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Doctors’ use of the Web nearly doubled in 2000, in the Healthcare column



Allergan, Oculex Eyeing Compounds; St. Joseph Gets PET Scanner

One of the stock assumptions about American healthcare is that doctors are cool toward the Internet. A new American Medical Association study, however, shows that physicians could be thawing to the Web.

Seventy percent of doctors surveyed said they used the Internet in 2000, up from 37% in 1999 and 20% in 1997. The survey was based on responses of 1,001 U.S. physicians.

“I think it’s an incredibly useful tool,” said Dr. David Litke, a Garden Grove general internist and member of the Orange County Medical Association. The Internet, Litke said, is “rapidly replacing journals” as a source of medical information.

But some medical activities still remain resistant to the Internet. Only 8% of surveyed doctors said they used it to process insurance claims last year, while 13% said they used it to access insurance and managed care data and 17% used it for obtaining or transferring medical information. Such results suggest that businesses courting doctors to use the Internet for those purposes faced a continued uphill battle.

Although Litke doesn’t use the Internet to file claims, he’s thought about it. But he noted that it’s a “handy timesaver” in relaying medical results to his patients.

“I like it for convenience, instead of playing phone tag,” Litke said.

As for security issues, Litke said he uses MediPass, a digital certificate from the California Medical Association and makes sure he never sends medical information to patients’ work e-mail addresses.

The physician said he sees a growing acceptance among colleagues about the Internet. He noted that the 2,850-member Orange County Medical Association offers courses and updates about the Internet for interested doctors.

The American Medical Association’s poll comes along at a time when hospitals are shelling out large sums of money to develop Internet systems that allow their physicians to access medical records and databases, along with filing insurance claims. Some of those actions are related to privacy provisions in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which hospitals must comply with by 2003.


Allergan Teams With Oculex

Allergan Inc., Irvine, and Oculex Pharmaceuticals Inc., Sunnyvale, entered a license and research collaboration pact to discover, develop and commercialize ophthalmic compounds. Allergan and Oculex plan to work together on treatments of serious conditions affecting the retina and the back of the eye.

Allergan said in a release that any jointly developed products would be based on “novel Allergan compounds” and compounds obtained from third parties that use Oculex’s proprietary biodegradable and reservoir drug delivery techniques. Oculex is expected to provide polymeric formulation and micro-size manufacturing to support the back-of-the-eye pharmaceutical product development.

Under the deal, Allergan has the right to nominate an unlimited number of internal and third-party compounds during the collaboration term. In exchange for that, Oculex may receive about $30 million in initial cash payments, equity investments and “development milestones” for the lead product based on a novel Allergan compound.


St. Joseph’s Cancer Screening Tool

St. Joseph Hospital-Orange officials said they’ve acquired a positron emission tomography scanner. PET scanners allow physicians to examine a patient’s metabolism in the same way that CT and magnetic resonance imaging scanners examine anatomy.

Some scientific studies contend that a PET scanner provides the highest sensitivity in the diagnosis, management and follow-up of many types of cancer. Unlike MRI or CT scanning, PET scanning also is able to determine whether a detected mass is benign, scar tissue or cancerous, said Dr. David Hertsgaard, the hospital’s chief of PET imaging.

“PET images are the first ever to show metabolic evidence of normal organ function and failure of organ systems in disease,” Hertsgaard said. “CT scans will continue to play a role in the detection of disease.

“However, in some cases where CT scans cannot tell whether a mass is benign or malignant, PET can actually demonstrate what is occurring metabolically rather than repeating the CT in a month to see if the lesion has grown. This can reduce patient stress as well.”


Bits and Pieces:

Edwards Lifesciences Corp., Irvine, received awards from the American Heart Association and AeA, formerly the American Electronics Association. The AeA’s Orange County council tapped the heart valve maker for its contributions to medical technology VitalCom Inc., Tustin, signed an agreement to put its PatientNet system into the New York Weill Cornell Medical Center, an 880-bed hospital. VitalCom also received first place in the second Towards an Electronic Patient Record award competition for its PatientBrowser system Dr. Brian Quebbemann, a surgeon who practices at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, Newport Beach, is one of six West Coast physicians certified to perform laparascopic adjustable gastric banding, according to hospital officials. The system is touted as an alternative to traditional surgery-based methods for weight loss such as cutting, stapling or rerouting the stomach or intestine.

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