Managed Care Weekly articles from January 2004

Managed Care Weekly archives from January 2004

Early kidney disease identification cost effective only when directed at high-risk patients.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Routine annual testing for abnormally high levels of protein in the urine - an early marker of kidney malfunction and premature death - should be limited to those with other risk factors and older...

Group encourages patient-provider partnership in healthcare decisions.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Clinicians and patients should work together to make decisions about which preventive services are most appropriate for individual patients, according to a new paper on the need for shared...

Dependent older patients may cost hospitals more.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Hospital costs were 23% higher for older patients who required help with daily activities such as bathing or eating than for older patients who could perform these activities for themselves, according...

Insurance inadequate for more than one in three people with disabilities.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A new U.S. survey finds that many non-elderly adults with disabilities face difficulties paying for needed healthcare: nearly half (46%) report they go without equipment and other items due to cost;...

Web site for healthcare workers aims to reduce medication errors.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The American Association of Health Plans-Health Insurance Association of America (AAHP-HIAA), collaborating with Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Harvard Medical School, the HMO Research Network Center for...

Black men should be screened for prostate cancer at younger age.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The American Cancer Society (ACS) guideline to begin screening African American men at an earlier age than other races is appropriate, according to a new study in the December 2003 issue of the...

Medco receives perfect score, full accreditation from JCAHO.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- In its first application for accreditation, Medco Health Solutions, Inc., (MHS), a pharmacy benefits manager, received a perfect score from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare...

California partnership takes lead on simplifying guidelines.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The California Medical Association Foundation (CMAF) has announced that a 2-year project to simplify recommendations and help physicians appropriately prescribe antibiotics has reached completion. ...

Alabama clinic merges technology, low costs.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- As the only doctor within 25 miles, Roseanne Cook sees around 30 different patients who stop in her clinic on a typical day. Another 20 get checkups from her every day, but they seldom stop in. ...

Wyndgate signs $1.2 million contract with California hospital.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Wyndgate Technologies, a division of Global Med Technologies, Inc., (GLOB) announced the signing of an agreement for its Vein-to-Vein software, SafeTrace donor management, and SafeTrace Tx advanced...

Mammograms don't reach all communities equally.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Despite an overall rise in mammography use over the last two decades, women living in poor and rural communities of the U.S. lag when it comes to early breast cancer detection, but may be positively...

Study supports tailoring adjuvant therapy for early-stage disease.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Premenopausal women with lymph node-negative breast cancer should receive adjuvant therapy tailored according to the estrogen receptor status of the primary tumor, concludes a study by the International...

Educating women about disease link to smoking persuades more to quit.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Providing women with brief written information linking between smoking and cervical cancer increases their readiness to quit smoking, a new study shows. Since women who smoke have double the chance...

Aetna signs contract renewals with two northern Virginia hospitals.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Aetna (AET) announced that it has signed contract extensions with Reston (Virginia) Hospital Center and Northern Virginia Community Hospital. The new contracts will enable Aetna members in Northern...

MedAssets and Chamberlin partner to reduce losses from self-pay patients.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- MedAssets and Chamberlin Edmonds have inked a strategic marketing relationship to jointly bring solutions to providers that help reduce their losses on unreimbursed self-pay patient cases. ...

Multiyear contract awarded for IV solutions, sets to veterans hospitals.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Baxter Healthcare Corporation announced that it has been awarded a multiyear contract by the Department of Veterans Affairs for the exclusive sale of its intravenous solutions and sets to the more than...

Hospital association selects program provider.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- HealthShare/Texas Hospital Association (HealthShare/THA), a subsidiary of the Texas Hospital Association (THA), has selected Lumenos as its preferred consumer-driven healthcare provider. Through...

Gloves help improve skin, relieve dermatitis.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Cardinal Health (CAH) has received clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to market an advanced new line of medical gloves made with Neu-Thera, an emollient that is proven clinically to...

Modified commercial software available for remote health monitoring.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Health Hero Network, Inc., a developer of technology solutions for remote health monitoring, announced the release of its Care Composer software package. The software gives Health Hero Network...

New Medicare law boosts chronic care.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A diabetic in Ohio sends basic medical information each night to a nurse who may be a thousand miles away. If a significant condition change is detected, the nurse calls to find out why and contacts the...

Kindred acquires for resale 10 unprofitable facilities from Ventas.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Kindred Healthcare, Inc., (KIND) announced it has acquired 10 unprofitable facilities formerly leased from Ventas, Inc., (VTR) for $85 million in cash. The company intends to dispose of these...

Canadian drug savings calculator available online.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- More than 1000 consumers used the powerful, consumer-friendly "Canadian Drug Savings Calculator" (http://www.resultsforamerica.org/) to calculate $6.1 million in total savings during the first week that...

RxPricePoint to provide competitive drug pricing on a handheld device.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Medix Resources, Inc., (MXR) announced that its HealthRamp CarePoint technology is being extended to deliver its RxPricePoint program at the point of prescribing on a handheld device. HealthRamp's...

ChartMaxx selected by Canadian Hospital Cite de la sante de Laval.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- MedPlus and its Canadian reseller THiiNC iMi, along with Canadian business partner Bell, announced that Cite de la sante de Laval of Quebec has selected ChartMaxx as its enterprise-wide electronic...

Company enters emergency department software market with EDNet.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- MediServe Information Systems, Inc., announced that MediServe will now offer information systems for emergency departments and urgent care centers of health systems. MediServe acquired the EDNet...

Judge bars referendum from California's March 2004 ballot.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- In a defeat for business groups, a judge on December 12, 2003, blocked a March 2004 voter referendum on a law requiring that hundreds of California employers help provide their workers with health...

Good evidence improves design of programs for children, young adults.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Palliative and end-of-life care programs for children and young adults can now be designed on the basis of good evidence. Chris Feudtner and colleagues at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia,...

Genesis Healthcare reports 3.5% revenue growth in fiscal 2003.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Genesis HealthCare Corp. (GHC) (GHCI) announced income from continuing operations of $31.2 million for the year ended September 30, 2003. On a pro forma basis for the spin-off and the ElderTrust...

Kaiser selects KPMG as independent auditor.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc., Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, and their subsidiaries (Kaiser) announced the audit and compliance committee of the board of directors has selected KPMG, LLP, (KPMG) as...

NeighborCare reports strong fiscal 2003 results.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- NeighborCare, Inc., (f/k/a Genesis Health Ventures, Inc.) (NCRX) announced income from continuing operations of $51.1 million or $1.25 per share and net income of $30.0 million or $0.74 per share for...

Physicians make house calls to New York City's elderly.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Run by the Wright Medical Center on Aging at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York City, House Calls is a program that brings physicians to the homes of elderly...

Gallup survey reveals female ob-gyns benefit from "insider knowledge".
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- In a national survey of their own health habits, women obstetrician-gynecologists indicate they practice what they preach when it comes to good health. At a time when many Americans are exercising...

Delaware hospital facility selects medical transcription service provider.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Precyse Solutions, a Pennsylvania firm providing health information management (HIM) services, has been selected to provide medical transcription production services for Beebe Medical Center, a hospital...

Financial incentives affect the smoking practices of women considering pregnancy.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Financial incentives affect the smoking practices of women considering pregnancy "Recent analyses suggest that cigarette excise taxes lower prenatal smoking. It is unclear, however, whether the...

Merger complete, AAHP-HIAA looks ahead to 2004.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The American Association of Health Plans-Health Insurance Association of America (AAHP-HIAA) announced on December 11, 2003, that it had completed its transition to a merged organization whose mission...

Town council votes itself lifetime healthcare benefits.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The town council of Clayton, North Carolina, voted in November 2003 to give itself healthcare benefits at town expense for life, a decision that's led to criticism from taxpayers, not surprisingly. ...

Vermont Democrats say they'll pursue health economics agenda.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Vermont Democrats in the state's House of Representatives say they will pursue an agenda in 2004 designed to make healthcare more affordable. Topping the list of eight initiatives is a commitment to...

Patients at rural Mississippi hospitals linked to state's largest ER.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Lamarvin Schenall, on a bed in the emergency room in the Claiborne County Hospital, Mississippi, was treated by a doctor on a television screen. "It's a little different," said Steve Creasey, MD,...

Hospitals may cut costs for uninsured.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The U.S. hospital industry said on December 17, 2003, it will consider cutting the price of care for the uninsured in the face of growing complaints that hospitals charge such patients too much. ...

Costs for kids with behavioral disorders similar to those with physical ones.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Children with behavioral disorders incur similar overall healthcare costs to children with physical disorders, according to a recent study. Among behavioral disorders, costs were not uniform;...

More Wisconsin communities seek to create municipal health insurance trust.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The group of communities that joined together earlier in 2003 to look into creating a Wisconsin Municipal Health Insurance Trust to help cope with soaring health insurance costs has grown to 18. ...

Newspaper reports on families' struggles with tough choices to pay for health.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Middle-income families of chronically ill or disabled children are selling homes, cashing in retirement plans, and depleting their savings to pay for rising cost of their children's care, The Cincinnati...

Push on for hospitals to disclose costs of procedures.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The operation: Reattach a tendon in a former senator's arm. The bill: $8,800. The actual cost: Almost unknowable. Former Sen. Dave Durenberger of Minnesota, now leading a state healthcare task...

Editorial highlights gap between medical care and patients' emotional needs.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The compassionate side of patient care in hospital - or rather the lack of it - was discussed in an editorial in the December 12, 2003, Lancet. The journal's editors call for a substantial increase...

Health plan expands flu vaccine coverage.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Cigna HealthCare announced that it is extending its flu vaccine coverage to include recently U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved intranasal influenza vaccines (such as FluMist) for healthy...

Integra syringe maximizes current flu vaccination supply.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A 10-dose vial of flu vaccine can provide 11 vaccinations when delivered with a Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD) Integra Syringe, BD advises healthcare providers. The syringe is designed with a...

Patient, doctor attitudes can affect rate of flu shots.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Success in immunizing the elderly against flu largely depends on attitudes of both patients and physicians, according to a study that found decreasing vaccination rates before this year's outbreak...

Some New Jersey insurers expand coverage to include nasal flu vaccine.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Several insurance companies in New Jersey said they will cover costs for a new nasal flu vaccine during this flu season, according to a report. AmeriHealth, Aetna, Oxford Health Plans, and Horizon...

AmeriHealth to cover FluMist due to vaccine shortage.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- In response to the reported shortage of injectible flu vaccines, AmeriHealth announced that for the remainder of this flu season, the insurer will expand its coverage of flu vaccines to include the...

ASPeN EMR services agreement inked with Pattie A. Clay Regional Medical Center.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- LanVision Systems, Inc., (LANV) announced that the Pattie A. Clay Regional Medical Center of Richmond, Kentucky, has signed a 4-year agreement for LanVision's ASPeN web-based electronic medical record...

Carolinas Healthcare implements MercuryMD's mobile solution.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- MercuryMD, a healthcare focused software company that provides hospitals with mobile technology solutions to improve clinical workflow and operational efficiencies, announced that Carolinas HealthCare...

Cincinnati Children's purchases pharmacy IV automation technology.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- ForHealth Technologies, Inc., announced that Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center of Cincinnati, Ohio, will install and use ForHealth's IV pharmacy robotic technology to place additional...

New Healthwise Knowledgebase API delivery option allows for more customization.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The Healthwise Knowledgebase, the in-depth online health content used by 8 of the top 10 managed care organizations and hundreds of hospitals, is now available through an API (application program...

New pharmacy automation system launched.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- AmerisourceBergen Corporation (ABC) launched the AutoMed Efficiency Pharmacy H750, the first radio frequency identification (RFID) enabled hospital pharmacy automation and barcoding system for all types...

HMO fined for violations in Maine.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The Maine Bureau of Insurance has fined Cigna Healthcare of Maine Inc. and Cigna Behavioral Health $900,000 for multiple violations of state law. The fine, assessed as part of a consent decree with...

West Virginia court dismisses claims against pharmacy benefits management firm.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A West Virginia state Circuit Court judge has thrown out several claims lodged by the state against Medco Health Solutions (NYSE: MHS), the company announced in early December 2003. Judge Irene C....

Certain tactics can increase awareness of disease, treatment options.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Pharmaceutical companies that face limited resources and wide geographical dispersion of field-based medical programs are now creating a strong infrastructure to effectively reach and educate...

Research identifies five ehealth-consumer trends.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Manhattan Research, a healthcare marketing and information services firm, says it has identified five critical trends driving the future of the consumer e-health market in 2004. The findings are...

Judge's order temporarily halts cutoff for some in Texas.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Some 2,300 low-income Texans in danger of losing Medicaid health insurance won't have their benefits cut off until a January 20, 2004, court hearing can be held, a judge has ruled. Travis County,...

Pennsylvania doctors again threaten to close offices over high rates.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- In what is becoming a New Year's ritual, some Pennsylvania doctors threatened during December 2003 to close their practices in January 2004 rather than continue paying high rates for medical malpractice...

Provisions for ehealth-based chronic care promise higher quality at lower cost.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Unpublicized provisions of recently enacted Medicare reform point the way to technology-based chronic care improvement programs playing a major role in improving healthcare for seniors while controlling...

New interim CMS chief named.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson on December 17, 2003, named Dennis Smith, head of the federal health insurance program for the poor, as acting administrator of the agency that...

Regional centers in Nebraska could stay open under new plan.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A need for acute-care beds could keep the regional mental health centers in Hastings and Norfolk, Nebraska, open. Under a plan supported by Gov. Mike Johanns, the regional center in the capital...

Accent Rx mail service pharmacy acquired.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Chronimed, Inc., (CHMD) announced that it has purchased Accent Rx for $4.2 million in cash. Accent Rx is a specialty mail service pharmacy focusing primarily on the distribution of pharmaceutical...

Women less likely to get lifesaving drug during heart attack.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Despite having similar symptoms, women having heart attacks were given a clot-busting drug less often than men in a Canadian study of 482 people. Sherry L. Grace, PhD, and colleagues from the...

Exploding elective labor induction rates provoke a call for action.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Exploding elective labor induction rates provoke a call for action. "The labor induction rate is at an all-time high in the United States. Although induction of labor is recommended as a therapeutic...

Free eye exams available to those at increased risk of glaucoma.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Nearly three million people have glaucoma, but half do not realize it because there are often no warning symptoms. In honor of Glaucoma Awareness Month taking place in January 2004, EyeCare...

Team travels to perform newborn heart surgery at regional hospitals.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- An experienced pediatric cardiothoracic team can travel to regional hospitals to perform sophisticated heart surgery on premature infants without compromising safety or effectiveness, according to a new...

Patent granted for compositions, kits for compounding pharmaceuticals.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- CutisPharma, Inc., announced that the company has been notified by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office that its patent application covering unit-of-use kits for compounding (custom-preparation) of...

Race, income, insurance all influence obesity rates among children.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- In the quest to figure out why so many American youth are struggling with obesity, new research shows overweight among children and teens is linked to race as well as insurance status. An American...

Benefits management company expands senior management team.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Ancillary Care Management (ACM) has added three senior healthcare executives to its management team. Christopher M. Sherlock, CPA, has joined the company as chief financial officer, Robert J....

Disease management company appoints chief medical officer.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- American Healthways, Inc., (AMHC) announced the appointment of James E. Pope, MD, to the newly created position of executive vice president and chief medical officer. Pope has previously served as...

MedeFinance appoints Katherine Glassey as VP, business development.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Emeryville, California-based MedeFinance, a provider of revenue cycle management solutions for the healthcare industry, has named Katherine Glassey as its new vice president of business development. ...

Auto industry nudging work force, retirees toward mail-order drugs.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Retired Ford Motor Co. employee Ed Schmidt has gotten his prescriptions from pharmacist Bob Armstrong for 20 years. Soon, the Taylor, Michigan, resident will be getting them from his postal carrier...

As New Hampshire, Massachusetts go, so goes Maine?
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Following the lead of New Hampshire and Boston, Massachusetts, Maine officials are considering whether to try to rein in prescription drug costs by importing medicines from Canada. "We're looking...

Iowa seniors say savings are worth the legal risk.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Some Iowans who turn to Canada for their prescription drugs say the savings are worth the risk. They told The Gazette of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, that they're willing to chance the government's wrath to...

U.S. may overwhelm Canadian pharmacies.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- As CEO of Canadameds.com, one of the popular new enterprises selling low-price prescription drugs from Canada to U.S. customers, Mike Hicks is used to watching business grow fast. But even he is...

Arkansas officials launch health initiative.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Rising healthcare costs coupled with Arkansas' high rates of obesity, physical inactivity, and smoking are leading state residents into a dark, unhealthy future. But under a directive from newly-trim...

Calendar encourages African Americans to adopt better health practices.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Kentucky's Lexington-Fayette County Health Department is encouraging better health practices among its African Americans residents with a calendar that features some health-conscious Kentuckians. ...

Older patients may face age bias.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- When it comes to deciding what kind of treatment a man with prostate cancer receives, the person's age trumps life expectancy, according to a new study from the University of Toronto Health Network. ...

Combination therapy significantly delays progression of benign prostatic hyperplasia.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- For men who suffer from enlargement of the prostate, also called benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), combining two classes of drugs reduces the risk of significant worsening of symptoms and other BPH...

Medicare increases reimbursement coverage for DeBakey LVAD.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- MicroMed Technology, Inc., announced that the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has decided to increase reimbursement coverage for the MicroMed DeBakey VAD, which is approved by the...

North Carolina health plan to cover cost of FluMist.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- In the wake of shortages of injectable influenza vaccines, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina will increase reimbursement to physicians to cover the cost for the FluMist intranasal vaccine for...

Breakthrough protocol reduces infant eye damage.
January 5, 2004... 2004 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Masimo announced that Augusto Sola, MD, senior researcher in a 5-year study aimed at reducing the rate of infant eye damage through the use of a groundbreaking neonatal oxygenation protocol, addressed...