Medical Journal April 2023 digital edition
April 19, 20231 min
Post Views: 1,898
HHS publishes new guidance to help healthcare providers address cybersecurity risks
April 19, 20238 min
BY Rossanna J. Madrigal and Beth Anne Jackson, Brown & Fortunato On March 8, 2023, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released the Health Care and Public Health Sector Cybersecurity Framework Implementation Guide, Version 2 (the “Guide”). The Guide is a collaborative publication between the government and private sector that was developed by the HHS Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) and the Health Sector Coordinating Council Cybersecurity Working Group....
The “Focus 4” threshold tips for surviving an OSHA inspection, part two: Watch what documents you provide on inspection day
April 19, 202311 min
BY Travis Vance, Regional Managing Partner, Co-chair of Fisher Phillips’ Workplace Safety and Catastrophe Management Practice Group, Fisher Phillips, and Kevin Troutman, Senior Counsel, Fisher Phillips With maximum limits for Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) penalties increasing every year – currently over $15,000 for serious/other than serious citations and more than $150,000 for a repeat and willful – knowing what to do when OSHA arrives at your door is more important than ever....
Unpacking the SECURE Act 2.0: How it will affect your retirement savings
April 19, 20239 min
BY Catherine Lightfoot, CPA, CHBC, Director of Healthcare at EEPB Are you approaching retirement age? If so, you will want to know about the SECURE 2.0 Act signed into law by President Biden on December 29, 2022. This most recent legislation makes notable changes to qualified retirement plans, expanding upon the original SECURE Act of 2019. The primary purpose of both laws is to encourage more savings for retirement by extending the age at which...
Vaccines save lives; let’s make sure Texas law reflects that
April 19, 20236 min
BY John Hawkins, President, THA It wasn’t long ago that overwhelming numbers of people across Texas and the nation – on all sides of the political spectrum – knew and acknowledged that vaccines prevent diseases. Seventy years ago, polio crippled thousands of American children. Before the polio vaccine, the coffin-like “iron lung” confined patients who were suffering late-stage paralysis from the disease. As we all know, Jonas Salk’s work helped put an end to that...
Unlocking the healing potential of psilocybin: a promising approach for treating depression
April 19, 20238 min
BY Samuel Mathis, MD, Assistant Professor, UTMB, and Eldin Nikocevic, MS4, Family Medicine, UTMB Psychedelics are a class of drugs that have recently regained attention for their potential therapeutic effects on a range of mood disorders. Among them, psilocybin, the active ingredient in “magic mushrooms,” is currently gaining attention for its potential to treat depression. The substance produces profound changes in perception, mood, and cognition, often inducing hallucinations. While psilocybin has a long history...
UTMB deploys robots to support hospital staff
April 19, 20237 min
The University of Texas Medical Branch welcomed some new staff members at the Angleton Danbury campus this week: two nearly life-sized robots programmed to support the human staff and free up nurses from certain tasks to allow them more time to spend with patients. Nurses are consummate multitaskers who are focused on patient care. But what about the important but non-patient-facing tasks that take nurses away from patient care for what studies have shown to...
Metastasis-directed radiation therapy plus hormone therapy improves progression-free survival for men with advanced prostate cancer
April 19, 20237 min
Researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center demonstrated that adding metastasis-directed radiation therapy to intermittent hormone therapy improved progression-free survival (PFS) in patients with oligometastatic prostate cancer. At a median follow-up of 22.1 months, the median PFS had not yet been reached in men who received the combination therapy, suggesting a significant improvement over the median PFS of 15.8 months in men who received only hormone therapy. The combination was well-tolerated and lengthened the period men could...
A 21st-century remedy for missed meds
April 19, 202310 min
Missing crucial doses of medicines and vaccines could become a thing of the past thanks to Rice University bioengineers’ next-level technology for making time-released drugs. This is a huge problem in the treatment of chronic disease,” said Kevin McHugh, corresponding author of a study about the technology. “It’s estimated that 50% of people don’t take their medications correctly. With this, you’d give them one shot, and they’d be all set for the next couple of months.” When...
Kerin Adelson, M.D., named MD Anderson Chief Quality and Value Officer
April 19, 20233 min
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center announced Kerin Adelson, M.D., as the institution’s chief quality and value officer. An accomplished clinician and researcher with extensive leadership experience in delivering high-quality and value-based cancer care, Adelson will recently begin her role. As chief quality and value officer, Adelson will partner with Chief Administrative Quality Officer José Rivera to lead MD Anderson’s medical practice quality improvement efforts and value-based care initiatives in support of...