Soon, three iPhone applications will be available for patients who want to search for clinical trials from their iPhone. A year ago StopWatch’s Clinical Trials was the only game in town, but now Healogica has launched a similar application and Trial X says they are not far behind. Using the new $0.99 app from Healogica, [...]
Every day millions of patients make weighty decisions about their health, usually they rely heavily, if not entirely, on their doctor’s opinions. But do the doctor’s give out enough information so the patients can form useful opinions themselves? And do doctors listen to the patients about their preferences? Recent research suggests many don’t, as this [...]
Health care reform is moving again, but many experts still question whether in the end, it will be real reform that encourages higher quality care and lowers overall costs. The House Energy and Commerce Committee finally voted and approved the health care reform bill that had been stalled as moderate democrats objected to some of [...]
A study just published in The New England Journal of Medicine illustrates how growing health care costs, added to stagnant wages, are making middle class Americans poorer and poorer. The most affluent households, the study finds, will be able to absorb the steady growth in health care costs. Middle income families, however, are starting to [...]
Physician and novelist Abraham Verghese is pleading for real doctors to to get involved in the discussions about health care reform, before the lobbyists get their way. In an essay in The Wall Street Journal, he writes: “Before we are irretrievably sucked into Washington’s political maneuvering, we desperately need doctors and nurses to speak for [...]
The most popular paid iPhone applications for health and fitness this week include calorie trackers, a comprehensive guide to proper exercise technique, a white noise maker, and a calendar that lets women track their periods and everything else that’s related to picking the right day to make a baby. See the entire top ten list [...]
At CaringBridge, caregivers or patients can quickly set up a personalized website where family and friends can easily get updates and leave messages. This is a must-have tool for anyone facing a critical illness or recovering from one. I became aware of this great tool a couple of weeks ago, when I emailed Julie (not [...]
President Barack Obama reiterated his commitment to pass health care reform “this year,” and not in five or ten years, according to The Wall Street Journal’s live blogging from the President’s recent Town Hall Meeting on health care. The event occurred at Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale, Va.. Members of the public also sent [...]
More Americans, including children, are obese according to a recent report from the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation. “Adult obesity rates now exceed 25 percent in 31 states and exceed 20 percent in 49 states and Washington, D.C. Two-thirds of American adults are either obese or overweight. In 1991, no state had an obesity rate above 20 percent. In [...]
When politicians propose health care reforms, they tend to either pander to strong interest groups or they push some blatant political agenda, such as moving to government-financed universal care. But in his latest post consultant Bob Laszewski proposes a reform that could drive a stake right into the heart of the health care beast — [...]
