While the FDA has not passed specific regulations on the use of social media in healthcare device marketing, there are, perhaps, some common sense and low-risk applications of social media for healthcare businesses. Three come to mind, including monitoring conversations and correcting misinformation, according to blogger John Barton.
Digital and direct marketing hiring is on track to rebound in early 2010, with 46% of hiring managers planning to add staff in the first quarter. That is up from 30% who said the same in the fourth quarter 2009, according to a Bernhart Associates survey. In addition, the number of companies that report hiring freezes for the first quarter fell to 26%, from 45% who reported the same in the last quarter, Bernhart reported.
Texting is proving its worth as a fundraising tool as millions of Americans text donations for Haiti relief over their cell phones. As of 4 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 19, the American Red Cross had received more than $24 million in relief contributions texted from cell phones. Texting the word "Haiti" to 90999 contributes $10 to the Red Cross effort, and the "Texting to Help" accounts for about 20% of the $112 million in Red Cross pledges collected as of Jan. 18, said American Red Cross spokeswoman Abi Weaver.
Republican Scott Brown's upset victory over Martha Coakley in Massachusetts could lead to the collapse of a healthcare bill, the Washington Post reports. Brown's election to fill the seat of the late senator Edward M. Kennedy (D) will reduce the Democratic majority in the Senate to 59 votes, just short of the 60 needed to break GOP filibusters. During his campaign, Brown pledged to help stop the healthcare overhaul, the Washington Post reports.
Scott Brown's Senate victory in Massachusetts imperiled the fate of the Democratic healthcare overhaul as House Democrats indicated they would not quickly approve a Senate-passed healthcare measure and send it to President Obama, the New York Times reports. After a meeting of House Democratic leaders, top lawmakers said they were weighing their options. But the prospect of passing the healthcare overhaul by pushing the Senate plan through the House appeared to significantly diminish, reports the Times.
Congressional Democrats faced only unpalatable options for salvaging their healthcare overhaul after Republicans clinched the additional Senate vote they need to thwart the legislation, which had some Democrats suggesting they abandon the health effort, the Wall Street Journal reports. House Democrats signaled their most feasible alternative after Republican Scott Brown's victory in Massachusetts was to pass the Senate version of the bill and later put through additional modifications that require fewer votes to clear the Senate, the Journal reports.