"Dying isn't hard. Getting paid by Medicare is."
--Art Buchwald, from Too Soon To Say Goodbye

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The 'Grey's Anatomy' Effect?
"Doctor" is the top career choice of teenage girls, according to a new poll by Junior Achievement Worldwide and Verizon. "Teacher" is their second choice, followed by "businessperson."

Based on the responses of 1,500 teens between 13 and 19 years old, 10 percent of girls say that being a doctor is their ideal job, up from 8.3 percent in 2004. In 2004, being a businessperson was most appealing to teen girls.

"While we have no way of proving it, one might see a correlation between the rise in popularity of a medical drama like 'Grey's Anatomy,' whose target audience is young adult women, and an increase in interest in the medical profession among girls," says Darrell Luzzo, senior vice president of education for Junior Achievement Worldwide. "We saw a similar effect in 2004 when 'The Apprentice' was very popular during its first season. That year, 'businessperson' was the top career choice of girls."

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Doc Day History
The first Doctors' Day observance was March 30, 1933, in Winder, Ga. The idea came from Eudora Brown Almond, wife of Charles Almond, MD. Mrs. Almond was a member of the Barrow County Medical Society Alliance. The U.S. House of Representatives adopted a resolution commemorating Doctors' Day on March 30, 1958. In 1990, legislation was introduced to establish a National Doctors' Day. Following overwhelming approval by the House and Senate, President George H.W. Bush designated March 30 as National Doctors' Day.

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54% of California hospital floor space, or 52.4 million square feet, must be rebuilt for seismic safety.--RAND Corp.

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Medical Consumerism
Even when patients must pay the full cost of medical care out of pocket, there's limited comparison shopping for the lowest-cost, highest-quality care, according to a study by the Center for Studying Health System Change. While markets for self-pay medical procedures, such as LASIK and cosmetic surgery, are often held up as models of consumer engagement that could rein in costs and improve quality, patients typically face barriers to effective shopping and rely on word-of-mouth recommendations to choose providers, the study says.