What I’ve Learned Over a Lifetime of Caring for the Dying
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
Blog
Where Are The High-Price Hospitals? With The Transparency Rule In Effect, Colonoscopy Prices Suggest They’re All Over The Place
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 has become more of a private marketplace — and it’s costly
Medicare Advantage is fundamentally altering Medicare's structure. More
Demographics impact survival rate for liver transplant patients
Between 2017 and 2018, Black patients had a 60% higher chance of dying after a liver transplant than white patients. More
Evaluation of the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System and Surgeons Caring for Patients at High Social Risk
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
Private Equity and Health Care Delivery: Value-Based Payment as a Guardrail?
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
Critical Care Doctors Are in Crisis
Who’s caring for the ICU physicians? More
Injuries Mount as Sales Reps for Device Makers Cozy Up to Surgeons, Even in Operating Rooms
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
Most Adults Who Feel Treated or Judged Unfairly by Health Care Providers Report Adverse Consequences
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
Responsible AI: leveraging data and technology to counteract bias
Left unchecked, algorithmic approaches can perpetuate bias in health care. Implementing responsible AI can help reverse that. More
Why physician performance metrics don’t match up with hospital quality
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
Thousands of Patients Were Implanted With Heart Pumps That the FDA Knew Could Be Dangerous
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 2021 Physician Survey: COVID-19 Impact Edition: A Year Later
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
Effort to Limit Unnecessary C-Sections Making Strides
Cesarean section births can have dangerous complications such as hemorrhaging. More
Nearly 90% of preoperative urine tests are not indicated, study finds
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
Higher Prices for Cancer Surgery at National Cancer Institute–Designated Cancer Centers
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
Icahn Mount Sinai and historically Black medical school Meharry partner to address racism, improve diversity in science
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
Recent studies in antibiotic stewardship
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
Caregiving During The Pandemic Takes A Toll On Mental Health
Caregivers in the "Sandwich Generation" have reported a steep decline in mental health, as did others who had to juggle changes in the amount of caregiving they had to provide to loved ones. More
The COVID-19 Pandemic and Drug Prescribing in Ontario Nursing Homes
The pharmacoepidemiologic study by Campitelli et al examined changes in medication prescribing in nursing homes in Ontario, Canada, during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. More