Tag: economics
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Top Hospital Infection Costs Estimated at $9.8B Per Year
Researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston estimate the annual cost of the five leading infections contracted in health care facilities in the U.S. at $9.8 billion, with surgical site infections causing about one-third of those costs. The team led by Brigham and Women’s research fellow Eyal Zimlichman published its…
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Open Source Energy-Economy Optimization Model Developed
Computer scientists and engineers at North Carolina State University in Raleigh developed a computer model to aid energy-related economic policy decisions, making both their data and source code available to the public. The model, called Tools for Energy Model Optimization and Assessment or Temoa, is the work of a team led by NC State engineering…
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Design for Microenterprise Helps Target Emerging Markets
Engineers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge recommend designing products for small entrepreneurial businesses as a strategy for success in large emerging markets, such as India and China. Graduate student Jesse Austin-Breneman and engineering professor Maria Yang describe their findings in a paper delivered last week at the International Design Engineering Technical Conference of…
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U.S. University Research Commercialization Gains in 2012
American universities and research institutes report more research discoveries headed toward the marketplace in their 2012 fiscal year, with increases in discoveries disclosed, patents, licenses and licensing income, and start-up companies formed. The Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM), the group representing campus technology transfer specialists, released today highlights of its annual survey for institutions’…
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Sugary Drink Taxes Can Cut Calories, Health Impact Limited
Economists and public health researchers at RTI International and Duke University in North Carolina, and U.S. Department of Agriculture forecast that taxes on sugary drinks can reduce the calorie intake of consumers, but the overall health impact is limited by consumers shifting to other less healthy, but untaxed, items. Chen Zhen and colleagues published their…
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Telemedicine Facing Financial, Regulatory Headwinds
Health care organizations with telemedicine programs run into challenges implementing their services, particularly in getting acceptance from payers, and meeting legal or regulatory requirements across multiple jurisdictions. These issues arose in two sessions today at the mHealth + TeleHealth World Congress in Boston. A key financial issue is reimbursement by insurance companies for telemedicine services.…
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Health IT Group Documenting Medical Automation Results
HIMSS, an organization in Chicago promoting information technology in health care, is collecting case studies of automation to show its impact on medical practice and health care outcomes. The group unveiled the program, named the Health IT Value Suite, today at a press conference in Washington, D.C., although the collection is not yet available to…
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Food Industry Establishes Traceability Research Center
The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) in Chicago unveiled its Global Food Traceability Center to conduct research and develop best practices to identify sources of health problems related to food products. The organization says there currently is no single group that brings together all industry stakeholders to collaborate on finding solutions to these problems. The…
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Health Records Exchanges Grow, but Sustainability a Question
Researchers at University of Michigan, Harvard University, and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston found larger numbers of U.S. hospitals and doctors taking part in electronic health records exchanges — services that store patient records for access as needed by different health care providers — but their funding after this year remains in doubt. The…
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Hydrogen Fuel Cells Found Feasible for Ships Docked in Port
An analysis by Sandia National Lab in Livermore, California indicates hydrogen fuel cells offer an economical and environmentally feasible alternative for powering commercial ships docked in seaports. Sandia Lab, a division of the U.S. Department of Energy, published the study, conducted for the department’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, earlier this year. Ships docked…