Healthcare News and Research

Latest Healthcare News and Research

Decision Resources: Only 52.2% of first-line Alzheimer's disease patients prescribed AChEI

Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms focusing on pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that while approximately 70 percent of surveyed physicians' newly diagnosed patients have mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease, only 52.2 percent of first-line patients are prescribed an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor.

30 Mar 2010

Potential new target for treating HCV infection

A team of scientists including University of Utah researchers has discovered that binding of a potent inhibitor of the hepatitis C virus to the genetic material of the virus causes a major conformational change that may adversely affect the ability of the virus to replicate.

30 Mar 2010

Royal Philips Electronics introduces InnerCool RTx Endovascular System

Royal Philips Electronics announced today its launch of the Philips InnerCool RTx Endovascular System for cooling and warming, which provides advanced whole body temperature modulation therapy in a closed-loop system from the inside out. The InnerCool RTx is a high-performance system that can rapidly raise and lower the body temperature of certain non-paralyzed, awake patients of all sizes in the intensive care setting.

From Philips Healthcare 30 Mar 2010

Polls show Dems face uphill climb in selling health votes to electorate

USA Today On Politics Blog: A USA Today/Gallup Poll that will be published in Tuesday's USA Today "shows an uphill selling job ahead for President Obama and congressional Democrats to convince most Americans that the health care overhaul passed last week will help them and their families. In the poll, 50% call passage of the bill 'a bad thing' and 47% say it was 'a good thing.'" These findings are less favorable than a one-day poll taken a week earlier-- a day after the health overhaul measure was approved by the House of Representatives.

30 Mar 2010

Adoption of healthcare IT is on steady incline in small physician practice: NaviNet survey

Adoption of healthcare IT is on a steady incline in the small physician practice, reveals a survey by NaviNet, America's largest real-time healthcare communications network. In early March 2010, NaviNet conducted a survey of IT and electronic medical record adoption trends in small practices and compared results to a similar survey the company issued to small practices in August 2009.

30 Mar 2010

Obama's calm demeanor, Pelosi's firm stand helped push health care law

President Barack Obama and Democrats missed repeated deadlines, fought back cries of 'death panels' and watched healthcare reform nearly die more than dozen times. Through it all, Obama was the steady captain of the ship, his top aides say, a role the president has played since the early days of the 2008 presidential campaign.

30 Mar 2010

LeAnn Rimes encourages psoriasis patients to take Make a Change Pledge

Grammy Award-winning multi-platinum recording artist and psoriasis patient LeAnn Rimes is calling for people with psoriasis to pledge to better manage their disease as part of the awareness campaign "Stop Hiding from Psoriasis." In partnership with the American Academy of Dermatology and National Psoriasis Foundation, LeAnn is encouraging people to take a stand against psoriasis by taking the Make a Change Pledge online at StopHiding.org.

30 Mar 2010

Democrats reflect on importance of reconciliation in health bill strategy

Reconciliation proved critical to health care reform passage, The New York Times reports: "Just a few months into his first term in 1993, President Bill Clinton went to Senator Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia, the protector of Senate rules, to ask permission to use a fast-track budget process known as reconciliation to enact a bold health care overhaul.' At that time, Clinton got neither consent nor the passage of a health care law.

30 Mar 2010

Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics announces new contract with Premier Purchasing Partners

Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics announces a new three-year contract with Premier Purchasing Partners, L.P., the group purchasing unit of Premier Inc., that includes Siemens powerful integrated diagnostic systems, several specialty diagnostic instruments, and a comprehensive menu of diagnostic tests for Premier's more than 2,300 member hospitals and 64,000 additional healthcare sites.

29 Mar 2010

ZHF I repays outstanding U.S. SBA guaranteed debentures

Ziegler Healthcare Fund I (ZHF I), an affiliate of Contemporary Healthcare Capital company, recently achieved a major milestone as a Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) when the firm repaid its outstanding United States Small Business Administration guaranteed debentures.

29 Mar 2010

Eclipsys, Rothman partner to build Patient Condition Tracker software solution on Helios by Eclipsys platform

Following the momentum of launching an industry-defining open architecture platform, Eclipsys Corporation today announced a partnership with Rothman Healthcare Research to build its Patient Condition Tracker software solution on the Helios by Eclipsys™ platform.

29 Mar 2010

GSK offers free vaccines for low income adults without insurance coverage

GlaxoSmithKline today announced the launch of the GSK Vaccines Access Program, which will provide the company's adult vaccines free of charge to eligible, low income individuals who do not have insurance coverage for vaccines. The program will cover the company's FDA-approved vaccines for Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis for eligible persons ages 19 and older.

29 Mar 2010

GHX to cut another $5 billion from healthcare costs

In the debate over healthcare reform, the healthcare supply chain has been largely overlooked as an effective way to reduce the cost of healthcare. Yet GHX and a collaborative community of healthcare providers, manufacturers, distributors and group purchasing organizations (GPOs) have already documented more than $1.3 billion in savings, and are on track to cut another $5 billion from the cost of healthcare over the next 5 years.

29 Mar 2010

Prolucent Workforce Management acquires intellectual property assets from Symbio Solutions

Prolucent™ Workforce Management, the leading partner for healthcare providers seeking to optimize deployment of their workforce, today announced the acquisition of intellectual property assets from Symbio Solutions, Inc. The asset acquisition further strengthens Prolucent's best-of-breed workforce management software platform and will help Prolucent deliver even greater value to the more than 1,000 acute-care hospitals and staffing agencies it currently serves.

29 Mar 2010

Health Robotics launches global Beta installation of 3 i.v.SOFT Workflow Engine automation modules

Health Robotics today announced the successful global launch of the Beta Installation kick-off for its 3 latest i.v.SOFT Workflow Engine software automation modules [Assist, Label+ and Profile] in Nice [France], the 2010 venue for the European Association of Hospital Pharmacists. i.v.SOFT helps Pharmacy Technicians, I.V. Room Supervisors, and Pharmacy Directors to compound and manage the safe and efficient manual production of IV Admixtures according to hospital-defined sterile compounding guidelines, and to help bring the pharmacies into compliance with USP 797 regulations in the United States and GMP guidelines elsewhere.

29 Mar 2010

Today's OpEds: The states' lawsuits, the need to trim health costs and industry winners

No sooner had President Obama signed comprehensive health care reform than the attorneys general of 14 states scurried to the federal courts to challenge the law. ... [they] are doing a disservice to their constituents by opposing Medicaid expansion and a mandate that everyone buy insurance, with subsidies for low- and middle-income people (3/28).

29 Mar 2010

As CMS nominee, Berwick would face changes and challenges

President Barack Obama will soon nominate Dr. Donald M. Berwick to "run Medicare and Medicaid, the programs that serve nearly one-third of all Americans, administration officials said Saturday," The New York Times reports.

29 Mar 2010

FDA grants IDE approval for Urovalve's Surinate Bladder Management System

Urovalve, a medical device company focused on creating superior products for urinary flow and control, announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) approval for the Company's Surinate® Bladder Management System, allowing Urovalve to conduct a clinical study for the Company's lead device in the United States.

29 Mar 2010

Closing Medicare drug gap helps Democrats sell reform

Kaiser Health News writer Christopher Weaver, in a story produced in collaboration with the Los Angeles Times, looks at the government's plan to close the Medicare prescription drug "doughnut hole."

29 Mar 2010

Interim data comparing Cervista HPV HR to Hybrid Capture 2 presented at 4th Biennial Meeting of AOGIN

Hologic, Inc., a leading developer, manufacturer and supplier of premium diagnostics, medical imaging systems and surgical products dedicated to serving the healthcare needs of women, today announced that interim data from the first large-scale independent evaluation of clinical performance of Cervista® HPV HR compared to Hybrid Capture 2 (hc2), were presented at the 4th Biennial Meeting of AOGIN (Asia-Oceanic Research Organization in Genital Infection and Neoplasia) in New Delhi, India on March 26-28, 2010.

29 Mar 2010