Now that everyone has said yes, Boston Scientific has gone to the banks to sign a number of new lending agreements, including a large credit facility it could use to finance its $4.2 billion acquisition offer for British medical device maker BTG plc. The information, which came from recently posted

  By Larry Storer The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued a final rule Nov. 1, 2018, that includes updates to payment policies, payment rates and quality provisions for services furnished under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule on or after Jan. 1, 2019. The effect of CMS changes to

Boston Scientific has reached an agreement on the terms of a recommended offer to acquire BTG plc., a United Kingdom-based company that develops and commercializes products used in minimally-invasive procedures, targeting vascular diseases and cancer, as well as acute care pharmaceuticals. Under the terms of the transaction, holders of BTG’s

Medtronic plc   completed the acquisition of Israel-based Mazor Robotics Dec. 19. Under the terms of the acquisition agreement, Mazor shareholders will receive $58.50 per ADS, or $29.25 per ordinary share, in cash. The total value of the transaction is reported at $1.7B, or $1.3B net of Medtronic’s existing stake in Mazor

  Merit Medical Systems Inc., a manufacturer and marketer of proprietary disposable devices used in interventional, diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, announced Dec. 17 that it has acquired substantially all of the assets of Vascular Insights LLC, based in Quincy, Massachusetts. Vascular Insights’ primary assets are the ClariVein IC and ClariVein

New patient relationship categories and codes are one of the most important provisions of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA), according to a piece in the New England Journal of Medicine. In January 2018, the billing-code modifiers, which allow clinicians to report their relationship to a patient at a

Advanced Dermatology and Cosmetic Surgery, the largest dermatology practice in the country based in Maitland, Florida, named Steve Essayan as chief information officer Dec. 12. Essayan joins Advanced Dermatology with more than 30 years of experience in all aspects of information technology, including operations, infrastructure, and applications development. Most recently

    The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights (OCR), issued a Request for Information (RFI) Dec. 12 seeking input from the public on how the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Rules, especially the HIPAA Privacy Rule, could be modified to further

Alton Shader, formerly president of Hill-Rom’s global Front Line Care business, has been named president and CEO of Vein Clinics of America (VCA), a Frazier Healthcare Partners  portfolio company, replacing Hans Thunem. A VCA release indicated that Thunem, who was CEO for four years, made the decision earlier in 2018

 ‘A Wonderful Resource’   By Joseph D. Raffetto, MD “A Guide to Treating Face Veins” is a wonderful resource and compilation of work by Dr. Ronald Bush and Mrs. Peggy Bush. Facial veins are uncommonly treated in most clinical practices but is a common problem among patients who seek medical