Health Highlights – August 21st, 2007

Reading time: 2 – 4 minutes

Health Highlights is a biweekly summary of particularly interesting articles from credible sources of health and medical information that we follow & read. For a complete list of recommeded sources, see our links page.

• Yahoo! Health in Stealth Mode or Just Plain Off-the-Radar? | The Healthcare Information Systems Blog

  I’m becomming more and more interested in health-focused social networking. Jeff O’Connor writes about Yahoo! Health and the lack of attention it’s getting from its parent portal. While I’m on the topic of health-focused social networking, earlier this week Mashable reported that PeopleJam Gets Funded for Health Social Network.

• Death by polypharmacy | Kevin M.D.

  Kevin commented this week that:

  … the average Medicare patient sees 3 specialists or more – each prescribing their own set of medications, often without regard to what the patient is already taking.

  It reminded me of a recent post by Dr. Rob on communication in American healthcare.

• Personalized Medicine, Part 1:Coumadin (warfarin) | Terra Sigillata

  Recently, the FDA concluded that patients taking warfarin (Coumadin) should be tested for two genetic markers to determine the minimal starting dose. Abel Pharmboy writes about this personalized medicine effort and, along the way, describes hemostasis, the blood clotting process.

• Medicare threatening hospitals | Doctor Anonymous

  Dr. Anonymous writes about a significant Medicare policy change directed at hospitals and his fear of the unintended consequences.

• Senior US official likens challenges facing America, Roman Republic | The Raw Story

  I’ve written about the U.S. comptroller general David Walker and his “Fiscal wake-up tour” previously. Recently in Chicago, he:

  … likened the present situation in the United States to the Roman Republic or an organization that fails to adapt and “may not survive.”

  Perhaps a reflection of the lack of concern in America, not one of the major U.S. media outlets reported on it. The first report of his speech appeared in London’s Financial Times.

• Why Bloggers Will Change the World, and How You Can Help | The Action Blog – Blog Action Day

  What would happen if every blog published posts on the same topic, on the same day? One issue. One day. Thousands of voices.