Health Care Delivery

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.

Jen Gunter, MD, obstetrician and gynecologist, author, and specialist in chronic pain medicine and vulvovaginal disorders, spoke on the change in perspective regarding the medical and scientific community's role in dispelling health care misinformation on social media and in the press.

Jennifer Green, MD, professor of medicine at Duke University School of Medicine, member of Duke Clinical Research Institute, and EMPA-KIDNEY collaborator, discussed findings of the EMPA-KIDNEY trial presented at Kidney Week 2022, which showed a 28% improvement for patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) on empagliflozin, whether in reduced mortality from cardiovascular disease or progression of CKD.

With no sign that medical misinformation is going away, a session at Kidney Week 2022 delved into how nephrologists and researchers can educate and inform the public.

A study presented at Kidney Week 2022 examined the effect of combining diet coaching with financial assistance for Black adults with hypertension and advanced chronic kidney disease.

Brent W. Miller, MD, board certified nephrologist and professor of clinical medicine at Indiana University School of Medicine, discussed new and emerging technologies for at-home hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis, as well as efforts that have been made to address uptake issues for patients with kidney disease.

Empagliflozin, a sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor, reduced the risk of death or worsening progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD) by 28%, according to results published Friday at Kidney Week 2022.

A poster presented at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy Nexus 2022 showed that patients with recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection (rCDI), who had Medicare Advantage Part D coverage or were enrolled in a commercial health plan were associated with significantly greater health care resource utilization, including emergency department and inpatient visits, compared with those without rCDI.

Jason Ezra Hawkes, MD, MS, FAAD, board-certified dermatologist and associate professor of Dermatology at the University of California Davis in Sacramento, spoke on challenges in the management of hidradenitis suppurativa (HS), as well as promising therapies in the pipeline that target specific pathways suggested to play a role in the pathogenesis and pathophysiology of the disease.

Two data sets from patients with severe pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) show the benefits of macitentan (Opsumit) monotherapy despite guidelines calling for combination therapy, even among patients with World Health Organizational functional class I-II disease.

Physicians and scientists are worried about the future pandemic preparedness, and the reasons why are largely due to social and political influences, according to a keynote speech and panel discussion on the first day of Kidney Week 2022.