Healthcare News and Research

Latest Healthcare News and Research

Survey: Americans spend more for health care than people in other countries

The report from the International Federation of Health Plans found that Americans pay more for physician time, for scans, surgery and drugs than people in other countries. Also in the news, other reports from the health care marketplace explore the lack of insurance coverage for reproductive-age women and the growth in the number of companies that are offering incentives to their employees to better manage their health.

5 Mar 2012

HASCO Medical acquires Ride-Away Handicap Equipment

HASCO Medical, Inc., www.HascoMed.com a managed healthcare provider that serves patients in Alabama, Florida, and Mississippi, is pleased to announce that the Company has completed the acquisition of all of the outstanding capital stock of Ride-Away Handicap Equipment Corp., a closely-held New Hampshire corporation (Ride-Away).

5 Mar 2012

Omega announces private placement of $400M senior notes offering

Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc. announced today its intention to offer $400 million aggregate principal amount of its senior notes due 2024 in a private placement, subject to market and other conditions.

5 Mar 2012

Repligen seeks EMA marketing approval for SecreFlo for pancreatic imaging

Repligen Corporation announced today that it has submitted a marketing authorization application (MAA) to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for SecreFlo to improve detection of pancreatic duct abnormalities in patients with pancreatitis.

5 Mar 2012

FDA clears Covidien Solitaire FR revascularization device

Covidien, a leading global provider of healthcare products, today announced that the Solitaire FR revascularization device has been cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The Solitaire FR device is intended to restore blood flow to the brain in patients suffering acute ischemic stroke by mechanically removing blood clots from blocked vessels.

5 Mar 2012

First Edition: March 5, 2012

Today's headlines include reports setting the scene for the upcoming "Super Tuesday" primary elections and how GOP presidential candidates are pointing to health policy issues as part of the debate.

5 Mar 2012

Lixiu, BIEL announce distribution agreement for RecoveryRx devices

BioElectronics Corporation., the maker of inexpensive, disposable drug-free topical pain and healing devices, today announced an agreement with Shanghai Lixiu Medical Devices Co., Ltd. – a subsidiary of Shanghai SuoKang Medical Implants Co., Ltd. -- to sell BIEL's RecoveryRx, chronic wound and surgical devices, throughout the People's Republic of China to licensed medical providers.

5 Mar 2012

Acadia acquires three inpatient psychiatric hospitals from Haven Behavioral Healthcare

Acadia Healthcare Company, Inc. today announced that it has completed the previously announced acquisition of three inpatient psychiatric hospitals from Haven Behavioral Healthcare for $91 million in cash.

5 Mar 2012

diaDexus introduces new PLAC Activity test in Europe

diaDexus, Inc., a company focused on the development and commercialization of proprietary cardiovascular diagnostic products, today announced the commercial launch of its CE-marked PLAC Test for Lp-PLA(2) Activity in Europe.

5 Mar 2012

Philips SpeechExec now fully supports Nuance's Dragon Medical

Philips Speech Processing, the market leader in professional dictation, today announced that its SpeechExec dictation workflow solution now fully supports Nuance's Dragon Medical speech recognition.

5 Mar 2012

Funding gaps could hinder future of health care in Africa, report says

The "improvement and extension of health care in Africa is ... being constrained by gaps in financing," according to a new report by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) based on research commissioned by Janssen Pharmaceutica, a Belgian subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, the Financial Times' "beyondbrics" blog reports.

3 Mar 2012

Gingrey: Outlook dim for long-term fix for Medicare's SGR

Here's a dose of bad news for physicians eager for a long-term fix for Medicare's Sustainable Growth Rate - and it's being delivered by one of their own. Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.), a physician, predicts Congress will settle for "another Band-Aid in regards to the SGR problem." That would come after the latest short-term patch expires in late December.

3 Mar 2012

Senate rejects Blunt amendment

In a mainly party-line vote, the Senate rejected this amendment, offered by Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., to an unrelated transportation bill. It would have broadened religious exemptions to the Obama administration's birth control rule.

3 Mar 2012

Consensus across studies promises to enhance NIH-supported asthma clinical research

A consortium of federal agencies and nongovernmental organizations has published a report proposing a set of common measures and data-collection methods for use in asthma clinical research.

3 Mar 2012

Sebelius hints at contraception 'accomodation' during House testimony

Lawmakers questioned Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius about a range of issues, including the president's proposed 2013 budget.

3 Mar 2012

New outcome measures may reduce disparities in children with asthma

Newly proposed asthma outcome measures will help standardize and improve results from the hundreds of millions of dollars the National Institutes of Health (NIH) spends annually to study asthma, according to the Merck Childhood Asthma Network, Inc. (MCAN), the nation's only organization focused solely on childhood asthma.

3 Mar 2012

VOA examines constitutional debate in Nigeria over government's right to require polio vaccination

"A constitutional debate is under way in Nigeria over whether the government can prosecute parents who refuse to have their children vaccinated against polio, or if it has the power to force parents to have their children vaccinated against any communicable disease," VOA News reports.

3 Mar 2012

Mayo takes over Ga. health system; Monitors deliver plan to boost care at Parkland Memorial in Texas

The Mayo Clinic gains a presence in Georgia, while hospital boards approve other mergers and acquisitions around the U.S. There's also news about the debate over delivery of charity care by nonprofit hospitals in Illinois.

3 Mar 2012

Epicatechin-enriched cocoa shows promise against heart failure, Type 2 diabetes

A small clinical trial led by researchers at UC San Diego School of Medicine and VA San Diego Healthcare System (VASDHS) found that patients with advanced heart failure and type 2 diabetes showed improved mitochondrial structure after three months of treatment with epicatechin-enriched cocoa. Epicatechin is a flavonoid found in dark chocolate.

3 Mar 2012

IFHP releases 2011 Comparative Price Report

The International Federation of Health Plans today released its 2011 Comparative Price Report detailing its annual survey of medical costs per unit. Designed to showcase the variation in healthcare costs around the world, the report examines the costs of medical procedures, tests, scans and treatments in nine countries.

3 Mar 2012