Higher occupancy rates in hospitals don’t necessarily mean more infections. Rather, a facility can have the highest risk for Clostridium difficile infections when capacity was in a Goldilocks zone—not too full, not too empty—between 25 and 75 percent, according to new research from the University of Michigan and RAND Corporation.

Higher occupancy rates in hospitals don’t necessarily mean more infections. Rather, a facility can have the highest risk for Clostridium difficile infections when capacity was in a Goldilocks zone—not too full, not too empty—between 25 and 75 percent, according to new research from the University of Michigan and RAND Corporation.

Researchers have developed a method to separate circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from blood samples, enabling “liquid biopsies” that can help diagnosis, prognosis and suggestions for treatment. The technique can separate CTCs from a 7.5-mL vial of blood with at least 86 percent efficiency in less than an hour.

CMS announced a new proposal for home health agencies to receive reimbursement for remote patient monitoring—a first for Medicare/Medicaid patients. In a July 2 release, the agency outlined larger plans to update home health prospective payment rates.

Pfizer has increased prices for 100 drugs, including Viagra, by an average of 9 percent, according to The Financial Times. The move from America’s largest pharmaceutical company, which took effect July 1, came just a month after President Donald Trump addressed drug costs, saying the industry would voluntarily slash prices.

An artificial intelligence (AI) system defeated a team of 15 doctors, 2-0, in two rounds of a competition that looked at the ability to diagnose brain tumors and predict the expansion of brain hematomas.

For many experiencing heart attack, heart failure is an inevitability. But scientists are hoping to rewrite that story—by using stem cells to help restore heart function after myocardial infarction.

Priority Private Care, a New York-based healthcare startup, caters to high-income individuals by bringing care to them. Started 18 months ago, PPC has an urgent care facility in Manhattan that can cut wait times for those paying annual fees starting at $3,000.

CMS has issued an approval to Oklahoma to negotiate value-based supplemental rebate agreements directly with drug manufacturers, which could produce extra rebates for state, should clinical outcomes not be achieved.

Lloyd B. Minor, the dead of Stanford University School of Medicine, equated problems harnessing the positives of EHR with the microscope. It took 70 years for that game-changing tool to lead to scientific breakthroughs—a delay that might have to do as much with the user as the instrument itself.