The next time you see your primary care doctor, he or she will have access to updated guidelines and a new electronic tool that can better predict your chances of developing cardiovascular disease, including heart attack and stroke.

The guidelines — released today from the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association — were developed by a work group co-chaired by Donald M. Lloyd-Jones, M.D., senior associate dean, chair and professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a cardiologist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

Today, the Women’s Health Protection Act was introduced in both the U.S Senate and the House of Representatives. It is the first federal legislative response to the flood of state laws designed to restrict women’s access to reproductive health services.

The Women’s Health Protection Act would help ensure that women can make personal health care decisions unhindered by callous, unnecessary regulations designed to make it harder to access abortion care, birth control and other reproductive health services.

According to the National Women’s Law Center,  “During the debate over the government shutdown, leaders in the House of Representatives passed legislation to exempt bosses from complying with the part of the Affordable Care Act, that gives women access to preventive services like birth control and well-woman visits with no co-pays or deductibles — if those employers oppose it for “religious or moral” reasons.    This means bosses could impose their religious beliefs on their employees or even block their employees’ access to needed health care for vague and undefined “moral” reasons. The Senate rejected the House’s plan — but this isn’t the first time lawmakers have tried this trick, and it likely won’t be the last.”

Should your boss decide if and what birth control should be available to you through your plan???  Women need to remain vigilant as this debate continues!

We can all remember a time when we have received medical information from our doctor and have walked away with little or no comprehension of what was discussed.  The second chapter in Oncofertility Communication: Sharing Information and Building Relationships Across Disciplines is entitled Communicating Across Diverse and Differently Literate Audiences and the authors, Drs.