Don’t select your plastic surgeon based solely on their Instagram posts. That feels like something we shouldn’t have to tell people, but the “bad idea”-ness of it all is being highlighted by a new report which found that fewer than 20% of cosmetic surgery posts on Instagram are from board-certified plastic surgeons. [More]
doctors
Goop Suggests Its Critics Are Seeking Attention, Might Just Be Jealous
By 7.14.17
Gwyneth Paltrow’s “modern lifestyle brand” Goop offers customers a range of tips, tricks, and products to make their lives better and healthier, but these products and recommendations are often met with criticism from doctors, scientists, and even NASA astronauts, one of which recently called BS on the site’s claim that “healing stickers” contained the same material as space suits. But all of that criticism appears to be getting to the company, as it recently singled out a doctor who calls out the site on her blog. [More]
As America’s Malls Wither, Medical Facilities Move In
By 6.19.17
If you’re looking to open a new medical facility — not just a couple of exam rooms and a reception area, but a proper clinic — you want something affordable, spacious, brightly lit, with good parking, and a central, convenient location. Thanks to the ongoing retail apocalypse, there are dead or dying malls around the country that fit this bill. [More]
Pediatricians Call On Mylan To Make EpiPens More Affordable
By 8.26.16
Following reports on the skyrocketing cost of the EpiPen emergency allergy treatment, drugmaker Mylan has been heavily criticized for putting profit over patients. Even the recent expansion of its savings card program has been slammed as being more beneficial to Mylan than it is for consumers. Now, the nation’s largest group of pediatricians are calling on the company to rethink its pricing of the drug. [More]
6 Things To Know About Why Health Care System Turns Blind Eye To Doctors Accused Of Sexual Assault
By 7.20.16
As we learned earlier this year, it can be extremely difficult — and sometimes impossible — to find information about doctors that have been disciplined by their state medical boards for things like sexual misconduct, overprescribing controlled substances, and various other documented examples of unprofessional or dangerous doctoring. Now, a new report suggests that one reason we might not be able to obtain information related to doctor sexual misconduct is because many cases go unreported, and even in when assaults are reported, they can result in no action being taken against the doctor. [More]
One Free Meal From A Pharma Sales Rep May Be Enough To Change Doctors’ Prescribing Habits
By 6.23.16
Your physician may have any number of degrees, honors, certifications, and other framed pieces of paper mounted to their office walls, but does any of that make them less susceptible to a glad-handing pharmaceutical sales rep who comes armed with some reading materials, free samples, and a lunch charged to their expense account? [More]
Some Health Providers Are Sharing Patients’ Info Online In Reaction To Bad Yelp Reviews
By 5.27.16
Now that we live in a world where it seems everything can be rated — from your restaurant experience to your root canal — privacy issues are popping up in unexpected places. Like in health care providers’ responses to negative reviews from patients on Yelp, for example. [More]
Report: 30% Of Antibiotic Prescriptions Are Unnecessary
By 5.3.16
While the beef, pork, and poultry industries have been heavily criticized for using the large majority of antibiotics sold in the U.S. to fatten up their animals, that doesn’t mean that American physicians are being terribly judicious about the antimicrobials they prescribe. A new report shines a light on just how many antibiotic prescriptions are unnecessary, increasing the risk of developing drug-resistant superbugs. [More]
From Malpractice To Doctoring Under The Influence, You’ll Have A Difficult Time Finding Your Physician’s Disciplinary History
By 3.29.16
Thousands of doctors are investigated and disciplined for egregious errors and ethics violations by their state medical boards each year. While the chances are that your doctor isn’t one of them, you’d have a difficult time actually finding that out. [More]
6 Things We Learned About Pharma Payments To Doctors & Name-Brand Prescriptions
By 3.18.16
In news that really isn’t at all surprising — despite repeated denials from medical professionals — a new report found that doctors’ prescription habits are often influenced by the payments they receive from pharmaceutical and device makers. [More]
Pediatricians: Raise Smoking Age To 21, Ban Flavored Tobacco, Restrict E-Cig Sales
By 10.26.15
Even though the percentage of smokers in the U.S. has been slashed by more than half over the last 50 years, smoking is still the leading preventable cause of death in the country. The American Academy of Pediatrics believes there are a number of steps that should be taken in order to prevent people from picking up the habit in the first place. [More]
![An example of the new statistics users can find for health facilities on Yelp. [via Yelp]](../../consumermediallc.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/6a00d83452b44469e201b7c7b9a08c970b-800wi.png?w=300&h=225&crop=1)
Yelp Adds Hospital Wait Times, Nursing Home Fine Info To Reviews
By 8.5.15
When a trip to the emergency room is in order, you’re usually in a hurry, because, after all, it’s an emergency. Sitting around waiting to be seen by a doctor can be an agonizing experience for those in need of quick help. While Yelp can’t hurry along those doctors, it can apparently tell you just how long you might expect to be camped out in the hospital E.R. [More]
Group Of Doctors Want Dr. Oz Removed From Columbia Medical Faculty For Promoting “Quack Treatments”
By 4.17.15
Citing what they call repeated “disdain for science and for evidence-based medicine,” a group of physicians has written a letter to Columbia University asking it to remove TV’s Dr. Mehmet Oz from his faculty position there. [More]
Urgent Care Clinics Move In To Malls, And Landlords Really Like Them
By 1.9.15 — Updated: 2.7.17
Sometimes you need a sprained ankle bandaged or a sore ear looked at outside of the hours that your primary health care provider is open. Where do you go when that happens? In a growing number of communities, you can head to the mall, where small urgent care clinics are setting up in that storefront where Blockbuster used to be. [More]
Google Reportedly Testing Telemedicine Service To Give Consumers Basic Medical Information
By 10.13.14
Soon you might not have to leave the couch to find out whether or not your feverish symptoms could be related to food poisoning. While we’re not sure of all the particulars, Google is reportedly dipping its toes into the telemedicine waters. [More]
Report: Billing Errors, Varying Procedure Costs Create Environment For Excessive Medical Debt
By 10.8.14
Making a trip to the doctor undoubtedly leaves many consumers’ wallets a little (or a lot) lighter. While some people going in for planned medical procedures might seek out doctors covered under their insurance to help alleviate out-of-pocket costs, a new report found that even with advances in medical policy consumers are feeling the burden of medical debt. [More]
Most Doctors Still Prescribing Antibiotics When They’re Not Supposed To
By 5.21.14
Acute bronchitis is generally a result of any number of viruses, meaning that antibiotics won’t work. This is not news to the medical or scientific community, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been trying for 15 years to get doctors to stop the knee-jerk practice of prescribing antibiotics for the disease. And yet, a new study finds that some 70% of physicians are still telling patients to take drugs that don’t work. [More]
Pediatricians: Don’t Take Your Kids To Retail Clinics For Primary Care
By 2.24.14
Sometimes you can’t get your child an appointment at the pediatrician’s office, or maybe you don’t like the idea of sitting in an emergency room for hours on end. While many parents turn to retail-based health clinics on an as-needed basis — like those at CVS, Walgreen’s or Kroger — the country’s largest group of pediatricians is warning parents not to rely solely on those clinic’s for a child’s primary care. [More]
