Health Care Delivery

Melissa O'Connor, PhD, MBA, RN, FGSA, FAAN, endowed professor in community and home health nursing, M. Louise Fitzpatrick School of Nursing, Villanova University, and director, Gerontology Interest Group, spoke on the early use of technology in assessing older adults in the home setting and what research is required to improve best practices for their use.

Pediatric patients who developed coexisting Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) while hospitalized for cystic fibrosis exhibited greater mortality risk, length of stay, and cost compared with those without cooccuring CDI.

Liz Lightstone, MBBS, PhD, FRCP, professor of renal medicine for the faculty of medicine, Imperial College London, discussed recently approved therapeutic options for patients with lupus nephritis and what unmet needs persist in the management of the disease.

Telehealth diagnoses in the South and West regions of the United States saw a reduction in COVID-19 diagnoses.

Patients with hidradenitis suppurativa who reported feelings of stigmatization due to their condition had worse quality of life and higher levels of depression and social anxiety vs those not reporting feelings of stigmatization.

More than 100 health care organizations signed a HHS climate resilience pledge; linking patients in addiction treatment with a primary care practitioner is linked with improved long-term health outcomes; older men and women with weak grip strength may have accelerated biological aging.

This investigation involved analyses of the potential for pulmonary hypertension (PH) and interstitial lung disease (ILD) to have an impact on patients living with systemic sclerosis.

Patients with intermediate and mild Parkinson disease, defined by a Hoehn & Yahr stage of 3 or less, experienced an additional deterioration in motor function with simvastatin compared with placebo while not taking medication at 24 months.

A listeria outbreak has been linked to deli meats and cheeses; the World Health Organization announced that there has been a 90% drop in recent deaths in COVID-19 globally compared with 9 months ago; Eli Lilly was ordered to pay $176.5 million in a US migraine drug patent trial.

Patients with heart failure frequently suffer from fluid overload, and for those with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) also suffering from septic shock—a condition often treated with fluids—more data are needed on outcomes following fluid administration.

Real-world patients with atopic dermatitis with dark skin types showed greater mean reduction in disease severity between baseline and 6 months with dupilumab compared with those with light skin types, whereas no differences were observed regarding severity reduction for methotrexate and ciclosporin.

This new report also shows the value of national databases tracking the use of ventilation support.

Several known risk factors and prodromal features were associated with Parkinson disease, including traumatic brain injury and alcohol misuse, along with other comorbidities such as skin and gastrointestinal disorders.

A new report has found continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) may help reduce staff burden in the intensive care unit (ICU) by reducing the need for blood gas monitoring.

An analysis of Medicaid coverage found that Mississippi was the only state not to provide coverage for human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination in adults aged 27 to 45 years.

A study found that the characteristics and location of epilepsy centers in the United States are associated with differences in presurgical testing for drug-0resistant epilepsy.

A phase 3 study showed Ferring’s RBX2660, an investigational microbiota-based live biotherapeutic, to be safe and significantly reduce recurrence of Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) after antibiotic treatment, with a sustained response achieved through 6 months.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) will give cancer claims priority when a new law takes effect in January 2023; Pfizer is looking to use its COVID-19 profits to grow other blockbusters; the probable loss of Medicaid coverage for millions next year is setting off debate.

The Supreme Court will hear a nursing home case Tuesday that could have far-reaching consequences; COVID-19 is continuing to take a toll on worker productivity; ultra-processed foods are linked to premature deaths in a new study.

Efforts are needed to ensure that Medicare beneficiaries with poor mental health receive regular routine care, which may be facilitated by having a personal doctor.

The analysis emphasizes the association between vaso-occlusive crisis frequency and health care costs, which are inflated largely due to inpatient visits.

A new report underscores how treatment decisions for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) affect patients’ health care utilization and costs.

Daniel E. Weiner, MD, MS, board certified nephrologist and lead navigator at Tufts Clinical and Translational Science Institute, spoke on the limitations and future potential of value-based payment systems for chronic kidney disease (CKD), including the End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Treatment Choices (ETC) Model and the Kidney Care Choices (KCC) Models.

Curtis Warfield, MS, senior quality analyst, Indiana State Department of Health, and regional leader of National Kidney Foundation's Kidney Advocacy Committee, spoke on limitations regarding the current process of educating and managing lifestyle interventions for patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), and how nephrologists can better integrate these strategies.

It has been 3 years since new kidney care payment models were announced by HHS, and at a session at Kidney Week 2022, the associate division director of nephrology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham described his organization’s participation in Kidney Care First, one of the value-based care models announced in 2019.