“Institute of Medicine” on The Daily Caller

Following a decision by the Department of Health and Human Services to mandate health insurance coverage of contraception and abortion-inducing medications, researchers for Human Life International told The Daily Caller that they have uncovered evidence of bias in the recommendation process. (more)

A recent Institute of Medicine (IOM) report calls for expanding the authority of nurses to practice medicine and for increasing their pay. Besides helping a loyal unionized constituency, the report claims that allowing nurses to do more can alleviate the physician shortage. In reality this will likely have the exact opposite effect by disincentivizing individuals from becoming medical doctors in the first place. Thereby, rather than improving patient access to physicians, these recommendations will make the problem even worse. (more)

A new report by the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council says the U.S. Food and Drug Administration isn’t able to deal with the nation’s food supply problems. Scientists from the two groups called on Congress to grant the FDA more authority to prevent food-borne illnesses rather than simply react to them. (more)

What a great time to be a bureaucrat. Under President Obama’s leadership, they’re everywhere these days—in charge of things and with freedom of access to people’s personal information they never dreamed of having. Health care treatment records? Check. Insurance records? Of course. ATM records for average citizens, without needing a pesky subpoena? You got it. (more)

The discovery of anti-infective agents such as antibiotics, antifungals, antivirals, and antibacterials in the 1930s and 1940s represents a transformative moment in human history. They have made an invaluable contribution to the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases. Since their introduction, anti-infectives have revolutionized healthcare and saved millions of lives. Unfortunately, over time, bacterium inevitably develops resistance to existing drugs, making infections difficult if not impossible to treat. (more)