News
Dirty Air The Source Of Millions In Annual Medical Care
March 3, 2010 5:25 am | CommentsCalifornia's dirty air caused more than $193 million in hospital-based medical care from 2005 to 2007. People sought help for problems such as asthma and pneumonia that are triggered by elevated pollution levels, according to a new RAND Corporation study. Researchers estimate that exposure to excessive levels of ozone and particulate pollution caused nearly 30,000 emergency room visits and hospital admissions over the study period.
How Wireless Is Transforming Healthcare
March 2, 2010 6:16 am | CommentsThe healthcare industry is going through a major transformation and wireless technology will serve as a key enabler of this shift, noted Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S) CEO Dan Hesse in his keynote at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) annual conference. “In the remote healthcare setting with the continuing decline of home telephone lines and the less than universal availability of broadband, mobile technologies are shaping up to be a cornerstone for information transmission in the future of remote medicine.
Cornea Transplant Shows Short & Long-Term Promise
March 2, 2010 4:52 am | CommentsOne year post-surgery, patients who underwent Descemet's stripping automated endothelial keratoplasty (DSAEK) experienced greater cell loss overall compared to those who underwent penetrating keratoplasty (PKP), according to a new analysis of data collected from the Cornea Donor Study (CDS) Investigator Group's 2008 Specular Microscopy Ancillary Study (SMAS) .
Embedding Images Helps Speed Decisions, Improve Care
March 2, 2010 4:42 am | CommentsEmbedding clinical images to accompany findings described in a radiology text report enhances radiologists' communication with referring physicians and can improve patient care, according to a study in the March issue of the Journal of the American College of Radiology ( www.jacr.org ). “The imaging exam report provides an important means of communication between the radiologist and the other physicians rendering care and is often the only form of communication between the radiologist and the referring physician,” said Veena R.
FDA's Top Reviewer Jumps To Microsoft
March 2, 2010 4:27 am | Comments(AP) — The Food and Drug Administration's top medical device reviewer is stepping down to take a job in Microsoft's lobbying office. Donna Bea Tillman told staffers in a note she is resigning as director of the office of device evaluation after 15 years with the FDA. Tillman said she will serve as director of regulations and policy for Microsoft's health information unit.
FDA's Top Reviewer Jumps To Microsft
March 2, 2010 4:26 am | Comments(AP) — The Food and Drug Administration's top medical device reviewer is stepping down to take a job in Microsoft's lobbying office. Donna Bea Tillman told staffers in a note she is resigning as director of the office of device evaluation after 15 years with the FDA. Tillman said she will serve as director of regulations and policy for Microsoft's health information unit.
President Hopes Undecided Democrats Can Push Plan Forward
March 2, 2010 4:17 am | CommentsErica Werner, AP A small number of House Democrats who opposed health overhaul legislation on the first go-round may be President Obama's most important constituency when he unveils a revised proposal. At least nine of the 39 Democrats who voted nay when the House passed sweeping overhaul legislation 220-215 in November, are now undecided or withholding judgment until they see the final product.
Doctors Helping Children Die
March 2, 2010 4:02 am | CommentsLindsey Tanner, AP It's a situation too agonizing to contemplate — a child dying and in pain. Now a small but provocative study suggests that doctors may be giving fatal morphine doses to a few children dying of cancer, to end their suffering at their parents' request. A handful of parents told researchers that they had asked doctors to hasten their children's deaths — and that doctors complied, using high doses of the powerful painkiller.
Robotics Could Raise The Bar For PCI
March 1, 2010 5:26 am | CommentsLast week’s Cardiovascular Research Technology conference heard George W. Vetrovec, M.D., of Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center suggest that the robotic CorPath system from Corindus could potentially raise the standard of care for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Corindus Vascular Robotics focuses on providing precision vascular robotic systems.
Buffett: U.S. Health Care Like An Economic Tape Worm
March 1, 2010 5:03 am | CommentsJosh Funk, AP Billionaire Warren Buffett says health care costs are a major drain on U.S. businesses and act like an “economic tape worm.” The head of the holding company Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. said Monday on CNBC that America's health care system needs fundamental reform to attack costs because it's not practical to continue devoting roughly 17 percent of the nation's gross domestic product to health care.
Buffett: U.S. Health Care Like An Economic Tape Worm
March 1, 2010 5:01 am | CommentsJosh Funk, AP Billionaire Warren Buffett says health care costs are a major drain on U.S. businesses and act like an “economic tape worm.” The head of the holding company Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. said Monday on CNBC that America's health care system needs fundamental reform to attack costs because it's not practical to continue devoting roughly 17 percent of the nation's gross domestic product to health care.
NOTES Technique Produces Scarless Myotom
March 1, 2010 4:55 am | CommentsUniversity of California-San Diego Medical Center surgeons have performed America's first incision-free myotomy through the mouth. The laparoscopic technique to treat Achalasia is called the Heller Myotomy, a two-hour procedure requiring up to six small incisions in the abdomen to divide the esophageal muscle.
Study Shows New Surgical Option In Treating Strokes
March 1, 2010 4:43 am | CommentsMarilynn Marchione, AP People at risk of a stroke because of narrowed neck arteries can be safely treated with a less drastic option than the surgery done now, the largest study ever done on these treatments concludes. If Medicare agrees to cover it, hundreds of thousands of Americans a year might be able to have an artery-opening procedure and a stent instead of surgery to remove built-up plaque, doctors say.
SSI Surgical Sold
March 1, 2010 4:17 am | CommentsTeleflex, Inc. recently announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its SSI Surgical Services, Inc. business to an unnamed, privately-owned multi-service line healthcare company for approximately $25 million. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close before the end of the first quarter of 2010.
Poll: Less Fear For Healthcare Overhaul
February 26, 2010 5:00 am | CommentsRicardo Alonso-Zaldivar, AP With President Barack Obama's health care overhaul in limbo, Americans' fears about its effect on them eased in January, according to a poll released as the president tries to revive sweeping Democratic legislation. The monthly poll from the non-partisan Robert Wood Johnson Foundation also found that three-fourths of Americans still think it's important that the President include health care reform in addressing the nation's economic crisis — even if many have misgivings.
