MedPAC Wrestles With How to Fix Deep Flaws in Medicare Advantage Quality Metrics
The methods used to compare quality between one Medicare Advantage (MA) plan and another are so seriously flawed that the system needs an overhaul, members of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) suggested last week. A commission review has determined the program “is costly and not a good basis for judging quality,” MedPAC principal policy […]
Air Force Mom Faces Advanced Breast Cancer
Defending their country using the most innovative tools and methods available is what the warriors in Melinda’s family have always done. In the 1980s, Melinda was working as an Air Force procurement officer in North Dakota when she met her husband who, like her father, flew B-52 bombers. Spending three years in Germany and relocating […]
New smartphone clip-on can detect Zika virus in blood samples
As seen with the COVID-19 pandemic, detection methods that are rapid, simple, accurate, and sensitive are vital for detecting viral pathogens and for controlling the spread of infectious diseases. Unfortunately, laboratory-based methods often require trained personnel and involve complex procedures. In a new study, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have combined their efforts […]
Acceptance of Vaginal Ring and Oral PrEP Increasing in Young African Women
By and large, young women and adolescent girls in Africa use and accept new methods of preventing sexually transmitted HIV, researchers reported. Of the 247 adolescent girls and young women who participated in the REACH-034 trial, 77.8% had at least moderate adherence to use of the monthly dapivirine-eluting vaginal ring and 58.6% had at least […]