Is Flying to Turkey for Health Screenings Worth It?
By Eglė Krištopaitytė
healthnews.com – Health and beauty tourism influencer Bryn Elise recently made a viral video of herself going to Turkey for a full-body check-up in one day.
In the video, Elise said she underwent more than 30 scans, tests, and cancer markers. The package also included an X-ray, abdominal and thyroid ultrasound, a bone density scan, a stress test, and an echocardiogram.
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CMS proposes new payments for digital health under CY2025 PFS draft rule
By Emma Beavins
fiercehealthcare.com – The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS’) proposed calendar year 2025 physician fee schedule rule, out Wednesday, proposed an assortment of new payments and coverage for digital health services, including digital therapeutics, telehealth and audio-only telehealth services. It did not, however, address the bulk of Medicare telehealth waivers expiring at the end of the year, which need to be extended by Congress.
The draft rule contains significant proposals for rural health clinics and federally qualified health centers to continue receiving payment for audio-only telehealth, waive the in-person visit requirement for telemental health services and report remote monitoring codes outside of catch-all code G0511.
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Louisiana OB-GYN Receives Limited Reproductive Training After Abortion Bans
By Julia Ries
healthline.com – As states pass sweeping restrictions against abortion, it’s become increasingly clear these bans have far-reaching consequences.
EvidenceTrusted Source has shown, for example, that abortion restrictions can push families into poverty, worsen pregnant people’s long-term physical and mental health, and cause increases in both mTrusted SourceaternalTrusted Source and infant deaths.
Less known, however, is the impact abortion bans have on the healthcare professionals who care for pregnant individuals.
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Senators debut bill to reduce healthcare cyberattacks
By Jeff Lagasse
healthcarefinancenews.com – U.S. Senators Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Todd Young (R-IN) and Angus King (I-ME) have introduced legislation intended to reduce the relentless amount of cyberattacks targeting the healthcare industry.
The Healthcare Cybersecurity Act was conceived after a ransomware attack on the health payment platform Change Healthcare, which senators said highlighted a lack of preparation and training during the recovery process.
Optum, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group, acquired Change in October 2022.
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Atropos compares how well leading LLMs generate clinical evidence
By Emma Beavins
fiercehealthcare.com -A new study released by healthcare AI company Atropos found that general-purpose LLMs like ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini are not fit for use in clinical decision-making.
Atropos conducted a study of leading large language models (LLMs), including general purpose LLMs, a model built for healthcare, and its own model, ChatRWD beta, to answer 50 healthcare questions submitted by clinicians requesting more evidence for clinical decisions or inspired by clinician questions.
Nine independent clinicians rated the responses of five large language models based on relevance, reliability and actions able to be taken from the model’s response.
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War is lead cause behind huge drop in global vaccinations, UN warns
By Betsy Reed
theguardian.com – Conflicts have hampered efforts to vaccinate children across the world, health leaders have warned, as new figures showed about 14.5 million children had not received a single immunisation dose.
More than half of the children live in countries where armed conflicts or other humanitarian crises had created fragile and vulnerable situations, according to data from the UN children’s agency, Unicef, and the World Health Organization.
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Early data from Lexeo’s gene therapy for rare heart disease shows promise
By Jason Mast
statnews.com – Lexeo Therapeutics said Monday that a gene therapy designed to prevent fatal cardiac complications of a genetic disorder called Friedrich’s ataxia reduced signs of heart disease in a handful of patients.
The data are very early and less-than-clear-cut. But given a top Food and Drug Administration official’s recent efforts to advance gene therapies under accelerated approval — most notably, with the decision to expand approval for Sarepta’s Duchenne muscular dystrophy treatment, despite two failed trials— the company thinks it can chart a path to market, after an additional study.
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Her hearing implant was preapproved. But she still received multiple $139,000 bills
By Elisabeth Rosenthal, Dan Weissmann
npr.org – Caitlyn Mai woke up one morning in middle school so dizzy she couldn’t stand and also deaf in one ear, the result of an infection that affected one of her cranial nerves. Though her balance recovered, the hearing never came back.
Growing up, she learned to cope — but it wasn’t easy.
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