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The FDA issued new guidelines to speed up the review process for gene therapies; a new report calculates the potential societal benefits of eliminating the opioid epidemic; and one-third of Americans are unaware that the ACA's open enrollment season has begun.

The first major update since 2003 was announced this week during the 2017 American Heart Association Scientific Sessions.

As part of US Antibiotic Awareness Week and World Antibiotic Awareness Week, the CDC has updated its educational effort to promote safe antibiotic prescribing and use through Be Antibiotics Aware: Smart Use, Best Care. The platform includes information on antibiotic misuse, resources for all audiences, and activity ideas to promote the effort.

Authors of the study found that the mean total, chemotherapy, and physician costs were all lower in community settings compared with hospital-based settings for patients with breast, lung, and colorectal cancer. There were also fewer emergency department visits both 3 and 10 days following treatment.

FDA on Thursday authorized a faster approval path for a next-generation sequencing assay developed at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) that represents both a scientific and regulatory breakthrough at the agency.

A collaboration founded by the American Medical Association (AMA) will bring together organizations like IBM, Cerner, Intermountain Healthcare, the American Heart Association, and the American Medical Informatics Association to improve patient care through a better way to organize and share healthcare information.

Researchers studied tweets from people with ADHD to identify factors like personality and posting frequency, which may hold clues to understanding and treating patients with the disorder.

An analysis digs into whether the FDA really is approving drugs faster under Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD; a clinical trial for a Parkinson's disease drug halts enrollment after 5 deaths; and California fines Anthem $5 million for poor response to consumer complaints.

The University of Illinois aimed to improve the time to antibiotic adminstration for patients with febrile neutropenia by implementing a new standard operative protocol.

A mathematical model may help providers better understand which patients will benefit from certain immunotherapy.

Study finds 2 competing opioid treatments have similar outcomes; GOP tax bill includes repeal of the ACA's individual mandate; and a study finds a correlation between screen time and depression in teenage girls.

Medical health research spending in 2017 is likely to increase, primarily due to an additional $2 billion earmarked for the National Institutes of Health, but the long-term outlook for research and development is uncertain. The authors cite the current administration’s calls for large cuts to federal research funding across non–defense-related areas as a potential cause of reduced spending on health research.

Cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 inhibitors may have proven benefits for treating metastatic breast cancer, but the therapies are associated with hematological toxicities and febrile neutropenia.

Recently reported results from Hydroxyurea Study of Long-Term Effects (HUSTLE) support the use of hydroxyurea in children, and indicate that a preferred dosing strategy should target an HbF endpoint of greater than 20%.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterized by persistent and progressive airflow limitation, and a new study examined the factors responsible for a high St George’s Respiratory Questionnaire for COPD based on severity of airflow limitation.

A study published in JAMA analyzed 155 health conditions, 36 age and sex groups, and 6 types of care to determine the impact of population growth, population aging, disease prevalence or incidence, service utilizations, and service price and intensity on healthcare spending increases in the United States from 1996 to 2013.

A fourth state has chosen to roll back retroactive Medicaid benefits; the American Medical Association releases guidance for ethical physician conduct in the media; and Nebraska struggles to fund mental health services.

Patients with psoriasis and with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are often treated with similar drugs, but those with psoriasis are at a higher risk for serious liver disease, according to a new study in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology.

The Gallup-Sharecare Wellbeing Index released its estimate of the cost of diabetes for employers on World Diabetes Day.

The technology allows patients to send a signal to caregivers or physicians through a web-based portal.

According to a new analysis by Stacy Dusetzina, PhD, and colleagues, state oral parity laws—devised to equate out-of-pocket (OOP) spending for patients, irrespective of whether their treatment is an oral agent or an infusion—are not consistent with reducing patient OOP costs for oral anticancer agents.

President Donald Trump has nominated Alex Azar, a former pharmaceutical executive, to become the next secretary of HHS. The position was vacant after Tom Price, MD, resigned in late September.

A new white paper from the Network for Excellence in Health Innovation encourages the use of outcomes-based contracting for novel oncology drugs.

A new collaboration between PathoQuest and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) will test the best method to identify microorganisms responsible for infections in patients with febrile neutropenia.

From 1999-2000 to 2015-2016, there has been a declining trend in high total cholesterol among adults in the United States, according to a report from the CDC. From 2007-2008 to 2015-2016 there was also a decline in low high-density cholesterol. Both types of cholesterol are risk factors for cardiovascular disease, which remains the leading cause of death in the United States.

A review of some of the presentations at the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) 2017 Annual Meeting, in San Diego, California, where the discussions ranged from clinical progress witnessed in 2017 for the treatment of inflammatory conditions to reimbursement models in the rheumatology space.

While consumers must buy coverage or face penalties under the individual mandate for now, there is speculation that a Trump tax plan could remove this feature of the Affordable Care Act.

A campaign to cut low-value clinical services has identified the top 5 based on cost, harm, and prevalence that can be targeted for reduction.