Healthcare News and Research

Latest Healthcare News and Research

CBS finds misleading prices on federal marketplace 'shop and browse' feature

News outlets give deeper detail on the continuing problems with the federal government's online insurance system.

25 Oct 2013

Longer looks: Website problems 'could be worse;' why poor people take more health risks; preventing suicide

[President Barack Obama's] advisors shouldn't be surprised -- the success rate for large, multi-million dollar commercial and government IT projects is very low. The Standish Group, which has a database of some 50,000 development projects, looked at the outcomes of multimillion dollar development projects and ran the numbers for Computerworld. Of 3,555 projects from 2003 to 2012 that had labor costs of at least $10 million, only 6.4% were successful. The Standish data showed that 52% of the large projects were "challenged," meaning they were over budget, behind schedule or didn't meet user expectations. The remaining 41.4% were failures -- they were either abandoned or started anew from scratch (Patrick Thibodeau, 10/21).

25 Oct 2013

Insurers huddle at the White House; talk health exchange technical difficulties

About a dozen CEOs from major insurance companies met with administration officials to address the online marketplace's flaws, especially those related to generating the enrollment files that the insurers receive.

25 Oct 2013

States report vastly differently Obamacare enrollment experiences

Navigators in states relying on the federal website to enroll people in coverage are focused on education while they wait for fixes, while officials in states like New York and Washington with functional websites are reporting high demand and enrollment. Meanwhile, consumer advocates express skepticism about directing people in federal exchange states to call centers as a way to enroll.

25 Oct 2013

Health law opponents queue up new ad campaign

Americans for Prosperity, the Tea Party group that has made rolling back the health care law one of its priorities, is starting a $2 million campaign of television, radio and Internet advertisements aimed at lawmakers facing tough re-election battles in four House swing districts (Stolberg, 10/23).

25 Oct 2013

ProMedica Toledo Hospital now has new tool to help evaluate breast tissue density on mammogram

Radiologists at ProMedica Toledo Hospital Breast Care Center have a new tool to help evaluate breast tissue density on a mammogram. It's called VolparaDensity™, a breast imaging software tool that uses complex physics and software to measure the amount of tissue within a patient's breast.

25 Oct 2013

Dems grow frustrated with Obamacare website, impact on broader law

Even some Obama allies are calling for major changes -- as well as someone's firing -- after the technically flawed rollout of the health law's online insurance marketplace. Democrats are also worried about what the problems could do to support for the broader law, and some are even calling for a delay to a mandate that Americans buy insurance.

25 Oct 2013

White House to give consumers extra time to buy coverage before facing penalty

The Wednesday announcement gave people an extra six weeks -- until March 31 -- to comply with the health law's requirement that they enroll in a health plan.

25 Oct 2013

Researchers identify obesity as possible risk factor for clostridium difficile infection

Researchers from Boston Medical Center and Boston University School of Medicine have identified obesity as a possible risk factor for clostridium difficile infection. These findings, which appear online in Emerging Infectious Diseases, may contribute to improved clinical surveillance of those at highest risk of disease.

25 Oct 2013

Residents of Orange County, California nursing homes carry community-associated MRSA

More than one quarter of residents of 26 nursing homes in Orange County, California carry community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, which spread more easily, and may cause more severe infection than MRSA traditionally associated with healthcare facilities, according to a paper published in the November 2013 issue of the Journal of Clinical Microbiology.

25 Oct 2013

Merck provides overview of clinical trial program for HPV vaccine V503

Merck, known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, today provided an overview of the clinical trial program for V503, the company's investigational 9-valent human papillomavirus vaccine, to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices in the United States.

25 Oct 2013

Mckesson's $8.3B Celesio Deal Builds Drug Warehousing Powerhouse

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24 Oct 2013

Adcare Health Systems prices underwritten public offering of Series A Preferred Stock

AdCare Health Systems, Inc. the "Company") announced today that it has priced a "best efforts" underwritten public offering of its 10.875% Series A Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock (the "Series A Preferred Stock") at a public offering price of $25.00 per share.

24 Oct 2013

McKesson’s revenues increase 11% to $33B in second quarter 2014

McKesson Corporation (NYSE:MCK) today reported that revenues for the second quarter ended September 30, 2013 were $33 billion, up 11% compared to $29.8 billion a year ago. On the basis of U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP"), second-quarter earnings per diluted share was $1.74 compared to $1.67 a year ago.

24 Oct 2013

The Wellness Network announces acquisition of LOGICARE

The Wellness Network, parent company of The Patient Channel, The Newborn Channel, and HealthStyle Press, today announced that it has acquired LOGICARE Corporation, a leading hospital patient education software company.

24 Oct 2013

First Edition: October 24, 2013

Today's headlines include reports that the Obama administration plans to tweak the tax-penalty deadline for signing up for health insurance as well as previews of what might happen when the contractors who built the health law's online insurance marketplace testify today on Capitol Hill.

24 Oct 2013

Zimmer Holdings net sales increase 4.8% to $1.07 billion in Q3 2013

Zimmer Holdings, Inc. today reported financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2013. The Company reported third quarter net sales of $1.07 billion, an increase of 4.8% reported and 6.7% constant currency over the third quarter of 2012

24 Oct 2013

Canadian Partnership Against Cancer, Heart and Stroke Foundation to improve health of Canadians

The Canadian Partnership Against Cancer and the Heart and Stroke Foundation, are pleased to announce a $16 million investment in a first of its kind partnership between the cancer and cardiovascular research communities that will strengthen our understanding of chronic disease.

24 Oct 2013

HM Hospitales expects to treat first patients with Elekta's Versa HD system in 2015

HM Hospitales, a private hospital group in Spain, anticipates treating its first patients with Elekta's Versa HD™ system in 2015. Versa HD, to be sited in the group's sixth hospital, is an advanced radiation treatment system designed to enhance the management of cancer care and treat a broad spectrum of tumors throughout the body.

From Elekta 24 Oct 2013

Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School to host 4th annual Wireless Health conference

Wireless Health 2013, presented by the Wireless-Life Sciences Alliance, invites the most advanced research from health, biomedical, engineering and computer science disciplines to encourage the development of widely usable mobile health solutions.

24 Oct 2013