Healthcare News and Research

Latest Healthcare News and Research

Study confirms accuracy of developmental screening tests for children

BC Children's Hospital and University of British Columbia (UBC) researchers have found that two existing screening tests are accurate in diagnosing development delays in children and could be incorporated in a busy family practice setting with relative ease.

4 Aug 2011

Vitamin C helps identify more aggressive or treatment resistant tumours

CANCER RESEARCH UK scientists have developed a new imaging technique that uses vitamin C to detect cancers likely to be more aggressive or resistant to treatment, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society today.

4 Aug 2011

Nursing homes struggle to bounce back from Medicare cuts

Nursing-home companies Sun Healthcare Group Inc. and Skilled Healthcare Group Inc. said Tuesday they are aiming to cut expenses to help offset the impact of a severe Medicare reimbursement cut coming in two months.

4 Aug 2011

Omega reports operating revenues of $72.6 million for second quarter 2011

Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc. today announced its results of operations for the three- and six-month period ended June 30, 2011.

4 Aug 2011

ICORE Healthcare receives URAC Accreditation for Specialty Pharmacy

Magellan Health Services Inc. has announced that ICORE Healthcare, its Specialty Pharmaceutical division, has been awarded the Specialty Pharmacy Accreditation from URAC, a Washington, D.C. based health care accrediting organization that establishes quality standards for the health care industry.

4 Aug 2011

ImmunoGen revenues increase to $19.3 million for fiscal year 2011

ImmunoGen, Inc., a biotechnology company that develops targeted anticancer products using its antibody expertise and Targeted Antibody Payload (TAP) technology, today reported financial results for the three-month period and fiscal year ended June 30, 2011.

4 Aug 2011

Siemens receives Health Canada Medical Device License for Biograph mMR

Siemens Canada Healthcare has received a Health Canada Medical Device License for the Biograph mMR.

4 Aug 2011

Viewpoints: Geithner, Bowles, Simpson, Ryan, Vladeck, Wilensky on health spending and the deficit

The agreement sets up a powerful mechanism for agreement on tax reforms to strengthen growth, and entitlement reforms to strengthen programs such as Medicare. A congressional committee with fast-track authority will have a Nov. 23 deadline to recommend a balanced package of long-term reforms to produce $1.5 trillion in additional deficit reduction.

4 Aug 2011

RACGP urging the government to restore mental health rebates

In its submission to the Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs regarding the Commonwealth funding and administration of mental health services, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) strongly argued for the restoration of GP mental health services. The College is gravely concerned regarding the proposed cuts to the Better Access program and the subsequent impact on mental health delivery for every patient age group, demographic and geography throughout Australia.

3 Aug 2011

Illumina and University of Oxford collaborate to sequence whole genomes

Illumina, Inc. today announced it will collaborate with the University of Oxford to sequence the whole genomes of 500 individuals afflicted with a range of life-threatening diseases that pose major challenges in diagnosis, treatment, and care. Illumina HiSeq™ 2000 systems will be used to generate sequence data for the 500 genomes.

From Illumina, Inc. 3 Aug 2011

First Edition: August 3, 2011

Today's headlines showcase continuing reports about the impact the debt deal might have on health care providers, as well as how the agreement's "super committee" will be charged with finding spending reductions in Medicare, Medicaid and a range of other government programs.

3 Aug 2011

TeleTracking announces new hospital contracts for TransferCenter referral automation software

TeleTracking Technologies continued to expand its lead in the hospital capacity management market during the second quarter of 2011, spurred by 14 new hospital contracts for its category-leading TransferCenter™ referral automation software, which has become the fastest selling application in its product portfolio.

3 Aug 2011

Study: Advanced practice nurse care as effective as physicians

Today's primary care physicians in the U.S. are too few in number to meet the healthcare needs of a burgeoning population; healthcare reform will only amplify the problem. That's where nurse practitioners, nurse midwives and other advanced practice nurses enter the picture.

3 Aug 2011

Debt deal triggers nerves in health industry; Medicare providers brace for cuts

Physicians, hospitals, nursing homes and home health care providers are all bracing for pain as the debt-ceiling agreement kicks in.

3 Aug 2011

New approach to overcome complexities of developing more effective drugs for treating diseases

Pharmaceutical scientists typically face a meager five percent success rate for anti-cancer drugs in clinical trials. To help improve this success rate, Japanese scientists, led by Dr. Tetsuya Terasaki, one of the top pharmaceutical scientists focused on drug transporters, have developed a new approach designed to overcome complexities of developing new, more effective drugs to treat diseases, including cancer.

3 Aug 2011

Different health care delivery systems offer differing visions of efficiency

One California partnership that involved a large insurance company, a major hospital chain and a group of doctors has reduced health care costs. But a new report shows that the growing number of hospital-based physicians may ultimately be taxing Medicare resources.

3 Aug 2011

AACE's five-tiered approach to elimination of endocrine healthcare disparities

The American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) today is announcing the adoption of a new policy reaffirming the Association's commitment to the elimination of endocrine healthcare disparities in the United States.

3 Aug 2011

Double-lung transplant survivor stays busy since retirement

Fewer than half of lung transplant patients survive for five years. But nearly 14 years after receiving a double-lung transplant at Loyola University Medical Center, Damian Neuberger's lungs continue to function normally. He breathes easily while walking four or five miles a day.

3 Aug 2011

Editorials dissect debt deal, contraception, HSAs, long-term care

The long-term challenge for the federal budget is in benefit programs. Rising healthcare costs and the aging population are driving the budgets for Medicaid and Medicare through the roof, causing those programs to consume an ever-larger percentage of the budget.

3 Aug 2011

Risperidone does not appear to reduce military-related PTSD symptoms

Patients with military-related, chronic posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and symptoms that were not improved with use of an antidepressant medication did not experience a reduction in PTSD symptoms with use of the antipsychotic medication risperidone, according to a study in the August 3 issue of JAMA, a theme issue on violence and human rights.

3 Aug 2011