IMRIS Inc. announced in late July that investment funds managed by Deerfield Management Company L.P. (“Deerfield”) were the prevailing parties in the recently completed sale process for the company’s assets. Deerfield is a healthcare-focused investment firm that manages over $6 billion in assets, and has been the company’s lender, both prior to and following the commencement of the company’s chapter 11 proceedings.

Many organizations may be rallying employees and resources in order to make the switch from the ICD-9 to the ICD-10 coding for medical diagnoses and inpatient hospital procedures before the Oct.1, 2015, implementation date. Richard Milam, office productivity expert and president and CEO of EnableSoft, suggests five practices that will enable healthcare providers to implement the ICD-10 by the due date and ensure an expedient, smooth transition. He indicates that these are imperative when it comes to the overall success of meeting the deadline:

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended a new treatment to help patients suffering from blood clots in the legs and lungs.

HeartWare International Inc. announced that enrollment in the ENDURANCE2 destination therapy clinical trial has been completed. ENDURANCE2 is the largest destination therapy clinical trial of a ventricular assist device conducted to date and is designed to evaluate patients implanted with the HeartWare Ventricular Assist Device (HVAD) for long-term use as destination therapy in the United States. Data from the ENDURANCE program are expected to form the basis for a pre-market approval (PMA) application seeking approval of the HeartWare System for destination therapy.

Biotronik announced the first enrollments in the BIO|GUARD-MI1 study. The study will investigate whether the early detection of cardiac arrhythmias offered by BioMonitor, and subsequent treatments, reduce the likelihood of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE). The study will, for the first time ever, examine patients with relatively preserved left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF > 35 percent), who have experienced acute myocardial infarction (AMI).

Several common measures obtained from electrocardiograms (ECGs) may help clinicians determine a kidney disease patient’s risk of dying from heart disease. The findings, which are published in a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN), may be important for preserving kidney patients’ heart health.