Hed-policywatch Pressing Issues in Health Care
interview
Debora Spar

Q: Is there a lesson in studying new stem cell “markets”?

A: Yes: that anarchy only lasts for so long. It’s great to have periods of chaos and euphoria when technologies create new markets, but the best businesses will advocate regulation because protecting intellectual property rights and setting technical standards will be in their own best interest.

“Institutions are fooling themselves if they think allowing physicians to pass out free samples is in the institutions’ best financial interest.”
bipartisan handshake

Come Together

Massachusetts has been a model of health reform (reform Scott Brown endorsed). Its 2006 plan, a compromise between Republicans and Democrats, has improved access to care while keeping costs well within projections. That’s the real lesson of the recent Senate vote.

green chemistry

Green Chemistry

Pharmaceutical companies are finding that reducing waste in drug manufacturing can also save them millions of dollars.

joint replacement

Joint Venture?

The need for a U.S. joint replacement registry is urgent, but should the government or orthopedic surgeons control the data?

obesity as a public health issue

The Future of Obesity?

A long campaign halved the percentage of U.S. smokers. Could a similar effort succeed against the nation’s obesity epidemic?

no-pay procedures

Is No-Pay the Way?

To save money and increase quality of care for Medicare patients, the government is considering denying payment to hospitals for certain procedures.

same-day scheduling

Why Wait?

Saving time at the doctor’s office with same-day scheduling takes time to implement.

cutting edge

When the heart beats, all of the muscle’s cells contract in unison in one smooth movement. Re-creating such synchronized motion in a petri dish (both for research and therapeutic purposes) poses a particular challenge, one that a research team from the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology and the Draper Laboratory in Massachusetts met by taking inspiration from the humble accordion.

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second opinion

“Your story even asks whether obese people should be “barred from indulging in public spaces”—what does it mean to “indulge” in public? Can I no longer patronize a restaurant because I’m not thin enough? Or should the cook be required to monitor my intake while I’m there? Are you going to ban me from the beach too?”