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Published Study Shows VNUS ClosureFAST(TM) System Significantly Superior To Laser For Varicose Vein Treatment
VNUS(R) Medical Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: VNUS), a worldwide leader in medical devices for the minimally invasive treatment of venous reflux disease, announced that the Journal of Vascular & Interventional Radiology, the prestigious monthly publication of the Society of Interventional Radiology, has published a study showing the VNUS ClosureFAST(TM) system for radiofrequency (RF) thermal ablation to be "significantly superior" to endovenous laser (EVL) for treating venous reflux, the underlying cause of symptomatic varicose veins.
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GenWay Biotech Obtains CLIA Certification
GenWay Biotech, Inc., a US-based diagnostic company has become CLIA certified and received a California lab license. Their license currently permits the testing of immunological biomarkers. This is a very important step in the direction of commercialization of the novel innovative diagnostic tests currently being developed at GenWay. In upcoming weeks, GenWay will add new cancer biomarker tests to their portfolio as well as several infectious diseases such as sexual transmitted diseases. GenWay is seeking to obtain CAP accreditation by the end of the year.
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Columnist Discusses Recent Findings On Teenage Condom Use, HIV Prevention
"In the past few months, we"ve experienced near hysteria over swine flu and almost constant media attention to scares about tainted food," syndicated columnist Marie Cocco writes in the Oregonian, adding, "These are genuine health hazards - but they aren"t necessarily deadly, nor do they affect nearly as many people in the United States and around the world as does AIDS." Cocco discusses a recent finding by researchers from Columbia University and the Alan Guttmacher Institute that links a drop in condom use among teenagers "in part to waning public concern about transmission of HIV." She writes, "The clear increase in the proportion of teenagers using condoms came during years when public health and media messages about the dangers of HIV were at a height." Cocco continues, "You can argue, based on hard data, that when it comes to teenagers and sex, good policy and genuine leadership get better results than moralizing or ignoring signals that an upsurge in HIV infections may emerge" (Cocco, 7/2).
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Coalition For Quality & Patient Safety Of Chicagoland PSO Taps ECRI Institute PSO For Support

ECRI Institute Patient Safety Organization (PSO) is pleased to announce an agreement with the Coalition for Quality & Patient Safety (CQPS) of Chicagoland PSO to provide patient safety data collection, reporting, and analysis. The Chicagoland PSO focuses on local experience, patterns, trends, and patient safety initiatives specific to Chicago and the surrounding counties. CQPS will coordinate its PSO and other patient safety efforts with other Illinois-based hospital and primary care associations, the Illinois Department of Public Health, consumers and consumer advocates, other patient safety and quality improvement stakeholders, and existing patient safety collaboratives across the state. "Our goal is to engage all stakeholders in Chicagoland in practical efforts to prevent harm where we can and to learn from error when it occurs. The CQPS PSO is an exciting new tool that will advance our members" safety and quality improvement work through collaborative sharing in a legally protected and confidential manner," says new CQPS Chief Executive Officer Martin J. Hatlie, J.D. "Hospitals, medical groups, and long-term care and other providers will soon be able to learn, not only from their own events, but from those pooled throughout Chicagoland," adds Hatlie. "That"s the beauty of the program." ECRI Institute® , an independent nonprofit organization that researches best approaches to improving patient care, has 40 years of experience in operating healthcare problem reporting systems and safety initiatives. ECRI Institute PSO will provide "back office" support to the Chicagoland PSO through a Patient Safety Data Collection and Reporting System and by analyzing adverse events and other information from participating healthcare organizations. The reporting platform is powered by rL Solutions (http://www.rl-solutions.com), a leading software company with deep experience in adverse event reporting. "We applaud CQPS PSO for its commitment to promoting a culture of safety in healthcare by establishing a program to take advantage of the newly implemented federal Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005," says Ronni Solomon, Esq., executive vice president and general counsel, ECRI Institute. "We look forward to sharing the knowledge ECRI Institute has built based on four decades of patient safety experience, plus success in implementing the first statewide error reporting system for Pennsylvania," adds Solomon. ECRI Institute PSO will provide data collection, reporting, and analytic support and quarterly patient safety advisories. ECRI Institute PSO uses a Web-based patient safety reporting system to capture patient safety data in a standardized manner compatible with the AHRQ"s common data formats and National Quality Forum (NQF) serious reportable events. The platform, powered by rL Solutions, provides a secure way for ECRI Institute PSO to accept information from providers using any electronic system, along with an intuitive interface for manual data entry. The ECRI Institute PSO analytics team, with experience handling more than 1 million adverse event reports, comprises an interdisciplinary staff of physicians; nurses; biomedical engineers; instructional designers; quality, legal, and risk management professionals; individuals with safety, education, science, and engineering backgrounds; statisticians and data analysts; and information technology experts. In addition to the internal program team, the external advisory group includes physicians, lawyers, and senior executives at hospitals and healthcare associations. ECRI Institute PSO also offers direct PSO memberships consisting of Web-based reporting tools, member-specific analytics, assessments, culture-of-safety recommendations, interactive tools, best practices, continuing medical education (CME) courses, and advisories. About ECRI Institute For 40 years, ECRI Institute"s work in patient safety, adverse event reporting and analysis, and development of recommendations has improved patient care at hospitals and other providers around the world. ECRI Institute has a long history of investigating events and publishing authoritative risk reduction strategies. ECRI Institute is designated as an Evidence-based Practice Center by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and a Collaborating Center for Patient Safety, Risk Management, and Healthcare Technology by the World Health Organization. ECRI Institute has developed and implements the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Reporting System, a mandatory error and near-miss reporting program for Pennsylvania hospitals and other healthcare facilities, under contract to the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority, winner of the 2006 John M. Eisenberg Award. ECRI Institute PSO is a component of ECRI Institute. For more information, visit http://https://www.ecri.org. About Coalition for Quality & Patient Safety of Chicagoland The CQPS mission is to mobilize the diverse healthcare stakeholders in metropolitan Chicago to provide the best possible care to every patient every time by eliminating preventable harm and implementing systemic change to promote consistent excellence. Coalition for Quality & Patient Safety (CQPS) has attained listing by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as a federal Patient Safety Organization under the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005. By contracting with a national PSO and IT vendor(s), CQPS will collect incident report and other patient safety work product data from contracted (member) healthcare providers, and provide analysis, reporting, collaborative learning, and dissemination of best practices and patient safety advisories to advance the culture of safety. For more information, visit http://http:www.cqps.org/CPSF_initiatives/CPSF-PSO.htm. rL Solutions


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