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WESTMED collaborates with UnitedHealthcare to launch ACO

WESTMED Medical Group announced it is collaborating with the UnitedHealthcare and Optum businesses of UnitedHealth Group to launch an accountable care organization (ACO) for its more than 220 physicians in Westchester County, N.Y.

21 Mar 2012

inVentiv Health enters agreement to acquire Kforce Clinical Research

inVentiv Health, Inc., offering best-in-class clinical, commercial and consulting services to the healthcare industry, today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Kforce Clinical Research, Inc. ("KCR"), a provider of functional outsourcing solutions to pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device companies, from Kforce Inc. for $50 million in cash.

19 Mar 2012

Prostate Center of Academic Urology receives accreditation from ACR, ASTRO

The Prostate Center of Academic Urology has been awarded a three-year term of accreditation in radiation oncology from the American College of Radiology (ACR) and The American Society for Radiation Oncology.

19 Mar 2012

Thermo Fisher launches innovations that enable customers to improve lab productivity

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., the world leader in serving science, today introduced innovations that enable customers to improve laboratory productivity - by delivering results faster and with greater accuracy - while extending the boundaries of routine analysis. During Pittcon, being held from March 11-15, in Orlando, the company will showcase its scale and depth of capabilities across its three premier brands: Thermo Scientific, Fisher Scientific and Unity Lab Services.

From Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. 13 Mar 2012

Doctor associated with MMR vaccine and autism link wins High Court appeal

Professor John Walker-Smith had been found guilty of professional misconduct following claims he took part in unapproved research that suggested links between the vaccine, bowel disease and autism. Professor Walker-Smith lost his license to practice in May 2010 along with Dr Andrew Wakefield, who led the research. A General Medical Council’s ‘fitness to practice’ panel found both men guilty of misconduct over the way the work was conducted after 217 days of deliberation – the longest disciplinary case in the body’s 150- year history.

8 Mar 2012

Illumina launches new highly multiplexed cancer panel

Illumina today introduced the TruSeq Amplicon - Cancer Panel, a highly multiplexed panel that will allow researchers to accurately sequence hundreds of the most relevant cancer loci, even in difficult samples such as formalin-fixed, paraffin embedded (FFPE) tumor samples.

From Illumina, Inc. 7 Mar 2012

Sodexo obtains ISO 22000:2005 Food Safety Management System certification

Reinforcing its commitment to the 10 million customers it serves daily, Sodexo, Inc., leading provider of Quality of Daily Life Solutions, recently obtained ISO (International Organization of Standardization) 22000:2005 certification for its food management systems in the U.S. and Canada, which focuses on ensuring food safety and quality from farm to fork.

6 Mar 2012

State roundup: Helping hand for safety-net clinics; Conn. tries medical homes; Kansas disabled waiting for space

CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, the largest private insurer in the Washington [DC] region, plans to announce Tuesday that it will give $8.5 million to a dozen safety-net clinics to help them use a coordinated primary-care approach to treat their most vulnerable patients, executives said. ... One of the recipients is the Arlington Free Clinic, which provides free health care to about 1,600 low-income, uninsured residents.

28 Feb 2012

GBMC adds eClinicalWorks Care Coordination Portal and Community Analytics build on EHR

eClinicalWorks, a market leader in ambulatory clinical systems, today announces that Greater Baltimore Medical Center (GBMC), one of the largest community hospitals in the mid-Atlantic, has expanded its relationship with the company to include eClinicalWorks Care Coordination Portal and eClinicalWorks Community Analytics.

27 Feb 2012

Opexa 2011 net loss increases to $5,968,448

Opexa Therapeutics, Inc., a biotechnology company developing a novel T-cell therapy for multiple sclerosis (MS), today reported financial results for the year ended December 31, 2011 and provided an overview of corporate developments during the last year.

27 Feb 2012

NCQA certifies Health Data Essentials for HEDIS Quality Measures

Health Data Essentials' (HDE) flagship product, EssentialStars, has received certification from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) for the seventeen HEDIS Quality Measures in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Star Quality Program.

27 Feb 2012

NCQA awards MHC Distinction to Health Net of California

Health Net of California, Inc., a subsidiary of Health Net, Inc., announced today that its HMO, POS, PPO, Healthy Families Program and Medicaid lines of business have been awarded the Multicultural Health Care (MHC) Distinction by the National Committee for Quality Assurance.

22 Feb 2012

Biotech company defends patent on gene mutation for breast cancer

A US biotechnology company is defending the granting of a controversial patent over a common genetic mutation for breast cancer, rejecting accusations it amounts to the privatization of the human body.

21 Feb 2012

NCQA tool doesn't adequately evaluate quality of diabetes care at health centers

On the health front, the poor often have at least two things going against them: a lack of insurance and chronic illnesses, of which diabetes is among the most common.

16 Feb 2012

Bishops plan united front campaign against contraception rule

While most of the public favors the Obama administration's contraception compromise, the Catholic bishops will launch TV and radio ads against the mandate.

16 Feb 2012

Oxford Gene Technology develops optimised rare disease sequencing and analysis service

Oxford Gene Technology (OGT), a provider of innovative clinical genetics and diagnostic solutions to advance molecular medicine, has extended its Genefficiency™ Sequencing Service to provide a dedicated service for investigating rare diseases. The specifically optimised version of the service will help investigators and clinicians identify causative mutations quickly, easily and without the need for in-house technical or bioinformatics expertise.

From Oxford Gene Technology 16 Feb 2012

Hospitals: N.Y. Times finds aggressive debt collection despite charity care rules

New York's charity care system, partly financed by an 8.95 percent surcharge on hospital bills, is one of the most complicated in the nation, but many states have wrestled with aggressive debt collection by hospitals in recent years. Like New York, several passed laws curbing hospitals' pursuit of unpaid bills, including Illinois, California and Minnesota.

14 Feb 2012

Scripps Research, Brooks partner to develop and commercialize Plate Auditor

Brooks Life Science Systems, a division of Brooks Automation, Inc., a leading worldwide provider of automation, vacuum, and instrumentation solutions for multiple markets, today announced the initiation of a technology development and commercialization partnership with The Scripps Research Institute.

9 Feb 2012

Asian bird flu update for Ferbruary 2012

Health workers in Nepal are to cull thousands of chickens following the discovery of the H5N1 strain of bird flu in the southeastern part of the Himalayan country.

6 Feb 2012

Australian bird flu scare spurs widespread poultry bans

After the bird flu outbreak at two Victorian duck farms, other countries like Japan, Vietnam, Singapore and Hong Kong have placed bans on all poultry products from Victoria and across Australia. South Africa is also now asking certification that an Australian poultry import has not come from within 20km of the quarantined sites.

2 Feb 2012