Health Care Sector Update for 03/27/2015: CNAT,BMRN,OHRP

Top Health Care Stocks

JNJ +0.45%

PZE +0.97%

MRK +0.82%

ABT +0.55%

AMGN +1.38%

Health care stocks were broadly higher today with the NYSE Health Care Sector Index jumping almost 0.8% and shares of health care companies in the S&P 500 rising 0.9% as a group.

In company news, Conatus Pharmaceuticals ( CNAT ) extended gains Friday after the biotech company said Thursday that its emricasan drug candidate met its primary goal of reducing three biomarkers signaling liver damage during Phase II testing in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

The double-blind, placebo-controlled trial enrolled 38 patients receiving either 25 milligrams of emricasan or a placebo twice daily. According to the company, 30% of the patients in emricasan arm demonstrated declines in the three enzymes compared with just a 4% drop in the placebo arm.

The drug also was safe and well tolerated during the latest trial, with no dose-limiting toxicities and no drug-related serious adverse events observed. CNAT plans to present detailed trial results at the International Liver Congress beginning April 22 in Vienna, Austria.

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Health Care Sector Update for 03/27/2015: CNAT,BMRN,OHRP

Obama: Base health care payments on quality, not quantity

WASHINGTON President Barack Obama wants to cut health care costs by reducing inefficiencies like unnecessarily long hospital stays and excessive paperwork for doctors that rack up big bills.

Obama on Wednesday will launch what the White House calls a Health Care Payment Learning and Action Network. The White House says more than 2,800 health care providers, patients and consumer groups have agreed to take part.

The goal is to tie more payments for health care services to the quality not quantity of services rendered. Earlier this year the administration set a goal to tie 30 percent of Medicare payments to quality and value, but Obama wants to go further.

Obama will announce the new network during a speech marking the fifth anniversary of his health care law, the Affordable Care Act.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported this week that the number of uninsured U.S. residents fell by more than 11 million since Obama signed the law. Although that still would leave about 37 million people uninsured, it's the lowest level measured in more than 15 years.

The health care law offers subsidized private coverage to people who don't have access to it on the job, as well as an expanded version of Medicaid geared to low-income adults, in states accepting it.

The White House says 16 million people have gained health insurance, a considerably higher estimate than Tuesday's findings from CDC's National Center for Health Statistics. The figures cited by the White House cover a longer period of time, through the beginning of this month. That includes the law's second sign-up season. The estimate was produced by the principal policy adviser to Health and Human Services Sylvia M. Burwell.

The main question hanging over the law now is a Supreme Court case in which opponents argue that its subsidies are illegal in most states. They contend that the exact wording of the law only allows subsidized coverage in states that have set up their own insurance markets. Most have not done so, relying instead on the federal HealthCare.gov.

The administration counters that the context of the law makes it clear the purpose was to expand coverage in every state. A decision is expected to be announced by late June.

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Obama: Base health care payments on quality, not quantity

Jindal health care budget has gaps, cuts, unsure financing

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Gov. Bobby Jindals hospital privatization deals that provide care for uninsured patients are precariously balanced in next years budget recommendations, with one-third of their financing reliant on tax changes uncertain to win passage from state lawmakers.

The House Appropriations Committee was told Wednesday that the governors $9.5 billion health care spending plan for the fiscal year that begins July 1 relies on $407 million from Jindals proposal to shrink spending on certain tax breaks.

Most of that uncertain money, $332 million, is plugged into payments for Jindals contracts that turned over the LSU-run hospitals and clinics to private managers. If those dollars dont show up, hospital payments would be cut from more than $1.1 billion to $815 million under the governors budget.

If that (money) is not seen, do you foresee a possibility of any of these partnerships coming back to the table, backing out, being revised? Rep. Patricia Smith, D-Baton Rouge, asked Health and Hospitals Secretary Kathy Kliebert.

Kliebert replied: Certainly, I would see the possibility of the partners coming back and some requesting to be out of the contract, out of their agreement, or they would have to significantly reduce services.

Already, the private operators of the state-owned hospitals and clinics say they need $142 million more than Jindals budget provides - even with the money from the tax break scale-backs. Nearly $88 million of that request would pay for the hospital in New Orleans, which will shift services from an interim facility to a larger, new hospital this summer.

Kliebert said she thinks she has identified a funding stream to pay for the increased costs of the new hospital in New Orleans. But Appropriations Committee Chairman Jim Fannin told her she should not assume the dollars from Jindals proposal to rework the tax credits would arrive.

Business leaders and lawmakers are balking at the biggest tax credit on the chopping block in the governors plan. Fannin, R-Jonesboro, said lawmakers need to consider the health care proposal without having the money from the tax changes because that takes a lot of action to ever get there.

Smith and other committee members worried about the potential impact on health care services for the poor and uninsured if the LSU privatization deals face steep cuts.

Since we are already in a very detrimental place when it comes to health outcomes, that would be even more detrimental to us as a state, wouldnt you agree? she asked Kliebert.

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Jindal health care budget has gaps, cuts, unsure financing

Health care, business big part of governors regional tour

MOUNT VERNON Gov. Jay Inslee visited Skagit County as part of a tour of the region Tuesday to talk health care, labor and business.

As part of his visit, Inslee toured the Northwest Washington Electrical Industry Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee in Mount Vernon. The apprenticeship is a labor and management training program for electricians.

Inslee told students that it is a goal of his to make sure jobs are available for graduates of the program.

Passing a transportation package this year so students have work when they get out is a top priority, Inslee said.

Unless a maintenance budget is passed this year, 71 bridges statewide will become functionally obsolete, Inslee said.

Inslee told students and instructors that their point of view is needed to successfully legislate infrastructure and transportation.

There arent enough working people in the legislative bodies, and thats a problem, he said.

Inslee also hosted a discussion with North Sound health officials and discussed the benefits of mental health integration.

Skagit County is part of the North Sound Accountable Community of Health, one of two pilot programs in the state that aims to improve health and lower health care costs in the region.

Part of the program identifies frequent 911 callers and those who use hospitals the most, and connects them with case managers who can troubleshoot with them and keep patients out of hospitals, said Sharen Sandell, a case manager with the Whatcom Alliance for Health Advancement.

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Health care, business big part of governors regional tour

Improving Health-Care Outcomes Is Focus of 2015 Symposium on Human Factors and Ergonomics in Health Care

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Newswise The program for the upcoming health-care symposium is being finalized, featuring more than 200 presentations by researchers, physicians and other health-care providers, medical device designers, policy-makers, health IT professionals, and biomedical engineers. The symposium, hosted by the Johns Hopkins Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality, will be held April 26-29 at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront Hotel in Baltimore, Maryland.

The program is again organized in four tracks: Patient and Health-Care Provider Safety, Clinical and Consumer Health-Care Information Technology, Medical and Drug-Delivery Devices, and Clinical Care Settings.

Here is just a sampling of the case studies, research, and design guidance that will be presented at this years symposium:

Patient, Heal Thyself: A Manifesto for Consumer Health Design, Joseph Cafazzo, Healthcare Human Factors Improve Patient Outcomes by Enhancing the Fit Between Clinical Workflow and Health-Care Information Systems, Eleanor Hunt, Toolshed Technologies, Inc. Pilots to Performance: Improving Maternal and Child Health Through Human Factors Collaborations With Public Health, Michelle Rogers, Drexel University Investigating Error in Diagnosis: Qualitative Results From a Virtual Patient Simulation Pilot Study, Daniel Nystrom, Linda Williams, and Douglas Paull, VA National Center for Patient Safety A Product Liability Perspective on Medical Device Development, Robert Rauschenberger and Emily Hildebrand, Exponent, Inc. New International and Domestic Medical Device Standards, Edmond Israelski, AbbVie Patterns of Excellent Team Coordination in Trauma Resuscitation, Sarah Parker, MedStar Institute for Innovation - National Center for Human Factors Engineering in Healthcare Combating Ebola: The Role of HF/E Response to the Recent EVD Outbreak, Chair: Joseph Keebler, Wichita State University

The symposium offers a unique opportunity for attendees from the health-care industry, academia, consulting, and regulatory agencies to engage in discussions about challenges in health-care delivery, learn how HF/E science and practice is meeting those challenges, and work jointly on improving patient safety outcomes.

To access the full preliminary program, visit http://www.hfes.org/web/HFESMeetings/2015hcspreliminary.html.

To obtain a press pass for the symposium, please contact HFES Communications Director Lois Smith (lois@hfes.org) or Communications Associate Cara Quinlan (cara@hfes.org).

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Improving Health-Care Outcomes Is Focus of 2015 Symposium on Human Factors and Ergonomics in Health Care

Healthcare Price Transparency: Changing the Way Providers Sell Services – Video


Healthcare Price Transparency: Changing the Way Providers Sell Services
In this video David Newman, PhD, JD, executive director of the Health Care Cost Institute, explores why price transparency will change the way providers sell healthcare services. While consumer...

By: Healthcare Financial Management Association

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Healthcare Price Transparency: Changing the Way Providers Sell Services - Video

Health Care Sector Update for 03/24/2015: MDXG,ABMD,CTIX

Top Health Care Stocks

JNJ -0.93%

PZE -1.40%

MRK -0.80%

ABT -0.15%

AMGN -0.20%

Health care stocks were leading Tuesday's markets lower, with the NYSE Health Care Sector Index dropping about 0.6% and shares of health care companies in the S&P 500 also retreating 0.8% as a group.

In company news, MiMedx Group Inc. ( MDXG ) sprang higher Tuesday after late yesterday saying the U.S. Justice Department has declined to proceed in a potential whistle-blower case against the tissue-processing company over its marketing practices.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services inspector general in late December sent a subpoena to MDXG as part of a civil investigation. MDXG said it cooperated fully with investigators, providing over 100,000 lines of electronic data to the inspector general.

At the same time it disclosed the government probe, MDXG also said it had filed suit against Organogenesis Inc., alleging the rival artificial-skin company of spreading "material misinformation" that resulted in Veterans Administration temporarily removing some MDXG products from its supply schedule in 2013.

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Health Care Sector Update for 03/24/2015: MDXG,ABMD,CTIX

Home Care Services in Houston | Senior Care in Texas | Home Health Care Spring – Video


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Home Care Services in Houston | Senior Care in Texas | Home Health Care Spring - Video

Webinar: The Health Care Revolution No One’s Talking About: Changing How We Pay for Care – Video


Webinar: The Health Care Revolution No One #39;s Talking About: Changing How We Pay for Care
The Obama administration is poised to fundamentally change how we pay for health care in this country. By the end of 2016, Medicare aims to make 30 percent of payments on the basis of quality...

By: ReportingonHealth

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Webinar: The Health Care Revolution No One's Talking About: Changing How We Pay for Care - Video

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Politicians Corrupt destroy Environment Health Care Animal Abuse War Jobs Economy Obama Clinton 2016 – Video


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Politicians Corrupt destroy Environment Health Care Animal Abuse War Jobs Economy Obama Clinton 2016 - Video

Southeastern Ind. health care workers dealing with HIV outbreak

Health care workers are working to stop an HIV outbreak in southeastern Indiana.

App users: Tap here for video

Fifty-five HIV cases have been confirmed in the area since December and there are 13 more preliminary positive tests reported.

Officials are expanding efforts to slow down the spread and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been called out to help.

"This is a public health nurse's worst nightmare because it's an outbreak that I can't really stop. There's no vaccine for it, so I can't protect people and the mode of transportation is IV drug abuse. So stopping that is what's difficult," said Scott County nurse Brittany Combs.

Combs said a majority of HIV positive patients admitted to sharing needles during drug use.

Only a few cases are attributed to unprotected sex.

"As long as I've been here, six years, we've always had less than five reported every year," Combs said. "So 55 is a huge number."

Prior to the outbreak, southeastern Indiana residents wanting to be tested had to go to Clark County.

Now, free HIV testing is being performed at additional health departments, including the Scott County Health Department Office on North Gardner Street. The tests will be given on Mondays and Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. It takes 30 minutes and the results are confidential.

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Southeastern Ind. health care workers dealing with HIV outbreak

Health Care REIT Stocks Find Investors' Favor

H ealth care stocks are on the move with many making new highs. And the Federal Reserve last week signaled that interest rate increases are at least a few months off. That combination has been good news for health care REITs. Being in the right sector helps a REIT, and so does the prospect of continued low interest rates.

Two REITs,Medical Properties Trust ( MPW ) andSabra Healthcare ( SBRA ) have formed double-bottom formations. Sabra already has broken out from a 33.74 buy point and is in new high ground. Medical Properties is trading just below a 15.58 buy point.

Medical Properties buys hospitals, rehab centers and other specialty hospitals and leases them back to their established operators. It also finances construction of new or expansion of existing medical facilities. It's been expanding in Europe.

The REIT pays a regular quarterly dividend of 22 cents a share, which works out to a 5.8% annual dividend.

Wall Street expects an 18% increase in funds from operation, the REIT equivalent of earnings, in 2015 and an 8% increase in 2016.

Sabra has a portfolio of 160 real estate medical properties that are leased to operators, including senior housing facilities.

Sabra pays a 39-cent quarterly dividend, which works out to a 4.6% annualized yield. Analysts expect 9% growth this year and 6% next year. FFO rose 8% in the most recent quarter with revenue up 48% from a year ago.

BioMed Realty Trust ( BMR ) owns offices and laboratories that it leases to businesses in the life sciences. Earlier this year, it signed a 15-year lease withIllumina ( ILMN ) for a new 360,000-square-foot campus at Foster City, Calif. BioMed expects to turn the facility over to Illumina in 2017.

The stock corrected 19% in recent weeks, but it recovered much of that decline and is now trading 8% off a high.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc.

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Health Care REIT Stocks Find Investors' Favor