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Stryker's facilities in Michigan, US and Suzhou, China earn LEED certifications

Stryker Corporation announced today that two of its manufacturing facilities have earned Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) certifications from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). LEED is an internationally recognized green building certification system, developed by the USGBC, which provides a framework for identifying and implementing practical and measurable green building design, construction, operations and maintenance solutions.

From Stryker 14 Jun 2010

Studies show rising health costs, ways to slow them

A PricewaterhouseCoopers report suggests a leap in the portion of health costs paid directly by employees will leave the majority of the American workforce with deductibles of $400 or more for the first time next year, The Associated Press/Los Angeles Times reports. "Two years ago, only 25 percent of companies participating in the annual survey said they asked employees to pay deductibles of $400 or more.

14 Jun 2010

My Insurance Expert to sell, distribute ING Term Life Insurance policies

My Insurance Expert, one of the country's leading online services for the comparison and purchase of affordable health insurance plans, is pleased to announce that it has been appointed to sell and distribute ING Term Life Insurance policies.

14 Jun 2010

KHN column – Medicare Advantage: You get what you pay for

In this column for Kaiser Health News, Austin Frakt writes: "The Obama administration seems worried. In an election year, any change to Medicare that adversely affects beneficiaries is a political liability for incumbents.

14 Jun 2010

Aesculap receives FDA clearance for SterilContainer product line for use in STERIS V-PRO systems

Aesculap, Inc. is pleased to announce that the SterilContainer S product line has been cleared by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), (510(k) number, K093649) for use in the STERIS Corporation's V-PRO 1 and V-PRO 1 Plus Low Temperature Sterilization Systems.

14 Jun 2010

PAREXEL, Bristol-Myers Squibb establish strategic partnership in clinical development

PAREXEL International Corporation, a leading global biopharmaceutical services provider, today announced that Bristol-Myers Squibb, a global biopharmaceutical company, has established a strategic partnership with PAREXEL to enable greater effectiveness in clinical development.

From Parexel 14 Jun 2010

Feds to issue rules on 'grandfathered' health plans and new law

The Wall Street Journal reports that draft regulations "being developed by the Obama administration say more than half of employer health care plans may lose their grandfathered status and be required to comply with the health overhaul bill approved March 23. The guidelines are likely to touch off fresh disputes between President Obama and opponents of the health care bill.

14 Jun 2010

New Brunswick Scientific, Pall partner to develop new disposable bioreactor systems

New Brunswick Scientific, an Eppendorf Company, and Pall Corporation today announced a joint product development and marketing agreement to create and supply new disposable bioreactor systems.

From Pall Corporation 14 Jun 2010

Health overhaul skirmishes simmer over government fliers, drug benefits

Republicans are complaining that, while the IRS sent out 4 million fliers to publicize $40 billion in tax credits for small businesses, the agency did not make a similar effort to inform tanning salons and their customers about a new 10 percent tax on their services, Politico reports.

14 Jun 2010

Cytori Therapeutics enters $20 million secured loan facility

Cytori Therapeutics entered into a $20 million secured loan facility from GE Capital, Healthcare Financial Services, Oxford Finance Corporation, and Silicon Valley Bank. The loan funded June 14, 2010.

14 Jun 2010

First hospital in Mexico to use GORE HELEX Septal Occluder for transcatheter closure of ASD

W. L. Gore & Associates (Gore) today announced that Instituto Nacional De Cardiologia in Mexico City, Mexico, is the first hospital in the country to use the GORE® HELEX Septal Occluder for the transcatheter closure of an atrial septal defect (ASD). Department Chief, Dr. Carlos Zabal and Dr. Jose Garcia Montes of the Instituto Nacional de Cardiologia, in Mexico City, achieved the milestone procedure in March, 2010.

14 Jun 2010

Health reform continue to dominate campaigns

After voting "no" on the health reform bill earlier this year, Rep. John Barrow, D-Ga., has gotten significantly less support from colleagues than he did in previous re-election bids, The Hill reports. "Only five lawmakers ... have given money from their personal campaign funds to Barrow in the 2010 cycle. Five other elected Dems gave money to Barrow through their leadership political action committees."

14 Jun 2010

Fluorescent cancerous tumors for early detection

Researchers at the Ecole Polytechnique F-d-rale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland have established a procedure where cancerous tumors in the bladder become fluorescent and are more easily discoverable under blue light. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the technique- already in practice in Europe - for the American market. Under the name Cysview-, the product is commercialized by Photocure and GE Healthcare as the most efficient detection technique for early stage bladder cancer.

14 Jun 2010

Desert Medical Imaging to implement XIFIN's revenue cycle management system

XIFIN Inc., the leading provider of revenue cycle management for diagnostic service providers, announced today that Desert Medical Imaging, (DMI) a multi-modality diagnostic imaging center located in Indian Wells, CA, has selected XIFIN's revenue cycle management system to optimize and help manage its expanding imaging and radiology billing and claims management needs.

14 Jun 2010

AMA's support for health law sparks infighting

A fissure has developed in the American Medical Association, the powerful physicians' lobby that backed the health reform bill earlier this year, about support for the sweeping measure, according to news reports.

14 Jun 2010

Asterand subsidiary BioSeek signs agreement with Amylin

Asterand plc, a leading provider of human tissue and human tissue-based research services to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies engaged in drug discovery, today announces that its subsidiary BioSeek, LLC, a pioneer in the application of predictive human biology to drug discovery, has signed a one-year collaboration agreement with Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

14 Jun 2010

New path involving "innocent spectators" to defeat systemic sclerosis

There is a new path to defeat systemic sclerosis, also called scleroderma because of the hardening of the skin of the patients (from Greek skleros, "hard", and derma, "skin"). This path involves the B-cell of the immune system, so far only considered "innocent spectators," as Catholic University rheumatologist Gianfranco Ferraccioli, among the authors of the important research, puts it.

14 Jun 2010

Today's Opinions: Medicare advantage to shrink; Insurers anti-trust protection; Health law regulations; The need for maternity leave

In the long run, there's no getting around the fact that Advantage plans will shrink in generosity and availability (Austin Frakt, 6/14).

14 Jun 2010

UCB announces availability of Vimpat oral solution formulation

UCB today announced the availability of an oral solution formulation of Vimpat- (lacosamide) C-V, an antiepileptic drug (AED) for add-on treatment of partial-onset seizures in people with epilepsy age 17 years and older. Vimpat 10 mg/mL solution is now available in U.S. pharmacies.

14 Jun 2010

Ingen Technologies' new SMART Nasal Cannula unveiled at Alpha-1 19th National Education Conference

Ingen Technologies, Inc., a medical device manufacturer with an emerging new medical product line for the respiratory market worth an estimated $4 billion in the U.S. and $8 billion globally, unveiled their new SMART Nasal Cannula in Orlando-Florida last week at the Alpha-1 19th Annual National Education Conference.

14 Jun 2010