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Drug company sales reps are being discouraged from leaving small gifts such as coffee mugs and golf balls at doctors' offices, according to a new marketing code adopted by PhRMA.

Seven New Jersey hospitals have closed in the last 18 months. The state also plans to trim $111 million in hospital funds from its 2009 budget.

The House and Senate overrode President Bush's veto of legislation that protects doctors from a cut in Medicare reimbursement rates.

Labor-related reimbursement cuts aimed at hospice care should be rescinded without delay

The anemic internecine squabbles that dominated so much of the primaries have given way to a full-blown healthcare policy debate.

The Google PHR that debuted in May connects to an impressive list of healthcare organizations. But the rival PHR from Microsoft has landed a big fish called Kaiser Permanente.

Only four percent of physicians use a fully functional EHR that satisfies federally promoted certification requirements, while another 14 percent have basic systems.

If you want to better understand why less than 20 percent of doctors have implemented EHRs, visit the website of a vendor called Extormity, dedicated to offering "highly proprietary, difficult to customize and prohibitively expensive" software.

A company told its employees they could use contributions to their 401(k) plan to pay for long-term-care insurance premiums. The IRS said this wouldn't work.

For the first time in history, more than half of insured Americans are taking prescription drugs for a chronic health problem.

Workers who are over 50 and don't expect to receive employer-provided healthcare benefits in retirement are more likely to choose the coverage rather than retire.

A majority of physicians favor a single-payer healthcare system. But if you work in a large medical group, chances are your employer doesn't think too highly of the idea.

When the wealthy start plowing money into the stock market, maybe it's time for everyone else to take notice.

Baffled by look-alike terms such as electronic health record, electronic medical record, and personal health record? A $500,000 federal study tries to clear things up.

Here's one more reason why the feds are pushing for a nationwide health information network--the ability to scour millions of electronic records and catch unexpected drug side effects as soon as possible.

A new study from the AC Group identifies seven EHR vendors that give you the most digital bang for your buck.

They're known in the financial industry as "catastrophe bonds," and they're one of those obscure investments that may be lurking in some of your mutual funds.

The IRS frowns on taxpayers who dump a losing investment to take a write-off, then turn around and repurchase it on the hope that it will reverse its fortunes.

Hospitals known as "safety net" facilities for the poor and uninsured are working with these patients in an attempt to prevent them from clogging busy EDs with their nonurgent needs, finds a new study from the Center for Studying Health System Change.

The long-term outlook for Social Security remains bleak, but the projected deficit has actually shrunk a little since last year's Board of Trustees report.

Georgia's $350,000 cap on noneconomic damages in malpractice cases gives doctors special protections that other professions don't enjoy, and is therefore unconstitutional.

Amoxicillin, lovastatin, propranolol, or tetracycline for 11 cents a day? That's roughly how much patients will pay for any of up to 350 generic drugs under Wal-Mart's new $10, 90-day prescription-drug program.

The new PHR from Google makes digital medicine as easy as online shopping.

A new patient has compiled a voluminous medical history using the new Google PHR, and he wants you to incorporate the data into your records. The American College of Physicians believes you should be compensated for that.

First, give physicians incentives to adopt EHRs. Then make their use compulsory. It's a game plan from an offshoot of the National Governors Association for promoting digital medicine on a state level.

Two recent studies suggest that many healthcare providers weren't ready when the May 23 deadline came to submit insurance claims with only the new National Provider Identifier. What's at stake is millions if not billions of dollars in rejected claims.

EHRs can be as specialized as the doctors who use them. That's why the CCHIT will begin putting its stamp of approval on programs geared toward child health and cardiovascular disease.

UnitedHealthcare is dropping four Houston-area physicians from its network for practicing concierge medicine while continuing to bill the insurer for their services.

Twenty-eight percent of medical practices still don't accept credit card payments, according to a survey by SK&A Information Services.

Angie's List, a website where visitors can read--and write--reviews about service providers, is adding healthcare practitioners to the mix of businesses it holds up to scrutiny.