Healthcare News and Research

Latest Healthcare News and Research

Co-pay on home health care would limit patient access to clinically beneficial and cost-effective care

America's home health care community is calling attention to a newly released analysis by Avalere Health, LLC that underscores the significant impact cost sharing for Medicare home health services could have on low-income and clinically-disadvantaged seniors.

8 Jul 2011

Generics as a way to lower health care costs

As the nation seeks to expand health care coverage to more citizens without adding burdensome costs, researchers from Harvard University, Brigham and Women's Hospital and CVS Caremark reported that preventative health care may be significantly less costly than previously thought, due to expanded use of cost-effective generic medications for the treatment and prevention of chronic disease.

8 Jul 2011

Medicaid pricing, volume varies across states

A new study in the July issue of Health Affairs finds significant regional differences in program spending. Researchers suggest understanding these differences could lead to improved quality and efficiency of care.

8 Jul 2011

Advocacy group messages, concerns emerge as deficit talks continue

The drug industry and teaching hospitals are among the health industry sectors that are bracing for hits from the budget deal. Meanwhile, other health care providers are watching and waiting -- trying to figure out what might become of their interests as the negotiations go forward. And Democrats and liberal advocates, the staunchest supporters of the health law, fear President Barack Obama could give up too much in the ultimate agreement.

8 Jul 2011

Study finds higher rate of switching from Byetta to Victoza in treatment of type 2 diabetes

Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms focusing on pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that although Amylin/Eli Lilly's Byetta currently commands a higher patient share than Novo Nordisk's Victoza, more patients were switched from Byetta to Victoza than vice versa (25.2 percent versus 2.8 percent) in the last quarter of 2010 among recently treated type 2 diabetes patients.

8 Jul 2011

California lawmakers advance effort to review premium increases

A bill that would allow California officials to review health insurance premium increases advances as consumer groups and doctors in Connecticut lament the governor's veto of a rate review bill. Politico also reports that the federal government is preparing to step in for rate reviews in 10 states.

8 Jul 2011

Budget talks show movement; Changes to Medicare, Medicaid on the table

Touching these safety net programs would raise the ire of some Democrats, but the concept is being advanced by President Barack Obama as a trade-off for new tax revenues.

8 Jul 2011

Cardiac Science's Powerheart G3 AED receives Japanese regulatory approval

Cardiac Science Corporation, a global leader in automated external defibrillators (AEDs) and diagnostic cardiac monitoring devices, announced today that the Japan Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare approved a new model of its Powerheart G3 AED. The company is partnering with Omron Healthcare to distribute its AEDs in Japan. Japan-based Omron is a leading healthcare company dedicated to prevention of heart disease.

8 Jul 2011

NUS, NTU students win WFF's Ph.D. Prizes for environmental research

Antibiotics, which are among the world's most widely prescribed medicines, can easily find their way into rivers and lakes because they tend not to be removed through the normal sewage process.

8 Jul 2011

Health law provisions draw compliments, complaints

Meanwhile, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is urging young voters to support the measure during the upcoming presidential campaign and former President Bill Clinton said Democrats should have done better defending it in the mid-term election season.

8 Jul 2011

Longer looks: Shortage of HIV doctors; Oregon program builds on British model

Of the 3,155 U.S.-based members of the HIV Medicine Assn., 45% are older than 50, according to a March 17 Institute of Medicine report on HIV screening and access to care.

8 Jul 2011

GE Healthcare's Magnetic Resonance Imaging receives 2011 IDEA awards

GE Healthcare, a unit of General Electric Company, today announced it received several Silver Awards from the 2011 International Design Excellence Awards for Magnetic Resonance Imaging by the Industrial Designers Society of America.

8 Jul 2011

Roche, CPRIT partner to advance cancer research projects in Texas

The Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) today announced a strategic partnership agreement with the Swiss-based healthcare company Roche to accelerate the development of promising oncology-related cancer research projects in Texas.

8 Jul 2011

Allegro completes $5.4M Series A extension financing

Allegro Diagnostics today announced that it has closed a $5.4M Series A extension financing. The company's existing venture investors, Kodiak Venture Partners and Catalyst Health Ventures, participated in the round.

8 Jul 2011

Medtronic enters definitive agreement to acquire Salient Surgical Technologies

Medtronic, Inc. today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Salient Surgical Technologies, Inc., the leader in the advanced energy category for haemostatic sealing of soft tissue and bone in a variety of surgical procedures including orthopaedic surgery, spine, open abdominal and thoracic procedures.

From Medtronic 8 Jul 2011

Roundup: Municipal bonds rise as states make budget cuts; Calif. psych workers seek more security

Florida is firing 1,300 workers. New York is cutting education funding and freezing public employee wages for three years. Arizona is slashing Medicaid coverage. And municipal bondholders are having their best year since President George H.W. Bush was in the White House.

7 Jul 2011

Final Atlantis space trip may open new era of research into infectious diseases

On July 8, at approximately 11:26 a.m. EDT, the space shuttle Atlantis will streak skyward from the Kennedy Space Center's launch pad 39A, for one last mission. While the STS-135 flight marks the end of the space shuttle's glory days, its final trip may open a new era of research into infectious diseases, thanks to space bound experiments conducted by Dr's. Cheryl Nickerson, and Roy Curtiss III, along with their colleagues at Arizona State University's Biodesign Institute.

7 Jul 2011

Conference to explore interface between medicine, arts and humanities

The University of Leicester is hosting a conference to be addressed by Jed Mercurio, author of Bodies and creator of the TV series Cardiac Arrest.

7 Jul 2011

Vouchers and Health Equity Funds work well for poor: Research

In rich countries, the government can fund the health system directly, or subsidise the health costs of its inhabitants through the social security system. People then only pay a small lump sum. But in low and mid-income countries, the government doesn't have the money for (almost) free healthcare.

7 Jul 2011

Researchers find new molecule that controls pain sensitivity from UVB irradiation

Researchers at King's College London have found a molecule in the body which controls sensitivity to pain from UVB irradiation, identifying it as a new target for medicines to treat pain caused by other common inflammatory conditions such as arthritis.

7 Jul 2011