Healthcare News and Research

Latest Healthcare News and Research

Renowned publisher introduces Cell Reports

Cell Press reinforces its commitment to provide a broad range of publishing options for the life sciences community with the inaugural issue of a new open-access journal: Cell Reports.

27 Jan 2012

Technoclone, Roche enter strategic alliance to co-develop coagulation assays

Roche announced today that it has entered into a strategic alliance with Technoclone, a reagent specialist in thrombosis and cardiovascular diagnostics based in Vienna, Austria, to co-develop a complete range of coagulation assays.

From Roche Sequencing and Life Science 27 Jan 2012

drchrono closes $2.8 million round of funding

drchrono, the company that is transforming the focus of healthcare from the enterprise to the provider, today announced it has closed a $2.8 million round of funding led by Yuri Milner and featuring new investors that share a legacy of innovation and business transformation.

27 Jan 2012

Revised menus for school lunches with more fruits and veggies

American schoolchildren are accustomed to a steady diet of pizza and french fries for school lunches. Now they will find more fruits, vegetables and whole grains on their cafeteria trays under new government school lunch rules announced on Wednesday. Apart from adding double the produce servings the guidelines also call for fat-free and low-fat milk only, child-appropriate portion sizes and reductions in sodium, saturated fat and trans fats.

26 Jan 2012

New super PAC ad attacks Romney's health care record

Newt Gingrich's super PAC is out with an ad launching a new attack on Mitt Romney's health care record in Massachusetts - and reviving stories about his plan's influence on "Obamacare."

25 Jan 2012

In State of the Union speech, health law gets short shrift

President Barack Obama's State of the Union address was light on health policy references, but he did say he would not "go back to the days when health insurance companies had unchecked power to cancel your policy, deny your coverage or charge women more than men." News outlets also reported on Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels Republican response and looked forward to what Obama is doing today to spin his speech.

25 Jan 2012

Congressional negotiators begin talks on payroll tax cut, 'doc fix'

Although Demcratic and Republican lawmakers differ on how to pay for it, they seem to agree there needs to be a deal in order to prevent a deep, scheduled cut in Medicare physician payments.

25 Jan 2012

States continue to wrestle with politics surrounding the development of health exchanges

Iowa should debate a key health-reform program in public so the program doesn't get twisted in favor of the insurance industry, consumer-group advocates said today. Legislators last year failed to reach agreement on how to set up a state health-insurance exchange.

25 Jan 2012

GOP says survey showing increase in uninsured numbers is proof of health law's failure

Some House Republicans circulated this new Gallup data yesterday, before President Barack Obama's State of the Union address.

25 Jan 2012

Tonight's SOTU address could offer preview of Obama's re-election strategy

Politico Pro reports that the Tuesday night speech will be full of political challenges for President Obama - not the least of which is health policy.

25 Jan 2012

Oramed receives Australian patent for core technology in oral delivery of peptides

Marking a major milestone for the Company, Oramed Pharmaceuticals Inc., a developer of oral drug delivery systems, announced today that it has received approval for a key patent by the Australian Patent Office.

25 Jan 2012

Panel releases draft priorities for comparative effectiveness research

The draft, which offered insight into the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute's priorities and research agenda, did not single out any specific diseases or treatments. The Institute did seek public comment.

25 Jan 2012

Targeted repeal votes part of House GOP health agenda

Some specific provisions the Republican leadership plans to hold repeal votes on include the Medicare advisory panel and the CLASS Act. Meanwhile, the AMA is pointing to "war savings" as a possible way to pay for the fix to the Medicare physician payment formula.

25 Jan 2012

Survey: Percentage of Americans who lack health coverage rose for fourth straight year

The percentage of Americans lacking health insurance coverage rose for the fourth straight year in 2011 to 17.1 percent, a new survey showed Tuesday. The climb has been steady since Gallup began tracking whether adults have health insurance in 2008. Four years ago, only 14.8 percent of adults lacked health insurance.

25 Jan 2012

Sebelius takes to airwaves on 'The Daily Show'

During her appearance, host Jon Stewart pressed her on the Obama administration's decision to let states define the health law's "essential benefits."

25 Jan 2012

One-year results from Covidien's EverFlex stent trial on P.A.D.

Covidien, a leading global provider of healthcare products, today announced that one-year results on the use of its EverFlex stent for superficial femoral artery stenting were presented here during the International Symposium on Endovascular Therapy (ISET) Conference.

25 Jan 2012

OraQuick HIV1/2 test as accurate as traditional blood test

A saliva test used to diagnose the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), is comparable in accuracy to the traditional blood test, according to a new study led by the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) and McGill University.

25 Jan 2012

Boston Children's, Blue Cross reach deal to curb payments; Jackson hospital, University of Miami working on better ties

Children's Hospital Boston has agreed to a three-year contract with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts that will not pay Children's any more money this year, offering fresh evidence that the clamor to contain health costs is having an effect. In the second and third years of the pact, the hospital will be reimbursed by Blue Cross Blue Shield at a rate neither party would specify, but both said it was below the current 3 percent rate of medical inflation.

24 Jan 2012

Johnson & Johnson fourth quarter sales increase 3.9% to $16.3 billion

Johnson & Johnson today announced sales of $16.3 billion for the fourth quarter of 2011, an increase of 3.9% as compared to the fourth quarter of 2010. Operational sales increased 4.0% and the negative impact of currency was 0.1%.

24 Jan 2012

OSI Systems' second quarter revenues increase 11% to $188 million

OSI Systems, Inc., a vertically integrated provider of solutions in Security, Healthcare, and specialized electronics, today announced financial results for the second quarter ended December 31, 2011.

24 Jan 2012