Instead of letting precious time tick away as patients fill out forms and scramble around for health insurance cards, a New York City hospital is speeding up patient identification through palm reading – not the fortune-telling kind, but the type that uses a scanner to trace the unique web of veins in individual palms.
Policy & Industry
Superbowl Ad Star, ‘Mini Darth Vader,’ Puts a Spotlight on Heart
One of the more endearing commercials to emerge from the slate of Superbowl ads earlier this year featured a pint-sized Darth Vader who surprised himself by starting up a Volkswagon with a wave of his hand. Now the boy behind …
Trial-by-Fire: Training New Medical School Students as EMTs
When the 40 students in Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine’s inaugural class arrive at the school’s new campus in Hempstead, N.Y., on July 25, they will receive a rather humbling initiation into their chosen profession: …
Your Doctor’s Bedside Manner Could Affect Your Health
Even if your doctor doesn’t have the best beside manner, you’re probably willing to excuse her behavior as long as she treats your condition and makes you healthy again, right?
The July Effect: Why Summer is the Most Dangerous Time to Go to the Hospital
You can’t control when health emergencies occur, but if you had to go to the hospital, you’d probably be better off avoiding the summer months.
Iceland Mulls Selling Cigarettes By Prescription Only
Icelanders hoping to light up may soon need a note from their doctor.
Medicare Will Continue to Pay for Avastin
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) said Medicare will continue paying for Avastin for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer, despite a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) panel’s recommendation to withdraw …
New Use for Duct Tape: Fighting Infection
Duct tape seems to have infinite uses, from the silly to the sinister. It’s an essential tool in any handyperson’s arsenal. But a Midwest hospital system seems to have found a genuinely unique way to utilize the ubiquitous sticky …
Studies Backing a Popular Bone Growth Product Called into Question
In an unusual tactic, The Spine Journal has dedicated its June issue to a series of papers that carefully reject previous research supporting the use of Infuse, a controversial, but popular bone growth product commonly used in …
Breast-Cancer Survivors Plead With the FDA for Avastin
Dozens of women with late-stage breast cancer begged a federal panel Tuesday not to pull approval for their use of Avastin, a cancer therapy that has disappointed researchers but is keeping many women alive.
U.S. Sets Rigorous New Safety Standards for Cribs
As of Tuesday, it is illegal to sell a crib in the U.S. that does not meet strict new federal safety standards. That includes sales of all secondhand cribs, which are typically found on sites like eBay and Craigslist, as well as …
FDA Warns Against Sprouts for Salmonella Risk
It’s the sprouts again. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned consumers on Monday not to eat alfalfa sprouts or spicy sprouts in plastic bags labeled Evergreen Produce or Evergreen Produce Inc. because of possible …
NYT: Undercover Patients to Test Doctors for Government Survey
“Everybody with a brain knows we do not have enough doctors,” Dr. Robert L. Hogue, a family physician in Brownwood, Texas, told the New York Times Monday morning in criticizing a new plan by the Obama administration to hire …