It’s a $50-million business with a roster of blue-chip consultants who would be an envied faculty at most any major university. But look closely at the activities of Precision Health Economics because this firm’s esteemed academic economists, for big bucks, are boosting Big Pharma’s efforts to justify some of its sky-high prices for its products….
Continue ReadingArchives for February 2017
Voters rip GOP reps in town halls, but party leaders press on with ACA assault
Congressional Republicans took their first break from Washington under the new Trump Administration. And those, like Sen. Tom Cotton, R.-Ark., who actually tried to hear out constituents in town halls got caught in an angry backlash. Voters let their lawmakers know they were furious about GOP plans to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act,….
Continue ReadingLow back pain? Try exercise before drugs, doctors say
Back pain is one of Americans’ leading debilitating complaints, prompting us to spend billions of dollars annually for relief and costing more than $100 billion, especially in lost work and wages. But an influential physicians’ group, joining a growing number of other experts, now recommends that we buck up, exercise, keep moving—and stay away from a….
Continue ReadingMore disturbing data on over-prescription of powerful pills to seniors
Some diligent, grown-up sons and daughters may want to check in on mom, dad, and grandma, grandpa, all the aunties and uncles, too. That’s because there’s yet another warning that too many doctors are whipping out their prescription pads all too readily and writing scripts for retirement-age Americans, who now take on average three psychiatric drugs….
Continue ReadingObnoxious doctors hurt patients
Doctors, nurses, and hospitals should stop ignoring colleagues who act like jerks because obnoxious physicians—think of Dr. Gregory House, the TV internist—may hurt patients, especially in surgery. Researchers, who published a study in the JAMA Surgery, looked at two years of quality care data from seven medical centers, involving 800 surgeons and 32,000 adult patients…..
Continue ReadingWill lawmakers on break get an earful over GOP’s outline for Trumpcare?
Members of Congress are home in their districts for a week-long break, and many lawmakers are expected to get an earful from voters upset over many issues at the start of the Trump Administration, especially this: What the heck’s going on with health care? Republicans have insisted for years now—counter-factually, as the evidence has amply….
Continue ReadingNew way to vape shows why e-cigarettes can be an unhealthy drip
Some young users are experimenting with different ways to vape, modifying their e-cigarettes to increase the smoke and the high—and raising more concerns about the health harms of this hot pastime. Researchers say they found that a quarter of the 1,800 or so of the youthful vapers they studied engaged in a practice dubbed “dripping.”….
Continue ReadingA quarter of U.S. adults may suffer from significant hearing woes, CDC says
Traffic, rock concerts, leaf blowers, and blaring head phones — these are among the many noise sources that have played a part in 40 million American adults suffering from hearing losses not caused by their work conditions, Uncle Sam says. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, based on a study of more than….
Continue ReadingHigh anxiety at FDA over leadership, faster drug and medical device oversight
To hear some powerful proponents tell it, Uncle Sam needs to really hurry up the government’s approval of drugs and medical devices. He’s got to make oversight over them easier, lighter, and less complex. But consider just some of the health news in recent days: A “weak reporting system” allowed doctors and hospitals to escape….
Continue ReadingNHL goes low with anti-science blows as it battles players concussion suit
Do the leaders of professional hockey need to spend some time in the penalty box? It might seem so based on a report in the New York Times that the National Hockey League, as it battles its own players in court over the harms caused by repetitive head injuries, is adopting the dubious legal playbook….
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