PDM MedExpo 2010 - July 9, 2010 Dear Colleague: We invite you to participate at the 10th Annual PDM MedExpo. The event will be held on July 9 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.  I would personally like to invite each one of you to exhibit or attend this innovative event that has become very well known in the healthcare community.

This year, we have added a very exciting new component to MedExpo. The American Diabetes Association approached us to collaborate with them in 2010. We are proud that the ADA has partnered with us in presentation of a full year of programs in Ohio, including MedExpo 2010..

We have made Wellness in the Healthcare Industry a key theme of our business philosophy for the past 4 years because improvement of health status via wellness programs directly leads to a decrease in cost for healthcare facilities, professionals, healthcare benefit plans, employers, and, most importantly, patients. We have always taken pride in providing services to the healthcare community to decrease operational costs and improve operational efficiency, and our protocol for Wellness in the Healthcare Industry is a perfect extension of our core business concepts.

Leading causes of death across the country - heart disease, cancer, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and diabetes - are directly caused by poor health choices. The morbidity and mortality related to these chronic diseases can be significantly improved via efforts to promote a healthy lifestyle including improved nutrition, increased exercise, better stress management, smoking cessation, and weight management. A healthy lifestyle, along with proper medical treatment, is the best preventive medicine therapy.

Of these diseases, diabetes is one of the most prevalent and costly. In the US, about 23 million people have diabetes. Of these, 6.2 million are unaware that they have the disease. Diabetes is a significant expenditure to the healthcare system in terms of human and financial costs. The total costs of managing diabetes overall are more than $150 billion. Most of the total cost was associated with consequences of failing to properly manage the disease. These costs include more than $25 billion for chronic diabetes-related complications, $44.1 billion for excess prevalence of general medical conditions, and $40.8 billion in indirect costs resulting from lost workdays, restricted activity days, mortality and permanent disability due to diabetes.

Healthcare equipment, like diagnostic lab test technology, blood glucose monitors, insulin pumps, and insulin needles, enable people to detect, monitor and manage their diabetes, helping to substantially reduce this huge financial toll. Research indicates that for every one point reduction in A1C the risk of developing micro vascular diabetic complications (eye, kidney and nerve disease) is lowered by up to 40%. Meanwhile, every dollar spent on controlling blood glucose levels for people with type 2 diabetes yields health care gains ranging from $3.77 to $8.65.

Employees with diabetes cost employers $4,400 more than employees without diabetes. However, proper diabetes management can reduce preventable medical expenditures for diabetes patients. Patients who receive active treatment attained a more productive work capacity, higher employment retention, less absenteeism and a more positive outlook.

We are excited to use PDM MedExpo 2010 as a platform to promote wellness, preventive medicine and disease management, and diabetes awareness and care. This event is designed for all pharmaceutical and medical supply manufacturers and healthcare professionals committed to improving patients’ quality of life via new treatments or products designed to better manage disease.

On behalf of PDM Healthcare and the American Diabetes Association, I invite you to join us at this event!

Federal officials announced 57 million Americans suffered through the H1N1 swine flu pandemic since last April and the total could range as high as 84 million. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it estimates that as many as 378,000 people were hospitalized due to H1N1 flu and up to 17,160 Americans may have died from the virus.

So far, the death toll remains less than half that seen in flu seasons before the advent of the new H1N1 strain. In prior years, about 36,000 Americans died from influenza during a typical season. Hospitalizations were much higher with H1N1, however, in previous seasons, a little more than 200,000 people are typically hospitalized.

Dr. Pascal James Imperato, dean and distinguished service professor at the School of Public Health at State University of New York Downstate Medical Center in New York City, said, “Probably the biggest difference in what we see with H1N1 is it’s being spread and causing disease in people under 65. This strain spreads very quickly among people under 18. There is a lot of disease, a lot of severe illness and death among people between 18 and 64, many of whom have some sort of chronic health condition.”

The probable explanation for most H1N1 - linked hospitalizations and deaths among the 18-to-64 year age group is that the majority of these people likely had underlying medical conditions, such as asthma, cardiac problems and diabetes. These conditions would place them at a higher risk for being hospitalized and of dying if they became . ...Read More

New research shows one in every two U.S. children now grapples at some time with a chronic health condition, such as asthma, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or obesity. The good news is that for many of those children, their chronic childhood illness will not persist. Just over 7% of those who reported a chronic condition at the beginning of the study still had the condition six years later.

Dr. Jeanne Van Cleave, a pediatrician at Mass General Hospital for Children in Boston, said, “Over time, we found the rates of chronic conditions and obesity in U.S. children increased, but quite a few of these conditions resolved on their own.” A chronic health condition is one that lasts at least 12 months. Some of the conditions included asthma, type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, epilepsy, cystic fibrosis, heart problems, allergic conditions, learning disabilities, hyperactivity, sinus infections, ear infections and more.

In the study, the risk of having chronic condition was higher for males and for children who were black or Hispanic. Kids who had overweight mothers were far more likely to be overweight themselves. However, what surprised the authors was the chronic conditions were not always lasting. Overall, 7.4% of the children who had a chronic condition at the start of the study still had that same condition at the end of the research period....Read More