Healthcare News and Research

Latest Healthcare News and Research

AHA/ASA honors UH Case Medical Center with Get With The Guidelines-Stroke award

For the third consecutive year, University Hospitals (UH) Case Medical Center has received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association's Get With The Guidelines--Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award.

4 Nov 2011

Roundup: Mental health hospital woes; N.Y. Medicare scam bust

A Miami Herald series "Neglected to Death," focused this spring on critical breakdowns in Florida's enforcement system, including failures by the state's Agency on Health Care Administration to fully investigate deaths or to shut down some of the worst offenders among Florida's 2,850 assisted-living facilities. Although more states are using Medicaid money to pay for some portion of assisted living care for the poor, the federal government has a limited role in the facilities their oversight has been and will likely continue to be a state duty.

4 Nov 2011

Calif. Hospital Association sues over Medi-Cal provider cuts

The trade group for California's hospitals has sued state and federal officials to block a 10 percent cut in government reimbursements for health care providers who treat low-income patients. The California Hospital Association said in its suit, filed in federal district court in Los Angeles, that cuts to the Medi-Cal insurance program will threaten the ability of many hospitals to continue operating skilled nursing facilities.

4 Nov 2011

Cain offers up his views on health policy

In a short policy speech delivered on Capitol Hill, GOP presidential hopeful Herman Cain expressed his support for repealing the 2010 health law and replacing it with market-based reforms.

4 Nov 2011

Oxford Instruments acquires Platinum Medical Imaging

Oxford Instruments plc, a leading provider of high technology tools and systems for industry and research, announces the acquisition of Platinum Medical Imaging LLC (“Platinum”).

4 Nov 2011

Senate GOP attempts to officially undo CLASS Act

An attempt to bring up a bill to fast-track efforts to repeal the CLASS Act was beaten back by Democrats. But the AARP and 50 other advocacy groups sent a letter to lawmakers asking them not to touch the measure.

4 Nov 2011

Healthcare workers who wear gloves less likely to wash their hands

Healthcare workers who wear gloves while treating patients are much less likely to clean their hands before and after patient contact, according to a study published in the December issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America.

4 Nov 2011

First Edition: November 3, 2011

Today's headlines include reports about a bipartisan group of lawmakers who are urging the super committee to consider "all options."

3 Nov 2011

ARIAD reports net income of $13.9 million for third quarter 2011

ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today reported financial results for the third quarter of 2011 and provided an update on its corporate developments.

3 Nov 2011

Budget experts focus on health costs

Four well-known budget gurus testified Tuesday in a public super committee hearing, telling the panel they should raise revenues and overhaul expensive federal health programs in order to develop a budget compromise that will meet the $1.2 trillion, 10-year mandate.

3 Nov 2011

Link between poverty, fast food and obesity

A new national study of eating out and income shows that fast-food dining becomes more common as earnings increase from low to middle incomes, weakening the popular notion that fast food should be blamed for higher rates of obesity among the poor.

3 Nov 2011

Doctors face deep Medicare pay reductions — but slightly less than original estimates suggest

Without congressional intervention, physicians will face a 27.4 percent Medicare pay cut on Jan. 1. This reduction is slightly smaller than the earlier estimate of 29.5 percent.

3 Nov 2011

Long-term care insurance gets boost from federal workers

In September, the Office of Personnel Management announced that it had added 45,000 people to its long-term care insurance rolls - a 20 percent jump after a three-month enrollment period. It's the largest long-term care plan in the country, with 297,000 enrollees - all government employees or their families. The surge is notable because long-term care insurance has attracted so few new customers in recent years, even though an estimated 15 million people will need long-term services by 2020.

3 Nov 2011

Medicare fee payments for outpatient care to go up 1.9 percent; payments for home health will drop

Hospital operators such as Tenet Healthcare Corp. (THC) will get higher federal payments for emergency room visits, diagnostic imaging and other outpatient services in 2012 under U.S. rules. Medicare payments for outpatient services will rise 1.9 percent to $41 billion and dialysis clinics, cancer centers and ambulatory surgery facilities also are scheduled to receive modest fee increases from the U.S. health program for the elderly and disabled under regulations issued yesterday.

3 Nov 2011

Allergy shots are cost-effective and deliver relief in weeks

Allergy shots, an age-old treatment for allergy sufferers, are getting a shot in the arm from new research. This proven therapy saves money; accelerated schedules deliver relief in weeks, rather than months; and alternative methods are on the horizon, according to allergists at the annual scientific meeting of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology in Boston, Nov 3-8.

3 Nov 2011

Ivacaftor drug improves lung function in people with cystic fibrosis

A new study has confirmed that the drug, ivacaftor (VX-770), significantly improves lung function in some people with cystic fibrosis (CF). The results of the phase III clinical trial study, "A CFTR Potentiator in Patients with Cystic Fibrosis and the G551D Mutation," led by Bonnie W. Ramsey, MD of Seattle Children's Research Institute and the University of Washington, were published today in the New England Journal of Medicine.

3 Nov 2011

Medtronic initiates CoreValve System trial to treat severe aortic stenosis in Japan

Medtronic, Inc. today announced the first implant in a clinical trial in Japan that will evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the Medtronic CoreValve System.

From Medtronic 3 Nov 2011

IP-K and Sanofi form new HBV research collaboration

One of the most common and serious infectious diseases, Hepatitis B, is to be targeted in a new collaborative venture between the internationally-renowned translational research institute, Institut Pasteur Korea (IP-K), and the Korean arm of the leading global healthcare company, Sanofi-Aventis Korea. The goal is to develop and validate a high throughput assay to screen IP-K's chemical libraries for novel compounds that can be developed as new drugs.

3 Nov 2011

DexCom signs research and development agreement with Roche

Roche Diagnostics U.S., with its business unit Roche Diabetes Care, a leader in blood glucose monitoring and insulin delivery systems, and DexCom, Inc., a leader in continuous glucose monitoring systems, announced today that they have signed a research and development agreement.

From Roche Sequencing and Life Science 3 Nov 2011

StatLink announces upgrade for Med DataLink healthcare process management software system

Memphis-based process management technology company StatLink Systems has announced an upgrade for Med DataLink, its healthcare process management software system.

2 Nov 2011