Healthcare News and Research

Latest Healthcare News and Research

One-third of Minnesotans understate their weight problems

When it comes to self-perceptions about their own healthy weight, many Minnesotans appear to be adapting Garrison Keillor's famous quip: "I believe in looking reality straight in the eye and denying it."

25 May 2010

STOP Obesity Alliance researchers receive $250,000 donation to research on health impact of obesity

The research team of The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services' Department of Health Policy's Strategies to Overcome and Prevent Obesity Alliance received a $250,000 donation from Allergan, Inc. to support public health, policy analysis and research about the economic and health impact of obesity and related chronic diseases.

25 May 2010

Florida health care providers offer language services, medical homes

As "the region continues to attract residents from all over the country and the world, local health care providers and educators are searching for ways to better serve them." Some use "cultural toolkits," and have guides to help providers relate to patients' cultural and religious preferences. "'From a business perspective, it makes a lot of sense,' said Bernardo Ramirez, assistant professor of health services administration at the University of Central Florida.

24 May 2010

Baxa announces release of InFuse T-10 Syringe Infuser

Baxa Corporation, a leading provider of medical devices and systems that automate pharmacy operations and increase patient safety, today announced the release of the InFuse T-10 Syringe Infuser. Specifically designed for the delivery of intermittent antibiotics and other non-rate critical intravenous doses, the Baxa InFuse T-10 Syringe Infuser frees up expensive, smart infusion pumps for more critical applications and gives nurses more time to focus on patient care.

24 May 2010

Vaso Healthcare, GE Healthcare sign sales representative agreement

Vasomedical, Inc. today announced that its subsidiary, Vaso Diagnostics Inc. d/b/a Vaso Healthcare, has signed a sales representative agreement with GE Healthcare, the healthcare business unit of GE, for the sale of select GE Healthcare Diagnostic Imaging products. Under the Agreement, Vaso Healthcare has been appointed the exclusive representative for these products to specific market segments in the 48 contiguous states of the United States and District of Columbia.

24 May 2010

Today's OpEds: Taxing health plans, a health care 'loophole,' NY Times on medical loss ratio

Few Americans know what a "medical loss ratio" is, but a fierce struggle over how to calculate it under the new health care reform law will determine how much insurers must spend on patient care and how much they can retain for administration and profits. This is but one of many battles that will emerge as federal and state regulators develop regulations to implement reform (5/23).

24 May 2010

66% of patients with schizophrenia have extreme trust in their psychiatrists: New survey

According to a new survey sponsored by Janssen, Division of Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc, 80 percent of patients with schizophrenia, a chronic, severe and disabling brain disorder, say their psychiatrists do well or very well in treating them with courtesy and respect. This positive relationship is particularly important in treating schizophrenia as patients and psychiatrists must work closely together to determine appropriate treatment plans that will help patients manage their symptoms and reduce their risk of relapse.

24 May 2010

Study: Health law could mean penalties for one in three employers

News outlets covered analyses of health law provisions affecting businesses. "About one-third of employers subject to major requirements of the new health care law may face tax penalties because they offer health insurance that could be considered unaffordable to some employees, a new study says," The New York Times reports.

24 May 2010

Zotec Partners announces strategic technology alliance with Florida-based MBS

Zotec Partners, an industry leader in medical billing, practice management and Radiology Information Systems software and services, is announcing today a strategic technology alliance with Florida-based Medical Business Service, Inc. This alliance enables Zotec Partners to further penetrate the radiology and pathology markets and strengthen its position as a leader in hospital-based revenue cycle management.

24 May 2010

China Yongxin Pharmaceuticals first-quarter 2010 revenues increase 16.3% to $10.68M

China Yongxin Pharmaceuticals Inc., one of the leading health products distribution and retail sales companies in China, today announced its financial results for the first quarter ending March 31, 2010.

24 May 2010

BHS selects Compuware's EHR Service Delivery Solution to monitor performance of its EHR systems

Compuware Corporation today announced that Baptist Health System, one of the largest not-for-profit healthcare systems and employers in Alabama, has selected Compuware's EHR Service Delivery Solution—powered by Compuware Vantage—to monitor the performance and availability of its Electronic Health Record systems and ensure Service Level Agreements are being met.

24 May 2010

Salix Pharmaceuticals announces availability of Xifaxan tablets for reducing risk of overt HE recurrence

Salix Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. today announced the availability of Xifaxan (rifaximin) 550 mg tablets for the reduction in risk of overt hepatic encephalopathy recurrence in patients 18 years of age or older. Those HE patients may now fill their Xifaxan 550 mg prescriptions in U.S. pharmacies and should speak with their doctors about this important treatment option.

24 May 2010

First Edition: May 24, 2010

Irene Wielawski writes for Kaiser Health News that electronic medical records may be as important as stethoscopes. "Dr. David Blumenthal was not happy to find a new computer installed on his desk when he showed up for work one morning eight years ago at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. He knew the hospital had been hard at work on developing an electronic medical record system, but Blumenthal wasn't keen on changing practices that had served him and his patients just fine over the years.

24 May 2010

Spectrum Health receives MEDSEEK's 2010 eHealth Excellence Award

MEDSEEK, the industry's only provider of the eHealth ecoSystemTM, announced today that Spectrum Health was awarded MEDSEEK's 2010 eHealth Excellence Award for outstanding vision, innovation and performance in using eHealth technology to enhance care delivery, information access and service. The award was presented at MEDSEEK's 10th Annual eHealth Client Congress in San Diego, Calif., on May 5, 2010.

24 May 2010

State roundup: Genetic testing on campus, Texas docs in Mass., and more

"A plan by the University of California, Berkeley to voluntarily test the DNA of incoming freshman has come under fire from critics who said the school was pushing an unproven technology on impressionable students. The university has said it will send test kits to 5,500 new students to analyze genes that help control the body's responses to alcohol, dairy products and folic acid" (Wohlsen, 5/21).

24 May 2010

New Mexico meets all requirements for operational planning as part of ARRA state HIE program: ONC

New Mexico is the first state to meet all requirements for strategic and operational planning as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act state health information exchange cooperative agreement program, according to the United States Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.

24 May 2010

MediConnect Global renames PassportMD online portal to myMediConnect

MediConnect Global today announced that it has changed the name of its personal health record and consumer health portal, PassportMD, to myMediConnect.

24 May 2010

Medical groups sue for exemption from new FTC credit rules

Some speciality publications are covering the dispute over possible impact on dentists, doctors and other medical professionals.

24 May 2010

Disparities exist in bone marrow transplantation

African-Americans and women are less likely than Caucasians and men to undergo bone marrow transplantation to treat cancers of the blood.

24 May 2010

Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals presents Phase 3 clinical data on gadobutrol

Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced presentation of data in a poster titled "Results from a multicenter, open-label Phase 3 study to determine the safety and efficacy of gadobutrol, a macrocyclic 1.0 molar GBCA in patients referred for contrast-enhanced MRI of the central nervous system (CNS)" at the 48th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Neuroradiology (ASNR) in Boston, MA.

24 May 2010