Bioterrorism Week articles from January 2003

Bioterrorism Week archives from January 2003

Researchers warn biotech advances could be misused by terrorists.
January 20, 2003... 2003 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The same scientific advances in biotechnology, genetics, and medicine that are intended to improve life could also be used to develop biological weapons capable of causing mass destruction, according...

Potential vaccine candidate ORFs sought in virulence plasmid pXO1.(open reading frames)
January 20, 2003... 2003 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Based on the results of a genomic analysis of the Bacillus anthracis virulence plasmid pXO1, researchers in Israel are evaluating certain open reading frames as vaccine candidates against the...

Monoclonal antibodies show in vitro and in vivo protective activity in mice.
January 20, 2003... 2003 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers in China are conducted Phase II clinical trials of monoclonal antibodies for immunotherapy and prevention of Hantaan virus infection. "Hantaan virus (HTNV), a member of the genus...

UDET names Dr. Louis Ignarro chairman of scientific advisory board.(Universal Detection Technology)(Brief Article)
January 20, 2003... 2003 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Universal Detection Technology (UDET) announced the appointment of Louis J. Ignarro, PhD, to the position of chairman of the company's scientific advisory board. Ignarro will work closely with CEO...

Two Versar executives retired at year's end.
January 20, 2003... 2003 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Versar, Inc., (VSR) announced that two of its senior executives elected to take early retirement. Gayaneh Contos and Lawrence A. White, both executive vice presidents, retired from the company at...

First statewide system in the works to alert New York doctors in case of terror.
January 20, 2003... 2003 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- New York state plans to create the first statewide alert system designed to rapidly inform doctors of suspected biological and chemical terrorist attacks, sudden disease outbreaks, or other public...

Reports: Israeli gas masks, smallpox vaccine are defective.
January 20, 2003... 2003 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- More than 1.5 million gas masks issued to Israelis are defective and some of the smallpox vaccine used on 17,000 health workers may be ineffective, Israeli newspapers have reported. The military...

Science community struggles with terror-wary feds.
January 20, 2003... 2003 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The Massachusetts Institute of Technology walked away from a $404,000 study because the government wanted to restrict participation by foreign students. Other universities are balking at demands that...

Official wants delay in vaccinations.
January 20, 2003... 2003 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Concerned about costs, the Texas bioterrorism expert said the inoculation of 400,000 Texans against smallpox should not happen for at least 6 months. Texas would have to spend about $40 million in...

UAB aids search for safer vaccine.(University of Alabama at Birmingham)
January 20, 2003... 2003 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- With the Bush administration allowing mass smallpox vaccinations as a defense against a possible biological terror attack, researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) are re-examining...

Wisconsin officials: No money for first vaccinations.
January 20, 2003... 2003 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Wisconsin health officials want to vaccinate several thousand medical workers against smallpox, but say they don't know how the state will pay for it because $19.3 million in federal bioterrorism money...

Patient education, psychiatric care in primary care settings can save money.
January 20, 2003... 2003 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Patients with panic disorder who received collaborative care, rather than usual primary care, had on the average over 74 more anxiety-free days over the following year, according to a new study. ...

Patients complain more about paperwork than care.
January 20, 2003... 2003 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Patients complain more often about paperwork and billing concerns than the quality of their health care to their health care providers, even though quality-related problems are just as common as...

Extending coverage to millions of people in the Americas is a challenge.
January 20, 2003... 2003 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The extension of social protection in health is a powerful public policy tool destined mainly to combat exclusion in health. An estimated 100 million people in Latin America and the Caribbean are...

AMCP encourages FDA to seek stronger protection for access to generic drugs.(Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy, Food and Drug Administration)
January 20, 2003... 2003 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- In a letter commenting on new federal rules intended to assure expedited market entry for generic drugs, the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) has urged the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to...

Smokers, binge drinkers aren't getting advice.
January 20, 2003... 2003 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- About 2 million smokers and 2 million binge drinkers who visited their doctors for a routine checkup in 1996-1997 did not get any advice on quitting smoking or using alcohol, a new study estimates. ...

New program will encourage primary care docs to promote health behaviors.
January 20, 2003... 2003 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RJWF) and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), working together, are launching a 5-year program aimed at developing effective, practical strategies...

Estimating number of radiotherapy patients can prevent staffing shortages.
January 20, 2003... 2003 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers have developed a method for estimating the number of prostate cancer patients who will need radiation therapy. Providing radiation therapy to patients requires specialized personnel,...

Study: Fewer side effects reported with divalproex sodium than olanzapine.
January 20, 2003... 2003 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Fewer patients with bipolar disorder reported side effects with the mood stabilizer Depakote (divalproex sodium delayed-release tablets, Abbott Laboratories) compared to patients taking the...

Thomas F. Zenty III to head University Hospitals Health System.(Brief Article)
January 20, 2003... 2003 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Thomas F. Zenty III, a healthcare administrator with more than 20 years of experience at academic medical centers and healthcare delivery systems, has been appointed president and CEO of University...

NMT announces CPT codes for atrial and ventricular defect closure procedures.(NMT Medical, Inc.)(Brief Article)
January 20, 2003... 2003 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- NMT Medical, Inc., (NMTI) announced that specific CPT codes for catheter closure of atrial and ventricular level shunts became effective January 1, 2003. "The issuance of the two CPT codes is a...

Study urges more screening.(sexually transmitted diseases)
January 20, 2003... 2003 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Changing physicians' behavior so they give sexually active teenage girls a simple urine test during a routine doctor's visit is an effective way of identifying chlamydia and ultimately helping prevent...

NDCHealth announces NDC ePREMIS hospital claims management system.(Brief Article)
January 20, 2003... 2003 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- NDCHealth Corp. (NDC) has announced a new hospital claims management system designed to provide additional capabilities, detailed claims tracking, and enhanced claims status reporting, while...

Systems Xcellence launches ASP offering at HealthExtras.(application service provider)(Brief Article)
January 20, 2003... 2003 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Systems Xcellence, Inc., (SXC) announced the successful implementation of its pharmacy benefits management and claims processing system (RxCLAIM) for HealthExtras (HLEX). In a CDN$3.5 million...

$1.4M contributed to state Medicaid health management program.
January 20, 2003... 2003 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- AstraZeneca became the second pharmaceutical company to help expand the "Carolina Community Care Program," the state's healthcare management program for Medicaid patients. The $1.4 million grant...

THR board approves $1.5 billion multiyear capital investment plan.(Texas Health Resources)(Brief Article)
January 20, 2003... 2003 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Texas Health Resources (THR) has plans to invest more than $1.5 billion in its current hospitals and future facilities over the next 10 years. The plan represents the largest investment by the...

Workgroup to assess impact of security requirements on healthcare operations.
January 20, 2003... 2003 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A new effort is underway to facilitate the identification and implementation of best practices in healthcare for information security requirements. To this end, the Security Healthcare...

Specialist regulation approved by state of California.
January 20, 2003... 2003 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Groundbreaking legislation ordering California HMOs to provide standing referrals to AIDS specialists for patients infected with HIV will finally take effect in mid-January 2003. The bill, AB...

Number of uninsured children continues to fall.
January 20, 2003... 2003 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The number of U.S. children without health insurance continued to fall in the first half of 2002, the government reports, although 7.2 million children remain uninsured. Government-financed...

Primary care providers can break down barriers to care for vulnerable patients.(Brief Article)
January 20, 2003... 2003 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Having an easily accessible and trustworthy primary care provider is one of the best ways to ensure access to critical health services, according to a recent study. Researchers looked at more than...

GE employees plan strike over health care costs.(General Electric Co.)
January 20, 2003... 2003 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Thousands of General Electric Co. employees have vowed to strike to protest rising health insurance payments. It would be the conglomerate's first national strike in more than 30 years. GE said...

Texas hospital officials seek sales tax increase to pay for uninsured emergency patients.
January 20, 2003... 2003 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- University Health System officials have proposed a statewide quarter-cent sales tax that would help public and private hospitals pay for uninsured emergency patients. The San Antonio system is...

Blue Cross to open customer service center on the Iron Range.
January 20, 2003... 2003 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota announced that it will open a customer service center on Minnesota's Iron Range. The new center will be built on 16 acres of land Blue Cross currently owns...

Symmetry renews relationship with Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.(Symmetry Health Data Systems, Inc.)(Brief Article)
January 20, 2003... 2003 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Symmetry Health Data Systems, Inc., announced that the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) has renewed its relationship with Symmetry and Symmetry's integrated software tools: episode...

Expanded health insurance coverage for women mandated in New York.
January 20, 2003... 2003 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Starting with the New Year, New York state will mandate that insurers cover more frequent mammograms, osteoporosis exams and doctor-prescribed contraceptives for women. The new law, one of several...

West Virginia governor looks to lower medical malpractice insurance.
January 20, 2003... 2003 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Giving up on trying to convince surgeons to return to their jobs, West Virginia Gov. Bob Wise on January 3, 2003, switched his focus to pushing for legislation that would reduce the high medical...

Some doctors give up delivering babies because of high insurance.
January 20, 2003... 2003 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Dr. James Watson delivered a healthy, 11-pound baby boy at about 9:30 p.m. December 30, 2002. After more than 30 years and 3000 babies, the obstetrician and gynecologist declared the delivery to...

West Virginia physicians strike over rising costs.
January 20, 2003... 2003 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Surgeons at four hospitals in West Virginia began a strike January 1, 2003, to protest malpractice insurance costs, and most operations in northern West Virginia were canceled or were being moved. In...

Paper records to be eliminated with TouchWorks.
January 20, 2003... 2003 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Allscripts Healthcare Solutions (MDRX) announced that Affinity Health Group selected the TouchWorks modular electronic medical record, or mEMR, to reduce their dependency on paper-based patient...

Omnicare to acquire NCS HealthCare for $460 million.(Brief Article)
January 20, 2003... 2003 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Omnicare, Inc., (OCR) announced that it has executed an agreement to acquire NCS HealthCare, Inc., (NCSS), the fourth largest institutional pharmacy provider in the United States, for $5.50 per share...

Insurance company joins with CDC to take on obesity research.(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Kaiser Permanente)
January 20, 2003... 2003 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- As obesity reaches epidemic proportions, Kaiser Permanente's Care Management Institute (CMI), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and others have joined forces to find effective...

Sexual orientation not disclosed to healthcare providers.
January 20, 2003... 2003 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Fewer than half of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) adults disclose their sexual orientation to their health provider according to new survey results released by Witeck-Combs...

Advocate Health Care introduces life-saving eICU.(intensive care units)
January 20, 2003... 2003 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Advocate Health Care announced that it is introducing technology to its intensive care units (ICU) that will feature around-the-clock, real-time audio and video monitoring of ICU patients at different...

Even occasional lack of health insurance results in less preventive care.(Brief Article)
January 20, 2003... 2003 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Lack of health insurance is a particular problem among people who may only go short periods without coverage because that population is less likely to seek recommended follow-up care, care for chronic...

Coverage of illness from smallpox vaccine worries workers.
January 20, 2003... 2003 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Questions about insurance coverage have some state health care workers waffling on whether they will receive smallpox vaccinations. A memo circulated in at least one Knoxville-area hospital...

Independence Blue Cross increasing physician standard fee schedules.
January 20, 2003... 2003 JAN 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Independence Blue Cross (IBC) announced a $100 million increase in the standard fee schedules used by the company to pay physicians for their professional services. In a letter sent to physicians,...