While some lawmakers delight in blaming immigrants for contributing to rapidly rising U.S. health costs, that conclusion is off base, according to a study in Health Affairs. The authors write, “Health care expenditures for the average immigrant have not been a growing problem relative to expenditures among U.S. natives.”

The Cleveland Clinic has received a $2.75 million federal grant to study the use of stem cells in treating multiple sclerosis, received a grant of more than $123,000 from NFL Charities to explore treatments for shoulder instability, licensed a system to replace damaged or severed mitral valve chordae in the heart and invested $100 million in digital record-keeping.

When drugstore chain CVS said in 2006 that it would buy CareMark Rx — one of the nation’s largest pharmacy benefits managers — critics complained that the combination could create a conflict of interests. Could the conflict be here?