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(Sciemetric Instruments: Ottawa, Canada) -- Sciemetric Instruments has announced the general availability of SigPOD Medical, a system to verify parts and processes in the manufacturing of medical devices.Regulatory initiatives such as the Food and Drug Administration’s Process Analytical…
In October, Medtronic Inc., makers of a wide range of medical devices, issued a voluntary suspension of its Sprint Fidelis defibrillation leads due to an increasing rate of lead fractures.Rob Clark, Medtronic senior director of public relations, says the decision was based on both a statistical…
(Duke University Medical Center: Durham, North Carolina) -- Using acupuncture before and during surgery significantly reduces the level of pain and the amount of potent painkillers needed by patients after the surgery is over, according to Duke University Medical Center anesthesiologists who…
(Pfizer: New York, and Sermo: Cambridge, Massachusetts) -- Pfizer Inc. and Sermo, the nation’s largest online physician community, recently announced a strategic collaboration designed to redefine the way physicians in the United States and the health care industry work together to improve…
(Juran: Southbury, Connecticut) -- A growing trend among hospitals is the use of lean techniques to improve patient safety measures, in turn improving the overall quality of care. Juran Healthcare’s patient safety model incorporates the Juran Trilogy (safety planning, safety compliance, and…
(ANSI: Washington, D.C.) -- Filling a prescription is faster and more convenient than ever thanks to a new standard from ANSI-accredited standards developer the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs Inc. Providing general guidelines for developers of pharmacy or physician management…
(NCQA: Washington) -- The quality of care for more than 80 million people in the United States enrolled in 767 accountable health plans improved in 2006, according to a new report by the National Committee for Quality Assurance.The State of Health Care Quality 2007 reports that commercial health…
(Johns Hopkins Medicine: Baltimore, Maryland) -- Mandatory classes that aim to improve the quality of medical care seem to successfully teach doctors new concepts but don’t necessarily improve patient outcomes, suggests a thorough review of articles that examine quality improvement (QI)…
(ASQ: Milwaukee, Winsconsin) -- As Food and Drug Administration regulations and quality system requirements tighten, manufacturers can’t afford the ramifications of unidentified risks in production. To help educate producers, the American Society for Quality is offering a one-day virtual course…
(National Institutes of Health: Bethesda, Maryland) -- National Institutes of Health director, Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D., has announced the expansion of a national consortium that is transforming how clinical and translational research is conducted at academic health centers across the country.…
(Canon Communications: Los Angeles) Canon Communications LLC, a major producer of tradeshows and publications dedicated to the worldwide $220 billion medical device manufacturing market, is introducing a new show—Medical Design & Manufacturing (MD&M) Midwest—for medical manufacturers…
(NCQA: Washington) -- Fourteen of the nation’s leading preferred provider organizations (PPOs) covering 10.2 million U.S. citizens are among the first to come forward for evaluation under NCQA’s new Health Plan Accreditation standards. The program evaluates PPO and managed-care plans under a common…
(HHS: Washington D.C.) -- As part of the efforts to design and establish a public-private partnership to succeed the American Health Information Community by fall 2008, HHS has issued the final white paper describing the vision for and attributes of a successor to the AHIC. The purpose of the…
(ISO: Geneva) -- A new International Organization for Standardization technical report is aimed at reducing the number of patients harmed, or even killed, due to the misuse or malfunction of software for health care. In the past, health-related software was primarily applied to relatively…
(NCQA: Washington) -- Preferred provider organizations (PPOs), which cover nearly two-thirds of all privately insured Americans, will be required to report on the quality of care and service their members receive under standards that were released on Aug. 1 by the National Committee for Quality…
(Commonwealth Fund: New York City) -- As health care quality and patient safety concerns rise, the latest Commonwealth Fund health care opinion leaders survey finds leaders united behind several key reform measures: more than half (56 percent) support the creation of a new public-private…
(FDA: Washington, D.C.) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently announced that manufacturers of certain drugs approved to treat Type 2 diabetes have agreed to add a stronger warning on the risk of heart failure, a condition that occurs when the heart does not adequately pump blood.…
(NCQA: Washington) -- The National Committee for Quality Assurance recently updated its online Quality Compass, the nation’s most widely used database of health-plan performance. Quality Compass includes NCQA accreditation, Health Plan Employer and Data Information Set (HEDIS) clinical quality, and…
(Systech: Cranbury, New Jersey) -- Systech International Inc., a provider of packaging execution systems (PES) to the pharmaceutical industry, has introduced enhanced features to its plant-level server application, Systech Guardian. In addition to serialized product tracking (SPT)…
(Productivity Press: New York) -- Why does the United States rank 36th of all industrialized nations in health care? Perhaps the rampant inefficiencies of the system can help explain this dismal placement. There are bright spots, however. Innovative health care organizations, having recognized…
(NCQA: Washington) -- The National Committee for Quality Assurance, in collaboration with Pfizer Inc., recently released a new publication profiling strategies and recommendations for improving the quality of care through wellness and prevention initiatives.Quality Profiles: The Leadership Series—…
(University of Virginia: Charlottesville, Virginia) -- University of Virginia Engineering School Associate Professor William F. Walker and Research Associate Francesco Viola have developed a new tool—an advanced imaging algorithm—that is transforming the way we see things. Together with graduate…
The National Quality Forum is seeking nominations for members of a steering committee for the initial phase of a project to endorse voluntary consensus standards on the quality of emergency care. All nominations must be submitted by 6:00 p.m. ET, Aug. 10, 2007.Emergency care is an integral part…
(NCQA: Washington) -- The National Committee for Quality Assurance, in collaboration with Pfizer Inc., recently released a new publication profiling strategies and recommendations for improving the quality of care through wellness and prevention initiatives.Quality Profiles: The Leadership…
(A2LA: Frederick, Maryland) -- The American Association for Laboratory Accreditation began adding medical laboratories to its accreditation offerings on June 1, 2007. “We see strong demand for an internationally recognized accreditation program in the medical laboratory industry,” says…
