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Delphinus Medical Technologies secures $8M in venture capital to commercialize SoftVue system

The Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute announced today that its spin-off company Delphinus Medical Technologies, LLC, has secured $8 million in venture capital to start the commercialization process of SoftVue, an alternative to mammography.

25 May 2010

Florida health care providers offer language services, medical homes

As "the region continues to attract residents from all over the country and the world, local health care providers and educators are searching for ways to better serve them." Some use "cultural toolkits," and have guides to help providers relate to patients' cultural and religious preferences. "'From a business perspective, it makes a lot of sense,' said Bernardo Ramirez, assistant professor of health services administration at the University of Central Florida.

24 May 2010

Abbott's new FreeStyle Lite blood glucose test strips receive FDA clearance

Abbott today announced that it has received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its new FreeStyle Lite blood glucose test strips. The new FreeStyle Lite test strips minimize interference during blood glucose testing and are designed to offer a better testing experience.

24 May 2010

Hospitals facing new payment squeezes

News outlets report on payment issues for hospitals, including those stemming from the new health law.

24 May 2010

2010 Southeast Michigan Mid-Market Group Benefits Survey released

McGraw Wentworth, Michigan's largest employee group benefit brokerage/consulting firm, today released the results of its 2010 Southeast Michigan Mid-Market Group Benefits Survey. The annual survey, now in its seventh year, tracks health benefits and trends for 2010 among 414 southeast Michigan organizations with 100-10,000 employees.

24 May 2010

Today's OpEds: Taxing health plans, a health care 'loophole,' NY Times on medical loss ratio

Few Americans know what a "medical loss ratio" is, but a fierce struggle over how to calculate it under the new health care reform law will determine how much insurers must spend on patient care and how much they can retain for administration and profits. This is but one of many battles that will emerge as federal and state regulators develop regulations to implement reform (5/23).

24 May 2010

Lawmakers could vote this week on three-year 'doc fix,' COBRA subsidy extension

Before they leave for the Memorial Day recess, lawmakers face legislation which includes a provision on Medicare payments to physicians and an extension of the COBRA subsidy to newly laid-off workers.

24 May 2010

Study: Health law could mean penalties for one in three employers

News outlets covered analyses of health law provisions affecting businesses. "About one-third of employers subject to major requirements of the new health care law may face tax penalties because they offer health insurance that could be considered unaffordable to some employees, a new study says," The New York Times reports.

24 May 2010

China Yongxin Pharmaceuticals first-quarter 2010 revenues increase 16.3% to $10.68M

China Yongxin Pharmaceuticals Inc., one of the leading health products distribution and retail sales companies in China, today announced its financial results for the first quarter ending March 31, 2010.

24 May 2010

New FDA approved Landon Medical LM-800 Finger Pulse Oximeter available for home use

PulseOximetersDIRECT.com, the leading online retailer of portable Pulse Oximeter products introduces today the new, affordable $39 FDA approved Landon Medical LM-800 Finger Pulse Oximeter for home use.

24 May 2010

Salix Pharmaceuticals announces availability of Xifaxan tablets for reducing risk of overt HE recurrence

Salix Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. today announced the availability of Xifaxan (rifaximin) 550 mg tablets for the reduction in risk of overt hepatic encephalopathy recurrence in patients 18 years of age or older. Those HE patients may now fill their Xifaxan 550 mg prescriptions in U.S. pharmacies and should speak with their doctors about this important treatment option.

24 May 2010

Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical pleads guilty for promoting epilepsy drug Topamax for psychiatric use

Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical LLC, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, pled guilty today in U.S. District Court in Boston to one count of misdemeanor violation of the Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act for illegally promoting its epilepsy drug Topamax for uses that were not approved by the FDA. The company was also sentenced at today's hearing.

24 May 2010

First Edition: May 24, 2010

Irene Wielawski writes for Kaiser Health News that electronic medical records may be as important as stethoscopes. "Dr. David Blumenthal was not happy to find a new computer installed on his desk when he showed up for work one morning eight years ago at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. He knew the hospital had been hard at work on developing an electronic medical record system, but Blumenthal wasn't keen on changing practices that had served him and his patients just fine over the years.

24 May 2010

NIH issues new conflict of interest guidelines for researchers

New NIH guidelines, proposed Thursday, are intended "to prevent financial conflicts of interest among [40,000] researchers who receive federal funding, a move long sought by watchdogs of scientific research concerned about the influence of the drug industry and others," The Washington Post reports.

24 May 2010

State roundup: Genetic testing on campus, Texas docs in Mass., and more

"A plan by the University of California, Berkeley to voluntarily test the DNA of incoming freshman has come under fire from critics who said the school was pushing an unproven technology on impressionable students. The university has said it will send test kits to 5,500 new students to analyze genes that help control the body's responses to alcohol, dairy products and folic acid" (Wohlsen, 5/21).

24 May 2010

New Mexico meets all requirements for operational planning as part of ARRA state HIE program: ONC

New Mexico is the first state to meet all requirements for strategic and operational planning as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act state health information exchange cooperative agreement program, according to the United States Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.

24 May 2010

Research roundup: Lessons from Medicare Part D; Evaluating medical homes; Insuring young adults

Lessons Learned: Who Didn't Enroll In Medicare Drug Coverage In 2006, And Why? - With data from the 2005 and 2006 Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey, this study examines enrollment of those who were previously without either public or private sources of prescription drug coverage. The authors report "63 percent of all eligible seniors and 69 percent of low-income beneficiaries were enrolled in Part D in 2006.

24 May 2010

House poised to consider COBRA subsidy extension, Medicare payment 'fix'

Caught up in the congressional politics swirling around a pending tax bill are two proposals to extend — once again — subsidies for COBRA health insurance and a 'fix' of Medicare payments to doctors.

24 May 2010

New findings on INTUNIV Extended Release Tablets presented at major psychiatric meeting

Shire plc, the global specialty biopharmaceutical company, today announced new findings on once-daily INTUNIV (guanfacine) Extended Release Tablets, the first selective alpha-2A agonist approved for the treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, at a major psychiatric meeting.

24 May 2010

Delegates at the World Health Assembly adopt resolutions on variety of global health issues

The 63rd World Health Assembly, which brought together Health Ministers and senior health officials from the World Health Organization's Member States, concluded business and closed Friday evening.

24 May 2010

Health Care News and Research

Delphinus Medical Technologies secures $8M in venture capital to commercialize SoftVue system

Florida health care providers offer language services, medical homes

Abbott's new FreeStyle Lite blood glucose test strips receive FDA clearance

Hospitals facing new payment squeezes

2010 Southeast Michigan Mid-Market Group Benefits Survey released

Today's OpEds: Taxing health plans, a health care 'loophole,' NY Times on medical loss ratio

Lawmakers could vote this week on three-year 'doc fix,' COBRA subsidy extension

Study: Health law could mean penalties for one in three employers

China Yongxin Pharmaceuticals first-quarter 2010 revenues increase 16.3% to $10.68M

New FDA approved Landon Medical LM-800 Finger Pulse Oximeter available for home use

Salix Pharmaceuticals announces availability of Xifaxan tablets for reducing risk of overt HE recurrence

Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical pleads guilty for promoting epilepsy drug Topamax for psychiatric use

First Edition: May 24, 2010

NIH issues new conflict of interest guidelines for researchers

State roundup: Genetic testing on campus, Texas docs in Mass., and more

New Mexico meets all requirements for operational planning as part of ARRA state HIE program: ONC

Research roundup: Lessons from Medicare Part D; Evaluating medical homes; Insuring young adults

House poised to consider COBRA subsidy extension, Medicare payment 'fix'

New findings on INTUNIV Extended Release Tablets presented at major psychiatric meeting

Delegates at the World Health Assembly adopt resolutions on variety of global health issues

Event guide: 3rd Measuring Patient Engagement Summit eBook

The impact of vibration on microscopy

How Omics Technologies Are Transforming Biological Research and Drug Discovery

How microplastics and bacteria interact to drive antibiotic resistance

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