Scientific research can move with such speed that it can be tough to keep up with it, as steady advances pile on each other until progress once thought unheard of becomes commonplace. That’s why it can be enlightening to find timely, long-form reporting for savvy but not necessarily technical audiences on topics like human gene….
Continue ReadingArchives for December 2015
Center’s latest edition offers research, citations to bust medical malpractice myths
To hear many in the health care professions and tort reform advocates tell it, malpractice litigation represents one of the great scourges of modern medicine, racking up costly and time-consuming verdicts, clogging the civil justice system, and leading caregivers to wasteful defensive practices, including over-testing and over-medicating. Bah, humbug, to such myths, The Center for….
Continue ReadingHospitals make progress in curbing harms to patients, but a lot more is needed
It’s hard not to look at the latest federal data on how hospitals have improved their efforts to avoid harming patients and think, “Pretty good job, folks. But can’t you do more?” Yes, it does sound impressive that a big push under the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, has resulted in an estimated….
Continue ReadingSome good news on early cervical cancer detection, birth control availability
With the presidential campaigns under way and some partisans playing crazy with health care issues, it’s refreshing to find some good news to report about women’s reproductive issues, specifically, increases in early diagnoses in young women of treatable cervical cancer and calm, quiet efforts in two states to empower pharmacists to prescribe birth control medications. Researchers….
Continue ReadingAs diabetes epidemic takes a pause, caution is still needed on disease’s harms
In the midst of a disease epidemic, the notion of a plateau in cases can only be taken as good news — with lots of cautions. So careful health care consumers should look with both a little relief and worry still at the emerging reports that, finally, after years of skyrocketing rates of diabetes, the numbers….
Continue ReadingRash of price hikes for dermatological drugs — it could make your skin crawl
The adolescent misery of acne and the irritation of any itchy rash might not rank high as maladies requiring major medical interventions. Still, patients seeking dermatological care for a range of issues may be feeling a new pain — in their pocketbooks — as specialists nationwide report that they and those in their care are….
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