If you are pregnant and considering where to give birth to your child, what matters most to you? Probably not the quality measures used to calculate the ratings at California Healthcare Compare, a new online tool that allows consumers to compare health care prices and quality.
This year alone, I have learned of three doctors, two of whom I personally know and one who I went to medical school with, being disciplined by the Medical Board of California. They're all men. Likewise, a recent study found male doctors were more likely to be disciplined. What's going on here?
By now you’ve heard about the launch of the new California Healthcare Compare website, which allows users to compare cost and quality on common procedures throughout the state. Less noted, however, are some of the site’s serious limitations. Bill Heisel breaks them down for us.
How do you find out how skilled a surgeon is? Asking a surgeon's peers for their opinion is one obvious route, since surgeons are adept at spotting colleagues' skill levels. But getting hold of such peer reviews isn't easy for patients. Can a new surgery market change that?
With several GOP presidential candidates supporting parental choice for childhood vaccines, CNN would have done better by asking the candidates how they propose balancing individual choice with public health, rather than allowing Donald Trump to spread more misinformation about autism and vaccines.
What does "Talk to you doctor” mean? It’s a legal and ethical security blanket. But it's also a solid piece of advice at a time when people increasingly find health info online. It also keeps doctors on their toes, as they encounter a steady barrage of new treatments and questions.
A Cultural Services Unit established by Minnesota's public health authorities to work with minority communities became a boon to West Africans living in the state during the Ebola crisis. Together they fought stigma and helped loved ones living in the hot zone of the outbreak.
A revamped version of the website DocInfo promises to be a useful tool for anyone researching doctors' histories with their respective medical boards. Contributing editor William Heisel takes the overhauled site out for a spin.
A recent White House report noted that there is no evidence that state-by-state licensing improves quality or safety. And yet we have a 50-state system for doctors and for most other health care professionals. Is broad reform possible?
Strict professional licensing rules don't necessarily translate into higher-quality work, as a recent report from the White House made clear. Might there be a smarter way? One option: directly regulate the companies that employ the people who are being subject to licensure.
