Medical economics

A major round of job cuts at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) could weaken efforts to protect American workers, according to federal health officials.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is facing major changes, with five senior leaders stepping down Tuesday.

Assistive artificial intelligence technologies hold significant promise for transforming health care by aiding physicians in diagnosing, managing, and treating patients. However, the current trend of assistive AI implementation could actually worsen challenges related to error prevention and physician burnout, according to a new brief published in JAMA Health Forum.

Only 17 percent of adults say they want to see Medicaid funding decreased, while 42 percent think funding should increase and 40 percent think it should be kept about the same, according to results of the February 2025 KFF Health Tracking Poll.

The Trump administration issued its first major set of proposed changes to the Affordable Care Act on Monday that federal officials said are intended to crack down on fraud in the program. Policy experts said they will make it harder for consumers to sign up for coverage, potentially reducing enrollment.

Contextual social determinants of health (SDoH)—for example, rural residence and neighborhood economic factors—may affect access to community-based rehabilitation services for older adults with traumatic brain injury (TBI), suggests a study in the March/April issue of Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation.

Primary care practices that employ nurse practitioners (NPs) are more likely to serve socioeconomically disadvantaged communities than practices with no NPs on staff, Columbia University School of Nursing researchers report in JAMA Network Open. Assistant Professor Monica O’Reilly-Jacob, Ph.D., led the study, published online February 28, 2025.

There’s been a global trend in the reduction of aid to Africa since 2018. Donors are shifting their funding priorities in response to domestic and international agendas. Germany, France and Norway, for instance, have all reduced their aid to Africa in the past five years. And, in 2020, the UK government reduced its Overseas Development Aid from 0.7% of gross national income to 0.5%.

Low-value care—medical tests and procedures that provide little to no benefit to patients—contributes to excess medical spending and both direct and cascading harms to patients. A research team from Mass General Brigham and their collaborators have found that telemedicine may help to reduce the use of low-value tests. The work is published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

The Hospital Frailty Risk Score (HFRS) helps identify older patients (aged 75 and over) who may be frail and more likely to experience poor outcomes during or after a hospital stay. New research, led by the University of Portsmouth in collaboration with Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust, has found the HFRS is effective at predicting extended hospital stays in patients of all ages—not just older adults.