Congress, nearly united, averts Medicare payment cut. The U.S. House gave final approval on Thursday to a bill that would avert a 25 percent cut in Medicare payments to doctors by freezing reimbursement rates at current levels until the end of next year, reports the New York Times. President Obama, who hailed the nearly unanimous action by Congress, promised to sign the legislation.
Haiti cholera genome sequenced with Pacific Biosciences technology. Pacific Biosciences Inc.’s (NSDQ:PACB) gene sequencing technology was employed in sorting out where the Haiti Cholera germs came from, reports The New York Times‘s Prescriptions blog.
Tenet rebuffs Community Health’s attentions. Community Health Systems Inc. has renewed its pursuit of Tenet Healthcare Corp. with an unsolicited $7.3 billion offer that may prompt rival suitors as the Franklin, Tennessee, for-profit hospital company seeks to become the largest U.S. hospital operator, reports Bloomberg Businessweek.
Investors push Charles River to look for buyer. Relational Investors LLC and the California teachers’ pension fund have upped their stakes in contract research organization Charles River Laboratories International Inc. and are pushing it to explore a sale, according to the Wall Street Journal.
iPads the thing for medical sales. Medical companies like Abbott Laboratories, Medtronic and Boston Scientific are passing out thousands of iPad tablet computers to salespeople to spruce up their pitches to doctors — and at the same time giving Apple Inc. a crucial foot in the door to business customers, reports the Wall Street Journal.
Golden parachute for Kindler. Pfizer Inc., the world’s biggest drug maker, said former Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Kindler will take about $9.6 million in severance, bonus and short-term incentive pay for 2010 with him as he leaves the company, reports Bloomberg Businessweek.
Ven-A-Care guys score big. The four principals of the tiny Florida Keys home infusion company who turned professional whistleblowers nearly two decades ago have claimed three more drug company scalps Abbott, Roxane Laboratories and B. Braun Medical worth $421 million, according to the PharmaGossip blog.
Fox bigwigs accussed of dictating unhealthy rhetoric on healtcare reform. Republican polster Frank Luntz told Fox News anchor Sean Hannity, "If you call it a public option, the American people are split. If you call it the government option, the public is overwhelmingly against it" as the healthcare reform debate churned in summer of 2009. The advice went all the way to top brass at the conservative news network and precipitated editorial changes, wrote Howard Kurtz in The Daily Beast.
Public option may be just as much spin as government option. Slate’s Jack Shafer defended Fox News’ use of the phrase "government option." To him, if "government option" is spin, so is using "public option."
Material from MedCity News was used in this report.
