Best Practices

Temp Nurses Cost Hospitals Big During Pandemic. Lawmakers Are Now Mulling Limits.

To crack down on price gouging, proposed legislation in Missouri calls for allowing felony charges against health care staffing agencies that substantially raise their prices during a declared emergency. A New York bill includes a cap on the amount staffing agencies can charge health care facilities. And a Texas measure would allow civil penalties against such agencies. These proposed...

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Virtual or In Person: Which Kind of Doctor’s Visit Is Better, and When It Matters

When the covid-19 pandemic swept the country in early 2020 and emptied doctors’ offices nationwide, telemedicine was suddenly thrust into the spotlight. Patients and their physicians turned to virtual visits by video or phone rather than risk meeting face-to-face. During the early months of the pandemic, telehealth visits for care exploded. “It was a dramatic shift in one or two weeks that we...

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Eli Lilly is cutting insulin prices and capping copays at $35 – 5 questions answered

Diabetes management is becoming more affordable in the U.S. after years of price hikes. Matt Harbicht/Getty Images for Tandem Diabetes Care ~~~~~~~~~ Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly is slashing the list prices for some of its most popular insulin products by 70% and capping insulin copays at US$35 for uninsured patients and those with private health insurance. These changes follow efforts by the...

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Many Americans wrongly assume they understand what normal blood pressure is – and that false confidence can be deadly

High blood pressure has no symptoms, so you could have it and not be aware. nortonsx/iStock via Getty Images Plus ~~~~~~~~~ Stunning as it may sound, nearly half of Americans ages 20 years and up – or more than 122 million people – have high blood pressure, according to a 2023 report from the American Heart Association. And even if your numbers are normal right now, they are likely to increase...

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Scientific highs and lows of cannabinoids

Hundreds of these cannabis-related chemicals now exist, both natural and synthetic, inspiring researchers in search of medical breakthroughs — and fueling a dangerous trend in recreational use The 1960s was a big decade for cannabis: Images of flower power, the summer of love and Woodstock wouldn’t be complete without a joint hanging from someone’s mouth. Yet in the early ’60s, scientists knew...

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Websites Selling Abortion Pills Are Sharing Sensitive Data With Google

ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox. Online pharmacies that sell abortion pills are sharing sensitive data with Google and other third parties, which may allow law enforcement to prosecute those who use the medications to end their pregnancies, a ProPublica analysis has found. Using a...

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