Visit our Filed page for categories. To browse by specific topic, see our Inside page. For a list of companies covered on this site, visit our Companies page.
The U.S. government proposed major changes Thursday to the way it works with companies to fight disease threats such as flu, including reform at the Food and Drug Administration and setting up centers to make vaccines quickly.
The report from the Health and Human Services Department said the U.S. ability to respond to new outbreaks is far too slow and it lays out a plan for helping researchers and biotechnology companies develop promising new drugs and vaccines. Get the full story »
Unions representing former employees of the Sun-Times Media Group Inc. are seeking information from the company in a dispute over termination of health-insurance benefits.
The unions have filed a motion in Delaware bankruptcy court seeking access to documents and other information from the company, which they claim has stopped paying for insurance coverage without court approval. Get the full story »
The new health care legislation soon will require insurers and employers to fully cover preventive services for workers. But the challenge may be to get employees to take advantage of the benefit, according to a new study.
The Midwest Business Group on Health said workers are not using preventive care programs as much as they should despite an emphasis by large corporations in recent years on wellness.
A key tenet of the health overhaul legislation, known as the Affordable Care Act, will require health plans to cover preventive services by eliminating cost-sharing, such as co-payments or deductibles for services. For example, employees who fork over a $10 co-payment for a blood pressure, diabetes or cholesterol test won’t have to do so after the law kicks in Sept. 23. Get the full story »
Warren Buffett’s company has partially rebuilt the stake in Johnson & Johnson he reduced over the past two years to raise cash for other investments, and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. boosted its investment in Wal-Mart Stores Inc. during the second quarter. Berkshire detailed its $46.4 billion U.S. stock holdings Monday in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The document revealed several changes in the Omaha-based company’s portfolio between March 31 and the end of June, including decreases in Berkshire’s holdings in Kraft Foods, ConocoPhillips, Procter & Gamble and M&T Bank. Berkshire also increased its stakes in Becton Dickinson & Co., Nalco Holding Co. and Sanofi Aventis. Get the full story »
The FTC on Monday announced a court-ordered temporary injunction against Central Coast Nutraceuticals Inc., the maker of Acai Advanced, and four affiliated companies which market a variety of acai berry supplements and “colon cleansers.” The court order halts the allegedly illegal conduct of the company, freezes its assets, and appoints a temporary receiver over the company’s several related companies, the FTC said.
A permanent injunction is to be heard Friday in federal district court in Chicago. The FTC also accused Central Coast and two individuals associated with the company of engaging in deceptive advertising and unfair billing practices.
The FTC claims the marketers deceptively claimed the acai berry supplements will lead to rapid and substantial weight loss and the colon cleansers help prevent colon cancer. Some advertisements falsely claim product endorsements by celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey or Rachael Ray. Get the full story »
Shareholders of Allscripts-Misys Healthcare Solutions Inc. and Eclipsys Corp. approved the $1.3 billion merger of companies, the companies announced. Get the full story »
U.S. regulators are cracking down on the growing number of companies that fraudulently sell so-called medical discount plans by telling consumers they work like health insurance and cover medical costs.
The Federal Trade Commission said Wednesday it is working with 24 states to crack down on sellers of medical discount plans that market them as health insurance that covers doctors, hospitals and other services. Get the full story »
The “medical home” appears to be saving Illinois taxpayers tens of millions of dollars from the state Medicaid program, a new study shows.
Illinois health officials four years ago began steps to link people enrolled in the state Medicaid health insurance program for the poor to a medical home where treatment and patient referrals are coordinated centrally as a way to keep costs down. From 2006 to 2007, Illinois Medicaid assigned nearly 2 million people to primary care doctors who agreed to coordinate these patients health care for an extra monthly payment under a program called Illinois Health Connect. Get the full story »
MD Anderson Cancer Center, one of the nation’s best known providers of oncology care, is in talks with Chicago’s largest provider of medical care, Advocate Health Care, about a possible partnership, the two health care systems confirmed today.
Any deal with the internationally known MD Anderson would be designed to enhance the cancer care provided at Advocate, which owns and operates 10 hospitals in Illinois, including eight in the Chicago area, according to sources close to the talks. It could also be a marketing opportunity given the MD Anderson name is well-known and regularly ranks atop lists of U.S. cancer providers such as the annual rankings by U.S. News & World Report. Get the full story »
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 »
