Healthcare News and Research

Latest Healthcare News and Research

Media outlets examine urbanization, health ahead of World Health Day

Several media outlets examine the health risks associated with rapid urbanization around the world - the theme of this year's World Health Day, to be marked on Wednesday.

7 Apr 2010

Rome Foundation develops Diagnostic Algorithms to diagnose GI symptoms

New clinical algorithms will give physicians a practical, efficient and cost-effective aid to diagnose the frequent gastrointestinal symptoms that patients commonly bring to their primary care doctors and gastroenterologists--symptoms of functional GI disorders that are often difficult to diagnose.

7 Apr 2010

Publicis Groupe announces acquisition of In-Sync

Publicis Groupe announced today that it has acquired Toronto-based In-Sync, a recognized thought leader in the customer insight space. In-Sync will become part of Publicis Healthcare Communications Group (PHCG). In-Sync, with 75 employees, is a market research consultancy offering a fully integrated suite of innovative, quantitative and qualitative branded products to top biopharma companies worldwide. The acquisition of In-Sync will strengthen PHCG's edge by providing clients with greater customer insight in the healthcare space.

7 Apr 2010

Avastin approval to drive ovarian cancer drug market to $1.5 billion in 2018

Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms for pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that the ovarian cancer drug market -- driven by the approval and rapid uptake of Roche/Genentech/Chugai's Avastin -- will more than triple from $449 million in 2008 to just under $1.5 billion in 2018 in the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and Japan.

7 Apr 2010

Patients with sickle cell disease require acute care: Study

Patients with sickle cell disease average about 2.5 hospital visits per year, with 18- to 30-year old patients more likely to require acute care or rehospitalization, according to a study in the April 7 issue of JAMA.

7 Apr 2010

Sebelius vows implementation of health law will be clear, transparent

"U.S. health officials aim to move swiftly and clearly to implement newly enacted healthcare reforms, the nation's health secretary said in remarks on Tuesday aimed at selling Americans on the benefits of the controversial changes," Reuters reports. In excerpts of a speech to be delivered today at the National Press Club, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius explained health officials would work "to be as clear and transparent as possible" as the law is implemented. "

7 Apr 2010

Medicare advantage insurers won't see increase in 2011

Payments for Medicare Advantage plans, which are operated by private health insurers, will be frozen at this year's rates in 2011, Bloomberg BusinessWeek reports.

7 Apr 2010

$13,000 per year AIDS drugs Reyataz: AHF calls upon BMS to lower price

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) is pressing New York-based drug firm Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) to lower the price of its key AIDS drug, Reyataz—currently priced at over $13,000 per year—for lifesaving, but financially hard-hit AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAPs) nationwide.

7 Apr 2010

FDA grants 510(k) clearance for STERIS SYSTEM 1E Liquid Chemical Sterilant Processing System

STERIS Corporation today announced that it has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 510(k) clearance for the STERIS SYSTEM 1E® Liquid Chemical Sterilant Processing System.

7 Apr 2010

Insurers sue Mass. regulators over rejected rate hikes

Massachusetts insurers are suing the state government after regulators rejected proposed double-digit premium rate increases that would have gone into effect April 1. The move would spell hundreds of millions of dollars in losses for the six insurers that joined the suit, the firms said.

7 Apr 2010

Berwick, Blumenthal may form dream team at CMS

Healthcare IT News: "If Donald Berwick, MD, is confirmed as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, he and David Blumenthal, MD, the national coordinator for health IT, would be a 'dream team' in pursuing a coherent national healthcare and health IT strategy. At least that's the assessment of Kerry Weems, who spent 25 years in senior roles at the Health and Human Services Department and was acting administrator of CMS from Sept. 2007 until the Obama administration took over.

7 Apr 2010

GE Capital, Healthcare Financial Services supports CCS Medical with $35M revolving line of credit

GE Capital, Healthcare Financial Services today announced it has provided a $35 million revolving line of credit to CCS Medical, Inc. The loan will be used to refinance existing debt, provide working capital and support growth initiatives following CCS Medical's exit from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on March 31, 2010.

7 Apr 2010

Today's OpEds: Harkin, Coleman, Leavitt and others

Despite all the talk recently about how our nation has become divided and ungovernable, we have proved not only that we are governable, but also that we still have the capacity to act with boldness and vision (Sen. Tom Harkin, 4/6).

7 Apr 2010

SANUWAVE Health announces completion of patient enrollment in dermaPACE Phase III clinical trial

SANUWAVE Health, Inc., an emerging medical technology company focused on the development and commercialization of non-invasive, biological response activating devices in the regenerative medicine area, today announced that patient enrollment was completed in March in its dermaPACE™ Phase III pivotal, randomized, double-blinded, sham controlled, multicenter clinical trial comparing its Pulsed Acoustic Cellular Expression technology, utilizing the dermaPACE™ tissue regeneration device, to sham control for the treatment of diabetic foot ulcers.

6 Apr 2010

Health care reform will have negative effect on cardiology patients, practices: American cardiologists

American cardiologists believe that recently passed health care reform will have a negative effect on both their cardiology patients and their practices, according to a new survey.

6 Apr 2010

First Edition: April 6, 2010

Among today's headlines is news about a lawsuit filed by Massachusetts insurers who are seeking to reverse the state insurance commissioner's decision and allow them to raise rates.

6 Apr 2010

MHS to deploy NextGen EHR and NextGen HIE management solutions

NextGen Healthcare Information Systems, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Quality Systems, Inc. and a leading provider of healthcare information systems and connectivity solutions, today announced an agreement with Mercy Health System to deploy NextGen® EHR and NextGensm Health Information Exchange.

6 Apr 2010

Oncologists to provide overview on new neuro-oncology guidelines

John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center will bring together top neuro-oncologists from around the country for an all day symposium to address new treatment updates and review management of complex cases across a broad array of neuro-oncology specialties.

6 Apr 2010

ITI to lead multi-university consortium to improve patient outcomes

The U.S. health care community has increasingly been adopting the use of electronic medical records and other electronic health information systems, but serious concerns about the security and privacy of those systems have been raised.

6 Apr 2010

Next phase of health reform in the U.S. to focus on individualized care: PwC

The next phase of health reform in the United States will reflect a concerted effort to keep people well, out of the hospital and more actively engaged in managing their own health, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.

6 Apr 2010