The National Institute of Standards and Technology has awarded a local biotechnology start-up another $493,000 to continue researching a line of genetically engineered human liver cells that would prolong the lives of people waiting for liver transplants.
MultiCell Associates Inc. of Warwick last October received $425,140 of a $1.4 million NIST grant to be used over three years.
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U.S. Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy, D-RI, issued a statement praising MultiCell for bringing attention to the state’s growing biotechnology industry.
“This grant confirms that Rhode Island continues to be a leader in the area of science and technology,” Kennedy said. “I am particularly proud of MultiCell Associates for its hard work and obvious innovation in the biotechnology field.
“Subspecialists are not reimbursed for the time spent in informal consults. They do them because they want to help their colleagues and the patient. Curbside consultations also make good business sense,” said Gifford, an associate professor at the Brown University School of Medicine.
Make no mistake, the Advanced Technology Program (under NIST) is one of the most competitive initiatives within the federal government in the area of basic and applied science. All Rhode Islanders can be proud of MultiCell Associates and its leadership in the area of biotechnology and tissue engineering.”
MultiCell is based on the research of Hugo Jauregui, a Brown professor and Rhode Island Hospital pathologist.
Consultations widespread
A Rhode Island-based study in the Journal of the American Medical Association says consultations between primary-care doctors and medical specialists are widespread, promising to reduce costs on one end and possibly generate business on the other. However their value to patients is unclear.
During a so-called “curbside consultation,” one physician asks a specialist — such as an allergist or a cardiologist — for advice about a patient. The specialist is generally unfamiliar with the patient and is not given the opportunity to examine him or her. The recommendations are therefore based almost entirely on second-hand information, a group of three physicians affiliated with Brown University said.
The data — based on interviews with 413 Rhode Island doctors — showed that 70 percent of primary-care doctors and 68 percent of specialists had participated in at least one informal consultation during the week proceeding the study. Primary-care doctors averaged more than three consultations, while specialists received requests for almost four, the study said. The normally brief consultations took place in a corridor, office or over the telephone.
Among the doctors interviewed, physicians practicing in health maintenance organizations, or HMOs, were almost twice as likely to obtain casual consults as non-HMO doctors. Specifically, HMO doctors made 5.6 consults per week compared to 2.9 consults by fee-for-service physicians.
Specialists were more likely than primary-care doctors to question the quality of information obtained during an informal consultation. About 80 percent of specialists said the information was insufficient compared to almost 50 percent of primary-care physicians, the study said.
Almost 78 percent of specialists said important clinical information was missing during consultations, compared to 43.5 percent of primary-care physicians.
Despite those findings, about 77 percent of specialists, compared to almost 39 percent of primary-care physicians, said that informal consultations are essential for maintaining good relations with other physicians, the study said.
The researchers — Drs. David Kuo, David Gifford and Michael Stein — concluded that the casual contacts continue because specialists hope they will lead to formal consultations and a referral base.
Vida Healthcare wins contract
United Healthcare of New England has chosen a Minneapolis company to provide cancer-care management services to more than 200,000 of its subscribers in Rhode Island, southeastern Massachusetts and eastern Connecticut. That number includes 30,000 Medicare members.
Vida Healthcare, a disease management and information services company, seeks to help HMOs improve quality of care by establishing guidelines for care, peer reviews and shared data.
“After seeing what Vida accomplished in its initial market of Chicago, we were very anxious to apply their model to a broader base, especially since New England has seen little in the way of formal disease management programs to date,” said Amy Knapp, president and chief executive officer of United Healthcare of New England. “We are particularly interested in Vida’s outcomes database for our large and varied population base.”
Vida has recruited local oncologists, academics and medical specialists to serve on its New England Medical Advisory Board.
