Health System

The authors analyzed the impacts of COVID-19 on orthopedic operating room efficiency via comparison of 14,856 surgeries performed before, during, and after the pandemic.

Care in the fourth-trimester, when the birth has taken place and the mother and baby return home, is crucial for the well-being of the mother or the birthing person, Takiyah Durham, MBA, explains in an interview.

“Our findings further reinforce that place is important and that the social, economic, and health care equity context is key to minimizing health care expenditure disparities for Black adults in the US," investigators explain.

Insurance status is known to be associated with health care access and outcomes, and a recent study found that maternal private insurance is associated with a lower infant mortality rate compared with public Medicaid insurance in the United States.

The phase 4 ANNEXA-I trial was stopped early after showing superior hemostatic efficacy and the capability to limit potentially life-threatening intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) compared with usual care in patients taking oral factor Xa (FXa) inhibitors.

Margaret Larkins-Pettigrew, MD, and First Steps and Beyond director Takiyah Durham, MBA, explain how the community-centered program ensures pregnant patients are equipped with resources while receiving equitable care.

Individuals with genetic syndromes or neurodevelopmental conditions experienced shorter and poorer quality sleep, while those with heterogeneous intellectual disabilities had comparable duration but lower quality to controls.

“There are things more important than our discomfort, and there are things that are more important than even our fear—inclusion is more important,” said Erica Marsh, MD, MSCI. “Our care of our patients and loved ones is more important, and our existence tomorrow has to be more important than our fears today.”

Valerie Montgomery Rice, MD, FACOG, a distinguished infertility specialist, highlights the pivotal role of cultural humility, diversity, acknowledgment of historical injustices, and collective action in addressing disparities and fostering equitable access to health care.

In the aftermath of the Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling, Anita Allen, PhD, highlights the challenges to abortion rights in the United States, emphasizing disparities faced by marginalized communities, outlining threats to reproductive health care, and calling for collective action and advocacy to defend constitutional privacy and uphold the dignity of all individuals.

Wiyatta Fahnbulleh, PsyD, and Pamela Blackwell, PsyD, LMSW, presented on the cultural limitations of the Personality Assessment Inventory and Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory for assessing individuals for third-party reproduction.

Positive results from STEP-HFpEF indicate that semaglutide can improve quality of life and functional capacity in patients with obesity-related heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), but large outcomes trials are needed to confirm this, said Javed Butler, MD, MPH, MBA.

The preoperative risk assessment algorithm can identify ovarian lesions with a strong likelihood of being non-cancerous and suitable for ovary-preserving surgery.

Director Takiyah Durham, MBA, and Margaret Larkins-Pettigrew, MD, share how the program is improving maternal and infant care in Pittsburgh, PA, at Highmark Health.

Ischemic and coronary heart disease were the 2 major cardiovascular disease (CVD) subtypes contributing to hospital admissions among patients with diabetes.

Despite improvements, hospitals struggle to meet prepandemic standards in door-to-balloon time.

Based on the comprehensive findings of a review, investigators outline several crucial policy implications, each designed to address the complex issue of bias mitigation in clinical algorithms effectively.

The data show the average age of dialysis in the least vulnerable neighborhoods was 68.2 years old, but 59.4 years—almost a decade earlier—in the most vulnerable.

The cohort study focused on annual incidence, prevalence, and mortality linked to a number of cardiovascular conditions between 2015 and 2019.

Family history is probably the biggest risk factor that patients need to know about, said Rebecca Brooks, MD, UC Davis Health.

The findings of DICTATE-AHF have several implications for cardiologists treating patients with type 2 diabetes, said Zachary Cox, PharmD, professor at Lipscomb University College of Pharmacy.

A tailored electronic health record (EHR) alert system did not significantly increase the prescription of guideline-directed medical therapies (GDMT) at hospital discharge for patients with acute heart failure (AHF).

If clinicians empower individuals by giving them the appropriate tools and education to promote brain health, it can make a big difference, said Alvaro Pascual-Leone, MD, PhD.

Patients now have higher expectations of us health care professionals, and we have to meet those expectations, said Donna Fitzsimons, PhD, FESC, professor of nursing at the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Queen's University Belfast.

Secondary effects not only improved past 16 weeks, but showed a sustained improvement at week 56 of mavacamten, said Milind Desai, MD, MBA, director of the Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Center and vice chair of education at the Heart, Vascular & Thoracic Institute, Cleveland Clinic.

"We really have to work on our implicit bias, acknowledging it, understanding it, and doing the work to try to change it," Veronica Gillispie-Bell, MD, MAS, says.

Despite not reaching statistical significance, findings from DICTATE-AHF show early dapagliflozin improved decongestion and led to earlier hospital discharge for patients with acute decompensated heart failure, explained Zachary Cox, PharmD, professor at Lipscomb University College of Pharmacy.

Millions are invested in researchers for the Cancer Moonshot initiative; some providers are charging patients for communicating online; health insurance coverage increased for half of states.

Results from ATLANTE/ENGOT-ov29 show that atezolizumab did not significantly improve progression-free survival (PFS) compared with placebo plus bevacizumab for patients with platinum-sensitive ovarian cancer.

Over the past 20 years, the age-adjusted mortality rate for obesity-related cardiovascular mortality increased by 415% for American Indian or Alaska Native individuals.