Getting in to see a primary-care doctor at Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women’s hospitals has for years been notoriously hard, with many popular practices closed to new patients. But now, reflecting dramatic shifts in health care, the prestigious hospitals are paying doctors more if they agree to accept new patients. Timothy Ferris, HMS associate professor of medicine, Katherine Sakmar, HMS instructor in medicine and Patricia Gibbons, HMS instructor in medicine, all of Massachusetts General Hospital, are quoted.
The New York Times ran an editorial about a new study on electronic medical records led by Danny McCormick, HMS assistant professor of medicine at Cambridge Health Alliance.
A man likes to know when his wife or girlfriend is happy, but a woman wants the man in her life to know when she is upset, U.S. researchers found. Shiri Cohen, HMS instructor in psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital, is the lead author of the study.
The HMS Center for Primary Care announced it will contribute $5 million to a new project designed to transform primary care. A number of HMS-affiliated primary care practices and community health centers will receive the funds, and will also commit $5 million of their own, in total, to the initiative. David Bates, one of three co-interim directors of the Center for Primary Care, is quoted.
Many people occasionally get drowsy while working, but airline pilots are more prone to getting sleepy on the job, according to a new poll by the National Sleep Foundation. Sanjay Patel, HMS lecturer on medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, is quoted.
Computerized patient records are unlikely to cut health care costs and may actually encourage doctors to order expensive tests more often, a new study concludes. Danny McCormick, HMS assistant professor of medicine at Cambridge Health Alliance, is the lead author of the study. David H. Bor, the Charles S. Davidson Associate Professor of Medicine at Cambridge Health Alliance, is a co-author. David Blumenthal, the Samuel O. Thier Professor of Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, is also quoted.
A child from New Hampshire was selected to try out an experimental device called an artificial or “bionic” pancreas at Massachusetts General Hospital. Steven Russell, HMS instructor in medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, is quoted.
Butterflies and bees are some of the only magnetically-aware organisms in the world. That was, until researchers from the Wyss Institute and HMS put a twist on yeast and made it magnetic. Pam Silver, the Elliott T. and Onie H. Adams Professor of Biochemistry and Systems Biology, was the principal investigator and Keiji Nishida, HMS research fellow in systems biology, was the first author.
Jeffrey S. Flier, dean of the faculty of medicine at HMS and the deans of the BU School of Medicine, Tufts University School of Medicine and University of Massachusetts Medical School, authored an op-ed about the importance of National Institutes of Health supported medical research.
In designing the concentration Human Developmental and Regenerative Biology at Harvard, particular attention was paid to the way stem cell research and its applications could best be taught to undergraduates. David Scadden and Doug Melton, co-directors of the Department of Stem Cell & Regenerative Biology at Harvard, are highlighted.
A new ranking system implemented by Medicare, aimed at identifying hospitals with patient safety risks, is generating complaints from HMS teaching hospitals that these assessments provide inadequate representations of the quality of care. Gregg S. Meyer, HMS lecturer on medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and Kenneth E. F. Sands, HMS associate professor of medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, are quoted.
Prevention trials for vitamins and supplements are notoriously difficult, but some researchers aren’t giving up on finding proof that vitamin D helps ward off disease. JoAnn Manson, the Michael and Lee Bell Professor of Women’s Health at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, is quoted.
