ST. LOUIS (AP) — She screamed and cried, banged on the dashboard, begging her husband to drive faster, faster, faster toward her brother lying face-down on his bedroom floor. Craig Elazer had struggled all his life with anxiety so bad his whole body would shake. More
According to a report by the Lown Institute, a nonprofit think tank, 42 percent of all older adults in the US take five or more prescription medications a day. Almost 20 percent take 10 drugs or more, and over the past 20 years, incidences of polypharmacy have tripled across the country. If trends continue, it’s estimated that polypharmacy will lead to nearly 150,000 premature deaths in the US over the next decade, according to the report by the Lown Institute. It will also be responsible for at least 4.6 million hospitalizations in the US between 2020 and 2030, costing around $62 billion, the report predicted. More
As a doctor who cares for the dying, I know that direct-care aides are invaluable to patients and their families. We need to honor the work they do. More
Although we examined only one common shoppable service in this post, the importance of identifying high-price hospitals is generalizable to a broad range of hospital services. More
Medicare Advantage is fundamentally altering Medicare's structure. More
Between 2017 and 2018, Black patients had a 60% higher chance of dying after a liver transplant than white patients. More
This cohort study evaluates the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System scoring of surgeons caring for patients at high social risk to assess whether this implementation is associated with patient access to surgical care. More
This Viewpoint considers how payment models may dictate the nature of private equity investment in health care delivery and how these investments may affect health care access, quality, equity, and affordability. More
Who’s caring for the ICU physicians? More
Aggressive sales tactics have allegedly led surgeons to use defective or wrong-size implants, screws or other products on patients, including former Olympian Mary Lou Retton. More
Black and Hispanic/Latinx adults report experiencing discrimination when seeking health care at higher rates than white adults, which raises the question: How might these reported experiences adversely affect health care? More
Left unchecked, algorithmic approaches can perpetuate bias in health care. Implementing responsible AI can help reverse that. More
Physicians spend at least 15 hours a week on administrative work for the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS). But more evidence is showing that MIPS performance doesn't line up with meaningful clinical outcomes. More
Inspectors repeatedly found manufacturing and device quality problems with the HeartWare heart pump. But the FDA did not penalize the company, and patients had the device implanted on their hearts without knowing the facts. More
The Physicians Foundation’s 2021 Survey of America’s Physicians sought to understand the breadth of COVID-19’s impact on physicians, and their patients, colleagues and practices. More
Cesarean section births can have dangerous complications such as hemorrhaging. More
A recent study of preoperative urine tests finds that the vast majority are overuse, and as many as 28% lead to unnecessary antibiotic treatment. More
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) Cancer Centers Program, developed as part of the National Cancer Act of 1971, recognizes 71 cancer centers across the US that meet rigorous standards for transdisciplinary and innovative research to develop new and better approaches to preventing, diagnosing, and treating cancer. Although this program was developed to advance cancer research, these cancer centers have an important role in translating scientific knowledge into effective treatments for patients with cancer. Moreover, these cancer centers, nearly all part of academic medical centers, attract top clinician researchers and clinician educators who seek to advance both cancer research and clinical care. More
The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Meharry Medical College, the country's oldest and largest historically Black medical school, are partnering on an initiative that aims to address racism in the sciences and promote inclusion and diversity. More
A single-center study of terminal cancer patients found a high rate of antibiotic use within the last 30 days of life, with significantly lower use among those who asked for limited antimicrobial treatment, researchers reported yesterday in Open Forum Infectious Diseases. More