Healthcare News and Research

Latest Healthcare News and Research

Healthcare reform explained

A bevy of legislation is flooding Capitol Hill on healthcare reform. With President Obama’s speech kicking debate on these initiatives into high gear, Eric Zimmerman, a partner in the Health Law Department of leading law firm McDermott Will & Emery, weighs in on the issues:

10 Sep 2009

Physicians and patients underestimate promotional volume of Actonel

Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms focusing on pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that patients and physicians most frequently recall Roche's Boniva messages among the ten surveyed osteoporosis brands likely as a result of the Sally Field marketing campaign.

10 Sep 2009

Huron Consulting Group finds place in Modern Healthcare’s 2009 list

Huron Consulting Group (NASDAQ: HURN), a leading provider of business consulting services, today announced its ranking in Modern Healthcare’s 2009 list of the largest healthcare management consulting firms. Huron was listed second out of 15 healthcare consulting firms, ranked according to total 2008 provider revenue.

10 Sep 2009

ThermoGenesis releases results for fourth quarter and fiscal year 2009

ThermoGenesis Corp. , a leading supplier of innovative products for processing and storing adult stem cells, today reported results for the fourth quarter and all of fiscal 2009.

10 Sep 2009

Physician groups utilize MPV Contract Management to verify reimbursement claims

Medical Present Value, Inc. (MPV) today announced new contracts with four physician groups representing more than 2,600 providers to help monitor payer compliance and automate processes related to payer adjudication management and oversight.

10 Sep 2009

arGEN-X BV announces first closing of its Series A equity financing round

arGEN-X BV, a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of human antibodies using its proprietary SIMPLE Antibody platform, today announced the successful first closing of its Series A equity financing round. The Company raised EUR 9.5million (~ USD 13.6 million) from a syndicate of leading life science investors. The financing round is one of the largest of its kind in the last 12 months.

10 Sep 2009

Lack of awareness in aged men reagarding prostate cancer treatment options

Prostate cancer remains one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers in the United States. In fact, one in six men will develop prostate cancer. It is also the second-leading cause of cancer death in the United States. But a recent survey suggests that many men at risk for the cancer still aren't aware of all available treatment options.

10 Sep 2009

Web-based software helps to reduce costs for payers and providers

"It's rare that you find anything that's win-win when it comes to payers and providers. However, as healthcare is looking for efficiency and savings, our company has created a mutually beneficial model that is rewarding, valuable and necessary. It's based on capturing and exchanging a unique piece of provider-submitted, non-billing patient data, whereby payers will find and subsequently recover many previously missed injury claim recoveries.

10 Sep 2009

Doctors for Patient Care to rally against Obamacare

Doctors for Patient Care is a grassroots organization comprised of committed doctors working for a healthcare system that ensures the highest quality and affordable care for patients. The organization will be rallying like-minded doctors from across the nation for this event and press conference.

10 Sep 2009

New Influenza A/H1N1 detection kit launched

QIAGEN, today announced both the launch of a new Influenza A/H1N1 test and several updates to its activities in providing solutions for the global surveillance of the swine flu pandemic. QIAGEN’s new kit enables both the highly sensitive and specific detection of the novel Influenza A/H1N1, the virus that causes “swine flu”, as well as of all other known Influenza A and B virus strains.

10 Sep 2009

Roche Group and ImmunoCellular Therapeutics sign research agreement regarding ICT-69 antibody

ImmunoCellular Therapeutics, Ltd. (OTCBB: IMUC), a clinical-stage biotechnology company that is developing immune based therapies for the treatment of brain and other cancers, announced today that it has entered into a research and license option agreement regarding its ICT-69 antibody with Roche Group (SWX: ROG.VX; RO.S, OTCQX: RHHBY), one of the world’s leading research-focused healthcare groups in the fields of pharmaceuticals and diagnostics.

10 Sep 2009

Dodd rejects HELP chairmanship, skeptical Dems sound off on reform

The Washington Post: "Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) has decided against succeeding his close friend and mentor, the late Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) as chairman of the Senate's health committee, a senior Senate aide said Tuesday night. ... Dodd's decision leaves the chairmanship of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee to Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), who follows Dodd in seniority. Multiple sources in the Harkin orbit, requesting anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said that he is certain to take over the HELP committee" (Kane, 8/8).

10 Sep 2009

OSI Systems signs partnership agreement with Irish software firm, dabl

OSI Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:OSIS), a vertically-integrated provider of specialized electronic products for critical applications in the Security and Healthcare industries, today announced that its Healthcare division, Spacelabs Healthcare, has entered into an agreement with Irish software firm, dabl® Ltd.

10 Sep 2009

SCAN Health Plan receives regulatory approval to expand in Northern California

SCAN Health Plan announced today that it has received regulatory approval to expand its Medicare Advantage Plan into San Francisco, Contra Costa and Santa Clara counties, effective January 1, 2010. This is the first entry into Northern California for the not-for-profit plan, which currently serves more than 110,000 Medicare members in California and Arizona.

10 Sep 2009

Patient enrollment completed in Phase 2b clinical trial for Pyridorin

NephroGenex, Inc., a privately held drug development company focusing on kidney disease, today announced the completion of patient enrollment in its Phase 2b clinical trial (PYR-210) studying the safety and efficacy of its lead drug candidate Pyridorin (pyridoxamine dihydrochloride) in type 2 diabetic patients with overt diabetic nephropathy. Three hundred and seventeen (317) patients have been randomized.

10 Sep 2009

E.V-Trax Employee Vaccination Tracking System helps eliminate manual data entry

General Data Company, Inc., which specializes in barcode-based error-proofing and tracking system solutions, is offering a new mobile application to help healthcare organizations administer employee vaccinations and track the immunization status of their personnel for H1N1, influenza, and other vaccinations.

10 Sep 2009

In congressional speech, Obama reaches for game-changer

"Reaching for a game-changer, President Barack Obama is beset by conflicting goals in a prime-time address Wednesday expected to detail just how he wants to expand health care coverage and lower medical costs while signaling to a deeply divided Congress that he's ready to deal. And show the public he's in control," The Associated Press reports.

10 Sep 2009

Poison control centers to receive $24.5 million in grants from HRSA

The Health Resources and Services Administration has announced $24.5 million in grants to support the work of 55 poison control centers across the country.

10 Sep 2009

Elsevier announces new publishing partnership with CCHSE

Elsevier, world-leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, is pleased to announce a new publishing partnership with the Canadian College of Health Service Executives (CCHSE). The College's official journal, Healthcare Management Forum (HMF), will be published by Elsevier beginning in 2010.

10 Sep 2009

Obesity experts call on policymakers to adopt obesity recommendations

The Obesity Society and other steering committee members of the Strategies to Overcome and Prevent (STOP) Obesity Alliance, and two former US Surgeons General, join together today to develop effective recommendations to urge policymakers to act on the inclusion of obesity as the largest and most urgent driving factor in healthcare reform.

10 Sep 2009