Opioid Prescribing to US Children and Young Adults in 2019
Recent national data are lacking on the prevalence, safety, and prescribers of opioid prescriptions dispensed to children and young adults aged 0 to 21 years. More
Use of term ‘low value’ may leave Black, Latinx patients with questions about access to care
This is the second of two articles on reframing the debate about low-benefit treatments. More
Are Robotic Surgeries Really Better?
Robot-assisted surgeries have only modest advantages over other approaches, a large analysis found. 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
Effort to Limit Unnecessary C-Sections Making Strides
Cesarean section births can have dangerous complications such as hemorrhaging. 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
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
The Question Medical AI Can’t Answer
It’s unable to tell us why it came to a particular decision—and that’s crucial information More
Expert panel votes unanimously that Biogen Alzheimer’s drug doesn’t offer patient benefits
The 15-to-0 vote on the Alzheimer's drug Aduhelm amounted to a rebuke of both Biogen and the Food and Drug Administration. More
Cleveland Clinic and Mount Sinai Won’t Administer Aduhelm to Patients
The rejection of the new Alzheimer’s drug by the two major medical centers is one of the starkest signs of concern over its approval by the F.D.A. More
Nearly One in Four People Say Their Medications are Not Routinely Reviewed and Evaluated by Their Medical Team
Today, The Get the Medications Right™ (GTMRx) Institute is sharing the results of a new survey that assesses the medication management habits and needs of over 1,000 people. Among the findings, nearly one quarter of people surveyed cited that their medications are not routinely reviewed and evaluated by their medical team—a shocking fact, given that one-third are taking four or more medications and/or supplements per day. More
The Evidence Behind Robot-Assisted Abdominopelvic Surgery
Use of robot-assisted surgery has increased dramatically since its advent in the 1980s, and nearly all surgical subspecialties have adopted it. However, whether it has advantages compared with laparoscopy or open surgery is unknown. More
Will Biogen’s new Alzheimer’s drug’s burden on Medicare be big, huge, or catastrophic?
Estimates vary wildly about how much Biogen’s new Alzheimer’s drug will cost Medicare — and the total will have real consequences. More
Screening for Bipolar: Have You Ever Been “Unusually Happy” for More than a Week?
A new questionnaire funded by AbbVie conflates antidepressant side effects with bipolar disorder and isn't actually a "screening" tool. More
Transforming Health Care to Address Value and Equity
This Viewpoint explains the national Vital Signs initiative—developed by the National Academy of Medicine to track improvements in health, health care costs, engagement of the public in its health, and health care and quality. More
A crucial, overlooked question on the new Alzheimer’s drug: When should patients stop taking it?
Doctors told STAT it will be critical — and exceedingly difficult — to determine whether Aduhelm's effects are waning with time. More
Does CBD Have Any Value as a Treatment?
Last week we covered CBD and mental health, finding that data to back up health claims are scarce and that consumer CBD products are often sketchy. In this week’s episode on CBD and other health ailments, we find that many of the same caveats apply. More
New Drug Could Cost the Government as Much as It Spends on NASA
The Alzheimer’s treatment will cost $56,000 per patient, and millions may use it. The result: “crazy numbers” for Medicare. More
A Trauma Survivor Explains the Harms of Screening
After choosing to disclose past trauma or sexual abuse on screening forms, patients are often left wondering if it was a mistake to disclose. More