FROM THE FOUNDATION

The Social Life of Health Information

A new Pew Internet/CHCF national survey finds the Internet has joined doctors and family members as one of the top three ways people search for answer to their health care questions.

Evaluating One-e-App

CHCF and The California Endowment funded the development of One-e-App, a Web-based program that enables users to apply for multiple public insurance programs at once. Read a business case assessment by The Lewin Group.

Privacy, Security, and the Stimulus Bill

The recently enacted economic stimulus legislation includes a number of improvements to federal health privacy law. This brief looks at issues of privacy and security in the wake of ARRA.

Consumer Information

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

HealthGrades Adds Prescription Drugs to Consumer Rating Tool

HealthGrades on Wednesday announced it will expand its online health care facilities and services grading tool to include information and ratings of prescription medications, Dow Jones reports.

The new program will feature information on 4,345 prescription medications, including which drugs are most commonly prescribed and whether use of a certain drug is increasing or decreasing.

Users of the tool, which will be available on the HealthGrades Web site, also can access information on efficacy, tolerance, side effects, safety warnings, and cost and availability of generic versions. The information is based on data from First DataBank.

Samantha Collier, chief medical officer at HealthGrades, said, "As patients' out-of-pocket costs continue to climb, access to credible information on the cost benefit of medical treatments is imperative."

Collier added that an objective of the new ratings program is to educate patients to help them discuss treatment options with their physicians (Knight, Dow Jones, 5/14).



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