Fear of drug-resistant superbugs continues to escalate across the globe, but the U.S. health system now has a new infection control weapon to use against one of the most threatening bacteria – carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE).
Molecular diagnostics company Caredx Inc. said it will not be able to provide Allomap tests to Medicare patients if a 74 percent reimbursement cut stands. The blood test is used to determine rejection risk in heart transplant recipients and, according to the company, it is the only alternative to the more invasive and riskier biopsy procedure.
In what appears to be the first step toward getting out of the health technology business, Mckesson Corp. said it will divest most of its technology solutions business into a new joint venture and take that entity public before parting ways.
Medtronic plc may be the knight in shining armor that Heartware International Inc. has been looking for – a knight that has swept in to rescue the distressed heart-pump maker in a deal valued at roughly $1.1 billion cash.
Having spent the bulk of his medical career researching infections in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, Stephen Schimpff, a retired CEO from the Baltimore-based University of Maryland Medical Center, knows a lot about how hospitals can make patients sick.
Superbugs tend to evoke a lot of finger-pointing and the blame often spreads as wide and fast as the outbreaks themselves. But if the industry learned anything from last year's high-profile duodenoscope debacle it's that infection control is a shared responsibility. Manufacturers, third-party reprocessing firms, hospitals, regulatory bodies and lawmakers all have a role to play in protecting patients from those deadly diseases.
