WASHINGTON — The 510(k) program has fed tons of newspaper ink and blog pages of late, so it was only natural for the subject to come up during this year's joint session held by FDA and the Food and Drug Law Institute (FDLI; Washington). (Medical Device Daily)

WASHINGTON — The question of how tightly devices are scrutinized drives a lot of chatter in policy circles of late, but few in industry would disagree that reviewers at the Center for Devices and Radiological Health are interested in more exhaustive safety data – and indeed, data of all sorts – than in times gone by. (Medical Device Daily)

The chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Max Baucus (D-Montana), has been in hot pursuit of healthcare reform for some time, and the committee held a roundtable discussion Tuesday to look at how outcomes can be improved and costs reduced. Baucus opened the session by noting that this is the first of three such sessions he has scheduled with the hope of having a bill ready for the Senate by June. (Medical Device Daily)

Comity, not partisanship, was the order of the day yesterday when the Senate Finance Committee met to discuss the nomination of Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius as Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the subject of irregularities with regard to her campaign finances was never brought up. (Medical Device Daily)

WASHINGTON – The healthcare information technology (HIT) revolution is well under way, but a panel discussion on the final day of the World Health Care Congress here made clear yet again that just getting doctors and hospitals to buy computers and software will not do much to improve care and cut costs. (Medical Device Daily)

WASHINGTON – The Medical Device Safety Act of 2008 has morphed into the Medical Device Safety Act of 2009, and the Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed; Washington) held a session Wednesday to address the legislation, which industry sees as a game-stopper for many would-be investors in new med-tech. (Medical Device Daily)

WASHINGTON — Anyone who has been farther into a hospital than the front desk can attest to the bewildering array of medical devices and monitoring equipment – not to mention the appurtenant wires, hoses and other leads – used to track a patient's vital signs, but one of the sessions held on the first day of the World Health Care Congress highlighted the frustration doctors feel for the current situation. (Medical Device Daily)