America’s Health Rankings

The United Health Foundation has established a methodology of ranking each state by various health factors. The methodology examines health determinant measures such as: the prevalence of smoking, motor vehicle deaths, obesity rates, rates of high school graduation, health insurance coverage, and measures of violent crime and poverty. Health outcome measures are also employed. These…

Adding more time to your day

Getting more done in less time is the key to a productive day. Working efficiently is important for not just graduate students, but anyone who has to manage many tasks at once. The “All-but-dissertation Survival Guide” gives a few good pointers. Five Secrets to Add More Time to your Day, by Carrie Silver-Stock, MSW, LCSW…

Legislating your diet

Today, the New York City Board of Health has decided to ban artificial trans fats at city restaurants.  The New York Times (“…Trans Fats“) reports that “Trans fats are believed to be harmful because they contribute to heart disease by raising bad cholesterol and lowering good cholesterol at the same time. Some experts say that…

The beneficial effect of State intervention…

An interesting quotation from A.V. Dicey‘s Law and Public Opinion in England regarding the role of the State in society. “The beneficial effect of State intervention, especially in the form of legislation, is direct, immediate, and so to speak, visible, whilst its evil effects are gradual and indirect, and lie out of sight…Nor…do most people…

Physician licensure and quality: Part VII

One final example of licensure’s impact on quality is given by a 1978 study of the quality of contact lens fitting.  The study looked at 502 households who had been fitted for contacted lenses in the previous three years and were still wearing contacts.  The study was conducted with the cooperation of the American Academy…