Mead Johnson slips, but the “doc fix” is fixed…for now (Morning Read)

Current medical news and unique business news for anyone who cares about healthcare.

Boehner says House will pass doc fix. House Speaker John Boehner said Thursday he’d agreed to pass the payroll tax break extension bill that included a two-month delay of a 27 percent cut in Medicare payments to doctors. It was rejected last week by House Republicans because they wanted a longer-term fix; they instead passed a one-year extension bill that didn’t make it in the Democrat-controlled Senate because it included cuts to the Affordable Care Act. Here’s the Washington Post‘s look at what the doc fix is really buying us.

Mead’s newborn formula controversy. Shares of Mead Johnson Nutrition Co. (MJN) fell 10 percent Thursday after Wal-Mart yanked its Enfamil Newborn formula from shelves. Regulators are investigating whether the formula was the source of a bacteria that killed one infant and sickened another.

VC bloggers. A number of venture capitalists have morphed into bloggers, sharing life lessons, personal stories and how not to screw up your chance with a VC.

And the winner is… Merck came in first in 2011 for its performance in a category that unfortunately has become one of the biggest trends in the drug business: job cuts. In May the company said it would lay off 1,3000 workers. Abbott, Novartis and AstraZeneca also made big cuts this year.

Might Yahoo acquire WebMD? Yahoo’s board appears to be nearing a large transaction that would give two Asian Internet companies to regain the shares of their company that Yahoo currently owns. Business Insider‘s insiders say WebMD is one of the companies that could end up in Yahoo’s hands as a result of the deal.