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Insurance execs defend rate hikes before Congress

Lawmakers said Anthem Blue Cross, the California insurer that proposed raising premium rates for some individual policyholders by as much as 39 percent, sought to boost profits at the expense of its insured, the Los Angeles Times reports. During a congressional hearing Wednesday, "Democrats said internal documents from [Anthem's parent firm] WellPoint Inc. showed that proposed rate increases of as much as 39% for California customers who buy individual policies would 'return California to a profit of 7%.'"

25 Feb 2010

Study: Single, unhappily married men may have elevated risk of fatal stroke in the coming decades

Single or unhappily married men may have an elevated risk of fatal stroke in the coming decades, according to a large study presented at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2010.

25 Feb 2010

Genetic Disorder Tracker introduced by Guidepoint Global

Guidepoint Global, LLC, a leading primary research firm, today announced the launch of their Genetic Disorder Tracker, a monthly longitudinal data release that captures commercial trends, on a worldwide basis, associated with the treatment of eight rare genetic disorders: Gaucher's disease, Fabry's disease, PKU, MPS I (Hurler Syndrome), MPS II (Hunter Syndrome), MPS VI (Maroteaux-Lamy Syndrome), Niemann-Pick disease and Pompe disease.

25 Feb 2010

Doctors face Medicare payment cuts; Congress considers short-term fix

Doctors will face Medicare payment cuts if Congress doesn't act soon. The San Bernardino Sun reports: "Unless Congress steps in this week, Medicare will begin paying doctors less, which could make it harder for seniors to find doctors willing to see them. Medicare rates are set to be cut by 21 percent on March 1. Congress has postponed cuts before, but with the deadline fast approaching, the American Medical Association and other doctors' groups are urging Congress to do so again."

25 Feb 2010

More young people are having strokes while older people are having fewer: Study

More young people are having strokes while older people are having fewer, according to data from Ohio and Kentucky presented at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2010.

25 Feb 2010

Zcube joins Mission Bay Capital Fund with $1M investment

Mission Bay Capital, LLC, has added a new limited partner to its first venture fund, bolstering the fund's ability to invest in promising bioscience companies emerging from the University of California.

25 Feb 2010

FDA may set patient safety regulations for health IT

The Huffington Post Investigative Fund: "In the past two years, the agency has received reports of six patient deaths and several dozen injuries linked to malfunctions in the systems, Jeffrey Shuren, director of the FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health, said in testimony prepared for a government hearing on Thursday. ... The FDA has been studying the issue for several years. Its latest concerns are surfacing as the government ramps up an ambitious plan to spend as much as $27 billion in stimulus money helping doctors and hospitals across the country purchase electronic medical records systems that rely on digital software rather than paper medical charts."

25 Feb 2010

AOSSM and RTI Biologics award $250,000 grant for ligament and tendon repair and regeneration research

Dr. Robert C. Bray of the University of Calgary was recently selected as the winner of the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine's (AOSSM) $250,000 Ligament and Tendon Repair and Regeneration Grant for his project, "Biological Augmentation of Ligament and Tendon Healing: Role of Neuropeptides."

25 Feb 2010

PositiveID, FIS partner to launch Health Link personal health record

PositiveID Corporation announced today that it has entered into a partnership with FIS™, one of the world’s largest providers of banking and payments technology, to launch the Company’s next generation Health Link personal health record (“Health Link”).

25 Feb 2010

FDA approves Pfizer's Prevnar 13 pneumococcal conjugate vaccine

Pfizer Inc. announced today that the United States Food and Drug Administration has granted approval for Prevnar 13™ (Pneumococcal 13-valent Conjugate Vaccine [Diphtheria CRM197 Protein]), the Company’s 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine.

25 Feb 2010

Doctors work fewer hours, study finds

A new study finds that doctors are working fewer hours even as the shortage of primary care physicians persists.

25 Feb 2010

SBi's Mini-Rail System and Cannulated Screw System receive FDA pre-market clearance

Small Bone Innovations, Inc. (SBi), a leading, privately-held orthopedics company focused exclusively on technologies and treatments for the small bones & joints, announced that it has received 510(k) pre-market clearance notifications from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for Mini-Rail Fixation System (‘Mini-Rail System’) and large Cannulated Screw System for use in lower limb reconstruction and repair procedures.

25 Feb 2010

Researchers develop evaluation tool to help guide asymptomatic pancreatic cyst treatment

As a result of improved imaging technology, pancreatic cysts are increasingly diagnosed in asymptomatic individuals who undergo scans for other reasons. And while most of these cysts follow a benign course, a small but significant number are either malignant at the time of diagnosis or have the potential to develop into pancreatic cancer during a patient's lifetime.

25 Feb 2010

Obama, GOP clash over summit starting point; Voters note partisan divide

The Obama administration says its health overhaul proposal is a starting point, not a final word, Reuters reports. "It is important to understand that this proposal isn't meant to be the final say on the legislation,' Nancy-Ann DeParle, director of the White House Office of Health Reform, said in an email."

25 Feb 2010

Special Issue of Business Horizons addresses issues central to healthcare and life sciences

A recent Special Issue of Business Horizons (www.elsevier.com/locate/bushor), the journal of the Kelley School of Business, Indiana University, and published by Elsevier, addresses issues central to healthcare and life sciences. Healthcare reform, for example, has been at the center of U.S. political debate in recent years with renewed attempts to gain bipartisan support from Congress for passage of a national system of health insurance coverage.

25 Feb 2010

Current health reform debate haunted by health bills of the past

Key provisions of the 1993 Republican bill, introduced by Sen. John Chafee, R-R.I., with 19 other Republicans and two Democrats, "may seem familiar, as they bear a strong resemblance to those in the current Democratic Senate bill, and now in President Barack Obama's proposal," Kaiser Health News reports. "A mandate that individuals buy insurance, subsidies for the poor to buy insurance and the requirement that insurers offer a standard benefits package and refrain from discriminating based on pre-existing conditions were all in the 1993 GOP bill."

25 Feb 2010

Anadys Pharmaceuticals' ANA598 combination demonstrates 73% cEVR in ongoing Phase II study for HCV

Anadys Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced preliminary results from an ongoing Phase II study demonstrating that 73% of hepatitis C patients treated with 200 mg ANA598 twice daily in combination with pegylated interferon and ribavirin (SOC) achieved undetectable levels of virus (<15 IU/mL) at week 12, known as complete Early Virological Response or cEVR.

25 Feb 2010

Study examines range of health issues and trends among older women in California

Older women who are divorced, separated or widowed or who have never married have twice the uninsured rate of their married peers, according to a new policy brief from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.

25 Feb 2010

MedNet Solutions introduces iMedNet eClinical technology platform

MedNet Solutions, a global life sciences technology solutions company specializing in clinical study management systems, is pleased to announce iMedNet™, the company's ground-breaking new electronic data capture (EDC)/eClinical technology platform.

24 Feb 2010

The Democrats' 2010 health reform plan evokes 1993 Republican bill

Kaiser Health News Maggie Mertens spoke to former Sen. Dave Durenberger, R-Minn., about his take on past and present health reform politics. In 1993, at the height of President Bill Clinton's health care reform initiative, Sen. John Chafee, R-R.I., along with 19 other Republicans and two Democrats, put forth a bill which was considered the major GOP proposal.

24 Feb 2010