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Democratic senators ask watchdog agency to investigate Georgia’S Medicaid work rule

Three Democratic senators asked the country's top nonpartisan government watchdog on Tuesday to investigate the costs of a Georgia program that requires some people to work to receive Medicaid coverage.

18 Dec 2024

Structural sexism may accelerate memory decline in women

Women born in the most sexist U.S. states experience faster memory decline in later years compared to women born in the least sexist states, a new study by researchers at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons has found.

18 Dec 2024

Rage has long shadowed American health care. It’s rarely produced big change.

Among the biggest-grossing films in America in February 2002 were a war drama about American troops in Somalia ("Black Hawk Down"), an Arnold Schwarzenegger action movie ("Collateral Damage"), and a future Oscar winner about a brilliant mathematician struggling with schizophrenia ("A Beautiful Mind").

18 Dec 2024

How a duty to spend wisely on worker benefits could loosen PBMs’ grip on drug prices

Ann Lewandowski knows all about pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, the companies that shape the U.S. drug market. Her job, as a policy advocate at drugmaker Johnson & Johnson, was to tell patient and physician groups about the PBMs' role in high drug prices.

18 Dec 2024

Personality testing reveals behavioral bias in LLMs

Most major large language models (LLMs) can quickly tell when they are being given a personality test and will tweak their responses to provide more socially desirable results - a finding with implications for any study using LLMs as a stand-in for humans.

18 Dec 2024

Heat waves pose unique threats to people with Parkinson's and dementia

As 2024 is set to end as Earth's hottest year on record – breaking the previous record set in 2023– a UCLA Health researcher says people living with neurodegenerative diseases will be uniquely vulnerable to worsening heat waves because of a higher risk of heat-related complications.

17 Dec 2024

Advancements in reinforcement learning for personalized patient care

Reinforcement Learning, an artificial intelligence approach, has the potential to guide physicians in designing sequential treatment strategies for better patient outcomes but requires significant improvements before it can be applied in clinical settings, finds a new study by Weill Cornell Medicine and Rockefeller University researchers.

17 Dec 2024

AI-driven tool revolutionizes placenta examination at bedside

The placenta, the temporary organ grown to support fetal development, plays a vital role during pregnancy and contains crucial information about the health of both the parent and the baby.

17 Dec 2024

Driving occupations could lead to lower rates of death from Alzheimer's disease

A new study raises the possibility that jobs that require frequent spatial processing - such as figuring out a taxi route or the best way to navigate to a hospital - could lead to lower rates of death from Alzheimer's disease.

17 Dec 2024

Trump threat to immigrant health care tempered by economic hopes

President-elect Donald Trump's promise of mass deportations and tougher immigration restrictions is deepening mistrust of the health care system among California's immigrants and clouding the future for providers serving the state's most impoverished residents.

17 Dec 2024

Researchers investigate CBD's effect on scan-related anxiety in breast cancer patients

The findings showed that CBD did not significantly change scan-related anxiety when compared to a placebo, but researchers did find that CBD was safe and resulted in significantly lower overall anxiety levels.

16 Dec 2024

AASM urges permanent telehealth coverage for improved sleep care

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine has issued a new position statement advocating for permanent telehealth coverage, emphasizing its essential role in providing high-quality, patient-centered care for individuals with sleep disorders.

16 Dec 2024

Helicopters rescued patients in ‘apocalyptic’ flood. Other hospitals are at risk, too.

April Boyd texted her husband before she boarded the helicopter. "So, I don't want to be dramatic," she wrote on Sept. 27, "but we are gonna fly and rescue patients from the rooftop of Unicoi hospital."

16 Dec 2024

New statement highlights role of palliative care in stroke recovery

Palliative care, an approach to care that helps people manage pain and other symptoms during all stages of a serious illness (not just at end of life), can help improve quality of life for stroke survivors as well as their family members, according to "Palliative and End-of-Life Care in Stroke," a new scientific statement published today in the Association's peer-reviewed scientific journal Stroke.

16 Dec 2024

Smoke from Canadian wildfires leads to surge in heart and lung problems in the U.S.

Wildfire smoke has long been known to exacerbate health problems like heart disease, lung conditions, and asthma, but now a new study finds that smoke from these fires can lead to poor health thousands of miles away.

15 Dec 2024

AI tool could revolutionize placenta examination and improve neonatal care

A newly developed tool that harnesses computer vision and artificial intelligence (AI) may help clinicians rapidly evaluate placentas at birth, potentially improving neonatal and maternal care, according to new research from scientists at Northwestern Medicine and Penn State.

14 Dec 2024