Healthcare News and Research

Latest Healthcare News and Research

Covidien acquires PolyTouch Medical

PolyTouch Medical Ltd., a leading developer of hernia mesh placement technologies, was acquired by Covidien, a leading global provider of healthcare products that is traded on the New York Stock Exchange at a current market value of $26 billion.

30 Apr 2012

BTG launches Voraxaze for treatment of toxic plasma methotrexate

BTG International Inc., the specialist healthcare company today announces the launch of Voraxaze (glucarpidase) in the US. Voraxaze is indicated for the treatment of toxic plasma methotrexate concentrations (>1 micromole per liter) in patients with delayed methotrexate clearance due to impaired renal function.

30 Apr 2012

Hologic second quarter revenues increase 7.4% to $471.2 million

Hologic, Inc., a leading developer, manufacturer and supplier of premium diagnostics products, medical imaging systems and surgical products dedicated to serving the healthcare needs of women, today announced its results for the second fiscal quarter ended March 24, 2012.

From Hologic, Inc. 30 Apr 2012

Hologic enters definitive agreement to acquire Gen-Probe

Hologic, Inc. and Gen-Probe Incorporated today announced that their Boards of Directors have unanimously approved a definitive agreement under which Hologic will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Gen-Probe for $82.75 per share in cash, or a total enterprise value of approximately $3.7 billion.

From Hologic, Inc. 30 Apr 2012

Paper identifies essential practical components of Michigan Model

For just over a decade, the University of Michigan Health System has been a leader in demonstrating a new way to handle patient safety and malpractice concerns. The approach has simultaneously promoted safer care; helped patients, their families and clinical staff deal with unanticipated outcomes in a non-adversarial way; and saved UMHS money at the same time.

30 Apr 2012

Kauffman Foundation sponsors National Conference on Value-driven Engineering

Researchers, health care engineers and medical device experts gathered this week for the inaugural National Conference on Value-driven Engineering to Improve Medical Innovation for U.S. Global Competitiveness assembled by the Austen BioInnovation Institute in Akron (ABIA) and sponsored by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

30 Apr 2012

FDA clears Toshiba’s Aquilion PRIME 80 series CT system

Toshiba America Medical Systems, Inc. announces the FDA clearance of the Aquilion PRIME 80 series CT system, the latest addition to the Aquilion CT product line. Producing high-quality clinical images and reducing radiation exposure with Adaptive Iterative Dose Reduction 3D (AIDR 3D), the system can generate 80 unique slices per rotation.

30 Apr 2012

WVU Healthcare surgeon implants diaphragmatic pacemaker in young quadriplegic

A surgeon for WVU Healthcare has implanted a diaphragmatic pacemaker in a pediatric patient, making West Virginia University's medical center only the second in the country to use this device on a young patient, after Case-Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

30 Apr 2012

Obama says Romney, GOP ‘out of touch' on women's health issues

Casting his re-election along gender lines, President Barack Obama told hundreds of female supporters Friday that Republicans seem determined to meddle in women's health decisions in ways that are "appalling, offensive and out of touch." A recent fight over contraception access, Obama said, was like "being in a time machine." "These are folks who claim to believe in freedom from government interference and meddling - it doesn't seem to bother them when it comes to a woman's health," Obama said during early evening remarks at a women's issues conference.

30 Apr 2012

WCI sponsors 5th Annual Jean Sindab Triple Negative Breast Cancer Symposium

The 5th Annual Jean Sindab Triple Negative Breast Cancer Symposium, sponsored by the Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University, provides an intimate learning environment in which the most current advances in triple-negative breast cancers (TNBC) will be explored.

30 Apr 2012

LifePoint Hospitals first quarter revenues increase 12.2% to $851.0 million

LifePoint Hospitals, Inc. today announced results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2012.

30 Apr 2012

Devices to aid dementia sufferers suggested

Five novel ideas were shortlisted for further development in a competition run by the Design Council and the Department of Health, to help make the lives of hundreds of thousands of people with dementia easier and more enjoyable.

29 Apr 2012

Research roundup: Practice guidelines may not stop defensive medicine; English language ability tied to hospital readmission rates

The Value of Clinical Practice Guidelines As Malpractice "Safe Harbors" -- Overspending on health care has frequently been attributed to doctors practicing defensive medicine -- ordering extra tests, for example -- so that they avoid malpractice lawsuits. The authors of this brief write that while some have said clinical guidelines "should give caregivers a liability 'safe harbor,' shielding them from any malpractice claim for failing to provide services not included in the guideline."

27 Apr 2012

Rumors, politics swirl around Supreme Court's much-anticipated health law decision

The Supreme Court this week completed the current term's last oral arguments, and now begins a waiting game for what might be its most anticipated decision in years -- the constitutionality of the health law.

27 Apr 2012

Texas consumers top the medical-loss ratio rebate list -- receiving an estimated $186 million in insurer refunds

Media outlets from Texas, Minnesota, Florida, Connecticut and Georgia offer insights into what these rebates will mean on a more local level.

27 Apr 2012

Report: Rebates for those who bought their own insurance expected to average $127 per person

Millions of consumers and small businesses will receive an estimated $1.3 billion in rebates from their health plans this summer under a provision of the health care law that requires insurance companies to pay refunds if they don't spend a high enough percentage of premium dollars on health care costs, according to a study by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

27 Apr 2012

Public health prevention fund at center of partisan clash on student loans

House Republicans are eyeing the fund as a means to offset the costs of extending the current interest rates for student loans, but Democrats have other plans.

27 Apr 2012

Judge rejects trade groups' effort to stall Express Scripts-Medco deal

A U.S. district judge denied an effort by trade groups representing pharmacies and drugstore chains to halt Express Scripts' acquisition of Medco Health Solutions until their lawsuit to block the deal is reviewed.

27 Apr 2012

Viewpoints: Minn. missteps with Medicaid are object lesson; 'Defensive' medicine: Red herring or key to health costs?

It was painful to watch Minnesota's stellar health care reputation and its Human Services commissioner, Lucinda Jesson, get pummeled on Wednesday at a congressional hearing on Medicaid oversight.

27 Apr 2012

GOP report: Obama's corporate advisors say health law will increase costs

The report by Republican staff of the House Energy and Commerce Committee also contends consultants have advised large employers to drop employee coverage after the exchanges come online in 2014. Democrats say the report takes comments out of context, calling it "misleading, inaccurate, contradictory."

27 Apr 2012