The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.
Shefali Luthra was a correspondent for 51ÊÓƵ Health News until June 2020.
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As presidential candidates, state officials and even President Barack Obama wrestle with how to handle drug addiction, scientists lay out some of the intersections between opioid prescriptions and heroin abuse in the New England Journal of Medicine, including findings that crackdowns on opioid prescriptions may not fuel increases in heroin use.
Even though Medicaid enrollees are more likely to be smokers than the general public, a study published Tuesday in Health Affairs examined state data from 2010 to 2013 and found wide differences in funding of cessation efforts.
A research letter published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine says opioid-prescribing practices are consistent with that of other medications.
About 40 million Americans considered themselves caregivers in 2013, according to an AARP report.
According to a New England Journal of Medicine research review, about 10 percent of older Americans may face some form of abuse, and primary care physicians are often positioned as the first line of defense.
Hospital practices vary when it comes to paying care costs for patients with bad outcomes. Sometimes, patients foot the bill.
Nearly eight in 10 say they have seen or heard these ads, and more than a quarter have discussed one of the drugs with a physician as a result.
RAND Corp. researchers find that more women are going into anesthesiology and getting paid better, but they still trail their male counterparts.
Motivated by financial incentives and consumer demands, medical centers are creating programs to infuse more compassion and understanding into the doctor-patient relationship.
Research in JAMA concludes that even after accounting for factors such as experience, age and research, women do not get promoted as often to full professor jobs in academic medical centers.
Facebook is a part of everyday life – both professionally and personally – and doctors and patients are wondering how it best works between them.
As hospitals try to improve their consumer ratings, many are revisiting nighttime policies to help patients maximize their chances to get some rest.
A number of doctors and professional organizations are calling for clear rules on whether and how health care professionals can use cell phones while in the operating room.
Lawmakers and policy experts offered a range of views on the high court’s long-awaited decision.
Doctors are increasingly making their records available to patients. Advocates say the concept makes the doctor-patient relationship less paternalistic and can lead to better patient outcomes and satisfaction. But there could be downsides, too.
Federal efforts are driving hospitals to see patients as customers.
Redesigning and replacing hospital gowns is one example of efforts by hospitals and health systems to enhance the patient experience.
The American Board of Internal Medicine, responding to complaints from doctors, steps back from plans for new standards for physicians’ board recertification, but consumer advocates stress that the board needs to keep focused on patients’ health.
These findings call into question the conventional wisdom that suggests doctors often give unnecessary or inappropriate treatments because patients demand them.
Although IUDs -- a form of long-acting birth-control -- are growing in popularity and recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics, some pediatricians face challenges in offering it to teenage patients who are sexually active.
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