PatientPoint Teams up with Telemundo
A new initiative to deliver Spanish-language education and informational materials to Hispanic patients at the point of care will be launched by PatientPoint, said to be the leader in point of care patient and physician engagement solutions. PatientPoint recently teamed up with Telemundo, the American Spanish language broadcast television network, to create the comprehensive program, Prevenir es Vivir (Prevention is Life), which is tailored to inform and educate Hispanics about preventative health measures.
PatientPoint will incorporate content from Telemundo as well as public service announcements and educational health messaging geared toward the Spanish-speaking patient population into their Digital Screens Waiting Room program.
“This new partnership will help improve health outcomes for the nation’s largest and fastest-growing population,” says Chris Martini, President of Network Solutions at PatientPoint. “It demonstrates our commitment to supporting practices with diverse patient populations.”
White House Launches Next Generation ACO
The next generation of value-based medical care through the accountable care organization (ACO) model of care will shortly be launched by The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The new program will enable these medical care providers to offer services with little or no co-payment and will allow the ACO to have more contact with the beneficiaries. ACOs improve the quality of medical care and lower patient costs by taking preventative measures to ensure they are getting the medical care that they need from their doctors or at clinics. This effort will help prevent serious illnesses or hospitalizations.
“The Next Generation ACO Model is one of many innovative payment and care delivery models created under the Affordable Care Act, and is an important step towards advancing models of care that reward value over volume in care delivery,” HHS Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell said in a statment. “This model is part of our larger effort to set clear, measurable goals and a timeline to move the Medicare program—and the healthcare system at large—toward paying providers based on the quality, rather than the quantity of care they give patients.”
Medovex Closes First Streamline Acquisition
A developer of medical technology products, Medovex Corp., recently acquired the medical technology company, Streamline, Inc. Through this acquisition, Medovex will combine Streamline’s expertise in safe, durable medical equipment with Medovex’s expertise in developing medical technology that could help solve the challenges healthcare providers face.
“We are pleased to have closed our first acquisition in Streamline. According to Critical Care Medicine, there are roughly 100,000 critical care beds in U.S. hospitals,” Jarrett Gorlin, CEO of Medovex said in a statement. “It is a turnkey acquisition and its product can immediately be brought to market in scale. The technology is patent protected, FDA cleared, already manufactured and tested. With the transaction now closed, we are already in the process of launching a U.S. marketing partnership to be followed by a full scale product launch.” Details of the acquisition were not available at press time.
Sandoz Biosimilar, Zarxio, Approved for U.S.
Already a treatment in Europe since 2009, Sandoz’ biosimilar product, Zarxio, was recently approved by the FDA. The new treatment is similar to Amgen’s drug, Neupogen, which is used to help prevent infections in cancer patients who are undergoing chemotherapy treatments.
Zarxio is expected to open doors for a new class of potentially lifesaving drugs for millions of Americans. Ronny Gal, Senior Research Analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein and Company said in a statement, “It will reasonably allow for reduction of cost in older cancer drugs, clearing room in the budget for new breakthrough cancer agents.”
