Essay contest — Tell a story about the cost of your health care and win $$$ #hcr #healthreform #aca

Ever feel like your doctor has no sense of the cost of the prescription, treatment or scan he or she is ordering? In an ideal word, doctors shouldn’t take cost into consideration when choosing care. But the health care system doesn’t operate in the real world and often that scan doesn’t represent the best care. …

Advertisement

Boston docs on debate over cholesterol screening for kids

A couple of Boston-area docs weigh in on charges of industry influence in the debate over whether to test kids for cholesterol.  From the Globe: CHICAGO — Should all US children be tested for high cholesterol? Doctors are still debating that question months after a government-appointed panel recommended widespread screening that would lead to prescribing …

New fitness and exercise blog on the Globe web site

The Globe has added another health blog -- this one on fitness: Elizabeth Comeau is the senior health & wellness producer at Boston.com. She will be blogging about her personal fitness journey and using a device called a FitBit to track her weekly goals and progress (see below). Follow her journey and share your own. Read …

New Yorker: Former NEJM editor dismisses placebo claims

Arnold Relman writes in this week's New Yorker.  He argues that researchers claiming placebos can cure are driven by "substantial financial support for their anti-establishment views"  from NIH and private donors. From the letter's page: There is simply no evidence that physical diseases, such as cancer,  atherosclerosis, or organ disorders, can be cured or measurably improved by  placebos. Experienced …

Rounding up the year’s health news

Theirs and ours: You can read Commonhealth's list or listen to it on Radio Boston: Or listen to Carey Goldberg on WBUR MassDevice offers : The top medical device stories of the year, Part I From sweeping regulatory changes promised, but never delivered, by the FDA, to the industry and regulatory backlash against the impending 2.3% …

Boston Globe editorial: Prostate screening limits “too sweeping”

A staff editorial in today's Globe echoes comment made by prominent docs in town: The US Preventative Services Task Force went too far in calling for limits on prostate screening. A better course would be for physicians to talk with their patients about both the uncertainties inherent in the PSA test and the relative innocuousness of …

Connected Chucks: Wired sneakers help Dot’ kids stay fit

A new state reports says what the Globe told us a few years back -- patients pay a premium as some hospitals. So, at least Partner's is spreading a little of that cash around.  This  program encourages kids to be active  by installing chips in their sneakers. The chips send datae of a "Step Meter"  which then …

Health reform round-up and scientific take-down

Check out the most recent Health Wonk Review, a year-end edition that doesn't include any best-of  lists! A scientific miracle? Maybe not.  A piece in last week's New Yorker expounded on what a Tufts/Harvard-linked scientist has been saying for many years -- most published research article are false.  More on Nature Network Boston.  While you're there, check out the …

Mass reform: Dump the MRI, bust the unions and gamble on high-deductibles

Docs, hospitals and patients – all the players are moving.    Carey Goldberg at WBUR’s Commonhealth mines a new report on health reform in Massachusetts for a top ten list of notable trends.    1.Doctors who own imaging centers are trying to sell them to hospitals, which can charge more 2.Widespread skepticism that the political will exists …

New Commonhealth and Ozzy’s genes

Not in the same story Check out the new and improved Commonhealth on WBUR.org While you're there, check out Radio Boston's conversation with new BC/BS CEO Andrew Dreyfus, in particular the discussion of global payments. From Commonhealth: Massachusetts is the leading laboratory for health care reform in the nation. It is also the hub of medical innovation. But …