The federal government has issued new regulations defining the “meaningful use” of electronic medical records, a requirement doctors must fulfill in order to gain funds from a $27-billion pot set aside in the 2009 stimulus law, The New York Times reports. “A doctor can receive up to $44,000 under Medicare and $63,750 under Medicaid, while a hospital can receive millions of dollars, depending on its size.”

“Bake sales saved the nonprofit Athol Memorial Hospital the first time around, Steve Penka says with a smile. Eleven years later, it took a big Tennessee-based, for-profit hospital chain to keep it in business,” the (Worcester, Mass.) Telegram & Gazette reports. In light of a recent report by Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley’s office, many are surprised Athol is around at all.

Gilead Sciences, Inc. today announced the company is stopping its ongoing Phase II clinical trial of GS 9450, an investigational caspase inhibitor, in patients with chronic hepatitis C. This decision follows reports of significant laboratory abnormalities and adverse events in a number of clinical study participants.

Hewlett-Packard has filed a suit against four companies based in Hong Kong and Taiwan, accusing the defendants of patent infringement, according to various reports. by Vivian Yeo ZDNet Asia

U.S. foreign policy should should rely more on diplomacy and “soft power,” Admiral Mike Mullen, chair of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a speech at Kansas State University on Wednesday, Agence France-Presse reports. “U.S. foreign policy is still too dominated by the military – too dependent upon the generals and admirals who lead our major overseas commands and not enough on the State Department,” Mullen said, the AFP reports.