HealthContentAdvisors

A review of hospital info portals versus push delivery systems. This article seems to suggest that centralized info systems that can be accessed on-demand are at odds with info services that are delivered to mobile apps or other point-of-care systems. Problem may be that writer is assuming a web 1.0-type portal, versus a more current business intelligence system that integrates more seemlessly with a specific user’s workflow.

Glaxo CEO Andre Witty, at Goldman Sachs conf. in NY, says he will focus on smaller bolt-on acq. in 2009.

Roundup of recent funding activity in Boston area; many funded firms in pharma or biotech.

Sidney Wolfe, author of Worst Pills Best pills (www.worstpills.org) joins FDA.

NEJM changes policy on disclosuring pending patents of authors.

NY’s Whitney M. Young Jr Health Services receives $2.7M grant to pilot a diabetes care management program that includes text messaging to report blood work, send appt. reminders and facilitate communication from patient to providers, too.

Advertising-supported resource for patients that provides pricing info for range of medical services, along with other information to help patients who are paying out of pocket for medical services. Owned by CareOperative, which provides pricing strategy guidance to employers and payer organizations.

PatientFlow specializes in performance improvement in patient flow issues such as “emergency room overcrowding, long wait times, bumped or dealyed surgeries, and lack of beds”. Terms not disclosed.

BioMarin offers “carefully staged” deal for La Jolla Pharmaceutical’s Riquent, a treatment for lupus. Deal includes small case & equity payment upfront, plus $147.5 M for meeting clinical/reg milestones and another $126M for achieving sales targets.

Press release from HealthCentral that placed its online sites in the top 3, with WebMD and Everyday Health. HealthCentral touts its audience engagement techniques and authoritative content.

Neil Versel discusses the acq. of Government Health IT by HIMSS.

Pharma company, Endo, based in Chadds Ford, PA, acquires Indevus, a biotech company based in Lexington, MA, for its testoterone replacement drug, its histrelin drug that treats precocious puberty, and another drug in final stage of clinical trials. We expect to see a lot more acquisitions of biotech companies by pharma in 2009.

Ed Silverman, who wrote the Pharmalot blog, is moving to Elsevier’s Pharma Business Intelligence Unit and will write for In Vivo and the Pink Sheet, and the In Vivo blog.

Prevention Quality Indicator (PQI) web site reports rates of hospitalization for preventable conditions, including diabetes, asthma, high blood pressure. Objective to “better inform future health planning efforts”.

Link to Congressional Research Service (CRS) report on future of SCHIP.

Overview of plans by Angie’s List as they expand into ratings of health care providers. Service will move beyond the amount of info available for home improvement contractors that form the core of Angie’s List. “Members can read reviews by other members for health providers in almost 1,400 categories (ranging from surgeons, hospitals and health insurers to acupuncturists). But the new interface will also link users to Web sites and information resources sponsored by professional medical societies and the government where they can access data on provider certification and credentials, disciplinary actions, treatment outcomes and other clinical data. Members also will be able to see which health insurance plans a provider accepts.” Note, Angie Hicks was a keynote speaker at our InfoCommerce Conference in November.