New York, U.S.A. — In a recent interview for Fox News, Martin Smithmyer, CEO of Americord Registry, one of the industry’s leading cord blood banking companies, said, “Although [Americord] does not pay doctors for making referrals, this is a common practice among some of our competitors, including at least 3 of the top 6 cord blood banks.”

The Obama administration, in January 2012, made it clear that under the new health care law it will require certain healthcare companies to disclose payments they make to doctors – sometimes amounting to hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars – for research, consulting, speaking, travel and entertainment. The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), recommends doctors disclose such payments and arrangements to patients.

Furthermore, according to Smithmyer, cord blood has certain limitations that parents should know about before they decide to bank their child’s cord blood, since the cost of cord blood banking is not an insignificant consideration when making this decision.

“Although in this field the technology is always changing, the number of stem cells in one unit of cord blood today is only sufficient to treat a child up to about 10 years old,” said Smithmyer. Americord Registry is developing a new technology that will collect up to 10 times more stem cells. This would be enough to use therapeutically for an adult. To learn more, read the full article from Fox contributor: 7 things you should know about cord blood banking.

About Americord Registry

Americord Registry is a company involved in umbilical cord blood, cord tissue and placenta stem cell preservation. Americord collects, processes, and stores newborn stem cells for future medical and therapeutic use, including the treatment of more than 80 diseases such as leukemia.

Founded in 2008, Americord is registered with the Food and Drug Administration. The company’s laboratory is accredited by the AABB and complies with all federal and state regulations, including federal CLIA laboratory standards. Americord is based in New York, NY.

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It’s a boy for actress Kate Hudson and fiancé Matthew Bellamy! The couple welcomed a healthy baby Saturday night. Although this is Kate’s second son, this is the couple’s first child together. Her son Ryder, 7, was from her previous marriage with ex-husband Chris Robinson.

Kate checked in at Cedars-Sinai hospital Saturday afternoon, where Victoria and David Beckham welcomed a baby girl that same very day. Despite having a cesarean section when giving birth to her first child, Kate gave birth naturally this time around with the baby weighing 7 lbs., 12oz.

The birth was a joyous surprise to friends and family who were unaware of the baby’s sex. Hudson recently held a gender-neutral baby shower last week, welcoming all gifts as well as name suggestions from friends like Nicole Richie, Courtney Cox, and Rachel Zoe.

Kate and Matt are extremely thrilled about this new addition to their family. Sources say both mom and baby are “doing great.” Though the family plans to move and settle in London where Matt will be working on his band’s next album, they will remain in Los Angeles for the time being.

The couple has yet to announce the name of their new baby boy. We can’t help but wonder what the hold up is, but it must be a special and meaningful name that they are deciding on. Congratulations to the happy family!

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