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VirtualHealth Technologies, Wound Care Innovations enter licensing agreement to use Cifra healthcare platform

VirtualHealth Technologies, Inc., a provider of secure technology for electronic health records and connectivity for web-based healthcare solutions, announced today that its subsidiary Secure eHealth has entered into an agreement with Wound Care Innovations, LLC, a subsidiary of Wound Management Technologies Inc., to use its Cifra secure healthcare platform.

12 Oct 2009

Cifra healthcare platform from Wound Management Technologies

Wound Management Technologies, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: WNDM) a rapidly growing provider of specialty medical products, announced today that its subsidiary Wound Care Innovations, LLC has launched the Cifra(TM) healthcare platform to securely exchange and store information for ongoing evidence based case studies on its patented collagen CellerateRx® products in managing all types of wound care.

12 Oct 2009

Employers offering more high-deductible plans this enrollment season

When open enrollment rolls around again this year, workers may be faced with more health insurance choices: "more employers may include a new type of plan that can chop premium payments by nearly 20 percent and give consumers a tax break," The Associated Press reports.

12 Oct 2009

Physician shortage worries rural communities but gets little attention in health bills

Garfield Memorial Hospital in Pomeroy, Wash., has been struggling to make ends meet for years - through patient revenues and property taxes that helped cover a $70,000 roof repair - the Seattle Times reports. Many rural hospitals face similar problems, and in the case of Pomeroy, if the hospital closed, residents would have to travel miles to find other choices.

12 Oct 2009

States struggle with Medicaid issues

Various newspapers examine Medicaid issues including the coverage needs of kids in Michigan, financial worries for Medicaid programs in California and New Hampshire and concerns that Medicaid pay may be cut again when stimulus money runs out.

12 Oct 2009

'Modern' patients help drive up health care costs

Patients who request specific medications and procedures, even though they may not need them, help to drive up health care costs, NPR reports.

12 Oct 2009

OptumHealth’s conference to focus on advancements in fetal diagnosis and treatment

OptumHealth Inc. has teamed with The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) to present a two-day educational conference focused on clinical advancements in fetal diagnosis and treatment, neonatal care and pediatric care. The gathering runs through today, and is part of OptumHealth’s Network Spotlight Conferences program.

12 Oct 2009

GF Capital Private Equity Fund purchases Airborne

Airborne, Inc., maker of dietary supplements that support immune health, today announced that it has been purchased by GF Capital Private Equity Fund, LP, a New York City-based private equity firm. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Stockton Road Capital, LLC, advised and partnered with GF Capital with respect to this investment.

12 Oct 2009

State representatives to announce patient-centered plan for health care reform

On Tuesday, October 13, in response to national calls for an alternative to Obamacare, representatives from 33 state think tanks will announce their "patient-centered" plan for health care reform.

12 Oct 2009

President of Consumers Union calls health reform 'vital'

This week, Consumers Union, the nonprofit organization that publishes Consumer Reports magazine, stepped into the health care debate by airing a 30-second television ad supporting an overhaul.

12 Oct 2009

First Edition: October 12, 2009

With the Senate Finance Committee scheduled to vote Tuesday on its sweeping health overhaul measure, the insurance industry is launching its attack.

12 Oct 2009

Press Ganey releases report on home care patient satisfaction

Home health care providers serve many chronically ill patients in the country, and a new report released today finds an upward trend in overall home care patient satisfaction. Press Ganey Associates, Inc., the leading provider of healthcare improvement solutions, has announced the results of the annual 2009 Home Care Pulse Report: Patient Perspectives on American Health Care.

12 Oct 2009

Federal stimulus funds for comparative-effectiveness research in cancer

Researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Group Health Research Institute and the University of Washington schools of Public Health and Pharmacy have been selected to lead four projects backed by approximately $16 million in federal stimulus funding for comparative-effectiveness research in cancer.

12 Oct 2009

MDMA opposes medical device tax as part of the health care reform bills

Yesterday, the Medical Device Manufacturers Association Board of Directors met and unanimously voted to oppose any device tax as part of the health care reform bills moving through Congress.

12 Oct 2009

Rural Americans with heart disease at risk of impending Medicare cuts

Medicare regulatory changes expected to be finalized in November - but overshadowed by the partisan bluster of the ongoing health care debate - pose an imminent threat to 80 million patients in America suffering from heart disease, especially for the nearly one in four Americans over the age of 65 living in rural areas.

12 Oct 2009

Detroit jury indicts alleged perpetrators of X-Press Center $2.3M Medicare fraud scheme

Three Miami-Dade County, Fla., residents have been indicted in connection with an alleged $2.3 million Medicare fraud scheme operated out of X-Press Center, a Detroit-area clinic that purported to specialize in providing injection and infusion therapies, Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division Lanny A. Breuer, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan Terrence Berg and Daniel R. Levinson, Inspector General of the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) announced today.

12 Oct 2009

Public forum and scientific workshop on women's health issues

The Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and Northwestern Memorial Hospital will host a public forum and scientific workshop Oct. 14 to 16 to discuss emerging issues of importance for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for women's health research in the coming decade.

12 Oct 2009

Democrats pull 'Republicans support health reform' ad after Dole objects

A Democratic commercial highlighting Republican support for health reform has some in the GOP up in arms, while others say the support won't change their minds.

12 Oct 2009

PPA bus tour to raise awareness of patient assistance programs

The 'Help is Here Express' bus tour will be stopping in Iowa, Southern Illinois, and Southern Indiana throughout the week of October 12 -- 16th at various cities in order to help uninsured and financially-struggling Midwesterners access information on programs that provide prescription medicines for free or nearly free.

12 Oct 2009

Concord Coalition sends list of suggestions concerning the healthcare reform bill

In the coming days, you have the unenviable task of combining the Senate Finance Committee's health care reform bill with the bill that emerged from the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Aware of the difficulty and the competing pressures you face, we have identified in the attached memorandum key areas where we believe the potential of the legislation to produce fiscal gains can be strengthened. We hope our views will help guide your work -- consistent with fiscal responsibility and sustainability.

12 Oct 2009