Medical Devices
Two days after a Senate committee released a report stating the manufacturer of 85 percent of endoscopes used in the United States knew the hard-to-clean reusable devices caused superbug infections, scope-maker Olympus issued a recall of the medical equipment.
The neurostimulation devices market was valued at more than $5 billion globally in 2014, and that number is only expected to grow, with annual increases of 12.7 percent forecasted from now until 2020, said New York City-based P&S Market Research in findings released Monday.
Healthcare organizations are bulking up their privacy protections with firewalls, encryption, data loss prevention software and more, but the much lower-tech visual hacking threat is still a concern, according to a new 3M educational campaign.
To mitigate loss of income due to no-shows, Broomfield Family Practice in Broomfield, Colorado started using Apptoto, a cloud-based, automated appointment messaging service.
The U.S. House of Representatives has proposed a two-year suspension of the medical device tax and another two-year delay of the Cadillac tax on high-cost employer health plans.
When it comes to digital health funding, 2015 matched the record-breaking numbers of 2014 with more than $4.3 billion flowing into the industry, according to a Year in Review Report from Rock Health, a venture fund dedicated to backing digital health initiatives.
Federal officials this week charged Pamela Gardner, 53, and Torvis Gardner, 44, both of Springfield, Tennessee, and Dr. Donald Boatright, 70, of Nashville with with soliciting and receiving kickbacks in exchange for making referrals for the purchase of medical equipment, according to the FBI.
Nearly 500 hospitals have been ordered to pay the government more than $250 million to resolve allegations they allowed cardiac devices to be implanted in Medicare patients who were not eligible for the procedure, according to an Oct. 30 announcement from the Department of Justice in Florida.
Investing gives health systems the chance to partner at the first phase of promising new healthcare technologies and services. But it also allows systems to have an attractive investment, given modest returns from securities and low bank interest rates.
In January, Rooney pleaded guilty and admitted that from 2005 to 2010, he was employed as a consultant by two medical device development and sales companies, Altiva Corporation and Allure Spine Consulting.