For much of the year, the healthcare issue dominated the presidential election and campaigns. Then Wall Street suffered its collapse and what was once a hot topic shifted to the backburner.

Still, there was lots of news.

The pharmaceutical industry came under fire for just about everything this year – marketing tactics, conflicts of interest with media and academia, its lack of presence in social media, and an ever-growing number of consumers who control their healthcare decisions based on Web research.

From these ...