MASSDEVICE ON CALL — Stephen Ferris, finance professor at the University of Michigan, led a study examining corporate merger and acquisition patterns, concluding that over-confident CEOs often put their companies at risk.
Ferris cautioned investors to consider a CEO’s personality when shopping for a new interest, and that companies with over-confident CEOs maintain independent boards of directors.
One of the ways that cocky CEOs may endanger their businesses is by betting on risky acquisitions that don’t complement the company’s core line, according to the study.
"Generally speaking, mergers that diversify companies don’t work," Ferris said in prepared remarks.
House GOP may attempt to delay individual insurance mandate
Republicans in Congress are considering a vote to delay the individual mandate, a source told TheHill.com. During a closed door meeting, speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) criticized the Obama administration for giving businesses, and not individual citizens, a break on imminent features of the Affordable Care Act.
"Is it fair for the president of the United States to give American businesses an exemption from his healthcare law’s mandates, without giving the same exemption to the rest of America? Hell no, it’s not fair," Boehner said, according to the source.
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FDA extends comment period for third-party medtech reviews
The FDA is extending the window for public comment on its planned information-gathering practices regarding 3rd party reviews of medical devices. The public comment period will be open for another 60 days. The FDA intends to collect data to improve 510(k) efficiency for lower-risk devices and update the rules for 3rd party review requests.
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More catheterization labs does not equal more public access
A dramatic increase in the number of coronary intervention labs in the U.S. has not resulted in a proportionate increase in the public’s access to the procedure, researchers said. Despite a 17% increase in the number of angioplasty intervention programs between 2004 and 2008, the number of patients with timely access only increased 2%, a study found.
Researchers found that 251 hospitals put in new intervention programs at an estimated cost of $2 to $4 billion. The authors theorized that many programs may be offering new programs to communities that already have them, a practice one author called "wasteful."
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Ablation can help Afib patients, regardless of high-profile risk factors
Patients with risk factors like advanced age and higher baseline stroke risk were just as likely to benefit from ablation for atrial fibrillation treatment as other patients, according to a study in the journal Heart Rhythm. Investigators found that neither of these risk factors made much of a difference in the likelihood that catheterization would decrease stroke risk. The study cautioned, however, that 3-year follow-up isn’t enough to form conclusions about long-term risk factors.
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