UnitedHealth

10 startups from mHealth 2011: CareSpeak Communications

East Brunswick, New Jersey company CareSpeak Communications develops wireless communications technologies for the institutional and consumer healthcare markets. It developed a two-way text-message communications platform for health care apps and started a partnership with with UnitedHealth in September. Among its apps are reminders for patients to take their medication on time, a specialized app for diabetics to monitor glucose and insulin levels and the ability for physicians to communicate with patients.

By Stephanie Baum

Health IT

New Optum Institute identifies 7 areas of opportunity to improve healthcare

Optum, an Eden Prairie, Minnesota-based health IT service provider, has announced the launch of the Optum Institute for Sustainable Health to provide insight and guidance on the complex and evolving healthcare landscape in the U.S. The institute will work with hospitals, clinicians, employers, government and community leaders to support research, programs, partnerships and public policy […]

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.

News

UnitedHealthcare ranks high in reviews of health insurance companies

Health insurance companies often conjure up images of corporations taking advantage of the hapless consumer. But in the last week one Minnesota’s UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) performed well on two surveys that rated insurers on metrics that consumers and businesses value: insurance claims processing accuracy and employer satisfaction. In the 2011 American Medical Association’s National Health Insurer […]

By Arundhati Parmar

Devices & Diagnostics

Wound care, diabetes care in sore need of new payment models

The present fee-for-service payment model that dominates healthcare doesn't begin to meet what needs to be done to properly treat people with open wounds and diabetes. That was the primary complaint heard at an experts panel that the life sciences trade group LifeScience Alley held in downtown Minneapolis on Wednesday.

Devices & Diagnostics

Big insurers gulp health info firms. Who’s left? (Morning Read)

With Aetna picking up health information exchange vendor Medicity for $500 million earlier this week, and Unitedhealth Group's Ingenix buying Medicity's top competitor, Axolotl, earlier this year, the HIE market is going through a major upheaval with few (one could even argue no) strong, independent vendors left, according to Chilmark Research.

By Mary Vanac

News

‘No’ vote on broader labels for prostate drugs (Morning Read)

Would the Food and Drug Administration advisory committee recommend that the labels of two drugs -- dutasteride, made by GlaxoSmithKline and sold as Avodart; and finasteride, a generic made by Merck and sold as Proscar -- be changed to say they can reduce a man's risk of getting prostate cancer? The answer was no, reports the New York Times.

By Mary Vanac

A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma

A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.

By PurpleLab

News

Diabetes could cost U.S. $3 trillion over decade (Morning Read)

UnitedHealth Group Inc., one of the nation's largest health insurers, predicts that a majority of Americans could have diabetes or pre-diabetes by 2020, at a cost of $3.35 trillion to the health care system over the next 10 years, reports the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal.

By Mary Vanac

News

Healthcare CEOs earn the biggest bucks (Morning Read)

Healthcare company chief executives took home the biggest paychecks -- a median of $10 million -- of any industry covered by the recent Wall Street Journal CEO Compensation Study, according to the news organization's Health blog. CEOs from Thermo Fisher Scientific, Boston Scientific and Johnson & Johnson were among the top 20 in the list. Unitedhealth Group CEO Stephen Hemsley got the biggest raise last year.

By Mary Vanac

News

Daschle: Congress, governors threaten reform (Morning Read)

Defunding by Congress and implementation by governors are the two major threats facing healthcare reform, Tom Daschle, former U.S. Senate majority leader who almost became Department of Health and Human Services nomination in the Obama administration, tells Kaiser Health News.

By Mary Vanac

News

Strong 3Q earnings prompt UnitedHealth to up 2010 profit goals

UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE:UNH) boosted its end-of-the-year profit forecast, thanks to a strong third quarter that blew through Wall Street estimates. The nation's largest private insurer, based in Minnetonka, Minnesota, said it now expects to earn $3.85 to $3.95 per share for the year, compared to its earlier estimate of $3.40 to $3.60 a share.

By Thomas Lee

News

Hospitals race to sign up doctors (Morning Read)

Late Friday, the UNC Health Care System finalized a deal to affiliate with Wake Heart & Vascular Associates, a huge cardiology practice in Wake County long associated with WakeMed. It's part of UNC's bigger push to expand its heart business, according to the News & Observer.

By Mary Vanac

Policy

UnitedHealth’s Ingenix to buy A-Life Medical to streamline coding

UnitedHealth Group's (NYSE:UNH) health information technology subsidiary Ingenix is buying yet another company that could help it cut administrative costs in healthcare -- A-Life Medical -- for undisclosed terms.

By Mary Vanac

Devices & Diagnostics

Medical device IPOs are real dogs. Woof.

Medical device companies probably aren't feeling the love from Wall Street, these days. The last two medical device companies from Minnesota to go public priced their IPOs far below what they expected. The malaise is not limited to Minnesota.

By Thomas Lee

MedCity Influencers

Your UnitedHealthcare premiums are so high…

Ever wonder why UnitedHealthcare premiums are so high? Perhaps it's because the Minneapolis, Minnesota, insurer is paying for walking paths, says Dr. Wes.

By Westby G. Fisher, MD

Health IT

Ingenix buys compliance consulting firm for undisclosed sum

UnitedHealth Group’s (NYSE: UNH) health information technology subsidiary Ingenix has reached an agreement to acquire a Pennsylvania-based compliance consulting company for hospitals. Ingenix didn’t disclose the price for Newton Square, Pennsylvania-based Executive Health Resources in a statement, but a Bloomberg report last week put the figure at about $1.5 billion. The deal fits with UnitedHealth’s […]

By Brandon Glenn

eBook

Using Informed Awareness to Transform Care Coordination and Improve the Clinical and Patient Experience

This eBook, in collaboration with Care Logistics, details how hospitals and health systems can facilitate more effective decision-making by operationalizing elevated awareness.

By Care Logistics

BioPharma

BioLabs Pegasus Park Cultivates Life Science Ecosystem

Gabby Everett, the site director for BioLabs Pegasus Park, offered a tour of the space and shared some examples of why early-stage life science companies should choose North Texas.