Healthcare News and Research

Latest Healthcare News and Research

State round-up: News from California, Colorado and Massachusetts

The Los Angeles Times: The California State Senate Wednesday approved a $196-million plan to tax insurance companies and capture federal dollars to keep about 700,000 children from being dropped from a governmental insurance program for the working poor. "The state Senate passed a measure to create a new tax on insurance companies and bring in federal money to rescue the decade-old Healthy Families program, which had been cut deeply in recent months as lawmakers scrambled to balance the state budget" (Bailey and Mcgreevy, 9/3).

4 Sep 2009

Real American Brands to start medical transportation business

Real American Brands, Inc. (PINKSHEETS: RLAB) announced today that the company has approved plans to pursue and operate an emergency and non-emergency health services transportation division, to be developed in close consultation with transport and medical personnel who have broad experience in the field.

4 Sep 2009

$NEI awards grant to Vivakor for developing a digital photo-refractor$

NEI awards grant to Vivakor for developing a digital photo-refractor

Vivakor, Inc. announced that the National Institutes of Health-National Eye Institute has awarded a grant to Vivakor, Inc. in Coralville, IA through the Small Business Innovation Research Awards.

4 Sep 2009

Flat fees and EMR usage vary significantly in different hospitals

HighRoads, the company providing employers – for the first time – complete control over their health care costs and compliance, today announced findings from the industry’s first medical travel request for information (RFI) for Fortune 500 employers to compare health care procedural ethics, quality and costs around the world.

4 Sep 2009

SCA collaborates with Surgical Hospital to expand its services

Surgical Hospital of Oklahoma, located in Oklahoma City, today announced that it has partnered with Surgical Care Affiliates (SCA), one of the country's largest providers of specialty surgical services.

4 Sep 2009

Google's Director of Technology commits $5M to the Sebastian Ferrero Foundation's children's hospital

Following the unimaginable loss of their son Sebastian less than two years ago, Horst and Luisa Ferrero created the Sebastian Ferrero Foundation with a mission to improve child patient safety and develop a full-service children's hospital. Today the stars have aligned for the Foundation with two significant steps forward.

4 Sep 2009

Medicare advantage rates could go up, while Part D 'exceeding expectations'

"Despite near-zero inflation and recessionary conditions, health insurers in 2010 face another year of double-digit increases in the charges they pay for hospital services, physicians, drugs, and other healthcare costs," U.S. News and World Report writes in a news column.

4 Sep 2009

Town hall meetings continue to trigger unexpected events

The New York Times reports that conservatives are hungry for a real debate beyond the rhetoric at these events: "Far from embracing the attacks, many leading conservative health care policy experts said in recent interviews that the dynamic was precluding a more robust real-world debate while making it nearly impossible for them to inject their studied, free-market solutions into the discussion.

4 Sep 2009

CELDA used for assessing the cerebrospinal fluid granted CE marking

LinkMed’s portfolio company Likvor has been granted CE marking for its instrument for better and safer identification and diagnosis of Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus (NPH).

4 Sep 2009

Americans' health perceptions contradict national statistics

We think we’re healthier than we actually are, suggests a new survey from market research leader Mintel. Surveying Americans about their health, Mintel found people’s perceptions strongly contradict national statistics about obesity, illness and wellness.

4 Sep 2009

Healthland and PMI form partnership to provide EIS solutions to small community hospitals

Healthland, America's market leader of healthcare information solutions for small community and critical access hospitals, announced today it has partnered with the Performance Management Institute (PMI), to deliver an innovative solution to small community hospitals. PMI works with numerous state networks and hospital systems to provide a platform for monitoring and performance.

4 Sep 2009

Members of Congress will seek business investment in Rwanda

A delegation of five U.S. members of Congress traveling in Africa "pledged to woo the U.S. business community to invest in Rwanda," New Times/allAfrica.com reports. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), who is leading the delegation, "said that Rwanda has proven to be one of the most favourable places to do business and it would be a major destination for U.S. investors," the publication writes. "I think the U.S. can continue to send individuals here, businessmen especially, that would invest in Rwanda and also help the people of Rwanda. I think this is very important," Meeks said.

4 Sep 2009

FDA approves new xTAG Cystic Fibrosis 39 Kit v2 from Luminex

Luminex Corporation (NASDAQ: LMNX), the worldwide leader in multiplexed solutions, today announced that it has received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for a new cystic fibrosis (CF) test: the xTAG® Cystic Fibrosis 39 Kit v2.

From Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. 4 Sep 2009

Department of Health's guidance on swine flu vaccination leaves local health chiefs confused

Thousands of frontline health workers in England are trapped in a postcode lottery after Department of Health (DH) guidance on swine flu vaccination has left local health chiefs confused over who is eligible for the jab.

4 Sep 2009

U.S. hospitals place high precedence on environmentally responsible practices

Summary: Results of a recent survey commissioned by StandPoint indicate that U.S. Hospitals are putting a higher priority on implementing environmentally responsible practices. The major initiatives fall into two groups -- Waste Stream Management and Infrastructure.

4 Sep 2009

Complaint filed against Coventry for violating the Exchange Act

Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins LLP (“Coughlin Stoia”) today announced that a class action has been commenced on behalf of an institutional investor in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland on behalf of purchasers of the common stock of Coventry Health Care, Inc. (“Coventry” or the “Company”) between February 9, 2007 and October 22, 2008, inclusive (the “Class Period”), seeking to pursue remedies under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”).

4 Sep 2009

Giant Eagle offers generic prescription antibiotics for free at its in-store pharmacies

At a time when many families affected by a difficult economy are struggling with the costs of prescription medications, supermarket retailer Giant Eagle, Inc. is making ten broadly used generic prescription antibiotics in 46 common dosages available for free every day at all of its 210 in-store pharmacies.

4 Sep 2009

Lawsuits filed against Johnson & Johnson, Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical and Walgreen

St. Louis-based law firm Carey & Danis LLC announces the filing of four civil lawsuits on behalf of twenty plaintiffs against Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) and Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical Inc., the makers of the powerful antibiotic Levaquin, as well as the Walgreen Co. (NYSE:WAG), which sells the drug.

4 Sep 2009

Covidien to divest three product lines to streamline its portfolio

Covidien (NYSE: COV), a leading global provider of healthcare products, today announced definitive agreements to sell its Sleep Diagnostics and Oxygen Therapy product lines and a proposal to sell its Sleep Therapy product line.

From Chart Industries 4 Sep 2009