The U.S. healthcare overhaul could help hospitals cut costs for high-priced medical devices, raising a long-term risk for manufacturers already facing some pressure on product prices, the Wall Street Journal reports. Hospitals lack leverage when negotiating prices for high-cost implants because individual doctors, rather than hospitals, typically select the products they use in their patients. Since these doctors often aren't hospital employees, they have little incentive to bargain-hunt. New health rules, however, call for more testing of ways to bring doctors' financial interests more in line with those of hospitals.
