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Incentives and protections for industry encourage development of many drugs with few new benefits over existing pharmaceuticals, but with risk of serious harm to users.

ATLANTA — The pharmaceutical industry is a "market for lemons," a market in which the seller knows much more than the buyer about the product and can profit from selling products less effective and less safe than consumers are led to believe, according to an analysis that will be presented at the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association.

Persuading influential medical centers to adopt electronic medical records helps speed adoption by their neighboring hospitals, according to the Management Insights feature in the current issue of Management Science, a flagship journal of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS®).

“Social Contagion and Information Technology Diffusion: The Adoption of Electronic Medical Records in U.S. Hospitals” is by Corey M. Angst and Ken Kelley of the University of Notre Dame; Ritu Agarwal of the University of Maryland; and V. Sambamurthy of Michigan State University.

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Ontario Health Coalition

Saturday, November 6 – Sunday, November 7, 2010, Bond Place Hotel, Toronto

Health Action Assembly: Updates on key issues including hospital cuts and restructuring, protecting rural access to care, long term care funding/inspections/regulations changes, retirement homes, homecare, primary health care, P3s and privatization. Participate in strategy-setting session. This year will lead into the provincial election, so it is particularly important.

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Survey of medical students at University of Michigan and University of Wisconsin-Madison shows strong interest in role-playing and strategy games for doctor training

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Today’s students were raised with a digital mouse in their hands.

So it should be no surprise that a majority of medical school students surveyed say video games and virtual reality environments could help them become better doctors.

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System aims to reduce adverse drug events -- and subsquent complications -- in older hospital inpatients

BOSTON – Adverse drug events, such as dizziness or confusion occur in an estimated 40 percent of all hospital patients and can be the result of inappropriate medications being ordered. Not surprisingly, elderly individuals are particularly vulnerable to these adverse events, which not only result in longer hospitalizations, but can also pose a threat of serious complications and even death.

Researchers note troubling implications for Obama's new health law

The first for-profit insurance company approved to offer government-subsidized coverage under Massachusetts' health reform has dangerously restricted access to primary care, according to data reported in Thursday's (Aug. 5) New England Journal of Medicine. Researchers say the findings raise troubling concerns about the Obama administration's new health law, which is modeled after the Massachusetts plan.

Do you feel like your thoughts about your condition have been brushed off or dismissed at the doctor's office, because they're not relevant to the diagnosis?

You are not alone.

The type of thinking that says anything outside of the box is irrelevant to the diagnosis means that critically important information is often missed.

Why does this happen?

Because conventional medicine looks at you as a diagnosis.

As a disease.

From treatment to insurance, it all comes down to a precise diagnostic number. In the U.S. today, whatever ails you has to be assigned a number called an ICD code.

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For several years now and with a growing messianic fervor, physicians and health care experts have been responding to the need to deliver more efficient and better primary care with one response: patient-centered medical homes.

Not long ago, I found myself doing the same with a friend who prides himself on being a well-informed patient. But instead of an overwhelmingly enthusiastic or even mildly interested response, my friend stared at me blankly.

“What in the world are you talking about?” he finally asked. “A hospice? A halfway house? Some kind of group home for patients?”