Highlights of the important and interesting in the world of healthcare:
All hail Medicare bill. 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.
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.
The Funding Model for Cancer Innovation is Broken — We Can Fix It
Closing cancer health equity gaps require medical breakthroughs made possible by new funding approaches.
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.