In his eye-opening new book, Dr. Otis Brawley takes aim at doctors who prescribe too much, drug companies who promise too much, and the system that rewards them both with hefty incomes and sales.
People go to the doctor to get better, but sometimes patients get new infections when they step inside a hospital. One hospital is trying to improve health by design.
A little known Oregon law requires hospitals to provide written notification of serious adverse events to all victims (or families of victims). The law is largely ignored; last year 40 such written notifications were recorded, though national studies of medical errors predict there likely were over 1,000 such events at Oregon hospitals.
Dr. Mark D. Smith is president and CEO of the California HealthCare Foundation, or CHCF, an independent philanthropy committed to improving the way health care is delivered and financed in California and to helping consumers make informed health care and coverage decisions. Since CHCF's formation in 1996, Smith has led the California HealthCare Foundation in developing research and initiatives aimed at improving California's health care financing and delivery systems.
