Patients find plenty of health information on line, but not all of it is reliable

The Internet has no equal as an information storehouse. The trick is to know how to get right to a source of useful information and not waste time on Web sites that are biased, trying to sell you something or just plain wrong.

Marvin M. Lipman, Consumers Union's chief medical adviser, recalls having a patient who made a Google search and somehow settled on an abdominal aortic aneurysm (a worrisome bulge in the body's main blood vessel) as the logical explanation for his midback pain. No reassuring on Lipman's part eased the patient's apprehension. It took a sonogram to convince him he wasn't at death's door.

Lipman had another patient who was referred to him after her primary-care physician told her she had Graves' disease (an overactive thyroid). She arrived for her appointment armed with computer printouts of useful, accurate information and fully prepared to discuss the pros and cons of treatment options for her problem.

via washingtonpost.com

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HealthCare.gov (Healthcare Reform, Affordable Care Act)

Your Rights and Protections Under the Affordable Care Ac... 

By Richard Sorian, Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs

Under the new health care law, you will see an end to some of the worst abuses of the insurance industry. New rules will put you – not your insurance company – in control of your health care.…Continue Reading →

Myths vs. Facts: Repeal Would Be Bad for Americans’ Heal... 

By Richard Sorian, Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs

You may have read in today’s New York Times that the health care law enacted nine months ago is in jeopardy. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Let’s take these issues one at a time and talk about facts.

Making Living Independently A Reality for People with Di... 

By Henry Claypool, Director of the Office on Disability

Many Americans with disabilities face challenges in accessing the fundamental right to determine where and how they want to live their lives. Thanks to a new inter-agency partnership, more people living with disabilities will have that choice.

Keeping an Eye on Proposed Premium Hikes  

By Jenny Backus, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs

via healthcare.gov

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More Patients Making Appointments Online As Doctors Embrace Web - Kaiser Health News

After relocating to Washington, D.C., Clint Morrison needed a doctor to follow up a tonsillectomy he had a few weeks earlier in California. But when he started calling specialists in his health plan’s directory, he struck out: they either weren't taking new patients or had no openings for several weeks.  

So in September Morrison went to a website called www.zocdoc.com. He could see doctors' appointment calendars and identify those that took his insurance and were located near his office. With a couple clicks, Morrison, 24, scheduled an appointment for the next day with Mark Dettelbach, an ear, nose and throat doctor. "It was painless," Morrison says of the experience.

Dettelbach's group practice is one of a growing number that allow patients to schedule appointments online — eliminating multiple calls, waiting on hold and increasing the likelihood of finding someone with an opening.

About 16 percent of family doctors used online scheduling in 2009, up from 6 percent in 2005, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians. Most are doing it on their own or through health systems where they work.

Several factors drive the trend. On the doctors' side, it's mostly the need to add patients and reduce overhead costs. They're also growing more comfortable with computers. About half of family doctors use electronic health records and 44 percent prescribe electronically, according to the academy.

via kaiserhealthnews.org

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