Announcing NIHI – McMaster Spring Courses
The National Institutes of Health Informatics (NIHI) and McMaster University Continuing Education are launching a series of micro‑courses for healthcare professionals in spring 2026. Two flagship offerings are "Leadership in Health Care: Change Leadership" (April 15‑June 10) and "Effective Dashboards for Health Care" (April 14‑June 16), each delivered as one‑hour weekly sessions. Additional spring courses cover ePrivacy risk management and two levels of artificial intelligence in health care. All courses are designed as concise, online modules to fit busy clinicians' schedules.
Partners Aim to Improve Remote Monitoring
CHAH AI Care and Quoted Tech have formed a strategic partnership to launch the CHAD AI Support Hub, an AI‑powered remote monitoring system for seniors and medically complex patients in Canada. The first batch of 50 hubs will be deployed...
How Your Health (and Genetic Results) Affects Your Life, Travel and Health Insurance
The Australian Parliament is set to pass legislation that will prohibit life insurers from using predictive genetic test results in underwriting, taking effect in about six months for all new life‑insurance contracts. The ban covers death, income protection, disability and...
6 UK Hospitals Partner with SickKids AI Program
Six leading UK NHS paediatric hospitals have signed a memorandum of understanding with Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children to join its SKAI artificial intelligence program. The partnership creates a two‑way exchange of AI models, expertise, and clinical training aimed at...
Hawkesbury Conducts Surgery with J&J Robot
Hawkesbury and District General Hospital performed its first surgery using Johnson & Johnson’s VELYS Robotic‑Assisted Solution, led by orthopedic surgeon Dr. Simon Garceau. The system delivers millimetre‑level precision, which can lessen tissue trauma, postoperative pain and inflammation. Hospital executives highlighted...
$5M Gift to UHN Supports Cancer Care
Bank of Montreal (BMO) has pledged a $5 million CAD (approximately $3.7 million USD) donation to University Health Network (UHN) to fund the new Surgical Tower at Toronto Western Hospital and expand PMATCH, an AI‑driven precision‑oncology platform at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre....
NS Health Didn’t Follow Procurement Rules
Nova Scotia Health (NS Health) awarded six sole‑sourced health contracts without adhering to provincial procurement rules, often approving them after the contracts were already signed. The auditor general, Kim Adair, found weak justification for four of the six contracts and...
Saskatchewan Acquires New Perioperative System
The Government of Saskatchewan is allocating up to $5 million CAD (approximately $3.6 million USD) through eHealth Saskatchewan to deploy a fully integrated perioperative information system from Picis Clinical Solutions. The two‑year contract, beginning in fall 2026, will automate anesthesia management and...
Launch of New Digital Health Portal for Patients
Vancouver Coastal Health, Providence Health Care and the Provincial Health Services Authority have launched AccessMyHealth, a new digital portal that gives eligible British Columbia residents direct online access to their medical records, including notes, appointments, lab results and allergies. The...
Doctors Push Back on Fast Epic Rollout in NL
Newfoundland and Labrador's health authority plans to launch the Epic‑based CorCare electronic health record system on April 25, but more than 250 physicians have signed a petition demanding a phased rollout. Doctors argue the mandatory 35‑page contract and simultaneous deployment...
Weight-Loss Jabs Will Be Offered on NHS for People at Risk of Further Heart Attacks
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has approved the GLP‑1 drug Wegovy (semaglutide) for free on the NHS to more than one million English patients who are overweight and have a history of heart attacks, strokes or...
Deprescribing Diabetes Medications Can Be Feasible and Safe when Lifestyle Medicine Is Integrated Into Primary Care
A retrospective chart review of 650 type 2 diabetes patients in two primary‑care practices found that deprescribing glucose‑lowering medications was feasible and safe when lifestyle medicine was incorporated. Using a structured deprescribing framework, 41 patients (6.3%) had medication doses reduced or...
From Free Rider to Innovator: How China Became a Global Pharmaceutical Powerhouse
China has transformed from a pharmaceutical free rider into a leading innovator, largely after the 2016 National Reimbursement Drug List (NRDL) reform. The policy slashed prices by 50‑60% while guaranteeing near‑universal coverage, prompting a five‑fold rise in annual clinical trials...
Reactivation of Dormant Regulatory T Cells Alleviates Asthma Symptoms in Mice
Researchers at Henan Academy, Zhengzhou University and Shenzhen University demonstrated that activating the Dectin‑1 receptor on regulatory T cells (Tregs) can reverse their dormant, senescent state and restore anti‑inflammatory function. Using the small peptide KQS‑1, they epigenetically up‑regulated FOXP3 and...
Doubt Cast on Effectiveness of Widely Used 'KT-Tape' For Joint/Muscle Pain and Mobility
A pooled analysis of 128 systematic reviews covering 310 randomized trials and 15,812 participants examined the effectiveness of kinesio taping for musculoskeletal disorders. The data suggest KT‑tape may provide immediate to short‑term pain relief and functional improvement, but the evidence...
More Siblings May Ease Midlife Grief After a Mother's Death, Study Suggests
A Finnish cohort study of 1.3 million adults found that having more siblings dampens the rise in psychotropic medication purchases after a mother’s death. Only children showed the steepest increase, especially women, with a 5.1‑percentage‑point jump compared to childless peers. The...
Genetic Variants Involved in Rapid Immune Response Linked to Earlier Breast Cancer Onset in BRCA1 Carriers
Researchers identified damaging variants in innate immunity genes, especially those governing natural killer (NK) cell activation, as strong modifiers of breast cancer onset in women carrying the BRCA1 185delAG mutation. An analysis of 321 Ashkenazi Jewish carriers showed that these...
Study Finds Many Psychotherapists Lack Training for Eating Disorders in Boys
A binational study of 259 outpatient psychotherapists in Canada and the United States found widespread gaps in knowledge, confidence, and formal training for treating eating disorders and muscle dysmorphia in boys and men. More than a quarter of clinicians reported...
HHS Officials’ Year in Purgatory Is Ending
The Department of Health and Human Services has finally acted on a year‑old plan, issuing letters that reassign senior officials who have been on administrative leave since spring to positions within the Indian Health Service. Recipients have until April 8 to...
131 Hospitals Sue HHS over DSH Cuts: 5 Notes
More than 130 hospitals have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, challenging a 2023 CMS rule that changes how disproportionate share hospital (DSH) payments are calculated. The rule counts Medicare Advantage Part C patient...
Pancreatic Fat Linked to Greater Heart and Metabolic Health Risks in Children and Adolescents with Obesity
Researchers at Holbæk University Hospital measured pancreatic fat in 283 obese children and adolescents using magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The study, presented at the European Congress on Obesity, found that higher pancreatic‑fat levels were associated with elevated BMI, waist‑to‑height ratio, diastolic...
TYK2 Protein Suppresses Breast Cancer Metastasis by Sensing Extracellular Stiffness, Research Finds
Researchers at UC San Diego discovered that the inflammatory protein TYK2 acts as a metastasis suppressor in breast cancer by sensing extracellular matrix stiffness. On soft matrices, TYK2 remains on the cell membrane and blocks invasion, while stiff environments cause...
MAHA Movement Slows
The White House’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) campaign, launched in early 2025 to curb chronic disease through lifestyle medicine, nutrition training, and revamped hospital food, has stalled as of March 2026. Leadership turmoil at the CDC—no permanent director since...
Dual-Target Strategy Shows Promise in Overcoming Drug Resistance in MCL
A recent preclinical study identified BIRC5 and MCL‑1 as co‑drivers of survival in mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) and demonstrated that simultaneous inhibition with YM155 and S63845 produces strong synergistic killing of cancer cells. The combination was effective across both treatment‑naïve...
Intermountain Joins National Trauma, Grief Network
Intermountain Children’s Health and its Primary Children’s Hospital have become members of a national trauma and grief network led by the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute. The network, which also includes hospitals in Michigan, Louisiana and Texas, aims to standardize...
Machine Learning Model Improves Prediction of Heart Failure Risk in CKD
A multicenter study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association introduced a machine‑learning model that predicts five‑year heart‑failure risk in chronic kidney disease patients with higher accuracy than existing tools. Using routine clinical data, the XGBoost algorithm achieved...
The FTC Launches a Dedicated Healthcare Task Force
On March 20, 2026 the Federal Trade Commission announced a new Healthcare Task Force that unites antitrust and consumer‑protection resources to curb consolidation‑driven price hikes and quality gaps. The task force will be co‑chaired by leaders from the FTC’s Competition...
A $1B Campus, Leadership Handoff and Unchanged Mission: Grady’s Next Chapter
Grady Health System announced that President and CEO John Haupert will retire at the end of 2026 after a 35‑year healthcare career, with COO Anthony Saul slated to assume the role on Jan. 1, 2027. The transition coincides with a $1 billion...
Wearable Technology Use Low in MS Despite High Intention of Use
A recent Frontiers in Digital Health study examined wearable technology adoption among 64 multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. Although intention to use wearables was comparable to patients with other chronic conditions, only 34% of MS patients wore devices regularly, with 34%...
Children’s Minnesota Taps New Vice President of Finance From Optum
Sannah Kahal has been appointed vice president of finance at Children’s Minnesota, a Minneapolis‑based health system, effective immediately. The announcement, posted on LinkedIn on March 31, highlights her responsibility for capital planning, controllership, enterprise reporting, financial planning and analysis, decision support,...
Targeting Tumor Supporting Cells: Lipid Nanoparticles Advance CAR T Success in Pancreatic Cancer
Researchers at Penn Vet used lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) to deliver FAP‑CAR mRNA directly to patients' T cells, enabling in‑vivo engineering of CAR T cells that attack cancer‑associated fibroblasts in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. In a preclinical mouse model, a single dose of...
Low Serum IgE Levels Independently Associated With Increased CLL Risk
A retrospective cohort of 118,740 Israeli adults found that serum IgE levels below 25 IU/mL were associated with almost double the hazard of developing chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) over a seven‑year follow‑up. The multivariable Cox model adjusted for age, sex, obesity,...
Hospital's Digital Intelligence Platform Cuts Imaging Wait Times, but with a Caveat
Researchers at Tongji Hospital in Wuhan built a closed‑loop digital intelligence platform that integrates scheduling and report dispatch into the electronic health record. Post‑implementation, exam volume rose 66.4% while CT appointment times fell 72.4% and MRI times dropped 33.8%. However,...
Off-the-Shelf CAR T-Cell Therapy Granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation for Aggressive T-Cell Cancers
Soficabtagene geleucel (WU‑CART‑007), an off‑the‑shelf CRISPR‑engineered CAR‑T therapy, received FDA Breakthrough Therapy Designation for relapsed or refractory T‑cell leukemia and lymphoma. In a phase 1/2 trial of 28 patients, the drug achieved a 91% overall response rate and a 73% complete...
PCI Before TAVR? In Older CAD Patients, Deferral May Be the Best Approach
New data from the PRO‑TAVI trial, presented at ACC.26 and published in The Lancet, show that deferring percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in elderly patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) yields outcomes comparable to performing PCI beforehand. The trial enrolled...
America Needs Reproductive Health Leave
A newly introduced bill in Congress would grant workers up to 12 days of paid reproductive health leave each year, covering period pain, menopause, IVF, miscarriage, and endometriosis. The legislation responds to the fact that roughly half of women experience...
Using “Left-Handed” Proteins to Block Alzheimer’s
Kobe University researchers engineered a synthetic right‑handed (D) peptide that binds amyloid‑beta, the disordered protein driving Alzheimer’s plaques, and blocks its aggregation. In mouse brain cell cultures the mirror peptide restored cell viability to 100%, compared with 50% survival when...
4th Circuit Upholds Block on West Virginia’s 340B Law
The Fourth Circuit affirmed a preliminary injunction that blocks West Virginia’s Senate Bill 325, which would have forced drug manufacturers to extend 340B discounts to prescriptions filled by contract pharmacies. The injunction, originally issued by a West Virginia district court,...
GoHealth Prioritizes Consumer Fit, Renewal Economics and Cash Discipline While Continuing Leadership in Special Needs Plans; Reports Full Year 2025...
GoHealth reported full‑year 2025 results showing a sharp decline in revenue and profitability as it intentionally scaled back Medicare Advantage activity. Net revenues dropped 55% to $361.8 million, and Adjusted EBITDA swung to a $35.1 million loss. The company emphasized a consumer‑first...
News 4/1/26
Company owner announced that the former chief financial officer has agreed to repay the $21 million he owes to the firm. The statement, reportedly supported by a video, aims to reassure stakeholders about the company’s financial stability. This repayment pledge follows...
Changemaker Defends Healthcare's Evolving Cyber Frontline
Samantha Jacques, senior leader at McLaren Health Care, is spearheading a public‑private partnership through the Health Sector Coordinating Council to safeguard connected clinical environments. Her team delivers unified guidance that addresses the rising tide of cyber threats targeting hospitals and...
Public Health Experts Call for Stricter Glyphosate Regulation
A coalition of 17 public‑health researchers and advocates from North America and Europe issued a joint statement calling for stricter regulation of glyphosate after a University of Washington symposium. They cite compelling evidence linking the herbicide to cancer, particularly non‑Hodgkin...
Frailty, Innovation, and the Future of Myeloma Treatment With Joseph Mikhael, MD
Joseph Mikhael, MD, highlights a dramatic shift in multiple myeloma care for older adults, driven by refined frailty assessments and the rise of targeted immunotherapies such as CAR‑T cells and bispecific antibodies. These advances have translated into higher survival rates...
Chapter Partnership with OU Drives Student Engagement
Over the past two years, the HFMA Oklahoma Chapter partnered with the University of Oklahoma Hudson College of Public Health to embed HFMA certifications into the MHA curriculum. The collaboration has led 54 students to earn the Certified Specialist in...
Pennsylvania’s New ENDS Directory Law Raises the Bar for Market Access
Pennsylvania enacted Act 57 of 2025, creating an ENDS directory that limits market access to products with FDA PMTA approval before September 9, 2020. The law imposes a $50,000 surety bond, $2,000 per brand‑family and $200 per brand‑style certification fees, plus annual renewals, and...
Effective Device Management Requires Collaboration of Clinical Engineers, IT Teams
Medical devices are becoming increasingly sophisticated, blurring the lines between engineering and information technology responsibilities, says McLaren Health Care’s Samantha Jacques, a HIMSS26 Changemaker Award winner. She argues that effective device management now demands close collaboration between clinical engineers and...
Key Neurons Can Jumpstart Leg Movement After Spinal Injury
Researchers identified a rare subset of graft‑derived interneurons that can reconnect broken spinal circuits and trigger leg muscle activity in animal models of spinal cord injury. When these neurons were experimentally activated, 20‑30% of the subjects showed measurable leg movements,...
Pharma Goes on $25.5B, Eight-Day Acquisition Spree
Pharmaceutical companies launched an eight‑day acquisition blitz, with six firms announcing deals worth about $25.5 billion. Two of those transactions involve upfront payments exceeding $5 billion each, underscoring the aggressive pace. The deals focus on securing biotech pipelines and specialty drug assets...
Expanding ACCESS: Transplant Strategy Boosts Survival in Blood Cancers, Offers Potential Savings
The phase 2 ACCESS trial demonstrated that post‑transplant cyclophosphamide (PTCy) combined with tacrolimus and MMF enables high‑survival outcomes for patients receiving mismatched unrelated donor peripheral blood stem cell transplants. One‑year overall survival reached 86% for donors mismatched at less than 7/8...
Trump Administration Tells Hospitals to Align With New Nutrition Guidelines
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued a Quality and Safety Special Alert urging hospitals to redesign patient meals in line with the updated Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which prioritize fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and minimally processed proteins while...