Improving health and lowering costs for the sickest and most expensive patients in America is a dream harder to realize than many health care leaders had hoped, according to a study published Wednesday by the New England Journal of Medicine. More
Millions of Americans are receiving medical treatments, tests, and procedures that are either wasteful or ineffective every single year. These services, dubbed as “low-value health care,” are defined as services for which the potential for harm outweighs the potential for benefit, and they have critical consequences for patients and the health system at large, as they are estimated to cost $300 billion nationally each year. More
Health-care professionals advise parents to ask doctors whether they are jumping to the most extreme treatment and to ask about the risks of any suggested care More
These health care actors didn't win a Shkreli Award, but they deserve a "dishonorable mention" for their profiteering and unethical behavior. More
In a recent article in The BMJ, members of the Right Care Alliance Emergency Medicine council outline ways in which clinicians can bring "value, balance and humanity to the emergency department." More
This mixed-methods study identified 5 practices that have the potential to enhance physician presence and meaningful connection with patients in the clinical encounter. More
Annual Shkreli Awards, named for infamous pharma bro, scolds several nonprofit hospitals for suing patients More
Medicare's voluntary bundled-payment program for hip and knee replacements reduced spending by 1.6% from 2013 to 2016 — less than previously estimated — with no overall change in quality, according to a new study in Health Affairs. More
Canada’s government once pressured Inuit women to travel south to give birth. Now, they can have their babies at a hometown maternity clinic led by Inuit midwives. More
Researchers and policymakers point to low-value medical services as a major source of U.S. health-care spending bloat — by a new estimate, up to $101.2 billion a year. More
Cancer survivors and their loved ones who attend meetings of the Prostate Network in Kansas City have talked for years about a radiation treatment called More
The quality of care at hospitals acquired during a recent wave of deal making got worse or stayed the same, new research found. More
Andy Jurtschenko told his children that he didn’t want to be a burden on them. But after he suffered brain damage during a heart transplant at a New Jersey hospital, his medical team deflected their request for a DNR. More
The agency, whose oversight of opioid safety has largely eluded scrutiny, did not improve flawed programs designed to reduce addiction and overdoses, documents show.
Partners HealthCare, the largest healthcare provider in Massachusetts, has been criticised for spending an estimated $100m to “rebrand” itself as Mass General Brigham. More
The Food and Drug Administration continues to file thousands of reports of patients’ deaths related to medical devices through a reporting system that keeps the safety data out of the public eye. More
AI systems are not as rigorously tested as other medical devices, and have already made serious mistakes More