Healthcare News and Research

Latest Healthcare News and Research

MDI Healthcare Solutions partners with Wolfram|Alpha to reduce employers' healthcare costs

The ability to predict future costs for member care and disease management is a top concern for most self-insured employers. A collaboration between MDI Healthcare Solutions and Wolfram|Alpha , LLC will deliver a Predictive Index (PI) and ultimately reduce companies’ annual healthcare costs significantly.

15 Oct 2009

Decision Resources forecasts biosimilar insulins and insulin analogues to erode $6.1 billion in brand sales

Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms for pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, forecasts that biosimilar insulins and insulin analogues stand to erode $6.1 billion in brand sales in the U.S. and Europe (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and U.K.) by 2018, saving healthcare systems $3.8 billion in the process.

15 Oct 2009

Reform primers from both sides of the pond

The BBC offers a trans-Atlantic primer on American health reform: "Unlike other developed countries, the US does not have a universal system of healthcare coverage," the report explains. Though Obama made health reform his "top priority," members of Congress are "finding it difficult to agree on a bill."

15 Oct 2009

CalRHIO's statewide HIE system implemented in Orange County

The first site in CalRHIO's statewide health information exchange (HIE) system is live in Orange County at Coastal Communities Hospital. As a result of collaboration between CalRHIO and the local HIE effort, the Orange County Partnership Regional Health Information Organization (OCPRHIO), 23 hospital emergency departments over the next five months will have secure electronic access to critical medical information.

15 Oct 2009

Opinions: Pragmatic vs. moral approach to health care access; Pres. Bush's PEPFAR

"[T]he global campaign to equalise access to healthcare has had a surprising result: it has made global healthcare more unequal," William Easterly, a professor of economics at New York University and co-director of its Development Research Institute, writes in a Financial Times opinion piece.

15 Oct 2009

SHEA urges CDC to remove the use of N95 respirators from its recommendations for routine care

Today's announcement by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that it is modifying its guidance regarding measures that should be taken by healthcare workers who are in contact with either confirmed or suspected cases of H1N1 was met with concern by the scientific community that had submitted its recommendations to CDC.

15 Oct 2009

Much remains to be done for autism spectrum disorders, say experts

Scientific understanding and medical treatments for autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) have advanced significantly over the past several years, but much remains to be done, say experts from the Center for Autism Research at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia who published a scientific review of the field today.

15 Oct 2009

Unions run newspaper ad to critizice Finance Committee bill

Unions largely oppose the bill approved by the Senate Finance Committee Tuesday.

15 Oct 2009

Insurers' report backlash: Unified Dems, angry White House, dissenting experts

The insurance industry's study on the effects of health reform has incensed Democrats, given reformers a rallying point and inspired a wave of zippy one-liners in news reports.

15 Oct 2009

Online medical journal to be launched

Two Johns Hopkins Children's Center researchers have assembled a 25-member editorial board of international experts to launch a quarterly online medical journal devoted to original research and commentary on the use of computer automation in the day-to-day practice of medicine.

15 Oct 2009

House bill would extend parents' coverage for young adults

In a new development in the House health bill, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has agreed to insert language allowing young adults to stay on their parents' insurance plan through the age of 26.

15 Oct 2009

IMF policies harm Kenyan health system, report says

According to a report released Tuesday, policies set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have restricted government spending on health services, "denying sick Kenyans access to drugs and quality healthcare," Business Daily reports.

15 Oct 2009

DNA Precision offers services for genetic research and healthcare research

DNA Precision has begun offering services for genetic research and healthcare research. These include gene discovery, Agilent ® microarray processing and bioinformatics. DNA Precision is a division of EcoArray, Inc., a 7-year old environmental genomics firm in Gainesville, FL.

15 Oct 2009

Analysis: Support for health reform drops if people think it'll cost them more

"Democrats in Washington are navigating treacherous electoral terrain as they craft healthcare reform legislation, judging by new polls that show Americans pulled by conflicting desires on healthcare," according to the CSM.

15 Oct 2009

Postive vote from FDA Advisory Committee for Fampridine-SR 10

Acorda Therapeutics, Inc. today announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Peripheral and Central Nervous System Drugs (PCNSD) Advisory Committee voted 12 to 1 that clinical data on Fampridine-SR 10 mg twice daily demonstrated substantial evidence of effectiveness as a treatment to improve walking in people with multiple sclerosis (MS) and voted 10 to 2 (1 abstention) that it is clinically meaningful and can be safe for use.

15 Oct 2009

Abortions worldwide decline, unsafe abortions kill 70,000 women annually, report says

Fewer abortions are taking place worldwide because of increased contraceptive use, a study by the Guttmacher Institute has found, Reuters reports. The study also indicates that 20 million "unsafe abortions, mostly in poorer countries and often carried out by the women themselves using inappropriate drugs or herbal potions, or by untrained traditional healers," still occur each year and kill 70,000 women annually (Kelland, 10/13).

15 Oct 2009

Blocking folic acid action during early pregnancy leads to increased risk of abnormalities in growing baby

Using medication that reduces or blocks the actions of folic acid during the first trimester of pregnancy (weeks 1-12), increases the risk that the growing baby will develop abnormalities. This conclusion was reached by a team of Epidemiologists, Paediatricians, Clinical Pharmacologists, Obstetricians and Gynaecologists who examined birth and abortion data collected in Israel between 1998 and 2007.

15 Oct 2009

Medications to reduce folic acid during pregnancy increase the risk of abnormalities in fetus

Pregnant women are advised to take vitamin supplements containing folic acid as part of their routine pre-natal care. Now, a new study warns that taking medications that reduce or block the actions of folic acid during the first trimester of pregnancy increase the risk that the growing baby will develop abnormalities.

14 Oct 2009

ACS to develop and maintain the Kentucky Health Information Exchange

Affiliated Computer Services, Inc., today announced that it has been awarded a contract that will help improve the quality of healthcare in Kentucky by providing physicians with a more complete picture of a patient’s medical history.

14 Oct 2009

Cochlear and NXP Semiconductors sign design and manufacturing agreement

Cochlear Limited, Australian based world leader in Implantable Hearing Solutions, and NXP Semiconductors announced today that they have signed an agreement for the design and manufacturing of IC devices for Cochlear’s future generation Implantable Hearing devices.

14 Oct 2009