Business of Medicine
News
Mortality rates higher in affiliates, compared with top-ranked hospitals
Complex cancer surgery at an affiliate hospital is associated with higher mortality rates, compared with surgery undertaken at the top-ranked...
FDA/CDC
FDA chief calls for release of all data tracking problems with medical devices
The FDA is “realizing that physicians who couldn’t see this data before were using devices that they wouldn’t have used if they had this data in...
News
Gender wage gap varies by specialty
Average earnings for women and men in 2018 were closest for hematology.
News
FDA chief calls for stricter scrutiny of electronic health records
The government spent more than $36 billion over 10 years to switch to digital records. In that time, thousands of reports of deaths, injuries, and...
News
For patients with end-stage liver disease, acute care incurs steep costs
Mean end-of-life costs exceeded those for ischemic heart disease, diabetes, mental health disorders, and congestive heart failure. Only chronic...
Conference Coverage
MedPAC puts Part B reference pricing, binding arbitration on the table
The reference pricing policy would set a maximum payment rate for a group of drugs with similar health effects based on the minimum, median, or...
News
Will patient rewards for lower-cost choices impact physicians?
The rewards program offered $25-$500 for making lower-cost choices across 131 elective services.
News
Flu activity levels down, but outpatient visits highest since 1998-99
Outpatient visits for this point in the season are at their highest level since 1998-99.
Clinical Communication
‘Difficult’ discussions reduced anxiety, depression in life-limiting cancer patients
However, there was no difference versus controls in goal-concordant care or peacefulness at end of life.
News
Invasive cardiologists among top revenue-generating specialists
Only cardiovascular surgeons brought in more money for hospitals, survey shows.