Malpractice / 23.03.2024

malpractice-legalissues-virginiaWhen you visit your doctor, you expect to receive accurate diagnoses and appropriate treatment. However, medical professionals can sometimes make mistakes that have serious consequences for patients. If you believe you have been the victim of a misdiagnosis in Virginia, you may be wondering about your legal options. Can you sue your doctor for a wrong diagnosis? Consider the hypothetical case of Sarah, a hardworking professional plagued by persistent fatigue and headaches. After a series of tests with ambiguous results, her physician diagnoses her with chronic fatigue syndrome. Feeling a sense of relief at finally having an answer, Sarah diligently follows the recommended treatment plan and makes significant lifestyle changes. Despite her efforts, her health continues to deteriorate. Seeking a second opinion, Sarah discovers that she actually has a tumor which, while treatable, has gone undetected and caused substantial harm. Sarah's story illustrates the potentially devastating impact of a misdiagnosis, leaving her with both emotional trauma and severe medical issues. (more…)
Author Interviews / 09.03.2024

Precision in healthcare isn't just important; it's an absolute non-negotiable. Consider how anxiety-inducing a world where health information wasn't treated with absolute care, accuracy, and precision would be. Transcription, the process of converting spoken words into written text, is indispensable to the medical world. Medical scribes transcribe by recording important details of physician-patient encounters, while clinical researchers must convert their findings into analysable written text to ensure their validity and create opportunities for further learning and understanding of their results. So, let's explore six main ways transcription supports the precision and integrity of healthcare.

Enhancing Accuracy and Precision

medical-scribes-dictationSkilled medical scribing entails meticulous transcription of patient encounters, procedures, or treatment plans from spoken word into written text, capturing every detail and nuance. Transcription is a pivotal tool for ensuring that the physician follows the proper procedure and that medical records, reports, and documentation have perfect levels of accuracy. Medical scribing is a skilled profession that requires solid knowledge of the worker's chosen healthcare field. Any misinterpretation of patient information has the potential to lead to ill-informed future decisions regarding a patient's health. Healthcare organisations must also adhere to strict guidelines regarding the documentation of patient care, billing processes, and confidentiality protocols. Skilled medical scribes with specialised knowledge and expertise in their industry can protect organisations from costly lawsuits and ensure that patients are treated with the correct level of integrity. In today's world, time is money. Successful medical scribes improve efficiency and take the burden off physicians having to personally record data, enabling them to see more patients and listen more attentively, ultimately contributing to reaching the healthcare company's overall productivity and financial aims. One study found that medical scribes cut costs by $31.15 per hour, with no risk added risk to patient safety. (more…)
Nursing / 07.03.2024

With its combination of fulfilling work, job security, and growth opportunities, nursing continues to be a sought-after profession. Specifically in Virginia, there are numerous compelling reasons why you should consider pursuing nursing as your career path. Whether you're embarking on your medical journey or seeking a career change, Virginia's nursing landscape caters to diverse aspirations and backgrounds. This blog post will talk about a few strong reasons why you should seriously consider becoming a nurse in the beautiful state of Virginia. (more…)
Heart Disease, Technology / 07.03.2024

Heart disease remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Despite advances in medical technology and treatment modalities, managing heart disease remains challenging. This is particularly true in remote or underserved areas with limited access to specialized healthcare. However, remote patient monitoring (RPM) has transformed the landscape of cardiac care, offering innovative solutions for proactive management and early intervention. The market for remote patient monitoring was projected to be valued at $14.0 billion in 2023, according to PR Newswire. By 2028, it is anticipated to increase to $41.7 billion. This article explores the significance of remote patient monitoring in effectively managing heart disease and its evolving role in enhancing patient outcomes. (more…)
Nursing / 07.03.2024

Nurses have shown incredible leadership in confronting recent healthcare obstacles—from lost insurance access to once-in-a-generation pandemic disruptions. As policies, technologies, and social factors transform health systems, expert nurses guide communities through uncertainty with care models that enhance well-being. In this blog post, we will highlight the contribution of nurses in leading innovations in quality, safety, and equitable access.

Quality Care Revolutionaries

nurses-nursing-trailblazersThe seminal Institute of Medicine's “To Err Is Human” publication sounded alarms in 1999 about the silent epidemic of American medical errors contributing to nearly 98,000 annual deaths. With time, the stakes intensified for systemic improvement. Nurse leadership emerged, accelerating cultural transformations and pioneering processes that saved countless lives. Take Children’s Hospital Solutions for Patient Safety Network (SPS), for example. Founded by nurse scientist Marlene Miller in 2001, it aims to unite children’s hospitals to develop evidence-based harm reduction tactics and tools. By adopting the best practices across their network, their hospitals are making significant strides in preventing serious harm. As of November 2023, this nationwide network of child healthcare has spared over 25,000 children from harm, resulting in an estimated cost savings of $500 million. Similarly, medical experts around the world credit ICU nurses’ relentless systems analysis and testing of solutions during the COVID-19 pandemic for lifting outcomes. (more…)
Author Interviews, Mental Health Research, Pharmaceutical Companies / 14.01.2024

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Lauren Davis Lauren C. Davis, MBS Department of Medical Education Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine Scranton, PA 19409   MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Financial conflicts of interest (COIs) resulting from ties between academia and industry have been under scrutiny for their potential to hinder the integrity of medical research. COIs can lead to implicit bias, compromise the research process, and erode public trust (1-6). The American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), standardizes symptom criteria and codifies psychiatric disorders. This manual contributes to the approval of new drugs, extensions of patent exclusivity, and can influence payers and mental health professionals seeking third-party reimbursements. Given the implications of the DSM on public health, it is paramount that it is free of industry influence. Previous research has shown a high prevalence of industry ties among panel and task force members of the DSM-IV-TR and DSM-5, despite the implementation of a disclosure policy for the DSM-5 (7,8). This study (9) determined the extent and type of COIs received by panel and task-force members of the DSM-5-TR (2022) (10). As the DSM-5-TR did not disclose COI, we used the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services Open Payments (OP) database (11) to quantify them. (more…)
Author Interviews, Technology / 13.12.2023

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Prof. Enomoto, Masaru Department of Hepatology Graduate School of Medicine Osaka Metropolitan University Osaka, Japan MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: This research was conceived out of the use of generative AI drawing upon past experience in selecting a large amount of literature over an extended amount of time. In recent years, generative AI, such as ChatGPT, has gained attention and is being used in various fields, including information gathering and idea generation. In the medical field in particular, it is challenging to gather pertinent data as the volume of information proliferates on a daily basis, so there is a need to improve the efficiency of information collection. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, Pharmacology / 09.12.2023

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Joseph T. DiPiro, Pharm.D Associate Vice President, Faculty Affairs Virginia Commonwealth University Dr. DiPiro is an editor for Pharmacotherapy: A Pathophysiologic Approach MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The ASHP/ASHP Foundation Pharmacy Forecast Report is constructed from a survey of health-system pharmacy leaders who were asked to rate the likelihood of events, scenarios, and trends occurring in the next five years. The purpose is for health-system pharmacists and pharmacy leaders to inform their strategic planning efforts. The Pharmacy Forecast is not intended to predict future events. Rather, the report is intended to be a provocative stimulant for the thinking, discussion, and planning that must take place in every health system. Leaders must be informed of potential developments to help position their organizations to care for patients, enhance population health, and improve medication outcomes. (more…)
Alzheimer's - Dementia, Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, JAMA, UCLA / 20.05.2023

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Julia Cave Arbanas Project Manager and     John N. Mafi, MD, MPH Associate Professor of Medicine General Internal Medicine & Health Services Research David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLAJohn N. Mafi, MD, MPH Associate Professor of Medicine General Internal Medicine & Health Services Research David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA   MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What is lecanemab used for and how well does it work? Response: Lecanemab is a treatment for mild cognitive impairment and mild dementia that was approved in January 2023 as part of the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) accelerated approval program. The results from a recent phase 3 clinical trial show a modest clinical benefit: the rate of cognitive decline by 27% in an 18-month study involving participants experiencing the early stage of Alzheimer’s, with an 0.45-point absolute difference in cognitive testing scores. However, due to the risk of brain swelling and bleeding (also known as amyloid-related imaging abnormalities), treatment with lecanemab involves frequent MRIs and neurology or geriatrics appointments to monitor for these abnormalities, which can be life threatening. So far, three patient deaths have potentially been tied to lecanemab. It is likely that the FDA will grant is lecanemab traditional approval later this year, prompting Medicare to reconsider its current coverage restrictions and potentially enabling widespread use. (more…)
Lung Cancer, Race/Ethnic Diversity / 02.05.2023

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Andres Kohan MD MHSc. in Translational Research Joint Department of Medical Imaging University Health Network Mount Sinai Hospital and Women's College Hospital University of Toronto Toronto, Canada   MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Inequalities in access to healthcare for oncologic patients and its impact on quality of life and survival have been previously described. However, there also exists reports pointing out that when factors contributing to socioeconomic inequality are accounted for differences in outcome between races remain identifiable. In this context, we sought to evaluate the presence of disparities in imaging in a selected population of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) within AACRs Project GENIE Biopharma Consortium (BPC) dataset v 1.1. This database is the largest in existence that has not only the patients’ imaging and clinical staging/follow-up, but also the genetic profile of the patients’ tumors. (more…)
Author Interviews, Health Care Systems, JAMA, Technology, UCSD / 01.05.2023

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Zechariah Zhu, B.S. Affiliate Scientist with the Qualcomm Institute at UC San Diego and study co-author First author: John W. Ayers, PhD, MA MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: In today’s day and age (especially after the COVID-19 pandemic), an increasing number of people are turning to virtual options for healthcare. Most notably, there was a 1.6-fold increase in electronic patient messages, which significantly increased the burden on physicians, with a record-high proportion of physicians (62%) reporting burnout symptoms. On the other hand, we also see the rise of AI technologies like ChatGPT—an AI chatbot assistant that has taken the world by storm recently with its ability to provide lengthy response essays to many questions it is asked. Our objective for this study, then, was to evaluate the ability of ChatGPT to provide quality and empathetic responses to patient questions. (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, Race/Ethnic Diversity / 28.02.2023

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Muchi Ditah Chobufo MD MPH Cardiology Fellow West Virginia University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Ischemic heart diseases are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in the USA. Also, there exists alarming ethnic disparities in mortality rates following acute myocardial infarction. To this effect, significant efforts have been deployed over the years to curb its burden and reduce extant disparities. It is in this light that we set out to analyze general and ethnic specific trends in acute myocardial infarction related age adjusted mortality rates (AAMR) in the entire USA from 1999-2020.  (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Surgical Research / 13.01.2023

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Casey Hribar Fourth-year medical student University of North Carolina MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Several great pieces of literature already exist about patient perception of doctors wearing white coats, formal attire, business attire, and the like. But recently, scrubs are garnering favor, especially as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. While there has been some interest in what is worn over scrubs (jackets, vests, name tags, etc.), to our knowledge, there has not been any investigation into scrub color. Scrubs are a highly variable article of clothing, from fit, to pockets, pattern, and color, and it makes sense that these variations could have their own associated perceptions. Our study served as a way to open up the conversation around scrubs and the potential impact of their color on patients. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, JAMA / 19.12.2022

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Anna L. Goldman, M.D., M.P.A., M.P.H Assistant Professor of Medicine General Internal Medicine Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine   MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Experts on the healthcare labor market have long debated the existence and magnitude of a physician shortage. Physician work hours are a major contributor to physician supply issues, but little research is available on recent trends in work hours by physicians.  In addition, no available studies have rigorously estimated changes in the physician workforce size during the pandemic. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, COVID -19 Coronavirus, JAMA / 26.09.2022

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Allison Witman PhD Assistant Professor of Economics Economics & Finance Cameron School of Business University of North Carolina, Wilmington

Yu Wang PhD Assistant Professor Congdon School of Supply Chain, Business Analytics, & Information Systems Cameron School of Business University of North Carolina Wilmington David Cho PhD Assistant Professor of Management California State University, Fullerton

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The COVID-19 pandemic placed tremendous financial pressure on hospitals. Beginning in March of 2020, hospitals cancelled outpatient and elective procedures to accommodate surges in demand from COVID-19 patients. As these procedures account for more than 60% of an average hospital’s revenue, cancellation posed serious challenges to the financial health of hospitals. Revenue from COVID-19 patients may have partially offset these effects, but the American Hospital Association estimated a total loss of $202.6 billion by American hospitals between March and June 2020. In response, the U.S. government created large federal assistance programs aimed to stabilize hospitals’ financial situation as their ability to maintain operations was critical to the health of the nation. Due to differences in hospital characteristics, certain hospitals such as rural hospitals and those serving a higher share of Medicaid and uninsured patients (e.g., safety net hospitals) may have been more financially susceptible to the effects of the pandemic. These hospitals that serve vulnerable patient populations historically have had lower profit margins and were candidates for targeted COVID relief funding (e.g., Safety Net Hospitals Payments, a $10 billion component of the Provider Relief Fund). (more…)
Author Interviews / 23.09.2022

It isn’t always easy to decide what kind of career you should pursue, particularly when there are so many options available. A lot of people can find it overwhelming to think about what they want to do with their life, and finding a role that makes them happy while providing enough security that they are comfortable isn’t always straightforward. Although there are several industries and specialist fields you can explore, one area to work in that can offer a lot is the healthcare sector. Working in healthcare is not only a career choice that can provide numerous interesting job opportunities, but it is also one that you can be proud of. This industry is vital to keeping members of society healthy and plays an active part in saving people’s lives, too. With the innovations and discoveries in medical science, it’s also a fascinating area to work in, with plenty of impressive trailblazers that you can call your colleagues. If this all sounds good to you so far, you might want to consider these further reasons to at least consider a career in the healthcare sector. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, Dermatology, JAMA / 08.09.2022

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jane M. Zhu, M.D., M.P.P., M.S.H.P. Assistant Professor of Medicine Division of General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics School of Medicine Oregon Health & Science University Portland, Oregon MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Private equity (PE) acquisitions of physician practices are accelerating across many specialties, but there is still little robust evidence on the effects of these acquisitions. Concerns about PE involvement is predicated on the fact that these firms expect high annual returns, which require either reducing costs or increasing revenue, or both. Using PE acquisition data from 2016-2020, linked to commercial claims data, we sought to understand what common mechanisms of revenue generation were being adopted after private equity acquisition of physician practices. (more…)
Author Interviews, Health Care Systems, JAMA / 12.07.2022

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Joanna JiangJoanna Jiang, PhD Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Rockville, Maryland MedicalResearch.com:  What is the background for this study?  What are the main findings? Response: Over the last decade we have seen two trends occurring to rural hospitals – closures and mergers. A hospital in financial distress could likely face closure. But if the hospital affiliates with a multihospital system, it may have access to resources from the system that help shelter the hospital from closure. That is exactly what we found in this study. System affiliation was associated with a lower risk of closure for financially distressed hospitals. However, among hospitals that were financially stable, system affiliation was associated with a higher risk of closure. This is somewhat puzzling and needs further study to better understand the reason for closure. (more…)
Author Interviews, Education, JAMA, Pharmaceutical Companies / 06.07.2022

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: SooYoung VanDeMark, MBS Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine Scranton, Pennsylvania MedicalResearch.com:  What is the background for this study?   Response: Health care providers utilize subscription-based, point-of-care databases such as DynaMed and UpToDate to provide clinical care guidance and remain current on the latest evidence-based findings. Both of these websites maintain this content through a cadre of physician contributors who write and edit articles for these sites. These physician contributors are required to self-report any conflicts of interest (COI) as outlined by the respective policies on each website. However, prior COI research into similarly self-regulated areas, such as medical and pharmacology textbooks, and clinical practice guidelines, has found both appreciable potential COI and inconsistencies between self-reported and industry mandated disclosures (1-3). This study (4) explored the accuracy of physician contributors to DynaMed and UpToDate by comparing their self-reported disclosure status with the financial remunerations they received from the healthcare industry (e.g., pharmaceutical companies) as reported to the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ Open Payments database. Physician contributors who reported “nothing to disclose” on their respective article topic but had an entry on Open Payments for having received money from industry, were classified as discordant and, thus, as having the potential for a COI. Additionally, total remuneration, gender, and payment category were investigated more in depth for each database. (more…)
Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Cost of Health Care, JAMA / 09.06.2022

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Benjamin N. Rome MD Instructor, Harvard Medical School Internal Medicine Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics Brigham and Women’s Hospital MedicalResearch.com:  What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response: Manufacturers of brand-name drugs are granted periods, free from direct competition, during which they can set and raise prices as they choose. We found that the prices for newly marketed brand-name drugs increased by 20% per year from 2008 to 2021. In 2020 and 2021, nearly half of new drugs were launched at a price greater than $150,000 per year, compared with 9% of drugs in 2008-2013. These dramatic trends are only partly explained by changes in the types of drugs coming to market. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, COVID -19 Coronavirus, JAMA / 15.02.2022

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Kao-Ping Chua, MD, PhD Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics Assistant Professor, Health Management and Policy School of Public Health University of Michigan MedicalResearch.com:  What is the background for this study? Response: In 2020, most insurers waived the cost of COVID-19 hospitalization for patients. In early 2021, many major insurers started to abandon those waivers. By August 2021, the vast majority of insurers had started billing patients for COVID-19 hospitalizations again. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, JAMA, Kidney Disease, Social Issues, Transplantation / 14.12.2021

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Rebecca Thorsness, PhD Research Associate Department of Health Services, Policy, and Practice Brown University School of Public Health  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: In 2019, the President signed the Advancing American Kidney Health executive order, which included provisions to increase the use of home dialysis and kidney transplant for Americans living with kidney failure. To carry out this vision, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) developed the ESRD Treatment Choices (ETC) payment model, which uses financial incentives and penalties to incentivize dialysis facilities to pursue home dialysis or kidney transplant for their patients. Transplant and home dialysis are optimal care for people with kidney failure, but there are social and clinical reasons that patients with high social risk (such as those exposed to racism, poverty, or housing instability) may not be candidates for these treatments. This means that facilities which serve a large number of patients with high social risk might be disproportionately penalized by this new payment model. Using data immediately prior to the implementation of the ETC model, we found that dialysis facilities that serve high proportions of patients with high social risk have lower rates of home dialysis and kidney transplantation than facilities that care for lower proportions of such patients. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, JAMA, Medicare / 12.12.2021

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jeanne Madden, PhD Associate Professor Department of Pharmacy and Health Systems Sciences School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Bouvé College of Health Science Northeastern University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Medicare is the US public insurance program mainly serving people 65 years and older, but also some younger adults who have long-term disabling conditions. As such, on average, the Medicare population bears a heavy burden of illness and has high health care needs, compared to the general US population. The under-65 group for the most part has quite low incomes, while the older group represents a wide spectrum, from poor to well-off. Medicare beneficiaries also differ a great deal in terms of whether they have access to supplemental insurance that can help with patient cost-sharing requirements. I’m referring to Medicaid assistance, or a self-purchased Medigap plan, or retiree health benefits, etc. The cost-sharing requirements in traditional Medicare are substantial — e.g., 20% for doctor visits — and there is no annual cap on patient out-of-pocket spending. That’s in contrast to commercial insurance and Medicare Advantage managed care plans — all of those have an annual cap on patient out-of-pocket costs. There’s a good amount of existing research on whether people in Medicare can afford their drugs, and on the affordability of medical care among younger groups such as working-aged uninsured people and those in ACA exchange plans. But there hasn’t been much research into medical care affordability among older Americans. (more…)
Author Interviews, Electronic Records, Pharmacology / 08.12.2021

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Bernard Esquivel Zavala, MD, PhD, MHA GenXys Chief Medical Officer MedicalResearch.com: What is the mission of GenXys? Response: Our mission at GenXys is to tailor the right treatment for each individual patient at the right time. GenXys founders, including Professors Pieter Cullis and Martin Dawes, were heavily involved in the precision medicine field from the very beginning, and they noticed a functional gap between the expectations and the actual clinical implementation of precision medicine Particularly, when it came to, at the time, the new field of pharmacogenetics. Their solution was to provide a comprehensive, user-friendly platform that organizes all patient data relevant to prescribing to provide the safest and most appropriate personalized prescribing options. Simply put, GenXys’ solutions were made by clinicians, for clinicians. The GenXys software suite collects patient information and categorizes that information, including pharmacogenetic data, based on clinical relevance and runs it through advanced condition -based algorithms to provide real time accurate prescribing options. It makes my life as a clinician easier and safer and gives me the confidence that I am not practicing ‘trial and error’ prescribing. Ideally, every healthcare provider should be using a real time medication decision support solution like ours, and not just for pharmacogenetic test results. Pharmacogenomics is just one piece. In fact, our core product, TreatGx™ can run with or without pharmacogenomics. Let's say that you've run it without pharmacogenomics, meaning that you are using this tool to organize and rapidly identify how biophysical factors, liver function, kidney function, comorbidities, and drug-drug interactions may impact the medication you're about to prescribe to your patient. This functionality alone is incredibly helpful. In fact, the factors I just mentioned likely account for 95% of the reasons why a patient does not respond to a particular medication or might have an adverse drug reaction. But the TreatGx platform will also highlight when the evidence supports bringing pharmacogenomic information into the mix. The right approach is bringing all those relevant clinical, biochemical, and molecular factors closer to the provider which will ultimately foster personalization. We will start treating the individual instead of the disease(s). As with any new technology, there are barriers to precision prescribing. This includes educational and emotional barriers. It’s important to educate providers and keep them up to date to help them understand the power that precision prescribing can bring into their practice—and the limitations—to set the right level of expectation. The Human Genome Project was finished in 2000, and there was a lot of buzz about pharmacogenomics even back in 2003. The field got a lot of traction in 2015. So, everyone thought, "Oh, this is going to be groundbreaking and quite disruptive. From now on my prescription is going to be a hundred percent accurate and safe." But it's not quite the whole story. Pharmacogenomics has to be considered as another piece of the puzzle. It's like saying that by having an MRI, you're curing cancer. It's just another piece of the treatment puzzle. There are also emotional barriers, where ego can factor into a decision. It can be uncomfortable for a physician to say, "I don't know this. Let me check it out. Let me explore it further, review, and come back to you." It's easier to say if I don't know it, that it doesn't work or isn’t relevant, rather than exposing yourself. And so that, in terms of the emotional piece, I would say is a big component. We can tackle the emotional component that element by fostering education and bringing education closer to providers. (more…)
Author Interviews / 30.11.2021

Below are some of the top ophthalmological advances for 2021:

       1. Optical Coherence Tomography Optical Coherence Tomography or OCT is a noninvasive imaging technique that is used to secure cross-sectional, high-resolution imaging of the retina. The retina’s layers are differentiated while its thickness is measured to help detect and identify retinal conditions in its early stages. These retinal diseases may include macular degeneration, which is typically age-related, and diabetic retinopathy or diabetic eye disease. OCT testing is now a standard practice to assess and decide on specific treatments for many retinal problems. It utilizes light rays to measure the thickness of the retina without radiation and x-rays, a painless test that does not cause discomfort to the patient. The technology of OCT is similar to ultrasound though it uses light instead of sound, giving it a much clearer resolution. (more…)
Lifestyle & Health / 08.11.2021

Why Early Detection is a Life-saverIt's understandable if you fear visiting the hospital if you feel unwell. You worry that you will get a terrible diagnosis. You would rather pretend that everything is okay than face the truth. Remember that it's better to have early detection of an illness than waiting until everything is late. People's lives were saved because they decided to ask for medical advice early. You can begin your path to recovery Just because you received an unfavorable diagnosis doesn't mean your life is over. Even some life-threatening conditions like cancer already have a cure. Many people underwent remission after months or years of treatment. If you decide against getting medical advice, these potential cures might not work anymore. You will regret not starting the process earlier on. (more…)
Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Cancer Research, Cost of Health Care, JAMA / 20.10.2021

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Anita Katharina Wagner, PharmD, MPH, DrPH Associate Professor of Population Medicine Director, Ethics Program, Point32Health (parent company of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Tufts Health Plan) Co-Director, HMS Fellowship in Health Policy and Insurance Research Co-Director, Center for Cancer Policy and Program Evaluation (CarPE) Department of Population Medicine Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The expectation for new cancer drugs is that they help patients live better longer. Increasingly more cancer drugs are approved without documented quality of life or overall survival benefits.   At the same time, cancer drug prices are rising.  We studied use of and spending on selected new cancer drugs among patients with employer-sponsored health insurance. We found that among 37348 patients who received one or more of 44 oral targeted cancer drugs, the proportion of patients who received a drug without documented overall survival benefit increased from 13% in 2011 to 59% in 2018.  By 2018, spending on drugs without documented overall survival benefit accounted for 52% of the $3.5 million spend on the 44 drugs since 2011. (more…)
Anesthesiology, Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, JAMA / 18.08.2021

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Ambar La Forgia, PhD Assistant Professor of Health Policy & Management Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Over the past few years, there has been mounting pressure to protect consumers from surprise medical bills, which occur when a patient unknowingly receives care from an out-of-network practitioner at an in-network facility. In 2018, only six states had passed comprehensive surprise billing legislation, and by 2020, 17 states had passed legislation. In addition to protecting patients from financial liability for surprise medical bills, states adopted different methods for determining payments made by a patient’s insurer to the out-of-network practitioner. For example, some states, such as California and Florida, developed a payment standard that tied provider payments to median in-network rates, Medicare rates, or the usual and customary provider charges. Other states, such as New York, developed an independent dispute resolution process, which uses a third-party arbiter to resolve payment disputes between insurers and practitioners. However, little is known about how state laws influence the prices paid to out-of-network practitioners and whether spillovers existed to in-network prices. In this study, my co-authors and I study the association between the passage of surprise billing legislation in California, Florida, and New York, and prices paid to anesthesiologists in hospital outpatient departments and ambulatory surgery centers using commercial claims data from 2012-2017. We focused on anesthesiology because it is one of the specialties with the highest proportion of potential surprise bills since patients do not usually choose their anesthesiologist. (more…)