Healthcare News and Research

Latest Healthcare News and Research

Perspectives on health law challenge: Does court recognize its own limits?; A dubious link to Civil Rights Act; The burden on young people

In ruling on the constitutionality of requiring most Americans to obtain health insurance, the Supreme Court faces a central test: whether it will recognize limits on its own authority to overturn well-founded acts of Congress.

29 Mar 2012

Greenway announces availability of PrimeMOBILE

Greenway Medical Technologies, Inc. today announced the availability of its remote clinical and financial solution PrimeMOBILE as a native application for download onto Android smartphone and tablet devices.

29 Mar 2012

IMRT associated with reduced toxicities when compared with standard whole breast irradiation

Breast cancer patients treated with intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) instead of standard whole breast irradiation (WBI) have a lower incidence of acute or chronic toxicities, according to a study in Practical Radiation Oncology (PRO), the official clinical practice journal of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO).

29 Mar 2012

CHVI announces new member - Healthper

The nonprofit Center for Health Value Innovation (CHVI) announced today that Healthper, Inc., a social game-based health engagement and achievement platform, has joined as a member.

29 Mar 2012

Justices consider whether Medicaid expansion is constitutional or coercive

During the Supreme Court's last hour of a marthon series of oral arguments, some justices indicated strong disagreement with the challenge brought by 26 states to the health law's Medicaid expansion.

29 Mar 2012

Strand Diagnostics to receive $30 million in funding from NantWorks

Strand Diagnostics, LLC, maker of the know error system, and NantWorks, LLC announced that they have entered into an agreement whereby Strand will receive up to $30 million in funding from NantWorks, LLC over the next 3 years.

29 Mar 2012

Spherix 2011 net loss decreases to $3.5 million

Spherix Incorporated – an innovator in biotechnology for therapy in diabetes, metabolic syndrome and atherosclerosis, and provider of technical and regulatory consulting services to food, supplement, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies – today reported financial results for the year ended December 31, 2011, and recent and upcoming business highlights.

29 Mar 2012

Relievant Medsystems secures $30M in Series D equity financing

Relievant Medsystems, Inc., a privately held medical device company pioneering the therapeutic use of basivertebral nerve ablation for the treatment of chronic axial low back pain, announced today that it has secured $30 million in a Series D equity financing to advance and expand the Company's worldwide clinical development programs.

29 Mar 2012

Luna to extend development and supply agreement with Intuitive Surgical

Luna Innovations Incorporated announced today that it will be extending its development work through 2012 under its development and supply agreement with Intuitive Surgical, Inc., as they work towards the integration of Luna's shape and position sensing technology into Intuitive's medical robotic products.

29 Mar 2012

AHF calls on FDA Commissioner Hamburg to step down

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the nation's largest HIV/AIDS organization, today called on Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Margaret Hamburg to step down in response to the agency's gross mismanagement of new product reviews and a lack of transparency.

29 Mar 2012

Supreme Court debates health care reforms and mandate on insurance

The five conservative justices relentlessly questioned Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli Jr., who defended the law. Justice Antonin Scalia asked whether upholding the mandate would mean that Congress could require everyone to exercise. Justice Samuel Alito asked whether the mandate wasn't really a disguised subsidy of sick people by healthy people. Chief Justice John Roberts asked whether a mandate to purchase health insurance you may need some day was any different from a requirement to buy a cell phone for use in a possible emergency. Alito asked whether the government could force Americans to buy burial coverage, since it is something everyone will eventually need.

28 Mar 2012

Conservative justices appear skeptical of health law's insurance mandate

In today's oral arguments, the second day of action at the Supreme Court,the individual mandate was the focus of a barrage of tough questions.

28 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

Demonstrators provide punctuation, personality to ongoing debate

Though events inside the Supreme Court were staid and steeped in the high court's rules and processes, outside activists converged to argue their positions and to shape public opinion about the health law.

28 Mar 2012

First Edition: March 28, 2012

Today's headlines recap yesterday's Supreme Court action related to the constitutionality of the individual mandate and set the scene for day 3 of the oral arguments, which will tackle issues of severalbility and questions about the health law's Medicaid expansion.

28 Mar 2012

States continue epic struggle over what the health law means for them

Minnesota GOP lawmakers are being criticized by their Democratic governor for how they are trying to create a health insurance exchange. Elsewhere, California insurance rates are increasing as the Supreme Court hears arguments on the health law and a pair of protests targets the health law and unions in Missouri.

28 Mar 2012

What individual mandate, other health law rulings may mean for Americans

News outlets analyze arguments around the individual mandate and what a ruling by the Supreme Court will mean for most Americans. Kaiser Health News looks at changes in the health care industry as a result of the law, and how most of those shifts will continue regardless of what the Court decides.

28 Mar 2012

As court brings health overhaul into focus, politicians pounce

Rick Santorum picks up his criticism of Mitt Romney's efforts in Massachusetts, which set up mandatory health coverage, but the former governor continues to assail the federal plan.

28 Mar 2012

High court unlikely to push health law ruling into the future

Based on justices questions' during the opening day of oral arguments in the challenges to the health law, it appears the court was receptive to arguments by both the federal government and the measure's opponents that the case should be decided now rather than waiting until after the individual mandate's penalties for not having health insurance have kicked in.

28 Mar 2012

Study: Insurance loss or acquisition means more ER visits

Changes in health insurance status -- whether gaining or losing coverage -- are associated with increased likelihood of an emergency department (ED) visit, researchers said. Among some 160,000 people completing the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) from 2004 to 2009, both newly insured and newly uninsured respondents reported using an ED in excess of 30% more often than those who were continuously insured.

28 Mar 2012