Opinion: Filling 12-month prescriptions is one practical way to help the pharmacist crisis
Pharmacies could be called the most “rock solid” entity in our health care system. Even…
Category: patients
Key questions (and answers) about the historic approval of a CRISPR-based medicine
History just happened. For the first time, a regulator has cleared a treatment using CRISPR,…
Colon cancer screening kits have a high rate of untestable samples
More than a tenth of fecal immunochemical tests, used for routine colorectal cancer screening, contained…
STAT+: UnitedHealth faces class-action lawsuit over algorithmic care denials in Medicare Advantage plans
A class-action lawsuit was filed Tuesday against UnitedHealth Group and a subsidiary alleging that they…
STAT+: ‘I never realized what people go through’: Doctor and former hospital CEO with Stage 4 cancer calls for greater empathy in medicine
PROVIDENCE – In late August, Dr. James E. Fanale was trudging through the Falmouth Road…
STAT+: UnitedHealth pushed employees to follow an algorithm to cut off Medicare patients’ rehab care
The nation’s largest health insurance company pressured its medical staff to cut off payments for…
Study suggests Covid rebound is far more common with Paxlovid than without
A small and preliminary study published Monday seems to indicate that patients receiving the drug…
STAT+: What Amazon Prime’s new One Medical offering reveals about the future of health care
Amazon Prime members have a new offer in addition to the usual delivery and streaming…
Man receives the first eye transplant plus a new face. It’s a step toward one day restoring sight
NEW YORK — Surgeons have performed the world’s first transplant of an entire human eye,…
Opinion: Many Americans receive too much health care. That may finally be changing
The opioid crisis rocked America, bringing addiction and overdose into the spotlight. But it also…
A brain injury turns a writer into an ‘activated patient’ focused on the beauty of the now
How old is Claire Snyman? “I am now…” she says with pause. “I always have…
STAT+: Could kidney transplant patients be spared a lifetime of immunosuppressants?
Kidney transplants are the most common organ transplant procedure in the U.S., with 25,000 taking…
Treating Rural America: The telehealth solution
There is a persistent shortage of primary care doctors in the rural United States. Specialists,…
Opinion: Liquid biopsy for cancer recurrence creates a new kind of patient-in-waiting
My husband’s cancer came back this summer after not being evident for almost two years….
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What will it take to end the crisis of Black deaths in the U.S.?
In the last two decades, Black Americans have suffered 1.63 million excess deaths compared to…
Opinion: Done right, AI can give patients crucial information on the quality of their care
Almost as soon as ChatGPT was released to the public, doctors began focusing on how…
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Meghan O’Rourke on a medical system not built for chronic illness — and the ‘invisible kingdom’ that could spur change
When her life was upturned by an accumulating array of confounding health problems, Meghan O’Rourke…
Researchers try to tease out possible ties between long Covid and menopause
When she stopped getting her period in March 2022, Daryn Schwartz wasn’t especially concerned. At…
Michael J. Fox on how far Parkinson’s research has come: “We don’t want to be celebrated. We want to get things done.”
When Michael J. Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease at age 29, his clearest symptom…
Serotonin levels are depleted in long Covid patients, study says, pointing to a potential cause for ‘brain fog’
If you’ve been following the mystery of long Covid since it emerged in 2020, you’ll…
STAT+: UnitedHealth’s profit jumps as medical costs come in lower than expected
UnitedHealth Group has made it clear that more people, especially older adults, are seeing their…
Opinion: The Wegovy shortage is part of a much bigger problem with weight loss drugs
After physically debilitating cancer treatment, Laurie Brunner encountered another medical hurdle: She had developed lymphedema…
With a rare immunodeficiency disease, a performer and patient advocate learned lessons the hard way
When asked where he’s from, Casey Warford often waffles. He was born in San Antonio,…
Black people are more likely to be physically restrained in emergency rooms, study finds
In the chaotic environment of an emergency room, hospital staffers sometimes face the question of…
Treating Rural America: The Last Doctor in Town
With physicians experiencing high turnover and burnout during Covid-19 pandemic and rural hospitals closing, the…
STAT+: What the Dana-Farber, Brigham divorce means for patients
When Sarah, a mother of two, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2021 at the…
STAT+: A breakthrough cystic fibrosis drug gave them the gift of time. But miracles come with complications.
The small box full of promises arrived at Jessica Anderson’s home on her 31st birthday….
Opinion: Value-based payments are making it harder to see your primary care doctor on short notice
Difficulty scheduling an urgent or time-sensitive appointment is now the most common gripe my patients…
Opinion: How the Wegovy shortage is making life impossible for my patients — and for me
There is just not enough Wegovy. The current manufacturing shortage will eventually end, and those…
Randomized controlled trials are the ‘gold standard’ of research — but a difficult fit for trans care
In order to provide gender-affirming care, clinicians must sometimes jump through unusual hoops. In Australia,…
They’re immigrants, farmworkers, and new moms. And they’re facing postpartum depression at higher rates
Over more than a decade working with immigrant farmworkers in the public clinics of the…
Opinion: Patients might finally receive practical information with prescriptions — if the FDA doesn’t blow it
Patients often ask two questions about every medical treatment: Will it help me? Will it…
STAT+: Lawsuit raises antitrust and kickback allegations around cancer patient referrals
A large independent group of oncologists in Philadelphia is suing the area’s dominant hospital system,…
ALS advocates say criticism of new drugs misses bigger picture
A diagnosis of ALS has long been seen as a death sentence. But in recent…
An uncommon thyroid diagnosis led to an unexpected, all-too-visible side effect
Annie Larsson, 40, is no stranger to chronic conditions. She was diagnosed with type 1…
Not yet free from heroin’s grip, an ‘honest, funny man’ finds his way off the streets
PHILADELPHIA — Shaun Anderson hasn’t slept this late in the day in years. He still…
Opinion: The question list is a simple way to help patients prepare for appointments
The term for a patient who lists their questions was likely coined in the late…
STAT+: Drug firms test medicines to halt Alzheimer’s before symptoms appear
Alzheimer’s disease has killed at least three women in Astrida Schaeffer’s family over two generations,…
No longer brushed off: A Minnesota clinic tries to rewrite medicine’s approach to miscarriage
WOODBURY, Minn. — By the time Taylor Teske came to be sitting on an exam table…
Surgical outcomes, who does better — male vs female surgeons?
Want to ensure that patients will get better outcomes after surgery? It’s easy, just do…
STAT+: Workforce, capacity constraints slow ramp-up of new Alzheimer’s drug Leqembi
The first Alzheimer’s therapy to clearly slow cognitive decline, approved in the United States last…
What a review of gender-affirming care research by a top pediatrics group actually means
When the American Academy of Pediatrics reaffirmed its support for gender-affirming care earlier this month,…
Gender-affirming surgeries tripled in the U.S. between 2016-2019, study finds
The number of gender-affirming surgeries taking place in the U.S. nearly tripled between 2016 and…
Opinion: How to take care of trans patients in hospice
In the United States, more than 1.6 million people identify as transgender. Of these, more…
Opinion: The hospice industry needs major reforms. It should start with apologies
“How has the clinical work you do affected you personally?” We’d come to the Q&A…
Opinion: What the hospital-at-home movement tells us about igniting innovation in health care
As a health care economist who studies innovation, and as a management consultant who helps…
Why so few get screened for lung cancer, the deadliest cancer in the U.S.
It was Thanksgiving 2021, and Michael Young was at Target buying a turkey baster. “I’m…
STAT+: FDA approves first treatment for ultra-rare bone disease
U.S. regulators on Wednesday approved the first treatment for an ultra-rare disease that causes people…
Why drug shortages are having an outsize impact on ovarian cancer patients
Sarah Evans considers herself a lucky ovarian cancer patient, though she is dealing with the…