Miriam Paramore, RxUtility
In a quick‑bite interview at the February 2026 VIVE conference, Miriam Paramore discussed RxUtility, a health‑tech platform that consolidates manufacturer coupons and cash‑price data to present consumers with the lowest possible drug price at the point of dispensing. The solution pulls real‑time pricing from multiple sources, enabling pharmacies to automatically apply the best discount without manual lookup. Paramore highlighted how the fragmented US drug‑pricing landscape creates confusion and higher out‑of‑pocket costs, and she positioned RxUtility as a transparency tool for both patients and providers. The interview underscored the company’s ambition to scale through API integrations with pharmacy management systems.
Your Insurance Said No? Here's How to Win the Appeal #CareTalk
The latest #CareTalk episode highlights free AI tools that help patients draft professional appeal letters after insurance denials. Counterforce Health demonstrates how these tools can address prior authorization refusals, claim rejections, and claims of non‑medical necessity. Guests Diane Archer and...
Bysanti FDA Approval for Bipolar I and Schizophrenia Marks Vanda’s Second Win in Two Months
Vanda Pharmaceuticals received FDA approval for Bysanti (milsaperidone) to treat acute manic or mixed episodes of bipolar I disorder and schizophrenia in adults. The approval introduces a new chemical entity in the atypical antipsychotic class that is bioequivalent to Vanda’s...
Pharma Pulse: Regulatory Speed Records
Boehringer Ingelheim’s oral kinase inhibitor Hernexeos received FDA accelerated approval for first‑line HER2‑mutant lung cancer in a record‑fast 44 days, thanks to the National Priority Voucher program. The drug demonstrated a 76 % response rate, positioning it as a breakthrough in personalized...
Rethinking Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis: Unmet Needs, Evolving Biology and the Future of Clinical Research
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) continues to pose a severe, often late‑diagnosed respiratory challenge, with mortality exceeding many cancers. Boehringer Ingelheim’s Martin Beck highlighted the shift toward earlier detection using AI‑enhanced imaging and a broader view of IPF as a heterogeneous,...
New Deductible Rules Allow for $31,000 Out-of-Pocket Maximum
The Trump administration is proposing a rule that revives catastrophic, or "junk," health plans with a $31,000 family deductible, effectively undoing the ACA’s ban on such high‑deductible products. These plans, once sold by major insurers like Cigna, Aetna and UnitedHealthcare,...
INN-Coming: Insights on the Industry’s Latest Disclosures
The WHO’s INN proposed list 134, released in early 2026, reveals several late‑stage drug candidates that were previously hidden from public view. Notably, two NLRP3 inhibitors—abdenoflast and parunoflast—appear to map to Eli Lilly’s newly acquired Ventyx assets VTX2735 and VTX3232, both showing promising...
Why One Iowa-Based Company Opened a Primary Care Clinic Near Its Office
Pella Corporation opened a wellness center five minutes from its Iowa headquarters, offering primary care, behavioral health, and pharmacy services to its 2,500 employees. The clinic was built in partnership with Premise Health, which designed a high‑touch, high‑tech model that...
Why I Stopped Accepting Pharmaceutical-Sponsored Lunches
Timothy Lesaca, a psychiatrist, stopped accepting pharmaceutical‑sponsored lunches, arguing they blur the line between patient care and industry influence. Recent CMS Open Payments data reveal over 1.1 million industry events in 2024, with 920 000 lunches costing $73 million. Research shows even a...
Article Intro - SurgRAW: Multi-Agent Workflow for Robotic Surgical Video Analysis
IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters introduces SurgRAW, a multi‑agent, chain‑of‑thought workflow designed for zero‑shot reasoning on robotic surgical video. The system builds on SurgCoTBench, a new benchmark with 14,256 question‑answer pairs and frame‑level annotations across five core surgical tasks. By...
Best Practices for Applying HDX-MS to FBLD
A recent open‑access study demonstrates that hydrogen‑deuterium exchange mass spectrometry (HDX‑MS) can reliably map binding sites of extremely weak fragment hits (up to 7 mM KD) against Cyclophilin D. By optimizing protein concentration at 10 µM and testing fragments at 2.5‑10 mM, the...
Alcidion Delivering ‘Software as a Medical Device’ AI Capabilities in Both Australia and the UK
Alcidion announced that its Miya Precision Concept Detection AI feature has achieved Class 1 medical device registration on Australia’s ARTG (ID 522634) and the UK’s MHRA. The tool parses clinicians’ free‑text notes, proposes SNOMED CT codes and streamlines documentation while requiring clinician validation....
You Don’t Notice Public Health Until It’s Gone: The True Costs of Cutting the Workforce - Voices #29
Emma Aston, a former CDC health communicator, details how a 2025 Reduction in Force eliminated roughly a quarter of the agency’s workforce, silencing key public‑health messaging. The cuts halted campaigns on tobacco, HIV, and flu, while new executive orders imposed...
Gene Therapy’s Inflexion Point: From Scientific Breakthrough to Systemic Transformation
Gene therapy for sickle cell disease has moved from experimental promise to an actionable clinical reality, with early CRISPR‑based treatments already cutting crises and hospital stays. A recent Sanius Health survey of 94 patients shows strong interest—71% want more information—yet...
Philosophy in Medicine: Why Doctors Need to Ask “Why”
An EMT recounts a harrowing transport of a stroke‑survivor, Molly, highlighting how standard stair‑chair equipment failed to accommodate her size and mobility limitations, leading to injury and indignity. The author uses the incident to illustrate structural violence and the marginalization...
DHSC Launches Industry Readiness Survey on Value Based Procurement
The UK Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has launched an industry‑readiness survey on Value Based Procurement (VBP), targeting MedTech and health‑technology firms. The ten‑minute questionnaire seeks a single consolidated response per company and must be submitted by 27 March....
HDRS Appointment Is Moment to Create Momentum
The UK Health Data Research Service (HDRS) is set to launch later this year as a secure, single gateway for national health and care datasets, aiming to unlock the country’s extensive longitudinal records. The government announced Melanie Ivarsson, a former...
Changes in the Gut Microbiome Drive Age-Related Intestinal Barrier Dysfunction
Researchers identified that the aging gut microbiome harbors increased Klebsiella aerogenes, which elevates histamine production and compromises intestinal barrier integrity. The excess histamine suppresses Nlrp6 expression, disrupting LC3‑mediated autophagy and intensifying inflammation in septic models. Experiments showed that lowering histamine...
Real-World Data Brings New Insights to Natural History of Disease Studies
Real‑world data (RWD) is reshaping natural history studies by delivering longitudinal, patient‑level information that was previously only obtainable through costly prospective trials. Advances in artificial intelligence and natural language processing now allow rapid extraction of structured data from unstructured sources...
Medimaps Group and Radiobotics Announce Strategic Merger to Expand AI-Driven Musculoskeletal Imaging Portfolio
Medimaps Group and Radiobotics have agreed to merge, forming a global AI‑driven musculoskeletal imaging company. The combined entity will deliver an end‑to‑end suite across X‑ray and DXA, including automated fracture detection, opportunistic bone fragility assessment, and fracture‑risk prediction. It will...
LM PAEK Can Outperforms PEEK In Certain Applications
A Drexel‑led study demonstrated that low‑melt polyaryletherketone (LM PAEK) can be fused‑filament‑fabricated into porous knee‑revision cones that outperform traditional PEEK in shear strength and stiffness. Using a Taguchi L8 design, the researchers printed 64 cylindrical surrogates with gyroid and diamond TPMS...
Harnessing Technology to Redefine Standards in GI Care
Gifthealth’s co‑founder John Romano outlines how AI‑driven pricing tools and automated patient‑support platforms can lower out‑of‑pocket costs and improve medication adherence for the 60 million Americans living with gastrointestinal diseases. By integrating real‑time claims adjudication, discount automation and personalized education, the...
Driving Innovation in Medical Motion Control
Motion control underpins modern medical devices such as surgical robots, imaging systems, and laboratory instruments, yet it remains a complex engineering hurdle. Dave Beckstoffer of Portescap highlights how early, collaborative partnerships with motion‑control specialists can streamline development and boost reliability....
PHTI Breaks Down Barriers to Clinical AI
The Patient‑Centered Health Technology Initiative (PHTI) released a Clinical AI report built from a workshop with senior leaders across health systems, insurers, tech firms, and federal agencies. Participants identified policy, reimbursement, and evidence gaps as primary barriers to scaling AI...
Otsuka Medical Devices/Otsuka Pharmaceutical: Paradise Ultrasound Renal Denervation System for the Treatment of Resistant Hypertension, Now Covered by Insurance and...
Otsuka Medical Devices and Otsuka Pharmaceutical announced that Japan’s National Health Insurance will cover the Paradise™ Ultrasound Renal Denervation (uRDN) system starting March 1, with commercial sales beginning March 2. The device, developed by Recor Medical, targets resistant‑hypertension patients who remain uncontrolled...
What Chess Taught Me About Clinical Reasoning and Humanism
Medical students Jay Pendyala and Jonathan Berg compare chess strategy to clinical reasoning, highlighting how assessing a patient mirrors evaluating a board position. They argue that diagnostic algorithms serve as openings, but flexibility is required when cases deviate from textbook...
Physician Free Speech Rights Under Fire: The DOJ Vs. Patient Education
The Department of Justice is appealing a ruling that blocked a subpoena targeting a queer‑owned clinic providing gender‑affirming care, arguing that the clinic’s patient‑education materials should be treated as drug labeling under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. By...
Treating Methamphetamine-Associated Dental Disease in Safety-Net Clinics
Dr. Charan Teja Bobba recounts treating a patient with meth‑associated dental disease in a MassHealth safety‑net clinic. Methamphetamine caused extensive enamel loss, xerostomia, and rapid decay, demanding complex restorative procedures over several visits. By involving the patient in every step and building...
Reproductive Care for Rare Diseases: The Missing Playbook
Lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM), a rare estrogen‑sensitive lung disease, highlights the absence of standardized reproductive care for women with rare conditions. While FDA‑approved therapies have extended patients' lives, guidance on pregnancy, contraception, and menopause remains fragmented. The author’s personal journey—freezing embryos and...
![Industry Report: Healthcare Q1 2026 [Peakstone]](https://hixhlmpcokxhartfkpyi.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/images/thumbnails/0991708adbc96e52eae124a6a6122304.webp)
Industry Report: Healthcare Q1 2026 [Peakstone]
Healthcare M&A activity moderated in 2025, dropping to 898 transactions after a pandemic‑driven surge. Despite fewer deals, the median transaction value jumped to $151 million, the highest in 25 years, while EV/EBITDA multiples held steady near 12.5×. Public‑market returns diverged, with...
The Myth of Cancer Overdiagnosis: Why Screening Saves Lives
A new commentary challenges the notion that cancer overdiagnosis undermines screening, arguing that population‑wide programs have consistently reduced mortality for the five most screened cancers. Critics point to rising incidence without proportional mortality as evidence of overdiagnosis, yet recent trial...
Early-Stage Medical Device Innovation: How to Discuss Untested Ideas
The article argues that early‑stage medical device ideas require a balanced communication approach that avoids both silence and hype. It highlights the tension trainees and researchers feel when sharing untested concepts and proposes focusing discussions on problems, trade‑offs, and unknowns...
The AI Medical Services Act: What It Gets Right, Where It Falls Short, and Why It Matters for the Next...
The AI Medical Services Act (AMSA) creates a new licensure category for AI-driven clinical tools, mandating tiered risk oversight, physician supervision, and a regulatory sandbox for limited deployments. It embeds bias monitoring, adverse‑event reporting, and a framework for Medicaid and...
Weekly Reads: Longevity Hype Vs. Cool Research, Losing Your Y, FDA Maelstrom
This week’s coverage juxtaposes longevity hype with emerging science, highlighting David Sinclair’s bold claim that aging could be reversed within 10‑20 years, a new Nature paper confirming adult hippocampal neurogenesis, and research showing men lose the Y chromosome as they...
![Primary Care Receives only Five Cents of Every Health Care Dollar [PODCAST]](/cdn-cgi/image/width=1200,quality=75,format=auto,fit=cover/https://kevinmd.com/wp-content/uploads/Design-4-scaled.jpg)
Primary Care Receives only Five Cents of Every Health Care Dollar [PODCAST]
The KevinMD podcast features family physician Jonathan Bushman highlighting that primary care receives only about five percent of total health‑care spending while addressing roughly ninety percent of patient health issues. Bushman contrasts the modest financial return for primary‑care physicians with...
Rural Maternity Care in Crisis: 5 Solutions to Save Local OB Units
Rural maternity care across the United States is collapsing as hospitals shutter labor and delivery units, leaving many counties without obstetric services. The article identifies five actionable solutions: expanding cross‑trained clinician workforces, implementing obstetric‑ready nursing models, forging collaborative transfer networks,...
Epic's First Pharma Deal
Epic Systems announced its first pharmaceutical customer, Eli Lilly, for the newly launched Epic Discovery platform. The deal marks the inaugural sale of a Health Grid product to a life‑sciences firm, allowing Lilly to streamline clinical trial creation, site identification, activation,...
Does Lowering Cholesterol Harm the Brain?
The brain houses about 20‑25% of the body’s cholesterol, yet it relies on local synthesis because circulating cholesterol cannot cross the blood‑brain barrier. Although some patients report transient brain fog on statins, large observational studies generally show neutral or even...
GSMA Foundry, NUHS Partner to Drive 5G and AI Innovations in Healthcare
The GSMA announced a strategic partnership between its Foundry innovation hub and Singapore’s National University Health System (NUHS) to accelerate 5G‑enabled, AI‑driven healthcare solutions. The collaboration will focus on private 5G networks, digital twins, XR, IoT and ambient AI to...
RevolutionEHR Launches RevPay, Redefining How Optometry Practices Manage Cash Flow
RevolutionEHR introduced RevPay, an embedded payments solution that integrates checkout, patient records, and reporting within its AI‑native platform. The tool supports card, ACH, digital wallets and offers optional patient surcharging, promising to reduce processing fees that can cost $10,000‑$18,000 annually...
Cybersecurity and AI in the Era of Home-Based Care Logistics
Kenco’s vice‑president of life sciences, Tim McClatchy, detailed how the firm is hardening cybersecurity across its manufacturer‑to‑home delivery network while deploying AI to streamline labor planning and route optimization. He explained the specific encryption and verification steps used at each...
Median Technologies to Present at the TD Cowen 46th Annual Health Care Conference
Median Technologies announced it will present at TD Cowen’s 46th Annual Health Care Conference in Boston from March 2‑4, 2026. CEO Fredrik Brag will discuss the company’s latest AI‑driven SaMD developments and upcoming milestones on March 4 at 11:10 am ET. The presentation will be...
Pharmaceutical Executive Daily: FDA Approves Hernexeos
The FDA approved Hernexeos through the national priority voucher program, a mechanism that fast‑tracks drugs addressing unmet medical needs. Industry leaders are evaluating direct‑to‑consumer (DTC) models to broaden access to HIV prevention tools, leveraging digital and telehealth channels. Additionally, the...
A Tale of Three Bispecific Cities
Three bispecific antibodies targeting PD‑1 and CTLA‑4—lorigerlimab, volrustomig, and cadonilimab—illustrate divergent engineering strategies. Lorig erlimab relies on a knob‑into‑hole heterodimer, volrustomig adopts a common light chain format, and cadonilimab incorporates Fc‑silencing mutations. Their distinct designs have produced markedly different safety...
CFG Health Launches CareLink™ — A Fully Integrated, 24/7 Telehealth Platform for Correctional Health Care
CFG Health launched CareLink, a proprietary 24/7 telehealth platform designed for correctional facilities. Built on existing security‑issued tablets, the solution delivers emergency triage, primary, behavioral, and specialty care while maintaining HIPAA compliance. The platform combines CFG’s in‑house clinicians with external...
Acupath Laboratories, Inc. Partners with Azer Scientific to Install the First AzerView Digital Pathology Scanner in the United States
Acupath Laboratories has partnered with Azer Scientific to install the first AzerView LH510 digital pathology scanner in the United States. The LH510 offers high‑resolution whole‑slide imaging and streamlined workflow features designed for clinical, academic, and reference labs. The installation marks...
Shining the Light on Shadow Bundles
In February 2024 CMS unveiled “shadow bundles,” a modified BPCI‑A methodology that collects episode cost and quality data for hospitals and specialists without their explicit participation. The information is shared primarily with ACOs, MSSP participants, Medicare Advantage plans, and large...
FAQ: Inflation Reduction Act and Medicare Drug Pricing
The Inflation Reduction Act reshapes Medicare Part D by granting CMS authority to negotiate prices for high‑cost drugs and instituting a $2,100 annual out‑of‑pocket cap for beneficiaries starting this year. The first ten drugs, including Ozempic and Wegovy, will have negotiated...
Beyond BMI: Why Weight Management Must Look Inside the Body
Recent research highlights that BMI alone misclassifies up to 34% of adults, masking critical changes in muscle mass and fluid balance. Rapid weight loss driven by GLP‑1 therapies can cause substantial muscle and intracellular water loss while extracellular fluid rises,...
Learned Helplessness and Self-Efficacy in Tobacco Treatment
The article explains how repeated failed quit attempts create learned helplessness among smokers, undermining their belief that effort matters. It contrasts this with self‑efficacy, a task‑specific confidence that predicts successful cessation. Pharmacotherapy combined with structured counseling can double quit rates,...