Multiple pending Congressional bills call for the repeal of the 2.3 percent medical device excise tax set to kick in next New Years Day, but industry lobby group AdvaMed isnt holding its breath. On May 3, the groupa very insistent opponent of the taxfiled 22 pages of comments with the Internal Revenue Services (IRS) amplifying previous input it has offered and suggesting ways the tax can at least be rendered less burdensome.

Various types of information communication technology (ICT) are being employed by private organizations to address key health system challenges. However, for successful implementation, more sustainable sources of funding, greater support for the adoption of new technologies and better ways of evaluating impact are required, according to an article published in the May 1 issue of the Bulletin of the World Health Organization.

BOSTONRemote monitoring reduced unplanned hospital admissions and in general total healthcare utilization in patients with implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs), according to results presented May 10 at the 2012 Heart Rhythm Society's annual scientific sessions.

PACSGear will launch the PACSGear Image Exchange, a cloud-based technology designed to upload and share medical images and results between facilities at the Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine (SIIM) annual meeting in Orlando, Fla., June 7-10.

An online platform to improve outcomes for sick babies by better engaging parents in their care drew first place in the Innovate 4 Healthcare Challenge, a collegiate competition with a goal of radically improving healthcare through new processes that are enabled by innovative IT applications and supported by a sustainable market strategy.

Concordance between documented and patient-reported medication regimens and reduction in potentially harmful medication discrepancies can be improved with a PHR medication review tool linked to the provider's medical record, according to a Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association article published online May 3.

Covidien and GE Healthcare have announced a five-year collaboration to incorporate Covidien's measurement technologies into GE's patient monitors.

Researchers from the department of clinical epidemiology and biostatistics at McMaster University, while evaluating the long-term cost-effectiveness of a clinical decision support system (CDS) linked to evidence-based treatment recommendations for type 2 diabetes, found that a web-based prototype CDS system slightly improved short-term risk factors.