The recent decision by pharmacy giant CVS Caremark to require employees who receive health insurance through the company to disclose their weight is raising red flags among patient privacy advocates, but it does reflect the need for companies to hold down health care costs.

In a development that’s certain to generate controversy, researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health say they’ve linked sugar-sweetened sodas, sports drinks and fruit drinks to 180,000 deaths worldwide each year

This is National Poison Prevention Week, and the EPA is using the occasion to remind parents to secure pesticides and other household chemicals in locked cabinets out of the reach of children.

Dr. Garen Wintemute, an emergency physician and director of the Violence Prevention Research Program at the University of California, Davis, is a pioneer in the study of gun violence as a public health issue. In his latest report, he argues that background checks should be required for the 40 percent of firearms sales made by private parties, rather than licensed dealers.

Employers remain committed to providing active employee health care benefits in the near future, according to findings from the annual Towers Watson/National Business Group on Health (NBGH) Employer Survey on Purchasing Value in Health Care, but are responding to changes influenced in part by health care reform with more aggressive actions to improve health care delivery and manage rising costs of care.

Drug-resistant germs called carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, or CRE, are on the rise and have become more resistant to last-resort antibiotics during the past decade, according to a new CDC Vital Signs report. These bacteria are causing more hospitalized patients to get infections that, in some cases, are impossible to treat.

In an effort to head off hearing loss – particularly among young people -- New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has launched a quarter-million dollar effort to warn of the dangers of using personal listening devices (PLDs) at high volumes.