Medical economics

The US agency overseeing medical research has announced a major cut in funding to universities and research centers, a move strongly condemned by scientists and academics who say work on cancer and other diseases will suffer.

Digital therapeutics allow health care workers and patients to use software in the management and treatment of disease. The idea spans various health care areas, including mental health, chronic disease management, neurological disorders, addiction treatment, and rehabilitation.

A new study from the University of Iowa finds that many drug prices actually drop after pharmaceutical company mergers, challenging the belief that mergers are the primary cause of rising drug prices in the United States. The study finds the price drops are due to cost savings achieved by merging firms that have overlapping products that treat the same medical condition.

Preparing cancer patients for difficult decisions is an oncologist’s job. They don’t always remember to do it, however. At the University of Pennsylvania Health System, doctors are nudged to talk about a patient’s treatment and end-of-life preferences by an artificially intelligent algorithm that predicts the chances of death.

On the heels of a scuttled hospital merger between rivals in Terre Haute, Indiana, a state senator introduced a bill that would forbid similar mergers in the future.

A new Perspective published in the New England Journal of Medicine led by researchers from the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute calls for urgent regulatory reforms to address the rising trend of physician strikes in the United States. The piece provides a comprehensive analysis of the increasing frequency of physician strikes and offers a framework for U.S. policymakers to learn from international best practices.

NHS Scotland must treat at least 20% more non-emergency hospital cases over the next three years to eliminate the backlog caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new analysis involving the University of Strathclyde.

Six years after he entered office vowing to be California’s “health care governor,” Democrat Gavin Newsom has steered tens of billions in public funding to safety net services for the state’s neediest residents while engineering rules to make health care more accessible and affordable for all Californians.