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Two flu vaccine makers said Friday that they had started shipping supplies for the U.S. market, one of the earliest starts to distributing seasonal influenza vaccine.
And U.S. officials said they were changing the labeling on a vaccine made by Australia’s CSL Ltd. because it appears to have caused a higher than usual rate of seizures in children. Get the full story »
The incoming new top executive at the University of Chicago Medical Center wants to keep the prestigious South Side teaching hospital’s competitive edge in an era of health reform and threats from medical-care providers outside the area looking to expand here such as the Cleveland Clinic and Mayo Clinic.
Dr. Kenneth Polonsky, 59, the top doctor in the Department of Medicine at Washington University’s School of Medicine in St. Louis and a former U. of C. research physician was named Dean of the division of Biological Sciences and the Pritzker School of Medicine and Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs. He replaces Dr. James Madara, who resigned last year. Get the full story »
Chicago private equity firm Water Street Healthcare Partners said Friday that it has purchased a Massachusetts maker of infusion therapy products and supplies.
Water Street, which did not disclose a purchase price, said it will commit “up to $75 million of equity to invest in and grow” Stoughton, Mass.-based Medical Specialties Distributors.
The deal brings Water Street’s portfolio of health care companies to 12, the company said.
Water Street said Medical Specialties has more than 4,000 customers, including specialty pharmacies owned by Walgreens, Accredo Health Group and Coram Specialty Infusion Services. The business of specialty pharmacy such as home infusion is fast-growing given the need for more aging baby boomers to get care in their homes.
The top doctor at Washington University Medical School in St. Louis will be tapped as early as tomorrow to run the University of Chicago Medical Center, according to sources close to the Hyde Park teaching hospital.
Dr. Kenneth Polonsky, chairman of the department of medicine at Washington University, will be the first full-time Chief Executive Officer at the U of C hospital since Dr. Jim Madara stepped down last year as CEO after a three-year stint. A spokesman at the University of Chicago Medical Center said he could not comment and Polonsky’s office did not return a call this afternoon from the Tribune. Get the full story »
An initiative designed to transform health care that was once led by First Lady Michelle Obama on Chicago’s South Side has linked more than 5,600 largely low income patients to a medical home in five years, but has faced challenges in helping these people maintain a relationship with a doctor or clinic, executives at the University of Chicago said today.
Five years after the Urban Health Initiative was launched by executives at the University of Chicago Medical Center and its then vice president of community affairs Michelle Obama as a way to educate patients on the best use of the emergency room, the effort has grown into a network of 25 community-based clinics and other providers of medical-care on a budget of more than $6 million a year. It is now poised to escalate research initiatives and teaching opportunities for physicians in hopes of becoming a national model for medical care in urban areas of the U.S. Get the full story »
Gov. Pat Quinn vetoed Friday a Senate bill that would have allowed doctors to legally hire physical therapists because those partnerships, he said, would increase costs for citizens.
In Illinois, patients must have a doctor’s referral to see a physical therapist. But physical therapists can bill insurance providers for their services independently, which is why Quinn vetoed the bill.
“Senate Bill 2635,” Quinn said in a letter to the General Assembly, “also incents medical professionals to increase the volume of services provided.” Get the full story »
Chicago may have lost out on the heart-stopping NBA talent of Lebron James but may be getting the next best thing Cleveland can offer to repair damaged aortas and clogged cardiac arteries.
In a move likely to shake up the market for heart care in the Chicago area, the well-known Cleveland Clinic’s cardiac surgery program said Thursday that it has signed an affiliation agreement with Central DuPage Hospital in the western Chicago suburbs. Get the full story »
Swedish Covenant Hospital on Chicago’s Northwest Side said it has opened a comprehensive back care center executives hope will position its growing campus for the future demands of health reform.
Known as the Chicago Back Institute, the hospital said it has invested $2.5 million in the project, including upgrades of existing neurological surgery equipment and purchasing new minimally invasive devices. Get the full story »
Employers could see an additional cost increase of up to 2 percent to medical premiums next year under the new health reform law that extends coverage to people up to age 26 through their parents’ health plans.
A new study by employee benefits consulting firm Mercer says the influx of “newly eligible” college-aged dependent children on their parents health plans will on average increase health care costs 0.25 percent to 2 percent. The increase would come on top of premiums for large employers already rising this year 8 to 10 percent by most analysts’ estimates. Get the full story »
Ten million AIDS deaths could be averted by 2025 and a million new HIV infections prevented every year if countries took a fresh look at how to meet targets for treating the disease, the United Nations AIDS program said Tuesday.
The UNAIDS Outlook report called for a simpler approach to tackling the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS, one it said could drastically cut the number of AIDS-related deaths and help to stop HIV from spreading. Get the full story »
For the fourth consecutive year, the state’s largest insurer of medical liability for doctors said it will not increase the base premium rates on policies.
ISMIE Mutual Insurance Co. credited its decision to a stable “lawsuit environment nurtured by Illinois’ 2005 medical litigation reform law, but cautioned that resulting market improvements could be at serious future jeopardy.” Get the full story »
A group of doctors at Rush University Medical Center’s prestigious orthopedic department routinely overbooked their schedules and relied heavily on residents to perform surgeries, violating federal Medicare billing rules, according to a newly unsealed whistle-blower lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago.
The suit alleges that in one instance, a surgeon never entered the operating room to supervise a procedure. In others, a surgeon monitored residents performing operations via video feed while simultaneously performing his own operations in nearby rooms.
From Crain’s Chicago Business | The University of Chicago Medical Center has agreed to pay $7 million to settle charges of overcrowding in its neonatal intensive care unit.
