Literature Review

Why fears about Biden’s marijuana moves are overblownPolitico.com, by Mona Zhang; 1/1/24President Joe Biden’s administration is poised to make the biggest shift in federal drug policy in decades by loosening marijuana restrictions, but the move is sparking blowback from an unlikely constituency: legalization advocates.

2023 saw several health care deals that changed the landscapeThe Boston Globe, by Bob Herman and Tara Bannow; 12/30/23Every year, the health care industry behaves more like a balloon: Squeeze one side, and the other expands. Companies that were once just insurers or just pharmacies are tacking on new business lines. The idea is that when profit inevitably gets squeezed in one, it'll expand in another. That trend of vertical integration was on full display in 2023, a year when the country's biggest pharmacy chain bought a primary care provider, and the biggest private insurer branched further into home health. Hospitals, meanwhile, continued to push the boundaries of expansion — their leaders following through on their promises to grow market power. Here are some of the biggest and most consequential health care transactions in 2023.Editor Note: Article appears behind paywall.

How can hospitals prepare for 2024’s cyberthreats?MedCity News, by Katie Adams; 12/27/23Many hospitals remain underprepared to protect themselves against cybercriminals’ barrage of increasingly sophisticated attacks, but there are a couple concrete steps they can take to build a stronger defense structure — like virtual patching and thinking twice about moving to the cloud.

Executives detail UnitedHealthcare, Optum Health's growth plansModern Healthcare, by Lauren Berryman; 12/28/23At its annual investor conference, company executives provided an update on how the healthcare behemoth has sought to minimize the financial impact of Medicare Advantage rate changes, its progress hiring physicians and its use of technology to improve the patient, provider and payer experiences. The company said it projects 2024 revenue to hit $400 billion, a 9.1% increase over 2023's anticipated revenue, after accounting for Medicare funding reductions. The company's insurance arm expects revenue of $302 billion to $304 billion next year.

Ask Amy: Annual charity column shows ways to giveDenver Post, by Amy Dickinson; 12/26/23Dear Readers: As I offer my 20th annual year-end “charity roundup,” I’d like to remind readers that while charity truly does begin at home, it need not stay there. Those who can afford to share their material wealth should give abundantly, donating locally to the local library, after-school program, hospice center, arts organizations, historical society and animal shelter. Acts of kindness and compassion are always worth their weight in gold: Shoveling a walk for a neighbor, writing a letter to an elder and volunteering at the local food bank are all ways to express your generosity.

Denied by AI: How Medicare Advantage plans use algorithms to cut off care for seniors in needSTAT, by Casey Ross and Bob Herman; 12/28/23An algorithm, not a doctor, predicted a rapid recovery for Frances Walter, an 85-year-old Wisconsin woman with a shattered left shoulder and an allergy to pain medicine. In 16.6 days, it estimated, she would be ready to leave her nursing home. On the 17th day, her Medicare Advantage insurer, Security Health Plan, followed the algorithm and cut off payment for her care, concluding she was ready to return to the apartment where she lived alone. Meanwhile, medical notes in June 2019 showed Walter’s pain was maxing out the scales and that she could not dress herself, go to the bathroom, or even push a walker without help...

Rethinking immunotherapy for cancer: When is the best time to stop?Wall Street Journal, by Brianna Abbott and Jared S. Hopkins; 12/26/23Halting treatments earlier could spare patients side effects and costs, but researchers face obstacles.

Guiding an improved dementia experience (GUIDE) ModelGeriPal podcast with Malaz Boustani and Diane Ty... The financial case for comprehensive dementia care is changing thanks to a new Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) alternative payment model (APM) called Guiding an Improved Dementia Experience (GUIDE) Model.  This model will give participating programs a per-member-per-month payment to offer care management, care coordination, and other services such as caregiver training, disease education, and respite.

Nurses ‘bridge the gap’ between patients, doctors to talk end-of-life careCure, by Alex Biese; 12/22/23For patients with cancer and their caregivers, nurses can play an integral role when it comes to communicating wishes for end-of-life care, as one expert explained to CURE®. “Nurses bridge the gap, I feel, oftentimes, between the medical community and patients and caregivers, because … especially with the patients with cancer, they may be getting infusions, or different kinds of treatments, so there's a fair amount of time when nurses are in and out of the room or they're attending to the patients, etc., where physicians obviously wouldn't necessarily be there,” said Sara Douglas, a Gertrude Perkins Oliva professor in oncology nursing at Case Western Reserve University’s Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing in Cleveland.

Solving for X at the end of lifeNext Avenue, by Thomas Kamber, PhD; 12/29/23In interviews with people who were dying, we learned they wanted to mark their final days with meaningful experiences and leave their affairs in order. It's time to reset logistics, last days and legacy.

They stayed in nursing after COVID. But these Wisconsin nurses will never be the same.Oshkosh Northwestern, by Natalie Eilbert; 12/28/23FOND DU LAC – Hannah Pecora moves through the fifth floor of SSM Health St. Agnes Hospital in Fond du Lac with the confidence that comes with serving as a registered nurse since 2009. ... Pecora was there when the first shock of COVID hit the staff, along with a stream of new medical guidelines. ... Then Pecora watched a patient younger than her die. This one left her reeling.

Other Business Headlines of Interest, 12/29/23