Researchers from University of California, Irvine, have tapped a local medical device company to help develop new corneal transplant procedures.
A team of doctors led by UC Irvine ophthalmologist Dr. Roger Steinert earlier this month said they had invented a new laser-based cornea transplant technique that could be another nail in the coffin of traditional handheld blade techniques.
Steinert and his team used a high-speed laser invented by IntraLase Corp., an Irvine eye device maker.
Dr. Ronald Kurtz, co-inventor of the IntraLase laser, was part of the research team.
Steinert, director of UCI’s cornea, refractive and cataract surgery arm, and his team compared the results of laser-based cornea transplants to those of conventional transplant surgical techniques. They worked on 14 donated human corneas that weren’t suitable for human transplants.
The team found that stitches could be removed as soon as three months, rather than years under the current technique. The strength of the repaired cornea could be nearly 10 times of that of conventional transplants, the UCI researchers found.
IntraLase officials have said that their lasers will replace microkeratomes, or metal blades, in elective laser vision correction surgeries.
Clinical trials are expected to begin this summer at UCI. The findings were presented during a meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Some 40,000 corneal transplants are performed in the U.S. yearly. The most common reasons for the surgery are swelling, clouding after damage from other eye diseases, a distortion called keratoconus, and scarring after injuries or infections.
Messing With Texas
PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. is using a Medicare boost to cast a wider net.
The Cypress-based managed care company got the OK from federal regulators to offer its Secure Horizons Medicare Advantage HMO to Atascosa and Kendall counties in Texas. Atascosa County is south of San Antonio, while Kendall County is north of the city.
Some 10,000 Medicare-eligible beneficiaries live in the counties. Plan enrollment starts this week.
PacifiCare’s move is part of the company’s bid to bolster service in the wake of 2003’s Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act.
The legislation upped funding for Medicare HMO providers in exchange for added services and lower prices.
Those in the Texas plan won’t pay a monthly premium, and have unlimited generic and branded prescription drug coverage with co-payments of $10 for a 30-day drug supply and $30 for a 90-day drug supply.
PacifiCare’s plan also includes a $22 premium reduction for Medicare part B, which helps pay for physician services, outpatient hospital care, durable medical equipment and some medical services not covered by Medicare part A, the program’s core offering.
Design in the LBC
Taylor & Associates, a Newport Beach-based architectural firm with a history of healthcare work, is taking on a big assignment just over the county line in Long Beach.
Taylor is designing Miller Children’s Hospital’s $104 million pavilion and expansion project.
The project is expected to add some 120,000 square feet to Miller Children’s Hospital.
The pavilion is a four-level building with seven operating rooms, 48 neonatal intensive care beds, 24 general pediatric beds and a pediatric imaging center.
Construction is set to begin late this year, and hospital officials expect it to open in 2008.
Taylor’s local work has included the Meiklejohn Critical Care Pavilion at Saddleback Memorial Medical Center in Laguna Hills, and a large tower for Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, Newport Beach.
Miller Children’s Hospital is part of the Long Beach-based Memorial Health Services system, which operates three OC hospitals.
Besides Saddleback, Memorial owns Anaheim Memorial Medical Center and Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center in Fountain Valley.
Bits and Pieces:
Beckman Coulter Inc., Fullerton, said it began shipping its UniCel DxC 800 Synchron chemistry testing system. The UniCel medical testing gear can do up to 1,440 clinical laboratory tests per hour. It’s the third in the UniCel series, which was launched in 2003 with the UniCel DxI 800 Access system … Cardiac Science Inc., Irvine, said it would provide automated external defibrillators, comprehensive defibrillator and CPR training and program management services for Baltimore County, Md.’s new public access defibrillation program … Patient Care Technology Systems and Medsphere Systems Corp., both based in Aliso Viejo, participated in the Towards an Electronic Patient Record conference sponsored by the Medical Records Institute. Tony Marsico and Alan Portela, Patient Care Technology’s chief executive and chief quality officer, respectively, and Dr. Scott Shreeve, chief medical officer of Medsphere, discussed different aspects of electronic medical records.
