We don’t like to toot our own horn over here at Healthland, but we’d be remiss not to bring you the latest in public-health research. According to a five-year University of Toronto review of Australian newspapers, health …
Policy & Industry
Why Medical Malpractice Suits Have Little to Do with Doctor Performance
A few days ago I wrote about how difficult it is for patients to be empowered consumers. A new study released today provides more evidence that patients are basically in the dark when it comes to knowing how well doctors do their jobs.
Meet the Man Behind Health Care Reform
If you’ve heard of Donald Berwick, the new chief of Medicare and Medicaid, chances are good that what you’ve heard has been pretty scary. Charges levels by Republicans critical of the new Affordable Care Act (ACA) include: He wants to create a British-style health care in the U.S.! He wants to ration care! He has secret ambitions to …
The Strange World of Drug Origins: Nuns’ Urine, Yew Trees and Rooster Combs
Some people go to infamous extremes to get high — smoking dried toad venom, for example, or in one Northern culture, drinking the urine of reindeer that are tripping on psychedelic mushrooms. And yet, stranger sources than …
Health Insurance Broker: Friend or Foe?
If you own a small business and provide health insurance to your employees, good for you! Many of your peers do not. But if you do, chances are good that you use an insurance broker or agent.
The BPA Debate: Bad Reputation and Still No Answers
Bisphenol-A (BPA), the endocrine-disrupting chemical in plastics — and the go-to environmental health villain — has vexed public-health experts for at least a decade. Reams of inconclusive and conflicting studies on the …
Empowering the Patient as Consumer: Health Care Gets Grades
As a journalist, I’m accustomed to doing research online. Before I interview someone, travel somewhere to report or cite data from an organization, I typically do a background search. When I decide to buy something, I operate …
Botox Manufacturer: $600 Million Poorer, But closer to New Uses
Allergan, the maker of Botox, will pay $600 million in fines and civil settlements after pleading guilty to marketing their product for uses for which it hasn’t been FDA approved. The Justice Department accused Allergan of …
In Iraq Address, Obama Gives Nod to Veteran Health Care
In his Oval Office address Tuesday night, President Barack Obama announced the end of combat operations in Iraq — and with it a return to challenges at home, especially those faced by veterans. Obama pointed to his Post-9/11 GI Bill — which came into effect in August 2009 and has since helped 300,000 veterans achieve a college …
Unlicensed Clinics Contribute to Stem Cell Confusion
Stem cell research is on the tip of everyone’s tongue and regularly in the news, but a panel of British health officials warns that a global crop of unlicensed clinics is taking advantage of all the publicity.
Clinics in places as varied as Mexico, Thailand, Germany, Russia and China offer stem cell therapies with high price tags …
Electronic Health Records: Helpful, But We’ll Still Need to Wait For Them
For years now, people have expected electronic health records to be the next big thing in healthcare. Digitization is supposed save us time and money. It should speed up routine tasks, like booking appointments. It should help prevent duplication of work — stopping doctors from running tests that have already been run in another …
Thousands Are Sick In Salmonella Outbreak
Roughly 2,000 people have fallen sick this summer from salmonella enteritidis, in what has become one of the biggest salmonella epidemics in years.
There are almost three times as many cases as would be expected from recent years’ trends, according to a report yesterday from the Centers from Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). …
Rated R For Smoking?
Cigarettes are finally becoming less common in the movies. But there’s still more big-screen smoke today than there was back in 1998, when tobacco companies were banned from paying for product placement, according to a new report today from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
That means that public-health …