Health Care

(Updated May 13 at 11:50 a.m.) It's been a fruitful year so far for Worcester-based startup VitaThreads LLC. The medical device firm, founded by two Worcester Polytechnic Institute professors and two others, placed second in a business pitch contest held by the nonprofit Venture Forum in April. And this week, the startup is presenting preclinical data to its target audience — plastic surgeons — during the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery Congress in Montreal, which starts tomorrow.

Oxford Immunotec Global PLC, a diagnostics company with U.S. headquarters in Marlborough, announced revenue and profit growth in the first quarter of 2015.

Dr. Lockhart is medical director for the Breast Care Program at Saint Vincent Cancer & Wellness Center.

Southbridge-based Harrington HealthCare has begun fundraising for its new psychiatric unit at the former Hubbard Hospital in Webster, the second major project after Harrington opened the new Remillard Family Emergency Center on the campus earlier this year.

Years after passage of universal health care access and price control laws, about 3.7 percent of Massachusetts residents still lack insurance and health care costs continue to serve as an impediment to those needing treatment and care.

The Foster hospital at Tufts University's Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine in Grafton will undergo an $8.6 million renovation that will boost exam and treatment areas, the organization announced Wednesday.

For those who need substance abuse treatment in Massachusetts, the system appears to be stacked against them in a couple of key ways, according to a new report by the Center for Health Information and Analysis (CHIA).

Ashland biomedical device maker BioSurfaces Inc. has kept a relatively low profile through much of its 12-year history. But new developments are creating some noteworthy buzz for the small company and its portfolio of products designed to treat renal, heart and vascular diseases.

Managed care organizations led the way in merger activity in the first quarter of this year, according to a report by a Connecticut health care research firm, as the volume of all health care deals surpassed that of the fourth quarter of 2014.

Medical companies swept The Venture Forum's Five-Minute Pitch Contest Tuesday night, with the producer of a “smart pancreas” taking home $3,500 in prizes.