Medical Journal August 2024 Digital Edition
August 22, 20241 min
Post Views: 1,661
Who benefits from PBMs? Federal regulators scrutinize drug middlemen
August 21, 202410 min
BY Blinn E. Combs, Esq. and Michael R. Alexander, Esq., Brown & Fortunato, P.C. On July 9, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) released an Interim Staff Report (“Report”) stating that Pharmacy Benefit Managers drive up drug costs. The Report, which details a two-year investigation into the market power of PBMs, has already prompted congressional action. The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, which released its own contemporaneous PBM report, held a hearing on July...
New directions in healthcare: Insights into homeless and mental health patients
August 21, 20245 min
BY Catherine Lightfoot, CPA, CHBC, Director of Healthcare at EEPB I recently attended Houston’s 2024 Healthcare Leadership Quorum (HCLQ), a platform for industry-leading experts and professionals to deliberate on the most relevant and pressing issues in healthcare. This year’s discussions centered around promoting awareness and motivating change in the areas of human capital & people strategy, artificial intelligence, and mental health. Enlightening sessions provided deep insights into not only the challenges but also the innovative...
Binaural Beats and their impact on our health
August 21, 20248 min
BY Samuel Mathis, MD, MBA, Assistant Professor, UTMB Every other week, I have a patient who comes to see me for acupuncture. During his visit, he always listens to a particular style of music known as binaural beats because it helps with his pain. In fact, the research shows binaural beats may be useful for many health conditions, and we are still learning about all the possibilities of their use. Binaural beats refer...
Texas needs more behavioral health care strides in 2025
August 21, 20249 min
BY John Hawkins Some of the issues occupying the top of our priority list here at the Texas Hospital Association aren’t always in the foreground of our state and national consciousness. We know as well as anybody that health care policy can be arcane, and some of the impacts of the status quo go under the radar outside of our world. Behavioral health, though, is different. Its impacts confront us all, whether it’s ourselves,...
New medical oncologist joins Houston Methodist Neal Cancer Center at Clear Lake
August 21, 20242 min
Continuing to provide comprehensive health care to the local community, Houston Methodist Clear Lake Hospital this month welcomed medical oncologist Amir Salam, M.D. He joins the team of leading oncologists and specialists at Houston Methodist Neal Cancer Center at Clear Lake. The addition of Salam gives cancer patients in Clear Lake and surrounding communities greater access to leading cancer care tailored to their individual needs without traveling far from home. Salam is a board-certified and fellowship-trained medical oncologist,...
New small-molecule drug may help people stay strong as they age
August 21, 20242 min
New research out of the University of Texas Medical Branch holds promise for helping people maintain strength and mobility as they age. The research describes how a small-molecule drug being developed at UTMB is superior to intensive resistance/aerobic exercise at improving muscle strength and function in aged mice. “Amazingly, the strength improvements with our drug were twice those observed with exercise alone,” said Dr. Stanley Watowich, associate professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology...
Adding metastasis-directed radiation therapy boosts progression-free survival in metastatic pancreatic cancer
August 21, 20245 min
Researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center demonstrated that adding metastasis-directed radiation therapy to standard-of-care chemotherapy improved progression-free survival (PFS) in patients with oligometastatic pancreatic cancer. Findings from the multicenter EXTEND trial were first presented at the 2024 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium. At a median follow-up of 17.3 months, PFS was 10.3 months in patients who received metastasis-directed therapy (MDT) plus chemotherapy compared to only 2.5 months in those who received standard...
UH researchers unveil groundbreaking technique in x-ray imaging
August 21, 20245 min
Researchers at the University of Houston unveiled a groundbreaking advancement in X-ray imaging technology that could provide significant improvements in medical diagnostics, materials and industrial imaging, transportation security and other applications. Mini Das, Moores professor at UH’s College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics and Cullen College of Engineering, and Jingcheng Yuan, a physics graduate student at UH, introduce a novel light transport model for a single-mask phase imaging system that enhances non-destructive deep imaging...
UTMB study shows success with new vaccines to prevent Andes virus
August 21, 20243 min
A recent study at the University of Texas Medical Branch has shown that an mRNA vaccine developed by UTMB scientists protects against Andes virus in an animal model. Andes virus is a prominent rodent-borne virus in South America and has human fatality rates up to 30 percent. “In 2019-2020, Andes virus caused an outbreak in Argentina with 34 confirmed human infections, 11 of which were fatal,” said Dr. Alex Bukreyev, principal investigator on the...