In 2018, while reporting on pandemic preparedness in the Democratic Republic of Congo, I heard many people joking about the fictional 15th article of the country’s constitution: Débrouillez-vous, or “Figure it out yourself.” It was a droll and weary acknowledgment that the government won’t save you, and you must make do with the resources you’ve got. The United States is […]

Americans’ search for the right provider often begins with browsing physicians’ online profiles, the way one might look for a new hairstylist or plumber. These digital profiles — such as those found on a health system’s website, health plan directory or third-party healthcare website like Zocdoc or Healthgrades — must be robust in order to best attract and retain patients, […]

Just 13 percent of people who currently dialyze in the U.S. utilize a home treatment option. For many, fear plays a strong defense against the possibilities of treatment at home. Home dialysis is widely encouraged due to the potential for patient autonomy, clinical and lifestyle benefits. Treatments at home also enable more flexible and personalized care, which positively impacts patient […]

Danilo Manimtim’s vision was cloudy and blurred — and it was growing worse. The 73-year-old retired orthopedic surgeon in Fresno, California, knew it was time for cataract surgery. “It’s like car tires wearing out because you drive on them so much,” he said. In December 2021, he went to the outpatient department of the local hospital to undergo the common […]

We are beginning the end game of healthcare consolidation. Over the past decade, we’ve seen a burst of activity in healthcare mergers. At this point, most of the smaller, attractive provider organizations have been acquired by the bigger players. The current landscape is dominated by larger healthcare delivery entities, and in their search for acquisitions they are coming up with […]

Since the release of the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) proposed payment rule, home health stakeholders have been sitting in their respective “war rooms” trying to navigate the proposal. As providers geared up for the unveiling of the proposal, many knew that CMS’ analysis of whether the Patient-Driven Groupings Model (PDGM) led to higher, lower or equal […]

Over half of the Americans questioned in a new poll say the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade is a “step backward” for the U.S. In the CBS News/YouGov poll released Sunday, 52 percent of voters said the decision was a “step backward,” while 31 percent say it is a “step forward.” Seventeen percent said it was neither. […]

  Tests of Duchenne muscular dystrophy drugs typically assess how patients with the muscle-wasting disorder performs tasks, such as walking. The key measure in a pivotal test of Italfarmaco Group’s Duchenne drug, givinostat, is climbing stairs. Less than two seconds may not seem like much time, but it could mean everything for the oral medication. Those seconds represent the time […]

Colorado police and the FBI are investigating a fire at a pregnancy center early Saturday morning as arson after finding graffiti and threatening messages scrawled on the Denver-area building. The fire broke out at Life Choices in the city of Longmont around 3:17 a.m., police wrote in a Facebook post. The facility “sustained fire and heavy smoke damage” but no […]

Pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies Pfizer and BioNTech announced Saturday that updated versions of their vaccines that were adapted to the omicron variant of COVID-19 deliver a “substantially higher immune response” against the strain. Studies “found that a booster dose of both Omicron-adapted vaccine candidates elicited a substantially higher immune response against Omicron BA.1 as compared to the companies’ current COVID-19 […]