MPO’s Most-Read Stories This Week—Jan. 7

It may be a new year, but MPO loyalists are visiting some old haunts.

Tales of financial woes, legal troubles, regulatory approvals, and acquisitions gained the most favor with website visitors this first week of 2023. Leading the charge was Titan Medical’s possible deslisting from Nasdaq. The company was notified on Dec. 27 that its securities would be delisted based on its non-compliance with its minimum bid price requirement. Titan Medical can request a timely hearing to stay further action, but the panel is not obliged to grant Titan’s request for continued listing. If an extension is granted, the company must provide evidence of compliance with the rule in the extension period. If Titan Medical is delisted from Nasdaq, its securities should be eligible to trade in the United States through the OTC Markets system.

A carryover favorite from last year was the magazine Advisory Board’s reflections of 2022 and prognostications for 2023. 

Datar Cancer Genetics garnered page views by winning FDA breakthrough status for its TriNetra-Glio blood test to help diagnose brain tumors, while Seaway Plastics attracted medtech news hounds with its purchase of MME Group. The deal expands Seaway’s geographic and product footprint, and will enable the company to better serve customers. The U.S. private equity business of global alternative asset manager ICG acquired Seaway in June 2022 to help the company accelerate its growth, particularly in the global medical device market. 

BioTelemetry Inc. and its subsidiary CardioNet LLC also attracted readers this past week, but for a more unpleasant reason. The firms are paying $44.87 million to resolve charges they violated the U.S. False Claims Act by submitting claims to Medicare, TRICARE, the U.S. Veterans Health Administration, and the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program for heart monitoring tests that were performed, in part, outside the United States, and in many cases, by unqualified technicians. The U.S. government claims CardioNet improperly billed Medicare and other federal healthcare programs for certain cardiac monitoring services—including Holter, event monitoring, and mobile cardiovascular telemetry (MCT) tests—that were performed overseas in violation of federal law prohibiting payment for services conducted outside the United States. The U.S. government further alleges that most offshore technicians tasked with reviewing ECG data for federal healthcare program beneficiaries did not have the basic qualifications to perform the tests in question. 

1. Titan Medical Faces Nasdaq Delisting

2. Reflections on 2022 and What’s Ahead for Medtech: MPO Sounding Board

3. Datar Cancer Genetics’ Blood Test for Brain Tumors Gains Breakthrough Status

4. Billing Scam Costs Cardiac Monitoring Firms $44.8 Million

5. Seaway Plastics Engineering Acquires MME Group