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It is well documented that our health-care system has grave problems, but how, in only a matter of decades, did things get this bad? Dr. Elisabeth Rosenthal doesn't just explain the symptoms; she diagnoses and treats the disease itself. Rosenthal spells out in clear and practical terms exactly how to decode medical doublespeak, avoid the pitfalls of the pharmaceuticals racket, and get the care you and your family deserve. She takes you inside the doctor-patient relationship, explaining step by step the workings of a profession sorely lacking transparency.

A hospital administrator recently talked to us about an issue that is all too common for patients: missed medical appointments. The story was about a woman named Mary (a pseudonym), a patient with a painful chronic condition who continually failed to keep her regular appointments.

The capabilities of artificial intelligence have fascinated human beings for decades. Advancements in the years following the Second World War provided fodder for science fiction writers, as well as computer scientists as they examined what a world filled with artificially intelligent machines might look like. Early imaginings in this area were often strange and exaggerated because the minds that imagined them came from a world were machines were little more than extensions of the human beings that controlled them. 

The United States stands at a crossroads as it struggles with how to pay for health care. The fee-for-service system, the dominant payment model in the US and many other countries, is now widely recognized as perhaps the single biggest obstacle to improving health care delivery.

In The Performance of Medicine, Dr. Bob Baker offers practical strategies and techniques that physicians and other practitioners can implement easily and immediately to give patients the best possible experience with no additional expenditure of time. An internist/gastroenterologist with 35 years of private practice experience, as well as a professional magician/ventriloquist with 50 years of live performance experience, Dr. Baker seamlessly weaves the techniques he used to garner top reviews from his patients and audiences alike. His audiobook is practical, warm, and humorous. 

In the years leading up to 2009, Intel tried a number of popular approaches to tame its soaring health care costs. To encourage employees and their families to be more involved in the purchase of their care and aware of its actual cost, the company implemented “consumer-driven health care” offerings such as higher-deductible plans with lower premiums, tax-advantaged accounts, and tiered-provider options.

Healthcare has changed immensely over the past few generations - house calls from a local family doctor are a thing of the past, and the deeply personal relationships and bonds between provider and patient are eroding with the demands of for-profit insurance. As a family practitioner focused on cradle-to-grave care, author Barb Regis has a valuable perspective on how patients can experience better outcomes.

Lessons from one of the world's most productive and profitable research facilities.

Ben Mattlin lives a normal, independent life. Why is that interesting? Because Mattlin was born with spinal muscular atrophy, a congenital weakness from which he was expected to die in childhood. Not only did Mattlin live through childhood, he became one of the first students in a wheelchair to attend Harvard, from which he graduated and became a professional writer. His advantage?