Historically, the majority of healthcare services and products have been available to the general public offline, but as the world has become increasingly digital, so has our approach to healthcare. In the ‘digital age’ almost 83% of patients look to the internet to help them search for medical and healthcare providers. With a rapid move … Read more
Berberine is the latest supplement craze, gaining attention on social media as a “natural” weight loss option. With more than 64 million views for the hashtag #berberine on TikTok, users are touting the option as “nature’s Ozempic,” comparing it to the injectable drug created for diabetes that leads to weight loss. Advocates of the less expensive berberine, … Read more
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts’ (BCBS Massachusetts) annual spending on mental health services about doubled to $1.3 billion in 2022 from $610 million in 2019, the insurer announced Monday. “Prior to the pandemic, we’d been seeing year over year increases in mental health spending,” said Dr. Greg Harris, senior medical director for mental health … Read more
For most nurses, the decision to become a nurse is almost always driven by something intimate: a loved one lost to sickness or tragedy, a family tradition, a desire to heal their community. Nobody becomes a nurse to work grueling marathon shifts. Yet, the 12-hour “three-on, four-off” schedule is standard for the profession, and for … Read more
Across nearly every hospital in the country, an entirely new unit has appeared. It’s one that nobody wanted and nobody knows exactly what to do with, but it’s there. You might call it purgatory, or a black hole, or limbo, or any number of other names, but thousands of patients are finding themselves there every … Read more
A group of healthcare researchers and health system leaders recently proposed a new framework to evaluate evidence for digital health products. The set of guidelines — titled “Evidence in Digital health for EFfectiveness of INterventions with Evaluative Depth” (Evidence Defined) — was published last week in npj Digital Medicine. The framework seeks to provide hospitals, … Read more
Ovarian cancer patients whose disease develops resistance to platinum-based chemotherapies have few treatment alternatives. A new ovarian cancer drug that won a speedy FDA nod last fall now has data from a confirmatory study that clinicians say should support the drug’s full approval. They also say the new therapy, Elahere, will change the care of … Read more
Meghan Doyle (left), CEO of Partum Health, accepts the MedCity INVEST Pitch Perfect award from Arundhati Parmar (right), editor-in-chief of MedCity News, May 24. Meghan Doyle, co-founder and CEO of Partum Health, was working at a consulting firm in the healthcare sector when she first became a mom. It was during this time that she … Read more
In the brain cancer known as a diffuse glioma, the disease infiltrates the central nervous system causing cognitive and physical disability. But the limited treatment options available bring about cognitive problems too. An experimental drug from Servier Pharmaceuticals has Phase 3 results showing it can keep this cancer from progressing, suggesting it has the potential … Read more
New York-based startup Ezra recently received FDA clearance for an AI tool it plans to use to launch “the world’s first 30-minute full body MRI scan.” The tool, named Ezra Flash, allows radiologists to acquire MR images at a rate much faster than normal — which results in noisier images that lack sharpness. Ezra Flash’s … Read more