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Popular Articles

New Dentists Just Part Of The Solution To Problems, Says BDA
The British Dental Association (BDA) has given a broad welcome to today"s announcement of the award of a tender for 38 new dentists in Northern Ireland as part of the solution to the problems some patients face accessing care. But the BDA has also warned that this is not the whole solution to the problems facing Health Service dentistry. Also required, says the BDA, are full support for the more than 800 dentists already working in Northern Ireland and a new contract that allows dentists to provide the kind of modern, preventive care they are trained to do.

New Jersey Senator Proposes Plan To Avert HIV/AIDS Drug Copayments
New Jersey state Sen. Joseph Vitale (D) -- chair of the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee -- earlier this week proposed a plan to temporarily reduce rebate checks to senior citizens earning $100,000 to $150,000 in an effort to alleviate the effects of possible budget cuts on certain populations, the Newark Star-Ledger reports. Vitale"s proposal also would avert planned $6 to $15 prescription drug copayments for people living with HIV/AIDS in the state (Livio, Newark Star-Ledger, 5/12). The copayments are part of Gov. Jon Corzine"s (D) $29.8 billion spending proposal for the state"s new fiscal year and would collect $1.36 million by creating copayments for HIV/AIDS drugs based on a sliding scale determined by income. The copayments would affect 9,000 people living with HIV/AIDS who have obtained no-cost medicine from the state because they do not qualify for other assistance programs. Advocates said that the copayments will hurt patients who are already struggling because of the poor economy (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 4/23). According to the Star-Ledger, Vitale"s proposal would save the state $15.7 million, including $9.7 million needed to allow 17,000 low-income families to enroll in the state"s health insurance program, FamilyCare. Senate Budget Committee Chair Barbara Buono (D) said that she does not believe it is possible to restore program cuts "given the collapse of revenues." According to the Office of Legislative Services, the current deficit for this year"s budget, which ends June 30, is at least $1.2 billon. Vitale said, "Our convictions are going to be tested as we come to terms with the fact that we simply don"t have enough money to fund all of the state"s priorities." He added, "But unless funding is restored for programs like NJ FamilyCare, Medicaid drug benefits and the AIDS Drug Distribution Program, I will be voting against the" fiscal year 2010 budget (Newark Star-Ledger, 5/12).
News of the day
MDA Cancels Remainder Of Nationwide Summer Camp Program To Protect Children From Swine Flu
Due to overriding concern for the health and safety of Jerry"s Kids, the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) announced today that it is immediately canceling the remainder of its annual summer camp program because of the H1N1 virus.
Diagnostics

Abbott Launches New Instrument To Complete Family Of ARCHITECT Immunochemistry Analyzers

Today at the American Association for Clinical Chemistry"s Clinical Lab Expo in Chicago, Abbott (NYSE: ABT) announced the launch of a new diagnostic instrument - the ARCHITECT® c4000® clinical chemistry analyzer which performs diagnostic tests that monitor general health including a patient"s levels of sodium, potassium, chloride and organ function. The new ARCHITECT c4000seamlessly integrates with Abbott"s i1000SR immunoassay analyzer to form the ARCHITECT ci4100™, an automated analyzer that completes both immunoassay and chemistry tests on one platform. With these two products, Abbott now offers chemistry, immunoassay, and integrated diagnostic testing solutions to improve the performance and efficiency of laboratories of all sizes. Abbott is the only company offering high, medium and low-volume integrated diagnostic testing solutions that leverage the same software, reagents and sample carriers. Standardizing to a single family of instruments like Abbott"s ARCHITECT products gives labs the ability to optimize processes, minimize errors, and reduce result variability, which is becoming increasingly important as clinicians rely more and more on laboratory diagnostics to guide their treatment decisions. Abbott"s family of ARCHITECT instruments generates accurate and equivalent results across instruments and labs, even at multiple sites, because these instruments share detection technologies, reagents, and software. This standardization is critical as hospitals and the Obama administration continue to emphasize the importance of capturing patient histories in electronic medical records. In a recent study of U.S. hospitals, 73 percent of health care decision makers and executives identified electronic medical records (EMR) as one of their top priorities for 2009. "Standardized results across laboratory instruments is increasingly important as the reputation of the laboratory and its influence on quality healthcare depends on providing consistent, fast and accurate results to enable the medical staff on site and in other locations to make critical treatment decisions," said Michael Warmuth, senior vice president, diagnostics, Abbott. "We"re pleased that Abbott can meet these and other critical needs of laboratories through our complete family of ARCHITECT products." In addition to standardization across instruments, Abbott"s ARCHITECT c4000 and ci4100 are designed to deliver improved productivity to lower volume laboratories. The c4000 analyzer can generate up to 800 test results per hour while the ci4100 integrated system can generate up to 900 test results per hour. With an extensive menu of diagnostic tests and a large sample and reagent load-up capacity, the ARCHITECT c4000 and ci4100 can consolidate a laboratory"s workload to increase efficiency and save costs. ARCHITECT instruments are simple to operate with advanced sample management capabilities from the innovative three-dimensional Robotic Sample Handler. With this feature, once manual steps are now automated, which saves laboratories time and money and better meets their increased testing demands. In addition, Abbott"s integrated instruments are the only products on the market that feature no clinically significant sample-to-sample carryover, less than 0.1 parts per million, without resorting to unnecessary sample handling, plastic disposables like pipette tips or extended processing times due to the risk of contamination. "We evaluated the ARCHITECT c4000 with one of our partner laboratories and found that the ARCHITECT c4000 provides laboratory efficiencies with commonality and equivalent results across the family," said Rob Kerekes, chemistry charge technologist at Huron-Perth Healthcare Alliance in Stratford, Ontario, Canada. "The c4000 is ideal for laboratories requiring a reliable analyzer that takes up less space." About the ARCHITECT Instrument Family The ARCHITECT family of analyzers includes the i1000SR and i2000SR for immunoassay testing, the c4000, c8000, and c16000 for clinical chemistry testing, and the ci4100, ci8200, and ci16200 integrated immunoassay/chemistry systems. Abbott"s unique technologies include the Robotic Sample Handler to prioritize emergency tests; sample clot and bubble detection to verify sampling integrity; and FlexRate and CHEMIFLEX assay technologies. ARCHITECT systems use identical easy-to-use software and common reagents across all members of the family, ensuring fast and accurate results while requiring a very small sample volume, resulting in improved performance. These features not only save laboratories" time by reducing the time needed for instrument training, testing and troubleshooting, but also reduce inventory costs and reduce the potential for sample contamination - leading to better results for laboratories, physicians and, ultimately, patients. Abbott


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