Information technology
Telemedicine bill sails through Mississippi House, awaits Senate vote | Mississippi Business JournalLegislation that would establish ground rules for the practice of telemedicine roared through the Mississippi House of Representatives and a version of it is making its way through the Senate.
Boston Medical Center is using an app to help employees sleep — and work — better | Boston Globe
A digital sleep training program called Sleepio, which claims to teach its users how to sleep better, became the latest addition to the benefits package for staff at the BMC and was announced Wednesday. After surveying a new user’s sleep and health habits, the app provides a “sleep score” that indicates how well – or poorly – they are sleeping. The app then takes the user through tutorials, suggesting small lifestyle changes that make for a deeper slumber.
Parkland doctor hoping his Dallas health care software startup can ease other doctors' headaches | Dallas Morning News
A software platform for healthcare that began under Parkland Memorial Hospital has spun off into a Dallas-based tech startup and raised $21.6 million from venture capital firms, Dallas investors and hospital systems.
Devices and euipment
Accuracy concerns on testing device for blood-thinning drugs | New York TimesSince the Alere devices, the INRatio and a later model, the INRatio2, were cleared for use in 2002, the F.D.A. has received more than 9,000 reports of malfunctions with the products, and more than 1,400 reports of injuries, according to an analysis in December by the Public Citizen Health Research Group, a consumer organization.
Pharmaceuticals
OptumRx signs deal with Walgreens to grow in-store prescriptions | ReutersThe model puts OptumRx on more equal footing with its two largest competitors, CVS Health - which is made up of pharmacies and a pharmacy benefit manager - and Express Scripts Holding Corp, which has a similar pharmacy program.
Drug sales dropped precipitously after Shkreli's Turing hiked price, senator says | STAT
Sales of a drug manufactured by Turing Pharmaceuticals dropped precipitously after its former CEO, Martin Shkreli, oversaw a dramatic price hike, a US senator said Thursday during a hearing focused on prescription drug prices.
Physicians
Now there's proof: Docs who get company cash tend to prescribe more brand-name medsA ProPublica analysis has found for the first time that doctors who receive payments from the medical industry do indeed tend to prescribe drugs differently than their colleagues who don't. And the more money they receive, on average, the more brand-name medications they prescribe.
Safety, quality and clinical practice
Rare transplant at Stanford Hospital saves two women's lives | San Jose (Calif.) Mercury NewsThe women were part of a rare "domino donor" operation, in which a heart-lung recipient also donates her heart. The procedure--the eighth since 1988 at Stanford--was a first for Dr. Joseph Woo, a nationally recognized heart surgeon who has performed many heart and lung transplants and combined heart and lung procedures.
