Adam Lefton, director of Web strategy for Cancer Treatment Centers of America, discusses how search helped people looking for cancer treatment information.

The Omnicom Group's Star Marketing network announced the creation of a new healthcare relationship marketing service called Star Healthcare. The new network is designed to support patients all the way from symptom recognition to diagnosis to self-management of their condition, said Maryann Kuzel, president of Star Healthcare.

MTS's Helene Monat discusses the Web's role online in healthcare marketing.

Kicking off "Conference Call," DMNews' new online exclusive feature series, Kevin McKeefery chats with Gene Lewis, partner and director of Web site development at agency Digital Pulp; and Kimberly Jones, senior manager, interactive marketing at leading eye care supplier Bausch & Lomb. The two companies have worked together since 2005 on online marketing and Web sites for the brand - both primary sites and microsites for initiatives and partnerships. Jones and Lewis discuss Bausch & Lomb's current efforts as well as the evolution of their working relationship.

The Information Refinery is now managing the Healthcare IT News and Healthcare Finance News postal files. Healthcare IT News, published by MedTech Publishing Company and in partnership with the Healthcare Information Management and Systems Society (HIMSS), is a news publication serving healthcare IT.

Consorta, a healthcare group purchasing and resource management organization, has launched EverGreen magazine to tap into the growing interest in environmental sustainability in healthcare.

Merck, the manufacturer of painkiller Vioxx, has settled deceptive advertising charges for $58 million and agreed to submit all new television com­mercials for its drugs to the Food and Drug Administration for review for the next seven years. The agency had challenged Merck's direct-to-consumer television ads, which began in 1999.

Even with tough regulations, pharmaceutical marketing is boasting bigger gains than ever. Ellen Keohane finds out this sector's secrets of success.

The 2008 Aberdeen Report on Green Marketing: Leveraging Customer Data to Reduce Direct Mail Waste left no doubt whatsoever about the profit impact of elimi­nating irrelevant mail. Eighty-five percent of best-in-class marketers improved customer retention substantially and 77% improved cross-sell/up-sell effectiveness.

The University of California, San Francisco Medical Center notified patients last month of a data breach that affected more than 6,000 visitors to the pulmonary/chest faculty practice, vascular surgery, pediatric surgery and neurology departments.