Chelsey Ledue

Many physicians between the ages of 25 and 34 are being taught to practice defensive medicine, according to a national survey by Jackson Healthcare.

Pharmaceutical manufacturers Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical LLC and Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., both subsidiaries of Johnson & Johnson, will pay more than $81 million to resolve criminal and civil liability in the illegal promotion of the epilepsy drug Topomax.

LifePoint Hospitals, Inc., has agreed to purchase Sumner Regional Health Systems, a hospital system serving 11 counties in the northern middle Tennessee region.

Hospital outpatient surgical visits increased 4.5 percent in 2009 compared with 2008, according to SDI, a healthcare market insight and analytics firm.

The Hudson Health Plan, a Medicaid managed care organization based in New York, will implement an integrated care management software system offered by TCS Healthcare Technologies.

AstraZeneca will pay $520 million to resolve allegations that it marketed the anti-psychotic drug Seroquel for uses not approved as safe and effective by the Food and Drug Administration.

The Premier healthcare alliance has launched an $86 million "major new strategic plan" that will help hospitals leverage informatics to meet healthcare reform measures.

More than 43 percent of primary care providers received some form of additional compensation for on-call coverage, according to the Medical Group Management Association.

Health Net of California has been selected by the Fresno-Kings-Madera Regional Health Authority to administer CalViva Health, the local initiative Medi-Cal plan.

A New York City federal grand jury has indicted four individuals and three corporations for mail and wire fraud conspiracies related to work contracts at New York Presbyterian Hospital.