Healthcare News and Research

Latest Healthcare News and Research

Teleflex, Premier sign new three-year agreement for laryngoscopes

Teleflex Incorporated, a leading global provider of medical devices for critical care and surgery, has announced a new three-year agreement with Premier Purchasing Partners, L.P., the group purchasing unit of the Premier healthcare alliance.

27 Jun 2011

First Edition: June 27, 2011

Today's headlines include reports about the status of ongoing deficit negotiations and details about a "stealth" survey on access to doctors.

27 Jun 2011

Derma Sciences announces $29 million financing

Derma Sciences, Inc., a medical device and pharmaceutical company focused on advanced wound care, today announced it has closed its previously announced private placement.

27 Jun 2011

FDA accepts for filing Columbia's PROCHIEVE progesterone gel NDA

Columbia Laboratories, Inc. and Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted for filing Columbia's New Drug Application (NDA) for PROCHIEVE (progesterone gel) for the reduction of risk of preterm birth in women with short uterine cervical length in the mid-trimester of pregnancy.

27 Jun 2011

UVA to study how the 'Call to Health' model helps African-American women manage diabetes

The University of Virginia Health System has received a $300,000 grant to study the "Call to Health" model, which uses text messages, stress reduction and other techniques to help African-American women manage type 2 diabetes.

27 Jun 2011

Policy leaders to identify targeted strategies for creating national breastfeeding agenda

One hundred invited health and policy leaders will meet again in Washington, D.C. on June 29-30 to identify targeted strategies for establishing a national breastfeeding agenda as part of our nation's Health Reform, building on the essential recommendations and positive outcomes of the Second Annual Summit held last June.

27 Jun 2011

AWHONN, Elsevier partner to review and update Maternal-Newborn skills

Elsevier, a pioneer in providing e-learning and performance solutions to more than 1,300 healthcare organizations, announced today its collaboration with the Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN) to review and update the Maternal-Newborn Skills within Mosby's Nursing Skills, providing users with the highest quality content possible.

27 Jun 2011

State highlights: Calif. insurance regulatory system criticized

The two-headed beast that regulates health insurance in California is under fire. For the first time in a decade, healthcare leaders in Sacramento are publicly asking whether it's time to junk overlapping bureaucracies that police health insurers and HMOs (Helfand, 6/23).

24 Jun 2011

Health law implementation progress, issues continue to draw attention

For starters, reports say the proposed rule for the measure's health exchanges is due out July 7. In addition, indications are that many public health provisions remain unfunded and movement toward electronic health records is still slow.

24 Jun 2011

Debt-ceiling negotiations stall

A top Republican walks away from the bargaining table -- leaving the debate unresolved regarding Democratic demands for higher taxes and spending reductions at the Pentagon, and GOP calls for significant cuts to health and retirement programs.

24 Jun 2011

Focused ultrasound changes 27 year-old uterine fibroid patient's life

On June 12, 2011, viewers of the CBS Evening News learned about Stephanie Small's gripping story. Suffering from a large uterine fibroid, the 27 year-old was treated last December as part of a MR-guided focused ultrasound clinical trial at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.

24 Jun 2011

Scientific evidence is key driver for gaining reimbursement for MR-guided focused ultrasound

Medical researchers have a critical role to play in gaining optimal health insurance reimbursement for MR-guided focused ultrasound. As Susan Klees, Director of Patient Access for the Focused Ultrasound Surgery Foundation, reports, "Scientific evidence is the key driver for reimbursement, and it all begins with the way studies are designed. Today, research priorities must be grounded in sound science as well as the realities of the marketplace."

24 Jun 2011

athenahealth announces new client and employee training center at Point Lookout facility

athenahealth, Inc., a leading provider of cloud-based practice management, electronic health record (EHR), and patient communication services to medical groups, today announced that it has closed on the purchase of property in Northport, Maine for $7.7 million.

24 Jun 2011

First Edition: June 24, 2011

In today's headlines, reports that Republicans have quit the debt-ceiling negotiations and details about how the Supreme Court sided with drug makers in two decisions.

24 Jun 2011

CMS official grilled on Medicare Secondary Payer program

Politics were at work as Deborah Taylor, the chief financial officer of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, faced tough questioning during a House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee On Oversight and Investigations hearing regarding the financial controls applied to this aspect of Medicare — a generally complex and obscure part of the program.

24 Jun 2011

HHS scales back rules for patient health care appeals

The Obama administration announced Wednesday that it was scaling back its earlier-released rules regarding consumers' right to appeal health plan care denials.

24 Jun 2011

AHRQ: 1 in 6 Americans use more than 10% of family income to pay for medical expenses

Roughly 1 of every 6 Americans age 18 to 64 reported using more than 10 percent of their total family income to pay for health insurance premiums and out-of-pocket medical expenses in 2007, according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

24 Jun 2011

Health law politics cause sparks to fly among GOP presidential hopefuls

In the background, Republicans on Capitol Hill are renewing their criticisms of the health law's Independent Payment Advisory Board as a "rationing" panel. Also reverberating — how candidates are handling the GOP anti-abortion pledge, and findings from a new poll suggest Americans are leery of the Medicare plan advanced by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis.

24 Jun 2011

State roundup: N.Y. and union reach deal on benefits

The state's largest public-employee union, acknowledging the pressures on government workers around the nation, agreed on Wednesday to major wage and benefits concessions in a pact to avoid sweeping layoffs. The five-year agreement ... includes a three-year wage freeze, the first furloughs ever for state workers and an increase in the amount employees must pay toward their health insurance.

24 Jun 2011

FDA clears GE Healthcare's new mobile x-ray platform

GE Healthcare today announced FDA clearance of Optima XR220amx, Optima XR200amx and Brivo XR285amx - a new platform of user-friendly, mobile x-ray systems offering improvements from its predecessors in reliability, accessibility and flexibility to help address the increasingly specialized radiographic needs of patients.

24 Jun 2011