Medicare changes up for grabs, 1-2-12, The News and Observer/Associated Press

AP writer Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar examines the legislative debate over changes needed in the Medicare program.

Missing in medicine, 1-3-12, The News and Observer

Burlington physician and NCMS member R.S. Cline, MD, writes about what he sees as the loss of physical diagnosis in the physician-patient relationship. Dr. Cline’s letter was prompted by an article (As Doctors Use More Devices, Potential for Distraction Grows, by Matt Richtel) originally published in The New York Times (12-14-11) and reprinted in The News and Observer (12-20-11).

How to get fit and stay well this year, 1-2-12, Charlotte Observer

Columnist and health writer Karen Garloch offers readers tips for a healthier lifestyle, with quotes from NCMS members and physician assistants Jim Hill, PA-C, emergency department at Carolinas Medical Center-University in Charlotte, and Megan Smith, PA-C, Southern Piedmont Primary Care in Monroe;

U.S. hospital death rates may mislead, 1-4-12, United Press International

UPI story about a Yale School of Medicine study on the use of hospital death rates to assess hospital quality.