The US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) has reaffirmed its 2014 recommendation3 against screening for asymptomatic carotid artery stenosis in the general adult population (D recommendation) based on an assessment of no benefit and possible harm. More
Truly informed decision making cannot happen without a good understanding of both the benefits and the harms of medical treatments. In a recent paper, researchers break new ground by identifying different types of harms from medical care that all clinicians and researchers should be aware of. More
This study compares revenue of Maryland hospitals in March-July 2020 vs historical trends and assesses whether rate increases for inpatient and outpatient services that were permitted to offset pandemic-related decines in revenues were associated with changes to state hospital revenue. More
A new paper calls for a halt to skin cancer screenings in the general population. Some physicians vehemently disagree. More
Many people avoided going to the hospital or doctor for nonemergency health issues because they didn’t think it was worth the risk of infection. “Although this likely prevented them from receiving tests and scans they didn’t need, on the flip side, many people likely suffered because they didn’t get necessary care,” says Vikas Saini, M.D., president of Lown Institute, a healthcare think tank in Brookline, Massachusetts, that focuses on low-value care. The pandemic, in Saini’s view, may also speed the move away from fee- for-service to value-based payment: “I foresee a greater openness and interest in capitated payment models in which providers are paid a flat fee per patient per month.” More
Is the tremendous increase in melanoma diagnoses a cancer epidemic, or an "epidemic of overdiagnosis"? More
This Viewpoint describes the role of private hospital insurance in Australia, a country with universal government-sponsored insurance. More
Few treatments, even widely hyped ones, fail to arrest the progress of Covid-19. Prevention has trumped the so-far failed quest for a cure. More
In a perspective piece in the Washington Post, Dr. Daniel Morgan, explains why shared decision making requires us to ask, "How likely is this treatment to work?" and why the answer to that question can be tricky. More
This cohort study describes the number of patients undergoing cancer screening tests and of ensuing cancer diagnoses during the COVID-19 pandemic in 1 health care system in the northeastern United States. More
An at-home test for colon cancer is as reliable as the traditional screening, health experts say, and more agreeable. More
Links between vitamin D deficiencies and coronavirus infections have been seen in studies, but “correlation doesn’t prove causation.” More
In today’s episode, Dr. Rita Redberg, a cardiologist at the University of California, San Francisco, and Editor-in-chief at JAMA Internal Medicine, explains why a healthy lifestyle and regular exercise are much more important for preventing heart attacks and strokes than a daily cholesterol pill. More
This Medical News Quick Uptake examines the debate about a link between vitamin D and COVID-19 risk. More
What's going well and what isn't when it comes to value-based payment experiments in Medicare. More
In the latest edition of the “Right Care Series” in the journal American Family Physician, Dr. Ann Lindsay from the Stanford University School of Medicine, and patient partners Helen Haskell and John James tackle the subject of evaluating older adults for frailty before recommending elective surgery. More
When we call unproven treatments "cures," we not only put patients at risk of harm, we create a framework in which evidence is no longer valued. Kelsey Chalmers and Judith Garber explore how this perspective could impact the "less is more" movement, and how we need to reframe the issue to build a coalition for change. More
To what extent does high Medicare spending reflect more hospital utilization of low-value care? Can low-value care within certain regions be attributed to individual hospitals? We compared data from the Dartmouth Atlas and the Lown Hospitals Index, to gain insight into these questions. More
Widespread COVID testing has revealed uncomfortable truths about medical tests: A test result is rarely a definitive answer, but instead a single clue. More
The net effect of academic bullying and ad hominem attacks has been the creation and maintenance of “groupthink”—a problem that carries its own deadly consequences. People are becoming increasingly resistant to the prospect of more public health measures that restrict their lives. Silencing any science-based viewpoint that would lift some of the most oppressive aspects of controlling the spread of the virus could leave the public even more resistant to public health measures. The new administration will also need public health messaging that helps people understand the evidence and reasoning behind it. More