Briefs

ACHC affiliates with Essentially Women Raleigh, N.C. - The Accreditation Commission for Health Care and Essentially Women recently formed an alliance they hope will benefit women's health-care providers. “I'm excited about our new strategic partnership with ACHC,” said Cindy Ciardo of Essentially Women. “They are the only accrediting body that sees a need to standardize business practices and foster high levels of care with the women's health industry.” Essentially Women was founded in 1996 with the goal of finding long-term solutions for providers of specialty products and services for women. ACHC offers 10 different accreditation manuals available to the home care and alternative sites services industries. Judge throws out tax on infusion BOSTON -  Massachusetts home infusion providers got some financial relief this summer when a Superior Court judge repealed a state tax that added $1.30 onto each prescription. “It's good news for infusion providers,” Boston Home Infusion Owner Bob Simmons said in early August. “I got a $3,000 refund check last week.” The state implemented the tax Jan. 1, and it applied to all retail pharmacies. Infusion providers have been classified as retail pharmacies because they employ pharmacists. Regulators didn't know how else to classify them, say industry sources. In voiding the tax law, Suffolk Superior Judge Allan Van Gestel said state lawmakers drafted the law improperly. Researchers link OSA to heart enlargement NEW YORK - Researchers have discovered that in people with OSA the heart's left ventricle often becomes enlarged. In a study conducted by the Intermountain Sleep Disorders Center in Salt Lake City, researchers used ultrasound to measure the hearts of 25 patients with severe OSA before they went on CPAP therapy. Twenty-three had abnormalities in the structure of their heart and 22 showed left-side enlargement. The good news is the dimensions of the heart showed significant improvement in 20 of the patients who complied with continuous positive airway pressure therapy. Those who did not stick to the treatment showed no significant change.