Category: NeedyMeds

Poison Prevention & Medication Safety

Poisoning is the number one cause of injury-related death in the U.S.. National Poison Prevention Week,  sponsored by the National Poisoning Prevention Council during the third week in March, promotes poison prevention tips and the free emergency services provided by poison control centers, including the Poison Help hotline at 1-800-222-1222. Text POISON to 797979 to save the number in your smartphone. In the time it takes to read the information above, at least two people will call a poison control center. That’s one person every 14 seconds, according to the American Association of Poison Control Centers’ National Poison Data System […]

Making the Self-Care Commitment, One Step at a Time

There’s no better time than right now to invest in your health. Odds are you do it every day — even if you don’t know that’s what you’re doing. From taking over-the-counter (OTC) medication for headaches, to setting weight loss goals or wearing a fitness tracker, most of us practice self-care every day without realizing it. New research from BeMedWise details just how common self-care is. Among the report’s 2,000+ survey respondents: The full report, titled “Empowering Americans to Take Greater Responsibility for Their Health,” examines how self-care can improve an individual’s health while also reducing medical costs. It comes […]

HealthWeb Navigator

In 2014, Dr. Mark A. Kelley, a faculty member of Harvard Medical School, developed the idea for HealthWeb Navigator while serving as a Harvard Advanced Leadership fellow. Partnering with NeedyMeds in 2016, HealthWeb Navigator has since published hundreds of website reviews. Today, HealthWeb Navigator is launching the full version of its collection of health website reviews written by doctors, nurses, and other health professionals. “Patients are more informed now than ever before,” said HealthWeb Navigator founder Mark Kelley, M.D. “Unfortunately, many people make major healthcare decisions based on something they read online. The least we in the medical community can […]

National Volunteer Week

National Volunteer Week was established in 1974, and we at NeedyMeds want to recognize our amazing volunteers that help make our work possible.   Our local volunteers are invaluable! They help us print and mail lists of medications for callers seeking help with several prescriptions (our call center helps with this information over the phone, but due to the volume of calls we receive we may mail you information for long lists of medications), update information in our databases, and help mail out the NeedyMeds Drug Discount Cards. Some of our earliest volunteers had been offered paid positions in the […]

How to Find Reliable Health Information Online Without a Medical Degree

Over 70% of internet users go online to learn about their health. Research that a few decades ago only doctors could access can now be downloaded over Starbucks’ WiFi. And because the average doctor’s appointment lasts just 13–16 minutes, many see the internet as a free, convenient alternative to medical advice. But convenience doesn’t come without costs. Instant access to health information coincides with an increase in “cyberchondria,” or anxiety about poor health stemming from internet research. Worse, study after study shows online health content is frequently unreliable, inaccurate, or hard to read. That’s why I want to use this […]

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About Us

Welcome to the NeedyMeds Voice! We look forward to presenting you with timely, provocative pieces on healthcare reform, patient advocacy, medication and healthcare access, and other health-related news. Our goals are to educate, enlighten, and elucidate; together, we will try to make sense of the myriad and ongoing healthcare-related changes in the U.S. today.