Blog for hireCentral.com

Healthcare IT spending to hit $40B in 2011

Fri, 27 May 2011 12:40:00 GMT

Healthcare IT spending is expected to reach $40 billion by the end of this year, according to a studyfrom market research firm RNCOS.

Much of that growth will come from spending on electronic health record (EHR) systems, mobile health applications and efforts to comply with new government standards.

Boosted by increased spending on healthcare software -- which is needed for the rollout of EHR systems -- the U.S. healthcare IT market is expected to grow at a rate of about 24 percent per year from 2012 to 2014, the study said. Spending on healthcare software rose 20.5 percent in the past year, from $6.8 billion in 2010 to a projected $8.2 billion this year, according to RNCOS.

Recent mergers and acquisitions in the healthcare IT market also point to growing private-sector interest in software, which will see sales grow at rate of more than 30 percent annually from 2012 to 2014, the report said.

The study attributed some of the increase in spending to the Healthcare Reform Act, the new ICD-10 coding system and adoption of EHR systems, which will be mandatory by 2015. Also a factor: Medicaid enrollment, which is expected to increase by 16 million people by 2019.

ICD-10 is a comprehensive medical coding system that includes more than 55,0000 codes; hospitals are required to be using it by Oct. 1, 2013.

And the adoption of EHR technology -- hastened by the requirement that healthcare facilities must achieve "meaningful use" of such systems -- is forcing hospitals and other healthcare providers to move ahead with technology implementations faster than ever.

In addition, the RNCOS report noted that consumers are keenly interested in the benefits of mobile health technology. The mobile health market is estimated to hit $2.1 billion by the end of the year. It has grown by 17 percent in each of the past two years.

The main driver behind that double-digit growth rate is the increasing use of smartphones. By the end of 2011, 50 percent of mobile phones in the U.S. are expected to be smartphones, up from 21 percent in 2009.

See the entire InfoWorld article here.

Hiring in Life Sciences Up Globally

Tue, 2 Nov 2010 04:00:00 GMT

Life sciences hiring in the third quarter was up, according to the ZRG Partners Global Life Science Hiring Index. But unless workers were employed in Europe, Asia or Africa, they probably didn’t notice; the Americas actually saw a decrease in hiring that bucked the otherwise positive global trend.

Asia Pacific drove a 20 percent increase in hiring, while Europe/Middle East/Africa pushed a 10 percent hiring increase in the life sciences industry in Q3. The Americas saw a 2 percent decline in hiring. The index shows the good news in the Americas stemming from a 23 percent increase in hiring in life sciences research and development; all other work roles – sales and marketing, IT, finance, general and executive – saw drops in Q3 hiring.

Pharma, biotechnology and medical device and supply helped push the hiring increases, but outsourcing and services showed flat hiring.

See the entire article at Mass High Tech.

2010: A Year of Big Layoffs for Big Pharma

Thu, 21 Oct 2010 04:00:00 GMT

According to the newly released Job-Cut Announcement Report from outplacement consultancy firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, pharma has cut more than 6,000 jobs in September alone, and more than 43,000 so far this year.

Which companies have contributed to this staggering number, and what are the underlying causes of job losses in the industry?

Most recently, Sanofi-Aventis announced its plans to eliminate 1,700 jobs in its US pharma business—about 25 percent of the company’s US pharma workers. The majority of jobs lost will be sales positions, and a small number of administrative jobs will disappear as well.

Before that, in September, Roche announced its “Operational Excellence Initiative,” which—while partly intended to analyze and restructure different segments of the company to maximize productivity and ROI—ultimately amounted to job cuts in an effort to “set the right priorities to ensure a successful future,” according to a statement released by Roche.

In May, Pfizer announced 6,000 layoffs that it said was part of “manufacturing reorganization” following its 2009 Wyeth acquisition. Possibly part of its plan to remain on track for its targeted cost reduction of $4 to $5 billion by the end of 2012, Pfizer has gone from nearly 114,000 employees internationally in Q 1 2010 to around 33,000 as of May of this year, according to a story on DailyFinance.com.

Following its 2009 acquisition of Schering-Plough, Merck began making cuts in February. The post-merger cuts would be a way to “eliminate some of the duplication,” according to a statement made in January by Merck CEO Dick Clark. “We have taken the best from both companies, from a process standpoint and a people standpoint,” he said.

And at the start of the year, way back in January, AstraZeneca announced its plan to cut around 8,000 jobs—four percent of its total workforce—over the next four years. As it does for so many Big Pharma players, the patent cliff lies at the heart of the issue. AstraZeneca products scheduled to lose patent protection this year are Armidex, a breast cancer therapy; and Pulmicort Respules, an asthma treatment.

Part of the trouble for drug manufacturers is the looming patent expiration dates and impending generics competition. Three of Sanofi’s top products—anticlotting medicines Lovenox and Plavix and cancer drug Taxotere—have or will soon have new generic competition, jeopardizing nearly $10 billion of the company’s $40 billion in annual sales, according to a story on Yahoo! Finance.

See the entire article at Pharmaceutical Executive.

Pharmaceutical Pipelines Begin to Show Promise

Thu, 14 Oct 2010 04:00:00 GMT

The predicted five percent to seven percent growth of the global pharma industry surpasses the four to five percent pace of increase from 2010.

According to a forecast released last week by IMS Health, the value of the global pharmaceutical market is expected to grow five percent to seven percent next year, reaching $880 billion.The IMS forecast takes into account macroeconomic conditions, changing levels of patient access, availability of drug treatment options, and pricing factors.

As countries recover from the global economic crisis at different rates, there is growing divergence in the pace of pharmaceutical growth among major markets, says the report. The 17 pharmerging countries are forecast to grow at a 15 percent to 17 percent rate in 2011, to $170-180 billion. Many of these markets are benefiting from greater government spending on healthcare and broader public and private healthcare funding, which is driving greater demand and access to medicines. China, which is predicted to grow 25 percent to 27 percent to more than $50 billion next year, is now the world’s third-largest pharmaceutical market.

Among major developed countries, Japan is forecast to grow 5 percent to 7 percent in 2011. The five major European markets (Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and the U.K.) collectively will grow at a 1 percent to 3 percent pace, as will Canada.

The US will remain the single largest pharmaceutical market, with 3 percent to 5 percent growth expected next year. Pharmaceutical sales in the US will reach $320- $330 billion, up from $310 billion forecast for this year, not including the impact of off-invoice discounts or rebates.

See the entire article at PharmExec.com.

Pharma Companies Bring in Big Investments

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 04:00:00 GMT

It appears pharma companies in Philadelphia are bringing in big investments...

Last week, TetraLogic Pharmaceuticals Corp., of Malvern, said it raised $32 million in its latest financing, which was led by Clarus Ventures L.L.C., of Cambridge, Mass.

Other investors included Amgen Ventures , of San Diego; Hatteras Venture Partners, of Durham, N.C.; HealthCare Ventures L.L.C., of Princeton; Latterell Venture Partners , of San Francisco; Novitas Capital, of Wayne; Quaker BioVentures , of West Philadelphia; and the Vertical Group, of Summit, N.J.

Also this month, Gemin X Pharmaceuticals Inc. raised $8 million from its existing institutional investors, led by Caxton Advantage Life Sciences Fund L.P., of New York, and Sanderling Venture Partners , of San Mateo, Calif. That round of investment comes less than four months after Gemin X attracted $16 million.

But are they hiring?

Is this part of a larger trend that companies are still unwilling to hire as a whole; instead choosing to hold onto cash and do more with less. Many analysts say this trend won't change until at least mid-2011.

The latest Survey of Professional Forecasters by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia had economists offering a weaker view of the U.S. economy than they did three months ago. No surprise there.

But the 36 forecasters offered up some dreadful predictions on the trends in payrolls. (Whatever the opposite of rose-colored glasses is, that's what they were wearing.)

They revised downward the growth in jobs over the next four quarters with nonfarm payroll employment rising at a rate of 8,000 jobs per month during the summer and 114,100 per month during the fall. But when they calculated an annual average level for 2010, the result is job losses running at a monthly rate of 45,200.

Next year would bring job gains of 143,800 per month on average, they say. Though that sounds better, it's still below the 200,000 level that economists say is the minimum needed to begin to reduce the unemployment rate, which was 9.5 percent in July.

See the entire article at Philly.com

House strikes gift ban in effort to boost business

Thu, 8 Jul 2010 04:00:00 GMT

Reversing course on a new law aimed at diminishing the influence on doctors of pharmaceutical and medical device companies, the House on Wednesday voted to strike the so-called gift ban law, which critics say has hurt commerce in the medical and restaurant industries.

An amendment to preserve the ban attracted 40 votes, with 108 against. The elimination of the gift ban was included in economic development legislation that cleared the House 145-4 and now needs to be reconciled with a Senate bill in a conference committee.

Critics of the ban said it was discouraging out-of-state interests from doing business in Massachusetts and said the ban had not led to demonstrable reductions in health-care costs. Supporters of the ban said the state had already heavily invested itself in implementing it and needed to give the law more time to work itself out. Ban supporters also said other states were pursuing similar bans and predicted the law could help reduce health-care costs and ensure that the interests of patients, not drug and device makers, are the top priority for physicians.

Speaking against the ban were Reps. Garrett Bradley, Brian Dempsey and Barry Finegold. Pushing to preserve the ban were Reps. Alice Wolf, Ruth Provost, Jason Lewis and Elizabeth Malia.

See the entire article at Mass High Tech.

Have Sunshine Laws Left Companies in the Dark?

Thu, 29 Apr 2010 14:57:00 GMT

The federal Physician Payment Sunshine Act. State disclosure laws in Vermont and Massachusetts. More disclosure laws in possibly dozens of other states in the near future. It’s enough to make a compliance department throw up its hands and leave the hassle to a third party—which is exactly what many pharma companies are doing now or plan to do in the future, according to a new study conducted by Cegedim Dendrite.

The respondents—56 professionals working in the compliance departments at their respective pharma/biotech/medical device companies—expect that the farming out of this data collection will increase the cost of aggregate spend reporting and compliance over the next year. But most have little choice, as this wave of legislation seems to have caught them with their pants down.

See entire article at PharmExec.

MTC has created several apps that allow pharmaceutical and device companies to manage, track, report on, and process payments to medical professionals. Contact us today to see how we can help you

Georgia vying for biotech facility

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 05:01:00 GMT

Georgia is said to be competing for a biotech development that could employ at least 1,000 in metro Atlanta, people familiar with the deal said. The Peach State is among several vying for what might be a vaccine or pharmaceutical manufacturing operation that could locate on more than 100 acres, Atlanta Business Chronicle has learned.

Full article at Atlanta Business Journal: State vying for biotech facility.

The potential development could add to the region’s biotech credentials, already enhanced by hosting the 2009 BIO International Convention, the world’s largest bio conference,in May.

Moving Careers From Manufacturing To Biotech

Sun, 5 Jul 2009 12:58:00 GMT

From the Charlotte Observer: Ex-Pillowtex worker retrained for biotech.

It's nice to see someone taking the attitude of, "If you think you can, then you can."

[Randy] Crowell spent 20 years at the mill as an electrician and electronics specialist. He worked two other jobs after Pillowtex but was laid off from one of them.

Crowell relocated to San Antonio, Texas, in 2005 to be near his daughter and a grandson who had severe birth defects. After being unable to find a job in Texas, he decided to take biotech classes at a community college to earn an associate degree. When his grandson's health improved, Crowell returned to North Carolina last fall, moving to China Grove.

He was hired at the campus in February and works as a lab technician handling DNA sequencing for the David H. Murdock Research Institute, the nonprofit group that owns and runs the campus Core Lab.

Job Search Strategies for the Web

Mon, 1 Aug 2005 04:00:00 GMT

So you’re ready to search for a job, and target your next career step. There are a number of resources available to you on the Internet, and by using them strategically you can have success.

Keep in mind, however, that the ease of applying for a job via a submit button has also made it easier for your peers as well, and has made it more difficult for you to differentiate yourself from the competition. This is amplified in today's difficult job seeker's market.

Then how do I use the Internet as a resource for my job search effectively? First, let’s discuss several of the resources available to you.

Job Boards

Generally the niche job boards such as hireRx.com and hireBio.com are more targeted to your industry than the general job boards such as Monster or HotJobs. They allow you to highlight important industry experience and skills.
In addition, recruiters in very specialized fields such as biotech, pharmaceuticals, chemistry and biology may be more likely to search these resume databases than those on the larger, more general boards.

When posting your resume on a job board, read the privacy policy to ensure your email address doesn’t end up being sold to third-parties. Speaking of email addresses, you should have an email dedicated solely to your job search. It’ll look better to potential employers and it will allow you to organize your job search without distractions.

Also, be sure to make your resume keyword rich. If you have experience in validation and/or have worked in regulatory environment, mention oft-used words somewhere in your online resume.

Networking Sites

Resources such as LinkedIn allow you to network with peers, friends and distant colleagues. Essentially they’re an electronic form of six-degrees of separation, where each person is only separated by six degrees from any other person on Earth.

While the jury may still be out as to whether you’re within two degrees to Donald Trump, no one can argue the best jobs are often obtained through networking. This is even more prevalent in relatively close-knit fields such as biotech and pharmaceuticals. By using electronic networking, you can ask a friend or colleague to make that introduction to the CEO of your local biotech. Once the online introduction is made, use your interpersonal and networking skills to close the deal and get a job at the company.

Social Networking

Sometimes finding a job can be as simple as changing your status on Facebook or tweeting on Twitter. If you’re looking for a job, announce it! If you’ve collected enough friends and have the right qualifications, there’s a good chance someone you know can connect you with that illusive job opportunity.

But being on Facebook also means making your private life public, so make sure to adjust your security settings so potential employers don’t find out about your wild night out drinking.

Straight to the Source

Though niche and general job boards have many job opportunities, quite a few firms receive enough visits on their corporate career areas they don’t feel the need to advertise. This is often the case with the larger biotech and pharmaceutical companies who have name recognition.

So do your research, think about 25 companies you’d love to work for, and be sure to visit their corporate career site. You may just find your perfect job waiting for you.

Keeping Track

During your search, you may end up visiting over 100 corporate, niche or general job sites – each with their own username and password.

As a result, it’s important to focus on keeping organized. Keep an Excel spreadsheet with information about every resource you used, including the web address, username and password. Keep a log for each on the companies you applied to. No matter what anyone tells you, applying for the same job on each job board won’t help your chances to get the job; it will only annoy the recruiting manager.

In addition, once you’ve found the job you don’t want to your employer to find your resume online two years later. By keeping track of the username and password, you’ll save yourself some effort. And be able to contact each online resource to deactivate your account.

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Tips for Getting Your Resume Noticed Online

Wed, 25 May 2005 04:00:00 GMT

Let’s face it. The days of being using creativity to get someone to look at your resume have passed. Items such as font, layout, white space, envelope color, paper texture and the first few paragraphs of a cover letter determined whether your resume got noticed by a hiring manager.

With the advent of one-click Internet applications, resume submission services and online career hubs for every industry, specialty and geography (such as Monster, HotJobs and hireCentral), applying to your perfect job is easy. But maybe it’s too easy. Even if your qualifications are a perfect match to a job opening, getting your resume noticed online isn’t easier – it may actually be harder. And you can end up being one of many in a large resume database wondering if your resume has ended up in a black hole.

There are certain things you can do however to ensure your qualifications are the first to be reviewed.

Keywords, keywords, keywords

Keep in mind that when you submit your resume to a career hub or an employer’s website, your resume is added to a database along with the thousands of individuals already there. Special fonts are removed, layout is standardized, and all that’s left to separate you from the competition is the content. So make sure your resume includes key words or phrases that a recruiter or an employer might search for.

For example, if you’ve completed a GMP certification, make sure you’ve put that exact phrase in your resume, and make sure it’s visible. If you have experience with specific manufacturing equipment that could help you get a job (or at least attract attention to your resume), make sure to include it.

You may ask, “How do I get all of this in while keeping it to one page?” Understand that I’m not encouraging you to write the Iliad, but requirements of limiting your resume to one page have become less critical in recent years – especially for highly specialized fields such as pharmaceutical manufacturing. Most recruiters search resume databases using industry-specific phrases. Because of this, including these phrases prominently on your resume is more important than keeping it short.

However, I do encourage you to ensure the most important qualifications are at or near the top of your resume. Many career hubs allow you to create a short bio separate from where you paste your resume. Make sure to include the most important items in this bio.

Set Realistic Expectations and Go Industry Specific

Posting your resume online should be only one component of your overall job search strategy. Understand there are thousands of people applying for job openings -- some of them qualified like you and others not as much. But while applying to a job has become as easy as copy, paste and submit, it’s also created more work for the employer to sort through these applications.

Depending on how specific the skills and requirements are for your industry, you may want to focus your efforts on industry-specific websites (such as hireBio.com) or professional/trade organizations for your industry. In recent years, large employers and search firms have limited their reliance on large general sites such as Monster, CareerBuilder or HotJobs because of the number of unqualified applicants they receive.

This is a generalization of course, but you should also note that third-party agencies (such as executive recruiters, headhunters, etc.) tend to not post their clients’ job openings on career hubs. Instead, they often search resume databases for individuals who meet their qualifications and then contact them. Employers, on the other hand, tend to react to applications submitted to them and are reluctant to spend the time to search these databases.

Both of these dynamics tell us that use of online avenues should include a combination of (a) reacting to job openings you’ve seen on employer’s websites and career hubs, and (b) submitting your resume to a career hub’s database in the hopes of being contacted later.

Have an Email account just for your job search

This is important for a number of reasons: (1) Because your email address may be available to unscrupulous individuals, it ensures your primary email account doesn’t receive ads for Viagra, eBay or requests to update your bank account’s password; (2) It doesn’t look good to a prospective employer when you use your current employer’s email account for a job search. Do I have to explain why? (3) It allows you to manage your applications, contacts and important job search information in one place, without the distraction of work or your personal life.

Oh, and be professional. Limit the creative email names such as hotbodinheels@myemail.com or sexykitten75@myemail.com. These are fine for Match.com, but I doubt it’ll help you land your perfect job.