Today's Reuters Health News Headlines - Yahoo! News:
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Shares in Japan's disgraced Olympus dive on balance
Wed,14 Dec 2011 07:19 PM PST
Reuters -  TOKYO (Reuters) - Shares in Japan's scandal-ridden Olympus Corp slumped almost 20 percent on Thursday after it corrected its accounts to reveal a dramatically weakened balance sheet, stoking talk that it might need to merge, sell assets or raise fresh capital. The maker of cameras and medical equipment ironed out its accounts on Wednesday, unwinding a 13-year book-keeping fraud that came to light in October, and showing that its net assets were $1.1 billion less than it had previously disclosed. ...
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Olympus aims for extraordinary shareholders' meeting March-April
Wed,14 Dec 2011 07:19 PM PST
Reuters - TOKYO (Reuters) - Disgraced Olympus Corp said on Thursday it aims to hold an extraordinary shareholders' meeting in March or April, as its scandal-tainted board faces pressure to step aside for the selection of new management to lead the 92-year-old firm. The camera and medical equipment maker, struggling to recover from a $1.7 billion accounting scandal, on Wednesday released restated accounts for the past five years and announced first-half results just in time to avoid an automatic delisting of its shares. (Reporting by Nobuhiro Kubo; Writing by Edmund Klamann; Editing by Edwina Gibbs) Full Story | Top |
Woodford says would recapitalize Olympus within few months
Wed,14 Dec 2011 06:10 PM PST
Reuters - TOKYO (Reuters) - Olympus Corp's ousted CEO Michael Woodford said on Wednesday he would recapitalize the camera and medical equipment maker within a few months if he returned and would favor investment by private equity or a rights issue to raise cash. He also told Reuters in an interview that if he went back to Olympus he would try to avoid taking it into any strategic alliance with another company. ... Full Story | Top |
Drugmakers get more time to record gifts to doctors
Wed,14 Dec 2011 04:51 PM PST
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. drugmakers and device companies got an extension on the deadline to record all payments and gifts to doctors because of a delay in a proposed rule from health officials. The Physician Payment Sunshine Act, part of President Barack Obama's healthcare overhaul last year, requires manufacturers to report all payments to doctors above $10 and pay penalties if they fail to do so. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on Wednesday posted draft regulations that outline procedures for companies to report the information and share it with the public. ... Full Story | Top |
Aetna lifts earnings outlook for 2011, 2012
Wed,14 Dec 2011 04:17 PM PST
Reuters - (Reuters) - Aetna Inc, the third largest U.S. health insurer, raised its estimate for 2011 and 2012 operating earnings per share and said it bought back 40 million shares through Dec 9 this year. Health insurers have benefited from low claims costs as Americans with coverage delay doctor visits and medical procedures while co-payments and other out-of-pocket costs are rising and the job market remains uncertain. Aetna said it now expects to report 2011 operating earnings per share of $5.15, up from a previous forecast of $5.00 per share, and 2012 operating earnings per share of $5. ... Full Story | Top |
Health law keeps 2.5 million young adults insured
Wed,14 Dec 2011 04:16 PM PST
Reuters - (Reuters) - U.S. healthcare reforms have enabled 2.5 million young adults to join or remain in their parents' health insurance plans, the U.S. government said on Wednesday, up from 1 million reported earlier this year. Federal officials fully credited the gains to the Affordable Care Act, legislation championed by President Barack Obama that took effect last year and is deemed the biggest overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system in nearly 50 years. ... Full Story | Top |
Study endorses HPV testing for all women over 30
Wed,14 Dec 2011 04:04 PM PST
Reuters - LONDON (Reuters) - New DNA tests looking for the virus responsible for most cases of cervical cancer make sense for all women aged 30 or over, since they can prevent more cases of cancer than smear tests alone, Dutch researchers said on Thursday. Results of a five-year study involving 45,000 women provided the strongest evidence yet in favour of using human papillomavirus (HPV) testing, Chris Meijer and colleagues from the VU University Medical Centre in Amsterdam reported in The Lancet Oncology. ... Full Story | Top |
Study endorses HPV testing for all women over 30
Wed,14 Dec 2011 04:01 PM PST
Reuters - LONDON (Reuters) - New DNA tests looking for the virus responsible for most cases of cervical cancer make sense for all women aged 30 or over, since they can prevent more cases of cancer than smear tests alone, Dutch researchers said on Thursday. Results of a five-year study involving 45,000 women provided the strongest evidence yet in favor of using human papillomavirus (HPV) testing, Chris Meijer and colleagues from the VU University Medical Centre in Amsterdam reported in The Lancet Oncology. ... Full Story | Top |
U.S. firms' foreign profits not "trapped" abroad: report
Wed,14 Dec 2011 03:40 PM PST
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. companies holding billions in profits overseas say onerous U.S. tax rates prevent them from bringing the money home, but a congressional study on Wednesday disputed that, concluding half the funds are already put into U.S.-based assets. Big companies like Cisco Systems and Pfizer Inc want lawmakers to approve a "repatriation" holiday for about $1.5 trillion in foreign profits that many companies say are trapped abroad for tax reasons. ... Full Story | Top |
Kikukawa banked on takeover scheme to hide losses: report
Wed,14 Dec 2011 02:42 PM PST
Reuters -  (Reuters) - Former Olympus Corp president Tsuyoshi Kikukawa had said in 2008 that taking over three domestic companies would make hidden investment losses "go down by a lot," people familiar with the cover-up told the Nikkei business daily. Investigators see Kikukawa's comment as a possible link between him and others reportedly involved in the cover-up, the daily said. Olympus has also established a reform committee with former Asahi Kasei Corp president Shiro Hiruta and two attorneys, the newspaper said. ...
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Health law keeps 2.5 million young adults insured
Wed,14 Dec 2011 02:26 PM PST
Reuters - (Reuters) - U.S. healthcare reforms have enabled 2.5 million young adults to remain in their parents' health insurance plans, the U.S. government said on Wednesday, up from 1 million reported earlier this year. Federal officials fully credited the gains to the Affordable Care Act, legislation championed by President Barack Obama that took effect last year and is deemed the biggest overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system in nearly 50 years. ... Full Story | Top |
Bulgaria to ban smoking in indoor public spaces
Wed,14 Dec 2011 02:23 PM PST
Reuters - SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria, where more than a third of adults smoke, plans to ban smoking in indoor public spaces from June 1, 2012, the government said on Wednesday. The ban, which has to be approved by parliament, would also forbid smoking outside of nurseries, kindergartens and schools. The European Union poorest member is the country with the second highest tobacco consumption in the bloc (39 percent of the adult population smoke) after Greece, a 2010 Eurobarometer survey shows. Almost one in three 13-15 year-olds is a also smoker. ... Full Story | Top |
Coal ash taints 20 U.S. sites: report
Wed,14 Dec 2011 02:22 PM PST
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Toxic contamination from coal ash, a waste product of coal-fired power plants, has been detected in ground water and soil at 20 sites in 10 U.S. states, an environmental watchdog group reported on Tuesday. These sites are the latest to contribute to a total of 157 identified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the independent Environmental Integrity Project, which released the report. ... Full Story | Top |
Brain stimulation may help some stroke patients
Wed,14 Dec 2011 02:20 PM PST
Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Treating stroke patients who have lost control and awareness of one side of their body with magnetic stimulation to the brain may improve their symptoms, researchers said today. In a new, small study published in the journal Neurology, patients who were given quick bursts of stimulation over a couple of weeks improved by about 20 percent on tests of vision and attention, while those who got a fake stimulation treatment didn't improve significantly. But researchers said it's still unclear what types of patients might benefit from the treatment and by how much. ... Full Story | Top |
Canada seeks a way to limit health-spending increases
Wed,14 Dec 2011 02:19 PM PST
Reuters - OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's top finance officials will try at a meeting next week to come to grips with the thorny problem of how to limit the rising costs of the country's universal public health-care system in the face of an aging population. Health care in Canada is a responsibility of the provinces, and since 2004 the federal government has been increasing by 6 percent a year the amount of money it provides them to help pay for the system. It has committed to keep on doing so through 2016, and since 2006 it has increased its annual payments to C$27 billion ($26 billion) from C$19 billion. ... Full Story | Top |
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