Hospitals are charged with effectively implementing electronic health records to improve the health and well being of the communities they serve. The task is daunting and some institutions could feel a bit overwhelmed, but a new resource, provided by Premier HealthCare Alliance (Charlotte) and its special Health Information Technology (HIT) Collaborative is giving hospitals a helping hand. (Medical Device Daily)

A battered economy is doing little to slow down the growth of Ohio's biosciences sector, according to a report released by BioOhio (Columbus), a nonprofit organization supported by the Thomas Edison Program of the Ohio Department of Development. The organization released figures that show Ohio's total employment in the bioscience sector in 2008 was 55,465, a 2.8% increase between 2007 and 2008. (Medical Device Daily)

Soon patients could enjoy a great deal of freedom and autonomy while waiting for a heart transplant, if results from an upcoming study by SynCardia Systems (Tucson, Arizona) prove favorable. On Monday, the company reported that it had received conditional approval from the FDA to hold an IDE clinical study of the Freedom driver system, a portable application designed to power SynCardia's Total Artificial Heart (TAH). (Medical Device Daily)