Medicare’s randomized trial of a new bundled payment model for hip and knee replacement surgeries led to $812 in savings per procedure, a 3.1% reduction in costs when compared with traditional means of paying for care, according to new research. The study from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School found that the […]
How slugs, snails & worms inspired Gecko Biomedical’s biocompatible sealant
The story behind Gecko Biomedical’s biocompatible sealant starts in the summer of 2009, when Boston Children’s Hospital‘s chief of cardiac surgery reached out to Jeffrey Karp about a problem he was experiencing in the operating room. Dr. Pedro del Nido told Karp, a professor of medicine at Harvard and the director of the Laboratory for Accelerated Medical Innovation […]
Artificial intelligence could prevent breast cancer false positives: Here’s how
Artificial intelligence could improve detection and diagnosis of breast cancer and eliminate false positives, according to new research out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). A team of researchers from MIT’s CSAIL, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School developed an AI system with machine learning that can […]
Smart bandage releases medication as needed
A team of researchers from the University of Nebraska, Harvard Medical School and MIT have created a smart bandage that can be loaded with antibiotics, painkillers or other drugs and triggered by a smartphone. The bandage, made of electrically conductive fibers individually coated in a drug-loaded hydrogel, could be used to deliver multiple drugs at a precise time and dose, […]
X-Biotix to address antibiotic resistance with chemical scaffolds
X-Biotix Therapeutics launched today with technology from Harvard Medical School that the company said will aim to address the threat of antibiotic resistance. According to the multi-year collaboration and license agreement, the team plans to identify antibiotic scaffolds that target multi-drug-resistant Gram-negative pathogens. X-Biotix spun out of the privately-held biotech X-Chem, which develops novel small molecule therapeutics […]
Topical immunotherapy combo effective against early skin cancer
Researchers from the Washington University School of Medicine and Harvard Medical School have shown that a combination of 2 topical drugs can trigger an immune response against precancerous skin lesions. The study was published yesterday in The Journal of Clinical Investigation. The 2 drugs, calcipotriol and 5-fluorouracil, have been in use for years – topical 5-fluorouracil […]
Study: Medication errors occur in 1 out of 2 surgeries
A new study from Harvard Medical School investigating the incidence of drug dosing errors and adverse events before, during and after surgeries found a 50% rate of errors in the OR. The study, which examined more than 275 operations at the Massachusetts General Hospital, also indicated that a 3rd of the errors discovered resulted in […]
NEJM op-ed: Don’t repeal the medical device tax
A pair of Harvard Medical School physicians say the medical device tax should not be repealed, writing in the New England Journal of Medicine yesterday that it’s an important bulwark of the healthcare reform law.
Did Steve Jobs’ stubborness kill him?
Steve Jobs, the tech visionary and founder of Apple Inc. (NSDQ:AAPL) who died earlier this month after a long struggle with cancer, may have been saved had he stuck with conventional medicine, according to a cancer specialist.
Jobs may have gone as long as two years without conventional cancer treatment, opting instead for "alternative mumbo jumbo" while his cancer likely spread through his body, Harvard Medical School researcher Ramzi Amri wrote.
Halamka steps down from his life as a health care CIO | Personnel Moves
Here’s the latest personnel changes from medical device, diagnostics and life science companies around the nation. For more recent hirings and firings, check out MassDevice’s compilation of the latest personnel moves.
Birth control implants are safe, effective and unpopular.
MASSDEVICE ON CALL — Intrauterine devices and contraceptive skin implants are more effective and require less maintenance than condoms or birth control pills, but the vast majority of women stick with the more traditional methods.
Intrauterine devices, which release small amounts of either copper or progestin in the uterus to prevent pregnancy, amount to less than 6 percent of contraceptive use. The skin implants were only approved in 2006, so less is know about their use.
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