Healthcare News and Research

Latest Healthcare News and Research

Type 2 diabetes market in Mexico to grow to $1.22 billion in 2014: Report

Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms for pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, forecasts that the type 2 diabetes market in Mexico will grow to $1.22 billion in 2014. Drivers of this growth include increasing prevalent population, expanding medical insurance coverage as well as the launch and use of new drugs in the market.

17 Nov 2010

Maine has most improved health care quality; Kansas needs more dentists

Maine Public Broadcasting Network News: "Nationwide, Maine is most improved when it comes to health care quality, according to 2009 statistics from the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. In one year, Maine jumped from 12th place to fourth best in categories ranging from cancer to patient safety, from maternal and child health to long-term care.

17 Nov 2010

MedAssets acquires The Broadlane Group

MedAssets, Inc. today announced that it has completed its acquisition of The Broadlane Group. The combination of MedAssets and Broadlane creates the industry's leading, end-to-end financial improvement partner that has saved billions for its healthcare provider customers, including more than $2.8 billion in documented and guaranteed supply chain savings.

17 Nov 2010

Medicare roundup: Payment cuts irk healthcare industry; officials mull new prostate-cancer treatment

Doctors across the United States are taking a wait-and-see approach while Congress decides whether or not to allow a scheduled 23% cut in Medicare reimbursement rates to take effect on Dec. 1.

17 Nov 2010

Berwick to testify for the first time as Medicare/Medicaid chief

Medicare and Medicaid chief Donald Berwick will testify before a congressional committee Wednesday for the first time since President Barack Obama avoided the Senate confirmation process to Republican protest by using a recess appointment to install Berwick as the administrator of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

17 Nov 2010

Republicans confront realities of health overhaul, position themselves in Congress

The Christian Science Monitor reports that the health overhaul is resting in the GOP's crosshairs. The ultimate defense to the repeal effort is the presidential veto pen. Even with a new majority in the House come January, Republicans concede that winning a repeal vote in the Democratic-controlled Senate is unlikely and the two-thirds needed to override a presidential veto, well out of reach.

16 Nov 2010

Omron supports American Heart Association's educational initiatives for hypertension treatment

Omron Healthcare today announced support for the American Heart Association's broad-based healthcare awareness campaign that will educate providers on hypertension treatment recommendations, including home blood pressure monitoring and best practices for integrating this into their standard of care.

16 Nov 2010

Toshiba launches RADREX-i Standard digital radiographic system

Obtaining advanced diagnostic imaging equipment to improve workflow and provide highly accurate diagnoses in a cost-effective manner is a requirement for healthcare facilities today. To meet this challenge in X-ray imaging, Toshiba America Medical Systems, Inc. introduces the RADREX™-i Standard, a digital radiographic (DR) system to provide technologists with a straightforward, easy-to-use system.

16 Nov 2010

Today's Op-Eds: Congress needs conservative leadership; reviving tort reform; can states afford to drop Medicaid?

Nothing has gone quite so awry as the massive, government-run Obama health program, and it is plain that the individual mandate, the employee mandate, the abortion funding, the tangle of outsider/insider councils like the comparative effectiveness board and the effective nationalization of healthcare under grants of authority to the Department of Health and Human Services.

16 Nov 2010

Can Pfizer rescue hormonal replacement therapy?

In a market still plagued with safety concerns, Pfizer has an opportunity to restore market growth for hormonal replacement therapy (HRT) with its new combination product, Aprela. To do this it must rebuild public and general practitioner confidence in the therapy area, says independent market analyst, Datamonitor.

16 Nov 2010

Anti-stroke blood thinner shows promise in large clinical trials

In new and extensive clinical trials an experimental blood thinner called rivaroxaban is at least as good at preventing strokes as the drug warfarin – that has been the most widely used agent for the past five decades in people with erratic heartbeats called atrial fibrillations. Researchers said this Monday that this drug also sharply reduces the risk of major bleeding that is seen with warfarin.

16 Nov 2010

Gore REDUCE Clinical Study investigates PFO in stroke patients

W. L. Gore & Associates today joined the US principal investigators for the Gore REDUCE Clinical Study in reaffirming their commitment to the study of Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO) in stroke patients using the GORE HELEX Septal Occluder.

16 Nov 2010

Size of hippocampus may be linked to early dementia

The size of the part of the brain known as the hippocampus may be linked to future dementia, reveals a thesis from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

16 Nov 2010

New 3M Littmann auscultation device can transfer digitally captured patient sounds

With new technology announced today by 3M, a doctor in Minnesota can in real-time detect a murmur in the heart of a child in rural Arizona. Through the new 3M Littmann Scope-to-Scope Tele-Auscultation System, clinicians can transfer digitally captured patient sounds in real-time, from one stethoscope to another, no matter the distance.

16 Nov 2010

Hospira launches two-gram vial of gemcitabine hydrochloride for injection

Hospira, Inc., the world leader in generic injectable pharmaceuticals, today announced it has launched a two-gram vial of gemcitabine hydrochloride for injection.

16 Nov 2010

National campaign to highlight significance of antibiotic resistance

Antibiotic resistance is one of the world's most pressing public health threats. To bring attention to this increasing problem, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other government partners will observe its third annual Get Smart About Antibiotics Week on Nov. 15-21, 2010.

16 Nov 2010

BTE Technologies acquires patented recumbent strength-training system, Eccentron

BTE Technologies, a leading global innovator in objective evaluation and rehabilitation equipment for physical therapy, occupational therapy, and sports medicine, announces its acquisition of Eccentron™ - a patented recumbent strength-training system that works the muscles eccentrically for rapid strength gains, explosive muscle power, and unparalleled benefits for joint stability and fall prevention - all with minimal strain on the cardiovascular system.

16 Nov 2010

KINARM Assessment Station to help healthcare workers assess patients suffering from brain injuries

A Queen's University neuroscientist is launching a medical tool at the world's largest neuroscience conference in San Diego on Monday, Nov. 15.

16 Nov 2010

Reducing salt intake can enhance health of young adults in future: Research

Cutting back on salt in teenagers' diets by as little as one-half teaspoon, or three grams, a day, could reduce the number of young adults with high blood pressure by 44 to 63 percent, according to new research presented Sunday, Nov. 14 at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2010 meeting in Chicago.

16 Nov 2010