The US plans to work with 50 other nations on a testing, preparedness, surveillance and communication strategy to help countries better address future pandemics. The Global Health Security Strategy aims to protect populations worldwide and "make the United States stronger, safer, and healthier than ever before at this critical moment," said President Joe Biden, who is looking for $1.2 billion in global health safety funding in his latest budget proposal.

Recent research from Harvard University suggests that hospital-acquired adverse events may be higher overall at facilities with private equity ownership than at those without investor participation. Higher central line-associated bloodstream infections and patient falls were among the trends seen at private equity hospitals, researchers reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

A Medscape report estimates that 18% of US oncologists are considering leaving their jobs due to severe burnout, citing bureaucratic tasks, long work hours and inadequate compensation as top contributing factors. Researchers polled 9,226 physicians from 29 specialties last year, and surveyed oncologists said several workplace measures would help, including hiring additional support staff, increasing physician control, raising compensation, allowing more flexible schedules and reducing patient loads.

A study presented at a meeting of the American Academy of Neurology found that one-third of US women with migraines experience attacks during their menstrual periods, often severe, yet only one-fifth use medications to prevent them. "Migraine is a lifelong brain disease without a cure, and the goal of preventive therapy is to reduce disease burden and improve quality of life. Unfortunately, newer disease-specific treatments are costly, so generic older treatments are often used and come with greater side effects," said lead researcher Jessica Ailani.

Women who experienced any of five pregnancy complications, including preeclampsia, preterm delivery and gestational diabetes, have increased odds of early death, according to a study in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine. The risk remained high for over 40 years, and those who experienced multiple complications had further increases in risk.

A new survey by Wolters Kluwer Health shows doctors are becoming more willing to use AI technology in patient care, while a separate survey shows patients are still dubious about physicians using the technology. The physician survey included 100 hospital-based physicians, who also noted they would need transparency from AI vendors and would need to delve into how the AI tools were trained in order to fully trust the information.

Independent reviewers from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine said evidence suggests that there is a causal link between Pfizer's and Moderna's messenger RNA COVID-19 vaccines and myocarditis risk. The vaccines do not cause Bell's palsy, Guillain-Barre syndrome, infertility, myocardial infarction or thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome, according to the report commissioned by HHS' Health Resources and Services Administration.

The FDA granted expanded approval for AstraZeneca's Fasenra, or benralizumab, as an add-on maintenance treatment for children ages 6 to 11 years with severe eosinophilic asthma. Data from a late-stage trial was the basis for the monoclonal antibody's expanded approval.

The FDA is urging Congress to remove the interchangeability designation for biosimilar drugs, arguing that it has led to confusion and created barriers to uptake of biosimilars in competitive markets. Removing the distinction between biosimilars and interchangeables will "formally make it so that it's clear that the biosimilars are all of a level of quality and safety that we're all happy with," said Sarah Yim, director of the FDA's Office of Therapeutic Biologics and Biosimilars.

HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said maternal health outcomes would improve in rural areas if more states expanded Medicaid eligibility. "I think if we expand Medicaid in some of the states that haven't yet done it, about a million and a half more Americans, many of them women who want to deliver a baby, would have access to earlier care and not wait until it's a difficult circumstance in the delivery," Becerra said at a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing.

White papers and case studies submitted by our Affiliate Organizations offer the latest thinking on topics in health care. This month's features include Signify Health on the correlation between regular PCP visits and good health; and Omada on the GLP-1 boom and inequities in obesity care, quality of life after GLP-1 use, virtual diabetes care partnerships, and sustainable weight loss strategies.

Join us on Monday, April 29, from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. ET for "Comprehensive Nutrition Program Leads to Long-Term Behavior Change and Savings" as Mom's Meals shares the results of a comprehensive nutrition program and its outcomes 6 and 12 months after members completed the program. Outcomes will include member behaviors and utilization from a claims analysis.

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