Healthcare News and Research

Latest Healthcare News and Research

Covidien launches V-Loc 90 knotless wound closure device

Covidien, a leading global provider of healthcare products, today announced the global launch of the V-Loc 90 device, expanding its family of V-Loc absorbable wound closure devices. This latest addition to Covidien's knotless wound closure product line received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on May 11, 2010.

27 May 2010

Study finds improvement in detection of breast cancer in mammograms over 9-year period

Researchers analyzing 2.5 million screening mammograms performed on nearly one million women found discrimination of cancerous from non-cancerous lesions improved over a nine-year period. Results of the study are published in the online edition of the journal Radiology.

27 May 2010

Aria Health joins other healthcare organizations nationwide to launch ACOs

Aria Health has joined 18 other healthcare organizations nationwide to launch Accountable Care Organizations, a collaborative effort designed to implement essential healthcare reforms to deliver high-quality, patient-centered care.

27 May 2010

Wireless monitoring system for people with debilitating conditions

A wireless monitoring system for people with debilitating conditions such as Parkinson's disease or chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder could allow healthcare workers to assess a patient's health and the development of their disease without hindering their movements. Details of the system are reported in the International Journal of Biomedical Engineering and Technology.

27 May 2010

Spectrum Health to deploy Wolters Kluwer Health's ProVation MD software

Wolters Kluwer Health, a leading global provider of information for healthcare professionals and students, announced today that Spectrum Health will deploy its ProVation MD software for cardiology procedure documentation and coding in the cardiac catheterization labs at Blodgett Hospital and Butterworth Hospital.

27 May 2010

Northstar Healthcare announces receipt of unsolicited takeover bid

Northstar Healthcare Inc. today announced that it has received an unsolicited takeover bid from Dr. Donald L. Kramer, a former CEO and former director of the Company, to acquire all the issued and outstanding common shares of Northstar Healthcare for Cdn $0.95 per common share.

27 May 2010

Nottingham scientists given green light to test new vaccine for malignant melanoma

Nottingham scientists have been given the green light to test a vaccine which they hope could reverse, and even cure malignant melanoma, the most deadly type of skin cancer.

27 May 2010

Military families feel bypassed by overhaul benefits

The Washington Post: Families insured by the military's Tricare program will not be able to keep children on their plans until age 26, like Americans covered by most civilian policies, under the new health law. Before the overhaul passed, military families were assured that the legislation would not "negatively impact" Tricare and the program was left untouched.

27 May 2010

State round up: Texas approves higher co-pays for retirees, California's next elected insurance commissioner to play critical health care role

The Illinois "House voted 71-44 to borrow up to $4 billion to cover next year's payments to the five state-funded pension systems." Lawmakers also rejected a proposal to have "retired state employees paying premiums for their health-care coverage. Rep. Karen May, D-Highland Park, said the state could save $100 million a year by having retirees pay premiums, noting that 92 percent of them pay nothing now."

27 May 2010

Lighthouse1, TSYS Healthcare partner to provide integrated end-to-end healthcare payment solution

Lighthouse1, an industry leader in consumer-driven healthcare (CDH) software solutions, today announced a partnership with TSYS Healthcare to provide an integrated end-to-end healthcare payment solution. The partnership brings another fully integrated payment solution to CDH administrators using the Lighthouse1 OnDemand™ platform.

27 May 2010

Sanofi-aventis, MIT announce strategic alliance agreement for SABIP

Sanofi-aventis announced today a strategic alliance agreement with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Center for Biomedical Innovation, which will be known as the sanofi-aventis Biomedical Innovation Program.

27 May 2010

GSK Consumer Healthcare announces update of alli product label

GSK Consumer Healthcare today announced it will update the alli product label to alert consumers to certain symptoms that have been associated with rare instances of severe liver injury reported in people taking orlistat, the active ingredient in alli. This update follows FDA's completion of its safety review of orlistat and is being implemented in conjunction with Roche, the manufacturer of the prescription dose of orlistat (Xenical). The agency stated that a cause and effect relationship has not been established.

27 May 2010

Democrats struggle to line up votes on bill containing 'doc fix,' COBRA subsidy extension

A jobs and benefits bill that would extend subsidies to help laid-off workers keep their health insurance and would avert payment cuts to Medicare doctors is still pending in Congress.

27 May 2010

Insurers paying doctors faster but inefficiency remains, especially with Medicaid

"US health insurers are paying doctors seven days faster, on average, and denying 12 to 18 percent fewer claims than last year, but the claims reimbursement system remains saddled with inefficiency, according to a new ranking of payers set to be released today," The Boston Globe reports.

27 May 2010

Feds will pay much of Medicaid expansion costs for states, study finds

The Washington Post: "The federal government will bear virtually the entire cost of expanding Medicaid under the new health-care law, according to a comprehensive new study by the Kaiser Family Foundation that directly rebuts the loud protests of governors warning about its impact on their strapped state budgets.

27 May 2010

Feds crack down on health care fraud in California, Florida

The Sacramento Bee reports: "Three Sacramento-area residents are among 11 people, including five doctors, accused of participating in a Medicare fraud ring. ... From February 2006 through August 2008, the defendants are alleged to have operated three health-care clinics -- in Sacramento, Carmichael and Richmond -- that submitted more than $5 million in allegedly fraudulent claims to Medicare" (Locke, 5/25).

27 May 2010

EMEND indication helps women prevent CINV

More women fighting cancers such as breast, lung, colorectal and ovarian can now help prevent the nausea and vomiting associated with their treatment of moderately emetogenic (vomit-inducing) cancer chemotherapy. Although new treatment entities have been developed in the past 10 years for control of chemically-induced nausea and vomiting, CINV remains a significant problem in the context of current practice.

26 May 2010

Humana named nation's top payer for the second consecutive

For the second year in a row and third time in five years, Humana Inc. ranks #1 in overall performance - making it the easiest payer for health care providers to do business with - in a review of 2009 claims-payment data conducted by athenahealth Inc., a provider of Internet-based business services to doctors, and Physician's Practice magazine.

26 May 2010

Perrigo acquires rights to ANDA for HalfLytely and Bisacodyl Tablets Bowel Prep Kit

Perrigo Company today announced that it has acquired rights to Novel Laboratories' pending ANDA for HalfLytely and Bisacodyl Tablets Bowel Prep Kit (PEG-3350, sodium chloride, sodium bicarbonate and potassium chloride for oral solution and bisacodyl delayed-release tablets), indicated for the cleansing of the colon as a preparation for colonoscopy in adults.

26 May 2010

First Edition: May 26, 2010

Today's headlines detail the latest developments regarding legislation moving through Congress that would prevent scheduled cuts in Medicare physician payment and extend health insurance subsidies for unemployed people.

26 May 2010