Thirty-two delegates from 26 Nashville-area organizations are getting ready for a healthcare trade mission to Germany and Sweden sponsored by the Nashville Health Care Council and the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce. In meetings and tours scheduled over six days, organizers said they hope to sell Nashville and build relationships overseas.
The Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board has approved Advocate Health Care's purchase of Condell Medical Center in Libertyville. Advocate announced in May it intended to purchase Condell for $180 million, expanding Advocate's reach deeper into Lake County. Advocate still needs to get formal approval for the purchase from the Illinois Finance Authority and the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services.
Despite protests about a new law designed to crack down on gifts to doctors, several Massachusetts life sciences companies say they remain hopeful the regulations can be implemented in a way that doesn't hurt their ability to work with physicians. The law requires pharmaceutical companies and medical device makers to publicly disclose gifts and payments of more than $50 to healthcare professionals and places a ban on certain gifts. It also directs the Department of Public Health to draft extensive regulations restricting companies' marketing practices, using the national pharmaceutical industry's own voluntary "code of conduct" as a starting point. But in a letter addressed to lawmakers, Gov. Deval Patrick said the new rules are not intended to force companies to disclose confidential information, impede medical research, or block the training of healthcare providers.
Two expos-Your Medical Travel and Health-are set for late October and early November in Dallas and Austin. Put on by Transmarx LLC of Richmond, VA, the events will allow attendees to talk with medical travel facilitators and providers, and will services such as offer free health screenings.
A Canadian human rights lawyer is calling for the International Congress of the Transplantation Society in Sydney, Australia to ban transplant tourism, saying that new evidence shows forced organ removal from Chinese practitioners and prisoners.
A survey by McKinsey Global that looks at business use of Web 2.0 technologies, has found that companies have adopted more Web 2.0 tools this year than in 2007. While some reported satisfaction with how their companies utilize these tools, others are hitting barriers in adopting them.