Business Bits

  • IntegenX Inc.

    Hacienda's IntegenX Inc., an emerging leader in the field of rapid human DNA identification, has acquired SV Corp, a wholly owned subsidiary of GE Healthcare Bio-Sciences. "The SV Corp acquisition brings to IntegenX proprietary products and a proven and protected intellectual property estate (i.e., a patent portfolio) containing key technical know-how," said Dr. Stevan Jovanovich, CEO of IntegenX. "This acquisition marks an important milestone in IntegenX's introduction of our first commercially available system for rapid human DNA identification."

    Set to commercially launch later this year, the IntegenX RapidHIT 200 is a self-contained Human Identification (HID) system that automates and accelerates the process of producing standardized DNA profiles from mouth swabs and other human samples in less than 90 minutes.

  • PACSGEAR

    PACSGEAR, specialists in imaging connectivity for electronic health records, has launched the PACSGEAR Image Exchange, a cloud-based solution designed to securely upload and share medical images and results between facilities. As a low cost add-on to the company's popular MediaWriter product line, PACSGEAR Image Exchange provides the user an option to either burn DICOM studies to CD/DVD media or upload studies to a variety of cloud-based repositories.

    "Customers want the option to share medical images electronically. When we looked at our technology, we realized that our customers already had the critical components in place to enable image sharing. The challenge was to make it easy and affordable," said Eli Rapaich, PACSGEAR's CEO. "Giving our customers the choice to either burn CDs or securely upload images to their favorite cloud-based vendors improves interoperability and facilitates health information exchange."

  • Kaiser Permanente

    A study making use of Kaiser Permanente electronic health records has determined that the shingles vaccine, also known as the herpes zoster vaccine, is generally safe and well tolerated. The Vaccine Safety Datalink study of 193,083 adults was published online in the Journal of Internal Medicine. Shingles is a painful contagious rash caused by the dormant chickenpox virus which can reactivate and replicate, damaging the nerve system. The elderly are especially vulnerable because immunity against the virus that causes shingles declines with age. More than 1 million people develop the disease every year in the United States.

    This study examined adverse events after the zoster vaccine was administered to 193,083 adults aged 50 and older from Jan. 1, 2007, to Dec. 31, 2008. Vaccination data were retrieved from electronic health records and collected from eight managed care organizations participating in the VSD project. Kaiser's electronic health records program is developed and maintained in the company's Hacienda facilities.

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