Practice Management News

Several weight loss medications approved by the FDA have only modest positive effects on cardiometabolic risk profile, according to new research published in Gastroenterology.

The AMA released three new trend reports demonstrating the high frequency and cost burden of medical liability claims.

A patient-centered opioid tapering approach helped patients with chronic pain reduce opioid use without increasing pain intensity, according to research published in JAMA Internal Medicine. “The risks associated with prescription opioids are well described. Although reducing opioid use is a national priority, existing opioid tapering models use costly interdisciplinary teams that are largely inaccessible to patients and their physicians,” Beth D. Darnall, PhD, from the division of pain medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine, and colleagues wrote. “Patients and physicians need solutions to successfully reduce long-term prescription opioid dosages in settings without behavioral services.”

Primary care physicians need to discuss the risks and dangers of using NSAIDs with their patients, several doctors told Healio Family Medicine.

The creation and use of an evidence-based standard care pathway for the treatment of infants with jaundice can improve length of stay, time between diagnosis and treatment and invasiveness of treatment, according to findings published in Pediatrics.

The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted unanimously today to recommend the HEPLISAV-B recombinant vaccine to prevent hepatitis B virus infection.

Authorities in four states are investigating Aetna policy decisions after its former medical director, Jay Ken Iinuma, MD, admitted making decisions on approving or denying a patient’s medical care without looking at the patient’s medical records first, according to CNN.

Approximately one-third of physicians experience characteristics of burnout, such as emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, which often led to leaving practice and receiving ombudsman complaints, according to research published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

As the government debates immigration and the fate of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, medical schools envision the possible implications for students who are protected from deportation and allowed to work despite arriving in the United States as undocumented immigrants.

Purdue Pharma, the manufacturer of OxyContin, will stop promoting the drug to doctors, USA Today reported. The move comes in the wake of numerous lawsuits charging that the drug company is a major contributor to the national opioid epidemic.