Information technology
Telehealth doctor visits may be handy, but aren’t cheaper overall | NPRTelehealth takes a lot of forms these days. Virtual visits with a health care provider can take place by video, phone or text, or via the Web or a mobile app. The one commonality: You get to consult a doctor from your home, the office, Starbucks or anywhere with a wifi or mobile connection.
Pharmaceuticals
FDA approves Regeneron and Sanofi’s dupixent for Eczema | The Wall Street JournalRegeneron Pharmaceuticals and Sanofi said they would charge $37,000 annually in the U.S. for their newly approved eczema drug, a price the companies said they reached after months of negotiations with pharmacy-benefit managers.
Sen. Claire McCaskill opens probe of opioid drugmakers | USA Today
A top Senate Democrat is investigating the role drug companies may have played in fueling the nation’s opioid addiction epidemic— demanding internal documents from five leading drugmakers on the marketing tactics for opioid painkillers and what, if anything, the companies knew about the dangers of those drugs.
Physicians
Physicians, patients collaborate to generate visit notes | American Academy of Family PhysiciansResults of new research published in the March/April issue of Annals of Family Medicine highlight the benefits accrued to both patients and primary care clinicians when patients were encouraged to type part of their own visit note into the electronic health record to detail their expectations for the medical appointment.
Safety, quality and clinical practice
More women with breast cancer opt to remove healthy breast | The New York TimesOne in three breast cancer patients under 45 removed the healthy breast along with the breast affected by cancer in 2012, a sharp increase from the one in 10 younger women with breast cancer who had double mastectomies eight years earlier, a new study reports.
Lead poisoning’s lifelong toll includes lowering social mobility, researchers find | Kaiser Health News
Findings published Tuesday in JAMA break new ground by suggesting the effects of childhood lead exposure continue to play out until adulthood, not only harming an individual’s lifelong cognitive development, but also potentially limiting socioeconomic advancement.
