HealthDay reports on a paper published in JAMA Internal Medicine: “The costly form of radiation therapy that has become the norm for prostate cancer in the United States may be no better than the older, cheaper variety — at least for some men, a new study suggests. Researchers found that among more than 1,000 U.S. [...]
The Washington Post Wonkblog: “One hospital charges $8,000 – another, $38,000.” The piece contains an interactive graphic to allow readers to check on how much providers charge in their state. And it used this graphic: The Huffington Post: “Hospital Prices No Longer Secret As New Data Reveals Bewildering System, Staggering Cost Differences.” Their graphic: [...]
Some drug stores in the US are now giving away statin drugs for cholesterol. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported on a chain in its area doing so: “Retail grocery store competition is fierce, and Wegmans is trying to get an edge by giving away – yes, free – a generic version of what was the world’s [...]
Probably the two most frequent subjects on this blog regarding the proliferation of new medical technologies are proton beam radiation therapy and robotic surgery. Since this blog focuses on media messages about health care interventions, we generally focus on the marketing claims made for these technologies. The latest edition of the journal Current Urology Reports [...]
The New Yorker profile of Dr. Oz, “The Operator: Is the most trusted doctor in America doing more harm than good?” The NPR piece, “Hanging A Price Tag On Radiology Tests Didn’t Change Doctors’ Habits.” PharmedOut.org’s new Drug Ads teaching tool. It’s a three-part slideshow covering misleading advertising in medical journals, indirect marketing, and disease-mongering; [...]
Nice catch by my colleague Andrew Holtz (one of our story reviewers on HealthNewsReview.org) as he combed the literature and settled on a paper in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease entitled, “Dementia Specialists and Early Adoption of Amyloid Imaging.” With Andrew’s permission, I am reposting his piece in its entirety. ————————————————— A new survey of [...]
The Oregonian reports something you don’t hear very often these days – a medical center saying “NO” – at least for now – to the medical arms race. And by dropping their plans to acquire a proton beam therapy facility, they said “NO” in a big way. The Oregonian reports: In recent years, large medical [...]
Dr. David Agus, tireless promoter of his book, “The End of Illness,” and whose involvement in an ABC news story about a reporter’s coronary calcium CT scan led to the network correcting/retracting the piece, is now at it again. The New York Times published his op-ed piece, “The 2,000-Year-Old Wonder Drug,” the start of which [...]
The Clear Health Costs blog published a two-part piece on the variable costs of MRI tests. Excerpt of part 1: Different facilities (hospital, radiology center, doctor’s office) charge vastly different prices for MRIs. For example, the cash price of a lumbar spine MRI at a hospital in California can reach more than $3,000, while the [...]
Last week, the American Society for Radiation Oncology’s annual conference was held in Boston, and several papers were presented on proton beam therapy, and several medical centers sent out news releases about their involvement in the work. MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and Loma Linda University Medical Center in California were two that we [...]
This story focuses on a family that may have a rare genetic mutation that increases their risk of heart disease. Unfortunately, the “rare” part wasn’t mentioned until 1,600 words into this 2,100 word story.
While this story adequately addressed 7 of our 10 criteria, the 3 on which it missed were significant omissions, yet could have been easily addressed.
Solid medical conference reporting, with many expert interviews and good context provided. Goes far beyond the conference presentation itself.
We will not display your name or e-mail address on the site, nor will we share youre-mail address with any third parties.
For site updates and news from Gary, find us on Twitter:
HealthNewsReview: @HealthNewsRevu
Gary Schwitzer: @garyschwitzer
Copyright © 2013 Health News Review
