"Doctor's Orders" to explore trends in health and medicine

The partnership between ABC News and MedPage Today entered a new phase with the November 1 premiere of "Doctor's Orders," a featured series on Good Morning America Weekend.

The first installment in what is planned as a regular GMA Weekend feature focused on yoga as complementary therapy for children undergoing traditional medical treatment for cancer and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

MedPage Today and ABC News' GMA Weekend co-produced this premiere segment. Peggy Peck, Executive Editor of MedPage Today, directed Kristina Fiore and Bjoern Kils of the MPT team who worked with GMAW staff to combine the journalistic expertise and the strengths of both organizations.

Evidence-based medicine and popular culture medicine often collide in the media world, but through the foresight of Robert Stern, President and CEO of MedPage Today, Roger Sergel of the ABC News health team, and Andrew Morse, executive producer of GMA Weekend, these two news organizations have found a niche worth filling.

Future installments of "Doctor's Orders" will explore trends in health and medicine within the context of evidence-based medicine guided by healthcare journalistic standards, which weigh the information presented within the context of the best interests of the viewer/patient.

The goal, simply put, is to provide the viewer/patient with more than the passing shock value of a medical news story. Working together, GMA Weekend and MedPage Today will report the latest and most compelling news about medicine and health in a way that will enable consumers to get all the information they need to make intelligent healthcare decisions.

"Many health reports focus on the trauma or hype without providing useful and fair-balanced information the viewer can benefit from," said Stern. "With our partnership, ABC's GMA Weekend and MedPage Today have combined the best talents of broadcast and healthcare journalism to produce thoughtful, helpful, and viewer- (patient-) centric reports, which both entertain and inform the viewer."

"Doctor's Orders" will initially be featured monthly on GMA Weekend and can also be accessed on ABCNEWS.com and MedPageToday.com.