Despite the recession, 56 percent of healthcare organizations in the United States have increased their IT department budgets in 2009, according to a report from the life science market research firm Kalorama Information.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) have issued a rule that will require patients admitted to inpatient rehabilitation facilities to agree to attempt to actively participate in an intensive rehabilitation program that is expected to result in measureable improvement in his or her functional capacity or adaptation to impairments.

Siemens Healthcare is expanding its portfolio for cancer therapy by partnering with Impac Medical Systems, which includes an extension of its software distribution agreement to 2016 and adding the Mosaiq software to its oncology portfolio.

Radiation therapy device developer TomoTherapy has shown a downturn in sales and an uptick in losses for the Madison, Wis.-based firm's fiscal 2009 second quarter, which ended June 30.

The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee completed its mark up to H.R. 3200, America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009, late Friday evening without the inclusion of a self-referral amendment.

The healthcare reform bill approved last week by the House Energy and Commerce Committee contained an amendment prohibiting the federal government from using comparative-effectiveness research to deny or ration care.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has redelegated the responsibility and enforcement of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) security rule to the Office of Civil Rights, according to a notice in Monday's Federal Register.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has changed its decision to cut payments to acute-care hospitals. The agency, instead, will be increasing reimbursement 2.1 percent in fiscal year 2010, despite its proposal earlier this year to reduce payments by 1.9 percent.