Medical Journal June 2024 Digital Edition
June 21, 20241 min
Post Views: 1,727
In a new paper recently published in Nature, the Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH), a consortium led by Baylor College of Medicine’s Center for Space Medicine with partners California Institute of Technology and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and its collaborators present spaceflight health data captured from the first all-civilian orbital spaceflight mission in history. Results from a small sample size suggest short-duration spaceflights pose no significant health risks to private astronauts. The research also lays the...
CMS National Correct Coding Initiative
June 21, 202410 min
BY Michael R. Alexander, Esq. and Jordan Vogel, Esq., Brown & Fortunato, P.C. Inaccurate coding and reporting of services can have devastating impacts on a medical business. You cannot bill insurance or insurance beneficiaries for services that are incorrectly coded, and advanced notices will not allow you to shift liability to a beneficiary under Medicare in that circumstance, either. To ensure payment for your services, you need to avoid common improper claims and understand the...
Four Focus Areas for Strategic Planning
June 21, 20245 min
BY Catherine Lightfoot, EEPB, CPA Firm, Houston, Texas As we settle into the Texas summer, many are making plans to retreat to a cooler climate—even if for a short reprieve from the heat. Mid-year is also a great time to schedule a Strategic Review of your medical practice. Taking a hard look at four key areas can bring significant revenue increases and/or cost reductions to your business. Compare revenue, overhead, reimbursement, and productivity to others...
Regular phone use may have significant consequences on our health
June 21, 20248 min
BY Samuel Mathis, MD Recently, I read an article in Lancet Rheumatology that documented the growing prevalence of neck pain worldwide. Over the past 30 years, from 1990-2020, neck pain has increased slightly, around 0.2%. However, the trend that has occurred recently projects that the prevalence of chronic neck pain will increase by 32.5% over the next 30 years (1). This could cause significant issues in the future with this increased burden of disease....
By John Hawkins Coverage is a constant focus of ours here at the Texas Hospital Association, and for good reason: Insurance coverage is paramount to patient care and keeping Texans healthy, and our state has the highest uninsured population in the country. In our minds, it’s never a bad time to talk about it. But thanks to the recent, and largely unfortunate, conclusion to a process that we knew would hurt – the state’s disenrollment...
Houston Methodist is using an FDA-cleared wearable to monitor tens of thousands of patients, which has led to improved patient outcomes and safety, Sarah Pletcher, MD, the system’s executive medical director of strategic innovation, told Becker’s. The BioIntelliSense BioButton is being used across 2,653 non-ICU beds at Houston Methodist’s eight hospitals. Given to patients upon admission, it is monitored by the hospital’s centralized command center. This device employs AI-driven analytics to detect changes in vital sign...
Medical Center performs first single port robotic surgery
June 21, 20242 min
HCA Houston Healthcare Medical Center is excited to announce the addition of a next-generation robotic system to its fleet of surgical robotic equipment. This is the facility’s fourth robotic system and allows the hospital to meet the growing demand for minimally invasive surgical options. With potential to revolutionize the surgical landscape, this single-port robotic system allows surgeons to complete delicate, complex procedures through only a single, one-inch incision. The robotic system is one of only...
A promising approach to develop a birth control pill for men
June 21, 20249 min
The world’s population has increased by more than 2.6-fold in the last 60 years. The growing trend continues – projections indicate that the number of people living on our planet will grow to 9 billion by 2037 from 8 billion in 2022. These numbers underscore the need for considering family planning; however, there have been limited breakthroughs in contraception in recent decades. Specifically for men, there are no oral contraceptive pills available. In a study...
MD Anderson and Sibylla Biotech announce strategic collaboration to discover and develop small-molecule protein degraders
June 21, 20244 min
Sibylla’s PPI-FIT technology joins with MD Anderson’s drug development resources and expertise to create protein-folding interfering degraders as cancer therapies The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and Sibylla Biotech recently announced a strategic collaboration agreement to discover and develop novel small-molecule cancer therapies known as folding interfering degraders (FIDs), which disrupt the proper folding of target proteins and lead to their degradation. Under the agreement, Sibylla and MD Anderson will jointly conduct discovery and development work from...