Some clinicians say universal screening is an important tool to help identify children who are genetically predisposed to high cholesterol and to pinpoint others who could benefit from treatment. Others express concerns that screening may do more harm than good.
Hospitals using their patients’ health and financial records to help pitch their most lucrative services, such as cancer, heart and orthopedic care and buying detailed information about local residents compiled by marketing firms — everything from age, income and marital status to shopping habits and whether they have children or pets at home.
Investigate IVF clinics? Will there be a debate over Medicare’s future? Is Obama’s ruling on contraception an attack on religion? School-based health centers: a nonpartisan solution?
The breast-cancer charity Susan G. Komen For the Cure is pulling about $700,000 in breast cancer screening and service grants from the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.Komen’s reason: a new policy forbidding grants to organizations under official investigation. Planned Parenthood is the subject of an inquiry launched by a GOP congressman.
Incomplete and unclear prescriptions, which numbered in the hundreds during the months before the systems were installed, dropped to single digits at both hospitals, study finds.
The federal health law set up new plans that are cheaper and more comprehensive than the older ones run by states but consumers need to go without insurance for six months to qualify.
Imagine if finding out the cost of a particular treatment or procedure at a doctors’ office was as easy as locating the prices of entrees at a restaurant. The menu might read: school physicals – $40; office visit for a cold – $80; diabetes screening – $200.
Overweight doctors discuss weight loss less frequently with obese patients than doctors with normal weights and they’re significantly less confident of their ability to provide effective counseling about diet or exercise.
Nearly 60 percent of the public expects the Supreme Court justices to depend more on personal ideology than a legal analysis of the individual mandate in making their ruling on the health-care reform law.
Julie Grabow, an oncologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, recently prescribed an exciting new therapy for a 60-year-old woman with metastatic breast cancer — Afinitor made by Novartis. There was a catch, though. Novartis is charging $10,000 per month for the drug
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LocalHealthGuide is a health news and information web service for Seattle and the Puget Sound Region. We are independent and unaffiliated with any hospital, medical association or insurer. If you have questions or if your group has an upcoming event that you would like us to cover, please let us know by going to our "Contact Us" page and dropping us a note. -- Michael McCarthy, Editor
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Seattle Times Health News
Experts divided over recommendation to screen children for cholesterol
Some clinicians say universal screening is an important tool to help identify children who are genetically predisposed to high cholesterol and to pinpoint others who could benefit from treatment. Others express concerns that screening may do more harm than good.
People in state high-risk insurance plans often feel left behind
The federal health law set up new plans that are cheaper and more comprehensive than the older ones run by states but consumers need to go without insurance for six months to qualify.
Peeking in on your doctor’s notes
Although federal law guarantees patients the right to examine and get copies of their medical records, providers haven’t always made it easy to do so. But the movement to give patients direct access to their health information has picked up steam, and policymakers have encouraged it as a way to empower patients to help manage their health and their medical care.
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