Healthcare News and Research

Latest Healthcare News and Research

Premier Purchasing Partners awards new agreements for waste management products, services

Premier Purchasing Partners, LP, today announced new agreements for waste management products and services have been awarded

2 Jul 2010

Continua champions use of personal connected healthcare technologies at House Committee on Veterans Affairs hearing

Continua Health Alliance championed the use of personal connected healthcare technologies to increase veteran access to quality healthcare during last week's hearing of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Health. President and Chair of the Continua Board of Directors, Rick Cnossen, testified on behalf of the Alliance to address the issues facing veterans living in rural areas who typically receive lower quality healthcare than the general population due to lack of access.

2 Jul 2010

BIDMC calls for new training program for personalized healthcare

The Department of Pathology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) have issued "A Call to Action" for the medical profession to catch up with the technology and business communities in the application of genomics to personalized health care.

2 Jul 2010

HHS launches website to provide consumers with public, private health coverage options

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services today unveiled an innovative new on-line tool that will help consumers take control of their health care by connecting them to new information and resources that will help them access quality, affordable health care coverage. Called for by the Affordable Care Act, HealthCare.gov is the first website to provide consumers with both public and private health coverage options tailored specifically for their needs in a single, easy-to-use tool.

2 Jul 2010

Pay-for-performance program may cause inequalities among healthcare providers

Pay-for-performance is an increasingly popular approach to improving health care quality. But the planned nationwide implementation of institutional bonuses mandated under federal health care reform threatens to act as a "reverse Robin Hood," potentially causing hospitals in less-advantaged regions to lose funds to health care facilities in more affluent areas of the country, according to a study published in the academic journal PLoS Medicine.

2 Jul 2010

Teva launches antidepressant Venlafaxine HCl ER Capsules

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. announced today that it has commenced commercial launch of Venlafaxine HCl ER Capsules, the Company's generic version of Wyeth's antidepressant Effexor XR®. The brand product had annual sales of approximately $2.75 billion in the United States, based on IMS sales data.

2 Jul 2010

China PharmaHub announces new joint venture for humanized antibody

China PharmaHub Corp., announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Dr. David Weaver and Dr. Michael Rynkiewicz. In addition, PharmaHub contemplates merging with World Wide Relics, Inc. of which it recently purchased a 77% interest.

2 Jul 2010

FDA approves Purdue's Butrans Transdermal System CIII for management of chronic pain

Purdue Pharma L.P. announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Butrans™ (buprenorphine) Transdermal System CIII for the management of moderate to severe chronic pain in patients requiring a continuous, around-the-clock opioid analgesic for an extended period of time. Butrans Transdermal System is an analgesic product that delivers continuous release of medication for seven days.

2 Jul 2010

Medical groups back medicare nominee Berwick

About 90 groups, including medical societies, patient and employer groups, all backed the nomination of Donald Berwick, a physician and health care quality advocate, to lead the federal Medicare agency.

2 Jul 2010

Blacks often diagnosed with advanced cancer, more likely to have other underlying health problems

Black people with cancer are up to twice as likely as other races to die from their disease. While disparities exist for nearly every common cancer type, the largest differences occur among cancers that benefit most from treatment -- suggesting that black patients are not getting needed lifesaving treatments, according to a review from researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.

2 Jul 2010

New Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan from HHS

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced today the establishment of a new Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP) that will offer coverage to uninsured Americans who have been unable to obtain health coverage because of a pre-existing health condition.

2 Jul 2010

Federal government launches new health insurance website

NPR reports that the website, which was mandated in the new health reform law, is meant to guide consumers through the process of securing health insurance.

2 Jul 2010

Medibase's BASEmetric solution using Hitachi's Finger VeinID technology deployed at Ohio health system

Hitachi America, Ltd. and Medibase Solutions, Inc today announced that an Ohio health system with two hospitals is using Hitachi's Finger vein authentication (VeinID), which incorporates Medibase's identity management technology to help ensure accurate patient identification. Initially, the Ohio health system plans to deploy Hitachi's SDK and finger vein scanners in the Emergency Departments of both hospitals.

2 Jul 2010

High-risk insurance pools open to people 'locked out' of market

People who have been unable to obtain health insurance in the commercial market because of pre-existing conditions can apply for a new, federally funded high-risk insurance pool beginning Thursday, The Wall Street Journal reports. "The program is the first major plank of the health overhaul signed into law in March, and it's designed as a temporary provision to expand coverage until 2014, when a requirement kicks in that insurers accept all applicants."

2 Jul 2010

AHF members urge Congress to honor AIDS funding commitment

Five AIDS treatment clients and medical care providers from Uganda are visiting Washington, DC for a series of over 50 meetings this week on Capitol Hill with Senate and Congressional leaders to lobby Congress to honor the US' landmark commitment to PEPFAR (the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief), the successful US global AIDS program.

2 Jul 2010

Medical school association suggests clinical conflict-of-interest policies

The Association of American Medical Colleges has asked academic medical institutions to adopt conflict-of-interest policies for clinical care similar to those they apply to medical research, Modern Healthcare reports.

2 Jul 2010

Fidelitone to provide logistics services for OROMed Healthcare

Fidelitone Logistics, an industry leader in third-party logistics and supply chain performance, has been selected to provide logistics services for OROMed Healthcare, a leading manufacturer of fully automatic, adjustable sleep systems.

1 Jul 2010

Diagnostic Hybrids receives Chinese SFDA approval for D3 Ultra DFA Respiratory Virus Screening and ID Kit

Diagnostic Hybrids, a Quidel Company, received approval from the People's Republic of China's State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) for its D3 Ultra DFA Respiratory Virus Screening and ID Kit. The D3 Ultra DFA Respiratory Virus Screening and ID Kit is a direct fluorescence assay (DFA) that provides rapid, sensitive and specific screening and identification of Influenza A, Influenza B, Parainfluenza 1, 2, & 3, Respiratory Syncytial Virus and Adenovirus.

1 Jul 2010

First Edition: July 1, 2010

Today's health policy headlines highlight news about the launch of a government health insurance web site and the start of the high-risk health insurance pools mandated in the health reform law.

1 Jul 2010

Survey: 66% of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer are now tested for KRAS

Merck Serono, a division of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, has revealed new results from a global survey demonstrating that 66% of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) are now tested for KRAS to determine if they could benefit from a personalized therapy, such as Erbitux® (cetuximab). This represents a 50% increase in levels of KRAS testing in just one year.

1 Jul 2010