Here were five of the top stories at MedCity News this week:
    ♦   Mayo Clinic is partnering with DoApps Inc. to form a new company that will develop and sell smart phone apps based on Mayo research. Last week, mRemedy launched its first app called Mayo Clinic Meditation for Apple’s iPhone and iTouch, a program created by Dr. Amit Sood, a Mayo professor, to teach people breathing and relaxation techniques. The company has already sold 200 apps, each priced at $4.99 on iTunes.
    ♦   Mayo Clinic scrambled this week to blunt criticism over its decision to stop accepting Medicare patients at a facility in Glendale, Arizona. A post on the Rochester, Minn., health system’s Health Policy blog said some media reports incorrectly reported the organization was not seeing any Medicare patients in the state. Instead, Mayo’s decision impacts patients who see “only primary care office visits for the five Mayo family practice physicians at this site.” You know the hospital means business when it breaks out the italics.
The Power Behind Enterprise EHR Software for Large Healthcare Systems
Enterprise EHR boosts scalability, interoperability, and governance for large healthcare systems.
    ♦   And yet another Mayo Clinic story, the Minnesota health care system soon will debut a major, comprehensive strategy to combat diabetes, sources say. Details are vague but Mayo officials have told local biotech officials that a big initiative is in the works, which could include research, education, outreach, ways to speed technology transfer, or all of the above.
    ♦   Early stage venture group Ohio TechAngel Funds has raised $2.5 million for its third investment fund. Like the group’s previous funds, Ohio TechAngel Fund III will invest in Ohio-based technology companies in the life and physical sciences, and information technology industries. In Ohio, angel groups and the economic development  organizations that often support them have received millions of grant dollars from the Ohio Third Frontier project.
    ♦  And in financial news: Minneapolis medical device company Medtronic Inc. has invested a reported $15 million in GI Dynamics, a Massachusetts company that’s developing a gastrointestinal liner for type 2 diabetes and obesity treatment… University of Michigan spin-off HistoSonics Inc. has secured $11 million in financing to develop a device that uses ultrasound pulses to treat prostate disease… Positioning itself to take advantage of the well-documented nursing shortage, Orbis Educational Services Inc. has received an $8.65 million investment to further its nursing education programs… Theravasc Inc., a Cleveland company that is reformulating an approved drug to treat vascular diseases, has received investment commitments of $500,000 to do its initial clinical study… Sarnova Inc., a supplier of respiratory and emergency medical services products in Lincolnshire, Ill., reported a fund-raise of $500,000 in equity… Advanced BioImaging Systems LLC in West Lafayette, Ind., has received a $444,000 investment for technology licensed from Purdue University that uses a laser to detect bacteria in food products.