The Health Tools portion of the AARP website addresses questions about Medicare, drug interactions, and where to find cheaper medicines. There is even a "Doughnut Hole Calculator" for those visitors with Medicare Part D who are worried about a coverage gap. The "Pill Identifier" tool helps visitors avoid medication mix-ups, by allowing for searches by "imprint", "shape", or "color" of the...

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) was originally created in December 1989, with the directive to "support research designed to improve the quality, safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of health care for all Americans." With a budget of close to $270 million, the AHRQ disburses 80 percent of those monies as grants and contracts to researchers at universities and other research...

Founded in 1898, the American Hospital Association (AHA) is the national umbrella organization that represents a wide range of hospitals and health care networks. While some of the site’s contents are designed for health care professionals and executives, the general public and some scholars will find some of the features, such as their quarterly reports on the latest in hospital trends, quite...

Anatomy truly gets interactive via these collection of fun and engaging games, videos, and other multimedia excursions. The site was created by Ben Crossett, a science teacher in Australia. Several years ago, he decided to craft some new resources like "Poke a Muscle" and "Whack-A-Bone" that would be both entertaining and educational. Visitors can look at the Games By Body System to get started,...

Student Debt Grows Dramatically http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204731804574388682129316614.html?mod=rss_com_mostcommentart Myth-Busting: The Value of College http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/03/myth-busting-the-value-of-college/?hp LI Colleges gearing up for swine flu http://www.newsday.com/sports/college/li-colleges-gearing-up-for-swine-flu-1.1428581 Stover at...

Created in 1997, the Office of Public Health Genomics (OPHG) was established "to integrate genomics into public health research, policy, and programs, which could improve interventions designed to prevent and control the country's leading chronic, infectious, environmental, and occupational diseases." Visitors to the site should start by looking over their "Focus Areas", which include "Genomics...

This website is a boon for anyone who researches, works, or cares for the elderly, particularly considering its aging-related services focus. The LeadingAge Center for Aging Services Technologies (CAST) describes itself in its "About" section as "an international coalition of more than 400 technology companies, aging-services organizations, businesses, research universities, and government...

Housed at the University of Minnesota, the mission of the Center for Bioethics is “to advance and disseminate knowledge concerning ethical issues in health care and the life sciences.” To accomplish this important mission, they are actively engaged in a number of interdisciplinary research projects and they also perform a number of community outreach activities. From their homepage, visitors can...

Colon cancer is both the second most pervasive cancer to attack humans and one of the most preventable. One of the sad reasons for its prevalence has little to do with genes, diet, or overall health. Instead, it is the social stigma of the colon and rectum and the associated test --the colonoscopy -- which drives this cancer to the top of the list of killers. As with many cancer types, colon and...

Computers are embedded in much of what we do, whether it's a form of instant communication or the navigation of city streets via a GPS unit. Computers have also proved to be extremely useful to scientific researchers, a fact not lost on the people at the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS). The NIGMS has created this virtual online booklet titled "Computing Life" in order to...