Britain’s National Health Service may undergo sweeping changes which put more responsibility at the local level with practitioners. In addition, the goal, say political leaders, is to give patients more power.

Topics: News

Earlier this year, a drug store chain was three days away from putting home genetic tests on its shelves for sale to the public. Previously, these had been for sale online.
As this test was not seen as a medical device or test—it has been used by family history buffs—the FDA had no notice of the [...]

Topics: News

Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) have been touted as the tool which can make medical care safer and better. Medpage Today’s story reports on progress in building a national medical records system.

Topics: News

Doctors and hospitals have been fearful of lawsuits when women who had a Caesarean birth wanted to try delivering vaginally. Now the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has issued new guidelines for managing deliveries differently. Not every delivery has to be a Caesarean. That’s the group’s bottom line.

Topics: News

In January, Harvard Medical School will place strict limits on outside faculty activities.

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Reading is a healthy habit. There is a strong association between education and health status.Kindles, electronic library devices, are selling hot. Why should anyone be interested in this if they are interested in health? Because these devices are one more way to find reliable health or medical information. Books are holding their own but the real news about Kindle is that it is friendly to all ages, can deliver you a book at 2 a.m. in seconds and is doctor’s waiting room friendly.

Topics: Communication Technology

Few kids step up bravely when it is time for school shots. Many adults aren’t too happy about vaccinations, either. Maybe the needle can go, based on the results of a mouse study. Patches also have other pluses, says the full Science News story.

Topics: In Brief

The American Medical Association has called into question the way in which health plans profile doctors, for the purposes of identifying doctors who profile favorably by the measurements the plan uses.
Key points in this story:

Rand Corporation studies show that these ratings can be wrong as much as 66% of the time.
The same studies also show [...]

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There are, perhaps, many hundreds of books on how the children of toxic parents can cope. However, there is almost no one paying attention to the issue of good parents who have toxic kids—not mentally ill, not criminal—toxic.

Topics: Focus

Getting older is more expensive but a new federal government report says that Americans 65 and above are living better, longer. Data come from 15 different government agencies, including the National Institute on Aging, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and the Department of Veteran’s Affairs, reports Medpage Today.

Topics: News