Medical Journal February 2024 digital edition
February 24, 20241 min
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Continuity of care and prior authorizations streamlined by CMS final rule
February 24, 20249 min
BY Jacque K. Steelman and Michael R. Alexander, Brown & Fortunato, P.C. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) recently finalized the CMS Interoperability and Prior Authorization Final Rule (CMS-0057-F) (the “Rule”). The Rule requires a number of federally funded payers (“Payers”) to implement and maintain application programming interfaces (“APIs”). These APIs are intended to improve the electronic exchange of healthcare data and streamline the authorization process required by payers for specific procedures...
How to catch a thief!
February 24, 20248 min
BY Catherine Lightfoot, CPA, CHBC, Director of Healthcare at EEPB Your busy medical practice is an easy target for embezzlers. According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, approximately $25 billion annually is lost in medical practice offices from employee theft and fraud. Unfortunately, it is difficult to detect these in-house crimes, as they typically occur across several areas of the practice over several years—potentially adding up to huge amounts. Such behaviors can be categorized...
Ginkgo biloba: Neurological cure-all or snake oil?
February 24, 20249 min
BY Samuel Mathis, MD, Assistant Professor, UTMB In the field of Integrative Medicine, one must always be wary of supplements that claim to have effects that seem impossible to believe. One supplement that has undergone extensive scrutiny recently is Ginkgo biloba. Ginkgo biloba is one of the oldest and most widely used supplements in the world. It has been extensively studied in neurological conditions and is regularly recommended for conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease,...
A barrier finally torn down: Extended postpartum Medicaid coverage
February 24, 20246 min
BY John Hawkins, CEO, THA Good news from Washington, D.C., is always cause for celebration. Especially when it’s news that’s likely to save lives right here in Texas. Last month, our hospitals finally realized a major legislative goal when the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) approved Texas’ state plan amendment to extend postpartum Medicaid coverage for mothers to one year. That means as of March 1, Texas mothers will have 12...
Houston Methodist Sugar Land welcomes Michael Garcia as new CEO
February 24, 20244 min
Houston Methodist’s Michael Garcia, a senior vice president, is the new chief executive officer of Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital. Garcia, JD, RN, NE-BC, has more than a decade of experience within Houston Methodist, having started his career as vice president of operations at Houston Methodist Hospital in 2013. He was promoted to chief operating officer in 2015 and served in that role throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. “I am honored to join Houston Methodist Sugar...
Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital welcomes gastroenterologist Nisreen S. Husain, M.D.
February 24, 20242 min
Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital is pleased to welcome gastroenterologist Nisreen S. Husain, M.D.. Husain is joining Houston Methodist Gastroenterology Associates, located in Medical Office Building 4, Suite 110 on the Houston Methodist Sugar Land campus. Husain earned her medical degree at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, Texas. She completed her internal medicine residency at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois. Husain also completed her gastroenterology/hepatology fellowship at Baylor...
Immunotherapy before surgery leads to promising long-term survival in sarcoma patients
February 24, 20244 min
Patients with soft-tissue sarcoma treated with neoadjuvant, or pre-surgical, immunotherapy had very little residual tumor at the time of surgery and promising long-term survival, according to Phase II trial results by researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. After treatment with a combination of immunotherapy and radiation followed by surgical removal of the residual mass, 90% of patients with undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma (UPS) had less than 15% viable tumor cells remaining, better than what has historically been seen...
Houstonians who need opioid overdose help may still struggle to access medication, Baker Institute report shows
February 24, 20244 min
Though opioid overdose remedies are approved for over-the-counter usage, many Houston pharmacies have not made the life-saving medication available. Narcan, a naloxone nasal spray that reverses an opioid overdose, and its generic equivalent were both approved for over-the-counter (OTC) sale last year by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Making naloxone available this way is meant to increase accessibility and even encourage potential bystanders to carry this life-saving medication. In the Houston area,...
Triple combination yields promising survival rates in AML patients with FLT3mutations
February 24, 20241 min
Patients with newly diagnosed FLT3-mutated acute myeloid leukemia (AML) who are ineligible for intensive chemotherapy often experience resistance to the current standard-of-care treatment, azacitidine plus venetoclax. In a Phase II trial led by Nicholas Short, M.D., the addition of gilteritinib, an oral FLT3 inhibitor, to the standard regimen resulted in high complete remission rates, deep FLT3 molecular responses and encouraging survival in trial participants. The trial enrolled 30 patients with newly diagnosed FLT3-mutated AML, who received 80 milligrams...