For patients, employers and payers to make well-informed health care decisions, they must have access to meaningful and easy-to-understand quality and cost data; such transparency is critical to overall health care reform. Strategies to involve patients and families are essential. Examples of important patient feedback include:  An ...

With the holiday season officially kicking off this Thursday, people's stress levels are sure to increase. Whether it's shopping or entertaining, the holidays often bring a cup of cheer with an added dose of anxiety. Throw the current economic situation into the cookie mix, and you've got a recipe for stress. But it doesn't have to be this way. ...

A Penn State researcher has developed a bandage material made from microbial cellulose that the body can absorb. He has developed a method to incorporate enzymes with the bandage that break down the cellulose in a controlled way, according to the Penn State Live news source. In 2007, Jeffrey Catchmark, associate professor of agricultural and ...

The following is a guest blog from Anthony Cirillo:   In his latest book Warren Bennis raises questions about the nature of leadership. He asks, ''Can a leader both act and be real?'' Bill George, a professor at the Harvard Business School, in his book True North, contends that a ''journey to leadership'' cannot be made without ''framing ...

At a press briefing today at AARP's Washington headquarters, AARP Chief Executive A. Barry Rand said AARP supports the House health care reform bill over other proposals because this plan does more to lower drug costs for Medicare beneficiaries, strengthen Medicare and bar insurance companies from denying people coverage because of their health or ...

We all know that washing our hands is the best way to guard against the spread of germs. But there are several other measures that can also help protect us from contamination.  In this Washington Post article, health care professionals share some other tips on how they stop the spread of infection.

There's a debate raging in a Florida retirement community over evicting a six-year-old girl who lives there with her grandparents. Kimberly Broffman is the little girl at the center of it all. She lives in the retirement community with grandparents Jimmy and Judie Stottler because they are her legal guardians. The community's homeowner's ...

Two new studies from The New England Journal of Medicine indicate that nursing home residents may be receiving futile care measures at the end of their lives. In one study, doctors examined health records of 3,702 nursing-home residents across the nation who started dialysis between 1998 and 2000. While the average age was 73, many had other ...

With the H1N1 virus lurking in our office (so far, one confirmed case), experts agree that aside from vaccination, the best defense is thorough handwashing. Check out this video from the Washington Post that shows proper handwashing technique. We hear these messages all the time, but truthfully, we could all probably do a better job ...

A study published in The New England Journal of Medicine questions whether dialysis is the best treatment for nursing home patients. As reported by USA Today, more than half of older nursing home residents die within a year of starting dialysis and ''nearly another third experience a significant decline in their ability to perform simple tasks, ...