This is a short summary of 15 anti-kickback and fraud cases and investigations that have made headlines in 2009. The situations involve a range of participants including hospitals, device companies, physicians, payors and other suppliers . 1. Medtronic whistle-blower suit. A lawsuit filed by two former Medtronic employees of the company’s Memphis-based spine business accused 120 leading spine surgeons across the country and 18 medical device distributors of promoting “off-label” use of t

We are enjoying what passes for summer in the UK at the moment, when temperature and humidity can lead to a whole new range of problems with the equipment and the people who operate it. As anyone who knows the English summer will tell you, it doesn’t get all that hot here, 25 Celsius is rated as a tropical heat wave, in the same way that a half inch dusting of snow hits the headlines as a blizzard. ——————————————————————————————————————- The problem the English encounter is that with the war

The Independent | I couldn't believe classes like this even existed. In the last 48 hours, I'd learned to hot-wire a car, pick locks, conceal my identity, evade attack dogs, and escape from handcuffs, flexi-cuffs, duct tape, rope, and nearly every other type of restraint. The course was called Urban Escape and Evasion, which offered the type of instruction I'd been looking for to quell my anxieties about the headlines I read in the newspapers every day, threatening riots, terrorism, economic