The devices, made of cobalt-chromium-molybdenum alloys, slide against each other when patients walk or run using them. With enough of that sliding, small bits of metal particles can wear off the cup or other parts of the implant where components connect. The particles can then cause damage to soft tissue and bone around the implant and joint.

In addition to the pain caused by what doctors call an “adverse reaction to metal debris” (ARMD), the process can loosen the implant. In extreme cases this can cause the hip implant to fail, meaning more surgery would be required to replace it.

The FDA also stated that metal ions can be released into the bloodstream, traveling to other parts of the body where they can cause symptoms or illnesses. However, reactions to the metal wear particles seem to be specific to patients, and the FDA does not have enough data to say just how high the concentration of metal ions is in a patient’s body.

As a result of the warning, the FDA is recommending that surgeons consider alternative hip implants, such as metal-on-polyethylene, ceramic-on-polyethylene, ceramic-on-ceramic, or ceramic-on-metal, depending on a patient’s age, sex, weight, diagnosis, and activity level. It is also recommended that patients with metal-on-metal hip implants receive yearly or biyearly physical exams and radiographs.

Hobby Lobby is arguing that the mandate to provide employees with healthcare coverage that includes preventive care ,such as birth control, conflicts with its first amendment right to freely exercise religion. Many religious Americans believe that birth control, specifically the morning after pill, is in conflict with their beliefs about sex, abortion, and reproduction. The PPACA already has exemptions for churches and other houses of worship, but highly religious business owners are arguing that they should be able to refuse contraceptive coverage for their employees as well.

Sotomayor has not dismissed Hobby Lobby’s case against the contraceptive mandate, and stated that she was not deciding whether the company’s claims had any merit. Instead, she concluded that the “applicants do not satisfy the demanding standard for the extraordinary relief they seek,” referring to the injunction. This means the mandate will take effect at the beginning of the new year.

A Hobby Lobby spokesperson has stated that the company will not be providing the morning after pill for its employees. Hobby Lobby and its affiliated companies face fines of $1.3 million per day if they do not comply with the mandate.

The trials, sponsored by Genzyme and Bayer Schering Pharma, found that for patients who recently relapsed, using a drug called alemtuzumab saw new episodes reduced by 49% over standard treatment and 65% of them remained relapse free compared to 47% of those on standard MS treatments. In addition, alemtuzumab was found to reduce the risk of acquiring disability by 42% over standard treatments.

“Our research shows the transformative effect that alemtuzumab can have for people with MS,” said Alastair Coompston, principal investigator on both studies and professor at the University of Cambridge. “Patients who continue to show disease activity while on their initial therapy are especially difficult to treat. Now, we have shown that alemtuzumab works where first-line drugs have already failed. It not only reduces the chances of disability associated with MS but may even result in long-term clinical improvements.”

The CARE MS II trial looked at 840 MS patients who had previously been treated but relapsed during therapy. They received either alemtuzumab or interferon beta-1a treatments. They had check-ups every three months for two years and yearly brain scans.

The CARE MS I trial looked at 581 patients who were not previously treated for MS. As in the other trial, the patients received either alemtuzumab or interferon beta-1a treatments and were monitored for two years. It found that alemtuzumab reduced MS relapses 55% over the standard treatment.

“Although alemtuzumab causes potentially serious side-effects, these can be identified and treated provided a monitoring schedule is carefully followed,” said Dr. Alasdair Coles, lead author of the study based on the trials and a clinician at the University of Cambridge. “Additionally, we think that we can identify which patients are at risk of autoimmune disease after alemtuzumab, and we are currently recruiting for a clinical trial which will explore whether we can use a drug to reduce the risk of autoimmunity in those at highest risk.”

“This study is the first, to the knowledge of the authors, to attempt to understand how treatments and outcomes vary for nursing home residents with advanced dementia who use Medicare SNF care near the end of life and who do or do not enroll in Medicare hospice,” said researchers, whose study was published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

According to the study, around half of all nursing home residents with advanced dementia who are also dying have Medicare SNF care in the last 90 days of their life. However, those residents are not allowed under Medicare to receive hospice reimbursement for the same terminal illness. As a result, only 30% of residents with advanced dementia who have SNF care use hospice, compared to 46% of residents without SNF.

Researchers also found that residents who receive hospice care were far less likely to die in a hospital. Residents who received SNF and hospice at the same time were 87% less likely to die in a hospital, while residents who received hospice care after SNF were 98% less likely to die in a hospital.

“Unfortunately, given the high use of Medicare skilled care near the end of life and policy that prevents simultaneous Medicare reimbursement for skilled nursing and hospice care, aggressive treatments that may not be the preference of families or their loved ones are common,” said Susan Miller, lead author of the study and professor of health services policy and practice at Brown University. “What I’ve heard from physicians is that families may be advised about hospice, but when the family learns that by choosing hospice and thus giving up SNF they’d have to pay for the entire nursing home stay, they will choose SNF over hospice. One physician told me a story about a significant other who wanted hospice for their family member. It was cheaper for that person just to quit their job, stay home and care for the person and get hospice rather than to pay for nursing home care because the nursing home cost more than they were making.”

The study looked at the Medicare records of 4,344 SNF residents who had advanced dementia and died in 2006. Of those residents, only 1,086 received hospice care.

The Medicare Hospice Concurrent Care demonstration project mandated by the Affordable Care Act (colloquially known as “Obamacare”) will be investigating the issues raised by the study.

The study, published this week in The Journal of the American Medical Association, shows that low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and total cholesterol (TC) have declined over the past two decades. According to the study, all of these types of cholesterol are risk factors for heart disease.

They also found that from 1988 to 2010, there was an increasing trend in the percentage of adults who were taking lipid-lowering medications. Among Americans age 50 or older the percentage using lipid-lowering medications increased 35%.

However, the lower colesterol seen in the study was “similar” in those not taking lipid-lowering medications and a decline was even seen among the obese.

“The favorable trends in TC, non-HDL-C, and LDL-C may be due in part to a decrease in consumption of trans-fatty acids or other healthy lifestyle changes, in addition to an increase in the percentage of adults taking lipid-lowering medications,” said the study’s authors. “They are unlikely to be the result of changes in physical activity, obesity, or intake of saturated fat,”

The researchers noted that the intake of saturated fat as a percentage of calories did not decrease from 1999 to 2008 and “little progress was made” regarding the leisure-time physical activity level of adults.

The study looked at three U.S. cross-sectional National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys: one from 1988 to 1994, one from 1999 to 2002, and one from 2007 to 2010. From 1988 to 2010, average levels of TC dropped from 206 mg/dL to 196 mg/dL. These results were the same for age-adjusted average levels in both men and women.

Marilyn Tavenner, acting administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), this week provided some tips to help people choose which plan is best for them. Tavenner posted her tips to The Medicare Blog, saying:

In my work with Medicare, one of the questions people ask me often is which plan is the best one. That’s not something I can answer, because picking a plan is an important and personal decision. Each person has a unique set of priorities. How do you weigh your options? Now’s the time to think about what matters to you, and pick the Medicare plan that meets your needs.

Travenner highlighted four specific things people should keep in mind while shopping for a Medicare plan: costs, coverage, convenience, and quality of care. The cost of coverage can be balanced by a person’s financial situation and treatment needs, while the “convenience” aspect can touch on everything from pharmacy locations and mail-order prescriptions to personal mobility. Travenner suggests that people try and predict what services they are likely to need in the coming year, and choose a plan accordingly.

As for quality of care, Travenner states that 5-star performance rating plans could help speed recovery or improve outcomes for those who pay for them. The Medicare Plan Finder can be used to compare plans and enroll.

In other Medicare news, the U.S. Justice Department and Health and Human Services recently announced a huge Medicare fraud crackdown that nabbed 91 doctors, nurses, and others.

“According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, many adults are not up-to-date with recommended life-saving immunizations. Vaccinations may not be top-of-mind while the weather is still warm, but they are a critical part of public health, especially in light of recent outbreaks of whooping cough and shingles,” said John Agwunobi, a doctor and president of Walmart U.S. health and wellness. “We are making it easy and affordable for our customers to receive their vaccinations – while on their normal shopping trips they can simply stop by immunization events, which will accept thousands of insurance plans and offer low price options for our cash paying customers.”

Just this week the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services reported the death of a Forsyth County two-month-old to whooping cough. Immunization relies on herd immunity to protect those who are not immune to a particular disease, or cannot yet be immunized. Herd immunity requires that a large portion of the population be immunized.

The immunizations at Walmart will be available to anyone three years or older. The vaccines available include ones for pneumonia, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, Chickenpox, HPV, MMR, meningitis, shingles, tetanus, diphtheria, and whooping cough, though specific offerings may vary by store. This year’s flu shots will also be available for $25.

While the CDC already advocates HIV testing for nearly all Americans, the USPSTF has stayed cautious on the issue, unsure of whether more testing should become a primary care method. The Reuters report quotes the USPSTF co-chair Dr. Michael LeFevre as stating new evidence has come to light in the last seven years. More specifically, there is now evidence that treating people infected with HIV can help prevent the spread of the Virus.

Though nowhere near as widespread as in some places, such as Haiti or parts of Africa, HIV still poses a significant health risk to Americans. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 1.2 million Americans have HIV, and one-fifth of those people (20%) don’t know they have it. The CDC estimates that 47,129 new cases of HIV were diagnosed in 2010.

As methods for testing patients for HIV improve and become less expensive, more widespread testing is likely. The FDA just last month approved an over-the-counter HIV test. Dubbed the OraQuick, the test uses an oral swab and takes 30 to 40 minutes to produce results. The test could retail for as little as $60.

Anything that can take the burden and frustration off of patients from the healthcare industry’s hardly navigable morass of bureaucracy and costliness is a welcome change. Building on existing offerings from both companies, Microsoft and GE believe that they can ultimately improve the quality of healthcare given to patients. Quoted from Microsoft’s press release, Jeffrey R. Immelt, chairman and CEO of GE, explained the goals of the partnership:

The complementary nature of GE Healthcare’s and Microsoft’s individual expertise will drive new insights, solutions and efficiencies to further advance the two companies’ shared vision of a connected, patient-centric healthcare system. The global healthcare challenges of access, cost and quality of care delivery are creating a new focus on the performance and accountability of healthcare delivery systems — in every country, at every level of care. This venture will demonstrate what is possible when leading companies with complementary capabilities work together to meet a common goal.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer added:

High-quality, affordable healthcare is one of the biggest challenges facing every nation, but it’s also an area where technology can make a huge difference. Combining Microsoft’s open, interoperable health platforms and software expertise with GE’s experience and healthcare solutions will create exciting opportunities for patients and healthcare providers alike. Working together, GE and Microsoft can help make healthcare systems more intelligent and cost efficient while improving patient care.

Some of the platforms planned by the joint venture is a software suite that will include Microsoft Amalga, Microsoft Vergence, Microsoft expreSSO, GE Healthcare eHealth, and GE Healthcare Qualibiria. The two companies hope that their endeavor will address many of the problems they have identified in the current healthcare system, such as healthcare associated infections and chronic disease management. Michael J. Simpson, current vice president and general manager of GE Healthcare IT, will serve as the company’s CEO. The two companies also project that the venture will produce job growth within its first five years of existence.

Despite the fact that the new company has not yet been christened with a name, it is slated to launch sometime in the first half of 2012.

Interestingly, social media is even making its way into the healthcare industry. Now, while you might not be able to “friend” your doctor on Facebook, the industry is putting forth an effort to integrate social media.

Healthcare, like the finance industry, is difficult, since it is heavily regulated. It is taking some time for health professionals to get on board, but in the meantime, consumers have embraced it with full force. Whether it is for keeping friends and family updated on a loved one’s condition, connecting with others in similar situations, or educating people on their own health experience, consumers have successfully made healthcare relevant to social media.

Sona Mehring, the CEO and Founder of CaringBridge, calls this activity “compassion technology.” She coined the term back in 1997, before most of the social sites that we’re familiar with were around. She told us that technology has a tendency to be cold and impersonal but that she knew it could be used in other ways. She wanted to “merge technology with its ability to connect people in a very emotional way.”

Through the tragic loss of her friend’s baby, Brighid, Mehring put her “compassion technology” to use. Before Brighid passed away, she created a website to keep everyone up-to-date on her condition. Through the experience, she wanted to give other people the ability to do the same and created CaringBridge.

At this point, social media and healthcare are most commonly used together to create a support system. This usage has been very successful and has given a sense of empowerment to patients. Fortunately, as evidenced by organizations like the Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media, healthcare professionals are showing a desire to become involved with it as well.

As seen in this post from the organization, there are many challenges involved with integrating social media into healthcare. The interactions that doctors, nurses, and other healthcare providers make will vary from patient to patient and disease to disease, but they have the potential to build stronger and more trusting relationships.

Social media isn’t designed or intended to replace traditional practices, but instead, is meant to enhance them. It has effectively done this in many industries, and it looks like it might complement the healthcare industry going forward.

Would you like to see your healthcare providers utilize social media and social functions?