By next year, about two-thirds of American physicians will be working as salaried employees of large groups and hospitals. This movement has been underway for years. Over the last decade, the number of independent physicians was falling by about 2% a year. But these trends are now accelerating. 

Monday's release of the annual Medicare Trustees' report seems on the face of things to be a simple exercise in dry accounting – trust fund x will run out of money in year y.  In fact, it's much more than that.  It's an annual reminder that we are...

Last month, the Drug Enforcement Administration abruptly revoked the narcotics license held by the distributor Cardinal Health, preventing that firm from shipping prescription pain drugs to thousands of Florida pharmacies and hospitals. It's the latest tactic in the DEA's struggle to stem the illicit use of prescription painkillers like OxyContin and Vicodin.

Under the Obama healthcare plan, Medicine is undergoing industrialization as doctors become owned commodities of large hospitals and health plans.

How a forced stand-off between two groups who have equal and opposing claims on the outcome could have been avoided entirely.

By next year, 60 percent of America's practicing doctor's will be salaried employees of hospitals or health plans--an industry shift that will not be easily unwound.

Knowing where all our ingredients come from is the first step toward improving drug quality.