Category: Physicians
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STAT+: HHS adviser hopes prior authorization reform happens in ‘double-digit months,’ not years
STAT+: HHS adviser hopes prior authorization reform happens in ‘double-digit months,’ not years WASHINGTON — A top U.S. health official told a room full of doctors on Wednesday that he hopes the Trump administration’s efforts to whittle down the insurance industry’s use of prior authorizations will produce results “in double-digit months” instead of years, calling…
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STAT+: The federal directory of doctors and hospitals is coming this year
STAT+: The federal directory of doctors and hospitals is coming this year After years of grand ambitions, the federal government disclosed that it is months away from rolling out a centralized list of doctors and hospitals filled with up-to-date contact and insurance information. Details of how the national provider directory will work are scant —…
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Plastic surgeons society recommends delaying gender-affirming procedures until age 19
Plastic surgeons society recommends delaying gender-affirming procedures until age 19 WASHINGTON — The American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) recommends that gender-affirming surgeries be delayed until a patient is at least 19 years old, the group announced in a statement Tuesday. The statement, made by the group’s board of directors, represents a break from major…
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Opinion: What lingers in ‘The Pitt’ is heartache. What’s missing is outrage
Opinion: What lingers in ‘The Pitt’ is heartache. What’s missing is outrage In “The Pitt,” Robby is the rockstar every emergency doctor wants to be — sharp, fast, instinctive. So it’s shocking when the man who moves like lightning through a resus room buckles to the floor, sobbing, gasping. He’s having a flashback: the ICU,…
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STAT+: At JPM, doctors’ darling OpenEvidence says it’s pursuing ‘medical super-intelligence’
STAT+: At JPM, doctors’ darling OpenEvidence says it’s pursuing ‘medical super-intelligence’ OpenEvidence has rapidly become a household name among physicians, with a chatbot that answers their day-to-day clinical questions. Last year, it raised $200 million — twice — valuing the company at more than $6 billion. Its next reported round, yet to be confirmed, would…
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Opinion: New medical technology presents hospitals with a prisoner’s dilemma
Opinion: New medical technology presents hospitals with a prisoner’s dilemma In 2026, Medtronic plans to launch a new robot to compete with a legacy market leader. This new robot is reportedly cheaper both in startup and sustained costs. That’s a welcome direction for any new medical technology, but it ignores a problem that hospitals, especially…
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Opinion: STAT readers respond to essays on miracles, vaccines, and more
Opinion: STAT readers respond to essays on miracles, vaccines, and more First Opinion is STAT’s platform for interesting, illuminating, and provocative articles about the life sciences writ large, written by biotech insiders, health care workers, researchers, and others. To encourage robust, good-faith discussion about issues raised in First Opinion essays, STAT publishes selected Letters to…
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STAT+: Why so many primary care doctors are switching between two Harvard-affiliated hospital systems
STAT+: Why so many primary care doctors are switching between two Harvard-affiliated hospital systems Six primary care providers at a single Mass General Brigham practice are moving to rival Beth Israel Lahey Health in January, raising to at least 18 the total number of such defections from the state’s largest health care system to the second largest…
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Opinion: These bioethicists want to start a conversation on ‘faking’ CPR
Opinion: These bioethicists want to start a conversation on ‘faking’ CPR Below is a lightly edited, AI-generated transcript of the “First Opinion Podcast” interview with Jason Wasserman and Parker Crutchfield. Be sure to sign up for the weekly “First Opinion Podcast” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Get alerts about each new episode…
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STAT+: UnitedHealthcare drops remote monitoring coverage in defiance of Medicare policies
STAT+: UnitedHealthcare drops remote monitoring coverage in defiance of Medicare policies Beginning in January, UnitedHealthcare will no longer pay physicians to remotely monitor the data that patients collect at home about chronic conditions like hypertension. The updated medical policies for both Medicare and commercial health plans from the country’s largest insurer were posted in September…
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STAT+: UnitedHealth pays its own physician groups 17% more than outside ones, study shows
STAT+: UnitedHealth pays its own physician groups 17% more than outside ones, study shows UnitedHealth Group pays its own physician practices much more than it pays competing practices, a new study finds, reinforcing STAT’s own analysis on the subject and presenting fresh evidence that the conglomerate may be skirting a rule designed to curb health…
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STAT+: UnitedHealth wants to employ more of its doctors
STAT+: UnitedHealth wants to employ more of its doctors After assembling the largest collection of doctors in the U.S., UnitedHealth Group is switching strategies in an effort to improve its financial performance. The company plans to revamp its enterprise of 90,000 clinicians into one more heavily weighted toward employed physicians, rather than affiliated doctors, executives…
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STAT+: Medicare payments to doctors paused as government shutdown drags on
STAT+: Medicare payments to doctors paused as government shutdown drags on The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is pausing Medicare payments to doctors, as negotiations tied to the government shutdown drag on. CMS announced the pause in a notice on its website but didn’t say when it would end. It’s happening because Congress needs…
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STAT+: Preventive care panel could be restructured ‘imminently’ as RFK Jr. vets new members
STAT+: Preventive care panel could be restructured ‘imminently’ as RFK Jr. vets new members WASHINGTON — Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could “imminently” overhaul a key federal advisory panel that recommends which preventive services insurers must pay for, according to a person familiar with the plans. The person said that federal health officials are…
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STAT+: How Republicans sidelined the health care industry and pushed through historic Medicaid cuts
STAT+: How Republicans sidelined the health care industry and pushed through historic Medicaid cuts WASHINGTON — Republicans swiftly approved President Trump’s tax cut bill last week, despite a full-court press from doctors, hospitals, and patients to beat back some of the largest health care cuts in American history — more than $1 trillion in all…
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STAT+: Health insurers promise to reduce barriers to care under pressure from Trump administration
STAT+: Health insurers promise to reduce barriers to care under pressure from Trump administration WASHINGTON — Last week’s pledge from more than 40 health insurers to cut down on prior authorizations came after some behind-the-scenes convincing from the Trump administration. The administration pushed insurers to sign a voluntary pledge to cut back on prior authorizations…
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STAT+: Lawmakers lobby doctors to keep quiet — or speak up — on Medicaid cuts in Trump’s tax bill
STAT+: Lawmakers lobby doctors to keep quiet — or speak up — on Medicaid cuts in Trump’s tax bill WASHINGTON — With millions of people at risk of losing health insurance under President Trump’s tax bill, lawmakers have begun lobbying the lobbyists: asking health care interests to keep quiet — or speak up — about…
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STAT+: UnitedHealth conducting ‘comprehensive review’ of Medicare practices that are facing federal scrutiny, new CEO says
STAT+: UnitedHealth conducting ‘comprehensive review’ of Medicare practices that are facing federal scrutiny, new CEO says UnitedHealth Group’s new CEO told investors that the company is reevaluating how it tallies Medicare Advantage patients’ diagnoses for reimbursement purposes, an issue currently under investigation by the Justice Department. Stephen Hemsley’s remarks during the company’s annual shareholder meeting…
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STAT+: ASCO and Google create ‘walled garden’ AI tool for doctors to query group’s guidelines
STAT+: ASCO and Google create ‘walled garden’ AI tool for doctors to query group’s guidelines The American Society of Clinical Oncology, the largest professional organization in cancer care, announced Wednesday that it had partnered with Google Cloud to develop an AI-based tool to help physicians rapidly question the organization’s guidelines on best practices in diagnosing…
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STAT+: As more patients get automated test results, researchers seek ways to calm their nerves
STAT+: As more patients get automated test results, researchers seek ways to calm their nerves Editor’s note: This story contains a description of self-harm. Oncologist Mark Lewis has never had much of a poker face. When he walked into his cancer patient’s visit in 2022, he was wearing a big smile: The nodules in his…