Media coverage of the challenges we face in making good treatment decisions often focuses on and sensationalizes medical errors, catastrophes and risks.  So it was great to see this impressive TV news clip circulated by Gary Schwitzer of HealthNewsReview.org in his blog last week.  Reporter Jeff Baillon of Minnesota’s FOX 9 news does a great job of making regional health care differences actually matter to the viewer and showing how the principles of shared decision making are critical to the decisions we make about screening and treatment.

Jessie Gruman

Jessie Gruman heads the Center for Advancing Health, a Washington-based policy nonprofit funded by foundations to work on engagement: people will not benefit from the health care available to them unless they can participate fully and competently in it. Jessie draws on her own experience of treatment for four cancer diagnoses, surveys, research and interviews to advocate for policies and practices to overcome the challenges we all face in finding good care and getting the most from it.