Practice Management
A patient recently told local news outlet Arizona’s Family that she was locked inside an urgent care center in Phoenix just as the staff was leaving for the day. After trying an exit door and setting off an alarm, the patient was later let out by a staff member who had already left the center. The patient—who spoke on the condition of anonymity—was seen at the end of the day and had been waiting in …
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The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) in a recommendation statement published this week in JAMA reaffirmed its highest recommendation for early and universal syphilis screening in pregnancy, which aligns with its 2018 guidance. The recommendation emphasizes screening for all pregnant adolescents and adults at the first prenatal opportunity, regardless of individual risk factors, using both treponemal and non-treponemal tests. The directive is based on high-certainty evidence that syphilis screening during pregnancy provides a substantial …
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A Canadian trial published in JAMA involving 3,200 primary care patients (56.4% female; median age, 67 years) evaluated the timing of antihypertensive medication administration and found no difference in morning vs bedtime dosing. Over a median follow-up of 4.6 years, bedtime dosing was found to be safe but offered no additional cardiovascular benefit. Rates of major cardiovascular events or death were similar between groups (2.3 vs 2.4 per 100 patient-years; adjusted hazard ratio 0.96, 95% …
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A directive issued in April from the federal Office of Management and Budget calls on each federal agency to appoint a chief artificial intelligence (AI) officer by early June, according to Becker’s. New officers will be tasked with overseeing AI adoption, ensuring compliance with risk management protocols, and building an AI-ready workforce. In response, the Department of Health and Human Services created its new position of Chief AI Officer and named Peter Bowman-Davis, a Yale …
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The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first at-home, vaginal-sample self-collection device for cervical cancer screening, according to a press release from the device manufacturer, Teal Health. As an alternative to in-office sampling and screening, the home collection method also includes virtual access to providers who prescribe the sample-collection kit, review the results from the lab, and answer patient questions. After the patient receives the at-home kit and collects the samples using a wand …
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The U.S. infant mortality rate declined in 2024 after remaining steady during the waning years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some health experts attribute this improvement, at least in part, to the new vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which became widely available for prevention of severe RSV among infants and young children during the 2024–2025 respiratory virus season. Provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows the national infant mortality rate …
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The World Health Organization (WHO) offered a reminder this week that healthcare organizations and frontline health professionals should prioritize and revisit their hand hygiene practices. As a well-established and low-cost practice, proper hand hygiene safeguards patients and clinicians from infection, WHO says. Protective gloves reduce the risk of infection transmission, but they should not be used as a replacement for basic hand hygiene. Gloves can become contaminated and are frequently misused—such as being worn continuously …
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Earlier this week, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health declared a hepatitis A outbreak after seeing a sustained increase in clinical cases of hepatitis A and elevated virus levels in local wastewater. At least 165 hepatitis A cases were confirmed in LA County since the beginning of 2024—3 times the number of cases reported in all of 2023. What’s concerning is that among the 29 hepatitis A cases confirmed to date in 2025, …
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According to a study in the European Heart Journal, the live zoster vaccine may provide cardiovascular benefits in addition to preventing herpes zoster. In a cohort study in Korea involving over 1 million individuals aged 50 years and older, vaccination was associated with a 23% reduction in the risk of major cardiovascular events—including stroke, heart failure, and coronary heart disease—over a period of 8 years. Live zoster vaccination was associated with lower risks of overall …
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Northwell Health this week announced the completion of its acquisition of Nuvance Health, resulting in the establishment of an integrated regional health system serving the greater New York and Connecticut areas. This new nonprofit entity will serve a combined population of about 13 million consumers with an annual budget of $22.6 billion and a workforce of more than 104,000 employees, including 22,000 nurses and 13,500 providers. The deal brings the network up to 28 hospitals, …
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