INFORMATION UPDATE June 2005 Number 63 Welcome to INFORMATION UPDATE, a monthly resources for information seekers and users. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ IN THIS ISSUE ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ => Do It Yourself - Yahoo! To The Max => Did You Know? - Cost-effective Treatments on Medicare Agenda => Notes, News and Announcements => Subscribe/Unsubscribe Information ************************************************************ DO IT YOURSELF - Yahoo! To The Max ************************************************************ In March 2005 20.9% of searches done by US home and work web searchers were done on Yahoo!. Google had 47.3% and MSN had 13.6% http://searchenginewatch.com/reports/article.php/2156451 Yahoo! offers tons of capability beyond web searching, and a new book called "Yahoo! To The Max" spells it all out. Author Randolph Hock covers all of the features on Yahoo!, including Groups, News, Messaging, Buying and Selling, and the very popular Yahoo!Finance. Hock points out cool tricks like the fact that you can use the Yahoo! search box as a calculator. For quick arithmetic simply enter the equation and hit the search button. To divide 38 by 6.597 enter 38/6.957 and hit enter. (Answer = 5.46) The answer appears at the very top, above other search results. To multiply use the asterisk * and the + or - for addition or subtraction. With Hock's book as my guide, I spent some time exploring the My Yahoo! portal page. The portal provides a one stop shop for a wide variety of tools and resources that you can customize to suit your own needs. You can track stocks of interest, set up your own TV listings from your local cable provider, and set up a calendar to share with users you choose. One of the cool options in the My Yahoo! portal is the Best Fare Tracker. You can select departure and destina- tion airports to track airfare bargains. Right now I'm watching for good fares to New Zealand and have set up an e-mail alert in Yahoo! Travel to let me know when fares go up or down. "Yahoo! To The Max" by Randolph Hock is a readable, fun, and enlightening description of the many faces of Yahoo! Hock, Randolph. "Yahoo! To The Max." Medford, NJ: Information Today, 2005. $24.95 http://www.infotoday.com ************************************************************ DID YOU KNOW? - Cost-effective Treatments on Medicare Agenda ************************************************************ If your products or services depend on Medicare or third party reimbursement, you would want to know what Medicare officials are thinking. According to the May 27, 2005 issue of "Clinica: World Medical Device & Diagnostic News", the Medicare payment advisory commission (MedPAC) devotes a full chapter of its annual report to Congress on the topic of whether Medicare should consider cost effectiveness when making reimbursement decisions. An April 2005 article in "The BBI Newsletter" points out that government-funded health care programs, such as that provided under Medicare, are emphasizing evidence-based medical practices to reduce the use of ineffective treatments and procedures. If Medicare is tending toward reimbursing only those products and procedures with cost effective and proven benefit, biomedical business developing drugs, devices, and diagnostics will want to know this. Methodical scanning of the environment to monitor industry trends and issues is important, and the biomedical business is no exception. Information and competitive intelligence professionals can evaluate your current practices and recommend sources and services. If you are not already doing this, the information professional can help put a system in place to meet your needs. For more information, contact Shamel Information Services, 858-673-4673 or mailto:cshamel@shamelinfo.com ************************************************************* Notes, News, and Announcements ************************************************************* >>Information Seekers may now subscribe to Information Update using the web form at http://shamelinfo.com. If someone has forwarded this newsletter to you, why not register for your own free copy? Use the form on the Shamel Information Services web site at http://shamelinfo.com. ************************************************************** Shamel Information Services Web Site ************************************************************** The Shamel Information Services web site at http://shamelinfo.com contains Information Update archives. Just click on "Newsletters" and check for any issues you might have missed. Cynthia L. Shamel, editor Shamel Information Services Telephone: 858-673-4673 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Subscriptions to INFORMATION UPDATE are free. Copyright 2005 Shamel Information Services Please feel free to forward this issue to colleagues, in its entirety. Other uses without permission may violate copyright. Online archives at http://shamelinfo.com/newsletter.htm ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^