An announcement released nationally today by the independent hospital watchdog The Leapfrog Group, shows key shifts among many hospitals on the A, B, C, D and F grades rating them on errors, injuries, accidents, and infections. Aria Health earned an A in this elite national ratings program, recognizing its strong commitment to patient safety. The Hospital Safety Score is the gold standard rating for patient safety, compiled under the guidance of the nation's leading patient safety experts and administered by The Leapfrog Group, a national, independent nonprofit. The first and only hospital safety rating to be peer-reviewed in the Journal of Patient Safety, the Hospital Safety Score is free to the public and designed to give consumers information they can use to protect themselves and their families when facing a hospital stay.

"The safety of our patients has always been a top priority at Aria Health, and something we never stop striving to improve," said Kathleen Kinslow, CRNA, EdD, MBA, President & Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Aria Health. "The announcement from the Leapfrog Group of our 'A' score has generated a great deal of excitement and pride throughout our organization. It truly reflects the commitment and support from our Board of Directors, leadership, and staff to provide exceptional care to the people in our communities in a safe environment."

"Aria's A grade is a powerful reminder of its commitment to putting patient safety above all else, and we are pleased to recognize the persistent efforts of your clinicians and staff to protect your patients," said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group, which administers the Hospital Safety Score. "Our families, neighbors, colleagues and friends deserve a hospital that will pull out all the stops to keep them safe, and we urge Aria and all other A hospitals to preserve and renew your commitment to safety year after year." 

Developed under the guidance of Leapfrog's Blue Ribbon Expert Panel, the Hospital Safety Score uses 28 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to produce a single A, B, C, D, or F score, representing a hospital's overall capacity to keep patients safe from preventable harm. More than 2,500 U.S. general hospitals were assigned scores in October 2015, with 773 hospitals receiving an A grade. The Hospital Safety Score is fully transparent, offering a full analysis of the data and methodology used in determining grades on the website. Patients can also review their hospital's past safety performance alongside its current grade on the Hospital Safety Score site, allowing them to determine which local hospitals have the best track record in patient safety and which have demonstrated consistent improvement.

Impact Advisors, LLC, a leading provider of healthcare information technology services, and the Scottsdale Institute (SI), a not-for-profit membership organization of health systems advanced in IT, today announced the publication of the peer-reviewed article, "A Unique Approach to Business Analytics: The Scottsdale Institute Health IT Benchmarking Program," in the Journal of Healthcare Information Management (JHIM). Impact Advisors co-sponsored the article and continues to partner with SI to offer critical support and insight to address the challenges facing SI member organizations.

The article highlights Scottsdale Institute's Benchmarking Program and highlights how Scottsdale Institute members are using this data and program to compare and analyze IT spend, connect with peer health systems, and discuss IT spend at the board and senior executive level. The article also focuses on the value that members are realizing after participating in the program. The article was authored by David C. Classen M.D., M.S., CMIO at Pascal Metrics, a Patient Safety Organization (PSO) and an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Utah, and co-authored by Jason Fortin, Senior Advisor at Impact Advisors.

"We were happy to partner with the Scottsdale Institute on this article that highlights its highly valuable Benchmarking Program," said Andy Smith, President and Co-Founder of Impact Advisors. "It's a unique tool that is proving to be instrumental in helping health systems make IT spending decisions and we are proud to support it."

The Benchmarking Program is a departure from current approaches to business analytics. It facilitates one-on-one comparisons of detailed IT cost data between similar healthcare organizations. The data is normalized to account for structural differences in IT departments, which allows for "apples-to-apples" correlations. The Benchmarking Program was originated by Spectrum Health.

"In this post EMR environment and with meaningful use incentives winding down, budgetary pressures are at an all-time high for CIOs," said Shelli Williamson, Executive Director, Scottsdale Institute. "Our Benchmarking Program is a critical tool for CIOs leading an effort to optimize costs over the next five to 10 years. The program also enables individual, private networking and provides tools for Board-level conversations.  Any health system may participate, and there is no cost."

The article also includes results from a survey that was sent to Scottsdale Institute members in late 2014. Scottsdale Institute received a survey response from 76 percent of benchmarking analytics leads – or 29 organizations representing a total of 60 health systems, 598 inpatient facilities, and 4,790 outpatient/ambulatory facilities. A full 100 percent of survey respondents agreed with the statement "my organization finds value participating in this healthcare IT Benchmarking Program."

"The IT cost benchmarking service has been a great service that CIOs have found significant value and benefit from," said Brent Snyder, CIO, Adventist Health System. "In comparing costs with other entities, most other databases don't identify what's being supported in the IT budget. SI's design seems to provide a nice middle ground. It segments the organizations into relevant groups so you can see which organizations are at about the same level of clinical IT development as yours, or who are using the same vendors."

Orthodontic patients from across the country are reporting that AcceleDent® accelerates orthodontic treatment while reducing the pain and discomfort often associated with orthodontics. One of the most transformative orthodontic innovations in more than 15 years, AcceleDent is an FDA-cleared, Class II medical device that speeds orthodontic tooth movement by as much as 50 percent.

The prescription-only, hands-free device is manufactured by OrthoAccel® Technologies, Inc. and is offered by many of the industry's leading orthodontists as the fast, safe and gentle solution to accelerate orthodontic treatment. Clinical case studies and patient feedback show that AcceleDent is ideal for orthodontic patients of all ages and varying orthodontic diagnoses.

Like many adult orthodontic patients, Tiffany Tapler, who is 29 years old, was unenthused about getting braces when an X-ray revealed that she had an impacted adult canine tooth. As a treatment coordinator at Spark Orthodontics in Bethlehem, Pa., Tapler wanted to try to bring the impacted tooth into the arch without braces and spent years trying various orthodontic techniques to spur movement, including TADs, alveolar microperforation and laser therapy. In 2014 after noticing very little movement, Tapler agreed with her orthodontists' recommendation to get braces and to have her primary canine tooth extracted. Having successful results with AcceleDent for more than two years, Tapler's orthodontist prescribed AcceleDent to try to move the canine faster.   

"Within four months of using AcceleDent the spacing from the extracted primary tooth was completely closed by moving the impacted canine into its place," said Tapler whose orthodontist, Dr. Jason Hartman, originally projected that the space closure would take about one year. "AcceleDent is amazing because it moved my canine down into the correct position and fixed the spacing so quickly as compared to other methods that we tried. It was like night and day."

With the canine erupted, Tapler anticipates completing her orthodontic treatment within the next 8-10 months. "AcceleDent has been wonderful. It gave me the result that I wanted and that I didn't think was achievable," she said. 

Word-of-mouth awareness about AcceleDent is spreading rapidly as patients share their positive treatment experience with family, friends and others via social media. Because of the growing awareness, patients are now asking their orthodontists about accelerated treatment with AcceleDent.

Such was the case with Chase Bethay, a 17-year-old orthodontic patient from Phoenix, Ariz. After originally being told by his family orthodontist that he had such severe tooth crowding that his orthodontic treatment would take several years and include four extractions followed by jaw surgery, he heard about AcceleDent at his regular dental checkup.

Bethay then visited the treatment team at Olson Orthodontics, and even though his case was severe, he was informed that with AcceleDent, his treatment could be accelerated and his smile properly aligned in just 18 months.

"AcceleDent is a great technology and I'm excited about the fact that it is allowing me to complete treatment before graduation, prom and all of the other fun activities associated with senior year of high school," said Bethay, whose orthodontist is Dr. Chris Olson. "The best part is that I'll be going off to college with a new smile."

Accelerated orthodontic treatment is equally as important to parents as it is to teens. Parents want to ensure that treatment is complete before their teens begin college to avoid logistical and compliance issues. The popularity of AcceleDent among teens is growing because they want treatment to be as fast and painless as possible so that it doesn't interfere with sports, extracurricular activities or their social appeal.

One of New Jersey's and America's top-ranked high school track and field athletes, Rey Rivera is just six months into his orthodontic treatment with AcceleDent and is projected to finish in less than two years. With his growing acclaim as a local and national track star, Rivera's orthodontist, Dr. Brian Leung, and the treatment team at Old Bridge Orthodontics knew Rey would be ideal for accelerated treatment because everything he does is done fast.

"I didn't believe my orthodontist at first when he told me how fast I could complete treatment with AcceleDent because I have friends who have had braces for three or four years," said Rivera. "I'm happy that I'll be finished soon, especially as I continue to compete in track. I want my smile to be nice in photos and I don't want my teeth or my braces to be the only thing that stands out about me."

Rivera says that in addition to getting his treatment complete in half the time, he recommends AcceleDent because it relieves the pain associated with orthodontic treatment.

"I can definitely tell that my teeth are moving faster with AcceleDent, but I can also tell that the pain is significantly reduced," said Rivera, recalling a day when he forgot to charge his AcceleDent device and his mouth hurt so badly that he couldn't eat. "AcceleDent does so much and it's so portable. I recommend AcceleDent to everyone because no one wants to stay in their braces for longer than they have to."

According to OrthoAccel, the company regularly receives high patient satisfaction scores for AcceleDent, which is currently available in more than 2,800 orthodontic locations in the U.S. and Canada.

"There are tens of thousands of AcceleDent patients across the globe and 100 percent of patients surveyed report they were satisfied with their experience using AcceleDent and that it was easy to use," says Michael K. Lowe, president and CEO of OrthoAccel. "It's rewarding and exciting to hear from patients about how AcceleDent accelerated their journey to healthy, beautiful smiles."

Lowe adds that many of the nation's leading orthodontists are offering AcceleDent because it decreases the risk of health challenges caused by prolonged orthodontic treatment. According to the Journal of Clinical Orthodontics, AcceleDent is the most common accelerated treatment technique used by orthodontists.  

To kick off Lung Cancer Awareness Month this November, LUNGevity is implementing a comprehensive awareness campaign and launching new partnerships to draw attention to the advances in research and services that are improving outcomes for people living with lung cancer.

The Lung Cancer Project, LUNGevity, and the lung cancer community are teaming up in November to spark conversation and spread hope through the Every Lung Deserves Hope campaign. The campaign asks followers to change their Facebook profile pictures for Lung Cancer Awareness Month to engage and spread awareness. Creative social media postings will focus on barriers to lung cancer care, advances in research, and hope for patients. LUNGevity is proud to partner with Genentech on this important initiative.

LUNGevity is complementing the Every Lung Deserves Hope campaign with its own comprehensive multi-media initiative highlighting advancements in lung cancer research throughout the month of November with survivor videos, expert blogs and interviews, and social media content. Social media users are encouraged to follow, share, comment, and engage with the Foundation's Lung Cancer Awareness Month material and resources, as well as to post selfies holding LUNGevity signs with key lung cancer facts.

LUNGevity has also launched the Lung Cancer Advocacy Toolkit with downloadable information to empower people to become actively engaged in increasing awareness about lung cancer and dispelling myths and stigma surrounding the disease. 

LymeCoaching's new Lyme Audit is designed by Lyme experts and doctors to assess an individual patient's current wellness trajectory and to generate a customized plan to help improve it. The questionnaire is a first of its kind because it assesses and evaluates all the major factors that go into achieving wellness – including lifestyle, personality style, emotional factors and attitudes – in addition to treatment analysis.

"Over the years we have noticed that most Lyme patients who achieve wellness have a lot in common with each other," says LymeCoaching cofounder Diana Rocha. "Our Lyme Audit identifies and quantifies these factors to help us guide the patients who participate to make faster and better progress."

All patients who complete the questionnaire can schedule a free, 30-minute follow-up phone consultation with a Lyme coach who will be either a case manager or naturopathic doctor. During the call, the Lyme coach will explain the patient's Lyme Wellness Predictor Score©, which is determined by comparing their results with the results of patients who are Lyme success stories. These current and former patients, who have regained most or all of their health, often share specific behaviors, characteristics and attitudes. After the Lyme coach explains the patient's Wellness Predictor Score, they will offer specific suggestions on how the patient can improve their health based on the audit results.

Their comprehensive report on the state of National Biodefense calls for a dramatic change in the government's approach to biodefense and pandemic preparedness, prioritizing innovation and platform approaches to developing Medical Counter Measures (MCM), such as technologies that can produce "vaccines-on-demand" like those pioneered by EpiVax, a vaccine design firm in Providence Rhode Island. The BRSPB also specifically called for MCM "that enable using multiple antigens on an existing platform," and for 10% of new NIH "Innovation" funds and 10% of BARDA funds allocated to funding innovative platform technologies.

These recommendations were included in testimony to the Blue Ribbon Panel by URI Professor and EpiVax CEO Annie De Groot MD, who argued that a platform-based vaccines-on-demand approach would be more responsive to current biothreat scenarios than expensive, wasteful stockpiles. According to the BRSPB, terrorists already possess the ability to produce 'genetically engineered pathogens' that merge the toxic attributes of more than one agent, meaning that stockpiling vaccines against single agents is a concept that is now obsolete.

"We congratulate the Blue Ribbon Study Panel on their comprehensive review and echo their call for prioritizing innovation over incrementalism in MCM development. Lives are at stake and money is being wasted on products and processes that simply do not work. As this report shows, there is a better way," said Dr. De Groot.

EpiVax has been at the forefront of the 'vaccines-on-demand' movement for the past decade. The Providence-based company uses special computer driven tools (in silico methods) that have been successfully validated in published studies. EpiVax Scientists have already created several such 'vaccines-on-demand' for the DARPA and the Department of Defense, under  "stress test" conditions. Vaccines-on-demand address concerns raised with the BRSPB by Secretary of the Navy Richard Danzig, who said "We don't really get to choose what we have to prepare for."

This is not the first time an independent study group has recommended changes in the way the United States prepares for a bio-related threat. In 2008, a bipartisan Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism led by Bob Graham (D-FL) and Jim Talent (R-MO) raised concern that the nation was poorly prepared for any terrorist event involving a biologic weapon. The commission urged the nation to develop tools to counter that threat.

In 2010, pointing to very real delays and problems encountered during the national response to the H1N1 influenza pandemic, which highlighted very important weaknesses in the national preparedness system, Graham and Talent gave U.S. bio-defense preparedness an "F." The report released today also found "serious gaps and inadequacies" that, coupled with "lack of strong centralized leadership," has weakened National preparedness for pandemic threats and bioterror.

Dr. Annie De Groot, said to be one of the top 50 "Vaccine Influencers" in the world in 2014, testified to the Blue Ribbon Panel about her technology in May 2015.  Basing her recommendations on nearly three decades of experience with the vaccine industry, she made the following recommendations:

Require BARDA to devote no less than 10% of its annual budget to funding new, innovative technologies that will lead to faster response and recovery than current vaccines achieve.

Fix the broken SBIR (Small Business Innovative Research) program at the NIH, prioritizing innovation over incrementalism in medical countermeasure development.

Encourage the FDA to develop a strategy for approving platform approaches to making 'vaccines on demand.'

Invest in innovator research in the United States.

Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc. (NASDAQ: RARE), a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel products for rare and ultra-rare diseases, and Arcturus Therapeutics, Inc., a leading RNA medicines company, today announced that they have entered into a research collaboration and license agreement to discover and develop messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics to certain rare disease targets using Arcturus' UNA Oligomer™ chemistry and LUNAR™ nanoparticle delivery platform.

 

Under the terms of the agreement, Ultragenyx will make an upfront payment of $10 million to Arcturus. During the initial phase of the collaboration, Arcturus will design and optimize mRNA therapeutics for two selected rare disease targets. Ultragenyx has the option to add up to eight additional rare disease targets during the collaborative research period. Ultragenyx will be responsible for the development and commercialization of all products under the collaboration. Arcturus will be entitled to preclinical, clinical, regulatory, and sales milestone payments of up to $156 million for each target, as well as reimbursement of all research expenses and mid-single to low double-digit royalties on commercial sales.

"This collaboration with Arcturus will help us address a wider range of rare diseases than is possible with currently available approaches," said Emil D. Kakkis, MD, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of Ultragenyx. "The joint program combines Arcturus' technology platform, which we believe solves some of the key issues associated with mRNA therapeutics, with Ultragenyx's expertise in rare disease drug development."

"The Ultragenyx-Arcturus partnership is an ideal combination to leverage the potential of mRNA therapeutics to provide important new treatments for rare disease patients," said Joseph E. Payne, President and CEO of Arcturus Therapeutics. "Arcturus is thrilled to work with Ultragenyx, one of the premier rare disease companies, to identify treatments for challenging rare disease targets using our messenger RNA therapeutics platform."

In honor of the special kind of care provided by hospice for those at the end of life, Governor Rick Scott has declared this November as Florida Hospice and Palliative Care Month.

November is an opportunity to raise awareness about hospice to patients and families who could benefit from the many services available. Hospice services include pain management, physical therapy, respite care, grief and bereavement therapy for loved ones, among many others.

Hospice services are available wherever the patient calls home, and works to empower the patient's family by providing the needed support services. Hospice regards every day as a gift, and strives to help patient's achieve the best possible quality life.

"An important message we try to get out is that hospice cares about life. If a patient has a life-limiting illness, hospice wants to help make every day of that patient's life one of quality and substance. This care philosophy not only benefits the patient, but the family and loved ones as well," says Paul Ledford, President & CEO of Florida Hospice & Palliative Care Association (FHPCA).

Last year, almost 124,000 patients throughout Florida experienced the care and comfort provided by hospice. Even though that may seem like a lot of lives being touched, there are many more Floridians that need to know the benefits that hospice can provide them. Too often patients enroll in hospice within a week of their passing which is not enough time for them to truly benefit from the available services, especially since the hospice benefit is available during the last 6 months of life.

 Intouch Solutions, a marketing agency serving the pharmaceutical industry, has moved their New York offices to 469 Seventh Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. The move comes in response to rapid expansion at Intouch Solutions fueled by the acquisition of a number of major new clients. Employee count in the New York City office has increased by nearly fives times since the beginning of 2014.

"We are thrilled with the success of our growing business in the New York office, and are delighted to move into this new location in Midtown," said Faruk Capan, CEO of Intouch Solutions. "It's exciting to see the growth of Intouch Solutions continue. With new and renovated offices in Kansas City, Chicago and New York City, we look forward to the future."

Intouch Solutions previously occupied office space at 1001 Avenue of the Americas. The new space will encompass the entire 10th floor at 469 Seventh Avenue, totaling 17,000 square feet. With employee numbers growing from just a few, as of January 2014, to a current total of 41 and end-of-year projections approaching 50, Intouch Solutions found itself in need of additional space. With it's close proximity to both Penn Station and Port Authority, the new office location is an ideal fit for visiting clients and recruiting employees from both New York and New Jersey.

"Intouch Solutions is a growing organization and a great fit for a reinvented Garment District," said Eric Meyer, a senior managing director with Colliers International Tri-State. "Advertising, marketing, and digital media companies are increasibly taking space in the Garment District because of its central location, 24/7 activity, and wealth of shopping, hotels, and nightlife."

The national headquarters of Intouch Solutions will continue to be located in Kansas City.

Founded in 1999, Intouch Solutions Inc. employs more than 650 individuals and is a privately held marketing agency headquartered in the Kansas City area with offices in Chicago and New York. Specializing in solutions for the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries, Intouch is redefining what marketing means to these industries.