Retail Clinics

DELRAY BEACH, Fla. A company that develops healthcare and information management products has applied for a patent for an insulin-pen tracking and recording device.

SAN ANTONIO Drug maker Mission Pharmacal has launched a treatment for urinary tract infections.

Mission announced the launch of Uribel (methenamine, sodium phosphate monobasic, phenyl salicylate, methylene blue and hyoscyamine sulfave) capsules, used to relieve local discomfort and inflammation associated with lower urinary tract infections, interstitial cystitis, painful bladder syndrome and urinary tract procedures.

CHICAGO A group that promotes education and awareness around diabetes is calling on the government and private insurers to use diabetes education as a cost-saving strategy.

The American Association of Diabetes Educators hopes to provide diabetes self-management training to patients with prediabetes and recommended that private insurers and Medicare include it as a covered benefit.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. The Senate has passed a measure to extend the federal funding level for state Medicaid programs.

The Senate voted 61-39 for the bill, pushed by the retail pharmacy lobby and an extension of the higher federal medical assistance percentage that was included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The House will vote on the measure next week, and both houses must pass the bill in identical form before it goes to president Obama’s desk.

WASHINGTON With unemployment rates remaining at an all-time high, 1-in-5 Americans chose not to seek medical care for a recent illness or injury, with 4-out-of-10 citing cost as the primary factor, according to a Deloitte Center for Health Solutions survey of more than 4,000 adults in the United States released Wednesday.

BALTIMORE WellDoc, a healthcare company that develops technology solutions to improve chronic disease management outcomes and reduce healthcare costs, on Monday announced that it has received Food and Drug Administration 510(k) clearance to market the WellDoc DiabetesManager System to healthcare providers and their adult patients with Type 2 diabetes.

ATLANTA The number of states with an obesity prevalence of 30% or more tripled in two years to nine states in 2009, according to a CDC Vital Signs report issued Tuesday.

In 2000, no state had an obesity prevalence of 30% or more. The report, "State-Specific Obesity Prevalence Among Adults – United States, 2009," also found no state met the nation's Healthy People 2010 goal to lower obesity prevalence to 15%.

ORLANDO, Fla. The third annual Retail Clinician Education Congress kicked off here Monday, attracting nearly 500 nurse practitioners for the two-and-a-half-day live continuing education conference for retail-based healthcare providers. Hosted by Retail Clinician magazine in conjunction with the Convenient Care Association, RCEC 2010 convened in line with the start of National Convenient Care Clinic Week, which became official last week when Sens. Dan Inouye, D-Hawaii, and Thad Cochran, D-Miss., introduced a Senate resolution.