Health & Human Services Secretary (HHS) Kathleen Sebelius has reported that $6 billion in new federal funds will be made available to states and U.S. territories for fiscal year 2009 to provide healthcare to millions of children across the United States through their Children's Health Insurance Programs (CHIP).

Cappella has completed a $17.3 million series C investment, led by new investors, Fountain Healthcare Partners and Mitsui Venture Partners. Enterprise Ireland also participated in the round alongside Cappella's existing investors, Polytechnos Partners and ACT Venture Capital.

Fifty-seven members of Congress have written a bipartisan letter to President Barack Obama, heralding the benefits of medical imaging and urging him to "consider the value of these life-saving technologies."

The University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, the city of Miami, Microsoft and Resolute Solutions have initiated a diabetes management study.

The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA), which slashed Medicare reimbursement for diagnostic imaging, has resulted in layoffs and postponed plans for equipment acquisition, according to survey results in the July issue of the Journal of the American College of Radiology.

The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, led by Chairman Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., introduced legislation this week advocating for more government involvement in healthcare coverage. The bill is certain to launch a drawn-out debate over the current delivery direction of healthcare in the United States when it is introduced on the Senate floor in July.

The Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT) will hold a series of two Town Call Web conferences on June 16 and 17 to gather stakeholder input on new paths to certification of EHR technologies.

Scientists at the Massachusetts Instutitue of Technology and other institutions have been experimenting with low-frequency, low-intensity ultrasound to provide a non-invasive alternative to techniques such as deep-brain stimulation and vagus nerve stimulation, used to treat a growing number of neurological disorders.