By Anna Medaris Miller, Contributor, U.S. News. March 30, 2015. Red blood cell transfusions are one of the most common procedure in U.S. hospitals, but nearly 60 percent globally were deemed “inappropriate” procedures by a 2011 study. Other research shows the more blood...
Name the best person to direct your medical care if you are unable to do so yourself. When you make a durable power of attorney for health care, the most important decision you will face...
Some states restrict who can serve as your health care agent. Your health care agent is the person that you name in your health (aka advance) care directive to work with your doctors to direct...
By Christopher Cheney, HealthLeaders Media, October 29, 2019. For the first time, The Leapfrog Group has collected patient safety and quality information about ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) and hospital outpatient departments (HOPDs). KEY TAKEAWAYS Only...
Seventeen leading medical specialty societies have identified specific tests, procedures or medication therapies they say are commonly ordered, but which are not always necessary—and could cause undue harm. To date, more than 130 tests and...
To identify the “best hospital cities” in the U.S. and the world, cities were compared on 12 metrics that fell into one of the following three categories: quality of care, infrastructure and access. The metrics...
What Is an Ototoxic Drug? According to Neil Bauman, Ph.D., “Ototoxic drugs are those medications that can cause ototoxic (ear damaging) side effects to your ears. Such drugs can cause hearing loss, hyperacusis, tinnitus, and other...
Summary: According to a USA Today review of government records and medical databases, tens of thousands of patients undergo unnecessary surgery each and every year• Among the most commonly performed unnecessary surgeries are cardiac angioplasties,...
Price vs. Quality and Value Are Considerations. Do you need to hire a private patient advocate to help with your healthcare? When you are sick or debilitated, it’s impossible to figure out how to get...
Surgeries to repair a heart can be risky, and some deaths and complications are inevitable. Doctors and advocates have pushed to make pediatric heart surgery outcomes more transparent, so institutions would feel pressure to improve...