According to the American Diabetes Association, nearly 26 million people in the U.S. have diabetes. Of those who have been diagnosed, many understand the need to test their blood sugar (glucose) regularly, and do so using a variety of home tests. The website of Nova Diabetes, Inc., which makes a variety of products geared to….
Continue ReadingArchives for August 2013
Conflicted Care: Physicians With a Financial Stake in the Medical Devices They Use
In reflecting on five years of “reading medical journals and writing to inform patients of the hazards of medical care,” patient safety advocate John James says he has “learned some difficult realities.” Our blog posts frequently mirror his observations. “Perhaps foremost is that when people want to believe that their health-care system is safe and….
Continue ReadingFive Things to Consider When Looking at the New Online Health Insurance Rates
As one in our occasional posts to help consumers understand the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”) health insurance provisions that take effect in January, this week we turn to KaiserHealthNews.org (KHN) to sort out the confusion about the cost of premiums. Conflicting news stories have forecast higher premiums, lower premiums, unchanged premiums for the individual and….
Continue ReadingFDA Considers Cracking Down on Menthol Cigarettes
Menthol cigarettes have long been blamed for seducing people into smoking who otherwise might resist. Now, the FDA is considering imposing restrictions on menthol smokes because the ease of addiction and the difficulty of quitting menthol smokes make them more dangerous than regular cigarettes. In issuing an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) last month,….
Continue ReadingFederal Panel Recommends Annual CT Scans for Some Smokers
We’ve all found ourselves in the middle of conflicting opinions about the advisability of a certain health procedure. A TV news report, a newspaper analysis and a disease website advisory all might offer different takes on the same situation. Often in those circumstances, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), an independent medical expert advisory….
Continue ReadingNew Surgical Rating Tool Gives Mediocre Grades to Major Institutions
Our “Better Health Care” newsletter focuses this month on how hospitals are rated for patient safety. Among the several ways it mentions for consumers to measure hospital performance is a new guide from Consumers Union, the outfit that publishes Consumer Reports. As reported last week by Reuters.com, many of the 2,463 hospitals included in the….
Continue ReadingTracking Doctor Discipline Just Got Harder
Public Citizen, a nonprofit citizen/consumer safety advocate, publishes a report each year about doctors that have been disciplined by state medical boards. But the state medical boards just made its job a lot harder. As reported by ModernHealthcare.com, the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) “has quietly killed its Annual Summary of Board Actions report.”….
Continue ReadingMedical Tourism: An Update with Eye-Popping Numbers
We’ve heard of traveling to Mexico or India for saving big bucks on expensive surgery, but now “medical tourism” is a realistic option for travel to Europe and other “first world” places too, with similar big savings. The issue this highlights is not just pinching pennies, but why is American medical care so expensive, with….
Continue ReadingFDA Cracks Down on Diabetes Drug Claims
Companies that promote their wares by making promises the products can’t possibly keep or by failing to disclose the full nature of their ingredients are nothing new. Especially in the drug trade. Last week, the FDA said “enough” to 15 pharmaceutical companies that the agency says violate a range of laws. As reported by Reuters.com,….
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