By Jacob Goldstein
Catch cancers early and treat them before they become deadly. That’s the idea behind cancer screening, and that’s clearly how it works with pap smears for cervical cancer and colonoscopy for colon cancer.
But in some cases screening can lead to aggressive treatment of slow-growing tumors that would never have caused a problem if left alone — and the treatment itself can carry serious side … Continue Reading
By Jacob Goldstein
The oft-cited WHO ranking that said the U.S. has the 37th best health-care system in the world is dated and had problems even when it was new, WSJ stats maven Carl Bialik writes in his column today.
The ranking was published in 2000, and came up against a major problem: Good data weren’t available from many countries. So researchers used other measures, such as literacy rates and income inequality, to … Continue Reading
By Jacob Goldstein
Merck yesterday became the latest company to tell the world something about its payments to doctors. Specifically, the company published this list of doctors (along with a few nurses and pharmacists) paid by the company to give speeches.
All told, the company paid a total of more than $3 million, spread among 1,078 people. Providers get paid about $1,500 for a typical speech. “Increasing the visibility … Continue Reading
By Jacob Goldstein
For a look back at a key breakthrough in the history of the pharmaceutical industry, we turn now to Joe Davis, a retired ad guy who lives in Vermont.
Back in the mid-1980s, Davis came up with an idea: Run a TV ad for Seldane, the allergy medicine, but don’t say the drug’s name. That way, you wouldn’t have to go through the whole rigamarole of reciting possible side effects. Davis figures prominently … Continue Reading
By Jacob Goldstein
Yes, the big health-care bills moving through Congress include a few measures to increase the number of primary-care doctors. No, those measures probably aren’t enough to satisfy the demand for primary-care projected by medical educators and others, Kaiser Health News reports
Medicare payments to primary-care docs would be boosted by 10% under the the House and Senate bills. And about 1,000 residency … Continue Reading