Money talks: Health report cards do not improve patient care at Straightfromthedoc

A recent study in JAMA suggests that "health report cards" do not improve patient care: To see if these report cards are effective, Dr. Louise Pilote, from McGill University Health Centre in Montreal, and her team randomly assigned 76 hospitals in Quebec to get immediate feedback on their care of heart attack patients, or to get feedback after 14 months. Each hospital group accounted for more than 3,000 heart attack patients. Pilote's [...] Read More


Badly Needed: Physician Training in Aging Care at Straightfromthedoc

According to the American Medical Association (AMA), there is more need for physicians who are trained for caring to the aged population. "The Institute of Medicine's new report on caring for the nation's aging highlights the AMA's concern that the current health care workforce will not be able to meet the growing health care needs of the expanding senior population. In twelve years there will be more than 70 million seniors [...] Read More


The doctor as patient: Dr. Charles shares his experience at Straightfromthedoc

Dr. Charles writes about his visit to the doctor. Thanks for sharing this personal and enlightening story: The doctor returned to the room. My heart beat, my lungs expanded and contracted, my mouth opened. I lied down. He pressed on my various organs harder than I had done. There was some discomfort. I hoped that was natural. I forgot whether it was. I rolled over on my left side, pulled down [...] Read More


Digital Home and Health Care Facility connects residents with health care providers at The Wired Home Weblog

Researchers at Ball State University have built a Digital Home and Health Care Facility to test user reactions to medical technology integrated into a home. The home incorporates scales that measure weight and send the results automatically to the doctor's office, an exercise bike that includes an interactive video game and a mirror with a built-in screen, linked to a computer that shows the news and other information. "It feels just like [...] Read More


Are We Losing Our Edge From Lack of Health Care? at Bizinformer

Affordable health care. It's a small business issue, a big business issue, a political issue, a moral issue. The writer Malcolm Gladwell, in the March issue of Fast Company, sees it as one of the things that has been "relegated to ideology," when it is actually one of the "matters of fundamental international competitiveness" for the U.S. "The simple fact is that GM and Ford and Chrysler cannot compete in [...] Read More