Category: Patients

A Therapeutic (Plasma) Exchange

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Why does this matter?

Demand for Immunoglobulin (Ig) in Australia is growing at an annual rate of 5% – 10%. Ig is a fractionated blood product made from human plasma used to treat serious diseases such as primary immuno-deficiencies and several neurological conditions. The good news is that alternative treatment options do exist for certain conditions. TPE is one of them.

TPE is a well-established immunomodulatory therapy used to treat a variety of medical conditions including Guillain-Barré syndrome, Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy and Myasthenia Gravis as well as autoimmune diseases in which the immune system mistakenly attacks the body’s own healthy cells, tissues and/or organs.

How does TPE work?

It is a procedure in which plasma is separated and extracted from the blood to remove a disease substance circulating in a patient’s plasma. The plasma is exchanged with a replacement fluid. Usually, the exchange of one plasma volume removes about 66% of the harmful antibodies and a two-plasma volume exchanges approximately 85%.[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”2918″ img_size=”full”][vc_column_text]

What are the common misconceptions?

There are several myths and beliefs around the use of TPE.

Myth Reality
TPE is inconvenient Many hospitals have established standard processes to ensure that apheresis therapy is readily available to prescribers through inpatient or outpatient services
TPE takes a long time The median TPE procedure time is 1 hour and 45 minutes.
TPE is not safe TPE is safe and well-tolerated, with most reactions being mild, easily treated and of limited duration. For some conditions, as the Myasthenia Gravis crisis, expert consensus suggests that TPE is more effective and works more quickly than intravenous immunoglobulin.
TPE is invasive and requires central access Most of TPE procedures are conducted via peripheral access which is generally safer, easier to obtain, and more comfortable than central access.
TPE is expensive

 

 For some hospitals, TPE may offer the potential for significant cost savings

Set your misconceptions aside!

TPE is a viable alternative which can help reduce reliance on Ig products and provide better access to treatment for those conditions for which no viable therapeutic alternative to Ig exists.

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World-First Pregnancy Study

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Here’s what you need to know:

  • The world-first study is aiming to recruit 500 women, and will be performed at five hospitals across Sydney including St George Hospital, the Royal Hospital for Women, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Liverpool Hospital and Campbelltown Hospital.
  • Study participants will be assigned one of three pathways for ongoing care, including follow up with a GP, attending a postpartum clinic or participating in a lifestyle program.
  • Women and their babies will return to the hospital where they gave birth for further follow up and assessment six months after birth, and then at annual intervals from when their baby turns one.

Here’s what the experts are saying:

  • Study Chief Investigator, Dr Amanda Henry, said “many studies have demonstrated that although blood pressure will return to normal for most women after a hypertensive pregnancy, they have at least double the long-term risk of heart attack, stroke and developing diabetes, and triple the risk of chronic high blood pressure, compared to women who had an uncomplicated pregnancy”.
  • However, it is unknown whether monitoring or treatments in the first few years after a hypertensive pregnancy can improve health risks or outcomes for either a mother or her baby – The Blood Pressure Postpartum Study – or BP2 – is aiming to answer that question.

 

So, will it work:

  • Because hypertensive pregnancy identifies a group of relatively young women at higher risk of heart disease, the team of researchers are hopeful the study will identify effective interventions that can improve the future health of thousands of Australian women.

 

Key Insight: 

About one in 10 women in Australia have a hypertensive pregnancy, which equates to approximately 30,000 women affected annually.

Hypertensive disorders include preeclampsia, gestational hypertension or chronic hypertension.

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A Political Heart-to-Heart

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]This week Minister for Health, Greg Hunt, announced the creation of a new Medicare item for heart health checks. A day later, Shadow Minister for Health, Catherine King, announced that a future Labor Government would invest $170 million in Medicare to take on cardiovascular disease.

The Hunt announcement:

From 1 April 2019, a new dedicated MBS item for health check will support General Practitioners and patients in assessing cardiovascular risk. The independent medical experts at the Medical Benefits Schedule Review Taskforce will also conduct a review with the potential for further development of this new Medicare item.

The King announcement:

The Opposition hopes its investment promise will prevent an estimated 76,500 heart attacks and strokes over five years. King stated the investment would ensure that all at-risk Aussies can undergo heart health checks as part of a comprehensive vascular screen that tests their blood pressure and looks at lifestyle factors such as smoking status.

So, what’s the key take away from this story? Well, as Minister Hunt said: “anyone who is concerned about their heart health should always ask their GP for a check-up”. Currently there are a range of Medicare items that cover services and tests where people may have heart disease or are at risk of heart disease including:

  • Specialist consultations with cardiologists;
  • Electrocardiograms tests (ECG);
  • Exercise ECG;
  • Stress (exercise) ECG;
  • Cardiac ECG;
  • Coronary angiography;
  • Computer tomography coronary arteries;
  • Chest X-ray;
  • Electrophysiology studies;
  • Cholesterol tests;
  • Lipid tests; and
  • Glucose test.

KEY INSIGHT: One Australian dies of cardiovascular disease every 12 minutes, with one Australian experiencing a heart attach or stroke very five minutes.

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Apple announces Health Records feature coming to veterans

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“We have great admiration for veterans, and we’re proud to bring a solution like Health Records on iPhone to the veteran community,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “It’s truly an honor to contribute to the improved healthcare of America’s heroes.”
With Health Records on iPhone, veterans across the US will be able to see medical information from participating institutions — including the VA — organized into one view all in the Health app. Health records data includes allergies, conditions, immunizations, lab results, medications, procedures and vitals, and is displayed along with other information in the Health app like Apple Watch data. This means VA patients will get a single, integrated snapshot of their health profile whenever they want quickly and privately. All Health Records data is encrypted and protected with the user’s iPhone passcode, Touch ID or Face ID.
“When patients have better access to their health information, they have more productive conversations with their physicians,” said Jeff Williams, Apple’s COO. “By bringing Health Records on iPhone to VA patients, we hope veterans will experience improved healthcare that will enhance their lives.”
“Our goal is to empower people to better understand and improve their health, enabling them to view their medical information from multiple providers in one place easily and securely,” said Kevin Lynch, Apple’s vice president of Technology. “We’re excited to bring this feature to veterans across the US.”
Health Records on iPhone will be the first record-sharing platform of its kind available to the VA, which is the largest medical system in the United States providing service to more than 9 million veterans across 1,243 facilities.

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Back To The Future Of MedTech

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  • Here’s the gist: Honda, in partnership with Ohio State University, will undertake clinical trials to evaluate an 8-week intervention with the device for improving mobility in patients. The device is designed for training, the Honda Walking Assist Device is made up of a hip frame, motors and thigh frame.

The Honda device helps to enable more efficient and symmetrical walking patterns for people who have gait deficits due to stroke.

  • Here’s what Honda had to say: “We have a large body of evidence which suggested that the Honda Walking Assist Device safely and effectively improves the mobility of individuals affected by stroke,” lead research engineer, Kenton Williams, said.

I bet you’re wondering how it all works, right? Well rather than reading how it works, click below to SEE how it work![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_video link=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jyE_GzsXJM” title=”Honda Walking Assist Device – How it works (Animation)”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

WORLD CANCER DAY MARKED WITH $375 MILLION

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Health Minister Greg Hunt said: “As we mark World Cancer Day, this investment will allow patients to access Medicare-subsidised lifesaving scans for cancer as well as stroke, heart and other medical conditions.”

  • Tell me more: an MRI is a commonly used medical scan that gives a detailed view of the soft tissues of the body such as muscles, ligaments, brain tissue, discs and blood vessels.

In September last year the Federal Government announced that first ten locations to receive this Medicare support and opened a competitive public application process to determine the location of a further 10 Medicare eligible MRIs.

  • How successful was the application process? The Government received an overwhelming 490 applications. As a result of the demand Minister Hunt announced the Government will invest a further $150 million into the MRI program, taking the total investment to $375 million, over the forward estimates.

KEY INSIGHT: In late 2017, the Government launched the Australian Brain Cancer Mission – a $105 million fund to fight brain cancer.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

PRIVATE HEALTHCARE SIDESTEPS BLAME

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  • Here’s the gist: Industry association, Private Healthcare Australia (PHA), has proposed a number of key reforms it believes will “address the rising costs of healthcare and stem the movement of members to an already overburdened public health system”.
    PHA wants to:

    • cut the number of items listed on the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS);
    • permit health insurers to fund specific out-patient services;
    • increase home-care and community-based treatments – removing people from hospitals; and
    • implement international reference pricing and price disclosures, and assessments of new health products to further cut the prices of medical devices in Australia.

As of June 2018, 54% of Australians had private health insurance. But without further reforms, PHA believes this number could plummet to 30% by 2030/35.

  • Why do this? Like any industry association group, PHA’s primary goal is to represent and defend the interests of its member health insurance companies. Ensuring a viable private health insurance sector in Australia is a core goal for PHA, but so too is ensuring their members don’t face adverse financial impacts due to public policy decisions and reform.

PHA CEO, Rachel David, said “wasteful costs in the health system are not unique to the private sector… Often this is down to health system design and regulations, which are not fit-for-purpose”.

KEY INSIGHT: An agreement, struck between the Commonwealth Government and the medical technology industry in 2017, to cut prices on the Prostheses List was a major contributor to last year’s health insurance premium increase being the lowest in 18 years.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

A CURE FOR CANCER IN A YEAR

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]A team of scientists located in Israel have announced they will be the first-ever to complete a cure for cancer within 12 months.

  • Sceptical? Here’s how: The company, Accelerated Evolution Biotechnologies (AEBI), has claimed to have developed a treatment that uses a combination of cancer-targeting peptides and a multi-target toxin to find and kill cancer cells.

“Our cancer cure will be effective from day one, will last a duration of a few weeks and will have no or minimal side-effects at a much lower cost than most other treatments on the market,” AEBI Chairman, Dan Aridor, told the Jerusalem Post.

  • So just how likely is it? According to cancer experts the research AEBI is talking about has only been conducted in a cell lab on mice. Without human trials, the validity of the ‘cure for cancer’ claim is difficult to verify. When asked about the likelihood of AEBI’s claims for a 12 month cure, Medical expert Dr Penny Adams said people shouldn’t “hold their breath”.

KEY INSIGHT: AEBI confirmed the company had only undertaken an exploratory mouse experiment but said they would begin a round of clinical trials that could take a few years – longer than the promised 12 months.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

CHF SAYS HEALTH RECORD ENSHRINES CHOICE

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  • What’s different now? A change in the law enabling people to permanently delete their My Health Record should strengthen public trust in the system. The Australian Digital Health Agency has confirmed that as of 24 January 2019, the permanent delete function has been activated to allow users to wipe their record and its backups at any time.

CEO of the Consumers Health Forum, Leanne Wells, said she believes “this change will reassure those people who were concerned that their decision to opt-out of the MHR would not prevent their record being accessed by an official at some later time”.

The Consumers Health Forum has strongly supported a secure national health records system for some time, stating their belief in the potential benefits it offers to consumers and health providers.

KEY INSIGHT: Approx. 1 million people have already chosen to opt-out of having a MHR created for them by the government. The deadline for people to opt-out of the MHR is January 31.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Queenslanders get a new (Safe)Mate

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  • Here’s what you need to know: Queensland Minister for Ambulance Services, Steven Miles, launched the SafeMate program, which is a new digital system housing a patient’s medical and personal information that they themselves have entered online. Paramedics will be able to use their operational iPads to tap a patient’s SafeMate card or device and access their information right there on the screen.

The Queensland Government believes this new program will eliminate the time it would normally take a paramedic to ask the patient a range of questions in order to obtain their medical history and other pertinent details.

KEY INSIGHT: Medibank has partnered with SafeMate to pilot the system with customers living with chronic illness in Queensland as part of its chronic disease program, CareComplete.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]