Seniors, boomers: 'no' to in-home monitoring

The U.S.'s senior and baby boomer populations are not currently receptive to in-home health monitoring, according to Parks Associates' (Dallas) Delivering Quality Healthcare to the Digital Home, which reports that two-thirds from both populations see little to no value in these services.

Of the one-fifth who find the service valuable, 60% would still not spend extra money, either out-of-pocket or in higher healthcare premiums, for in-home health monitoring. Only 20% would accept a moderate increase in health insurance premiums, and another 16% to 20% would be willing to pay out of pocket for it.

Name change to Medifile International

Omnimed International (Cedar Knolls, New Jersey) reported that it has changed its name to Medefile International and that its common stock has begun quoting on the OTC Bulletin Board under the new symbol MDFI. It said the name change better reflects its products and service offerings, and particularly its flagship product, the Medefile system. The Medefile system is designed to gather all of its members' medical records and create a single, comprehensive medical record accessible 24/7.

The company also reported declaring an in-kind dividend of 14 shares of common stock for each share of common stock held by shareholders of record at the close of business on Jan. 16 and payable Jan. 20.

N.C. public health lab to use Cytyc's ThinPrep

Cytyc (Marlborough, Massachusetts) said that the North Carolina State Laboratory of Public Health (SLPH) is the first state public health laboratory to convert to the ThinPrep Imaging System for all cervical cancer screening.

This builds on the laboratory's use of the ThinPrep Pap Test, which began in 1999. The lab currently processes about 110,000 Pap tests annually. The SLPH provides medical and environmental laboratory services to public health organizations including county health departments.

The ThinPrep Imaging System is the first fully integrated, interactive computer system that assists cytotechnologists and pathologists in the primary screening and diagnosis of ThinPrep Pap Test slides, the company said.