Hospital pay comes up short

Hospitals in Allegheny County generally receive Medicare payments at or below the national average for treating patients with 30 common diagnoses, according to government data released this week. Hospitals in Philadelphia County, by contrast, tend to get payments that are higher than the national average, a review of data released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services shows. The average payment nationwide to hospitals for heart valve operations, for example, is $38,528. Hospitals in Allegheny County usually receive from $33,054 to $36,224 for the procedure, while hospitals in Philadelphia County typically receive from $42,531 to $49,504.

Airline employees' numbers fall

The number of Pittsburgh-area US Airways employees has dropped below 3,000 to 2,977, according to a new employment report from the Tempe, Ariz.-based carrier. It employed 3,169 two months ago. The airline has cut more than 9,000 jobs locally since 2001 and hundreds of flights. As of this month, its daily flights at Pittsburgh International Airport are down to 162 -- a far cry from the 542 offered before the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Separately, US Airways has reached a final transition agreement with unions representing 7,700 customer service employees, a deal needed to help with the merger of US Airways and America West Airlines.

Effort on to save brewery

Gov. Ed Rendell has hired investment banker Renaissance Partners to assess prospects for finding a buyer for Latrobe Brewing's plant. Anheuser-Busch has agreed to pay $82 million for Latrobe's Rolling Rock and Rock Green Light brands and move production of the beers to its Newark, N.J., plant. About 200 workers at the Latrobe plant will lose their jobs when that happens at the end of next month. InBev, the Belgium-based owner of Latrobe Brewing, has put the plant up for sale.

Glaxo may enter bidding

GlaxoSmithKline is preparing a bid to purchase the consumer products division of Pfizer Inc., according to news reports in London. Glaxo would be one of several firms reportedly interested in the Pfizer division, which makes a variety of over-the-counter products including Bengay, Listerine and Visine. Glaxo, which operates its North American consumer division from its Moon-based headquarters, would become the world's largest maker of over-the-counter products, according to a report yesterday in the Financial Times. A Glaxo spokeswoman said the company would have no comment on the reports.

British union confronts Heinz

The battle to keep production of an iconic British sauce in Britain is scheduled to take to the streets today. A union representing most of the 125 workers at a plant that makes HP Sauce -- the initials stand for Houses of Parliament -- is planning a march in the Aston area of Birmingham, England. They're protesting a proposal by new owner H.J. Heinz Co., of Pittsburgh, to move the work to the Netherlands. Heinz has said no final decision has been made yet.

Engine fires in Nissans

Nissan North America Inc. yesterday told dealers to stop selling 2006 four-cylinder Nissan Altimas and Sentra SE-Rs following reports of engine fires. The automaker said there had been one minor injury and it was investigating the cause of excessive oil consumption in the cars' engines. Nissan said about 100,000 of the vehicles built between January and last month might be subject to the problem.

Also in business ...

Leaders of the Armco Employees Independent Federation, the independent union that represents hourly workers at AK Steel's Middletown, Ohio, Works, endorsed affiliating with the International Association of Machinists ... Bayer AG said Allianz AG, the largest shareholder of Schering AG, has agreed to sell its stake, moving forward Bayer's $21.1 billion takeover of Schering. With the transaction Bayer will hold 39 percent of Schering's shares ... L.B. Foster received a $3.3 million contract to provide about 51,000 rail fasteners for the construction of the 11.2-mile Canada Line, a transit line that will connect the city of Richmond, the Vancouver Airport and downtown Vancouver.