LSPPPO|HEALTHCARE NEWS|October 03, 2013
Healthcare News
A Weekly Compilation of Clinical Laboratory and Related Information
from The Division of Laboratory Science and Standards
October 10, 2013
News Highlights
CDC Director: ‘Microbes Didn’t Shut Down’
Medicare Regulations Do Not Require Separate Written Reports for Each Surgical Pathology Service
Unreliable Commercial Lab Kits May Be Hindering the Fight Against Cancer
ASCO and the CAP Release Updated Guideline on HER2 Testing in Breast Cancer
Diabetes Tests Often Not Being Ordered or Used Properly
Microscopic 'Bacterial Zoos' Built out of Jelly
Small RNA Interference Effectively Lowers LDL Cholesterol
Cell-Detection System Promising for Medical Research, Diagnostics
Scientists Find new Treatment for Clostridium difficile
Flu Shot Cuts Risk of Pneumonia
Patients Like Seeing lab Results Online
'Meaningful Use' Still on Target During Shutdown
View Previous Issues - Healthcare News Archive
CDC Director: ‘Microbes Didn’t Shut Down’
The government may be closed for business, but Ebola, listeria, and other nasty microbes aren’t, says the agency whose job it is to keep them at bay. The headquarters of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention feels a bit like a ghost town, staffers say. We reported here that it would have to furlough 68% of its employees, and it did. “CDC had to furlough 8,754 people,” agency director Tom Frieden tweeted. “They protected you yesterday, can’t tomorrow. Microbes/other threats didn’t shut down. We are less safe.” There are still more than 4,000 people protecting stocks of deadly viruses like smallpox and Ebola, running the agency’s emergency operations, and working in programs like global AIDS that aren’t beholden to the current budget debate. But skeleton crews are manning some other critical functions.
The CDC won’t be able to conduct routine inspections of high security labs around the nation that work with “select agent” pathogens that pose severe threats to human and animal health such as Marburg virus or hemorrhagic fevers, said spokeswoman Barbara Reynolds. Most of the CDC’s own lab work has been stopped. The agency is not conducting surveillance for flu outbreaks. Only one CDC staffer is tracking reports of dangerous foodborne pathogens rather than the usual six staff – not a lot given that 48 million Americans develop foodborne illnesses every year. And that person is focusing only on the most dangerous bugs, such as salmonella, e.coli and listeria. “We’re not looking at campylobacter or shigella unless we get word from the states saying to look at this,” Christopher Braden, director of the CDC’s division of foodborne, waterborne, and environmental diseases, says of two other bacteria that cause foodborne illness. (The CDC normally receives reports of foodborne pathogens from state health departments.)
Source: http://blogs.wsj.com/
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Federal Shutdown Would Mean FDA Delays
FDA would continue limited activities related to its user fee funded programs including the activities in the Center for Tobacco Products," according to the notice. "FDA would also continue select vital activities including maintaining critical consumer protection to handle emergencies, high-risk recalls, civil and criminal investigations, import entry review, and other critical public health issues." Activities on the chopping block could include "routine establishment inspections, some compliance and enforcement activities, monitoring of imports, notification programs (e.g., food contact substances, infant formula), and the majority of the laboratory research necessary to inform public health decision-making."
Source: http://www.massdevice.com/
VA Marches Through Shutdown, but Not Unaffected
The Department of Veterans’ Affairs is among the few federal agencies going through the government shutdown mostly unscathed — for now, at least. Veterans, like active military service members, are receiving benefits and have access to most services, such as crisis counseling and home loan assistance, and all of the VA’s medical centers and clinics remain open. But if the shutdown continues beyond October, VA leaders are warning, the agency may end up struggling to continue funding those services. And one of the VA’s most pressing problems — the disability claims backlog — is being affected, with the federal shutdown ending mandatory overtime for claims processing workers.
Source: http://www.govhealthit.com/
Straight Talk on Lab-Developed Tests From FDA
For more than 3 years, the lab community has endured an uncomfortable and uncertain limbo around potential U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulation of lab-developed tests (LDTs). Now, an unusually candid presentation by Alberto Gutierrez, PhD, director of FDA’s Office of In Vitro Diagnostics and Radiological Health at the 2013 AACC Annual Meeting in Houston is raising new questions about how—and if ever—FDA will move on LDTs and release a long-awaited draft guidance.
Source: http://www.aacc.org/
New California Law Streamlines HIV Testing
Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill that improves HIV testing efforts across the state. Assembly Bill 446 streamlines the consent process for HIV testing in non-clinical settings, such as on mobile testing vans. It also allows people to get their test results through a secure site on the Internet. Advocates say the change will help to reach populations that are most at risk so they can begin treatment. The bill was authored by state Assembly member Holly Mitchell (D-Los Angeles).
Source: http://abclocal.go.com/
Medicare Regulations Do Not Require Separate Written Reports for Each Surgical Pathology Service
Relators brought a qui tam action under the False Claims Act (FCA), 31 U.S.C. 3729(a) (1) (A) and (B), alleging that the Mayo Foundation and others billed Medicare for surgical pathology services it did not provide. The government intervened and the parties settled. Relators then filed a Second Amended Complaint asserting additional claims. On appeal, relators challenged the district court's dismissal of their additional claim that Mayo fraudulently billed for services it did not provide whenever it prepared and read a permanent tissue slide but did not prepare a separate written report of that service. As a preliminary issue, the court concluded that relators satisfied their burden of showing that the public disclosure bar did not deprive the court of jurisdiction over relators' claim. On the merits, the court concluded that nowhere in the Medicare regulations or in the American Medical Association Codebook has the court found a requirement that physicians using the CPT codes for surgical pathology services must prepare the additional written reports that relators claimed Mayo fraudulently failed to provide. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment of the district court.
Source: http://law.justia.com/
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Digital Pathology Progression
Digital pathology has been around for a decade, but its slow adoption has been hampered by cost, workflow integration, system integration, and governmental regulation on whole slide imaging (WSI) systems. And despite the fanfare by pathology informatics champions and professional organizations through their meetings and educational materials, there’s still slight resistance in adoption of digital pathology in the general pathology community. Many perceive digital pathology or WSI systems as a luxury supplement to the daily clinical practice rather than a necessity.
Source: http://laboratorymanager.advanceweb.com/
ASCO and the CAP Release Updated Guideline on HER2 Testing in Breast Cancer
The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and the College of American Pathologists (CAP) issued a joint, updated guideline aimed at improving the accuracy and reporting of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) testing in patients with invasive breast cancer. The two FDA-approved methods currently used in the United States to test for HER2 are immunohistochemistry (IHC) and in-situ hybridization (ISH). IHC testing assesses how much HER2 protein is present on the surface of tumor cells, whereas ISH testing measures how many copies of the HER2 gene are present inside each cancer cell. The original guideline focused on IHC and fluorescence in-situ hybridization (FISH), whereas the updated guideline adds recommendations for a newer diagnostic technique known as bright-field ISH. This technique also evaluates for amplification of the HER2 gene, and uses a regular light microscope rather than a fluorescent microscope.
Source: http://laboratory-manager.advanceweb.com/
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Cytology in Healthcare Reform
Clinical laboratory work including cytology is a highly regulated profession. This being generally the case, and true to what we all expect, inspection and accreditation of cytology can be exhaustive. This is fueled in part by the nature of our profession: the onset of advanced technologies; the availability of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines; and powerful healthcare legislation. The most significant factors to date are newer recommendations and as it become more evident, insurance payment structures. Clearly the recommended frequency of screening will be reinforced by how often health insurance policies will cover the procedure. There are obvious exceptions to this approach, again, provided that in certain cases the clinician sees reason to prescribe an otherwise more frequent screening program. It is reasonable to expecting an increase of insured women as a result of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and until the female patient population can be reasonably defined and the true effect of these less frequent screening intervals are fully realized, only then can a better anticipation of gynecologic cytology workload can be foretold.
Source: http://laboratory-manager.advanceweb.com/
The Confusing World of Lab-Based Allergy Testing
The complex and confusing world of allergy testing can be made better by laboratorian-led standardization efforts, according to Kareena Schnabl, PhD, FCACB, a clinical biochemist in the department of laboratory medicine and pathology at Alberta Health Services and the University of Alberta Hospital in Edmonton, who spoke at the 2013 AACC Annual Meeting, along with Harissios Vliagoftis, MD, an associate professor and director of pulmonary medicine at the University of Alberta. Their presentation on the utilization and standardization of laboratory allergy testing was part of the quadrennial joint Annual Meeting of AACC and the Canadian Society of Clinical Chemists.
Source: http://www.aacc.org/
Unreliable Commercial Lab Kits May Be Hindering the Fight Against Cancer
Over the past 30 years, researchers have developed surprisingly few new tests for diagnosing cancer in spite of impressive advances in biomedical technology. A study appearing online in Clinical Chemistry, the journal of AACC, shows for the first time that low quality commercial lab kits may be one factor hampering the progress of cancer diagnostics. A doctor's ability to test for cancer in its earlier stages often determines a patient's chances of survival. Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a grim example of this. The majority of patients live only 3 to 18 months, because current diagnosis methods usually can't detect PDAC until it is too advanced to respond to treatment. Testing for the right biomarkers—biological molecules whose presence indicates a condition or disease—could be instrumental in the early detection of cancers like PDAC. A team of researchers led by Eleftherios P. Diamandis, MD, PhD, of the University of Toronto, were hopeful they had found a new pancreatic cancer biomarker, the protein CUZD1, when they realized a faulty immunoassay kit had produced the data supporting CUZD1's viability.
Source: http://www.sacbee.com/
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Diabetes Tests Often Not Being Ordered or Used Properly
Of the less than 20% of patients with diabetes who meet the nationally recommended frequency for glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) testing, more than a third are not prescribed treatment changes when their levels increase significantly, a new study has found. "We're hearing about overuse of this test, but even when it is used appropriately, the result may not be," said lead investigator Ross Molinaro, PhD, from the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta. He presented the findings at the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) 2013 Annual Meeting.
Source: http://www.medscape.com/
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HCV Transmitted From Organ Donor With Negative Nucleic Acid Test
Two recipients of organs from a single donor developed hepatitis C infection that was traced back to the donor, who was negative for the disease by nucleic acid testing, according research presented here at ID Week 2013. “Antibody detection of hepatitis C typically takes 7 to 10 weeks, and RNA detection with nucleic acid testing takes 3 to 7 days, but this may vary by test sensitivity and hemodilution of specimen,” Emily Blumberg, MD, professor of medicine at Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, said during her presentation. “In 2013, the US Public Health Service updated their guidelines, recommending that HCV antibody and nucleic acid testing be performed on all organ donors.”
Source: http://www.healio.com/
Commercial Urine Test for Prostate Cancer Available
A new urine test for prostate cancer that measures minute fragments of RNA is now commercially available to men nationwide through the University of Michigan MLabs. The new test - Mi-Prostate Score (MiPS) - improves the utility of the PSA blood test, increases physicians' ability to pick out high-risk prostate tumors from low-risk tumors in patients, and may help tens of thousands of men avoid unnecessary biopsies. The MiPS test incorporates blood PSA levels and two molecular RNA markers specific for prostate cancer in one final score that provides men and their doctors with a personalized prostate-cancer risk assessment.
Source: http://preview.medicalnewstoday.com/
Trovagene Launches Urine-Based, Cell-Free DNA Assay for Cancer Mutation Monitoring
Trovagene (San Diego) launched the first urine-based assay for its cancer monitoring portfolio. The noninvasive, cell-free BRAF test is designed to detect and monitor this mutation in metastatic cancer patients with biopsy-proven BRAF mutations in their tumor. The company says this test will improve monitoring of tumor dynamics over time leading to more effective management of cancer patients.
Source: http://g2intelligence.com/
Sequenom Files for FDA Clearance of Impact Dx System, Thrombophilia Test
Sequenom said that it has filed for marketing clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration of its Impact Dx System and Impact Dx Factor V Leiden and Factor II Genotyping Test.The system and test are intended for use in clinical laboratories. The Impact Dx System is used for detecting multiple analytes in DNA samples using matrix-assisted desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry. It is designed to be used with Sequenom's genotyping tests, including the Impact Dx Factor V Leiden and Factor II Genotyping Test, an aid for diagnosing patients with suspected thrombophilia. Additional tests will be developed, the company said.
Source: http://www.genomeweb.com/
Microscopic 'Bacterial Zoos' Built out of Jelly
A "bacterial zoo" with microscopic cages built out of jelly has been constructed by US scientists. Their findings, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could transform understanding of how bacteria behave in communities. They mixed bacteria with a special form of gelatin and let it set so the bacteria were suspended like cocktail fruit in jelly. They then fired a laser at the gelatin-bacteria mix. The structure of the gelatin was altered at the point the laser beam was focused. The targeted gelatin proteins hooked up to each other so that when the rest of the gelatin was washed away it left the "cage". It allowed the researchers to build cages around individual, or small groups of bacteria in whatever shape they chose. By building up a number of cages, they could eventually build a "zoo", with every bacterium exactly where the researchers wanted it. The walls of the cage were able to keep the bacteria in place, but allow nutrients and signals to pass between cages.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/
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Small RNA Interference Effectively Lowers LDL Cholesterol
A new frontier of lowering LDL-cholesterol levels, one that uses small interfering RNA to turn off a gene involved in cholesterol metabolism, has been shown to be safe and effective in a small phase 1 study[1]. Published online October 3, 2013 in the Lancet, study investigators, the majority of whom are from Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (Cambridge, MA), the developers of the drug that uses RNA interference (RNAi) to block the production of proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9), reported that inhibition of PCSK9 synthesis with the intravenous small interfering RNA reduced LDL-cholesterol levels by as much as 40%.
Source: http://www.medscape.com/
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Mutant Protein Blocks HIV Infection
Scientists from the University of Cambridge in the UK have discovered a mutant form of an immune protein is able to block infection and spread of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in immune cells. Their findings could lead to new ways to fight HIV by offering a new target for drug developers. A report on the study appears in the latest online issue of the journal Retrovirology. Senior author Professor Chris Rudd, of the University's Department of Pathology, says: "One exciting aspect about this new target for HIV intervention is that we should be able to fight HIV without compromising the immune system's ability to battle infections."
Source: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/
Scientists Find New Treatment for Clostridium difficile
Transplanting fecal matter has been one of the best remedies at treating a tough bacterial infection known as Clostridium difficile (C. diff). Scientists are now saying they can give all the benefits of poop in a tiny pill. This new pill method is a less yucky way to do "fecal transplants." And, Canadian researchers tried this method on 27 patients and cured them all after strong antibiotics failed to help. It's a gross topic but a serious problem. Half a million Americans get C diff. infections each year, and about 14,000 die.
Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/
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Study Shows How Deadly Candida Albicans Might Be Rendered Harmless
Candida albicans is a double agent: In most of us, it lives peacefully, but for people whose immune systems are compromised by HIV or other severe illnesses, it is frequently deadly. Now a new study from Johns Hopkins and Harvard Medical School shows how targeting a specific fungal component might turn the fungus from a lion back into a kitten. Study results were reported this month in The Journal of Biological Chemistry.
Source: http://preview.medicalnewstoday.com/
Disease-Specific Human Embryonic Stem Cell Lines Placed on NIH Stem Cell Registry
Scientists from King's College London have announced that 16 human embryonic stem (hES) cell lines have been approved by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and placed on their Stem Cell Registry, making them freely available for federally-funded research in the USA. The stem cell lines, which carry genes for a variety of hereditary disorders such as Huntington's disease, spinal muscular dystrophy and cystic fibrosis, are considered to be ideal research tools for designing models to understand disease progression, and ultimately in helping scientists develop new treatments for patients.
Source: http://preview.medicalnewstoday.com/
Biopsied Brain Tissue Yields Regenerative Cells - Potential Parkinson's Therapy?
Canadian researchers are taking a novel approach in trying to find an effective treatment for Parkinson's disease — and it involves taking advantage of small holes drilled in the skull for another therapeutic procedure. During surgery to implant electrodes into the brains of Parkinson's patients — an increasingly common procedure known as deep brain stimulation, or DBS — doctors at Western University have been removing a tiny scoop of brain cells from selected patients, then growing them in the lab.
Source: http://www.vancouversun.com/
Cell-Detection System Promising for Medical Research, Diagnostics
Researchers are developing a system that uses tiny magnetic beads to quickly detect rare types of cancer cells circulating in a patient's blood. While other researchers have used magnetic beads for similar applications, the new “high-throughput" system has the ability to quickly process and analyze large volumes of blood or other fluids, said Cagri Savran, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University. The approach combines two techniques: immunomagnetic separation and microfluidics. In immunomagnetic separation, magnetic beads about a micron in diameter are "functionalized," or coated with antibodies that recognize and attach to antigens on the surface of target cells. The researchers functionalized the beads to recognize breast cancer and lung cancer cells in laboratory cultures. "The circulating cancer cells are difficult to detect because very few of them are contained in blood," Savran said. "That means you have to use as many magnetic beads as practically possible to quickly screen and process a relatively large sample, or you won't find these cells. ”The technology also could be used to cull other types of cells.
Source: http://www.technologynetworks.com/
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How Meningitis Bacteria 'Slip Under the Radar'
Scientists have discovered a natural temperature sensor in one of the bacteria that cause meningitis and blood poisoning, which allows them to evade the body's immune response leading to life-threatening infections. The study, found that increasing the temperature causes the bacteria to make more capsule - a protective layer that surrounds the bacterium like an 'invisibility cloak', helping it to evade detection by the immune system. The research, published in Nature, suggests that people may be more susceptible to infection by the bacteria when they have a fever and could explain why outbreaks of flu (which causes fever) are often followed by an increase in cases of sepsis and meningitis.
Source: http://preview.medicalnewstoday.com/
Scientists Engineer Bacteria Using a Hidden Genetic Code
Scientists routinely seek to reprogram bacteria to produce proteins for drugs, biofuels and more, but they have struggled to get those bugs to follow orders. But a hidden feature of the genetic code, it turns out, could get bugs with the program. The feature controls how much of the desired protein bacteria produce, a team from the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University reported in the September 26 online issue of Science. The findings could be a boon for biotechnologists, and they could help synthetic biologists reprogram bacteria to make new drugs and biological devices.
Source: http://preview.medicalnewstoday.com/
Righty? Lefty? Genes' Role Still Unclear
New study suggests DNA only plays a minor part in handedness
Genetics do not play a major role in determining whether people are right- or left-handed, a new study says. About 10 percent of people worldwide are left-handed, but the reasons why people favor one hand over the other remain unclear. In an effort to learn more, researchers conducted genetic analyses of nearly 4,000 twins in the United Kingdom, but were unable to find a strong genetic factor in determining handedness. The study was published recently in the journal Heredity.
Source: http://consumer.healthday.com/
Study Finds Kosher Chicken Has Highest Rate of Antibiotic-Resistant E. coli
Raw chicken marketed as kosher may harbor up to twice as much antibiotic-resistant E. coli as poultry raised conventionally, according to a new study funded by Northern Arizona University. The study’s results may fly in the face of the generally accepted notion that kosher meat is safer than meat raised to other standards. According to a survey cited by The New York Times in 2010, 62 percent of those who buy kosher foods do so for quality reasons, compared to 15 percent who buy kosher for religious reasons.
Source: http://www.foodsafetynews.com/
Gloves, Gowns Could Lower Rate of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus
Requiring health care workers to wear gloves and gowns for all contact with intensive care unit (ICU) patients reduces the risk of one type of antibiotic-resistant infection, but not another, a new study shows. Researchers focused on two main types of antibiotic-resistant infections that affect patients in hospitals and other health care facilities: methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE). These measures did not reduce rates of VRE infection, but did reduce rates of MRSA infection, according to Dr. Anthony Harris, of the University of Maryland School of Medicine, and colleagues. The study was published online Oct. 4 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Source: http://health.usnews.com/
Old Home Remedy May Be New Cancer Drug
An old home remedy called ipecac syrup, once stocked in medicine cabinets in case of accidental poisoning, is showing promise as a new chemotherapy drug for bladder cancer. The study by corresponding authors Kimberly Foreman, Gopal Gupta and colleagues is published online ahead of print in The Journal of Urology.
Source: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/
Flu Shot Cuts Risk of Pneumonia
Flu vaccination sharply reduced the risk of community-acquired pneumonia, one of the most serious complications of influenza, a researcher said. In a case test-negative study, flu vaccination was associated with a 59% reduction in the risk of being admitted to hospital with pneumonia, according to Carlos Grijalva, MD, of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. However, vaccine efficacy appeared to be higher in children than in adults, Grijalva reported at the IDWeek meeting. The finding comes from the CDC's Etiology of Pneumonia in the Community (EPIC) study, which enrolled children and adults admitted to hospital with pneumonia in four cities -- Memphis, Tenn., Nashville, Chicago, and Salt Lake City.
Source: http://www.medpagetoday.com/
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Athenahealth to Monitor Flu Activity During Government Shutdown
During the government shutdown, health IT vendor athenahealth plans to monitor flu activity and issue updates accordingly. Such activity normally is conducted by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), which had to furlough nearly 9,000 workers during the budget fight in Washington. CDC normally issues a weekly flu report, and the media help announce disease outbreaks and launch public awareness campaigns. Without those reports, detection of flu trends could be delayed.
Source: http://www.fiercehealthit.com/
UK Firm Seeks to Market World's First Malaria Vaccine
British drug maker GlaxoSmithKline is seeking regulatory approval for the world's first malaria vaccine after trial data showed that it had cut the number of cases in African children. Experts say that they are optimistic about the possibility of the world's first vaccine after the trial results. The vaccine known as RTS,S was found to have almost halved the number of malaria cases in young children in the trial and to have reduced by about 25% the number of malaria cases in infants. GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is developing RTS,S with the non-profit Path Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI), supported by funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/
First CDC-Recognized Diabetes Prevention Program Established in the Bronx by Health People
Starting this fall, Health People's Diabetes Prevention Program will hold its first series of year-long, 22-session courses led by 10 HP mentors - local residents who have been trained as CDC-approved "lifestyle coaches." The year-long courses are designed to educate Bronx residents with high blood sugar (pre-diabetes) diabetes and about healthy eating, exercise, and managing stress in a way that slashes their risk of developing diabetes by almost 60%. A recent New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene report that found that while the overall number of deaths in New York City (NYC) is declining, diabetes-related deaths are increasing, particularly in the Bronx.
Source: http://preview.medicalnewstoday.com/
10 Inexpensive, Proven Systems Could Slash Death Toll of Mothers and Children by 1.2 Million
Right now the annual global death toll of mothers and children under 5 is 6.9 million. Between 2016-2020, these innovations have the potential to save the lives of nearly 7.5 million women and children. The ten, identified by international experts from hundreds of candidates, are ready to be deployed where they are needed most by the end of 2015, according to a new publication.
"If we can get these low-cost innovations to people who need them the most, we have the potential to save millions of lives," says Kathy Calvin, President & CEO at the United Nations Foundation.
Kit Yamoyo
Anti-Shock Garment
Low-Cost Antiseptic
Rotovac vaccine
The Backpack-PLUS
Helping Babies Breathe
Bubble CPAP
Phone Oximeter
Sayana Press
Magnesium sulfate
Innovation supporters estimate that $1 billion will be needed to implement these and other innovations.
Source: http://preview.medicalnewstoday.com/
For 3 Nobel Winners, a Molecular Mystery Solved
Three Americans won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering the machinery that regulates how cells transport major molecules in a cargo system that delivers them to the right place at the right time. The Karolinska Institute in Stockholm announced the winners: James E. Rothman, 62, of Yale University; Randy W. Schekman, 64, of the University of California, Berkeley; and Dr. Thomas C. Südhof, 57, of Stanford University. Their basic research solved the mystery of how cells, which are factories producing molecules, organize a system to transport the molecules within cells and export them outside.
The world’s most prestigious scientific award arrived at a particularly dark time for federal science research: the National Institutes of Health, the agency that paid an estimated $49 million to help underwrite the winners’ work, has been forced to send home most of its staff because of the government shutdown. Basic research of the type that just won the Nobel is seen as particularly vulnerable to Capitol Hill budget cutters. “This is a stark reminder of how these are the best of times and the worst of times for American biomedical research,” Dr. Francis Collins, the N.I.H. director, said in an interview. “Today we celebrate the three N.I.H.-supported Nobel Prize winners, but we’re being slammed by sequestration and a government shutdown.”
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/
Physics Nobel Prize Goes to 'God Particle' Scientists
The 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics has gone to Britain's Peter W. Higgs and Belgium's Francois Englert, the Nobel Committee announced in Stockholm. They were jointly awarded the prize for their work on a theory that offers an explanation for how the fundamental particles of the Universe acquire mass. Last year, the pair's work was confirmed after the discovery of the so-called Higgs particle — known also as the Higgs boson and the God particle — at a laboratory in Geneva.
Source: http://www.usatoday.com/
Computer Chemists Win Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prize in chemistry has gone to three scientists who "took the chemical experiment into cyberspace". Michael Levitt, a British and US citizen of Stanford University, US-Austrian Martin Karplus of Strasbourg University, and US-Israeli Arieh Warshel of the University of Southern California share the prize. The trio devised computer simulations to understand chemical processes. In doing so they laid the foundations for new kinds of pharmaceuticals. "The Nobel Laureates in Chemistry 2013 have made it possible to map the mysterious ways of chemistry by using computers," said the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. "Today the computer is just as important a tool for chemists as the test tube. “Detailed knowledge of chemical processes makes it possible to optimise catalysts, drugs and solar cells."
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/
Final MoPath Prices About 26% Higher on Average
Final 2013/2014 Medicare prices for new molecular pathology (MoPath) codes published Sept. 30 average about 26 percent higher than the interim rates released earlier this year though the median improvement is just 6 percent. The final rates are viewed as an incremental positive for labs and diagnostics although not all codes increased in price, according to research analysts at Piper Jaffray. While the median Medicare payment for CPT 81206 (BCR/ABL1 gene major bp) is $225, an 87 percent increase over the median interim price of $108, CPT 81295 (MSH2 gene analysis) dropped 64 percent to a median of $153.
Source: http://g2intelligence.com/
Docs Urged to Start Prepping Now for ICD-10
Come the first week of October next year, the number of codes to document, say, an angioplasty will go from one to 854. The number of pressure ulcer codes will jump from nine to 125. Asthma will need to be classified as "mild," "mild intermittent," "mild persistent," "moderate persistent," or "severe. "Yes, this week brought the opening of the Affordable Care Act's health insurance exchanges, but Oct. 1, 2014 will usher in another revolution for physician offices: the International Classification of Diseases, version 10 -- ICD-10. And the date is one that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has stood firm on after granting a 1-year delay.
Source: http://www.medpagetoday.com/
Patients Like Seeing Lab Results Online
Patients able to view their lab results online overwhelmingly reacted positively to being able to do so, according to a new study published in the Journal of Participatory Medicine. The study conducted an email survey of Kaiser Permanente members who had viewed at least one test result online in the last year, with 1,546 respondents. According to the study, survey participants reported, "high levels" of satisfaction, appreciation, calm, happiness and relief. Few were confused, upset or angry at being able to see lab results online. It was also important for doctors to set patients' expectations--in doing so, they were less likely to follow up on test results by calling, emailing or setting up new appointments, according to the study.
Source: http://www.fiercehealthit.com/
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'Meaningful Use' Still on Target During Shutdown
The government shutdown may be slowing or halting a number of health-related activities, but federal incentives for electronic health records aren't one of them, the head of the government's health IT program told MedPage Today. Thursday was the last day physicians and other eligible professionals could begin the attestation process to qualify for Stage 1 bonus payments under meaningful use in 2013. But even with the government shutdown and with no clear resolution in sight, the meaningful use program rolls on, said Farzad Mostashari, MD, the national coordinator for health information technology at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). "HealthIT incentive payments do not come from annual appropriations; Mostashari told MedPage Today via Twitter.
Source: http://www.medpagetoday.com/
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Experts Say Vendors Charge Excessive Fees to Interface EHRs With Clinical Pathology Laboratories, Other Providers, and Networks
It won’t surprise pathologists and clinical laboratory managers to learn that vendors of electronic health record (EHR) systems are milking physicians and other health-care providers with excessive fees above and beyond the EHR cost. Vendors are socking it to providers—including medical laboratories—in the pricing they charge to create the mandatory interfaces required for the EHRs to connect with outside networks. These excessive fees were the subject of a story published by Modern Healthcare. It reported that healthcare providers contend that the interface fees are excessive because the software developed for federally mandated connections are common to all vendor customers. Therefore, the interfaces are used over and over again.
Source: http://www.darkdaily.com/
Despite Practical and Privacy Concerns, Doctors See Potential in Google Glass
The technology, which crosses a computer with a pair of eyeglasses, has the potential to improve contact among doctors and specialists, strengthen doctor-patient relationships, and train medical students, its early adopters say. The Affordable Care Act "emphasizes quality, safety, and efficiency rather than quantity of care," John Halamka, chief information officer at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, says in an email. He is referring to a number of provisions in the 2010 health reform law that encourage providers to deliver higher-quality care at a lower price. "Hospitals and providers will invest [in] tools that ensure the patient gets the right care at the right time," he continues. He sees Glass as one of them
Source: http://www.nextgov.com/
Certification for Electronic Health Record Product Revoked
Two electronic health records, previously certified as products to be used as part of the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs, have had their certifications revoked. Farzad Mostashari, M.D., the national coordinator for health information technology, announced that the products do not meet standards and providers cannot use these products to meet the requirements of the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive programs. EHRMagic-Ambulatory and EHRMagic-Inpatient, both developed by EHRMagic Inc. of Santa Fe Springs, Calif., no longer meet the EHR certification requirements. The EHRs must be certified by a certification body (ACB) authorized by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) before regaining certification.
Source: http://www.hhs.gov/
'The Usage of Labs Is Closely Linked to Usage of Healthcare Overall
A recent white paper from Healthbridge on the diagnostics lab market estimates that the lab market in India is worth at least Rs 30000 crores. What were the parameters considered to arrive at this figure (common estimate is about Rs 15000 crore)? There is also a significant presence of clinical laboratories in rural India. How do you divide this market estimate among labs from big and small cities as well as rural India? We sized the market using two distinct methodologies. Through one approach, we sized the market using a ‘bottoms-up’ approach by aggregating city level build-up of players using individual lab data, hospital data and qualitative data such as interviews. We also did a separate top-down population, using disease and utilisation based model to determine the market size.
Source: http://healthcare.financialexpress.com/
New High-Tech Laboratory in Kazakhstan to Fight Plague Outbreaks
In a dusty suburb near Almaty, Kazakhstan, where the Soviet-era buildings still hint at a different time, a slice of high-tech modernity has arrived—in the form of a $102 million biosecurity laboratory. The Central Reference Laboratory (CRL) will open in 2015 and offer high-security lab space for scientists to study dangerous diseases and provide early warning of potential outbreaks. The facility, funded by the United States Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) and the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, will have the additional benefit of giving stable employment to scientists who might otherwise be tempted to sell their high-level and potentially destructive knowledge to hostile groups, said Lt. Col. Charles Carlton, director of the DTRA offices in Kazakhstan.
Source: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/
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