Medical Journal January 2025 Digital Edition
January 22, 20251 min
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Telehealth flexibilities after the end of the federal public health emergency
January 22, 20257 min
BY Bradley S. Byars, Esq. and Michael R. Alexander, Esq., Brown & Fortunato, P.C. Consider, for a moment, how dramatically our healthcare landscape has transformed in the last five years. What began as an emergency response to a global pandemic has evolved into something far more permanent: a fundamental reimagining of how we deliver medical care. Most recently, on December 21, 2024, Congress took another step in this evolution, passing legislation that extends Medicare...
The burden of chronic disease
January 22, 20259 min
BY Samuel Mathis MD, MBA “There is no right way to live with your chronic illness. There is only YOUR way.” – Unknown There is a distinct burden for patients living with chronic disease. This burden is felt physically, emotionally, financially, and even socially. Patients with conditions like hypertension, diabetes, thyroid disorders, coronary artery disease, arthritis, fibromyalgia, stroke, and cancer (to name a few) all have significant stress associated with the condition. Chronic diseases are...
Bollard mandates for hospitals would be a barrier to care
January 22, 20258 min
By John Hawkins, President & CEO, THA It’s not uncommon for the Texas Legislature to lay an unusual issue at our feet, something that’s never been a point of contention in our work at the Capitol. In the first days of the Legislature’s 89th session, which kicked off on Jan. 14, we find ourselves addressing something we don’t normally touch on with lawmakers: bollards. While “bollards” isn’t a widely recognized word, they are...
HCA Healthcare Gulf Coast Division announces appointment of Gary Searls
January 22, 20252 min
HCA Healthcare Gulf Coast Division has announced the appointment of Gary Searls as division chief financial officer of HCA Healthcare Gulf Coast Division. Searls has been in hospital accounting and finance with HCA Healthcare’s West Florida Division since 1994. Since 2000, he served as chief financial officer at South Bay Hospital, Doctors Hospital of Sarasota and Northside Hospital in St. Petersburg. In March 2017, Searls was named to his current role as chief...
HCA Houston Healthcare Medical Center unveils cutting-edge robotic surgical technology
January 22, 20254 min
HCA Houston Healthcare Medical Center is thrilled to announce the acquisition of the latest in robotic-assisted, non-invasive surgery with the next-generation surgical system now in operation. This marks the facility’s fifth robotic system, enhancing its fleet of surgical robotic equipment and allowing the hospital to meet the growing demand for minimally invasive surgical options. The hospital successfully completed the first case using this groundbreaking robotic system, when Terry Scarborough, M.D., Medical Director of Bariatric Surgery at...
MD Anderson and Myriad Genetics form strategic alliance to evaluate clinical utility of Myriad’s molecular residual disease assay
January 22, 20253 min
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and Myriad Genetics, Inc. announced a five-year strategic alliance to accelerate the clinical evaluation and development of Myriad’s molecular residual disease (MRD) assay. This strategic alliance brings together the longstanding oncology diagnostic experience of Myriad Genetics and the clinical and translational research expertise of MD Anderson to create a portfolio of studies to evaluate the clinical validity and utility of Myriad’s PreciseMRD. “We look forward to...
Neutrophils help cancer cells colonize abdominal fat
January 22, 20251 min
The omentum – a fatty tissue that suspends from the stomach – is a common site of metastasis for abdominal cancers, especially ovarian cancers. The omentum contains abundant clusters of immune cells, but it is unclear why they do not effectively defend against cancer cells. In a new study, researchers led by WonJae Lee, Ph.D., and Honami Naora, Ph.D., showed that neutrophils release webs of DNA called neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) that specifically attract innate-like B...
New biomarker predicts improved outcomes with dose-dense chemotherapy in ER-positive breast cancer
January 22, 20252 min
A new biomarker study provides novel insights into how dose-dense chemotherapy can improve survival for some patients with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer. In the study, researchers analyzed 12-year follow-up data from the Phase III CALGB 9741 trial, which included 1,973 patients with node-positive, early-stage breast cancer. The results showed that dose-dense chemotherapy, given every two weeks instead of the standard three-week schedule, improved disease-free survival by 20% and overall survival by 15%. Using a biomarker test developed at...
Researchers identify potential markers of exceptional immunotherapy responses in renal cell carcinoma
January 22, 20251 min
Many patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma are treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors as part of their systemic regimens, but only a small subset of patients achieve durable long-term or curative responses. To identify molecular biomarkers for these exceptional responders and better predict which patients benefit most, researchers led by Sachet Shukla, Ph.D., utilized whole-exome and RNA sequencing to analyze pre-treatment tumor samples and matched germline samples from treated patients in two clinical trials. The researchers identified...