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The Ambulatory Surgical Center Quality and Access Act of 2011 has been introduced in the Senate by Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Mike Crapo (R-ID), according a news release from the ASC Association.

Smyrna, Ga.-based UCB has pleaded guilty to the off-label promotion of its epilepsy drug Keppra and will pay more than $34 million to resolve criminal and civil liability, according to a news release from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  …

A radiology clinic in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., has agreed to pay $3 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act, according to a news release from the Department of Justice. Midtown Imaging allegedly submitted false claims…

Bayer MaterialScience is introducing a new grade of medical polycarbonate that allows for smaller, less invasive medical devices, according to a report by News Medical.

The global opioids market is forecast to grow by 2.8 percent per year in 2010-2017, surpassing a 2.4 percent annual growth rate in 2002-2010 and reaching $13.2 billion in sales by 2017, according to a release by Research and Markets.

AdvaMed, the medical device lobbying group, told CMS it is concerned that proposed regulations for accountable care organizations would allow ACOs to use less effective medical technologies because of the cost savings, according to a report by DOTMed News.

The American Academy of Pain Medicine urged the public to carefully weigh the role of pain medications in recent deaths of military personnel, according to a release by the academy.

Otis Brawley, MD, chief medical officer at the American Cancer Society, discussed potential treatments for tailbone pain in a CNN blog post.

Patient safety expert Peter J. Pronovost, MD, a professor of anesthesiology and critical care medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, has been named director of the newly established Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality, according to…

Merck and Intercell have ended clinical trials testing the efficacy of a potential staph infection vaccine, according to a BusinessWeek news report.