New Prescription: How to Get the Best Health Care an owner's manual for health cost advice

By April MacIntyre May 2, 2011, 19:23 GMT

Dr. Cynthia Haines, with the help of health writer, Eric Metcalf, M.P.H, shows readers how to take back responsibility for their health care, find the right allies, make sound healthcare choices, and shop for the best treatments.

There's an affordable book out there that helps any consumer navigate the minefields of health care expenses, including insurance premiums.

According to Dr. Cynthia Haines, Chief Medical Officer of HealthDay News and President of Haines Medical Communications, Inc., about $700 billion of the annual healthcare tab in the United States is wasted on factors such as unnecessary care, medical mistakes, preventable conditions, and lack of coordination between health providers.

Her new book, The New Prescription: How to Get the Best Health Care in a Broken System, reveals the biggest problems with a medical system gone off the rails, opening readers' eyes about how to better navigate the changes underway. Using solid research and insiders' insights, the book gives cost-effective and potentially life-saving ways to get more out of health care while using less of it.

Tip: Keep yourself in check, your weight, drinking, smoking, stress and activity. The onus is on you to stay well. Your health is your wealth.

“The New Prescription contains hundreds of practical tips for improving the medical care you receive while saving thousands of dollars each year,” says Art Ulene, MD, a health educator and former NBC TODAY Show “family doctor.”  “Dr. Haines' approach puts you in the driver's seat, and this book provides a reliable ‘navigator’ to guide you through our complex and confusing medical ‘system.’ ”

Dr. Cynthia Haines, with the help of health writer, Eric Metcalf, M.P.H, shows readers how to take back responsibility for their health care, find the right allies, make sound healthcare choices, and shop for the best treatments.

How do we know the difference between the problems that the healthcare system can and cannot change? Dr. Haines and Metcalf teach us:

    * How to avoid misdiagnosis and costly tests we don’t really need
    * Cost-effective ways to prevent and treat the most common and expensive diseases and symptoms
    * How to find the right primary-care physician—a proven ally to simplify our care and lower health-care costs
    * Which conditions allow for a wait-and-see approach and which require proactive steps

The New Prescription: How to Get the Best Health Care in a Broken System by Cynthia Haines, M.D., and Eric Metcalf, M.P.H., published by HCI Books, is a 288-page paperback retailing for $14.95. Available now for pre-order on AMAZON