Insights

<p>&nbsp;</p><p>Great study out this week from John A. Hartford Foundation on lack of usage of Medicare wellness benefit that is no cost to seniors under the Affordable Health Care Act</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Here's Forbes take on the story. And there are plenty of related potential stories out there. Do seniors and their doctors know and care about this?</p><p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>Most of the media missed the genetic glitch in the latest search for the elusive G-spot. An update to the version published in Scientific American blogs, April 25, 2012.</p>

<div style="width: 600px;"><p>When I left for a week of reporting in rural California in late February, I didn't know I would come back with two stories about the devastating health consequences of isolation.</p><p>I'm not just talking about the geographic isolation one finds in a remote area. From the hilly evergreen landscape of eastern Shasta County, to the agricultural flatlands of Tulare County in the South Central Valley, I witnessed how isolation can leave people in the dark about keeping healthy, lead to emotional despair, and pose real barriers to quality of life.</p></div>

<p class="MsoNormal">Medical devices undeniably save and improve lives, but they can also malfunction or prove to be defective and pose serious risks for patients. So, as someone in the medical field, how do you stay up-to-date on medical device safety and recalls? The FDA does its best to keep doctors informed about medical device recalls, but communication from the FDA doesn’t always reach doctors soon enough.</p>

<p>Consumers Union takes up my challenge to help put hospital-acquired infections on the map&nbsp;— literally.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Fixing Medicare without paying for it, health reform's insurance rebates, and controversial distribution of a heroin overdose antidote, plus more from our Daily Briefing.</p>

Two decades have passed since the Rodney King riots swept through Los Angeles neighborhoods suffering from unemployment, poverty and neglect. Here's a look at one effort to build a healthier community.

<p>A commutation of sentence for grandmother Shirley Ree Smith has brought the medical debate around shaken baby syndrome back into the news.</p>

<p class="MsoNormal">Health reform votes knock out incumbents, fewer kids with obesity, more on-the-job fatalities, an epidemic of stillbirths in Iraq and more from our Daily Briefing.</p><p><!--EndFragment--></p>

<p>This is the first time Holly Dolan is writing about health for general readers -- and while she does not know where it will lead, the learning experience and new connections in her community keep her going.</p>