Healthcare News and Research

Latest Healthcare News and Research

Wave of tax changes comes with health law

The new health law will make a variety of changes to the tax code, including higher levies on the wealthy and millions of dollars in lost deductions for some corporations.

9 Apr 2010

Those who understand insurance coverage more cost-conscious, study says

The Associated Press/The Boston Herald: "Workers who better understand their health insurance plans — from their share of premiums to co-payments for doctor office and emergency room visits — are more likely to make more cost-efficient decisions, a new study finds. The study, which surveyed about 1,500 government workers in Massachusetts," was published in The American Journal of Managed Care.

9 Apr 2010

New CMS web site shines light on Medicare spending

A new Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Web site is making more claims data available to the public, Modern Healthcare reports. The so-called "CMS Dashboard" reveals Medicare spending for the top 25 conditions in hospitals, and allows users to compare spending by state, conditions by spending and to review the top-10-spending states for each condition. Medicare Advantage patients are not included in the data set (Evans, 4/7).

9 Apr 2010

Superbugs on the decline in Scottish hospitals

The number of cases of hospital infections is on the decline in Scotland. Clostridium difficile, the hospital super bug which brings down a number of patients each year have halved in the last year. In the last 3 months of last year the patients over 65 years reported 672 cases of Clostridium difficile. This is a 48% decline from the 1,299 cases reported in the last three months of 2008.

9 Apr 2010

Miami Medicare case spotlights federal probes into HIV therapy fraud

A new Miami Medicare fraud case spotlights federal investigations of massive scams using HIV therapies.

9 Apr 2010

Ribavirin Biopartners 200mg film-coated tablets granted EU marketing approval

Biopartners GmbH has announced that it has received EU marketing authorization from the European Commission for Ribavirin Biopartners 200mg film-coated tablets. The product is intended for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C infection as part of a combination regimen with peginterferon alfa-2b or interferon alfa-2b.

9 Apr 2010

Democrats, Republicans using health reform votes to plot November strategies

The Associated Press: Vulnerable Democrats around the country are "tiptoeing" during the recess as they prepare for midterm elections. "Tough votes for Obama's health care plan have further complicated the re-election prospects of dozens of already vulnerable freshman and second-term Democrats. There's even a chance the party could lose control of one or both houses in the midterm elections."

9 Apr 2010

Mass. Judge says he will decide by Monday whether state erred in rejecting premium increases

A Suffolk Superior Court judge today "promised to make a decision by Monday afternoon in a high-stakes showdown between the [Gov. Deval] Patrick administration and the state's top health insurers" over proposed premium increases rejected by the state's Division of Insurance, the Boston Herald reports (McConville, 4/8).

9 Apr 2010

QuadraMed introduces Quantim ICD-10 Coding Simulator

QuadraMed® Corporation, a leading provider of healthcare technologies and services that help turn quality care into positive financial outcomes, today announced the general availability of the industry's first ICD-10 Simulator developed to help coders prepare for the transition to ICD-10. The Quantim ICD-10 Coding Simulator, which is available today as a component of the ICD-10 Countdown Program, is a unique solution that duplicates the ICD-10 coding environment for accelerated training and practice purposes.

9 Apr 2010

Linda Douglass leaving Obama's staff

The Hill reports that the "White House's top spokeswoman" on the health care issue is leaving.

9 Apr 2010

Merge Healthcare to exhibit expanded suite of women's imaging solutions at NCBC 2010

Merge Healthcare, a health IT solutions leader, today announced it will be showcasing it's expanded suite of innovative solutions and support of comprehensive continuing education programs for the advancement of women's imaging at the National Conference on Breast Cancer (NCBC) 2010. Additionally, Merge plans to introduce and collaborate with attendees on its Women's Healthcare Initiative, which builds partnerships with clinicians to provide broader access to training in the analysis and interpretation of these important studies.

8 Apr 2010

Political controversies surrounding healthcare reform law may continue

A comprehensive review of national opinion polls taken before and after Congressional voting and when President Obama signed into law a major healthcare reform bill last month has found that the law's signing did not lead the country to come together in support of this landmark legislation. Partisan differences are stark, according to researchers at Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) who analyzed 33 independent opinion polls in an effort to gauge public support for healthcare change.

8 Apr 2010

Crohn's disease: Remicade prescription to decrease, while Humira's increases

Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms for pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that surveyed gastroenterologists estimate that (assuming no new data on adverse events emerge) they will treat fewer Crohn's disease patients with Centocor Ortho Biotech/Merck/Mitsubishi Tanabe's Remicade by the end of 2010, while the percentage of biologics-treated patients receiving Abbott/Eisai's Humira will increase to 36 percent.

8 Apr 2010

BioClinica WebSend system that accelerates image collection for clinical studies released

BioClinica, Inc., a global provider of clinical trial management services, today announced the release of BioClinica WebSend, a system that simplifies and accelerates image collection for clinical studies. WebSend transfers and tracks medical images in real-time, offering key benefits over the standard manual transport methods commonly used in imaging trials, including faster delivery of image data, enhanced data quality with fewer site queries, and reduced cost.

From Clario 8 Apr 2010

First Edition: April 8, 2010

Today's health policy news coverage explores the political and policy implications of the new health reform law.

8 Apr 2010

Tangent introduces Medix T22 point-of-care terminal for patients and practitioners

Tangent Inc., today announced the Medix T22, a medical grade, point-of-care terminal with a sharp and clear 22-inch wide-screen TFD display.

8 Apr 2010

CPhA expresses concern about Ontario drug system reform

The Canadian Pharmacists Association is concerned about the impact the cuts to local pharmacies, announced by the McGuinty Liberals, will have on the overall health of Ontarians.

8 Apr 2010

Negative consequences of inadequate nursing handoffs: Best practices need to be identified

A systematic review of nursing handoff literature found that minimal research has been done to identify best practices, despite well-known negative consequences of inadequate nursing handoffs. The article was published in the April issue of the American Journal of Nursing (AJN).

8 Apr 2010

Hospital TV remotes are potential reservoir of bacteria

According to RID (Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths) over thirty billion dollars is spent each year in the US on hospital-acquired infections. (Infections caught while hospitalized). These very preventable infections cost an additional $15,000.00 on average per patient infected and kill more people in this country than AIDS, breast cancer and car accidents combined.

8 Apr 2010

Xhale Innovations wins 2010 Medical Design Excellence Award for HyGreen hand hygiene system

HyGreen™, developed by Xhale Innovations, Inc., has been selected as a winner in the 2010 Medical Design Excellence Awards competition, one of the most prestigious awards in the medical device industry. The announcement comes on the heels of winning the 2009 Popular Science Best of What's New Award, and is the latest success for this market-defining product.

8 Apr 2010