TriZetto Lands Deal With Arizona IPA
A study led by a professor and researcher with the UCI College of Medicine looks like it has debunked common literature on maggots (fly larvae) that infest wounds of patients in healthcare facilities.
Ronald Sherman and colleagues from 20 hospitals around the country studied 42 cases of maggot infestations. Sherman’s group found most infestations came from green blowfly maggots, a species that doesn’t invade healthy tissue and is sometimes used to treat gangrenous tissue. They also found that most patients were infected before being admitted to the hospital.
“The literature was filled with reports of serious complications from invasive maggots,” Sherman said in a telephone interview. Those studies, he said, had accounts of maggots invading eyes, noses and burrowing into the skin. “My experience was to the contrary. Most of the infestations I saw were quite benign.”
The professor noted that knowing what type of maggot was present could help hospital personnel determine types and histories of infestations, but added that the larvae often don’t reach laboratories for analysis.
“They send pus, sputum, urine and poop,” Sherman said. “No one sends maggots, they just throw them away.”
Sherman said his study was the first in the United States to examine maggot infestations. He said that perhaps studies haven’t been done before because of lack of interest, lack of funding or that maggots “are too repulsive for some people to think about.”
He later added that his study wasn’t funded.
“It was our blood, sweat and tears,” Sherman said.
He said he hopes three things will come of his study:
n Generating interest among healthcare professionals in properly identifying maggot infestations;
n Knowing the epidemiology of maggots that infect people, which could turn out to be a public health issue if the maggots are larvae of flies that carry dangerous diseases;
n Legal issues since maggots could be “exculpatory” defense evidence in medical malpractice cases.
“A lot of hospitals and practitioners don’t realize by throwing away” maggots, they may be throwing out things that could help them later on, Sherman said.
The professor’s colleagues represented various universities and medical centers, including UCI Medical Center in Orange, Long Beach Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center and UCLA-Harbor Medical Center in Torrance. Results of the study appear in the July 10 edition of Archives of Internal Medicine, a professional journal.
TriZetto’s Arizona Deal
TriZetto Group Inc., Newport Beach, said it will provide its HealthWeb Internet portal to the Arizona State Physicians Association, an independent practice association with more than 2,400 healthcare providers. TriZetto, in a news release, said HealthWeb would allow the association to communicate with and provide content to its members.
The association also will get TriZetto’s ASP and e-business solutions, including hosted applications for practice management, electronic medical records, financials, claims, eligibility, referrals and authorizations.
UnitedHealth Group Sells Unit
UnitedHealth Group, parent of UnitedHealthcare, agreed last week to transfer its California membership of 225,000, including 22,000 Orange County residents, to Blue Shield of California. The transaction was valued at $40 million.
The transaction does not affect members of Uniprise, a separate wholly owned subsidiary of United HealthGroup. Uniprise serves approximately 700,000 employees and dependents of large, multi-site companies in California. It also doesn’t affect American Association of Retired Persons members in California who have Medicare supplement or hospital indemnity coverage through UnitedHealth Group.
CIBA Gets Stake in Medennium
Medennium Inc., Irvine, received a 10% equity investment last week from CIBA Vision, the eye-care unit of Novartis AG. CIBA Vision also has an option to acquire a larger holding in Medennium at a later date.
Medennium develops and introduces ophthalmic products, including implantable lenses to correct myopia and hyperopia. CIBA Vision’s investment gives it exclusive worldwide rights to market and distribute Medennium’s phakic refractive lens. The phakic refractive lens for myopia and hyperopia is in Phase II clinical trials and is scheduled for Phase III testing early next year.
Bits and Pieces:
VitalCom Inc., Tustin, introduced wireless technology designed to help hospitals monitor their acute care patients. VitalCom said its PatientNet wireless network is compliant with wireless medical telemetry service rules announced by the Federal Communications Commission Synygy, a Bala Cynwyd, Pa., incentive-compensation software and service provider, said Allergan Inc., Irvine, renewed a three-year agreement for various products and services I-Flow Corp., Lake Forest, announced the availability of its C-bloc continuous nerve-block system, which is centered on a nerve block kit and a disposable infusion pump, to manage postoperative pain. I-Flow made its announcement on the eve of the Worldwide Pain Conference 2000, held July 15-20 in San Francisco Children’s Hospital of Orange County, Orange, received a $165,000 donation from the Orange County Children and Families Commission and the county United Way last month. The funds will be used to purchase a mobile clinic van for the hospital’s Healthy Tomorrows program. St. Jude Medical Center, Fullerton, received $37,000 from its Golden Hearts philanthropic support group to buy a Holter cardiology monitoring system Micro Therapeutics Inc., Irvine, expanded clinical trials of its Onyx liquid embolic system for treating brain aneurysms to include a site in Turkey Kelly Tucker, a physician affiliated with St. Joseph Hospital, Orange, and the Orange County Heart Institute, is considered one of a few doctors certified to prescribe dofetilide, a new treatment for atrial fibrillation. Atrial fibrillation is a form of irregular heartbeat considered a common risk factor for stroke in people 70 or older Edwards Lifesciences Inc., Irvine, took out a full-page ad in USA Today to congratulate the 20 “top heart hospitals.”
