Johns Hopkins
Mass. Senate hopefuls on both sides of the party line oppose device tax | MassDevice.com On Call
MASSDEVICE ON CALL — U.S. Senate hopefuls vying for a seat in the Massachusetts campaign agree on 1 point: opposition to the medical device tax. Both Reps. Edward Markey (D) and private equity investor Gabriel Gomez (R) expressed disapproval of the 2.3% excise tax on medical device companies during the recent emphasis on tax policy on the campaign trial this week.
Weight-loss: New Jersey governor Christie reveals secret Lap-Band surgery | MassDevice.com On Call
MASSDEVICE ON CALL — New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (R) underwent secret Lap-Band surgery to help him lose weight, he revealed to the New York Post this week.
Some analysts suggested that the move signals that Christie is looking at a run for the White House, but the Christie, how has come under fire for his physique on more than 1 occasion, insisted that the surgery was prompted by concern for his health and the urging of his family.
Medicare proposes new reimbursement rates | MassDevice.com On Call
MASSDEVICE ON CALL — The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services are proposing to raise payments for acute care and some key medical devices including pacemakers and implantable heart pumps.
Medicare said it wants to boost the rates for covering acute care and long-term care, by about 0.8% for acute care and 1.1% for long-term care, The Hill reports.
Weight-loss surgery doesn’t trim healthcare costs, researchers say | MassDevice.com On Call
MASSDEVICE ON CALL — Although successful in trimming patients waistlines, bariatric surgery doesn’t appear to help curb healthcare spending, according to a new study from the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Researchers analyzed more than 29,000 records, comparing patients with similar obesity profiles who either did or did not undergo bariatric surgery, observing healthcare costs over a period of 7 years.
‘Healthcare is grossly under-engineered,’ says Johns Hopkins’ Pronovost (podcast)
Healthcare providers are looking to medical devices to play a new role in hospital care, providing a whole-patient view of health through technologies that talk to each other and help clinicians make decisions about treatment.
Too many “never events” in the OR, study finds | MassDevice.com On Call
MASSDEVICE ON CALL — High-stakes surgical mistakes defines as "never events" occur more than 4,000 times per year in the U.S., according to a study by Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine researchers.
About half of those incidents involve "foreign objects" left inside of patients following surgery, a quarter of cases involved surgeons who performed the wrong procedure, nearly another quarter involved procedures performed on the wrote site and a small set involved procedures performed on the wrong patient.
Researchers decode brain waves to amplify thoughts | MassDevice.com On Call
MASSDEVICE ON CALL — Researchers successfully decoded electrical activity in the brain, using scans to guess what a patient was listening to.
Scientists from 4 universities eavesdropped on words that patients heard, correlating brain activity with the sound that produced it.
Da Vinci surgical robots may help repair NASA satellites | MassDevice.com On Call
MASSDEVICE ON CALL — Intuitive Surgical Inc.’s (NSDQ:ISRG) da Vinci robot may have applications that take it beyond our planet.
NASA scientists and researchers at Johns Hopkins University are looking at the medical machine to see if it may could one day help repair or refuel satellites in orbit.
Sending robots to space is far less costly and dangerous than sending a human to repair the satellites, and human operators would still be in control of the remotely operated da Vinci system.
Will uncertainty bring down another cardiac implant market?
MASSDEVICE ON CALL — Uncertainty surrounding the use of cardiac stents and angioplasty balloons may lead to a market backlash against the devices and their makers.
At least 4 percent and up to 12 percent of percutaneous coronary interventions may be implanted outside of industry-recommended guidelines, according to an article published in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. yesterday.
First successful artificial lung use for a toddler staves off transplant for more than a year | Research roundup
Two-year-old Owen Stark became the first toddler successfully treated with an artificial lung, managing to avoid the need for a transplant more than a year later.
Owen arrived at St. Louis Children’s Hospital in the summer of 2010 near death from heart failure and dangerously high blood pressure in his lungs.