Highlights of the important and interesting in the world of healthcare:
Artificial kidney prototype debuts. University of California, San Francisco, has unveiled a prototype of an implantable artificial kidney with thousands of microscopic filters, and a bioreactor to mimic the metabolic and water-balancing roles of a kidney that is being developed by engineers, biologists and physicians nationwide in a collaboration led by Shuvo Roy, formerly of the Cleveland Clinic.
With the Rise of AI, What IP Disputes in Healthcare Are Likely to Emerge?
Munck Wilson Mandala Partner Greg Howison shared his perspective on some of the legal ramifications around AI, IP, connected devices and the data they generate, in response to emailed questions.
Hepatitis C scare at Mayo. The Mayo Clinic is sending letters to 3,209 patients worldwide who may have been infected with hepatitis C by a former employee of its Jacksonville, Florida, hospital, according to First Coast News.
Companies to employees: You pay. As health care costs continue their relentless climb, more companies are passing on higher premium costs to workers, the New York Times reports.
But employees are spending less. The growth rate of health spending slowed to its slowest in a half-century –2.7 percent per person in the first half of the year — “a sign that people are forgoing medical care during the recession,” according to an analysis of government data by USA Today.
New direction for Alzheimer’s. Nobel Prize-winning scientist Paul Greengard is illuminating a new direction to take on treating Alzheimer’s disease, according to the New York Times.
A Personalized Approach to Medication Nonadherence
At the Abarca Forward conference earlier this year, George Van Antwerp, managing director at Deloitte, discussed how social determinants of health and a personalized member experience can improve medication adherence and health outcomes.
Staying afloat. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based West Penn Allegheny Health System, which announced plans earlier this summer to lay off nearly 1,500 of its 13,000 workers over the next year to stay financially afloat, also will emphasize ambulatory centers over inpatient care, reports the Post-Gazette.
