Durably improving health is really, really hard. I've discussed this in the context of drug discovery, which must contend with the ever-more-apparent reality that biology is incredibly complex, and science remarkably fragile. Here, I'd like to focus on another challenge: measuring and improving the quality of patient care.

Scott Gottlieb reviews Eric Topol's book on how medical innovation will coalesce to change clinical practice and what the coming changes mean for today's policy debates.

Ronald Reagan would probably recognize, and approve of, aspects of Sarah Palin's political persona, especially since virtually all the criticisms of Palin were lobbed at Ronald Reagan before and during his time in the White House.

Effective competition can change the culture of entitlement that drives patients and providers to demand more without regard to the impact on our ability to finance other pressing social needs.

A "money only" debate about Medicaid would be an exercise in futility and--more tragically--would trap the most vulnerable people in our society in a hopelessly broken system.

Psychiatry has transformed normal sorrow into depressive disorders due to the uncertainty of the true workings of the brain.

The future of medicine lies in DNA chips, supercomputers, and new drugs, not embryo research, tissue transplants, or stem cells.

What in the writings of Alexis de Tocqueville could conceivably be thought to offer any guidance for the study of contemporary China?