NASA Planetary Science Bracing for Brunt of Sequester Cuts

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WASHINGTON As NASA begins to apportion the 5 percent budget cut mandated under sequestration, parts of the U.S. space agency are being asked to cough up more so that others can cough up less or be spared altogether, a senior NASA official told an advisory panel April 4.

NASAs Planetary Science Division, which Congress favored with a $200 million increase in the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act of 2013 (H.R. 933) that President Barack Obama signed into law March 26, is expected to lose most if not all of that money as sequestration siphons some $900 million off the agencys enacted $17.5 billion top line.

James Green, NASAs Planetary Science Division director, told members of the NASA Advisory Councils planetary science subcommittee not to expect a straight 5 percent across-the-board cut as the agency rolls its top line back to $16.6 billion, as required under sequestration.

In order to protect higher-priority programs, Green said, NASA will be cutting lower-priority programs, including planetary science, by more than 5 percent. [Planetary Science Takes Budget Hit in 2013 (Infographic)]

We are not a protected program, we are not a high-priority program, Green told his fellow planetary scientists. Consequently, you can assume that [the Planetary Science Divisions reduction] would be higher.

Green did not say which agency programs would be spared, but NASA Administrator Charles Bolden has previously identified the James Webb Space Telescope, the Space Launch System heavy-lift rocketand the Commercial Crew Program as top administration priorities.

The agency had already informed Congress that certain things will be protected, Green said. So we will have a reduced program below the funding Congress has provided.

Congress included $1.39 billion in H.R. 933 for NASAs Planetary Science Division a $200 million increase compared with the $1.19 billion the division was getting under a stopgap spending bill that expired March 27.

The exact amount of funding planetary science will losewill not be known for about a month, when NASA sends Congress its proposed operating plan for the remainder of 2013, Green said.

If planetary science loses too much of the increase it got from Congress, it could spell the end of Greens plan to solicit proposals next year for a Discovery-class mission that would launch around the end of the decade.

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NASA: Forget the Moon, Let's Play Asteroids

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The United States has no immediate plans to send astronauts back to the Moon, according to NASA administrator Charles Bolden.

"I don't know how to say it any more plainly. NASA does not have a human lunar mission in its portfolio and we are not planning for one," Bolden said late last week at a joint meeting of the Space Studies Board and the Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board (ASEB) in Washington, according to Space Politics.

Bolden was responding to a suggestion by UCLA chancellor emeritus and professor Al Carnesale, who leads a group formulating NASA's strategic direction, that the space agency delay a proposed crewed mission to visit an asteroid by 2025 and instead consider returning to the Moon.

"There's a great deal of enthusiasm, almost everywhere, for the Moon. I think there might be, if no one has to swallow their pride and swallow their words, and you can change the asteroid mission a little bit ... it might be possible to move towards something that might be more of a consensus," Carnesale was quoted as saying by Space Politics.

Nearly three years ago, President Barack Obama announced the country's goal of sending astronauts to a near-Earth asteroid during a speech at the Kennedy Space Center. Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, present at the Kennedy Space Center speech, "has been [to the Moon] ... There's a lot more of space to explore, and a lot more to learn when we do," Obama said at the time.

Aldrin and Neil Armstrong, with Michael Collins piloting the lunar command module, became the first humans to set foot on the Moon on July 21, 1969. Apollo 17 crew members Eugene Cernan, Harrison Schmitt, and Ronald Evans were the last in the program to visit Earth's satellite, with Cernan and Schmitt spending four days on the lunar surface in December 1972.

Last May, it was reported that NASA had begun training astronauts for an asteroid mission. In recent years, the space agency has also been focused on planning a manned trip to Mars. One part of those ambitious projects could involve constructing a space station in fixed lunar orbit, which could serve as a launching pad for manned interplanetary missions.

But some in the space community are apparently unhappy with those ambitious plans, according to Carnesale.

"The more we learn about it, the more we hear about it, people seem less enthusiastic about it," he was quoted as saying at last Thursday's meeting in Washington.

Bolden, however, stressed that changing NASA's agreed-upon, long-term objectives would be counter-productive.

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US Won't Lead New Manned Moon Landings, NASA Chief Says

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NASA chief Charles Bolden says the space agency won't be sending astronauts to land on the moon any time soon, according to press reports.

The U.S. space agency won't lead the way back to the moon in the foreseeable future in order to maintain its focus on manned missions to an asteroid, and eventually Mars, Bolden said during a joint meeting of the Space Studies Board and the Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board last Thursday (April 4), according to aSpacePolitics.com report by Jeff Foust.

"NASA will not take the lead on a human lunar mission," Foust quoted Bolden as saying. "NASA is not going to the moon with a human as a primary project probably in my lifetime. And the reason is, we can only do so many things."

Instead, he said the focus would remain on human missions to asteroids and to Mars. "We intend to do that, and we think it can be done," Bolden said. [Most Amazing Moon Missions in History]

Bolden's comments on new manned moon missions came in response to a suggestion that the scientific community, as a whole, is not enthusiastic about pushing ahead with a manned mission to an asteroid by 2025 an idea endorsed by President Barack Obama in 2010.

In April 2010, Obama called on NASA to pursue the manned asteroid mission as a precursor to sending astronauts to Mars in the mid-2030s. That new space vision, unveiled just after Obama canceled NASA's moon-oriented Constellation program, which sought to send astronauts on new lunar landing missions, in favor of the asteroid and Mars plan.

During the April 4 meeting, Bolden apparently made it clear that NASA does not plan to lead the charge back to the moon's surface.

"I dont know how to say it any more plainly," Bolden said, according to Foust. "NASA does not have a human lunar mission in its portfolio and we are not planning for one."

With Obama now in his second term, Bolden also warned that if the next presidential administration chooses to make another major course change in NASA's human spaceflight program, such a change would mean "we are probably, in our lifetime, in the lifetime of everybody sitting in this room, we are probably never again going to see Americans on the moon, on Mars, near an asteroid, or anywhere. We cannot continue to change the course of human exploration."

NASA made history on July 20, 1969 when Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans ever to walk to on the moon. Five more successful moon landings would follow until 1972, when the series ended with NASA's Apollo 17 mission.

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NASA Spacecraft Take Spring Break at Mars

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NASA's robotic Mars explorers are taking a cosmic break for the next few weeks, thanks to an unfavorable planetary alignment of Mars, the Earth and the sun.

Mission controllers won't send any commands to the agency's Opportunity rover, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) or Mars Odyssey orbiter from today (April 9) through April 26. The blackout is even longer for NASA's car-size Curiosity rover, which is slated to go solo from April 4 through May 1.

The cause of the communications moratorium is a phenomenon called a Mars solar conjunction, during which the sun comes between Earth and the Red Planet. Our star can disrupt and degrade interplanetary signals in this formation, so mission teams won't be taking any chances.

"Receiving a partial command could confuse the spacecraft, putting them in grave danger," NASA officials explain in a video posted last month by the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif. [The Boldest Mars Missions in History]

Opportunity and Curiosity will continue performing stationary science work, using commands already beamed to the rovers. Curiosity will focus on gathering weather data, assessing the Martian radiation environment and searching for signs of subsurface water and hydrated minerals, officials said Monday (April 8).

MRO and Odyssey will also keep studying the Red Planet from above, and they'll continue to serve as communications links between the rovers and Earth. The conjunction will also affect the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter, officials have said.

Odyssey will send rover data home as usual during conjunction, though the orbiter may have to relay information multiple times due to dropouts. MRO, on the other hand, entered record-only mode on April 4. The spacecraft will probably have about 52 gigabits of data to relay when it's ready to start transmitting again on May 1, MRO officials have said.

Mars solar conjunctions occur every 26 months, so NASA's Red Planet veterans have dealt with them before. This is the fifth conjunction for Opportunity, in fact, and the sixth for Odyssey, which began orbiting Mars in 2001.

But it'll be the first for Curiosity, which touched down on Aug. 5, kicking off a two-year surface mission to determine if the Red Planet has ever been capable of supporting microbial life.

"The biggest difference for this 2013 conjunction is having Curiosity on Mars," Odyssey mission manager Chris Potts, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., said in a statement last month.

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NASA Spacecraft Take Spring Break at Mars

J&K to introduce nanotechnology to check fake Pashmina

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Srinagar, Apr 9:

The Jammu and Kashmir government is in the process of using nanotechnology to authenticate the genuineness of Pashmina shawls a step that will curb counterfeiting of the world famous handloom product of the Valley.

We have got a lot of complaints about some fake products being sold to customers in the name of Kashmir Pashmina. So, we decided to use nanotechnology chips which will be fixed on genuine Pashmina products after due authentication from a laboratory, Director Handicrafts, Gulzar Ahmad Qureshi said.

Qureshi said the laboratory is being set-up at the Craft Development Institute (CDI) here and would be operational in about a months time.

We are in the process of setting up a laboratory at CDI.

It will be ready in a months time and we will start testing and authenticating genuine Pashmina products, he said.

Director, CDI, M.S Farooqi said that certification is the second step of the process to check sale of fake Pashmina shawls.

The central government awarded a patent recognising the Kashmiri origin of Pashmina in 2008. That was the first step.

Now, we are getting ready to test the products and fix nanotechnology chips on them, Farooqi said.

He said each chip will have a unique number on it which will be connected to a central database of the Handicrafts Department.

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Nanotechnology imaging breakthrough

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Public release date: 9-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Wenge Yang wyang@carnegiescience.edu 630-252-0487 Carnegie Institution

Washington, D.C. A team of researchers has made a major breakthrough in measuring the structure of nanomaterials under extremely high pressures. For the first time, they developed a way to get around the severe distortions of high-energy X-ray beams that are used to image the structure of a gold nanocrystal. The technique, described in April 9, 2013, issue of Nature Communications, could lead to advancements of new nanomaterials created under high pressures and a greater understanding of what is happening in planetary interiors.

Lead author of the study, Wenge Yang of the Carnegie Institution's High Pressure Synergetic Consortium explained: "The only way to see what happens to such samples when under pressure is to use high-energy X-rays produced by synchrotron sources. Synchrotrons can provide highly coherent X-rays for advanced 3-D imaging with tens of nanometers of resolution. This is different from incoherent X-ray imaging used for medical examination that has micron spatial resolution. The high pressures fundamentally change many properties of the material."

The team found that by averaging the patterns of the bent wavesthe diffraction patternsof the same crystal using different sample alignments in the instrumentation, and by using an algorithm developed by researchers at the London Centre for Nanotechnology, they can compensate for the distortion and improve spatial resolution by two orders of magnitude.

"The wave distortion problem is analogous to prescribing eyeglasses for the diamond anvil cell to correct the vision of the coherent X-ray imaging system," remarked Ian Robinson, leader of the London team.

The researchers subjected a 400-nanometer (.000015 inch) single crystal of gold to pressures from about 8,000 times the pressure at sea level to 64,000 times that pressure, which is about the pressure in Earth's upper mantle, the layer between the outer core and crust.

The team conducted the imaging experiment at the Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory. They compressed the gold nanocrystal and found at first, as expected, that the edges of the crystal become sharp and strained. But to their complete surprise, the strains disappeared upon further compression. The crystal developed a more rounded shape at the highest pressure, implying an unusual plastic-like flow.

"Nanogold particles are very useful materials," remarked Yang. "They are about 60% stiffer compared with other micronsized particles and could prove pivotal for constructing improved molecular electrodes, nanoscale coatings, and other advanced engineering materials. The new technique will be critical for advances in these areas."

"Now that the distortion problem has been solved, the whole field of nanocrystal structures under pressure can be accessed," said Robinson. "The scientific mystery of why nanocrystals under pressure are somehow up to 60% stronger than bulk material may soon be unraveled."

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Research and Markets: The Nanotechnology Drug Delivery Market in the US to Grow At A CAGR Of 84.79 Percent over the …

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DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Nanotechnology Drug Delivery Market in the US 2012-2016" report to their offering.

One of the key factors contributing to this market growth is the low R and D cost. The Nanotechnology Drug Delivery market in the US has also been witnessing the trend of emergence of personalized medicines. However, the increasing safety concerns could pose a challenge to the growth of this market.

Commenting on the report, an analyst from TechNavio's Healthcare team said: ''Over the years, the research activities in healthcare have changed significantly. There has been a paradigm shift away from blockbusters drugs to a more personalized medicine approach. The focus is being placed increasingly on formulating drugs based on the individual's unique genome and immune response. Personalized medicines have gained significant popularity because they enable the medical profession to provide customized treatment to patients. A customized treatment is based on the genetic as well as medical profile of a patient. Increasing knowledge about the molecular causes of diseases is increasing the demand for more targeted and effective nanotechnology-enabled drug delivery therapies.''

According to the report, one of the most important applications of nanotechnology in medicine currently being developed involves employing nanoparticles to deliver drugs to specific types of cells (such as cancer cells). Nanotechnology drug delivery helps in delivering drugs directly to diseased cells, which allows direct treatment of those cells. This technique helps to avoid damage to healthy cells within the human body. Hence, drug delivery technology helps to increase the overall market success of a particular drug.

Further, the report states that one of the main challenges is the increasing safety concerns. Studies have revealed that the use of various nanomaterials may cause a variety of toxic effects. Lack of FDA directives is another major factor hampering the growth of the Nanotechnology Drug Delivery market in the US.

Companies Mentioned

- Alkermes plc

- Celgene Corp.

- Novartis AG

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Seemingly small research funding cuts could hinder progress in nanotechnology

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Public release date: 8-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Michael Bernstein m_bernstein@acs.org 504-670-4707 (New Orleans Press Center, April 5-10) 202-872-6042

Michael Woods m_woods@acs.org 504-670-4707 (New Orleans Press Center, April 5-10) 202-872-6293

American Chemical Society

NEW ORLEANS, April 8, 2013 Cuts in federal funding of nanotechnology research threaten to slow progress toward some of the field's greatest promises, including commercialization of sustainable new energy sources that do not contribute to global warming, an international authority in the field cautioned here today.

Speaking at the 245th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society, A. Paul Alivisatos, Ph.D., expressed concern that the cuts come when nanotechnology is poised to deliver on those promises. He told the meeting, which continues through Thursday, that ill-conceived cuts could set back America's progress in nanotechnology by decades.

"The National Science Foundation announced that they will issue a thousand fewer new grants this year because of sequestration," said Alivisatos, referring to the across-the-board mandatory federal budget cuts that took effect on March 1. "What it means in practice is that an entire generation of early career scientists, some of our brightest and most promising scientists, will not have the funding to launch their careers and begin research properly, in the pathway that has established the United States as leader in nanotechnology research. It will be a setback, perhaps quite serious, for our international competitiveness in this key field."

Alivisatos described applications of nanotechnology that can help reduce fossil fuel consumption and the accompanying emissions of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas. He is professor of chemistry and materials science and the Larry and Diane Bock Professor of Nanotechnology at the University of California at Berkeley, director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and co-editor of the ACS journal Nano Letters. Nanoparticles of various substances already have been incorporated into solar panels, rechargeable batteries and other clean-energy solutions. These particles are so small that 1,000 to 100,000 could fit across the width of a human hair. When size diminishes to that scale, gold, silver, copper and other substances take on physical properties vastly different from lumps of bulk material.

Although nanotechnology remains a science in its infancy, it already has had a major impact on many other industrial segments, ranging from consumer products to national security and defense. By one estimate, more than 600 nanotechnology-enabled consumer products already are on the market, including mobile phones, cosmetics, music systems and clothing. Forecasts suggest that the global market for such products will increase by more than 10 percent annually in the years ahead.

Alivisatos expressed concern, however, that cuts in federal funding will take a heavy toll on the still-emerging field. He explained that the reductions stand to affect scientists at almost every stage of making contributions to society. Young scientists, for instance, will find it more difficult to launch research programs in new and promising fields. Established scientists will have to trim research programs, and may not have the money to explore promising new leads.

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Seemingly small research funding cuts could hinder progress in nanotechnology

RBCC Targets Companion Diagnostics Opportunities in Booming $232 Billion Personalized Medicine Market

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NOKOMIS, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

As Rainbow Coral Corp.s (RBCC) biotech subsidiary, Rainbow BioSciences, seeks out potentially lucrative new opportunities in the $232 billion personalized medicine market, the company announced today that it will target new innovations in the growing field of companion diagnostics.

The personalized medicine market in the U.S. is ripe for expansion, with PricewaterhouseCoopers predicting that the sector could grow to as much as $452 billion by 2015. One of the fastest-growing fields in the market is companion diagnostics, which could grow to as large as $42 billion by 2015, according to industry analysts TriMarkPublications.com.

The key to that growth will be innovation. Companion diagnostics is the use of genetic variation to chart different patient responses to specific drugs or biologic agents in order to create effective, efficient treatments tailored to a patients genetic profile. The emerging field is believed by many medical experts to have an increasingly important role to play in cancer treatments in coming years.

Companion diagnostics represent the very cutting edge of technology in medicine today, said RBCC CEO Patrick Brown. We believe the key to our success is bringing desperately needed new innovations to the market that will improve patient outcomes and reduce healthcare costs. Companion diagnostics offer us the best opportunities to achieve that goal.

For more information on Rainbow BioSciences personalized medicine initiatives, please visitwww.rainbowbiosciences.com/investors.html.

Rainbow BioSciences will develop new medical and research technology innovations to compete alongside companies such as Bristol Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE:BMY),Biogen Idec Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB), Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) and Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN).

About Rainbow BioSciences

Rainbow BioSciences, LLC, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Rainbow Coral Corp. (OTCBB:RBCC). The Company continually seeks out new partnerships with biotechnology developers to deliver profitable new medical technologies and innovations. For more information on our growth-oriented business initiatives, please visitwww.RainbowBioSciences.com. For investment information and performance data on the Company, please visitwww.RainbowBioSciences.com/investors.html.

Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

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RBCC Targets Companion Diagnostics Opportunities in Booming $232 Billion Personalized Medicine Market

New law bans public smoking in Medicine Hat

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A new law set to take effect in Medicine Hat will ban smoking in outdoor public places just in time for summer.

The law, spearheaded by local high school students, restricts smoking within 10 metres of public fields, paths, playgrounds and beaches.

"It's about trying to find that balance where non-smokers' rights can be honoured but also recognizing that smoking isn't illegal," says Varley Weisman, manager of social development with the city of Medicine Hat.

More than 50 municipalities across Canada already have similar bylaws in place, including Edmonton, Grande Prairie and Red Deer. Calgary does not.

"There's nothing worse than inhaling second-hand cigarette smoke, while being active," says Medicine Hat's Youth Advisory Chair Austin Desharnais. "Smokers have the right to smoke but saying that, we feel it's also important that non-smokers have the rights too."

Some say that the new law goes too far.

"I think they should be allowed to smoke," says local resident Logan Krastel. "We're outside like, you know, they have rights too."

Medicine Hat will be putting up signs in the next few weeks and spreading the word about its new rule.

The new law will take effect in the coming months and will carry a $100 fine for infractions.

A motion on smoking in outdoor areas where children are allowed is going to committee in Calgary next month.

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New law bans public smoking in Medicine Hat

To Get Medicine to Africa, Health Experts Turn to Coca-Cola

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Running water, electricity, and paved roads are hard to find in the remotest parts of sub-Saharan Africa. A bottle of warm Coca-Cola, though? No sweat. This impressive reach isnt lost on public health advocates. They are looking to Cokes distribution network to bring cheap, life-saving medication to some of the worlds most remote places.

Since September, more than 40,000 medicine kits designed to slip between Coke bottles stacked in a case have made the journey deep into the Zambian countryside. Called Kit Yamoyo, the packets were designed by London branding agency pi global for the U.K.-based health charity called ColaLife to fight one of sub-Saharan Africas biggest child killers, diarrhea. The kits, priced at the equivalent of $1, carry vital antidiarrheal medicinea blister pack of zinc pills, oral rehydration saltsin a container that doubles as a mixing vessel. (The kit also carries a thin bar of soap.)

Instead of a mother having to travel three, sometimes four hours to a regional health center, she can now go to the community shop where they usually find Coca-Cola for sale, says Rohit Ramchandani, public health adviser and principal investigator for ColaLife. Our model looks specifically at how we can partner with and leverage private sector distribution channels, these companies that are able to get their product out to that last mile in the most remote parts of the world. In the future, ColaLife plans to use the same container design to transport safe-birthing kits, mosquito nets, and nutrient supplements, Ramchandani says.

Pi globals product designa heat-sealed, water-resistant, tamper-proof plastic kit that looks as if it could hold a wedge-shaped vending machine sandwichallows 10 kits to be slipped inside a single crate of Coca-Cola. In this part of the world, it also represents the first all-in-one, single-dose antidiarrheal kit.

Cokes involvement in the project has been easier to measure in crates than in dollars. We didnt ask Coca-Cola and their bottler SABMiller to fund the Zambia trial directly, says Jane Berry, ColaLifes business development director. We wanted it to be independentcreating evidence and learning [that] people could trust. What we wanted was permission to piggyback on their knowledge, brand, expertise, methods, and networks, which they have very generously given.

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To Get Medicine to Africa, Health Experts Turn to Coca-Cola

Research and Markets: European Nuclear Medicine / Radiopharmaceuticals Market – Global Trends & Forecasts to 2017

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DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "European Nuclear Medicine / Radiopharmaceuticals Market [SPECT/PET Radioisotopes (Technetium, F-18)], [Beta/Alpha Radiation Therapy (I131, Y-90)], [Applications (Cancer/Oncology, Cardiac)] & Stable Isotopes (Deuterium, C-13) - Global Trends & Forecas" report to their offering.

The European radioisotopes market was valued at $1.1 billion in 2012 and is poised to reach $1.6 billion in 2017 at a CAGR of 6.8%.

A study conducted by Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimates that Tc-99m diagnostic procedures are expected to increase by 15% to 20% in mature markets such as Europe, and other developed regions between 2010 and 2030. Radiopharmaceuticals in neurological applications such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and dementia are also being preferred by practitioners besides conventional treatment. Further, upcoming radioisotopes such as Ra-223 (Alpharadin) and Ga-68 possess huge potential for clinical applications. The scheduled shutdown of the NRU reactor in 2016 and OSIRIS in France in 2018 is, however, a major threat for manufacturers.

The therapy market is predominantly driven by its oncologic applications. Since conventional treatment procedures of cancer, surgery and chemotherapy have significant side effects, radioisotopes are being preferred by medical practitioners due to minimum or no side effects. The radiopharmaceutical therapy market is expected to grow significantly with the launch of the much-desired Alpharadin (Ra-223) in the near future. This isotope has tremendous potential to take up market share of beta emitters and brachytherapy.

The radioisotope and stable isotope markets have been segmented according to the type of isotope, and applications. Both of these markets are broken down into segments and sub-segments, providing exhaustive value analysis for the years 2010, 2011, 2012, and forecast to 2017. Each market is comprehensively analyzed at a granular level by geography (North America, Europe, Asia, and Rest of the World) to provide in-depth information on the European scenario.

Key Topics Covered:

1 Key Take-Aways

2 Executive Summary

3 Market Overview

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Research and Markets: European Nuclear Medicine / Radiopharmaceuticals Market - Global Trends & Forecasts to 2017

MBC Guides Family Medicine Practitioners to Effectively Tackle the ACA Impact!

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WILMINGTON, Delaware, April 9, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

With the Family Physicians revenue cycle management in a state of transition due to the upcoming Affordable Care Act (ACA), Medicalbillersandcoders.com has witnessed a large demand from Family Medicine practice centers across the US keen on outsourcing their billing functions to MBC in order to enhance their RCM.

The ACO impact on Family practice billing and coding

The impact Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) will have on these practices explains the reason behind an increased number of Family practices currently rushing to MBC for their billing solutions.

Though the ACO environment may benefit these practices by promoting primary care hence making it accessible and improving provider reimbursements, it also brings with it many changes as it prompts federal and commercial payers to change the way they make payments. The challenge it provides to Family practice billing and coding is that they would require transitioning their reimbursement models from volume-based to value-based to a higher number of patients with little time left for billing.

MBC's billing and coding experts believe that "Family Physicians within the next five years will need to adopt the new revenue reimbursement models as a result of ACA. Though this may seem simple enough, practitioners will need to work much harder to maximize their revenues."

Identifying resulting revenue transition challenges

MBC understands that in the ACO environment accurate medical coding and billing is vital to maximizing revenue, being aware of the resulting issues they face with this transition, -

How MBC has been guiding Family Medicine Practitioners

Medicalbillerandcoders.com is aware that improved Family Practice revenue cycle management requires in-depth, insider industry expertise of the new coding, billing and compliance regulations. MBC specialists continuously correlate higher practice revenue to timely billing and account reimbursements, offering best billing strategies, models and consultancy and providing guidance in areas like population health management.

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MBC Guides Family Medicine Practitioners to Effectively Tackle the ACA Impact!

Defining the Scope of Skills for Family Medicine Residencies

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Newswise BOSTON (April 9, 2013) Medical school graduates entering one family medicine residency program might receive training that is markedly different than another family medicine residency program. While these new medical school graduates, called residents, will gain the clinical knowledge needed to practice medicine, their scope of skills depend on their specific experiences as residents. A team of healthcare professionals from the Family Medicine Residency Program at Tufts University School of Medicine have published a paper in the Journal of Graduate Medical Education that suggests a way to evaluate family medicine residents based on their level of competency.

Family medicine resident training is currently determined by the types of patients that the residents treat at their specific hospital or clinic, rather than being determined by the curriculum. We have created a list of entrustable professional activities or EPAs to assess clinical competencies that clearly define the breadth of skills required at the completion of residency, said Allen Shaughnessy, Pharm.D., M.Med.Ed., professor at Tufts University School of Medicine and fellowship director of the Tufts University Family Medicine Residency Program at Cambridge Health Alliance.

Shaughnessy worked with a team of healthcare professionals from Tufts University School of Medicines Family Medicine Residency Program to develop a list of 76 EPAs around which to structure a competency-based assessment of family medicine residents.

Competence is defined as the ability to do something successfully. Defining the list of somethings in family medicine residencies has been difficult for both educators and regulators, said Gregory L. Sawin, M.D., M.P.H., assistant professor at Tufts University School of Medicine and program director, Tufts Family Medicine Residency at Cambridge Health Alliance.

Competency-based medical education ensures that medical residents acquire a certain set of skills, behaviors, and attitudes in addition to the clinical knowledge needed to practice medicine. When these skills, behaviors, and attitudes are integrated and performed in an educational setting, they become known as entrustable professional activities. An activity is entrustable when a supervisor deems that a medical resident could have performed a task without supervision; in this case, the resident has demonstrated competency in a given area. As an example, the authors write:

For example, a competent family medicine physician is expected to provide care for a child with a respiratory illness. This includes eliciting a history, performing a physical examination, arriving at a diagnosis, and implementing a plan of care that is evidence based and takes into account the needs and values of the patient. Although each of these skills can be separately measured and documented in a variety of settings, the overall performance of them in situ constitutes the entrustable activity.

In addition to confirming that family medicine residents know how to treat a specific disease or condition, the EPAs can ensure that residents acquire skills that enable them to effectively interact with medically-diverse patients, uphold ethical principles, use information sources at the point of care, and develop skills relating to running a medical practice.

The leading effort to define competencies is the Outcome Project, from the Accreditation on Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and the American Board of Medical Specialties. The Outcome Project is shifting medical education from assuring quality through intense training processes to measuring outcomes and specific skill. This shift in medical training was the result of calls for greater accountability in all aspects of the profession.

Shaughnessy notes that the Outcome Project leaves the definition of actual competencies and their assessment to individual residencies. Interpretation may lead to vague competency categories that are not specific enough to provide definitive guidance to residents or faculty members regarding what learning needs to be accomplished and documented. In response, the EPAs provide a detailed, concrete approach to training and evaluating residents in how they provide care.

The initial EPAs presented in the paper were developed at the Tufts University School of Medicine Family Medicine Residency Program, based on the ACGME guidelines, over a two year period. Twenty-one experts were recruited to further determine and refine the EPAs that are most relevant to family medicine education. The experts participated in two rounds of anonymous, internet-based surveys to compile the final list of EPAs. The process began with 91 EPAs that were then narrowed down to 76 based on the feedback.

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Defining the Scope of Skills for Family Medicine Residencies