A Medical Device Daily

Analogic (Peabody, Massachusetts) reported receiving a new order for its EXplosive Assessment Computed Tomography (EXACT) systems from L-3 Communications' (New York) subsidiary, L-3 Communications Security and Detection Systems (Woburn, Massachusetts). The order has a value of about $25 million.

Shipments will begin in June and continue into February 2006. Analogic is currently shipping units to fulfill an earlier order of similar scope from L-3. Shipments for that order, originally scheduled to be completed in December 2005, will be accelerated for completion in June.

"This is a significant order from L-3 Communications, and we are pleased to have received it," said John Wood, president and CEO. "These units will include our new full-field-of-view computer with improved reconstruction capability to better image a variety of bag sizes."

The EXACT is the heart of L-3's eXaminer 3DX 6000, a certified explosives detection system that has been purchased by the Transportation Security Administration and installed at major airports across the U.S.

Also in the bioterrorism field, Hackensack University Medical Center (HUMC; Hackensack, New Jersey) and BioVeris (Gaithersburg, Maryland) jointly reported that HUMC has purchased BioVeris' M-Series M1M Analyzer, an instrument able to detect biological agents, such as anthrax, botulinum neurotoxins, ricin, and staphylococcal enterotoxins.

With the M1M Analyzer and BioVeris' tests, HUMC said it has enhanced its ability to provide accurate and rapid response detection services for harmful biological agents.

HUMC plans to deploy the instrument in its emergency/ trauma department as directed by its Disaster Committee. BioVeris technicians will work closely with HUMC to train its staff in using the instrument.

"The M1M Analyzer provides civilian first responders, such as hospitals like HUMC, firefighters and police the same technology being used by the U.S. government for homeland security," said Richard Massey, BioVeris' president and CEO. "HUMC and other first responders using our analyzer should be better prepared to respond to a variety of situations. These include environmental catastrophes, water and food source contamination, viral or bacterial outbreaks, or bioterrorist attacks."

BioVeris currently provides a range of detection products and services to customers across the life sciences, biodefense and industrial markets.

In other grants/contracts news, Genaissance Pharmaceuticals (New Haven, Connecticut) said it expanded its ability to provide genetic tests for variants of cardiac ion channel proteins involved in drug-inducted cardiac arrhythmias after receiving exclusive commercial rights to a patent held by Vanderbilt University (Nashville, Tennessee).

The patent claims screening patients for susceptibility for drug-induced cardiac arrhythmias by testing for the presence of common polymorphism in KCNE1.

New report examines sources of Medicare spending boost

WASHINGTON Recent increases in Medicaid spending have been due largely to rapid increases in the enrollment of low-income families, according to a recent report released by the Kaiser Family Foundation (Menlo Park, California) and published in the journal Health Affairs.

The findings may be unusually pertinent at this time as Congress begins to debate the proposed White House budget for the 2006 fiscal year and as new Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt lays out plans for Medicaid reform.

The report, which was sponsored by the Kaiser foundation's Washington-based Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, found that Medicaid spending increased in fiscal year 2003 to $276 billion, up a rather massive one-third from 2000.

From 2000 to 2003, Medicaid spending grew at an average of 10.2% annually, the report says. However, state Medicaid cost containment actions ranging from curbing provider payment rates to reducing benefits and a slowing of enrollment growth did serve to moderate Medicaid growth spending in '03.

"Medicaid played its role as a safety net, providing coverage to those facing economic declines and loss of employer sponsored insurance, but the result was a sharp increase in program costs," said John Holahan, study author and researcher at the Urban Institute (Washington). "Medicaid enrollment growth undoubtedly kept the uninsurance rate from increasing more than it otherwise would have during this period."

Diane Rowland, executive director of the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, said the "real problems" are rising healthcare costs and the ability of states to pay the bill, rather than "out-of-control" Medicaid spending.

"We know states are struggling with Medicaid spending and the pressure it puts on other state priorities, but this study shows that Medicaid costs actually grew at a slower rate than private insurance costs," Rowland said.

Comparing Medicaid's purchase of acute care services to private insurance costs shows the program's cost increases are below those of private insurance. The average growth rate of per-enrollee Medicaid costs for acute care from 2000 to 2003 was 6.9%, which is lower than the 9% increase in per-enrollee costs of the privately insured, and substantially lower than the growth in employer-sponsored insurance premiums (12.6 %), the report said.

The report says that although Medicaid purchases healthcare services in the marketplace for 75% of its beneficiaries, the bulk of Medicaid spending roughly 70% finances health and long-term care for the 25% of beneficiaries who are elderly or individuals with disabilities. Federal and state governments share joint responsibility for funding the program.

During the period of time studied, 68% of the growth in Medicaid spending was attributable to acute care, and 30% to long-term care due to the faster growth in enrollment of children and non-disabled adults into the program.

At that time, 90% of Medicaid's total enrollment growth (8.4 million) was from families, with only 10% from the elderly and individuals with disabilities.

Although families dominated Medicaid enrollment growth from fiscal year 2000 through 2003, they only accounted for 44% of Medicaid spending growth. The elderly and individuals with disabilities accounted for 56% of spending growth. The report also notes that even though the elderly and the disabled are a minority of the Medicaid population, they are responsible for the majority of program costs due to their intensive use of services.

Christopher Delporte, Washington Editor