When Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. began his tenure as Health and Human Services Secretary, he pledged, “We won’t take away anyone’s vaccines.” However, recent policy changes under his leadership—coupled with the unprecedented dismissal of all 17 members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) on June 9—have proven that statement false, raising grave concerns for…
New warnings from the American Hospital Association and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency detail a shift in tactics by Play, a ransomware group that uses a double-layered extortion model to encrypt systems and steal sensitive data. The AHA is calling on its members and other healthcare organizations to protect care delivery operations and patient…
Dr. Robert W. Warren is an Epic Emeritus CMIO and holds a doctorate in cellular immunology. Among other positions, he previously was chief medical information officer at Charleston, South Carolina-based MUSC Health. The key focus of Epic’s emeritus program is working with healthcare organizations to use informatics to improve care. While some activities are Epic-specific –…
Small and rural healthcare organizations have to grapple seriously with many challenges that their larger counterparts are often better able to navigate. Not to do so could risk closure. Uncompensated care is a big one, of course. Combined with ever-higher operational costs, declining reimbursements mean many rural health systems and hospitals skate on thin financial ice and…
Doctors at Columbia University Fertility Center have reported what they are calling the first pregnancy using a new AI system, in a couple that had been trying to start a family for nearly two decades. The pregnancy was possible due to an advance developed by the Columbia team, led by Dr. Zev Williams, director of…
Researchers from the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity claim to be the first to demonstrate the use of genome sequencing in tracking and receiving quick insights into bacterial changes during severe infections. They studied patients who had severe, recurrent infections with Staphylococcus aureus or “golden staph.” The deadly bacteria, responsible for more than…
Seoul National University Hospital has recently unveiled a clinical decision support system for precision medicine treatment. WHY IT MATTERS The SNUH POLARIS (Precision Oncology and Rare-Common Disease Supporter) is said to be the first of its kind in South Korea that supports personalised treatment driven by AI and based on big clinical and genomic data….
When my rear bumper was torn off after a collision with a post, the AA directed me to its Accident Assist service. I was told my vehicle would be recovered immediately and assessed for repairs on the next working day, and that the service would liaise with my insurer. I was also promised a courtesy…
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), said on Monday that he would be retiring all 17 members of a committee that offers recommendations on vaccines to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Kennedy announced the news in an opinion column for The Wall Street…
Cancer is generally a disease of old age. But researchers are increasingly finding that certain types—including colon, breast, stomach, and pancreatic cancers—are hitting people younger than 50 far more commonly than they used to. In a new report, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, researchers at Vanderbilt University focus on a relatively rare cancer—appendiceal…