Healthcare News and Research

Latest Healthcare News and Research

The President's health summit invite to lawmakers: 'Bring comprehensive legislation'

The Washington Post: "In a letter to lawmakers, Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said the half-day meeting at Blair House would include the top Democratic and Republican congressional leaders and the ranking members in committees that deal with health care. Outlining the format for a session some Republicans have derided as little more than political theater, the Obama advisers said both parties would be allowed to invite four other members each to the discussion, to begin at 10 a.m. and be televised live" (Shear, 2/13).

15 Feb 2010

IMAI formally offered to purchase equity position in pharmaceutical operation

International Merchant Advisors, Inc. announced today that the company has formally offered to purchase an equity position in a pharmaceutical operation that is focused on selling in the chronic pain management medical sector.

15 Feb 2010

Benefits of NaviNet Insurer Connect to be studied in New Jersey

NaviNet, America’s largest real-time healthcare communications network, today announced its participation in a landmark initiative to document the benefits of electronic health information exchange between healthcare providers and health insurers.

15 Feb 2010

CoAxia completes enrollment in NeuroFlo Perfusion Augmentation Therapy trial for ischemic stroke

CoAxia™, Inc. of Maple Grove, MN, announced today the completion of enrollment in its SENTIS randomized, controlled, pivotal trial of NeuroFlo™ Perfusion Augmentation Therapy as an acute interventional treatment for ischemic stroke. The Company plans to complete data collection and analysis of results in Q3 of 2010 and, if warranted, submit a PMA to the US FDA.

15 Feb 2010

Simplex Healthcare to implement comprehensive wellness program for employees

Simplex Healthcare today announced that it is partnering with Onlife Health, a national personal health coaching company, to implement a comprehensive wellness program for its more than 300 employees.

15 Feb 2010

Louisiana, Oklahoma, Mich., Arizona plan Medicaid cuts; N.C.'s prison health costs

The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune: Louisiana "Gov. Bobby Jindal will present his 2010-11 budget request Friday, which is expected to call for cuts to health care, education and other areas of state government as his administration outlines plans for plugging a $1 billion shortfall. ... The general-fund growth is not nearly enough to offset a loss of about $650 million in federal health-care financing, the rising cost of state pensions, automatic pay raises for state workers and inflation in health-care programs."

15 Feb 2010

Polls: People like their own insurance but want reform, heart patients' cost worries

Lancaster Online: "Most Americans who have health insurance are pleased with their coverage, a new national Franklin & Marshall College poll shows. But many of those same people are worried about those who can't afford insurance, and overwhelmingly believe the health care system needs to be reformed, according to a survey of 920 adults. ... The survey found that 75 percent of Americans who have insurance rate their coverage as good or very good — the same percentage who believe the health-care system is in need of reform.

15 Feb 2010

Obama administration to announce $975 million in health IT grants

The Obama administration is awarding $975 million in grants to help states and health care providers adopt health information technology. The grant money being announced Friday comes from the economic stimulus legislation passed by Congress last year and is part of the administration's push to get doctors, hospitals and others to move from paper to computerized record-keeping.

15 Feb 2010

MAXIMUS announces the acquisition of Canadian-based DeltaWare Systems

MAXIMUS, a leading provider of government services, announced today that it has acquired Canadian-based DeltaWare Systems, Inc. (DeltaWare), a premier developer of health administration management systems for the government health care market. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

15 Feb 2010

Administration rejects Anthem Blue Cross' defense of premium hike

WellPoint Inc., the parent company of Anthem Blue Cross of California, is defending its rate hike for customers with individual health insurance, but critics, including the Obama administration, are dubious.

15 Feb 2010

Federal health care tax credits going unclaimed

"Federal healthcare benefits are going unclaimed by an estimated 17,000 Californians whose jobs were moved overseas or retirees whose pensions are being paid by the government after their former employers terminated their retirement plans," the Los Angeles Times reports."

15 Feb 2010

GOP looks to make its case at health summit while Democrats remain skeptical

Politico reports that the White House's Feb. 25 health care summit with Democrats and Republicans "gives the GOP a venue to accomplish something it hasn't been able to do since President Barack Obama took the oath of office: Sell voters on Republican solutions to big problems." But Republicans have so far failed to capitalize because of the lack of a visible figure to champion their causes.

14 Feb 2010

Biden promises to listen to GOP's health care ideas, but some Republicans are not convinced

The health care reform legislation may have been eclipsed recently by the jobs bill and the war in Afghanistan for top billing on the Sunday morning news shows. But Democrats and Republicans still found time to push their positions on health policy Sunday.

14 Feb 2010

U.S. Court rules in favor of Perrigo over Mucinex patent litigation

Perrigo Company announced today that a federal court has granted summary judgment in its favor in patent litigation involving Guaifenesin Extended-Release Tablets, 600 mg, a generic version of Mucinex® tablets. Perrigo had been sued by Adams Respiratory Therapeutics, Inc., (a subsidiary of Reckitt Benckiser Group plc.) the New Drug Application holder and patent owner. The United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan ruled today that Perrigo does not infringe the patent in the suit. Perrigo's ANDA is awaiting FDA approval.

12 Feb 2010

BSC extends agreement for MedeAnalytics' Claims Transparency solution

MedeAnalytics, a leading provider of healthcare performance management solutions, announced that Blue Shield of California (BSC) has extended its agreement for MedeAnalytics’ Claims Transparency solution, which powers BSC’s successful Partnership in Operational Excellence and Transparency (POET) program. BSC has partnered with nearly 100 California hospitals to improve claims performance metrics, streamline business processes and accelerate revenue cycles. The POET program has resulted in a significant decrease in the number of claims denials and appeals.

12 Feb 2010

New book on hospitalist recruitment and retention

Recruitment and retention of physicians in all specialties is a national challenge, and it is expected to become even more difficult due to an impending physician shortage. As relative newcomers to the long line of medical specialists, hospitalists pose special challenges. What will convince a hospitalist to join one organization over another? What might prevent a hospitalist from considering a certain assignment?

12 Feb 2010

Bluewater Health licenses Medworxx LMS and PDMS

Medworxx Inc., provider of healthcare solutions for patient flow, compliance and education, announced that Bluewater Health has licensed the Medworxx Learning Management System and Policy and Document Management System. With the addition of Bluewater Health, every hospital within the Erie St. Clair Local Health Integration Network (ESC LHIN) is a Medworxx customer.

12 Feb 2010

VR technology plays important role in treating patients with PTSD

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) threatens to overload healthcare and social support systems worldwide as the number of cases rises and existing treatments are not sufficiently effective.

12 Feb 2010

First Edition: February 12, 2010

Today's headlines highlight the continuing flap over Anthem Blue Cross' planned rate hike as well as GOP and Democratic responses to President Obama's proposed health summit.

12 Feb 2010

MSNJ participates in multi-payer health care common portal project

Health plans today launched a landmark initiative to make delivering and getting health care easier for patients and their physicians by reducing the time, effort, and expense for the "paperwork" required for each patient office visit. The initiative, which will simplify information flow between health plans and doctors' offices, and between health plans and hospitals, is comparable to what ATMs did for banks and consumers.

12 Feb 2010