Health Industry News

NIST Issues Call For Developing -- And Using -- Consensus Standards To Ensure The Quality Of Cell Lines

Press Release | National Institute Of Standards And Technology (NIST) | June 14, 2016

Mainstays of biomedical research, permanent lines of cloned cells are used to study the biology of health and disease and to test prospective medical therapies. Yet, all too often, these apparent pillars of bioscience and biotechnology crumble because they are crafted from faulty starting materials: misidentified or cross-contaminated cell lines. Writing in the June 2016 issue of PLOS Biology, scientists from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) call for "community action" to assemble a "comprehensive toolkit for assuring the quality of cell lines," employed at the start of every study.

U.S. Health Spending Dips

Mary Mosquera | Government Health IT | January 8, 2014

The good news: the total U.S. healthcare spending in 2012 grew slightly slower than the economy, causing a dip in healthcare's share of the economy. The bad news: healthcare spending still comprises almost a fifth of the U.S. economy at 17.2 percent in 2012, down from 17.3 percent in 2011. Read More »

Federal health market surpasses 1 million signups

Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar | Federal News Radio | December 29, 2013

A December surge propelled health care sign-ups through the government's rehabilitated website past the 1 million mark, the Obama administration said Sunday Read More »

Clinical histories reveal surprising evidence of multiple, distinct 'autisms'

Jake Miller | Harvard Medical School | December 19, 2013

Electronic medical records shared in a flexible, open-source database like SHRINE [Shared Health Research Information Network] provide a bird's-eye view of the medical system that offers researchers unique insights into disease and treatment. Read More »

Universal healthcare is 'key to growth'

Editor | Sky News | December 6, 2013

Universal health coverage is not only morally correct, but vital for a country's economic development, the President of the World Bank says. Read More »

Medicare takes another step toward telehealth

Anthony Brino | Government Health IT | December 3, 2013

Medicare is expanding coverage for telehealth consults next year, as part of a gradual embrace of the technology that mobile and remote healthcare advocates have been hoping to accelerate. Read More »

How Much Will That Heart Test Cost? Many Hospitals Won't Tell You

Rachael Rettner | Huffington Post | December 2, 2013

Patients often have a hard time finding out exactly what their medical care will cost them, and a new study finds that hospitals often are not able to provide price information for even simple procedures. Read More »

With the BodyExplorer, 'You won't feel a thing...'

Kathryn Sterling | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | December 2, 2013

I was in the University of Pittsburgh Simulation and Medical Technology Research and Development Center, and the researchers were having me try out the BodyExplorer simulator firsthand. Read More »

White House announces HealthCare.gov met repair goals

Kelly Kennedy | USA Today | December 1, 2013

The White House announced Sunday it has met its goal to make the Healthcare.gov website operate smoothly for most users by Nov. 30, 2013. Read More »

FDA Tells Google-Backed 23andMe to Halt DNA Test Service

Anna Edney | Bloomberg News | November 25, 2013

23andMe Inc., the Google Inc.-backed DNA analysis company co-founded by Anne Wojcicki, was told by U.S. regulators to halt sales of its main product because it’s being sold without “marketing clearance or approval.” Read More »

Robots let doctors ‘beam’ into remote hospitals

Terence Chea | Shaw Media Global News | November 18, 2013

Remote presence robots are allowing physicians to “beam” themselves into hospitals to diagnose patients and offer medical advice during emergencies. Read More »

House Nears Vote on Letting People Keep Their Health Plans

Michael Shear | The New York Times | November 15, 2013

The House [U.S. House of Representatives] is preparing to vote on Friday on a Republican proposal that would allow Americans to keep their existing health coverage through 2014 without penalties Read More »