By ROBERT PEAR http://www.nytimes.com

By Ann Wlazelek Of The Morning Call http://www.mcall.com/ At King’s Market in Allentown, shoppers can not only pick up a quart of milk and carton of eggs but also park their carts to get a lab test, medical diagnosis or treatment for anything from pink eye to strep throat. The Geisinger Health System, based in […]

Anne Krishnan, Staff Writer http://www.newsobserver.com Matt Person has a vision for health care. He imagines a family doctor referring patients for counseling or acupuncture simply by walking them next door. Cardiologists and nutritionists would cross paths daily. Physical therapists and personal trainers would help patients transition from rehabilitation to getting in shape. Person and business […]

By Julie Appleby, USA TODAY http://www.usatoday.com Denise Wheeler, an artist in Laguna Beach, Calif., thought she and her family had health insurance. So did Tony Seals, a self-employed businessman in nearby Riverside. Across the country in Connecticut, Maria Locker and Linda Gaskill each bought short-term insurance policies to protect themselves against catastrophic costs. But each […]

By RYAN J. FOLEY | Associated Press Writer http://www.winonadailynews.com MADISON, WI — Gov. Jim Doyle said Thursday that he would ask lawmakers to approve a $30 million program to encourage health care providers to install electronic medical records systems. Doyle proposed a $20 million grant program to help nonprofit organizations transition from less reliable paper […]

http://today.reuters.com A slight drop in the rate of women getting mammograms in the United States is worrying, and might suggest it is becoming difficult to get one, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Thursday. CDC researchers found that while 76.4 percent of women over 40 got mammograms in 2000, just 74.6 percent […]

By PATRICIA NORRIS http://www.masslive.com Springfield, MA-Medical Professional Mutual Insurance Co., the state’s largest insurer of physicians, surgeons, dentists and nurse midwives, will not increase malpractice insurance rates this year. High malpractice insurance rates have irked practicing physicians, particularly specialists such as obstetricians, neurosurgeons and others considered high risk. High rates are blamed for physician shortages […]

http://www.kaisernetwork.org/ The American College of Physicians on Monday proposed revisions to the U.S. health care system that would pay primary care physicians based on their coordination of care for patients, CQ HealthBeat reports. Under the proposal, to qualify for “patient-centered care” payments, physician practices would have to show an accrediting organization that they have systems […]

Daniel Klass, M.D., C.M. The New England Journal of Medicine http://content.nejm.org/ A fair amount of scrutiny has been given recently to the assessment of medical students’ competence before they enter practice. In this issue of the Journal, Epstein provides a timely summary of advances in this arena.1 In contrast, little attention has been paid to […]