ANNOUNCEMENT

Join us at MedCity CONVERGE July 9-10 in Philadelphia, and hear from ALL healthcare innovation sectors.

Merrill Goozner

Merrill Goozner

Merrill Goozner is an award-winning journalist and author of "The $800 Million Pill: The Truth Behind the Cost of New Drugs" who writes regularly at Gooznews.com.

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Obama’s nomination of a doctor supports public health trend at World Bank

Obama’s nomination of a doctor supports public health trend at World Bank

March 30, 2012 11:31 am by | 1 Comments

President Obama’s surprise nomination of Dartmouth president Jim Yong Kim to run the World Bank ratifies the quiet but noticeable shift in global development priorities. Where the world’s biggest lender ... Read more
ACA will survive even if the individual mandate falls

ACA will survive even if the individual mandate falls

March 25, 2012 4:58 pm by | 3 Comments

Opponents of health care reform, whose case will be heard next week by the Supreme Court, base their complaint against the Obama administration’s signature domestic achievement on the claim that ... Read more
Expiring patent–not efficacy–drives increased dose of Alzhiemer’s drug

Expiring patent–not efficacy–drives increased dose of Alzhiemer’s drug

March 23, 2012 12:13 pm by | 0 Comments

Professors Lisa Schwartz and Steven Woloshin of the Center for Medicine and the Media at The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice are raising alarms about a recent ... Read more
Raising the Medicare age is cost shifting, not saving

Raising the Medicare age is cost shifting, not saving

February 28, 2012 10:27 pm by | 0 Comments

Mitt “Two Cadillacs” Romney in his Detroit speech on Friday said he’d like to raise the age on Medicare eligibility to 67 to save the taxpayers money. A Congressional Budget ... Read more
Doc fix ‘solution’ that cuts prevention, wellness programs is a disaster

Doc fix ‘solution’ that cuts prevention, wellness programs is a disaster

February 19, 2012 3:14 pm by | 2 Comments

Would you sell your home’s storm doors to pay for this winter’s heating bills? That’s what Congress did Friday to pay for part of a 10-month “doc fix.”Friday’s payroll tax ... Read more
Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure: Here’s how it can survive

Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure: Here’s how it can survive

February 12, 2012 2:28 pm by | 2 Comments

I had dinner over the weekend with a close friend who is a breast cancer survivor (her word) and a former avid participant in the annual marathons sponsored by the ... Read more
Mitt Romney should talk healthcare; the Romney health plan works

Mitt Romney should talk healthcare; the Romney health plan works

January 29, 2012 12:23 pm by | 3 Comments

It’s too bad former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney doesn’t want to talk about his state’s health care reform legislation on the campaign trail. If he did, he’d have a pretty ... Read more
Cancer’s catch-22: Effective targeted cancer therapy doesn’t come cheap

Cancer’s catch-22: Effective targeted cancer therapy doesn’t come cheap

January 24, 2012 10:12 am by | 0 Comments

Julie Grabow, an oncologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, recently prescribed an exciting new therapy for a 60-year-old woman with metastatic breast cancer. Three-and-a-half years into her ... Read more
Ethics, disclosure and the FDA: Yaz, Yazmin just the beginning

Ethics, disclosure and the FDA: Yaz, Yazmin just the beginning

January 15, 2012 8:52 pm by | 1 Comments

Much has been made of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’ decision last month to overrule Food and Drug Administration scientists and prohibit the over-the-counter sale of the morning ... Read more
Will Mitt Romney fight healthcare fraud?

Will Mitt Romney fight healthcare fraud?

January 11, 2012 1:55 pm by | 0 Comments

Regular readers of this blog know how much importance I attach to the war on waste, fraud and abuse in the Medicare and Medicaid programs (see posts here and here). ... Read more
Multiple myeloma death shows the problem of ‘patient advocacy’

Multiple myeloma death shows the problem of ‘patient advocacy’

January 2, 2012 6:33 pm by | 4 Comments

I recently received word that Alessandro Liberati, the Head of the Italian Cochrane Network, passed away from multiple myeloma, a cancer of the bone marrow. The Cochrane network is a ... Read more
Medtronic shows us what a “crime against science” looks like

Medtronic shows us what a “crime against science” looks like

December 13, 2011 2:18 pm by | 1 Comments

The U.S. attorney in Minneapolis settled a kickback case with device maker Medtronic yesterday, with the company agreeing to pay $23.5 million without admitting it paid doctors $1,000 to $2,000 ... Read more
Republican healthcare reform is a nightmare. So why is the medical industry ambivalent?

Republican healthcare reform is a nightmare. So why is the medical industry ambivalent?

November 28, 2011 1:14 am by | 2 Comments

Writing in next week’s New England Journal of Medicine, Harvard professor David Blumenthal, former head of Medicare’s health information technology division, forecasts the following scenario should the Republicans win the ... Read more
It’s not all bad news for Avastin, thanks to NCCN guideline committee

It’s not all bad news for Avastin, thanks to NCCN guideline committee

November 18, 2011 4:00 pm by | 1 Comments

They did the right thing. Two clinical trials showed no improvement in mortality among women with metastatic breast cancer. Those trials didn’t even replicate the delay in progression of disease ... Read more
Does America really need more doctors?

Does America really need more doctors?

November 14, 2011 9:13 am by | 0 Comments

The Obama administration is about to unveil a $1 billion plan to beef up the nation’s health care workforce. The goal, in part, is to increase the number of physicians ... Read more