August 24, 2012 — The Stage 2 meaningful use requirements for electronic health records (EHRs) were released Aug. 23 by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS). The rule specifies criteria that eligible professionals (EPs), eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals (CAHs) must meet in order to qualify for CMS EHR incentive payments. In addition, it specifies payment reductions for EPs and facilities failing to demonstrate meaningful use of certified EHR technology.

August 23, 2012 — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared Toshiba’s Aquilion RXL Edition CT system. The system reconstructs images faster and includes the latest dose reduction technologies, providing faster, safer information to physicians and patients.

August 23, 2012 — Decision Resources, a research and advisory firm for pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that the 12-month post-hospital acute coronary syndrome market will initially contract from just under $2 billion in 2011 to about $1.6 billion in 2013, mainly as a result of the U.S. genericization of clopidogrel (Bristol-Myers Squibb/Sanofi’s Plavix) in 2012. Decision Resources forecasts that the post-hospital acute coronary syndrome antiplatelet/anticoagulant market will then expand to almost $2.7 billion in 2021, owing largely to uptake of oral agents with novel modes of action, such as AstraZeneca’s ticagrelor (Brilinta) and the CETP inhibitors, Merck’s anacetrapib and Eli Lilly’s evacetrapib.

Philips Healthcare and Corindus Vascular Robotics announced a distribution agreement for Corindus’ CorPath 200 System. The system was recently cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and is the world's first robotic-assisted system for the minimally invasive as percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) of obstructed coronary arteries.

August 22, 2012 — Authors of an article in the Journal of Endovascular Therapy have evaluated the effectiveness of endovascular brachytherapy using liquid beta-emitting rhenium-188 delivered in an angioplasty balloon, an improvement over earlier delivery methods.


Comedian Rosie O'Donnell’s heart attack last week is helping increase public education about how women’s myocardial infarction (MI) symptoms differ from men's. She posted a blog on Monday recounting her ordeal and called for women to be more vigilant in knowing the symptoms.

August 21, 2012 — Zoll Medical Corp. entered into an agreement to license Inovise Medical Inc.’s ambulatory Audicor technology as part of the advanced patient diagnostics in the LifeVest Wearable Defibrillator.

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