The board of directors of Covidien announced that Richard J. Meelia will retire as president and CEO, effective July 1. Jose E. Almeida, president of Covidiens Medical Devices business segment, has been elected to succeed Meelia as president and CEO.

MedAssets will jointly market HT Systems PatientSecure biometric patient identifier within MedAssets point-of-care patient identity system. 

Health Net, a managed care organization, is conducting an investigation into several server drives that the company said are unaccounted for from its data center in Rancho Cordova, Calif. The investigation follows notification by IBM, the company responsible for managing Health Nets IT infrastructure, that it could not locate several server drives.

Overextended staff is among the top concerns of healthcare tech professionals, according to Avayas Healthcare Technology Outlook survey, conducted at the 2011 HIMSS Conference and Exhibition in Orlando, Fla., Feb. 20 to Feb 24.

The FDA approved gadobutrol (Gadavist, Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals of Wayne, N.J.), a gadolinium-based contrast agent, for use in patients undergoing MRI of the central nervous system, on March 14.

Rhode Island U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse has introduced legislation to make available health IT to behavioral health, mental health and substance abuse treatment professionals and facilities.

The first stage of a $22.5 million project to create an EHR system for the province of Manitoba has gone live, providing clinicians with access to their patients' lab results, dispensed drug records and immunization histories.

Thomson Reuters and Zynx Health announced that Thomson Reuters Micromedex will be integrated into ZynxOrder evidence-based order sets.