Dr. Cynthia Haines, HealthDay’s Chief Medical Officer’s New Book “The New Prescription: How to Get the Best of Health Care in a Broken System” Is Now Available

Leading physician and medical journalist examines an ailing healthcare system and offers practical and timely advice on how consumers can take control of their healthcare, save money, and become healthier than ever

NORWALK, Conn., USA (April 6, 2011) – HealthDay, the leading producer and syndicator of evidence-based health news, is pleased to announce the publication of a revealing new book on healthcare by its Chief Medical Officer, Cynthia Haines M.D.

In “The New Prescription: How to Get the Best of Health Care in a Broken System,” Dr. Haines reveals a medical system gone awry, providing strategies on how to navigate it, and offering cost-effective and potentially life-saving ways to get more out of healthcare while using less of it.

“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,” Dr. Haines says.

“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.

”HealthDay’s CEO Dan McKillen says, “Dr. Haines, as Chief Medical Officer of HealthDay, is uniquely focused on educating both healthcare consumers and fellow physicians on the latest information regarding living healthier, and navigating this complex health care system,” adding, “Dr. Haines, throughout her book, shows us how to take back responsibility for our health care, find the right allies, make sound healthcare choices, and shop for the best treatments.”

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: http://www.amazon.com/New-Prescription-Health-Broken-System/dp/0757315550

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About HealthDay
HealthDay, a division of Scout News LLC, is a leading producer and syndicator of evidence-based health news for consumers and physicians and is the largest syndicator of that news to Internet sites. Its consumer health news service (www.healthday.com) appears on more than 5,000 Web sites such as Yahoo!, MSN, iVillage, US News & World Report, Everyday Health, RightHealth, RealAge, Healthfinder.gov, MedlinePlus, hundreds of hospitals and hospital group Web sites, as well as print publication Web sites across the country. HealthDay also produces Physician's Briefing (www.physiciansbriefing.com), a news service for physicians, nurses and other medical professionals updated twice daily providing 15 articles a day across 32 medical specialties. HealthDay also provides custom content for major health portals. The newest addition to the HealthDay portfolio is HealthDay TV -- a 90-second news broadcast of essential health information that appears on several major media Web sites, U.S. government Web sites and other health information sites.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS of “THE NEW PRESCRIPTION: HOW TO GET THE BEST HEALTH CARE IN A BROKEN SYSTEM”

Cynthia Haines, M.D., (St. Louis, Missouri) is a family physician and faculty member in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the Saint Louis University School of Medicine. She is also chief medical officer of HealthDay, a consumer news service that provides daily health news to more than 100 newspapers worldwide and 4,000 Internet sites including Yahoo!, MedlinePlus, MSN, and more than 1,500 hospital sites. Dr. Haines is also managing editor of Physician's Briefing, HealthDay's news wire service for healthcare professionals, hosts HealthDay TV, and is a featured medical editor and/or writer on a variety of health information websites and the Huffington Post.

Eric Metcalf, M.P.H, (Indianapolis, Indiana) is a health writer and radio essayist who has worked on the multimillion-selling Doctors Book of Home Remedies line and other popular book franchises. His work has appeared in Prevention and Better Homes & Gardens magazines, Reader's Digest Books, Health.com, and WebMD.com.

NOTE TO EDITORS: DR. HAINES IS AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEW