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You probably wouldn’t put Microsoft on the list of companies in the market to hire former FDA officials, but the software giant snagged a top medical-device regulator today.

Donna-Bea Tillman, head of the office of device approvals, says her jump to Microsoft isn’t as unusual as it may seem. She told colleagues in a memo she has long had “a love for all things computer.”

Last we heard of Fablyn, an experimental bone drug for the treatment of postmenopausal women, U.S. regulators were holding off on approval after FDA staff and outside reviewers raised concerns and Pfizer, the pill’s maker, was shopping it around to other companies.

Now that it’s expanded health-insurance coverage to nearly all of its citizens, Massachusetts is trying to figure out what to do about the rapid rise of health costs.

The latest proposal comes from the state’s governor, Deval Patrick, who yesterday proposed a bill that would give the state the power to review — and, in some cases, reject — rate increases by doctors and hospitals.

Here’s a key paragraph from the bill:

You’re a TV correspondent on the scene in Haiti, reporting on the devastation following the Jan. 12 earthquake. But you’re also a doctor in the place where there’s an intense need for people to treat the injured. How do you keep the normally distinct roles of doctor and journalist separate?

The stimulus bill that Congress passed back in February said docs and hospitals that make “meaningful use” of electronic medical records would get big bonus payments from Medicare and Medicaid. The bill laid out a few basics about meaningful use — reporting quality measures, sharing information electronically — but didn’t get into much detail.

The Senate’s vote on the health-care bill this morning set off an avalanche of responses from key interest groups. The short version: The AMA, drug industry and AARP backed the bill; health insurers and the Chamber of Commerce did not.

Here are some highlights culled from our inbox; links to the complete statements are included for the statements we could find online.

AHIP, the health insurance trade group:

Watch a video on how shared doctor appointments work at Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates in Boston.

Read the original: What to Expect From Shared Doctor Appointments/a>

Doctors have recently started paying more attention to the risk of cancer associated with the radiation exposure from CT scans, particularly for patients who get many scans over the course of a lifetime. Now, on top of that, there’s a growing list of patients who got radiation overdoses because of improperly performed scans.

The push to clamp down on the relationship between doctors and drug and device companies came to New Jersey today. A report from the attorney general’s office there called for state agencies to create a bunch of new rules that would:

Bar doctors and their office staff from accepting food from drug companies, “whether in-office, at health care facilities or in commercial venues, such as restaurants.” Laws in Vermont and Massachusetts recently went into effect imposing similar restrictions.

Before you read this post, you might want to take a look at this live feed of a frozen brain being sliced like lunch meat.