4.10.10 | Chris Seper

Best of MedCitizens: School debt, Medtronic’s tax bill

Every week MedCity News highlights the best of its MedCitizens: syndication partners and MedCity News readers who also contribute to MedCityNews.com. The MedCitizens are sponsored by MyPRGenie, the only Do-It-Yourself, PR platform and news wire that gives you access to more than 540,000 journalist contacts.

Now here’s the best of what YOU had to say.

Medtronic’s Hawkins: Device tax will cost up to $200M. “Hawkins said the 2.3 percent excise tax, which goes into effect in 2013, would certainly affect the company, particularly when it comes to research & development efforts. However, he stopped short of saying the tax would lead to any major employee cuts at the Fridley, Minn.-based medical device leviathan.”

Health care reform for medical school debt? “So much political capital was expended throughout the year long battle. And to think it could all come crashing down because nothing was done about lessening the debt burden of medical school.”

Protect board certification before it becomes worthless. “Doctors who pay thousands of dollars for legitimate board certification should demand their states protect the term ’board certification’ to mean what it’s supposed to mean: certification by the American Board of Internal Medicine.”

Boston Scientific credibility dropping among some cardiologists, study says. “Majestic Research polled the docs on their reaction to the Natick, Mass.-based company’s March 15 decision to voluntarily stop shipment and pull all defibrillator inventory from the field. Fifty-six percent reported that the news ’negatively impacted their perceptions of the overall quality of Boston Scientific’s ICD devices.”

Health care reform will force cost control battle. “I think there’s a real chance that effective cost control solutions will be put in place in Massachusetts within three years. And that bodes well for the US as a whole.”