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Summary : Once again, Health Wonk Review offers a round-up of many of the most intriguing and informative health care posts that appeared during the preceding two weeks. Julie Ferguson, of Workers Comp Insider, http://www.workerscompinsider.com  Read More →

As regular Health Beat readers know, over the past three years, Naomi Freundlich, and I have written about the risks as well as the benefits of mammograms more than once on this blog. Nevertheless, I want to call attention to an outstanding New York Times story by Stephanie Saul that appeared on the front page of the Times Wednesday, July 19, taking an in-depth look at what can only be called a medical tragedy.  Read More →

Summary: Not long ago the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPac) came out with a data book on Medicare spending . The information is condensed into tables and charts.  Read More →

The Cato Institute’s Michael Cannon has replied to Part 1 of my response to Cato’s report on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) . You’ll find his reply here . Unfortunately, the Cato Institute website doesn’t have a space for comments, so I decided to respond here, on HealthBeat. First, let say that Cannon’s reply is both civil and gracious. Thank …  Read More →

This week the White House unveiled its new national plan to cut HIV infections and curb the AIDS epidemic. The plan, the first ever since AIDS emerged on the scene some 30 years ago, has the goal of  Read More →

Today the Department of Health and Human Services announced what criteria doctors and hospitals will be required to meet if they want to receive payments to help buy the Health IT  Read More →

Today the Department of Health and Human Services announced what criteria doctors and hospitals will be required to meet if they want to receive payments to help buy the Health IT  Read More →

Over at “ The New Health Dialogue ,” New America Foundation’s Joanne Kenen offers a reading list for health care aficionados. Let me be clear: she’s not talking about wonky books , but books you might read while “curled up in a giant swinging chair in the back yard.” First, Melissa Fay Greene’s There is No Me without You . “It’s long,” Kenen writes, “about 450 pages — and worth every minute. (With limited time —... 

Here’s something that frankly, disturbed me. My daughter, who just finished her freshman year in college, recently told me, “I can’t believe how many kids at school take prescription drugs on a regular basis. They take Adderall to help them study, Ambien to get to sleep and Xanax to calm down.” It surprised me that at 18 she even knew all the names of these drugs. Had she said that her fellow students were using marijuana or even ecstasy... 

might want to take a look at Bob Wachter’s post over at Wacther’s World. http://community.the-hospitalist.org/blogs/wachters_world/archive/2010/07/08/why-obama-made-the-right-call-on-berwick.aspx . There, the  Read More →

Summary: Don Berwick, who will soon become the head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, has declared himself an “extremist” insofar as he is a passionate advocate of “patient-centered care.” Earlier this week, Ezra Klein used the declaration to make a provocative argument that Don Berwick is, in fact, a conservative.  Read More →

Summary: Don Berwick, who will soon become the head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, has declared himself an “extremist” insofar as he is a passionate advocate of “patient-centered care.” Earlier this week, Ezra Klein used the declaration to make a provocative argument that Don Berwick is, in fact, a conservative.  Read More →

A Guest Post By Authors: Mark E Williams , MD , FACP Ward K. Ensminger Distinguished Professor of Geriatric Medicine, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Attending Physician University of Virginia Health System  Read More →

Tonight the White House Blog explained: “In April, President Obama nominated Dr. Donald Berwick to serve as Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Many Republicans in Congress have made it clear in recent weeks that they were going to stall the nomination as long as they could, solely to score political points. “But with the agency facing new responsibilities to protect seniors’ care under the Affordable Care...