Ozzy Osbourne, Health Columnist?

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Published on
July 7, 2010

Here's what we're reading today at ReportingonHealth: 

"You could nominate Gandhi to be head of CMS and that would be controversial right now." That gem of a quote, from a CBS News story on Donald Berwick's recess appointment to run Medicaid and Medicare,  comes courtesy of Tom Scully, who held that job under President George W. Bush.

In "the kids are (not) alright" category, the European Union approves a chewable form of the cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor for children 10 and older. Add it to the breakfast menu of Cheerios and gummy vitamins – and then get those kids some exercise.

Maybe Lipitor (and similar drugs) are doing some good, or maybe hospitals are performing better in treating patients: New Medicare data shows that deaths from heart attacks are dropping sharply in American hospitals, USA Today reports, and the feds' updated Hospital Compare consumer website now offers information about cardiovascular treatment in outpatient settings and emergency rooms too.  

For tonight's bedtime reading, we've set aside Health Affairs' wonky-but-important latest theme issue, Weighing the Impact of Health Reform.

And, finally, we choked on our coffee when we saw that Ozzy Osbourne is going to pen a health (!) column for Rolling Stone.  Well, at least he can tell us what not to do.