PURPOSE The authors analyzed online consumer health information related to screening tests to see how well this information meets known standards for supporting the understanding of test uncertainty. SETTING/SUBJECTS MedlinePlus documents regarding maternal serum screening (6), prostate-specific antigen testing (6), and screening mammography (6) were analyzed. METHODOLOGY The content of the...

One of the most important aspects of consumer health information services and programs is the emphasis on best practices. As a consumer health librarian, I am always looking for successful examples of services and programs that I can offer to the patients and families of my hospital. This book is an invaluable resource for consumer health librarians, especially those who are solo, as I am. I us...

This overview discusses articles published in this issue of the Health Care Financing Review, entitled "Consumer Information in a Changing Health Care System." The overview describes several trends promoting more active consumer participation in health decisions and how consumer information facilitates that role. Major issues in developing consumer information are presented, stressing how orien...

Today’s public discourse on the digitization of healthcare has moved beyond the potential transformational effects of artifacts such as electronic health records to a vision of the future where IT enables the practice and delivery of medicine to be increasingly personalized, in much the same way as products and services are customized to the needs and preferences of consumers in commercial doma...

Firms are collecting more information about their customers than ever before in an attempt to understand and better serve customer needs. At the same time, firms are becoming more vulnerable to the compromise of customer information through security breaches. This study attempts to associate breach reports with the decline in market value of firms using an event study. The results show that fir...