In 1966 Gaylord Nelson said that ships should stop dumping coal ash in the Great Lakes. Forty eight years later only one ship–the Badger–continues to dump coal ash in Lake Michigan. Repeatedly the Badger has promised it will stop dumping coal and repeatedly it is failed to do so. In 2013 the Badger signed a…
On September 16th UNOS will hold a forum on its proposal to eliminate local liver allocation for transplant. It is a very bad idea that will hurt patients around the country and reward areas (the coasts) that do a poor job of increasing donation.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Bill Broydrick, founder of the lobbying firm of Broydrick and Associates and a consultant to Exact. “It’s remarkable, it’s absolutely remarkable.” Read the full article from JSonline here.
Exact Sciences success is astounding. On the same day (August 11) the FDA approved their new non-invasive colon cancer test (Cologuard) and simultaneously, CMS approved it for Medicare. Same day, two federal agencies made major complementary regulatory decisions. Normally, CMS takes 2-3 years to decide that they pay for a drug, device, test that has…
We have been working with the transplant surgeons at Indiana University. They and many of their colleagues around the country are concerned about a proposal from UNOS to abolish the local sharing of livers for transplantation . It turns out that there is nearly a 100% difference in the efficiency as measured in donations per…
Please see the following link for a mention in the Kenosha News Opinion’s “State of Politics Section” of our participation in the Leibham fundraiser at the Capitol Hill Club. http://www.kenoshanews.com/opinion/the_state____of_politics_478102574.html
Today a group of us spent the day promoting a change in the ACA that would allow WHIO, Wisconsin’s innovative program to reduce health care costs and improve quality by obtaining a complete set of Medicare date. Today it is all about big data and data can help our client the Wisconsin Medical Society and…
We were pleased to be mentioned in Jack Craver’s piece in the Capital Times. Please read the article below. http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/writers/jack_craver/lobbyist-fundraises-for-both-mary-burke-and-republican-joe-leibham/article_1fa42dba-0c71-11e4-9c5e-001a4bcf887a.html
Last Thursday, Dr. Joe rector and I had a chance to meet with Senator Tom Harkin to discuss UNOS proposal to eliminate any local sharing of livers. Unfortunately there are a need for more livers than there are donors. Transplant programs in large metropolitan areas that donate few livers have been lobbying to change the…
There is a a big push to “reapportion” the zones for the allocation of livers for transplantation. The presumption is that all transplant centers and their surgeons are of identical quality. Not so. For liver transplant centers the average “sew time” of a liver is 46 minutes. At Indiana University it is 16 mintues. More…