Beneficiaries in the U.S. Medicare program have access to several technologies and procedures for treatment of glaucoma, but Medicare administrative contractors (MACs) seem to be looking sideways at some of these offerings. Both Wisconsin Physician Services and Palmetto GBA have floated draft local coverage proposals that deem procedures such as goniotomy and the combination of canaloplasty and trabeculectomy ab interno to be investigational, suggesting that claims for these and other services and devices will not be paid by these MACs.
AI tool outperforms humans in identifying stroke
An artificial intelligence (AI) framework developed by researchers in Denmark has outperformed human emergency call handlers in identifying stroke. The AI tool has the potential to play a critical role in helping to address the number of strokes that go unrecognized as the number of strokes are projected to increase as the population ages.
Biosency detects COPD exacerbations early thanks to its predictive digital medical device
Biosency SAS recently unveiled the latest clinical results on its predictive digital medical device for remote monitoring of patient suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The Bora platform demonstrated its ability to predict COPD exacerbation, on the average, three days prior to hospitalization. “By measuring three parameters simultaneously in the patient and thanks to the specificity of our early detection algorithms based on the patient-specific risk score (BVS3), our remote monitoring solution now makes it possible to have a reliable prediction of exacerbations and thus an early and adapted managements of COPD patients,” Marie Pirotais, CEO and cofounder of Biosency SAS told BioWorld. The aim of this remote monitoring technology is to reduce the average length of hospital stay, prevent morbidity and reduce mortality in COPD patients.
EPA’s proposal for ethylene oxide expected to drive smaller sterilizers out of the market
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed a more stringent set of requirements for the use of ethylene oxide for sterilization of a variety of products, including medical devices, a proposal that is expected to increase the cost of operating these facilities. Moody’s Investor Services said in a recent report that larger sterilization entities such as Sotera and Steris likely have deep enough pockets to deal with these increased costs, but that companies operating smaller and/or fewer sterilization sites may have to shutter their operations because the costs would drown their bottom lines in red ink.
Cell atlas maps out lung in health and disease
Another brick in the ambitious Human Cell Atlas initiative has been put into place with the publication of the largest and most comprehensive cell map of the human lung. The open and freely available atlas catalogs the diversity of cells in the lung, including rare and previously undescribed cell types. It also highlights differences between healthy and diseased tissue and shows that lung diseases, including fibrosis, cancer and COVID-19, have cells in common that are not found in healthy lungs, pointing to the atlas as a potential source of drug targets. Compiling the atlas involved integrating 49 existing datasets from every major single-cell RNA sequencing study that has been carried out, to investigate which genes are activated in which cells. The combined collection spans more than 2.4 million cells from 486 people.
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Asep, Avails Medical, Castle Biosciences, Corneat Vision, Diagnostear, Illumina, Myriad Genetics, Neuronetics, Neuroone, Precision Optics, Quest Diagnostics, Setpoint Medical, Valor Healthcare