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Be upfront about your needs, and set your own ground rules.

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Allowing your kids to be involved in your health care can have many benefits. The arrangement provides advocates who can help you follow your treatment plan, talk to your doctors, and maybe even make appointments and take you to them. As an added bonus, you get to spend more time with your adult children.

But the arrangement isn't always easy. "There's a tendency for roles to reverse. The child becomes the parent. The parent may not be comfortable with that. Or the parent doesn't want to burden the child, and lets health issues go until they're too far gone," says Dr. Suzanne Salamon, associate chief of gerontology at Harvard-affiliated Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Consider the following tips to navigate the relationship.

News briefs

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Urgent care clinics are convenient when you don't feel well and can't see your doctor right away. But a study published online July 16, 2018, by JAMA Internal Medicine found that people who go to such clinics may be more likely to be given prescriptions for unnecessary antibiotics. Researchers analyzed 156 million insurance claims from 2014 and found that 46% of people treated at urgent care centers for viral conditions 鈥� like a bad cold, the flu, or viral bronchitis 鈥� were prescribed antibiotics. The problem: antibiotics kill only bacteria, not viruses. The study underscores the need to ask health care workers if you have a viral or a bacterial condition before you take antibiotics.

Research we're watching

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Do you take generic drugs to lower your blood pressure or cholesterol? You may save money by paying out of pocket at Walmart instead of a paying a Medicare prescription copay, according to an analysis in the July 24 Annals of Internal Medicine.

Walmart (and a number of other large chain stores) offer generic drug discount plans; they sell 30-day supplies of popular generic drugs for $4.

No one wants to be have to go to a hospital, but there are times when it's unavoidable. Having some advance knowledge about the hospital experience may help you feel more comfortable in the event you or someone you know has to go to the ER or be admitted.

New medications and side effects warrant an evaluation.

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A medication regimen isn't something you can set and forget. You and your doctor need to keep tabs on what you're taking and how it's affecting your health. "We are required to do a medication 'check-up' at every visit, regardless of the specialty, which means that every clinician who sees you is supposed to review your medications and check off a box," says geriatrician Dr. Suzanne Salamon, an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School.

Sometimes things change between visits, and adjustments need to be made. It's up to you to schedule an appointment. Here are seven reasons why that may need to happen.