When her doctor died suddenly in August, Tammy MacDonald found herself among the roughly 17% of adults in America without a primary care physician. MacDonald wanted to find a new doctor right away. She needed refills for her blood pressure medications and wanted to book a follow-up appointment after a breast cancer scare. She called … Read more
Patients were 28 percent more likely to get a flu shot when they got a text message reminder and their primary care provider already had an order for the shot waiting, new research from the Perelman School of Medicine showed. The study was published in JAMA Internal Medicine. This is important given the rise … Read more
Background: Hepatitis C virus treatment is increasingly being offered in primary care because medications now require less frequent monitoring and have fewer adverse effects. However, many primary care clinicians still defer treatment to specialists due to administrative burdens, including laboratory workup, insurance prior authorizations, and pharmacy coordination, which can delay care. The innovation: At an … Read more
Severe vitamin D deficiency is associated with a higher rate of hospitalization for respiratory tract infections such as bronchitis and pneumonia, according to a new study led by the University of Surrey. Scientists found that those with a severe deficiency (below 15 nnmol/L) were 33 per cent more likely to be admitted to hospital for … Read more
Everyone agrees primary care physicians (PCPs) need to work together with cardiologists when caring for patients with heart disease, diabetes, and sometimes both conditions. Medscape Medical News asked for examples of PCP-to-cardiologist referrals that were successful — or not. Here are three success stories and one that could have turned out better. Diabetes, Hypertension, New-Onset Raynaud’s…at … Read more
Micah T. Prochaska, MD, MSc | Image Credit: University of Chicago School of Medicine A recent secondary analysis of data from the Myocardial Ischemia and Transfusion (MINT) trial has found no difference in quality of life (QOL) outcomes between liberal versus restrictive transfusion strategies in patients with myocardial infarction (MI) and anemia.1 Thanks to advances … Read more
America’s primary care doctors are burning out, cutting back their hours, and leaving their practices early, driven in part by the demands of handling the flood of digital messages from their patients. But a trio of new University of Michigan studies offer hope for easing this crisis, and improving both the care that patients get … Read more
New findings from a real-world study has demonstrated long-term safety of secukinumab in people with psoriasis (PsO), psoriatic arthritis (PsA), and ankylosing spondylitis (AS).1 “Patients with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases such as PsO, PsA and AS, require prolonged treatment and are more susceptible to developing AEs as observed in clinical studies and case reports. Therefore, there … Read more
Hypertension Canada has released a guideline that aims to enhance the standard of hypertension management in primary care settings with evidence-based, pragmatic, and easy-to-implement recommendations. The guidance is based on the World Health Organization’s HEARTS framework to improve hypertension control and reduce cardiovascular burden. The previous guideline was published in 2020. “For the 2025 guideline, … Read more
Nicholas Todhunter, DO Credit: AHN The neuroscience program at AHN Saint Vincent Hospital plays a vital role in providing advanced neurological care to patients in the Erie region — reducing the need to travel to a major city for many conditions. Without this local access, many would face delays in receiving life-saving or quality-of-life-enhancing treatment. … Read more