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States combat health costs, workforce and safety issues

"The Massachusetts Senate is weighing a bill aimed at curbing soaring health care costs for individuals and small businesses. Senate President Therese Murray says the bill will ease market instability, smooth out annual fluctuations in premiums and require insurers [to] offer affordable small business plans" (5/18).

19 May 2010

Ion Torrent chairman and CEO named 2010 winner of Connecticut Medal of Technology

Dr. Jonathan M. Rothberg, chairman, CEO and founder of Guilford-based Ion Torrent, has been named the 2010 winner of the Connecticut Medal of Technology for his development of innovative genomic technology.

18 May 2010

Patients who receive H-SRT for recurrent brain cancer live longer: Researchers

Patients who received hypofractionated stereotactic radiotherapy for their recurrent brain cancers lived longer lives, according to researchers at Thomas Jefferson University.

18 May 2010

Hospitals to get more bargaining clout for medical devices

The Wall Street Journal: "Hospitals lack leverage when negotiating prices for high-cost implants like defibrillators and replacement hips because individual doctors, rather than hospitals, typically select the products they use in their patients. Since these doctors often aren't hospital employees, they have little incentive to bargain-hunt.

17 May 2010

AngioDynamics launches Morpheus Smart PICC Triple Lumen CT PICC

AngioDynamics announced today the launch of the first member of its new generation of peripherally inserted central catheters (PICCs) for procedures involving the use of contrast media in computed tomography (CT) - the Morpheus Smart PICC Triple Lumen CT PICC.

17 May 2010

Web seminar for hospitals considering central archive for MRIs, X-rays, CT scans, patient data

Iron Mountain Incorporated, the information management company, will hold a Web seminar May 18 for hospitals considering a central archive for MRIs, X-rays, CT scans and other patient data that is spread across separate technology systems.

15 May 2010

Canadian cancer patients cross the border for second opinion

Two years ago, Beverlee London of Toronto was diagnosed with Stage I lung cancer. London was given the news by her lung specialist in Toronto that she had a malignant tumor on her right lung. She also decided at the time to visit the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Center in Detroit for a second opinion, since she had family living in the area.

15 May 2010

Medical professionals meet to standardize CT scanning techniques

A national summit of medical professionals meeting last month in Atlanta called for the creation of consensus scan techniques as a way of addressing the concerns of patients undergoing CT scans -- a common medical imaging procedure that uses X-rays to show cross-sectional images of the body.

14 May 2010

Increase in use of imaging scans underscores need for evidence-based protocols in cancer care

New research showing a more than 30 percent annual increase in the use of high-tech imaging scans in older cancer patients underscores the need for evidence-based protocols in cancer care, said MedSolutions, a leading provider of medical management services.

14 May 2010

Report describes imaging features of superior mesenteric artery aneurysm

A recent case report published on May 14, 2010 in World Journal of Gastroenterology describes the imaging features of a ruptured superior mesenteric artery aneurysm,which created a giant hematoma and mimicked a pancreatic mass, with mild dilatation of main pancreatic duct.

13 May 2010

New case report addresses diagnostic significance of CT and MRI for DCF

Duodenocaval fistula is an uncommon but lethal clinical entity. The high mortality has been attributed to the difficulty of diagnosis before attempts at definitive therapy.

13 May 2010

Prescription drug instructions often lost in translation

Chicago Tribune: "Pharmacies that print prescription labels translated into Spanish often issue inaccurate or confusing instructions that could be potentially hazardous to a patient's health, according to a report in the May issue of Pediatrics journal."

13 May 2010

Challenges faced in cardiac imaging

When patients present with chest pain or other high-risk symptoms of heart problems, doctors increasingly rely on nuclear imaging and computed tomography (CT) tests to find out whether there is evidence of heart disease, blockages in the coronary arteries or reduced blood flow to the heart. Results of these procedures can help guide life-saving prevention and treatment options.

11 May 2010

Today's Opinions: The need for federal review of rate increases; Dems and GOP share blame for health costs; A phoney deal on Medicaid

This hodgepodge of controls over premiums needs to be backstopped by a national law that would allow the federal government to block unjustified rate increases where state officials lack the authority to do so. Attempts to include such powers in the newly enacted health care reform law failed (5/9).

10 May 2010

Radnet first-quarter revenue down, net loss up

RadNet, Inc., a national leader in providing high-quality, cost-effective, fixed-site outpatient diagnostic imaging services through a network of 190 fully-owned and operated outpatient imaging centers, today reported financial results for its first quarter of 2010.

10 May 2010

Parents, young adult children eagerly await health insurance expansion

The provision of the new health law that allows young adults to stay on their parents' insurance plan is in the news.

10 May 2010

Novel imaging techniques improve post heart attack survival rates in mouse model

Human adult stem cells injected around the damage caused by a heart attack survived in the heart and improved its pumping efficiency for a year in a mouse model, researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center report online ahead of publication in Circulation Research.

10 May 2010

President's cancer panel focuses on environmental chemicals

An expert panel that advises the president on cancer said Thursday that Americans are facing 'grievous harm' from chemicals in the air, food and water that have largely gone unregulated and ignored. The President's Cancer Panel called for a new national strategy that focuses on such threats in the environment and workplaces.

7 May 2010

Texas CHIP program faces budget uncertainties while Arizona Governor restores funds for health care programs for the poor

Seven years ago, state leaders working to close a $9.9 billion budget gap took a hatchet to government health insurance for children of the working poor. Thousands of children paid the price when officials tightened eligibility rules and whacked dental, vision and mental health benefits. Gradually, benefits were restored to the Children's Health Insurance Program and, this month, enrollment reached roughly the same level as in 2003.

7 May 2010

$CT scans superior to standard X-rays for detection of pelvic fractures: Study$

CT scans superior to standard X-rays for detection of pelvic fractures: Study

Computed tomography scans are superior to standard radiography (X-rays) for the detection of pelvic fractures, according to a study to be presented at the ARRS 2010 Annual Meeting in San Diego, CA. CT scanning combines special X-ray equipment with sophisticated computers to produce multiple images of pictures of the inside of the body.

7 May 2010