ST. LOUIS, April 2, 2013 -- Centene Corporation (NYSE: CNC) announced today that on April 1, 2013, it completed the purchase of Specialty Therapeutic Care Holdings, Inc. (d/b/a AcariaHealth), one of the nation's largest, independent, comprehensive specialty pharmacy companies, from Enhanced Equity Funds. The transaction was financed through a combination of approximately 1.7 million shares of Centene common stock, cash on hand as well as up to $15.3 million of Centene common stock from an equity offering related to funding the escrow account. 

At the close of the CMIO Leadership Forum: Transforming Healthcare Through Evidence-based Medicine, we invited five luminaries to build on the abundant discussions and dive deeper into the quality of the evidence in medicine, the lack of evidence in many cases, the struggle to engage physicians and patients, and strategies for integrating evidence-based medicine (EBM) into clinical practice. 

An increasing number of factors thwart efforts to bring new technologies to patients suffering from cardiovascular disease. In the minds of physician researchers and industry leaders, regulatory barriers, less financial return on investment and government impediments interfere with innovation. However, if innovators can adapt and evolve to a more global healthcare ecosystem, a silver lining may materialize.

Mobile phone-based software may allow physicians to manage and consult on stroke cases in real time from anywhere in the world, according to a study presented at the ninth annual meeting of the Society of NeuroInterventional Surgery in San Diego.

Our third annual CMIO Compensation Survey offers some interesting insights on the job and the people serving in the role. Several CMIOs share their thoughts on the numbers, including the shift to younger CMIOs, less satisfaction with salaries and more CMIOs looking for a new job.

On May 13, Keith J. Dreyer, DO, PhD, vice chairman of radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, participated on behalf of the American College of Radiology (ACR) in a public hearing hosted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) HIT Policy Committee (HITPC) Meaningful Use (MU) Workgroup on "Meaningful Use and Specialists" in Washington, D.C.

The College of American Pathologists (CAP) has hired Charles Wagner as vice president of its STS (SNOMED Terminology Solutions) division. Wagner will lead CAP STS professional services expansion in the health IT marketplace.

Improvements in slide scanning, image management and analysis technologies, and are pushing digital pathology systems forward. At the same time, the demand for faster, more accurate diagnoses is increasing. The result? Market researcher Frost & Sullivan has estimated that digital pathology hardware and software systems could become a $2 billion industry during the next decade.