Healthcare News and Research

Latest Healthcare News and Research

Hospitals want race, ethnic issues factored into readmissions program

HHS should include patient characteristics such as race and limited English proficiency in its risk-adjustment methodology as it implements the hospital readmissions-reduction program outlined in the healthcare reform law, according to a letter Tuesday from American Hospital Association President and CEO Richard Umbdenstock to CMS Administrator Dr. Donald Berwick.

9 Jun 2011

HHS rule for health exchanges takes shape

In a Tuesday conference call on state health exchanges organized by the Commonwealth Fund, HHS Director of Coverage Policy Chiquita Brooks-LaSure dropped many hints of what to expect from the agency's proposed rule on health exchanges, due out sometime this month.

9 Jun 2011

Less-invasive Pro-Vas occlusion shows promise for permanent male sterilization

A new clinical study presented at the American Urological Association (AUA) Annual Meeting shows the less-invasive Pro-Vas occlusion as a highly promising method of permanent male sterilization.

9 Jun 2011

Eliminating ABCB5-expressing cells crucial for successful colorectal cancer treatment

Researchers at Children's Hospital Boston have found a marker called ABCB5 that both tags a small proportion of cells within colorectal cancers and fuels resistance in those cells to standard treatments. The results indicate that eliminating ABCB5-expressing cells is crucial for successful colorectal cancer treatment, while adding to the growing body of evidence for a theory of cancer growth called the cancer stem cell hypothesis.

9 Jun 2011

State roundup: N.J. plan would cut Medicaid by $500 million

States and territories are eligible for up to $40 million to strengthen and coordinate efforts to prevent chronic disease, the Health and Human Services Department announced Tuesday. The initiative is funded by the healthcare reform law and targets the nation's five leading chronic diseases: heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes and arthritis.

9 Jun 2011

Siemens Healthcare selects SIS as surgical IT partner

Surgical Information Systems ('SIS') today announced a partnership with Siemens Healthcare expanding the reach of the Siemens health information system portfolio (including Soarian®, INVISION® and MedSeries4®) into the perioperative environment, including the SIS Anesthesia solution.

9 Jun 2011

Health care law in the Appeals court

In the U.S. this Wednesday one of the federal appeals court took up a significant legal challenge to last year's health law. Judges are deliberating over the fact that whether it was constitutional to require people to carry insurance or pay a penalty.

9 Jun 2011

Ryan Medicare revamp continues to be political flashpoint

A congressionial Democrat holds a town hall meeting on the budget plan by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., which includes significant changes to the Medicare program. Republicans see the budget blueprint as a litmus test.

9 Jun 2011

Viewpoints: Blue Shield's profit cap; employees could be surprised by loss of health benefits; involving patients

Blue Shield of California announced Tuesday that it will cap its profits for the sake of making health insurance more affordable. Richer in symbolism than in economic impact, the move seems designed to deflect scrutiny and blame from insurers onto others in the industry, particularly doctors and hospitals. All the same, the steadily rising cost of medical care is where the real challenge lies for the sustainability of the healthcare system.

9 Jun 2011

Ascribe announces partnership to launch eHandover, clinical handover solution

Ascribe has announced a partnership with Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust (BHRUT) to bring eHandover, a clinical handover solution, to the UK Acute care sector. The solution will be formally launched at the National Clinical Handover Conference hosted in London on the 30th June 2011.

8 Jun 2011

Nearly half of employers may stop employee’s health benefits

A latest speculation suggests that nearly a third of employers are likely to stop offering health insurance to employees in 2014 when major federal healthcare-reform provisions kick in. This comes from a new report by McKinsey Quarterly.

8 Jun 2011

Sandbox announces business accelerator for healthcare industry

Sandbox Industries, a venture capital firm and leading incubator for startup companies, announces Healthbox, one of the first business accelerators in the country to focus exclusively on the healthcare industry. Healthbox builds on the success of Excelerate Labs, the tech accelerator that Sandbox co-founded last year, which Tech Cocktail recently named Top 3 among startup accelerators nationwide.

8 Jun 2011

Grifols officially merges with Talecris Biotherapeutics

Grifols, a global healthcare company and biopharmaceutical manufacturer based in Barcelona, Spain, today announced that it has officially begun to merge its operations with Talecris Biotherapeutics in order to function as one company, following its acquisition of Talecris on June 1.

8 Jun 2011

Covidien files answer and counterclaims against Applied Medical for patent misuse, non-infringement

Covidien, a leading global provider of healthcare products, today announced that a subsidiary of the Company filed an answer and counterclaims against Applied Medical Resources Corporation for patent misuse, non-infringement and invalidity.

8 Jun 2011

Ben Hogan Sports Medicine, StreamVenue partner to offer post-surgical management tool

StreamVenue Healthcare has partnered its "plug and play" products and services with Texas Health Ben Hogan Sports Medicine to teach, and to better manage post-surgical patient recovery.

8 Jun 2011

Dems push for debt deal that doesn't include Medicare cuts

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., sent an email to House Republicans Monday saying he is optmistic that ongoing budget talks will meet the standard set by Speaker John Boehner -- meaning legislation to raise the debt limit will be accompanied by deficit reduction. Some Democratic senators, though, are pressing Vice President Joe Biden, who is overseeing budget negotiations, to steer clear of the GOP Medicare plan.

8 Jun 2011

Doctors' move to electronic records requires serious commitment

The federal stimulus and health care laws are pushing medical providers to go electronic as a way to improve patient safety and track health care quality. ... But moving away from paper files to an electronic health record system requires serious commitment on several levels. First, they're expensive. ... Second, the learning curve can be painful.

8 Jun 2011

University of Maryland School of Pharmacy to host National Leadership Roundtable on June 9

With a collective eye on ongoing health care reform efforts, the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy on June 9 will be hosting a timely and wide-ranging National Leadership Roundtable on how an expanded role for pharmacists is improving health outcomes and health care expenditures in communities nationwide.

8 Jun 2011

Women may be as resilient to combat-related stress as men

In what is believed to be the first published study on the topic, researchers affiliated with the Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) believe female military service-members from Operation Enduring Freedom OEF)/Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) may be as resilient to combat-related stress as men. These findings currently appear on-line in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology.

8 Jun 2011

Doctors place greater value on life-prolonging treatments rather than on quality-enhancing ones

Doctors are more apt to recommend a more costly therapy to patients if it were determined to prolong the patient's life rather than just improve quality, according to a recent study from Medical Decision Making (published by SAGE).

8 Jun 2011