Healthcare News and Research

Latest Healthcare News and Research

Phase Forward to be acquired by Oracle for $17.00 per share in cash

Phase Forward Incorporated, a leading provider of data management solutions for clinical trials and drug safety, today announced that it has agreed to be acquired by Oracle for $17.00 per share in cash, representing a valuation of approximately $685 million.

16 Apr 2010

Merge Healthcare subsidiary extends tender offer period for AMICAS shares

Merge Healthcare Incorporated and AMICAS, Inc. today announced that the tender offer by Project Ready Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Merge Healthcare, for all of the outstanding shares of AMICAS common stock has been extended to 5:00 p.m., New York City, New York time, on Friday, April 23, 2010, unless further extended.

16 Apr 2010

First Edition: April 16, 2010

Today's headlines highlight the passage of a temporary extension of jobless benefits -- including a COBRA subsidy -- and a directive issued by President Obama to extend medical rights for same-sex partners.

16 Apr 2010

Exergen's TemporalScanner effective alternative to rectal thermometry

According to a recent study published by the Journal of Pediatric Nursing, "The utilization of temporal artery thermometry offers a reliable method to measure temperature while also offering significant comfort benefits to children, decreasing risks associated with the rectal thermometry method, improving the quality and efficiency of nursing care, and improving patient and family satisfaction."

16 Apr 2010

ASH named fourth healthiest large-group business employer in San Diego county

American Specialty Health Incorporated (ASH), a leading national health and wellness organization, announced that it was named the fourth healthiest large-group business in San Diego county in the first annual "San Diego's Healthiest Employers Awards," produced by the San Diego Business Journal. Certificates were presented to 50 finalists, and only the top five companies in small, medium, and large categories were named as honorees.

16 Apr 2010

GE's first-quarter 2010 revenues decrease 5%

GE announced today first-quarter 2010 earnings from continuing operations (attributable to GE) of $2.3 billion, down 18% from the first quarter of 2009, or $0.21 per share. Revenues were $36.6 billion for the quarter, down 5% from a year ago, reflecting acceleration of GE Capital downsizing.

16 Apr 2010

Alexion Pharmaceuticals' Soliris NDA for PNH receives approval in Japan

Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Alexion Pharma International Sàrl today announced that Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) has approved the Company's New Drug Application (NDA) for the use of Soliris® (eculizumab) as a treatment for patients in Japan with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH).

16 Apr 2010

Federal report details health care quality across states; Online system ranks quality at Illinois hospitals

A Maryland Web site explores how the state ranked in a federal report about health care quality while other news operations look at an online site offered in Illinois that assesses hospitals there.

16 Apr 2010

OnFocus Healthcare secures $3M to support ongoing sales and marketing of EPM software

onFocus Healthcare, Inc. the leading provider of web-based enterprise performance management solutions for the healthcare services marketplace, today announced it has secured $3 million in Series B financing led by Clayton Associates' FCA Venture Partners IV.

16 Apr 2010

Novel instrument may help limit spread of diarrhoea-causing bacteria

New strains of Clostridium difficile are making the diarrhoea-causing bacteria a global health problem. In hospitals especially, the bacteria can be extremely harmful. But a new instrument devised by Professor Chris Probert at The University of Bristol and Norman Ratcliffe from the University of the West of England (UWE) may help limit its spread.

16 Apr 2010

Seasonal flu tends to move in traveling waves: Researchers

An analysis of hospitalization records for adults age 65 and over found that seasonal flu tends to move in traveling waves, peaking earliest in western states such as Nevada, Utah, and California and working its way east. New England states such as Rhode Island, Maine, and New Hampshire tend to have the latest peak in seasonal flu, according to public health researchers at Tufts University in Boston.

16 Apr 2010

Marker Seven designs and develops new Website for CCHP

Marker Seven, an award-winning digital agency, has just completed the design and development of a brand new Website for The Center for Connected Health Policy. The site allows CCHP to reach a broad audience with its work to advance the integration of telehealth technologies into the state's healthcare system.

16 Apr 2010

Mass. insurers to revise rates or face fines; In Conn., a lawmaker hopes to help with insurance denials

"State regulators [Tuesday] demanded that health insurers submit revised April 1 premium rates for tens of thousands of individuals and small businesses by 3 p.m. [Thursday] or face stiff fines," The Boston Globe reports.

16 Apr 2010

Low income and lack of health insurance result in fewer rate of colorectal cancer screening

High out-of-pocket costs, lack of health insurance and limited access to care contribute to a relatively low rate of colorectal cancer screening in the United States, according to a new systematic review by researchers at the RTI International-University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Evidence-based Practice Center.

16 Apr 2010

International experts discuss threats posed by ticks and fleas

As experts from around the world met in New York this week they discussed the need for greater understanding of the threat posed by ticks, fleas and sand flies. Leading scientists called on veterinarians and dog-owners around the world to take action to protect dogs and humans from potentially lethal diseases.

16 Apr 2010

CycleBeads Conception Kit for women contemplating pregnancy

A scientifically-based tool developed by researchers from Georgetown University's Institute for Reproductive Health to help women prevent pregnancy naturally, is now being used by a growing number of women to help plan pregnancy.

16 Apr 2010

Current screening methods for FOBT are often not appropriate

More than 75 percent of primary care physicians in the United States who order or perform the fecal occult blood test as a screening option for colorectal cancer perform an in-office test rather than relying on the home-based test, even though the home-based test is more accurate, a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found.

16 Apr 2010

Portable x-ray and CR imaging systems installed in Africa and Central America

MinXray Inc., a world-wide leader in the supply of portable x-ray and digital imaging equipment, is pleased to announce recent installations of portable x-ray and CR imaging systems throughout Nigeria Africa and in Honduras Central America.

16 Apr 2010

Lawmaker cancels hearing on big corporations' tax deductions related to health reform

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., canceled a hearing set for next week that would have probed recent announcements by large firms that they are taking millions of dollars in health law-related write-downs, Kaiser Health News reports.

16 Apr 2010

Community colleges to have new curriculum to educate HIT workers

Community colleges will soon have the capacity and ability to educate much-needed health information technology workers. Using a new six to 12 month informatics curriculum developed at the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing and deployed throughout the U.S., local colleges will have access to high-quality HIT educational programs, while helping their instructors supplement their own level of knowledge.

16 Apr 2010