Healthcare News and Research

Latest Healthcare News and Research

Medicity's agent-grid technology for health information exchange awarded U.S. patent

Medicity—the leading provider of health information exchange (HIE) solutions that empower physicians, hospitals and communities to improve care coordination, collaboration and achieve meaningful use of health information technology—today announced the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has awarded the company Patent No. 7,653,634 for its agent-grid technology for health information exchange. This patented technology, which is at the core of Medicity’s Novo Grid, has become the industry standard for seamless electronic health record (EHR) integration and community-wide health information exchange.

5 Feb 2010

Anthem Blue Cross introduces DailyMed Pharmacy program for Medi-Cal members

Imagine having to face the daily struggle of taking six or more different medications a day to manage a chronic health condition; add to this the worry of missing or taking a dose incorrectly. For Anthem Blue Cross (Anthem) Medi-Cal members, that daily struggle will now be simplified to help increase medication adherence and reduce medication errors.

5 Feb 2010

Top-line results from Optimer Pharmaceuticals' second fidaxomicin Phase 3 trial in CDI patients

Optimer Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced positive top-line results from the second of two pivotal Phase 3 trials evaluating the safety and efficacy of fidaxomicin (OPT-80) in patients with Clostridium difficile Infection (CDI). This study was conducted in approximately 100 clinical sites throughout North America and Europe. The Company plans to use data from this study to support submission of a New Drug Application (NDA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the second half of 2010.

5 Feb 2010

Ascension Health, American Well launch ‘Online Care’ services to increase access to quality healthcare

As part of its efforts to improve the healthcare experience of those it serves and better meet their needs throughout their lives across the entire healthcare continuum, Ascension Health has reached an agreement with American Well™ Inc. to bring Online Care services to communities served by Ascension Health's local Health Ministries.

5 Feb 2010

San Antonio Methodist Hospital upgrades to Leksell Gamma Knife Perfexion system

AMERICAN SHARED HOSPITAL SERVICES, a leading provider of turnkey technology solutions for advanced radiosurgical and radiation therapy services, announced today that it has entered into a contract to supply a Leksell Gamma Knife® PerfexionTM system to Methodist Hospital in San Antonio, Texas. This new Perfexion system, the eighth placed by AMS to date, will replace an existing Gamma Knife supplied by AMS and is expected to begin treating patients later this year.

5 Feb 2010

ARMC selects HMS to provide hospital information system applications for its general acute hospital

Arizona Regional Medical Center (ARMC) has selected Healthcare Management Systems, Inc.® (HMS) to provide hospital information system applications for its general acute hospital, located in Mesa, Ariz.

5 Feb 2010

With health reform stalled, Medicare coverage for some therapies subject to caps

Stalled health care reform efforts have created several unresolved issues, some of which related to Medicare and Medicaid.

5 Feb 2010

ThermoGenesis announces distribution agreement with GE Healthcare for its AXP System

ThermoGenesis Corp., a leading supplier of innovative products for processing and storing adult stem cells, today announced a new enhanced distribution agreement with GE Healthcare, a unit of General Electric Company, for its AXP® AutoXpress ™ (AXP) System used in the processing of cord blood.

5 Feb 2010

Arrayit's VIP DNA testing technology receives patent protection in Israel

Arrayit Corporation, a life sciences and healthcare technology leader, announced today that the Company has received patent protection in the State of Israel for its proprietary Variation Identification Platform™ (VIP™) DNA testing technology. The Israeli patent extends Arrayit's current patent portfolio, which includes VIP patents in the United States, Singapore, New Zealand, China, South Korea, and the European Union.

5 Feb 2010

Pfizer, DxS sign agreement to develop a diagnostic test kit for CDX-110 to treat patients with GBM

Pfizer Inc. and DxS (a wholly owned subsidiary of QIAGEN N.V.) today announced that they have entered into an agreement to develop a companion diagnostic test kit for PF-04948568 (CDX-110), an immunotherapy vaccine in development for the treatment of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM).

5 Feb 2010

Polymedco's automated immunoassay fecal occult blood test system receives FDA clearance

Polymedco, Inc. today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted 510(k) clearance of the OC-Sensor Diana, a high throughput automated system for the immunoassay fecal occult blood test (FIT) used for detecting gastrointestinal bleeding associated with disorders such as colorectal cancer, polyps and colitis.

5 Feb 2010

Majority of rural hospital stays are covered by Medicare

Medicare patients accounted for almost half of all stays (45 percent) at rural hospitals in 2007, while the percentage of Medicare beneficiaries who were admitted to urban hospitals was considerably lower (35 percent) , according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

5 Feb 2010

Health spending consumes more of U.S. economy, will tip toward government

A new report by federal actuaries shows government programs will pay for more than half of all U.S. health care spending by 2012, and that total spending on health grew as a share of the economy by 1.1 percent last year to 17.3 percent, the largest leap ever, the Los Angeles Times reports.

4 Feb 2010

Obama tries to bridge Democratic divide on health reform

Speaking with Senate Democrats Wednesday, President Obama "suggested that Republicans could be enlisted to play at least some role in negotiating a final bill, The Washington Post reports.

4 Feb 2010

Arizona Oncology physicians provide advanced cancer care for MHC patients

Cancer patients in Marana now have more options for cancer care. Arizona Oncology physicians will now treat patients at Marana Healthcare Clinic (MHC). Drs. Laurie Chen and Y. Haroon Ahmad, medical oncologists, are now actively caring for patients at MHC.

4 Feb 2010

COBRA extension likely part of Senate Democratic jobs plan

The Wall Street Journal: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid today said he plans to move the " first part of a job-creation package next week." In discussing the measure during a Capitol Hill press conference, Democratic leaders were short of specifics "but pledged to make the issue of job creation their top priority in 2010."

4 Feb 2010