A New Congress Will Face Pressing Healthcare Issues, Regardless of Who Is in Control
WASHINGTON — With some midterm election races too close to call and at least one Senate race headed for a December runoff, it remained unclear on Wednesday which political party would take control of the House or the Senate in 2023. However, observers said that some predictions could still be made about Congress’s potential health […]
Doc Groups Unhappy With 4.5% Cut in the 2023 Medicare Fee Schedule Final Rule
WASHINGTON — Physician groups expressed concerns over what one group called a “substantial” decrease in Medicare fee-for-service physician payments under a final rule for 2023 issued Tuesday by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The 2023 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule includes a 4.5% decrease in the conversion factor — the multiplier that Medicare […]
Vaccine Candidates for RSV Ward Off Severe Illness in Older Adults
WASHINGTON — Prefusion F protein vaccine candidates for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) proved safe in adults 60 and up while demonstrating an ability to thwart lower respiratory tract illness, including severe cases, a pair of large phase III trials showed. A single dose of an RSV prefusion F protein vaccine (RSVPreF3 OA) yielded a vaccine […]
Start HIV Antiretroviral Therapy ASAP, Experts Urge
WASHINGTON — Early initiation of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in patients with HIV can lead to better outcomes, especially for those ages 35 and younger, a follow-up analysis of the START trial showed. For patients who had deferred ART until their CD4 counts were below 350 cells/mm3, there was a 21% higher risk of death or […]
A Once-Rejected Antibiotic Equals Standard for Complicated Staph Infections
WASHINGTON — Investigational ceftobiprole was just as effective as daptomycin for bacterial bloodstream infections caused by Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia, the phase III ERADICATE trial demonstrated. In the randomized head-to-head comparison, post-treatment success at 70 days was 69.8% with ceftobiprole and 68.7% with daptomycin, meeting prespecified criteria for non-inferiority, Thomas Holland, MD, of Duke University in […]
Extra Hep B Vaccine Dose Exceeds Expectations for People With HIV
WASHINGTON — Three doses of hepatitis B vaccine with a cytosine phosphoguanine adjuvant (HepB-CpG; Heplisav-B) notched a perfect mark when it came to seroprotection for people with HIV who had never before been vaccinated against the hepatitis B virus (HBV), early results of a phase III trial showed. At 28 weeks, the three doses yielded […]
Novel Siderophore Cephalosporin Nets Promising Results in Tough-to-Treat CRAB
WASHINGTON – Cefiderocol (Fetroja) may be a viable targeted-therapy option in critically ill patients with carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii infections (CRAB), according to the ongoing PROVE trial. In the real-world setting, patients with CRAB often had multiple comorbidities, including severe burns, which complicates therapy, explained Stephen Marcella, MD, of Shionogi in Florham Park, New Jersey. He […]
Ivermectin: Still on a Losing Streak as COVID-19 Treatment
WASHINGTON — There were no differences in relief from mild-to-moderate COVID-19 symptoms for patients on ivermectin versus placebo, according to the ongoing ACTIV-6 trial. Among >1,000 vaccinated and unvaccinated patients, the median time to recovery was 12 days for those in the ivermectin group and 13 days in the placebo group, reported Matthew McCarthy, MD, […]
Engaging in Healthcare May Close Longevity Gap Between Black and White Men With HIV
WASHINGTON — For men who have sex with men and are living with HIV, adopting strategies that would further engage Black men with the healthcare system could potentially close the gap in longevity between Black and white men, researchers suggested here. Using the framework of the HIV Care Continuum, simulation modeling showed that engagement with […]
Cutting Unneeded Urine Cultures a Good First Step to Less Antibiotic Use
WASHINGTON — Michigan hospitals were able to cut down on unnecessary treatment of asymptomatic bacteriuria (ASB) thanks to better diagnostic stewardship, according to a study. The percentage of patients with a positive urine culture who had ASB fell from 34.1% in the year 2017 to 22.5% in 2020 in a consortium of 46 hospitals. That […]