RIM’s BlackPad: The next iPad rival (Morning Read)

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

Introducing the BlackPad: Research In Motion, makers of the Blackberry, are expected in November to unveil a tablet computer called the BlackPad that could battle the iPad for supremacy in the very young healthcare tablet space. The tablet will be closely integrated with the Blackberry’s e-mail system, and feature front and back cameras for videoconferencing.

$8 billion in Medicare savings: That’s what health reform will provide by the end of 2011, the Obama administration claims. And the figure climbs to $575 billion over the next next decade. Of course Medicare costs will still be rising way too much (5.3 percent per year) but not as much as they would’ve without reform (6.8 percent). Much of the savings comes from reductions in projected payment increases to hospitals and other providers.

Physician pay gone awry: Family doc Edward Pullen advocates slightly increasing the pay of primary care doctors while sharply reducing the sometimes-astronomical amounts paid to specialists as a means of alleviating the primary care shortage. “It is clear that the pay you can expect as a physician has little to do with how hard you work, how long you train, or how stressful or difficult your work is, and everything to do with whether you perform procedures that are highly compensated.”

Avoiding the patent cliff: Sanofi-Aventis CEO Chris Viehbacher saus he’s fallen off the “patent cliff” four times in his career and he’s trying his best to avoid a fifth. The way forward is to make deals for dozens of drugs aimed at smaller patient groups and boost revenue from emerging markets, consumer health products and generics.

How much does the carried interest loophole cost? The hedge fund/venture capital tax break (typically referred to as “carried interest” for short) is estimated to cost $7.4 billion over five years–or at least that’d be the savings from a Senate proposal that would weaken the tax break. Not a ton, to be sure, but every bit of deficit reduction should matter to true deficit hawks (I’m looking at you, conservatives.)

Dealflow: North Carolina-based Cardioxyl takes in $15 million for its cardiovascular disease drug; Massachusetts-based laser vision surgery company Avedro grabs $4.6 million; Cleveland-based health IT firm Explorys gets $2.6 million.

Photo from flickr user BitchBuzz