The New England HIMSS Public Policy Forum earlier this week brought health IT representatives from six states to Massachusettswidely cited for its universal health insurance law, now roughly three years old. In addition to providing state-by-state reports on health IT, the conference offered speakers and attendees a chance to help figure out what the national healthcare reform legislation might mean on a local level.

NORWOOD, Mass.Despite Massachusetts' reputation as a national leader in healthcare, "hospitals don't do well in our state," said Lynn Nicholas, FACHE, president and CEO of the Massachusetts Hospital Association, at the New England HIMSS annual Public Policy Forum on Wednesday.

After Boston Scientific voluntarily ceased shipment of all its implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) and cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillators (CRT-Ds) for failing to notify the FDA of manufacturing changes, the Wall Street Journal has reported that the company is now being probed by the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

On the day before or on the day of hospital admission, patients who underwent imaging with CT, MRI or nuclear scintigraphy were associated with significantly shorter lengths of inpatient stays compared with patients who underwent advanced imaging later, according to a study published in the April issue of the Journal of the American College of Radiology.

AgaMatrix, maker of blood glucose-monitoring products, and pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Aventis have entered into a partnership to co-develop, supply and commercialize diabetes management technologies.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke has released 10 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) investments, totaling more than $63 million in grants, will increase broadband access and adoption in more than a dozen states.

New strides in managing and diagnosing the serious effects of the rare, but deadly thoracic aortic disease (TAD) have pushed the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and the American Heart Association (AHA) to offer new guidelines for the prevention of TAD, a disease almost 10,000 Americans die from each year.

Clinical and revenue cycle and performance management software provider Eclipsys has formed a partnership with Rothman Healthcare Research that will allow the Santa Barbara, Calif.-based Rothman to build its Patient Condition Tracker software on the Helios by Eclipsys platform.