WASHINGTON – When it comes to healthcare in the U.S., there is no shortage of explanations as to why there is so much waste, but the utility of information technology in stemming costs and improving care has never been fully tested for a number of reasons. (Medical Device Daily)

WASHINGTON – Room 430 in the Dirksen Senate Office Building was packed yesterday as the Senate Heath, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee took up the nomination of former Sen. Tom Daschle for the post of Secretary of Health and Human Services, but the hearing also served to mark the return of Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) to Capitol Hill after a bout with glioblastoma multiforme, perhaps the deadliest of the cancers of the brain. (Medical Device Daily)

WASHINGTON – The actuaries at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently filed their annual report on healthcare spending in the U.S., and as the saying goes, there's good news and bad news. The good news is that the rate of growth of healthcare spending slowed in 2007 to the slowest rate since 1998, and spending on prescription drugs grew at the slowest pace in almost 50 years. (Medical Device Daily)