Clinician's Roundtable

Host: Mark Nolan Hill, MD Guest: Craig Nichols, MD Diagnosed in thousands of American men each year, testicular cancer has proven highly sensitive to current treatment regimens. Host Dr. Mark Nolan Hill evaluates the most common therapies for testicular cancer with Dr. Craig Nichols, medical director of lymphoma and testicular cancer research at Providence Portland Medical Center in Portland, Ore., and an internationally respected expert on testicular cancer. Are there significant side effects to the present therapies? Further, keeping in mind the possibility of a recurrent disease, and the accordant need for proper follow-up measures, Dr. Nichols evaluates strategies for coordinating care between medical oncologists and primary care physicians.

Host: Mark Nolan Hill, MD Guest: Craig Nichols, MD If detected in its early stages, we have great success in curing testicular cancer. What are our most effective screening measures? How should we instruct our patients to be vigilant with their own self-exams, or is this the best approach? Dr. Craig Nichols, medical director of lymphoma and testicular cancer research at Providence Portland Medical Center in Portland, Ore., and an internationally respected expert on testicular cancer, joins host Dr. Mark Nolan Hill to review our most effective defenses against this disease.

Host: Mark Nolan Hill, MD Guest: Jam Ghajar, MD, PhD Advances in diagnostics for traumatic brain injuries will soon allow us to evaluate these injuries immediately after they occur. With many of our troops suffering these injuries, the United States military is making a push to accelerate development of a new assessment device. Jamshid Ghajar, MD, PhD, president of the Brain Trauma Foundation, the organization working in partnership with the Defense Department, outlines this collaborative effort. Will this forthcoming diagnostic tool also be applicable in civilian circumstances? Are there certain sets of symptoms that would preclude its use?

Host: Mark Nolan Hill, MD Guest: Jam Ghajar, MD, PhD Traumatic brain injuries are a major cause for concern for our troops returning home from military conflicts abroad. The development of a new eye-tracking device, initiated and funded, in part, by the United States Department of Defense, will soon provide an immediate assessment of traumatic brain injuries. How might this device change the entire evaluation process for these injuries? When will this device be ready for use? Host Dr. Mark Nolan Hill gets the details from Jamshid Ghajar, MD, PhD, president of the Brain Trauma Foundation, the organization working in partnership with the Defense Department to develop this device.

Host: Larry Kaskel, MD Guest: Roberta Greenspan Roberta Greenspan, president of SpecialDocs, Inc., discusses the process of converting a traditional medical practice to a concierge medical practice. Ms. Greenspan explains the growth trend of concierge medicine, and the non-economic motivations of physicians converting their practices to a concierge model. Host Larry Kaskel investigates the different options for utilizing third party insurance companies within a concierge practice, including the option to exclude all third party payors.

Guest: Ruben Toral Host Dr. Larry Kaskel speaks with Ruben Toral, a recognized leader in medical tourism and healthcare globalization, at the Healthcare Globalization Summit in Las Vegas. What surprises will patients typically encounter when they explore their healthcare options abroad? Can the American healthcare system learn from the presentation of medical care around the world? Mr. Toral examines issues of quality, access, price and service in medical care overseas.

Host: Larry Kaskel, MD Guest: Todd Park Todd Park, cofounder and Chief Athenista at AthenaHealth, one of the fastest growing web-based practice management and electronic medical record companies, joined host Larry Kaskel at the Health Summit in Las Vegas. Todd discussed his vision of the future medical landscape. Join us to find out how companies like AthenaHealth try to help doctors master the ever growing changes that they must face.

Host: Maurice Pickard, MD Guest: Benjamin Hippen, MD Dr. Benjamin Hippen speaks about the Iranian system that allows an individual's kidney to be sold by the donor, whom we can also think of as the vendor. Examination has shown that the recipients are on a level playing field and there is no tourism or fraud. The responsibility for recruiting potential vendors becomes separated from the responsibility for approving the vendor's medical and surgical candidacy. But moral concerns in the US may have to be resolved in the future by a hybrid system that combines features of both systems.

Host: Maurice Pickard, MD Guest: Benjamin Hippen, MD Dr. Benjamin Hippen reviews the kidney transplantation policy failure in the United States. The cost is now 21 billion dollars in Medicare commitment to end-stage renal disease and 50 percent of those on the transplant waiting list will likely die before receiving an organ. This situation is getting worse by the day. Iran is the only country in the world that has no organ shortage. Is their system of legal organ "vending" worth examining?

Host: Bruce Bloom, DDS, JD Guest: Walter Stadler, MD Targeted and Individualized Therapies for Cancer. Where are we? What's on the horizon? Associate Dean of Clinical Research, Professor of Medicine and Director of the Genitourinary program at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, Dr. Walter Stadler, cites the majority of patients struggling with the side effects - while grasping for the benefits - of cancer therapy as a necessity for individualized therapy. Dr. Stadler and Dr. Bloom discuss individualized treatment as a reality via biomarker identification, and management of cancer heterogeneity of various cancers within the same patient.