It`s another snowy day here in Ottawa and we have a transit strike to boot. I`m watching the snow plows blast up and down the roadways and thanking the recent drop in oil prices for making this endeavor less expensive than it would have been just a few weeks ago. Fact is, there are many collective concerns that must be dealt with in a communal way. If I shovelled my section of the road and expected my neighbor to shovel hers....well, it might not get done to anyone`s satisfaction.
But health care is a different matter and much more applicable to the individual. As we learn more about genomics and how this will affect patients in the future, some people including experts will say that we are a long way off from having personalized medicine and the cost of developing medications based on genetic variation isn`t going to be cost effective. Even though I disagree with this opinion, I`m willing to concede that this may be true. However, it won`t stop the use of genomics from being applied in many other areas and the front-end loading of health care will soon be apparent.
Sure, prevention is very nice for the individual, but it isn`t going to save costs overall to the health care system despite what many people are hoping and it is likely to wind up including more use of private businesses. This isn`t bad....just something that must be understood in order to move forward.
Take a look at the press release ``Bio Trove Announces New OpenArray Platform Applications to Identify Pediatric Respiratory Infectious Disease Agents-Children`s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Collaborates with Bio Trove to Evaluate OpenArray Technology for Infectious Disease Testing.
The announcement Dec. 16, 2008 reflects the changing technology that exists and continues to evolve. Rather than treating diseases at great cost to the health care system, money spent on early detection could be very useful. But you can bet your buttons that this will have a cost associated. Prevention isn`t free.
Early diagnosis of infectious disease agents may help protect young patient lives, and ensure that other children and adults do not become infected. Using Bio Trove`s novel research technology, we intend to design an all inclusive assay to rapidly identify and quantify over thirty infectious respiratory viral and bacterial disease targets, potentially enabling physicians to prescribe the right therapies for their patients almost immediately.
The OpenArray(R) Platform enables genomics researchers to increase the number of samples analyzed while decreasing time and cost required leading to `high throughput genomics``.
And so the technology is available. It is likely to be necessary in the future to have this testing available and I suspect that legal cases where poor patient outcome is involved, that failing to provide this testing will be seen to be less than standard care. This front-end loading of health care costs may save some costs at the other end....but there WILL be costs and more of them as more technology emerges.
The days of government providing all health care for all patients are over. We need to be asking what patients can do for themselves, including paying for some medical care leaving government resources for those who cannot help themselves.
It`s another snowy day here in Ottawa and we have a transit strike to boot. I`m watching the snow plows blast up and down the roadways and thanking the recent drop in oil prices for making this endeavor less expensive than it would have been just a few weeks ago. Fact is, there are many collective concerns that must be dealt with in a communal way. If I shovelled my section of the road and expected my neighbor to shovel hers....well, it might not get done to anyone`s satisfaction.
But health care is a different matter and much more applicable to the individual. As we learn more about genomics and how this will affect patients in the future, some people including experts will say that we are a long way off from having personalized medicine and the cost of developing medications based on genetic variation isn`t going to be cost effective. Even though I disagree with this opinion, I`m willing to concede that this may be true. However, it won`t stop the use of genomics from being applied in many other areas and the front-end loading of health care will soon be apparent.
Sure, prevention is very nice for the individual, but it isn`t going to save costs overall to the health care system despite what many people are hoping and it is likely to wind up including more use of private businesses. This isn`t bad....just something that must be understood in order to move forward.
Take a look at the press release ``Bio Trove Announces New OpenArray Platform Applications to Identify Pediatric Respiratory Infectious Disease Agents-Children`s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Collaborates with Bio Trove to Evaluate OpenArray Technology for Infectious Disease Testing.
The announcement Dec. 16, 2008 reflects the changing technology that exists and continues to evolve. Rather than treating diseases at great cost to the health care system, money spent on early detection could be very useful. But you can bet your buttons that this will have a cost associated. Prevention isn`t free.
Early diagnosis of infectious disease agents may help protect young patient lives, and ensure that other children and adults do not become infected. Using Bio Trove`s novel research technology, we intend to design an all inclusive assay to rapidly identify and quantify over thirty infectious respiratory viral and bacterial disease targets, potentially enabling physicians to prescribe the right therapies for their patients almost immediately.
The OpenArray(R) Platform enables genomics researchers to increase the number of samples analyzed while decreasing time and cost required leading to `high throughput genomics``.
And so the technology is available. It is likely to be necessary in the future to have this testing available and I suspect that legal cases where poor patient outcome is involved, that failing to provide this testing will be seen to be less than standard care. This front-end loading of health care costs may save some costs at the other end....but there WILL be costs and more of them as more technology emerges.
The days of government providing all health care for all patients are over. We need to be asking what patients can do for themselves, including paying for some medical care leaving government resources for those who cannot help themselves.