There is growing use of financial incentives in many countries to reward primary care practitioners who improve the quality of their services.

S. Stanley Young, assistant director for bioinformatics at the National Institute of Statistical Sciences (NISS), and Alan Karr, director at NISS, have published a non-technical article in the September issue of Significance magazine pointing out that medical and other observational studies often produce results that are later shown to be incorrect, and—invoking a quality control perspective—suggest ways to fix the system.

Systematic reviews that attempt to assess the risk of harms (adverse effects) associated with specific therapies should consider a broad range of study designs, including both systematic reviews and observational studies.

NEW YORK, April 27, 2011 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- - Elsevier Offers Special Discount for Ulbricht's Books Through May - Natural Standard Offers Complimentary Access to Professional Database Through May 14 Elsevier (http://www.elsevier.com), the leading global publisher of scientific, technical, and medical information products and services, and Natural Standard (http://www.naturalstandard.com), the Authority on Integrative medicine, providing high-quality, evidence-based information about complementary and alternative therapies, announced that Dr.

Clinical practice guidelines and systematic reviews of the evidence base for health care services are supposed to offer health care providers, patients, and organizations authoritative guidance on the comparable pros and cons of various care options, but too often they are of uncertain or poor quality.