Category: Interesting Links

Headlines I Wish I Hadn’t Seen

Feds are investigating 1,900 cases where stimulus money was misspent, wasted or defrauded.

90% of a California doctor’s patients are Albanian – not.

Nearly $1 billion in Medicare payments to hospitals over the next year will be based in part on making patients happy.

Oct 19, 2012 | 9 comments | by John Goodman

Headlines I Wish I Hadn’t Seen

While tyrants make a run at global Internet censorship, the Obama administration stands by passively.

WSJ editorial mocks assisted-suicide.

A high-profile Medicare policy that sought to reduce certain hospital-acquired infections turned out to have no impact.

Oct 18, 2012 | 8 comments | by John Goodman

Breath as a Way to Diagnose Diseases, and Other Links

Each patient has a unique breath “fingerprint” that doctors could use to diagnose asthma, stomach ulcers, lung cancer, diabetes, and kidney disease.

Are creative people more likely to be mentally ill?

Reason magazine’s Matt Welch interviews me about Priceless.

Oct 17, 2012 | 8 comments | by John Goodman

Generic Statins Reduce Medicare Costs, and Other Links

Every 10 percent increase in the use of generic, rather than brand-name, statins, would reduce Medicare costs by about $1 billion annually.

The vast majority of Medicare Part D beneficiaries still don’t choose the cheapest plans that meet their medication needs.

Emergency room care is only 2% of the nation’s health care bill.

Oct 17, 2012 | 8 comments | by John Goodman

California Against Curing Gay Minors, and Other Links

California makes it illegal for therapists to try to “cure” gay minors.

82,000 in the federal risk pool. Remember: This is THE reason we are going to spend $1 trillion.

David Henderson reviews Priceless.

French medicine is more capitalist than you think.

Oct 11, 2012 | 7 comments | by John Goodman

Headlines I Wish I Hadn’t Seen

Nearly 60 percent of Medicare beneficiary visits to emergency rooms and 25 percent of their hospital admissions were “potentially preventable.”

Tucked into the U.S. Supreme Court’s agenda this fall is a little-known case that could upend your ability to resell everything from your grandmother’s antique furniture to your iPhone 4.

Economist to Obama: You are misrepresenting my study of the Romney tax plan.

Oct 09, 2012 | 7 comments | by John Goodman

Headlines I Wish I Hadn’t Seen

40% of Harlem residents visit the ER every year.

Secret to a long life for men: castration.

Biden: we’ve given you free colonoscopies.

Oct 05, 2012 | 8 comments | by John Goodman

Doubtful Hospital Ratings, and Other Links

Which are the best hospitals? The ratings don’t agree.

Can computers replace 80% of everything doctors do?

More testing without theory: Study: One Hour Watching TV = Shorter life by 22 Minutes (See previous post here.)

Why socialist countries need capitalist countries. HT: Tyler.

Libertarians are…well…rational.

Oct 02, 2012 | 10 comments | by John Goodman

“Best” Hospitals Fail to Make the Cut, and Other Links

Why academic medical centers do poorly on quality report cards.

Why corruption may save lives.

Exercise does seem to contribute to waist-tightening, provided that the amount of exercise is neither too little nor, more strikingly, too much.

Every year, an estimated 4,000 cases of items left in the patient’s body after surgery, and the vast majority are gauzelike sponges used to soak up blood.

Sep 27, 2012 | 7 comments | by John Goodman

Headlines I Wish I Hadn’t Seen

Up-coding costs Medicare $11 billion a year.

Is a year of your life worth more than $48,000? In Britain it’s not.

The web portal for the Utah Health Exchange was hacked and littered with “graffiti” last month, rendering the site useless for a little more than a week.

Sep 21, 2012 | 6 comments | by John Goodman