St. Jude Medical CEO’s India arrest (Weekend Rounds)

A review of life science current events reported by MedCity News this week:

St. Jude CEO arrested in India after ammunition found in airport search. St. Jude Medical’s chief executive officer was arrested in India on Wednesday after authorities at the Delhi airport found a single live round tucked into a knee pocket of his cargo pants. Daniel Starks is no longer in custody but will remain in India until the case is decided.

Medical tablet computers: Is Android poised to overtake the iPad? Since the iPad’s release a year ago, doctors have flocked to the tablet to access electronic health record systems, monitor patients remotely and consult clinical reference materials. But the iPad’s continued success among healthcare professionals is ’anything but guaranteed,’ according to a new report available from MobiHealthNews.

Mobile health IT startup could help autism treatments, education. The emerging health IT company AutismSphere is working to bring traditional paper methods into an electronic form with added features and functionality. AutismSphere’s software works on smart phones and mobile devices, and it is in a beta test in a small North Carolina school district.

Want a Medtronic job? Go to China or India. Medtronic may be in the process of reducing its global workforce by nearly 5 percent, or 1,500 to 2,000 jobs, but there are two countries in the world where the medical technology giant is in fact hiring: China and India. Fridley, Minnesota-based Medtronic recently announced that it plans to hire 1,000 workers in China and more than 600 workers in India over the next five years.

Wound care, diabetes care in sore need of new payment models. The present fee-for-service payment model that dominates healthcare doesn’t begin to meet what needs to be done to properly treat people with open wounds and diabetes. That was the primary complaint heard at an experts panel that the life sciences trade group LifeScience Alley held in downtown Minneapolis on Wednesday.