Healthcare companies greeted a Senate healthcare bill compromise warily and were worried that a proposed expansion of Medicare would raise costs and result in greater government control of parts of the industry, the Wall Street Journal reports. Insurance companies expressed concern that the lower rates Medicare pays doctors and a requirement forcing the companies to pay out 90% of their premium income on medical benefits for policyholders could drive up costs. For drug companies, additional Medicare enrollees could mean that they would be paid at lower rates by the government than what private insurers pay for medicines, the Journal reports.
Eight Massachusetts community health centers, which deliver care in some of the poorest neighborhoods in the state, are receiving $80 million in federal stimulus cash to help replace cramped buildings and upgrade technology. Interviews with the presidents of Boston community health centers suggest the projects will generate hundreds of construction jobs as well as hundreds of new permanent clinic jobs for doctors, nurses, and other medical workers, the Boston Globe reports.
Northwestern's medical school has become the latest large healthcare institution to start reporting financial ties between doctors and the drug and device industries. Northwestern's online faculty profiles now include doctors' service on boards of directors, consulting gigs, investment interests, royalties, lectures and participation in scientific advisory boards, the school announced.
Senate Democrats said that they were not sure exactly what was in a deal that the majority leader said would surmount a disagreement over a proposed government-run health plan, but they voiced guarded optimism that it would ultimately help them pass major healthcare legislation, the New York Times reports. Democrats said the preliminary agreement suggested that they would be able to resolve some differences over the public plan, insurance coverage for abortions, and other disputes, including how to pay for the nearly $1 trillion bill. President Obama, however, hailed the tentative deal as a breakthrough and said he would support it, the Times reports.
When bearded TV pitchman Billy Mays leaving the airwaves for good earlier this year, Knoxville doctor Jonathan W. Sowell thought television commercials would irritate him less. But he was wrong—poorly crafted hospital ads are the new subject of his anger, he writes in a Knoxville News letter to the editor.
Computer retailer HP has launched a program to donate 4% of total product purchases at its Direct Store to support a range of charities in the areas of conservation, education, enrichment systems, healthcare support, disaster recovery, and the battle to fight poverty. Charities include the American Red Cross, and the Susan G. Komen Foundation.