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When the Health Blog Googled “flu” this morning, we were surprised to see an ad for the New York City Health Department show up at the top of the search results page. This is what it looked like:

So what’s a public-health agency doing buying search ads? We gave the health department a call to learn [...]

Here are some of the more interesting comments readers have left recently.
1. Dr. Grumpy on the art of medicine and electronic medical records:
I do use an EMR, but patient’s routinely tell me I’m good at listening. I think it’s an individual basis. Some doctors are technophiles, and put that first. That ain’t right. Some doctors [...]

Stanford’s Abraham Verghese challenges readers to solve his medical riddle, without using Google.
These exercises, when thought through, offer the student the opportunity to “formulate hypotheses, go to the book, research and eliminate possibilities . . . and come to the answer,” and can be a valuable learning experience.
But with the dawn of Google, many arcane [...]

By Matthew Holt I draw your attention to a troika of articles, all of which show how things can be slightly misinterpreted. First, who knew that Blackford Middleton was either the most influential health policy wonk out there, or single-handedly…

In the latest sign that drug marketers continue to struggle with advertising rules in the online world, the FDA sent this warning letter to J&J, advising the company that an online video for its pain drug Ultram ER “omits and minimzed the serious risks of the drug.”
The letter also says the video claims benefits for [...]

It’s not good enough simply to have a web presence.
Patients are searching for doctors, medical practices and hospitals via search engines, like Google, so whether or not you’re found on the first page can make a significant impact on the number of patients you see.
Furthermore, it’s in your best interest to have some control on [...]

By Matthew Holt For those of you who weren’t at Health 2.0 Meets Ix to hear from the mouths of the four horsemen (Halamka, Sands, Zeiger & deBronkhart) here is Google’s Roni Zeiger’s version of what went wrong with the…

Today is Samuel F.B. Morse’s birthday. Check out the Google home page for a very creative reminder of that fact.
Mr. Morse’s patent number 1,647, “Improvement in the Mode of Communicating…

Personal health records have been in the news lately, with the focus on how inaccurate they can be.
Should patients have complete access to medical records at their physician’s office or hospital?
Primary care doctor Rob Lamberts offers some thoughts on the subject. There are some parts of the record that patients shouldn’t read. “What if [...]

It’s never too early to plan for next year’s taxes. Let’s say you’re thinking about doing some energy-saving home improvements soon and want to know what federal tax credits are available and how they work. How would you find out?  
You might try the IRS website. I did but, unfortunately, couldn’t find any information about [...]