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IBM announces definitive agreement to acquire Initiate Systems

IBM today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Initiate Systems, a market leader in data integrity software for information sharing among healthcare and government organizations. Initiate's software helps healthcare clients work more intelligently and efficiently with timely access to patient and clinical data. It also enables governments to share information across multiple agencies to better serve citizens.

3 Feb 2010

Cognosante and Fox Systems announce merger

Fox Systems, a leader in Medicaid and HIPAA, and Cognosante, a leader in health information interoperability, today announced that the two companies have merged effective January 1, 2010. The combined company will be known as Cognosante, LLC, with Fox Systems operating as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cognosante.

3 Feb 2010

Hospital mergers may rise

Business Week/Bloomberg: "Failure to pass the health-care overhaul may accelerate a push by Community Health Systems Inc., Health Management Associates Inc. and LifePoint Hospitals Inc. to acquire facilities weakened by the recession.

2 Feb 2010

HHS appoints new members to Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced today the appointment of 24 new members to the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA). The PACHA’s chair, Dr. Helene Gayle, was appointed in August 2009.

2 Feb 2010

Global AIDS Alliance calls for Congress to fully fund the Global Health Initiative

President Obama's budget, transmitted to Congress this morning, includes $8.5 billion for a Global Health Initiative. Based on projections to continue supporting robust U.S. programs to fight AIDS, TB and malaria and implement GHI priorities -- $16.4 billion is required in FY2011.

2 Feb 2010

More details on Obama's global health strategy expected along with budget release, Wall Street Journal reports

"The Obama administration is expected to propose in its fiscal 2011 budget Monday new funding to combat preventable and tropical diseases, malnutrition and other conditions afflicting the world's poor, as part of a strategy to broaden its approach to global health," the Wall Street Journal reports.

2 Feb 2010

Vanguard Health Systems announces expiry of tender offers

Vanguard Health Systems, Inc. ("Vanguard") announced today that in connection with the previously announced tender offers and consent solicitations (the "Tender Offers" and "Consent Solicitations") by Vanguard Health Holding Company II, LLC ("VHS Holdco II") and Vanguard Health Holding Company I, LLC ("VHS Holdco I"), the extended early tender period in respect of each of the Tender Offers expired at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on January 29, 2010 (the "New Consent Payment Deadline").

30 Jan 2010

Vanguard Health Systems extends consent payment deadline

Vanguard Health Systems, Inc. ("Vanguard") announced today that in connection with the previously announced tender offers and consent solicitations (the "Tender Offers" and "Consent Solicitations") by Vanguard Health Holding Company II, LLC ("VHS Holdco II") and Vanguard Health Holding Company I, LLC ("VHS Holdco I"), the early tender period in respect of each of the Tender Offers will be extended to 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on January 29, 2010 (the "New Consent Payment Deadline").

30 Jan 2010

General Availability of accessANYware 5.0 Enterprise Document Workflow Software Suite announced

Streamline Health Solutions, Inc., a leading provider of document workflow solutions for hospitals, today announced the General Availability of its new accessANYware 5.0 Enterprise Document Workflow Software Suite.

30 Jan 2010

Vanguard Health Systems closes $950M 8% Senior Notes offering

Vanguard Health Systems, Inc. ("Vanguard") announced the closing today of the private placement offering of $950.0 million aggregate principal amount of 8% Senior Notes due 2018 (the "Notes") co-issued by Vanguard's subsidiaries, Vanguard Health Holding Company II, LLC ("VHS Holdco II") and Vanguard Holding Company II, Inc. ("VHS Holdco II Inc." and, together with VHS Holdco II, the "Issuers").

30 Jan 2010

Recent releases in Global Health

Rajiv Shah's appointment as USAID administrator "comes at a crucial time of challenge and opportunity for the Agency to improve the nutritional well-being of impoverished societies," write the authors of a Lancet Comment that examines the U.S. Global Hunger and Food Security Initiative. Though the initiative "sends a clear message to the world about U.S. intent to partner with poor nations to achieve their national food and nutrition goals … the Initiative's nutrition plan, unlike its detailed agricultural blueprint, currently lacks a comprehensive set of aims, activities, research needs, and programme benchmarks," the authors write.

29 Jan 2010

Obama fails to announce new approaches for tackling global HIV/AIDS crisis, says Global AIDS Alliance

In tonight's State of the Union Address President Obama failed to announce any new approach to America's role in the world, instead sticking to vague rhetoric about development, the global HIV/AIDS crisis, and other global health priorities.

28 Jan 2010

Med-IC aims to improve health care for older adults

The Medicare Innovations Collaborative, or Med-IC, is a pilot program that will put some of the nation’s best ideas for improving health care for older adults into practice at hospitals around the country, Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Johns Hopkins University announced.

28 Jan 2010

Social inequalities exist in diabetes care

People with lower socioeconomic status and those belonging to ethnic minority groups receive worse health care in the treatment of diabetes than the rest of patients in the world's most developed countries.

27 Jan 2010

UT Arlington adds Academic Partnership BSN program to accommodate qualified applicants

The University of Texas at Arlington College of Nursing has added an Academic Partnership: Bachelor of Science in Nursing program that will substantially increase its capacity to accommodate qualified applicants.

27 Jan 2010

WHO Director-General highlights global health gains, challenges at executive board meeting

During the WHO's recent executive board meeting, WHO Director-General Margaret Chan reflected on public health gains over the past decade and the challenges that lie ahead, Nigeria's Guardian reports. Chan commended the international community's response to H1N1 and global efforts to reduce child mortality, fight malaria and tuberculosis.

27 Jan 2010

Beyond Pay-for-Performance: A free Webinar to help hospitals improve patient care

Attend the free Webinar, "Beyond Pay-for-Performance," and learn how today's national performance improvement efforts are helping hospitals improve patient care and reduce costs - and discover the tactics and strategies behind top-performing hospitals and health systems.

25 Jan 2010

NTNU: 40% of two-year-olds report allergy-related disorders

Allergies and asthma are a continuing health problem in most developed countries, but just how do these ailments develop over the course of a childhood? In a population-based study designed to help answer this question, researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) found that 40 per cent - or two of five -- of nearly 5,000 two-year-olds had at least one reported allergy-related disorder. The most common symptom was wheezing, which was reported in 26 per cent of all children in the study, says Ingeborg Smidesang, a PhD candidate in the university's Faculty of Medicine, and the primary author of the study.

25 Jan 2010

Recent releases in global health

"Picture the situation in Haiti: families living on top of sewage-contaminated rubbish dumps, with no reliable sources of food and water and virtually no access to health care. This scenario depicts the situation in Haiti before the earthquake that catapulted this impoverished and conflict-ridden country into the international headlines,"

23 Jan 2010

Over 44% of internet Viagra is counterfeit

Research by UK, Swedish and American researchers shows that taking internet drugs can kill and bypassing health systems can leave life-threatening problems undiagnosed. It's estimated that 90% of counterfeit drugs are sold on the internet, 44% of internet Viagra is fake, the global sale of counterfeit drugs will reach $75 billion this year and EU seizures have risen dramatically. Counterfeit drug deaths include men who took fake erectile dysfunction drugs, pregnant women injected with fake iron for anaemia and children who took paracetamol syrup contaminated with antifreeze.

20 Jan 2010