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If we do a book on public health, we should consider topics related to public health spending policy, like this one.

"What we've seen is this federal money really has made a big difference," said lead study author Julia Adler-Milstein, an assistant professor in the U-M School of Information and School of Public Health. [The big problem will occur] ". . after the government grant money runs out in January 2014." A full 74 percent of the exchange programs reported that they're struggling to develop a sustainable business model. Over the years, some organizations have closed their doors when grants ended. Adler-Milstein offers one explanation why: "The health care providers are not willing to pay for the service at the level needed," she said. "They don't see enough value, and that's because much of it doesn't accrue to them. It goes to patients and to health insurance companies. The central challenge is that the incentives and the business model are not aligned yet for this to really work."

Ironically, licensing statutes are enacted based on the states' constitutional power to protect the health, safety and welfare of the public. Yet these CAM practice acts actually increase public vulnerability to unsafe and ineffective health care practices.... 1. Practice acts grant CAM practitioners a broad scope of practice, including legalization of scientifically implausible and unproven (or disproven) diagnostic methods, diagnoses and treatments.

The federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's Questions to Ask Your Doctor campaign is based on the idea that doctors "know a lot about a lot of things, but they don't always know everything about you or what is best for you." The website offers a list of 10 general questions you should ask, along with questions to ask before, during, and after appointments. It also has an interactive page that lets you build your own list of questions. The independent, nonprofit Joint Commission accredits more than 20,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States. Its Speak Up Initiatives offer free brochures and videos to help make the most out of visits to the doctor.

"Mobile health" (mHealth) -- might make a good new topic?

New 5-year global health initiative 

"If you decide to dive into the data, be aware-especially if you have private insurance (not Medicare)-that appearances can be deceiving. It may look like Hospital A charges more than Hospital B, but that may not be so. Your insurer and Hospital may have actually agreed on a lower payment. So the data don't necessarily say what your insurance company is actually going to pay."

Another potential public health topic

Another possible public health policy topic.

"Public insurance makes a real difference in the health of children. Those who are covered are significantly more likely to have a usual source of care than those who are uninsured, which is strongly associated with better outcomes. "The Affordable Care Act (ACA) changes Medicaid into a universal program for all people, children and adults alike, in families with incomes below 138 percent of the federal poverty line. This is not an insignificant change. About half of the more than 30 million currently uninsured who are expected to get coverage under the ACA will do so through the Medicaid expansion. Many of the people who will get coverage are parents. . . . "Although a debate might continue in the political sphere, the evidence is quite clear that expansion of the program has many benefits for states and their low-income residents. . . ."

"Because rare but potentially serious adverse events of prescription drugs are often discovered only after market approval, observational postmarketing studies constitute an important part of the U.S. drug safety system," write Kevin Fain, J.D., M.P.H., of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, and colleagues.

More than 50 countries look set to miss both millennium development goal targets for cutting mortality rates for young children and mothers by the 2015 deadline, according to a report

New guidelines for preventing stroke in women. 

Full article is here: http://dx.doi.org/10.1161/01.str.0000442009.06663.48 FAQ: http://blog.heart.org/preventing-stroke-in-women-frequently-asked-questions/

How food, and its component molecules, affect the body is largely a mystery. That makes the use of supplements for anything other than treating a deficiency questionable. Despite this one study, you should still consider eating fish and other seafood as a healthy strategy. . . . [I]t's more than likely that you need the entire orchestra of fish fats, vitamins, minerals, and supporting molecules, rather than the lone notes of EPA and DHA.

Plumpy'nut is a ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF), which means that it can be safely administered at home by anyone, not just by a doctor or nurse in a hospital. The paste is shelf-stable for 24 months, does not need to be refrigerated, and requires no special equipment. Plumpy'nut is more effective than both traditional IV treatments and F-100 in promoting weight gain in children[2]. Two or three 92g packets a day of the sweet stuff can bring a severely underweight child to a healthy weight range in three to six weeks. In some regions, Plumpy'nut treatments boast a 90 percent success rate. The paste has been embraced wholeheartedly by humanitarian organizations like UNICEF, WHO, and the World Food Programme (WFP), which buy thousands of tons of Plumpy'nut each year.