News in brief - March 27, 2006
MinuteClinic, Aetna sign contract -
BlackBerries won't go dark
MinuteClinic, Aetna sign contract
MinuteClinic has signed a contract with insurance giant Aetna to provide services to members at some of its retail-based operations around the country.
Minneapolis-based MinuteClinic will treat members of certain Aetna plans for the price of their office visit co-pay, the company said. The agreement applies to clinics in several metropolitan areas, including Atlanta; Baltimore; Charlotte, N.C.; Columbus, Ohio; Indianapolis; Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minn.; Nashville, Tenn.; Raleigh-Durham, N.C.; Seattle; and Washington, D.C.
MinuteClinic currently operates 73 clinics in nine states. The agreement with Aetna stems from a 2005 pilot initiative at locations in the Baltimore area.
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BlackBerries won't go dark
Research in Motion Ltd. has agreed to pay NTP Inc. $612.5 million to settle a patent lawsuit that had threatened to shut down its popular BlackBerry wireless e-mail service in the United States. The settlement ends a five-year legal dispute in which NTP accused RIM of patent infringement.
Canada-based RIM, which faced a federal court-ordered shutdown, has vehemently denied the allegation but decided to settle after the federal judge handling the case, as he was poised to rule on it, chided both companies for failing to settle the matter.
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