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Vanguard closes private placement of $375 million 7.750% Senior Notes

Vanguard Health Systems, Inc. announced today that its wholly-owned subsidiaries, Vanguard Health Holding Company II, LLC and Vanguard Holding Company II, Inc. (together with VHS Holdco II, the "Issuers"), closed their private placement of an aggregate principal amount of $375.0 million of 7.750% Senior Notes due 2019.

31 Mar 2012

HHS Secretary announces six winners in HHSinnovates program

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced six winners in the HHSinnovates program today in a ceremony at HHS headquarters, saying all the entries "show a vibrant culture of innovation" within the department.

31 Mar 2012

Researcher joins nationwide effort to monitor resistance to antibiotics

Because infectious microorganisms are becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics, a Wayne State University researcher has joined a nationwide effort to monitor that resistance while optimizing the use of existing drugs.

28 Mar 2012

Insecurity threatening success of West, Central African mass polio vaccination campaign

Instability and insecurity in some West and Central African nations are threatening the success of a 20-country polio vaccination campaign, which aims to immunize 111.1 million children against the disease, IRIN reports.

28 Mar 2012

Medica Foundation awards $2.5 million in grants to 104 recipients

The Medica Foundation in 2011 awarded $2.5 million in grants to 104 recipients across five funding priority areas. The awards include $1 million in longitudinal grants to five Minnesota organizations. Those grant amounts range from $100,000 to $300,000 each and are designed to provide funding to the recipients over a three-year period.

26 Mar 2012

Hospital news: Community Health Systems victorious over Tenet healthcare

A U.S. District court in Dallas dismissed Tenet's suit against Community.

23 Mar 2012

Towards a more comprehensive view of brain-hand relationship

Research at Arizona State University and Columbia University to better understand the intricate sensory and cognitive connections between the brain and the hands has won support from the National Science Foundation. New discoveries about such connections could benefit people with neurological disorders such as Parkinson's disease and cerebral palsy, and those who need prosthetic hands.

22 Mar 2012

New GOP budget triggers immediate budget battles, political reactions

News outlets report that the plan unveiled Tuesday by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., almost automatically became "the centerpiece" of the upcoming election-year discourse. The document, which was cheered by the GOP for its smaller government vision, is certain to be rejected by the Senate.

22 Mar 2012

WHO convenes lawmakers from Southeast Asia to discuss bolstering of health systems in region

This week the WHO brought together lawmakers from across Southeast Asia in Bangkok "to discuss how to bolster their health systems back home," IRIN reports. Meeting participants were "called on to advocate the boosting of health spending, workforces and access to health care in their home countries in addition to drafting 'healthy public policies,' such as conducting health assessments before large infrastructural projects are undertaken," the news service writes.

22 Mar 2012

Improving health outcomes with mHealth

"The use of cell phones by community health workers and other medical practitioners in low-income countries has been promoted as a potential revolution for health systems development," Sanjay Basu, a resident physician in the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, writes in this GlobalHealthHub.org post.

21 Mar 2012

Axial Exchange care transition products now available for cloud deployment

Axial Exchange, Inc. announced that its award-winning care transition products are now available for cloud deployment. The private cloud infrastructure scales to thousands of hospitals and clinics and millions of patients, and already has been validated by multi-hospital health systems as well as Emergency Medical Service (EMS) providers.

21 Mar 2012

HCD implements HLI's Language Engine

Health Language, Inc. (HLI), the global leader in healthcare terminology management, today announced its Language Engine has been selected by Health Care DataWorks, Inc. (HCD), to map disparate data entered into its KnowledgeEdge brand Enterprise Data Warehouse, providing health systems with standard code sets, enhanced analytics, reporting and business intelligence.

21 Mar 2012

Argus to participate in National Council for Prescription Drug Programs focus group

Argus Health Systems Inc., a leading transparent pharmacy benefits administrator, will participate in a National Council for Prescription Drug Programs (NCPDP) focus group on March 20, 2012, to better understand the growing biopharmaceuticals industry.

17 Mar 2012

Minn. bill would require hospitals to disclose 'futility policies;' Other hospital news

Meanwhile, in Florida, public hospitals are looking at massive layoffs to save money.

17 Mar 2012

Harrington HealthCare introduces Strengthening Our Future campaign

Harrington HealthCare System today formally launched a fundraising campaign to rebuild the Emergency Department at its Webster campus, Harrington HealthCare at Hubbard. The $8.8 million Strengthening Our Future campaign will enable Harrington HealthCare at Hubbard to continue to deliver the highest quality care to its patients.

17 Mar 2012

New UCLA Alzheimer's and Dementia Care program for patients, caregivers

Alzheimer's disease affects an estimated 5.4 million people in the U.S., some 480,000 of them in California. Nearly half of all people 85 and older will be stricken with the disease. The overall burden of dementia is still higher, with Alzheimer's accounting for only 60 to 80 percent of dementia cases.

15 Mar 2012

AACN awards $50,000 Impact Research Grant to Duke nursing professor

The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) recently awarded a $50,000 AACN Impact Research Grant to Brigit Carter, RN, PhD, MSN, CCRN, assistant clinical professor at Duke University School of Nursing, Durham, N.C., to study feeding intolerance in preterm infants.

14 Mar 2012

AACN awards $50,000 grant to nursing researcher

The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) recently awarded a $50,000 AACN Impact Research Grant to Jean Anne Connor, RN, DNSc, CPNP, director of nursing research in the cardiovascular program at Children's Hospital Boston.

14 Mar 2012

Peace Corps, PEPFAR, Global Health Service Corps launch public-private partnership to place medical professionals overseas

The Peace Corps, PEPFAR and the Global Health Service Corps on Tuesday will announce a public-private partnership program to place U.S. health workers overseas to help address medical professional shortages, CQ HealthBeat reports (Bristol, 3/12).

14 Mar 2012

Forming and maintaining primary care teams will be a significant challenge

As the era of accountable care evolves and the medical home model becomes more prevalent in organizations, the delivery of successful patient outcomes is expected to be increasingly dependent on the performance of an effective patient care team.

14 Mar 2012