Children and the Quality of Ambulatory Care

The document discusses the quality of ambulatory care for children and the management of hair loss in women. In the first part, it is reported that children receive only 46.5% of recommended health care, raising questions about the goal of adherence to these recommendations and the barriers to improvement. The author, Sharon B. Meropol, M.D., M.S.C.E., emphasizes the need for discussion on society's priorities for children's health care, considering the limited resources and the necessity of making choices in health care allocation. In the second part, the document addresses the issue of hormonal testing in women with female-pattern hair loss. The author, Jerry Shapiro, M.D., argues that routine testing for androgen levels in women with female-pattern hair loss is not supported unless there are other clinical signs of androgen excess. He notes that the yield of positive results from such testing is extremely low in the absence of other symptoms of androgen excess, based on his clinical experience and the general consensus in the dermatologic community.