Healthcare News and Research

Latest Healthcare News and Research

Obama administration offers proposal to fix contraceptive rule

Under the plan, insurance companies would pick up the cost for providing contraceptives to women employed by religious affiliated employers, but the administration offered ways to help cover those expenses.

20 Mar 2012

Medicaid expansion rule focuses on enrollment process

The Obama administration released a rule Friday detailing the specifics of this coverage expansion and trying to simplify the enrollment process.

20 Mar 2012

Key question for Supreme Court in health law arguments: How far does Congressional power reach?

Media outlets analyze the questions, personalities and precedent-setting issues that will be in play as the Supreme Court takes up the constitutionality of the health law.

20 Mar 2012

Infection preventionists, healthcare epidemiologists play key roles in promoting antimicrobial stewardship

Infection preventionists and healthcare epidemiologists play key roles in promoting effective antimicrobial stewardship in collaboration with other health professionals, according to a joint position paper published today by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) and the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) in their respective peer-review journals, the American Journal of Infection Control and Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology.

20 Mar 2012

State roundup: Calpers insurance savings; Harvard Pilgrim challenges 'Partners'; Minn. long-term care costs spike

The California Public Employees' Retirement System happily ended 2010 with insurance rates $15 million lower than they might have been ... Catholic Healthcare West, now Dignity Health, which helped deliver those savings, ended that year with millions of dollars less in revenue. The San Francisco-based hospital system was among the early adopters of accountable care ... Hospital executives trying to control spending face the costly prospect of actively trying to keep patients out of the hospital.

20 Mar 2012

Researchers discover new method to identify cancer-causing translocations

Researchers from Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) at the University of Utah report they have discovered a method to identify cancer-causing rearrangements of genetic material called chromosomal translocations quickly, accurately, and inexpensively.

20 Mar 2012

TriZetto QNXT Essentials solution to streamline administration of Ventura County's HMO

Ventura County, Calif., has selected The TriZetto Group, Inc., to help improve the administrative efficiency, care delivery, and provider and member service of the county's health plan. TriZetto's end-to-end solution will streamline the administration of Ventura County's HMO, which serves employees and their families, retirees, Medicare recipients, and county-affiliated organizations.

19 Mar 2012

$Ponatinib to earn gold-standard status for refractory chronic myeloid leukemia in 2015$

Ponatinib to earn gold-standard status for refractory chronic myeloid leukemia in 2015

Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms for pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that surveyed U.S. hematologist-oncologists and managed care organization (MCO) pharmacy directors agree that survival effect is one of the attributes that most influences their decisions regarding prescribing and formulary status determinations, respectively, in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia who have failed first-line tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy.

19 Mar 2012

New medical education portal - Lipoprotein Perspectives - launched

LipoScience, Inc., an in vitro diagnostic company advancing patient care by developing high value proprietary clinical tests using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) technology, announced the launch of Lipoprotein Perspectives - a medical education portal featuring experts in clinical and preventive cardiology, endocrinology, and lipidology - at www.lipoprotein.org.

19 Mar 2012

High Court says no to allowing cameras to broadcast the health law arguments

This announcement, made Friday, is consistent with tradition. However, the court will make available same-day audio of the oral arguments because of "extraordinary public interest."

19 Mar 2012

Medicare plan will be central to Ryan GOP budget

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., is set to unveil a new budget plan on Tuesday. Both Democrats and Republicans are poised to revive the pitched debate over controversial proposals related to the Medicare programs.

19 Mar 2012

Maryland DHMH awards CSC contract to replace state's Medicaid Management Information System

The Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene awarded CSC a contract to replace the state's Medicaid Management Information System (MMIS) and provide fiscal agent services for selected DHMH programs. The contract has a five-year base period with three two-year options, bringing the estimated total value to $297 million.

19 Mar 2012

GE-BAC partner to launch LambdaFabSelect bioprocess affinity resin

GE Healthcare, the healthcare business of GE and BAC BV, the leading provider of antibody-based affinity purification technology, announced today that, following a successful collaboration between the two companies, GE Healthcare Life Sciences has added a new and innovative affinity resin to its portfolio of technologies for the purification of antibody-based fragments.

19 Mar 2012

inVentiv Health enters agreement to acquire Kforce Clinical Research

inVentiv Health, Inc., offering best-in-class clinical, commercial and consulting services to the healthcare industry, today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Kforce Clinical Research, Inc. ("KCR"), a provider of functional outsourcing solutions to pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device companies, from Kforce Inc. for $50 million in cash.

19 Mar 2012

DBS introduces novel Multiplex Immunohistochemistry cancer kits

Diagnostic Biosystems, a specialty Immunohistochemistry company, announces its debut as an automated IHC company, introducing the Mosaic 360 System with a product offering of novel Multiplex Immunohistochemistry kits and a complementary line of optimized IHC reagents.

19 Mar 2012

Covidien to acquire superDimension

Covidien, a leading global provider of healthcare products, today announced a definitive agreement to acquire superDimension, Ltd., a private company based in Herzliya, Israel, that develops minimally invasive interventional pulmonology devices.

19 Mar 2012

First Edition: March 19, 2012

Today's headlines reflect the anticipation and anxiety that surrounds the Supreme Court's upcoming health law oral arguments.

19 Mar 2012

Hive Health Media article cites several tips to improve skin's health

Hive Health Media has recently published an article that presents several tips for those individuals who are seeking anti-aging solutions. As a cultural movement, as well as a healthcare trend, anti-aging has become a popular activity among many generations.

19 Mar 2012

RBCC's new agreement with n3D could help develop stem-cell therapies

As global demand for innovative new stem-cell therapies grows by the day, Rainbow BioSciences' new agreement with n3D Biosciences could help to bring these therapies to market faster than ever before.

19 Mar 2012

Sides counting down to Supreme Court health reform arguments

Can the government really tell us what to buy? Federal judges have come down on both sides of the question, leaving it to the Supreme Court to sort out. The justices are allotting an unusually long period, six hours over three days, beginning March 26, to hear arguments challenging the law's constitutionality. Their ruling, expected in June, is shaping up as a historic moment in the century-long quest by reformers to provide affordable health care for all.

19 Mar 2012