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Families scramble to pay five-figure bills as clock ticks on promised preauthorization reforms

Sheldon Ekirch is used to being disappointed by her health insurance company.

13 Mar 2026

Medicare Advantage ‘dark money’ group attempts to win higher payments for insurance companies

Judging by more than 16,400 comments recently posted on a federal government website, you'd think there was a groundswell of older Americans demanding that federal officials hike payments to their Medicare Advantage health insurance plans.

13 Mar 2026

Romiplostim prevents chemotherapy-induced thrombocytopenia in phase 3 trial

Results from a global phase 3 clinical trial led by investigators at Mass General Brigham show that the medication romiplostim can effectively prevent chemotherapy from destroying platelet-producing bone marrow cells, a common complication known as chemotherapy-induced thrombocytopenia.

12 Mar 2026

High-dose vitamin D3 does not reduce COVID-19 severity, but may impact long COVID outcomes

In a large, randomized trial, researchers at Mass General Brigham have found that high-dose vitamin D3 did not reduce COVID-19 infection severity, but may impact long COVID outcomes.

12 Mar 2026

Study links prior authorization to delayed heart failure prescriptions

Prior authorization, a process that requires physicians to obtain approval from health care insurers before certain treatments are covered, may keep patients from filling prescriptions for two critical heart failure drugs, a new study shows.

12 Mar 2026

MUSC’s new manual for navigating dementia

For an estimated 11% of Americans over age 65 who have dementia and the over 11 million unpaid caregivers supporting them, there is no instruction manual for navigating life after diagnosis. A team of College of Nursing researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina is working to fill that gap.

12 Mar 2026

Escalating Middle East conflict places severe strain on regional health systems

More than ten days into the latest escalation of conflict in the Middle East, health systems across the Region are coming under strain as injuries and displacement rise, attacks on health care continue, and public health risks increase.

11 Mar 2026

Apixaban safer than rivaroxaban for treating venous thrombosis

The first clinical trial to compare two commonly used drugs head-to-head for venous thrombosis treatment has found a clear winner: while both drugs work well to prevent recurrent blood clots, apixaban is safer than rivaroxaban, with fewer bleeding complications.

11 Mar 2026

Most older adults in England believe climate change poses serious future risks

Six out of 10 older people in England view climate change as a serious risk, with only one in 17 (5.8%) dismissive of climate change concerns, according to a new study led by UCL (University College London) researchers.

11 Mar 2026

High medical debt leads to significant delays in routine and preventive care

Medical debt is associated with deferred dental care, medical care, and mental health care, even among people with health insurance, according to a new study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

11 Mar 2026

Dual sensory loss affects confidence in navigation and sound localization

According to a recent multi-institute PLOS One study led by the Multisensory Research Lab at the Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins Medicine, time of hearing loss onset is a key determinant of patient confidence and self-reported sound localization abilities - the ability to perceive and locate objects in an environment - even in individuals who use hearing aids or who have received vision rehabilitation training.

11 Mar 2026

Legal sports betting may raise risky alcohol use among young men

A new study in Health Economics indicates that the rapid expansion of online sports betting in the US may be increasing risky alcohol consumption among young men.

11 Mar 2026

DNA origami vaccine platform shows promise against multiple infectious viruses

The COVID-19 pandemic brought messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines to the forefront of global health care. After their clinical trial stages, the first COVID-19 mRNA vaccine was administered on 8 December 2020 and mathematical models suggest that mRNA vaccines prevented at least 14.4 million deaths from COVID-19 in the first year alone.

11 Mar 2026

Primary care is in trouble. So doctors band together to boost their market power.

Western Massachusetts, a patchwork of rural communities and low-income cities, is a difficult place to find a primary care doctor if you don't already have one.

11 Mar 2026

ADHD prescriptions surged during the COVID-19 pandemic

A study reveals COVID-19 reshaped stimulant prescribing patterns in Ontario, highlighting increased ADHD diagnoses and concerns over treatment appropriateness.

11 Mar 2026

The social and legal costs of ignoring AI diagnostics

Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing the field and practice of medicine, including legal liability and the perception of who is at fault when a patient experiences harm.

11 Mar 2026

Multi-agent AI systems outperform single models under heavy clinical workloads

As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes more common in health care, from managing records to assisting with medication decisions, researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai are asking an important question: How well does AI hold up when the workload gets intense at health system scale?

10 Mar 2026

New review calls for biologically grounded approach to psychiatric diagnosis

A comprehensive invited review published today in Brain Medicine confronts one of the most persistent paradoxes in modern medicine: psychiatry remains the only major clinical discipline that diagnoses complex illness primarily through conversation and symptom checklists, while fields such as oncology and cardiology long ago embraced laboratory markers, imaging, and molecular profiling.

10 Mar 2026

Stroke survivors under 50 face greater cognitive and mental health challenges

Analysis of a large, nationally representative survey shows that stroke survivors under age 50 have more problems concentrating and running errands and experience more poor mental health days than older stroke survivors do.

10 Mar 2026

Holding blood thinners for too long may jeopardize surgical recovery

Blood thinners are a common medication for much of the older adult population, prescribed to prevent blood clots that can cause adverse events like heart attack or stroke.

10 Mar 2026