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Health Inc. : Shots - Health News As spending on care rises, the business of health keeps getting more important. We feature news on and analysis of drugmakers, health insurers, hospitals, doctors and others in the business of providing health care.
Shots - Health News

Shots

Health News From NPR

Health Inc.

Tuesday

Tuesday

Thursday

Wal-Mart's Clarification On Health Care Leaves Room For Big Moves

Wal-Mart's Dr. John Agwunobi (left) said in a statement that the company won't be "building a national, integrated, low-cost primary care health care platform." Even so, the leaves plenty of room for the retailer to pursue an expansion of health care services at its stores. Cliff Owen/AP hide caption

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Cliff Owen/AP

Health Inc.

Wal-Mart's Clarification On Health Care Leaves Room For Big Moves

Even after downplaying some parts of a document requesting partners for future health care ventures, Wal-Mart's ambitions to do something bigger in providing medial services in its stores remains clear. The company is seeking help in managing chronic health conditions — from asthma to osteoporosis — that are among the most prevalent problems in the U.S.

Wednesday

Health Inc.

Wal-Mart Plans Expansion Into Medical Care

KFF Health News

The nation's biggest retailer is planning to offer a wide range of medical care in U.S. stores. A Wal-Mart document seeking partners for the effort says the company aims to become a major provider of primary care. Later, an executive with the retailer said the company document was "overwritten and incorrect."

Wal-Mart Plans Expansion Into Medical Care

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Tuesday

Unhappiest Hospital Patients Are In New York City, Chicago And Florida

Triage nurses screen patients in the ER waiting room at the University of Chicago Medical Center in Chicago in late 2010. Patients in Chicago were among those least satisfied with their hospital care. M. Spencer Green/AP hide caption

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M. Spencer Green/AP

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Unhappiest Hospital Patients Are In New York City, Chicago And Florida

KFF Health News

Patients in those places gave some of the lowest evaluations of their hospital stays, Medicare data show. The surveys asked patients how well their doctors and nurses communicated, whether their pain was always handled welland whether their rooms were clean and quiet.

Friday

Tuesday

Monday

Big-Name Drugs Are Falling Off The 'Patent Cliff'
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Big-Name Drugs Are Falling Off The 'Patent Cliff'

KFF Health News

Dozens of popular high-end pharmaceuticals — from Lipitor to Nexium to Plavix — are going off-patent in the coming months and years. That will lead to a big drop in drug costs. But analysts say that could be offset by a price increase in other areas.

Big-Name Drugs Are Falling Off The 'Patent Cliff'

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Wednesday

Thursday

Wednesday

Physicists Turn Smartphones Into Microscopes

The upper row of images shows blood samples through a traditional microscope. The bottom row shows the same samples imaged on a smartphone.

Courtesy of Sebastian Wachsmann-Hogiu and colleagues hide caption

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Courtesy of Sebastian Wachsmann-Hogiu and colleagues

Health Inc.

Physicists Turn Smartphones Into Microscopes

Physicists have found a way to turn a smartphone camera lens into a microscope and a spectrometer. They say both could be handy for doctors in remote areas with few laboratories who need to look at blood samples.

Monday

Shortages Lead Doctors To Ration Critical Drugs

Laura Zakhar connects her son, Kevin, 15, to the "feedbag" that contains his nutrition. Lately, Zakhar has had trouble getting the calcium solution Kevin needs, in part because hospitals have been reserving limited supplies for patients who need it even more desperately than he does. Elizabeth Larkin for NPR hide caption

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Elizabeth Larkin for NPR

Health Inc.

Shortages Lead Doctors To Ration Critical Drugs

Drug shortages may be the new normal in U.S. medical care, experts say. Most drug shortages occur because something goes wrong in the manufacturing process that halts production.

Shortages Lead Doctors To Ration Critical Drugs

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Tuesday

Employer Survey: Big Jump In Health Insurance Premiums
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Health Inc.

Employer Survey: Big Jump In Health Insurance Premiums

Premiums jumped by 9 percent this year, with the average price for employer-provided family coverage topping the $15,000 mark for the first time.

Employer Survey: Big Jump In Health Insurance Premiums

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Monday

Growth Of Children's Hospitals Raises Adult-Size Questions

Construction at the new Nemours Children's Hospital, at the medical city at Lake Nona, Fla., in late 2010. Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel hide caption

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Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel

Health Inc.

Growth Of Children's Hospitals Raises Adult-Size Questions

Most big children's hospitals are nonprofits, but you wouldn't know that looking at the bottom lines of many of them. They're pouring billions of dollars into new buildings, adding beds and equipment and staff at the same time Washington, the states and employers grapple with health care spending.

Monday

Watson, IBM's Quiz Show Champ, Moves Into Health Care

"Jeopardy!" contestants Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter compete against Watson at a press conference in January. Soon Watson could be giving answers to your doctor's questions. Ben Hider/Getty Images hide caption

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Ben Hider/Getty Images

Health Inc.

Watson, IBM's Quiz Show Champ, Moves Into Health Care

Health insurer WellPoint is signing up IBM's Watson, the mainframe computer outfitted with some nifty software to make human-like decisions in seconds. The computer will sift through medical data and patient information to make recommendations to doctors. IBM says it is Watson's first paying job.