Today's Healthcare Pulse
FDA greenlights durvalumab combo for high‑risk bladder cancer
The FDA approved durvalumab (Imfinzi) combined with Bacillus Calmette‑Guerin for BCG‑naïve, high‑risk non‑muscle invasive bladder cancer. The POTOMAC trial enrolled 1,018 patients and showed a 32% reduction in disease recurrence risk (hazard ratio 0.68, p=0.015). Durvalumab is given at 1,500 mg IV every four weeks for up to 13 cycles.
Also developing:
By the numbers: Apogee Therapeutics raises $1.3B royalty financing
CMS All-In On Using ‘Big Stick’ To Make Value-Based Care New Paradigm
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced it will wield its $1.2 trillion provider‑payment authority to cement value‑based care as the dominant model for American health care. At the QualCon conference, CMS unveiled the MAHA ELEVATE initiative—a three‑year, $100 million program funding up to 30 preventive projects for Original Medicare beneficiaries. Longer‑term reforms include the ACCESS model for chronic‑condition outcomes and the LEAD 10‑year capitated payment system slated for 2027. CMS leaders framed the shift as moving care from the office to the home, emphasizing patient empowerment and safety.
Why Clinician Education Must Prioritize Nutrition Training
U.S. medical schools allocate fewer than 20 hours to nutrition education, leaving many GI fellows without formal diet training for inflammatory bowel disease. A one‑hour online module dramatically improved fellows' knowledge, confidence, and intention to refer patients to nutrition services....
Why Verily Raised $300M to Become an Independent Precision AI Health Giant
Verily has closed a $300 million Series X Capital‑led round and re‑incorporated as Verily Health Inc., shifting Alphabet from a controlling owner to a significant minority shareholder. The funding will accelerate its AI‑native precision health platform, Verily Pre, aimed at unifying fragmented...
Why I Stopped Accepting Workarounds in Perioperative Care
An anesthesiologist recounts a recent case where missing pre‑operative documentation forced a last‑minute delay for a pancreatic endoscopy, exposing the hidden costs of workarounds in peri‑operative care. He argues that these shortcuts are symptoms of broken systems rather than clever...
The Most Important Unanswered Question of the Pandemic
The author invites a high‑stakes debate on whether COVID‑19 vaccines produced a net mortality benefit, demanding analysis of all‑cause mortality data from mid‑2021 to the end of 2022. Participants must rely on up to three official government datasets and five...
Studies Show Increased Risk of Heart Rhythm Problems with Seizure and Mental Health Medicine Lamotrigine (Lamictal) in Patients with Heart...
The FDA has issued a safety communication indicating that lamotrigine (Lamictal) may increase the risk of serious arrhythmias in patients with existing heart disease. The agency ordered in‑vitro studies after reports of abnormal ECGs, chest pain, loss of consciousness, and...
Perplexity and b.well Connected Health Partner for AI-Powered Medical Records Search
Perplexity AI has partnered with b.well Connected Health to let users securely link their electronic health records to the search engine. b.well’s extensive FHIR‑based network spans over 2.4 million providers and 350+ health plans, providing cleaned, standardized data through its 13‑step...
FDA Drug Safety Communication: FDA Requires Post-Market Safety Trials for Long-Acting Beta-Agonists (LABAs)
The FDA issued a Drug Safety Communication requiring manufacturers of long‑acting beta‑agonists (LABAs) to complete five post‑market, randomized, double‑blind trials evaluating LABA plus inhaled corticosteroid therapy versus corticosteroid alone. Four adult and adolescent studies will each enroll 11,700 patients, covering...
Alberta Introduces Bill to Prohibit Assisted Suicide for Minors & the Mentally Ill
Alberta has tabled the Safeguards for Last Resort Termination of Life Act, which would bar medical assistance in dying (MAID) for anyone under 18, for patients whose sole condition is a mental illness, and for cases where death is not...
RFK 'Next To Go'
The blog reports that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is likely to be ousted from the Health and Human Services post after a federal judge blocked his revised vaccine schedule, with 43% of Americans supporting his removal. It also notes the...
FDA’s New Program Injects Politics Into Drug Approval
The FDA has introduced the Commissioner’s National Priority Voucher (CNPV) pilot, offering ultra‑fast approval pathways for drugs that align with the current White House policy agenda. The program could slash review times for qualifying products, giving participating companies a market...
![[UPDATED] OIG Exposes ‘Alarming’ Misuse and Masking of Antipsychotic Drug Use in Nursing Homes](/cdn-cgi/image/width=1200,quality=75,format=auto,fit=cover/https://skillednursingnews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2017/10/Pillz-dot-jaypeg.jpg)
[UPDATED] OIG Exposes ‘Alarming’ Misuse and Masking of Antipsychotic Drug Use in Nursing Homes
The Office of Inspector General released two reports exposing extensive misuse of antipsychotic drugs in U.S. nursing homes, especially among dementia patients. Facilities frequently prescribed these medications as chemical restraints and deliberately misdiagnosed residents with schizophrenia to evade Medicare quality...
Why Residents Unionize: Systemic Reform, Not Entitlement
Physician residents are forming unions to confront entrenched hierarchies, unsustainable workloads, and a culture of silent endurance in academic hospitals. The article rebuts a recent JAMA Viewpoint that framed unionization as a perk‑seeking entitlement, emphasizing that burnout persists because systemic...
FDA Approves Linerixibat for Cholestatic Pruritus in Primary Biliary Cholangitis
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted approval to GSK’s linerixibat (Lynavoy) for treating cholestatic pruritus in patients with primary biliary cholangitis (PBC). The decision rests on the GLISTEN phase‑3 trial, which demonstrated a statistically and clinically significant reduction...
Looking Beyond Launch: Rethinking Long-Term Patient Support
Manufacturers concentrate patient support on the launch window, emphasizing financial aid and onboarding within the first 30‑60 days. Tina Valbh highlights that this front‑loaded model neglects the evolving barriers patients face throughout long‑term therapy. Without a holistic, multi‑phase strategy, programs...
TAVR-MET: Early Signs Point to Less Postprocedural Valve Dysfunction With Tirzepatide
Patients with obesity undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) who received tirzepatide before and after the procedure experienced significantly lower rates of subclinical leaflet thrombosis (HALT) and paravalvular leak. In the randomized TAVR‑MET trial of 260 patients, tirzepatide reduced HALT...
Large Specialty Practice Uses Agentic AI to Strengthen Patient Engagement
Dermatology Partners, a large physician‑owned dermatology group, deployed EliseAI's agentic voice AI to handle its 2,000‑4,000 daily inbound calls. The system integrates with AdvancedMD and Modernizing Medicine EHR, allowing the AI to schedule appointments and capture simple clinical tasks. Early...
What’s the #1 Fix When The Neuromonitor Beeps?
A retrospective series of 5,317 pediatric spinal deformity surgeries (1992‑2024) found intraoperative neuromonitoring (IONM) alerts in 4.2% of cases, most often during correction. The study recorded 237 alerts and 348 interventions, with raising mean arterial pressure (MAP) being the most...
Biosimilar CT-P43 Matches Ustekinumab in Treating Moderate to Severe Plaque Psoriasis
A phase‑3, double‑blind trial of over 500 patients showed the ustekinumab biosimilar CT‑P43 achieved equivalent PASI75 response at week 12 and maintained comparable PASI50/75/90 rates through week 52. Safety, adverse‑event profiles, and antidrug‑antibody incidence mirrored those of reference ustekinumab. Patients who switched...
Patients Harmed as Covid Pandemic Brought NHS Close to Collapse, Inquiry Finds
The Covid‑19 inquiry finds the NHS was on the brink of collapse as pandemic waves overwhelmed hospitals and ambulance services. Critical shortages of oxygen, PPE and staff forced intensive‑care ratios to deteriorate, while the “Stay Home, Protect the NHS” slogan...
How Biometrics and QR Codes Will 'Kill the Clipboard'
CMS is piloting a new patient‑centric data exchange model that uses biometric authentication to unlock electronic health records and QR codes to transmit them securely. Amy Gleason, administrator at U.S. DOGE Service and CMS strategic advisor, outlined how the approach...
Sarepta Plans FDA Run for Duchenne Exon Skippers Despite Confirmatory Trial Failure
Sarepta Therapeutics will submit a supplemental NDA to the FDA seeking to convert the accelerated approvals of its Duchenne exon‑skippers Amondys 45 and Vyondys 53 into traditional approvals, despite the confirmatory ESSENCE trial failing to improve motor function. The company bolsters its...
Behavior Changes Happen Outside the Exam Room, But Validation of Lifestyle Medicine Programs Cannot
Providers struggle to verify lifestyle‑medicine outcomes because behavior changes occur outside the exam room. The article argues that remote patient monitoring (RPM) can supply objective, real‑time data to validate nutrition, exercise, and stress‑management programs. CMS’s MAHA ELEVATE model and new RPM...
Measles 97% Preventable; Vaccine Safer Than Supplements
I read from an influencer nurse that measles is “going around”. She is selling vitamin A supplements. Having measles is not inevitable. Especially if a population is vaccinated. And that has been proven in the US for the past 30...
EP Advocacy Group Details 6 Key Policy Issues
Heart Rhythm Advocates (HRA) outlined six policy issues that could shape electrophysiology in 2026, led by Medicare payment reform and a new 2.5% efficiency adjustment that threatens physician reimbursement. The group highlighted a reintroduced Medicare Patient Access and Practice Stabilization...
Introducing Inside Hospice With Jim Parker
Senior editor Jim Parker has launched Inside Hospice, a Substack platform that delivers in‑depth analysis of hospice industry trends, personal narratives, and behind‑the‑scenes insights. While Hospice News remains a traditional journalistic outlet, Inside Hospice offers longer‑form commentary and direct engagement...
Building the Military Health System’s AI Ecosystem
The Defense Health Agency (DHA) has launched a five‑year data strategy to create a secure, interoperable AI ecosystem for the Military Health System. Partnering with Red Hat, DHA is building cloud‑native infrastructure, data lakes, and governance frameworks that can safely scale...
Moving Beyond the False Binary of Medicine as a Calling
Dr. Christie Mulholland challenges the entrenched binary that medicine must be a self‑sacrificial calling, proposing instead a two‑dimensional matrix of calling intensity and job satisfaction. The model creates four quadrants—The Calling, The Craft, The Wound, and The Wall—each describing a...
Glaukos Announces Commercial Availability of Epioxa™, a Transformative Innovation in Interventional Keratoconus Care
Glaukos announced that Epioxa™ HD/Epioxa™ is now commercially available, marking the first FDA‑approved, incision‑free topical drug for keratoconus. The therapy uses a riboflavin solution with the O₂n™ System and Boost Goggles, eliminating the need to remove the corneal epithelium. By...
TALZENNA Plus XTANDI Significantly Improves Radiographic Progression-Free Survival in Metastatic Prostate Cancer
Pfizer announced that the Phase 3 TALAPRO‑3 trial met its primary endpoint, showing that TALZENNA (talazoparib) combined with XTANDI (enzalutamide) significantly improved radiographic progression‑free survival (rPFS) in patients with HRR gene‑mutated metastatic hormone‑sensitive prostate cancer. The combination achieved a hazard ratio...
NHS and Pharma Launch £10 Million Respiratory Care Programme
The NHS has partnered with AstraZeneca, Chiesi, GSK and Sanofi in a £10 million Respiratory Transformation Partnership (RTP) to improve care for asthma and COPD patients. The co‑funded programme will use data analytics and digital tools to identify high‑risk patients, expand...
Inside Big Insurance’s $1.7 Trillion Year | EP 2
In this episode of Healthcare Uncovered, hosts Joe Rettino and former Cigna insider Wendell Potter dissect the 2025 earnings of the seven biggest for‑profit insurers, which together generated $1.7 trillion in revenue and $54 billion in profit despite covering 10 million fewer people....
A Neuroadaptive VR System for the Treatment of Arachnophobia
Researchers at Graz University of Technology unveiled VRSpi, a neuroadaptive virtual‑reality system that reads EEG and heart‑rate signals to automatically adjust spider exposure intensity. The prototype uses frontal alpha asymmetry to gauge real‑time anxiety, ensuring stimuli are neither too weak...
FDA Lets Sarepta Push Failed Drugs, Blocks UniQure
Let's look at how the FDA is treating $SRPT and $QURE differently. The FDA grants accelerated approval to Amondys and Vyondys to treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Sarepta conducts a post-marketing confirmatory study that fails to show a benefit for either...
Physician Financial Risk: Balancing Capacity and Tolerance
The article explains how physicians must balance financial risk by distinguishing between risk capacity—their ability to absorb setbacks—and risk tolerance—their personal comfort with uncertainty. It outlines four common physician profiles and offers targeted strategies such as debt reduction, reserve building,...
Blood Banks Face O-Neg Shortages; Call for Donations, Changes in Emergency Infusion Practices to Protect Supply
U.S. blood banks are reporting critically low inventories of O‑negative red cells, prompting a coordinated call for donations and revised emergency transfusion protocols. Anesthesiologists, who deliver roughly 60% of the nation’s blood transfusions, are urging hospitals to start with O‑positive...
Excalipoint Closes $68.7M Seed Round for Cancer T-Cell Engagers
Excalipoint, a biotech focused on cancer T‑cell engagers, announced the close of a $68.7 million seed financing round. The capital, raised from leading venture firms and strategic investors, will fund the development of its bispecific antibody platform targeting solid tumors. The...
A New Front Line: How AI And Other Innovations Are Transforming The Fight Against TB
AI-powered handheld X‑ray devices and molecular diagnostics are rapidly reshaping tuberculosis detection in low‑resource settings. The Global Fund now backs AI‑driven screening in more than 22 countries, while Indonesia has moved treatment initiation to over 460 primary health centers, reducing...
Side Effects Signal Unaffordable Medication Costs
When side effects are actually a cry for help with medication costs http://dlvr.it/TRZqBj Physician #Cardiology
NIH Scientists Describe Research Climate as Chaotic, Bankruptcy‑Like
“This is the equivalent of working in a company that feels like it’s on the verge of bankruptcy." A @statnews survey of #NIH funded scientists finds the research community is in chaos a year into the Trump administration. @JonathanWosen...
Rising Health Premiums Are Eating Into Worker Paychecks
Recent data from the New York Federal Reserve shows that employer‑sponsored health insurance premiums have surged roughly 20% since 2022, while wage growth in the Fed’s region has slipped from about 6% to 3% this year. The economists estimate that...
Oral Ozempic Trials Fail to Show Alzheimer's Benefit
The negative oral Ozempic randomized trials (EVOKE, EVOKE+) for Alzheimer's disease have now been published @TheLancet https://t.co/Xx0YknTSC2
GLP‑1 Drugs May Protect Heart, Vessels, Kidneys in Type 1 Diabetes
GLP-1 drugs have established benefit for Type 2 diabetes. New data suggests that extends to Type 1 diabetes, with heart, vascular, and kidney protection https://t.co/nZDKHoFIRm https://t.co/lTHIgoj4ir
Nia Therapeutics’ Smart Neurostimulation System Receives FDA Breakthrough Device Designation to Treat Memory Loss
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted Breakthrough Device Designation to Nia Therapeutics’ Smart Neurostimulation System (SNS) for treating episodic memory loss in adults with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury. The fully implantable, closed‑loop system records neural activity from...
Judge Blocks Kennedy's Attack on CDC Vaccine Schedule
Maybe you heard that a federal judge ruled against @SecKennedy's attack on the CDC vaccine schedule. Always great to win a battle, but we are still at war. The damage already done can’t be repaired. @JessicaMalaty & I break it all...
One in Ten ACA Holders Lose Coverage as Premiums Surge
This won't show up in any market data, but it's a profound hollowing-out and weakening of America. "Nearly one in 10 people who had Affordable Care Act plans last year dropped health insurance altogether, after premium costs rose sharply" https://t.co/LfNP8wRTD1
CMS and FDA at Critical Junctures Discussed at STATBreakthrough
Many interesting conversations ahead today at #STATBreakthrough — including on CMS and FDA, both at critical junctures: https://t.co/aThGw2QEfw
Connected Data Powers Adaptive, Evidence‑based Oncology Care
Unlocking the full potential of cancer care starts with connected data. Proud of how Oracle is helping to bring adaptive, evidence-based oncology insights directly to the point of care.
Vaccines Shield Vulnerable Populations; Declining Rates Endanger Protection
Multiple vaccines offer benefits beyond protecting the vaccinated individual from the disease the vaccine targets. Some protect fetuses in the womb, some protect people who are immunocompromised, some protect seniors. As vax rates fall, these benefits are threatened. https://t.co/zmiws8gAnw
Congruence Launches First Drug, Secures $40M Funding
Exclusive: Clarissa Desjardins' newest biotech has put its first drug in the clinic + raised $40M more. Congruence also expects to put 2 more molecules into clinic in early 2027, seeing its platform driving its R&D efficiency: https://t.co/pzxcnmKFBj