Medicare Debuts Another Primary Care-Focused Accountable Care Model
Medicare is trying again with another accountable care organization (ACO) payment model aimed at primary care doctors, but reactions to the new model are mixed so far. The voluntary model, known as ACO Primary Care Flex, would pay organizations that participate in Medicare’s Shared Savings Program a monthly fee that would be distributed to the […]
New Standard for Unresectable Hepatocellular Carcinoma?
SAN FRANCISCO — After more than 20 years of trying, systemic therapy for unresectable liver cancer has improved outcomes with transarterial chemoembolization (TACE), a randomized trial showed. Patients who received durvalumab (Imfinzi) plus bevacizumab (Avastin) in addition to TACE had a median progression-free survival (PFS) of 15.0 months as compared with 8.2 months for TACE […]
CMS Facing Challenges Attracting Practices to Value-Based Payment Models
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) continues to face a string of challenges in trying to attract more fee-for-service medical practices to Medicare’s accountable care organizations (ACOs) and other value-based purchasing arrangements. “Value-based purchasing programs link provider payments to improved performance by healthcare providers. This form of payment holds healthcare providers accountable for […]
It’s worth the money to pay for a weight loss program: Those in the program enjoyed more success compared to going it alone
For people trying to improve their health and lose weight by themselves — privately tracking and journaling meals and exercise — new research from UBC Okanagan suggests it is time to call in the professionals. Dr. Lesley Lutes’ latest research paper, published this month in the Journal of the American Medical Association Network Open, suggests […]
Here’s How Abortion Laws Could Impact IVF
For fertility specialists across the country who are trying to help those who want to start families, abortion bans in many states after Roe v. Wade was overturned have raised new questions and concerns around the practice of in vitro fertilization. Perhaps the most significant concern, according to experts, is the potential for state laws […]
Opinion | ‘I Am Just Trying to Stand Up to a Bully’: What We Heard This Week
“I am just trying to stand up to a bully.” — John Spertus, MD, of Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute, on his copyright infringement lawsuit against the nation’s leading electronic health record vendor, Epic Systems. “If it were my relatives, I would be sending them out to do this.” — Peter Marks, MD, PhD, […]
‘E-nose’ could someday diagnose Parkinson’s disease by ‘smelling’ skin
Scientists have been trying to build devices that could diagnose Parkinson’s disease (PD) through odor compounds on the skin. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Omega have developed a portable, artificially intelligent olfactory system, or “e-nose,” that could someday diagnose the disease in a doctor’s office. PD causes motor symptoms, such as tremors, rigidity and trouble […]
‘The Shame, The Embarrassment, The Soul-Crushing Debt’: What We Heard This Week
“The shame, the embarrassment, the soul-crushing debt, trying and trying — it’s just like, what more do you have left to give?” — Mahad Minhas, MD, a resident physician at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, describing the despair some students experience when they don’t match to a residency program. “That’s a double win […]
‘Like Trying to Soak Up a Lake With a Napkin’: What We Heard This Week
It’s like “trying to soak up a lake with a napkin.” — Shawn Ryan, MD, vice chair of the legislative advocacy committee for the American Society of Addiction Medicine, noting the current situation of opioid treatment providers, who say they are bleeding cash and unable to keep staff in the face of rising drug overdose […]