> The CDC has awarded $38 million in contracts to help health information exchanges and regional health information organizations to create data sharing plans used to deliver information to public health authorities. Report [1]

> Two academic medical centers have been awarded contracts worth a total of $5 million by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to develop clinical decision-support tools. Report [2]

> Aetna has become the latest in a crowded field of PHR contenders, going up against everyone from Google and Microsoft to giant employer coalitions Dossia and WebMD. Report [3]

And Finally... IMS Health is out with its new annual pharma sales report, and it's not pretty. Revenue grew by only 3.8 percent to $286.5 billion, the slowest pace of expansion since 1961. By contrast, sales expanded by 6 percent in 2006. Total prescription volume rose only by 2.8 percent, compares with 4.6 percent the previous year. Report [4]