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Nevada is looking into whether cryotherapy is safe for the general public after the death of a Las Vegas spa worker found inside a phone booth-sized chamber chilled with liquid nitrogen, regulators said Monday…The state said it was shifting its investigation beyond workplace safety and the equipment used in the treatments to the health concerns surrounding the technology itself. The new approach to the investigation could lead to regulations for the industry, said Steve George, state Division of Industrial Relations administrator…The Division of Industrial Relations is expected to look at all three businesses selling the service in the state as part of its comprehensive review…"At this point, the equipment doesn't seem to be the problem, but we are doing our due diligence," said George, who is head of the state's workplace safety division that also includes the Nevada Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

MD Labs (Reno based) is currently making the rounds to retail pharmacy operators with a new service solution that pharmacists are uniquely qualified to deliver. And it’s a solution that will significantly enhance the role pharmacists already play between providers and patients…That new service is pharmacogenetics, which uses the DNA from a cheek swab sample to help determine the best course of pharmacotherapy for an individual patient across 200 medicines — a number that’s growing…The new RxIGHT Pharmacogenetic Test...can eliminate trial-and-error prescribing of medicine, in which a doctor prescribes a medicine and measures the impact of that course of therapy after the fact, rather than quickly identifying the most appropriate course of therapy…It drives adherence and — perhaps most importantly — improves outcomes.

Northern Nevada Medical Center (Sparks) recently received a 2015 HealthInsight Quality Award for its high performance in quality care measures and satisfaction. NNMC was one of only two local hospitals to earn the award and one of only seven statewide…HealthInsight Quality Award recipients have demonstrated delivery of high quality health care and excellent performance on a combination of quality of care measures and on patients’ perception of care measures. The federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services report these measures, which evaluate care provided for heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia and surgical infection prevention…NNMC, as do hospitals nationwide, focuses on patient involvement in care, and the award criteria include performance on patients’ perspectives in hospital care...

Mahesh Kuthuru, M.D…of Henderson…pleaded guilty today to unlawfully writing prescriptions…was indicted in October 2014, pleaded guilty to one count of distribution of a controlled substance…faces not more than 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million… According to the plea agreement…operated a medical practice known as Desert Pain Management in Las Vegas…wrote prescriptions for Oxycodone, Percocet, MS Contin, Roxicodone and Methadone to undercover officers who posed as patients…

Through a settlement brokered by the State of Nevada Attorney General's Office, approximately $3.8 million is available to the University of Nevada School of Medicine for research projects aimed at improving women's health in Nevada…The State of Nevada obtained the settlement with pharmaceutical companies Wyeth, Pfizer and Pharmacia & Upjohn relating to claims regarding postmenopausal hormone therapy products…The funds will be distributed by the Attorney General's Office over a five-year period ending in 2019, with half the available research funds going to School of Medicine faculty in Reno and Las Vegas and the other half going to University Medical Center of Southern Nevada.

Six Southern Nevada hospitals are among hundreds of U.S. facilities (457 hospitals in 43 states) that will pay a total of more than $250 million stemming from allegations that they implanted cardiac devices in Medicare patients in violation of coverage requirements, the U.S. Justice Department said…Medicare guidelines provide that doctors should not implant ICDs (implantable cardioverter defibrillator) in patients who have recently suffered a heart attack or had other procedures, such as heart bypass surgery. Each of the hospitals…had implanted ICDs during 40 day waiting periods that Medicaid requires for heart attack patients and 90 day waiting periods for bypass patients…Las Vegas-area hospitals involved include Centennial Hills, Desert Springs, Summerlin, Valley, Sunrise, and North Vista...

A promising new method for battling the spread of HIV in Africa was inspired by an unexpected source 8,000 miles away: a baby shower at the home of a Las Vegas professor…Dr. Echezona Ezeanolue — who leads health research efforts at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas — is earning praise from medical experts nationwide for coming up with a more effective way to convince pregnant women in his native Nigeria to be tested for the disease…Ezeanolue had long sought to find a way to boost the country's testing rate when inspiration hit in 2011 after his wife threw a party to celebrate the upcoming birth of their fourth child…"My wife said to me, why don't we use baby showers?"…It was a way to remove some of the barriers…To convince women to get tested, Ezeanolue and his team of 10 fellow researchers organized parties led by religious leaders at worship sites in Nigeria, a country with high church attendance rates. Faith-based organizations are highly influential across Africa, and they play a critical role in the fight against AIDS...

KryoLife CEO Joanna Fryben on the reported health benefits of cryotherapy and concerns about the potential risks.

San Francisco supervisors have accepted a $400,000 payment from Nevada to settle allegations that psychiatric patients were wrongly shipped to California upon discharge...Board of Supervisors Tuesday approved the settlement without comment...San Francisco sued Nevada in September 2013 after the Sacramento Bee published accounts of patients who were discharged from Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital in Las Vegas, and given bus tickets to California cities for further care.

Questions about a cryotherapy worker who died last week at her south Las Vegas Valley job lingered…but it wasn't clear who was going to find the answers…Multiple agencies told the Review-Journal they were not responsible for any investigations and that cryotherapy businesses are not regulated like medical clinics or salons… Ake-Salvacion died while using a cryotherapy machine, according to her family and the Nevada Occupational Safety and Health Administration…OSHA is not investigating…The agency responded when the body was found but won't press on…. the business is not regulated by any medical board…and their procedures and equipment are not monitored by the Food and Drug Administration… Nevada regulations do not cover the use of cryotherapy for cosmetic procedures, according to the executive director of the cosmetology board…Neither the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services nor the Southern Nevada Health District regulate such businesses… Rejuvenice's website says it provides “medical therapy” with full-body devices at negative 240 degrees.