Health Care Delivery

Over the past 20 years, Medicare physician pay has plummeted by 26% when adjusted for inflation, while hospital reimbursement has surged by 70%, prompting over 100,000 doctors to abandon independent practice for hospital or corporate employment since 2019.

For the first time, investigators found that the replacement of salt with a salt substitute not only reduced hypertension, but did not also increase hypotension, a key factor for older adults.

Although corticosteroids were found to immediately improve best-corrected visual acuity and central macular thickness, anti–vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) therapies had significant long-term advantages when treating diabetic macular edema.

Overcoming insurance hurdles for critical medications; rising heat and wildfires reverse decades of clean air progress; conflicts between parents and schools arise as teens seek mental health support

The findings follow endorsement of the screening measure from the American Diabetes Association, which recommended the practice to identify patients who have type 1 diabetes (T1D) who could benefit from targeted strategies to prevent symptomatic heart failure (HF).

A cross-sectional comparative study demonstrated the increased prevalence of hearing impairment in children and adults with sickle cell disease (SCD) or sickle cell traits compared with healthy individuals.

A longitudinal, observational study found that the choroid plexus, a network of blood vessels in each ventricle of the brain, plays a potential role in the neurodegenerative and chronic inflammatory process experienced by patients with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (MS).

Chandler Cortina, MD, MS, FSSO, FACS, is assistant professor of surgery and breast surgical oncologist at Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin. His current research focuses on breast cancer risk not only in general but also among transgender and gender-diverse populations.

Naturally occurring variations in appointment frequencies do not appear to have a major impact on clinical outcomes, but they significantly affect waiting times.

House Republicans voted to ban quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) from being used as a drug pricing metric in federal health programs; insurance executives disapproved of newly proposed 2025 Medicare Advantage (MA) rates; patients with long COVID enrolled in an online exercise program said their health improved more than people who received standard care.

Experts explain how diabetes is diagnosed during pregnancy, how treatment differs from that of nonpregnant individuals, the importance of diabetes technology education, and how things change postpartum.

Clinical investigators evaluated the impact of home health services on disability status and receipt of treatment among adults 66 years and older with a new diagnosis of multiple myeloma (MM).

Mark A. Socinski, MD, executive director at AdventHealth Cancer Institute, discusses the importance of lung cancer screening in eligible patients, including the need for primary care providers to ensure screening is being implemented.

A case-control study found that patients with early-onset Merkel cell carcinoma exhibited genetic variations associated with the development of their disease.

Investigators say adolescents had difficulty adhering to the workbook-based program, but the authors said changes—and perhaps a digital format—could improve the program’s performance.

States channel billions into housing for the homeless using Medicaid funds; AstraZeneca invests $300 million to discover and develop cell therapies; the CDC highlights dangers of menthol cigarette addiction.

A survey revealed the influence of prior stigmatic or discriminatory experiences on sexual and gender minority (SGM) patients’ perceptions of screening for skin cancer, stressing the need for affirming clinical settings.

Using an instrumental variable approach, this study is the first to present causal estimates of the effect of preventive dental visits on overall medical expenditures.

Although 30-day mortality rates did not worsen for Medicare beneficiaries at hospitals with high proportions of Black patients compared with other hospitals, gaps in outcomes widened for Black adults with pneumonia under the Medicare Value-Based Purchasing Program.

The gene therapy delandistrogene moxeparvovec-rokl, also known as Elevidys (Sarepta Therapeutics) is indicated to treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) in ambulatory patients aged 4 to 5 years, and Sarepta recently filed supplemental data with the FDA seeking to expand the labeled indication.

About half of patients receiving the procedure did not need medication to control their blood pressure after 5 years.

Among Medicare beneficiaries, implantation was especially frequent for female patients and those undergoing tricuspid valve replacement with or without concomitant left-sided heart surgeries.

The use of ibudilast in the treatment of progressive multiple sclerosis (MS) has been suggested to reduce lesion volume in patients.

Novo Holdings to acquire Catalent for $11.5 billion; cancer incidence is expected to surge 77% by 2050; Silicon Valley’s county takes a bold step to address the rising loneliness crisis.

A state-wide analysis draws attention to the fact individuals with sickle cell disease (SCD) completed a vaccination against COVID-19 at nearly half the rate of individuals without SCD.