Diagnostics & Healthcare News

Smiths Medical recently released a firmware update to eliminate potential medical device security vulnerabilities that had been discovered by an independent researcher earlier in 2017. The vulnerabilities may have allowed remote attackers to gain unauthorized access, affecting certain infusion pumps’ intended operations, the Department of Homeland Security’s Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team (ICS-CERT) said in a…

Imagine if the pedometer on your wrist did more than just count steps. Imagine it measured blood sugar, detected heart rate irregularities and logged that data in a digital health record. For decades, health-care data like this was only recorded at the doctor’s office or in a controlled study. Wearable technology has changed that. Armed…

Mike Matson, a medtech analyst at Needham & Co., kicked off earnings season with a recent report on three sectors he thinks grew last quarter, compared to the previous quarter, based on early earnings announcements from several companies. Matson noted that 12 of the firm’s 21 covered companies preannounced fourth-quarter 2017 results, and all but…

The legalization of marijuana in Canada is imminent, and Toronto-based startup Resolve Digital Health hopes it is uniquely positioned to take advantage of it with its smart medical device system. Dubbed Breeze, the technology is designed to provide a more accurate, metered medical marijuana solution. It uses single-use Smartpods filled with cannabis buds or oil, which is then…

It’s time to kiss the medical device tax goodbye, again. The stopgap spending deal that cleared the Senate and the House on Monday contained an unexpected surprise for medtech: a two-year suspension of the 2.3% medical device tax. President Trump signed off on the bill Monday night. “This suspension is good news for American patients and…

When I went to the imaging center for my regular mammogram last year, the woman behind the desk asked me if I’d like to get a “3-D” mammogram instead of the standard test I’d had in the past. “It’s more accurate,” she said. What do you say to that? “No, thanks, I’d rather have the…

Congressional efforts to kill the newly reinstated medical device tax are ramping up. A short-term federal spending plan proposed this week by House Republican leaders would suspend the 2.3 percent sales tax for two years, retroactive to Jan. 1. Congress has until Saturday to extend spending or risk a government shutdown. Meantime, Massachusetts’ Democratic senators have introduced legislation that would eliminate the tax. “Until we have a bill that’s…

During the three years that the government collected a tax on sales of medical devices, Maple Grove’s Inspire Medical Systems never turned a profit on its sleep apnea treatments. CEO Tim Herbert says the company could have had 12 to 15 more employees if that tax money, which helped pay for the Affordable Care Act,…

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Nov. 30, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — AliveCor, the leader in FDA-cleared personal electrocardiogram (EKG) technology, today announced FDA clearance of KardiaBand in the U.S., allowing Apple Watch users to discreetly capture their EKG anytime, anywhere in order to quickly detect normal sinus heart rhythms and atrial fibrillation (AFib), the most common heart arrhythmia. The first FDA-cleared…

“I want you to talk to me like I’m one of your patients, not like I’m your mother.” My mom’s familiar voice came over the car’s speakers via the Bluetooth connection to my phone as I drove home. She had left a voicemail an hour earlier asking me to call her back, which was never…