Bureau of Labor Statistics May 4, 2012

Unemployment rates

National 8.1%

Bachelors degree and higher, 25 & over 4.0%

Management, business and financial: 4.0%

News You Can Use

57% of 300 patient advocacy groups surveyed worldwide believe medical device makers have good patient safety records, 32% believe device makers have good or excellent ethical marketing practices and 30% think the industry's corporate activities are transparent, according to a survey by Patient View. Pharmalot.com, 4/23/12.

The number of ICD-9 codes is 17,000. The number of ICD-10 codes is 155,000. (We can’t wait for ICD-11!) HIStalk, 4/23/12. Here’s an example of an ICD-10 code:

Did You Know?

FUJIFILM Holdings Corporation (Tokyo, Japan) completed its previously announced acquisition of SonoSite Inc (Bothell, WA) through its indirect wholly-owned U.S. subsidiary Salmon Acquisition Corporation. DailyNews, 4/2/12.

Biomet has agreed to pay $280 million to purchase the trauma unit of DePuy Orthopaedics, a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary. Reuters, 4/3/12.

3M announced this morning that it has acquired CodeRyte which offers natural language processing and computer-assisted coding tools. HIStalk, 4/10/12.

Covidien has announced plans to acquire Israeli firm Oridion. Oridion's pulse oximeter and monitoring product portfolio will complement Covidien's product line. Reuters, 4/5/12.

Cook Group (Bloomington, IN) acquired the assets of General BioTechnology LLC and launched a new company, Cook General BioTechnology LLC (CGBT) (Indianapolis, IN). CGBT adds new cell and tissue processing and cryopreservation technologies to Cook Group's existing cellular therapies and manufacturing portfolio that include Cook MyoSite, Cook Pharmica and Cook Biotech. Dail-e News, 4/10/12.

Thomson Reuters announced this morning that it has entered into an agreement to sell its healthcare unit to Veritas Capital. HIStalk, 4/23/12.

Web Buzz

EHRs Often Lack Clinical Best Practices, http://bit.ly/Ii1bPs, InformationWeek, 4/18/12.

US Companies Step Up Hiring Plans: NABE Survey. http://www.cnbc.com/id/47113170 ,CNBC, 4/23/12.

Researchers Make Paralyzed Limb Move by “Eavesdropping” on the Brain’s Neural Commands. http://bit.ly/I5ecwj, MedGadget, 4/23/12.