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Parties plot strategies, next steps on Baucus bill

Sen. Max Baucus' health reform bill has both parties plotting their next move in advance of a markup scheduled to begin next week.

21 Sep 2009

Hypertension Diagnostics' revenue decreases by 9.2% for the fiscal year 2009

Hypertension Diagnostics, Inc. (OTCBB: HDII), today announced audited financial results for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2009.

21 Sep 2009

Medicaid: Budget gaps, informants, and a plan to expand coverage by going private

States are dealing with their unique Medicaid problems in different ways: New Mexico plans deep cuts, Florida seeks new Medicaid fraud informants, and a California gubernatorial candidate wants to privatize the program in the interest of covering the uninsured.

21 Sep 2009

PBS shows examine door-to-door medical counseling in Rwanda, malaria in Tanzania

NOW on PBS recently aired a segment examining a project in Rwanda, which is a collaboration of the government and Partners in Health, that uses local doctors, nurses and villagers "to deliver medicine and medical counseling door-to-door." According to the show, "In rural Rwanda, the simple and time-tested idea of medical house calls is not only improving the health of the community, but stimulating its economy as well."

21 Sep 2009

New self-expanding peripheral stent system launched by Invatec

Invatec, a comprehensive innovator of interventional products, today launched their latest self-expanding peripheral stent system, Maris Plus. The Maris Plus stent has a “lesion-specific” design with larger sizes to meet the clinical requirements of the iliac region. The Maris Plus becomes the sixth stent platform now marketed by Invatec for the treatment of Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD), greatly optimizing visibility, flexibility and ease of use for the physician.

21 Sep 2009

GI cancer detection simpler and cost-effective with new blood tests

Berlin, Germany: Promising results from two new blood tests that can aid in the early identification of patients with gastrointestinal (GI) cancers will be presented at Europe's largest cancer congress, ECCO 15 - ESMO 34 [1], in Berlin today (Monday September 21). The tests will make GI cancer detection simpler, cost-effective, and more acceptable to patients than current methods, the researchers say.

21 Sep 2009

Some senators fear new tax meant to control health costs could spiral

A tax on generous health benefits in the health reform plan unveiled this week by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., has raised eyebrows around Congress, the New York Times reports. The tax would apply to any plan with annual premiums in excess of $8,000 for individuals and $21,000 for families, and would initially impact only a small number of health plans, according to the Senator's own estimate.

21 Sep 2009

ICTs play a major role in the health care sector

Today the GridTalk project launches its 8th GridBriefing at the Enabling Grids for E-sciencE (EGEE) conference in Barcelona. The report covers how information and communication technologies (ICTs), particularly computing grids, are used in the health and biomedical sectors of European research. EGEE has supported this research community since the project's birth and it is the second largest user group after physics research.

21 Sep 2009

Rural Coloradans have trouble getting health care, attracting physicians

Rural Coloradans often have to travel dozens — if not hundreds — of miles to see a doctor when they're ill. The Denver Post reports that "(i)t's a problem that worsens every year — and something rural health advocates are hoping national reform will fix. The major goal of reform is to add some 47 million uninsured Americans, including about 800,000 Coloradans, to the ranks of the insured."

21 Sep 2009

Sorrento Therapeutics merge with subsidiary of Quikbyte Software

Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc. ("STI"), a privately-held and development-stage biopharmaceutical company with a proprietary technology platform for the discovery and development of human therapeutic antibodies for the treatment of a variety of disease conditions, has merged with a wholly-owned subsidiary of QuikByte Software, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: QBSW), a publicly-traded company with no active operations.

21 Sep 2009

Differences between two types of integrins

The adhesion of cells to the various components of their environment is mediated mainly by molecules known as integrins. Two integrins, α5β1 and αvβ3, mediate adhesion with fibronectin, which is present in the extracellular matrix. But why are 2 molecules involved in the adhesion to a single extracellular component? An article published on-line in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), whose main author is Pere Roca-Cusachs, an IBEC researcher, offers the first experimental answer to this question.

21 Sep 2009

Lawmakers wonder if the Baucus Plan does enough to control premiums

Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers fear a new plan unveiled by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., could impose added costs on middle-class people in the form of higher health insurance premiums, a problem they will seek to mitigate, The Washington Post reports: "Some Senate Democrats, along with a key moderate Republican, Sen. Olympia J. Snowe (Maine), are now discussing ways to increase assistance for individuals and families who could face premium costs of up to $15,000 per year by 2016.

21 Sep 2009

Nasdaq issues deficiency notice to TeamStaff

TeamStaff, Inc. (Nasdaq: TSTF), a national provider of healthcare and administrative staffing services, today announced that on September 15, 2009, it received a notice from the Listing Qualifications Department of The Nasdaq Global Market (Nasdaq) stating that for the last 30 consecutive trading days, the Company's common stock has not maintained a minimum market value of publicly held shares of $5,000,000, as required by the continued listing requirements of the Nasdaq Global Market set forth in Listing Rule 5450(b)(1)(C) (the "Listing Rule").

21 Sep 2009

Opinion piece examines vacant USAID administrator position

The Obama administration "has yet to announce a candidate to head" USAID, despite the talk "about how super-important foreign assistance is these days," columnist Al Kamen writes in a Washington Post opinion piece examining the vacant USAID administrator position.

21 Sep 2009

Governors worry about major Medicaid expansion

The GOP fears the burden of a health care overhaul on states, Roll Call reports: "Senate Republicans joined with GOP governors on Thursday and harshly criticized Finance Chairman Max Baucus' (D-Mont.) health care plan, charging the bill would expand Medicaid while forcing a massive unfunded mandate on cash-strapped states. Republicans have criticized the bill for using the Medicaid system, which is partially funded by states and partially by the federal government, as a way to ensure greater health care coverage for Americans" (Stanton, 9/17).

21 Sep 2009

Identification of nitric oxide using lasers and sensors

Nitric oxide, a gas well known to scientists for its myriad functions, has proven challenging to measure accurately outside the laboratory. A team of Princeton and Rice University researchers has demonstrated a new method of identifying the gas using lasers and sensors that are inexpensive, compact and highly sensitive. Such a portable device, suitable for large-scale deployment, could be of great value to atmospheric science, pollution control, biology and medicine.

21 Sep 2009

RAM Technologies' health care suite helps health plans to reduce expenses

Today's economic conditions coupled with the anticipated impacts of health insurance reform are forcing health plans to find ways to reduce expenses. RAM Technologies, Inc., a leading developer of software applications for health care payers, enables health plans to reduce expenses with the cost saving features of their health care administrative solution suite HEALTHsuite(R) and eHealthsuite(TM).

21 Sep 2009