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California has declared a whooping-cough epidemic and other states are reporting outbreaks also. For some adults, now might be the time to consider a booster shot of the vaccine, MarketWatch’s Kristen Gerencher says in this week’s Health Minute.

View original here:  Whooping Cough Outbreak: What You Need to Know/a>

A number of groups are offering financial aid to cancer patients who can’t cover the costs of treatment, including many who have inadequate health insurance, as I write in the Informed Patient column today.

We can fill in the another line on that always-popular list — Where Are the Ex-Pharma CEOs Now?

This time, the career move involves Bob Essner, who was CEO of Wyeth between 2001 and the end of 2007 and retired a few months later as chairman of Wyeth (now part of Pfizer) at age 60. Today, private-equity group Carlyle Group said that Essner (pictured in 2004) will become a senior adviser on the firm’s health-care investments.

More and more doctors are moving away from private practice and are instead becoming employees of hospitals and health systems, reports the NYT.

This trend could mean more coordinated and better care for patients, though without the personal touch that private practice offers. Patients are more likely to see the same doctor in private practice than they are in a health center setting.

Women who donate eggs for use with in-vitro techniques aren’t supposed to be compensated more than $10,000. And the amount paid isn’t supposed to vary based on characteristics of the donor, according to guidelines from the American Society of Reproductive Medicine.

But a new study, published in a report from the Hastings Center, a nonpartisan bioethics institute, looks at egg-donor advertisements placed in 306 college newspapers for a glimpse of what actually be going on.

This post by WSJ’s Peter Landers also is appearing on the Washington Wire blog.

The fate of the Democrats’ health bill is likely to come down to the House, and the vote there hinges on wavering Democrats. The Associated Press surveyed all 39 Democrats who voted against the version of the health overhaul approved by the House on Nov. 7 and found nine who said they would consider switching to yes.

Roche’s Avastin chalked up another miss in a study, this time failing to meet its main target of prolonging the lives of patients with late-stage stomach cancer in combination with chemotherapy.

Some time ago, 20 obese men traveled by cogwheel train and cable car to the awesomely named Umwelt Forschungsstation Schneefernerhaus, a research station (pictured) in the shadow of Germany’s highest mountain.

The men were the subjects of a study on altitude and weight loss. They were allowed to eat whatever they wanted during their week on the mountain, and their activity was restricted to slow walks through the research station.

All year, Congress has been trying to figure out what to do about the 21% cut in Medicare payments to doctors that’s set to take effect on Jan. 1, 2010. The latest legislative maneuver would block the cut — but only for two months.

That short-term patch is tucked inside a big defense spending bill the House passed today.

Folks from Sciele Pharma stopped by Health Blog HQ recently to talk about the company’s potential treatment for premature ejaculation. They were making the rounds at newspapers and magazines in an effort to raise awareness of the condition and their product, even though the company hasn’t asked regulators for approval yet.