Andy Lazris, MD, is a practicing primary care physician who experiences the effects of Medicare policy on a daily basis. As a result, he believes that the way we care for our elderly has taken a wrong turn and that Medicare is complicit in creating the very problems it seeks to solve. Aging is not a disease to be cured; it is a life stage to be lived. Lazris argues that aggressive treatments cannot change that fact but only get in the way and decrease quality of life. Unfortunately, Medicare's payment structure and rules deprive the elderly of the chance to pursue less aggressive care, which often yields the most humane and effective results. Medicare encourages and will pay more readily for hospitalization than for palliative and home care. It encourages and pays for high-tech assaults on disease rather than for the primary care that can make a real difference in the lives of the elderly.Lazris offers straightforward solutions to ensure Medicare’s solvency through sensible cost-effective plans that do not restrict patient choice or negate the doctor-patient relationship. Using both data and personal stories, he shows how Medicare needs to change in structure and purpose as the population ages, the physician pool becomes more specialized, and new medical technology becomes available. Curing Medicare demonstrates which medical interventions (medicines, tests, procedures) work and which can be harmful in many common conditions in the elderly; the harms and benefits of hospitalization; the current culture of long-term care; and how Medicare often promotes care that is ineffective, expensive, and contrary to what many elderly patients and their families really want.

This is a three-part epic journey of Jewish History told through the voice of Yadel, a Roman Jew who lives through history and promotes Hannukah across the world and across time.

Yadel lives during the most tumultuous time in Jewish history during the Jewish Revolts against Rome, and in that setting he mingles with some of the more famous and infamous Jews and Romans, helping forge a new path of Judaism after the Temple's destruction, one that we still live with today.

Funny, poignant, and relevant to today, Yadel brings humor and pathos to the fate of the Jewish people, taking us on a journey with the Jews as they suffer through pogroms, massacres, and discrimination even as they hold onto their spirit and the eternal light of hope that Yadel believes emanated from Hannukah. Along with his friend Clausius (aka Santa) and his eternal love, Yoshen, Yadel brings joy to the plight of his people.

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This timely guide to communication in patient-centered medicine argues for greater clarity in explaining health risks versus benefits of an array of screening tests, procedures, and drug regimens. It reviews the growing trend toward patients' involvement in their own care, particularly in terms of chronic conditions, and details approaches physicians can use to prepare patients (and themselves) for collaborative decision-making based on informed choices and clear, meaningful knowledge. Chapters apply this lens to a wide range of common interventions as contentious as estrogen replacement therapy and antibiotics, and as widely prescribed as the daily aspirin and the annual physical. With this goal in mind, the authors also introduce an innovative decision-making tool that translates risks and benefits into a clear graphic format for fewer chances of miscommunication or misunderstanding.

Among the topics covered:

• Involving the patient in decision making.
• Towards a universal decision aid.
• BRCT: the Benefit/Risk Characterization Theater.
• Breast Cancer Screening—Mammograms.
• Prostate Cancer Screening.
• Colon cancer screening with colonoscopy.
• Screening for and treating dementia.
• Statins, cholesterol, and coronary heart disease.

Physicians in family and internal medicine will find Interpreting Health Benefits and Risks: A Practical Guide to Facilitate Doctor- Patient Communication a valuable resource for communicating with patients and new possibilities for working toward their better health and health education.

This book considers several common and important situations where faulty decision-making makes overtreatment a serious risk. Clear, fair, referenced, and useful information is provided. And a powerful intuitive technique is introduced which allows patient and doctor to talk as equals as they work together in the exam room. The authors emphasize that some patients who have been fully educated will still accept high risks of harm for a small chance of avoiding premature death. But as this book is accepted and its ideas and technique are extended, I feel sure that net harm to patients will be curtailed. And what is more, the integrity of the decision-making process will be improved.

—Thomas Finucane, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine