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“Excellence” doesn’t come solely from targeted efforts at extracting wasteful spending. True “excellence” comes from health systems making fundamental changes to the way they do business, namely by adopting a market-based model in which costs are connected to quality and providers are therefore held accountable for the outcomes they produce.

A recent study presented at the American Neurological Association meeting identified vascular and nonvascular risk factors associated with migraine in a population-based study in an effort to help identify targets for reducing migraine-related disability.

A recent study described the use of multiparameter flow cytometry to detect minimal residual disease, with an 8-color flow cytometric method with a 105 sensitivity, using monoclonal antibodies in dried formulation.

A meta-analysis suggests that patients with bipolar disorder have a much greater risk of developing Parkinson disease (PD).

The change to the public charge rule has had a negative impact on immigrant patients, who are disenrolling or declining to enroll in Medicaid and are delaying or avoiding care, according to a survey of community health centers.

Coverage of our peer-reviewed research and news reporting in the healthcare and mainstream press.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee, as well as the Education and Labor Committee, passed the Lower Drug Costs Now Act; Juul Labs will suspend online sales of several types of flavored e-cigarette pods; a trio of employer groups has formed a new partnership to advocate for policies that address the problem of ever-increasing drug costs.

The trial, led by a team from the University of Edinburgh, used the troponin blood test to detect heart attacks, but with separate thresholds for men and women.

This week, the top managed care news included a new guide that balances curbs on opioid abuse with the needs of patients with chronic pain; HHS proposed reforming antikickback rules to help boost value-based care; a report found flaws with Medicaid work requirements.

The global blood shortage is unevenly distributed: Out of 195 countries examined in the study, 119 had unmet need totaling more than 102 million units, the equivalent of 1849 per 100,000 population worldwide.

While measurement of minimal residual disease (MRD) at the end of induction is an important prognostic factor in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), there is a gap in education among community oncology providers, according to an abstract presented at the Society of Hematologic Oncology 2019 Annual Meeting.

Several species of bacteria that can transmit respiratory infections have varying levels of response to the disinfecting agents used in municipal water treatment systems, with no one water disinfection strategy achieving complete microbial control, according to new findings.

Higher employer-sponsored healthcare premiums were found to occur in companies where women account for 75% or more, as opposed to 25%, of the workforce, according to a statistical brief.

Extended estrogen exposure and longer-term hormone therapy was shown to benefit cognitive function among postmenopausal women, according to a new study.

The study found that, on average, it took nearly 2 months or longer for patients of color to receive immunomodulatory drugs such as lenalidomide and/or proteasome inhibitors such as bortezomib and carfilzomib. The use of these therapies has more than doubled survival of patients with multiple myeloma within the past decade.

Sutter Health has agreed to a major class action lawsuit in an antitrust case; California to help middle class income citizens buy health coverage; doctors stress flu shots in the United States amid rough flu season in Australia

Patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) have a higher risk in general of infections, but the risk varies depending on their treatment, according to a new study in JAMA Neurology.

As a result of the study, investigators suggested expanding the indication for tesamorelin (Egrifta) to include people living with HIV who have been diagnosed with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), a comorbidity in HIV.

African Americans who report high levels of chronic stress were shown to be at a heightened risk of developing high blood pressure, or hypertension, with specific stressors such as discrimination and socioeconomic status serving as possible catalysts, according to study findings.

Using and adhering to positive airway pressure therapy was associated with fewer inpatient and overall acute care visits and a lower likelihood of having costs from those visits among patients with moderate or severe obstructive sleep apnea.

Omada Health, a longtime leader in digital health coaching for diabetes prevention and type 2 diabetes (T2D) care, and Abbott, maker of the FreeStyle Libre, said the partnership will “create a new paradigm” in T2D management.

Patients with severe psoriasis have an increased risk of dying from liver, esophageal, and pancreatic cancers, and people with psoriasis have an overall increased risk of a variety of other cancers, according to a meta-analysis and review published Wednesday in JAMA Dermatology.

The 12 Democratic candidates for president spent a good deal of time at their debate Tuesday night discussing healthcare; a group of state attorneys general tried to convince a US District Court judge to give them more time to create a settlement in their opioid lawsuits but failed; Alexion Pharmaceuticals agreed to buy small biotech Achillion Pharmaceuticals in a deal initially valued at $930 million.

Rare diseases may affect a small number of people, but they have fiscal impacts beyond just healthcare costs. A new study in Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases used a public economic framework to identify how hereditary transthyretin-mediated amyloidosis has a public economic burden beyond just health costs in the Netherlands.

A medical affairs official with Janssen said physicians may not bring up the option of a long-acting injectable for fear of disrupting the doctor-patient relationship.

Research presented at the 123rd Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology 2019 in San Francisco, California, indicated sleep apnea as a risk factor for diabetic macular edema, a complication of diabetes that can cause vision loss or blindness.

Former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb called for the ban of THC-based vaping products; machine learning tested to prevent drug shortages; study finds link between air pollution and miscarriages in China.

Two recent abstracts presented at the European Respiratory Society International Congress investigated the decision-making and care management for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients.

Patients on Medicare with metastatic breast cancer who receive treatment that is discordant with NCCN guidelines bear a greater burden of patient cost responsibility than patients who do receive care according to treatment guidelines.

Noninvasive nerve stimulation shows potential effectiveness as a novel treatment for vestibular migraine attacks, according to a small, preliminary study.