California’s initial efforts to move almost 500,000 low-income seniors and disabled people automatically into managed care has been rife with problems in its first six months, leading to widespread confusion, frustration and resistance. Prompted by the Affordable Care Act, the federal government is trying to streamline services and cut costs for the 9 million Americans who are enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid. David Grabowksi, professor of health care policy, is quoted.
Two cancer immunotherapy drugs, nivolumab and Keytruda, proved remarkably effective against the blood cancer Hodgkin lymphoma in two small, separate studies. The studies add to growing evidence of the potential for enlisting the immune system in the fight against a wide range of tumors. Margaret Shipp, professor of medicine at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, is a senior co-author of the nivolumab study.
Rarely has an “advance” in technology been as unsettling to the user as the electronic medical record, a digitized version of the old doctor’s chart that is driving physicians crazy while not improving the quality of care by as much as expected. Kenneth Mandl, professor of pediatrics at Children’s Hospital Boston, is quoted.
Plastic surgeons, other doctors and naturopaths at more than 100 clinics around the country are charging thousands of dollars for a controversial procedure called stem cell therapy to treat a range of disorders, including neurological diseases like MS and Parkinson’s. The procedure has angered many neurologists and prominent researchers who say these doctors are preying on vulnerable people and capitalizing on the huge but still unrealized potential of stem cell research, which they say is years away from producing an approved treatment for neurological diseases. George Daley, professor of biological chemistry and molecular pharmacology at Boston Children’s Hospital, is quoted.
The Boston Marathon bombings turned Boylston Street into an environment much like a war zone. Ear injuries were one of the most common—if little-publicized—side effects of the bombings that victims continue to deal with today. Aaron Remenschneider, clinical fellow in otology and laryngology at Massachusetts Eye & Ear, and Alicia Quesnel, instructor in otology and laryngology at Massachusetts Eye & Ear, are quoted.
Parents welcoming a new baby into their family are no longer content to count fingers and toes to assess their infant’s state of health: In a recent research survey, nearly half said they would be “very” or “extremely” interested in having their newborn’s genome sequenced, and fully a third more pronounced themselves “somewhat” interested. Robert Green, associate professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, is the study’s senior author. Alan Beggs, Sir Edwin and Lady Manton Professor of Pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital, co-directs the BabySeq Project.
