204B's at the 250 price point and I'll buy 5 of 'em.

  13. Finally a tablet at a reasonable price. on Asus Launches Eee PC T91, a Touch-Screen Tablet Netbook · · Score: 3, Informative

    I recently was gifted a Dell Inspiron Mini 10. I have no complaints (for what it is). It runs fine and what I really like about it is the HDMI output lets me easily hook it up to my plasma and watch movies with netflix. If this was available a month ago I would've seriously considered it, even though it has VGA out. Put an HDMI connector in it and I'd be in heaven.

    I have always wondered why they charge such a premium for tablets, just like I still wonder today why I can't buy a large non-widescreen format LCD monitor for < an arm and a leg...

  14. Re:less functional than netbook at same price on Arrington's Web Tablet Nearly Ready For Launch? · · Score: 2

    A netbook may be more capable, but I have a 10" ViewSonic Airpanel and believe me a netbook is very uncomfortable to use laying down on your back. Also too I find the web almost unusable on a widescreen format screen.

  15. Finally a replacement for my SmartDisplay on Arrington's Web Tablet Nearly Ready For Launch? · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Wow, I am hoping to see this sometime soon as my 10" ViewSonic AirPanel SmartDisplay is getting a little long in the tooth. Still running 902.11B standard! It's slow with today's web but it is the most convenient item in my stable to browse the web away from my office-chair. I can watch TV, read/mod posts on slashdot -or- news on the web -or- read books & tweak my network from the comfort of my couch.

    Yeah, it runs Windows CE but everything isn't perfect. Still it's very light, doesn't need a stylus to click on a link or button (though has one). The only way it could be the browser tool even better would be an external Home, Forward and Back buttons in a convenient place on the frame somewhere.

    I recently got a Dell Mini10 as a present and a netbook will never replace a small tablet for the way I use the airpanel.

  16. Re:Sorry guys, it was me.... on The Coder Behind the Mortgage Meltdown · · Score: 2, Funny

    I have no sympathy, though pleased to meet you, devil.

  17. Just when soy was taking off. on Natural Gas "Cleaning" Extracts Valuable Waste Carbon · · Score: 1

    Cognitive dissonence anyone?
    Soy-Based Toner Cartridges?

  18. Re:Count me for 3 on Oracle Buy Renews Call To Spin Off OpenOffice.org · · Score: 1

    Yes, I did find that out too. However, the service pack I linked to gives direct support. No plug-in.

  19. Re:"The Stick" is typical in business on Why Digital Medical Records Are No Panacea · · Score: 1

    We actively advise our doctors to take any cash patient they can find and to be fair with them. Their fee schedules are controlled by the medicare allowables in most cases (other than state insurance like workers' comp -or- federal workers' comp) and by fair we mean for them to charge a little more than what they'd ultimately be reimbursed if it was billed to insurance.
    They actually make out better this way as they don't have to pay us a percentage. That is going to be a larger part of their future income. They tend to agree mostly.
    (Some, though we have no direct knowledge seem to treat that cash patient as their 'walking-around money' already... wink)

  20. Re:Count me for 3 on Oracle Buy Renews Call To Spin Off OpenOffice.org · · Score: 1

    I know it's bad form to reply to your own posts, but as I understand it, MSOffice Service pack 2 update (released April 21st 2009?) includes .od* file support. According to this Description of 2007 Microsoft Office Suite Service Pack 2 (SP2) and of Microsoft Office Language Pack 2007 SP2

  21. Count me for 3 on Oracle Buy Renews Call To Spin Off OpenOffice.org · · Score: 1

    Downloads over the last six months. Just so when people send me .od* files I need to save them as MSOffice docs...

  22. Re:"The Stick" is typical in business on Why Digital Medical Records Are No Panacea · · Score: 1

    A lot of doctors ARE opting out of Medicare/Medicaid

    I know that, I work in the business and know at least 3 doctors who no longer take new patients. They still see their established ones though.

  23. Re:"The Stick" is typical in business on Why Digital Medical Records Are No Panacea · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Yes but, remember when you have a payor like the omnipresent federal government, they already use that 'stick' almost daily. Case in point, Medicare just waved a magic wand again with a doctor-friend of ours and instead being reimbursed 80% of the Medicare allowable and they lowered it to 62.5% with no explanation.

    So, he gets to treat his patients but get less money for the same labor. I do know this: A lot of doctors will opt-out of Medicare/Medicaid patients altogether very soon. They know there will be a market for CASH patients who neither want their demographics or medical records stored remotely.

    They seem to like to penalize doctors under the current system, it'll only get worse.

  24. Re:Why not just block their ads? on Adbusters Suggests Click Fraud As Protest · · Score: 1

    Yes, it will hurt their advertisers more initially though.

  25. Re:Cue the Hysteria... on Obama Helicopter Security Breached By File Sharing · · Score: 4, Insightful

    There's even more profit in REPLACING the now 'breached' current presidential helicopter fleet over these blueprints.
    Don't even think that this has primary IT implications.
    This is more about giving the polititians cover to continue the cost overruns.

    Lockheed-Martin signed a contract four years ago to build 28 new helicopters for $6.1 billion. Numerous Pentagon-mandated changes have ballooned the price tag to $11.2 billion - meaning each of the new choppers would cost $400 million, or as much as Air Force One.

    Marine One Upgrade Plan Stirs Debate

    A helicopter (one) that costs as much as (one) Boeing 747!

    Wow...