Morning Read: Did WHO waste millions in public money on H1N1?

Highlights of the important and the interesting from the world of healthcare: WHO are you? […]

Highlights of the important and the interesting from the world of healthcare:

WHO are you? For its H1N1 flu pandemic preparation plan, the World Health Organization was advised by scientists who’d done work for drug companies that stood to benefit from the recommendations, a new report says. And a second report could also be damaging to the WHO’s image. It concluded that the organization’s response caused widespread unnecessary fear and prompted countries around the world to waste millions of dollars.

$3 billion for free: Pfizer is the biggest giver when it comes to free  prescription drug  samples, accounting for a whopping $2.7 billion of $3 billion in samples in 2007.

Payment follies: The New York Times editorial page adds its two cents about the seemingly neverending drama surrounding the Medicare doctors’ payment rate (also called the SGR). Best line: “There will likely be no real solution until the American health care system moves away from unfettered fee-for-service payments that encourage doctors to perform unnecessary and costly tests and procedures and pays them instead for better management of a patient’s care over time.”

Welcome to the machine: American culture has long been fascinated by technology and machines, writes Dr. Richard Reece. “We rely on technology and machines to do the job of keeping us looking young, active, functioning , and alive. This fixation on machines and technology is the big reason American health care is 50 percent  more costly than that of other nations.”

Lilly shopping: While Eli Lilly isn’t looking for a megamerger, the company’s CEO says it’s looking for smaller deals and would like to add more biotech to its development efforts. Lilly has some tough years ahead, particularly between 2012 and 2014, when several of its major drugs go off-patent.

Photo from flickr user BlatantNews.com


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