Practice Management News

Proton pump inhibitors increased the risk for hepatic encephalopathy and spontaneous bacterial peritonitis in patients with cirrhosis and ascites, according to recent findings published in Hepatology.

“The policy interventions implemented by the alcohol industry usually have negative or mixed evidence at best. … However, reduction of alcoholic strength might constitute a unique situation whereby the interests of public health (in reducing overall consumption of alcohol) and the alcohol industry (in achieving profit) coincide,” Jürgen Rehm, MD, of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, Canada, and colleagues recently wrote in Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology.

In a letter issued to the U.S. Department of Justice, Aetna threatened to withdraw from Affordable Care Act exchanges should the company be blocked from acquiring Humana.

Levita Magnetics recently announced it received FDA approval for the first-ever magnetic surgical system for gallbladder removal surgery.

Specialty medicine fields are 1.5 times more competitive than primary care specialties, but have nearly double the earning potential, according to data published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

In the Medicare Part D program, more than one million health care providers prescribed nearly $121 billion in prescription drugs in 2014, according to data released by CMS.

Recent data published in Hepatology suggest systematic inflammation as the main driver of acute-on-chronic liver failure in patients with decompensated cirrhosis.

The Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network and the United Network for Organ Sharing Liver and Intestinal Organ Transplantation committee proposed an eight-district redistribution for liver transplants. The committee members predict their model will cut in half the current variance in median MELD at transplant.

An analysis of electronic health record data published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine found 18.7% of patients were discharged from the hospital with at least one vital sign instability.

Kentucky’s Medicaid program and Arkansas’ private option resulted in significant improvements in health care quality during their second year of expansion, as well as increases in preventive care, outpatient utilization and self-reported health, according to recent data.