Healthcare News and Research

Latest Healthcare News and Research

Omega board authorizes repurchase of $100M shares of common stock

Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc., announced today that its Board of Directors has authorized the repurchase of up to $100 million of its outstanding common stock, from time to time over the next 12 months.

31 Aug 2011

Streamline Health receives Drummond Group's ONC-ATCB certification for AccessAnyWare v5.1

Streamline Health Solutions, Inc., a leading provider of enterprise and departmental document management solutions and business process workflows for healthcare, announced today that AccessAnyWare v5.1 has received the federal government's "meaningful use" stamp of approval by earning modular inpatient EHR certification for the following requirements: 170.302 O-V and 170.306 E, H.

30 Aug 2011

First Edition: August 30, 2011

Today's headlines include a report about a new federal and state program that will apply scrutiny to any health-premium increase of more than 10 percent.

30 Aug 2011

IntraPace to launch new lifestyle management portal and support network at IFSO 2011 congress

IntraPace, Inc., the developer of the innovative abiliti implantable obesity management system, announced today that it will launch its new lifestyle management portal and support network this week at the XVI World Congress of the International Federation for the Surgery of Obesity and Metabolic Disorders (IFSO) in Hamburg, Germany.

30 Aug 2011

Daily remote ICD monitoring a safe alternative to conventional follow-up

Device management using a home monitoring system with daily telemetry in patients with ICDs is a safe alternative to conventional monitoring and could decrease the number of inappropriate shocks, according to results of the ECOST study, a multicentre randomised trial performed in France.

30 Aug 2011

Viewpoints: Spotlight on insurance industry; local health costs rising; obesity debate

The GOP candidate's positions are not a vision of the future for the U.S. but of a discredited past. ... Perry's proposed fixes for the healthcare system - tort reform, individual ownership of health insurance, portability of plans for people who move or change jobs - would do nothing to slow the growth of healthcare costs or reduce the number of uninsured Americans.

30 Aug 2011

Remote follow-up of ICD patients seems to be a safe alternative to conventional in-office methods

Results from the EVATEL trial are the first in Europe to demonstrate potential safety and efficacy benefits from the remote follow-up of ICD patients.

30 Aug 2011

Ipsen, Inspiration partner to launch hemophilia product portfolio in Europe

Ipsen and Inspiration Biopharmaceuticals Inc. today announced they have entered into a strategic partnership agreement, to create a European hemophilia commercial organization, to launch Inspiration's hemophilia product portfolio in Europe.

30 Aug 2011

ONDCP Director announces $12.3M in new DFC grants to 87 communities across the country

Gil Kerlikowske, Director of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), today announced $12.3 million in new Drug Free Communities Support Program (DFC) grants to 87 communities and 20 new DFC Mentoring grants across the country.

30 Aug 2011

New book on Health Informatics

University of Illinois professor Bruce Schatz, a faculty member at the Institute for Genomic Biology, has co-authored a groundbreaking book on Health Informatics, based on his popular computer science course.

30 Aug 2011

Roundup: Calif. ruling may extend mental health coverage; Conn. dropping early intervention program; Alaska clinic focuses on Medicare patients

A Northern California woman's treatment for anorexia at a residential facility was medically necessary and must be covered by her healthcare plan, a federal appeals court has ruled in a case that could lead to more extensive benefits for those being treated for mental illnesses.

30 Aug 2011

Student researchers throughout Australia compete for annual award

Student researchers from throughout Australia will compete for state and national titles in the country’s leading competition for life science, biotechnology and bio-engineering students: the 2011 AusBiotech-GSK Student Excellence Awards. Applications are now open for the 2011 awards.

29 Aug 2011

Covalon reports net loss of $1,207,559 for third quarter 2011

Mr. Brian Pedlar, President and CEO of Covalon Technologies Ltd., an advanced medical technologies company, is pleased to provide the following update. "We are very pleased that Covalon continues to make excellent progress in meeting its objectives.

29 Aug 2011

For NAIC, some signals suggest broker bill is losing traction

The Hill reports that a spokeswoman for the chairman of the NAIC's Professional Health Insurance Advisors Task Force said no major action on the issue was planned for the group's conference. In other news, MSNBC reports that, as insurance prices rise, options appear to diminish, creating questions about how much relief the health law will provide. Meanwhile, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel explores health reform's winners and losers.

29 Aug 2011

CMS: Insurers need to create plans for dual eligibles

Medicare Advantage insurers that cover some of the most expensive patients must develop individualized plans to coordinate care for each one, according to a final CMS rule issued Friday. The agency also formalized language in the Affordable Care Act requiring these so-called Special Needs Plans, which handle the costly population covered by both Medicare and Medicaid, to implement quality improvement programs and be certified in 2012 by the National Committee for Quality Assurance.

29 Aug 2011

Kassebaum reflects on HIPAA's impact

[Nancy Landon] Kassebaum [Baker], the name she went by in the Senate as a three-term Republican from Kansas and before her marriage to former Sen. Howard Baker (R-Tenn.), was a co-sponsor along with Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Kassebaum, now 79, is living with her husband in Huntsville, Baker's hometown in the Cumberlands of northeastern Tennessee.

29 Aug 2011

Premier healthcare alliance awards new agreements for procurement of energy

The Premier healthcare alliance today announced that new agreements for the procurement of energy have been awarded to Amerex Brokers, LLC. of Sugar Land, Texas; Co-eXprise Inc. of Wexford, Pa.; Hospital Energy Development LLC. of Middletown, Conn.; Vical Energy Consultants Inc. of Hackensack, N.J.; and World Energy Solutions, Inc. of Worcester, Mass.

29 Aug 2011

Allscripts launches 2011 ACE annual conference

Allscripts today launched its annual conference, the Allscripts Client Experience (ACE), with over 450 educational sessions for more than 4,700 attendees representing care providers in all settings, sizes and specialties.

29 Aug 2011

ConversePoint plans to develop, commercialize next generation clinician communications

ConversePoint, a privately owned company based in Chicago, has announced its plans to develop and commercialize a communications platform for the healthcare industry that will significantly save clinicians time, hospitals millions in productivity costs and improve accountability measurements for critical events per the Joint Commission's National Patient Safety Goals along with the license of key Qualcomm technology.

29 Aug 2011

Health Canada approves Bayer's STAXYN for treatment of erectile dysfunction

Today, Bayer Inc. announced the Health Canada approval of STAXYN, the first orally disintegrating tablet for the treatment of erectile dysfunction (ED) that lasts up to eight hours.

29 Aug 2011