The Home-Birth Debate Reprised

Home Birth: A first-person profile of the midwife Ina May Gaskin in the New York Times Magazine reprises the home-birth debate. Samantha Shapiro describes her own birth, a C-section, and concludes that it would be better if it were possible to have a non-medicalized birth without leaving the medical system entirely. "It should be possible both to have a baby in a place that doesn't have financial and legal incentives to medicalize a low-risk pregnancy and to still have immediate access to top-level care if it's needed," she wrote.

Health Costs: Some insurers have begun collaborating with health care providers to improve care and reduce costs. Health care insurers and providers are working together on their own quality improvement projects, and also through Accountable Care Organizations, reports Reed Ableson for the New York Times.

Patient Centered Care: Making hospitals more pleasant can lead to shorter stays and lower costs. NPR's Julie Rovner looks at one hospital offering organic food cooked to order, massages, and a hospital concierge. Most importantly the hospital goes out of it's way to involve patients in their care.

Overtreatment: One in seven elective coronary angioplasties are unnecessary, reports Kerry Grens for Reuters.

Individual Insurance: Half the individual health plans currently offered don't meet the requirements of the new health care law, reports Alex Wayne for Bloomberg.

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Photo credit: Jason Lander via Flickr