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A bill was introduced in July in the U.S. Senate to award $600,000 state grants to create medical volunteer programs for which the state would assume medical liability.

Just 39 percent of patients at retail clinics said they had a primary care physician, according to a study by the RAND Corp.

More and more Americans are turning to sources other than their doctors for medical information, according to a recently released report. The web is patients' fastest-growing source of medical information.

The model of charging patients "access" fees to cover administrative expenses has given way to the concept of "concierge" or "boutique" practices.

The Department of Health and Human Services will require health care providers to use its set of new diagnosis and procedure codes known as ICD-10 by October 2011.

Health-care IT seems to be the new issue du jour for Congress. On Sept. 15, Rep. Pete Stark (D-California), the namesake of the anti-kickback medical referral law, unveiled a bill to establish a nationwide health-care IT infrastructure, but the measure faces competition from two other similar bills already under consideration.

A New Jersey health insurer has launched a pilot program that will allow participating physicians to access patients? medical imaging records through a web portal.

About 25,000 U.S. physicians have downloaded a free drug information software program that runs on Apple's popular iPhone, according to the California company that develops the software.

Overwhelmed by the number of electronic health record vendors out there? A research and consulting firm offers an in-depth look at 10 of the major vendors for the ambulatory care market and highlights the top performers for features, flexibility and physician satisfaction.

A former orthopedic surgeon has created a company dedicated to helping physicians navigate the choppy waters of purchasing the right electronic health records system - for free.

Understanding the various cultural and linguistic nuances of our patients can certainly help in strengthening doctor-patient relationships.

The good job you and other physicians are doing to increase the life expectancy of patients has a downside: Social Security may wind up on life support. Part of the solution may be to increase the retirement age to reflect this greater longevity.

Despite a sagging economy and a weak stock market during the first half of 2008, retirement plan participants increased the amounts they contributed compared to the same period in 2007, according to results of an analysis from Boston-based Fidelity Investments.

According to the terms of a class-action lawsuit, credit bureau TransUnion must provide free credit monitoring to anyone who had an open credit account or open line of credit in the United States during the past 21 years.

When a state boots a health-care provider from its Medicaid program for incompetence, fraud, or patient abuse, it's supposed to inform the federal government so that the offenders will be barred from receiving any more federal funds. But that doesn't always happen.

Many patients are responding to higher prices for basic goods by cutting back on their medical care. About 22 percent of U.S. consumers say they're visiting their doctors less.

Patients in the United States made an estimated 1.1 billion visits to physician offices, and hospital outpatient and emergency departments in 2006, an average of four visits per person per year.

A new report from the National Association of Community Health Centers cites a severe shortage of primary care physicians as the nation's biggest barrier to universal health care.

Life can be envisioned as a double helix: a spiral stairway whose length we cannot know. Have you ever paid close attention to the stairs you climb?

Massachusetts' highest court upheld a ruling that awarded $1 million to the family of a man whose missed diagnosis of stomach cancer resulted in death.

Medpedia, which is expected to launch before the end of the year, is being created in cooperation with professors at leading universities, including Harvard and Stanford, and will link to content from the CDC, FDA, and the National Institutes of Health.

Two legislators want to rid the nation of what they view as a particularly insidious product: debit cards linked to 401(k) accounts.

A recent online survey revealed that nearly one-fourth of potential homebuyers are remaining on the sidelines, expecting housing prices to further deteriorate.

An SEC plan would make municipal bond information free to the public via the Electronic Municipal Market Access system

Besides the obviously heavy toll that preventable post-surgery deaths take on patients and their families, the mistakes also have a high cost to insurers and employers.

The federal government began distributing more than 56,000 bonus checks to doctors and other health-care professionals who participated in the Medicare Physician Quality Reporting Initiative.

Only one in four Americans expect their finaces to improve in the next six months.

The IRS has upped its deduction allowance for business travel to 58.5 cents per mile.

Almost four of five respondents to a survey say that health care will be one of the top three issues that will influence their votes in Novemeber's presidential election.

Foreclosure filings were up 53 percent in June compared with a year ago, with the highest rates in Arizona, California and Nevada.