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☆ Office Brainstorms Are a Waste of Time
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Callum Borchers | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

Office wardrobe malfunctions? The value of gathering to swap loosely formed thoughts is highly suspect, despite being a major reason many companies want workers back in offices. “You do not get your best ideas out of these freewheeling brainstorming sessions,” says Sheena Iyengar, a professor at Columbia Business School. Mostly, though, grumblers have accepted such meetings as an inescapable office reality, like elevator Muzak and bad coffee. An Amazon spokesman adds that the company’s brainstorming sessions are sometimes unstructured but often begin with colleagues sharing well-researched memos, reducing time spent on ill-conceived ideas.

☆ How much you exercise may impact flu and pneumonia risk, study shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Madeline Holcombe | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —It’s time to add to your list of reasons to work out: Getting active could help prevent risk of death from the flu and pneumonia, according to new research. Meeting both recommendations for aerobic and muscle-strengthening activity cut the risk associated with flu or pneumonia death nearly in half, but meeting just the aerobic activity target was associated with a 36% lower risk, according to the study. This study might encourage them that physical activity may be another powerful tool for protecting themselves against influenza and pneumonia death,” he said. Even a little bit of exercise showed benefit in protecting against flu and pneumonia death, the study found. Getting 10 to 149 minutes a week of aerobic physical activity was associated with a 21% decreased risk of flu and pneumonia death, the study showed.

The Biden Administration’s signature drug pricing reform, part of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), aims to save $25 billion through price negotiations by 2031 for Americans who pay more for medicines than any other country. The first ever Medicare drug price reduction process begins in September, when the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services(CMS) identifies its 10 most costly drugs. Reuters has seen responses to CMS from five of the world's top drugmakers raising legal concerns with the law and the agency's proposed roadmap. Former CMS head Andy Slavitt, who now works at a venture capital company focused on healthcare, said the Medicare agency would have consulted lawyers. One said the Medicare roadmap, which did not go through a formal process with proposed and final rules, could be challenged in court for being unlawful as well.

☆ F.D.A. Advisers Weigh Allowing First U.S. Over-the-Counter Birth Control Pill
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Pam Belluck | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

It was like a tale of two birth control pills. At a hearing Tuesday to consider whether the Food and Drug Administration should authorize the country’s first over-the-counter birth control pill, a panel of independent medical experts advising the agency was left to reckon with two contradictory analyses of the medication called Opill. During the eight-hour session, the manufacturer of the pill, HRA Pharma, which is owned by Perrigo, and representatives of many medical organizations and reproductive health specialists said that data strongly supported approval. scientists questioned the reliability of company data that was intended to show that consumers would take the pill at roughly the same time every day and comply with directions to abstain from sex or temporarily use other birth control if they missed a dose. “I’m just really quite confused by the level of discrepancy,” one member of the advisory panel, Pamela Shaw, a senior investigator with Kaiser Permanente Washington, said after both sides had made presentations.

☆ Weird and wonderful trains that break the rules
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Ben Jones | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +14 min

Here’s a selection of unusual railways that break the rules in order to reach the places other trains can’t roll. The single rails carrying the trains are supported by a series of 486 steel portals weighing almost 20,000 tonnes in total. It is the oldest continuously operating pier railway in the world. Six miles of the route are along a rural railway line, with the rest in bus mode. Katoomba Scenic Railway, AustraliaNot far from the wonderful city of Sydney is a railway experience unlike anything else in the world.

"The end of the COVID-19 public health emergency marks a tremendous transition for our country, for public health, and in my tenure as CDC Director," Walensky wrote to President Joe Biden in her resignation letter. "We have all benefited from her service and dedication to public health, and I wish her the best in her next chapter," Biden said in a statement. "For 75 years, CDC and public health have been preparing for COVID-19, and in our big moment, our performance did not reliably meet expectations," she told CDC staff last summer. Public health experts said Walensky wrestled with political and technical challenges during her tenure. "Dr. Walensky was put into place at the CDC at a time when the agency was basically captive to politicians which clearly hampered her ability to lead," he said.

☆ The healthcare system is racing to unleash breakthrough AI models despite profound unanswered questions
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Blake Dodge | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

The behemoth health-records company Epic, which touches all corners of the healthcare ecosystem, is embracing generative AI as a necessary priority. For eight months, he and a team at Microsoft have been working with OpenAI to explore how generative AI could work in healthcare. Scientific, ethical, and legal mysteries behind ChatGPTLee's panel drew top leaders from tech and healthcare, and their questions on generative AI were sweeping. OConnor edited the note to fix a mistake and clicked a button to transfer it directly into the patient's health record. Generative AI is far from a slam dunk, HIMSS's Bogdan said, citing adoption and privacy concerns.

☆ Health System Kaiser Permanente to Combine With Hospital Operator Geisinger
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Anna Wilde Mathews | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Kaiser Permanente has long been a bellwether for uniting different healthcare functions. Photo: Mike Blake/REUTERSKaiser Permanente, a pioneering integrated health system based on the West Coast, has agreed to acquire a Pennsylvania-based hospital operator in a bid to create a new national player in the rapidly consolidating healthcare market. The combination of Kaiser and Geisinger, which must be reviewed by federal and state agencies, would have more than $100 billion in revenue.

☆ Kaiser Permanente to Acquire Geisinger
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Reed Abelson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

The company expects to add five or six health systems to Risant in that time. The formation of the company is also a response to the rapid changes taking place in the health care industry. Large for-profit companies like health insurers, pharmacy chains and other corporations are scooping up physician practices and urgent care centers and devouring more of the country’s health care dollars. As national systems and new players grow larger, “they are pulling away in some respects from our communities and from our community health systems,” he said. “Covid has really shown not having integrated, value-based relationships puts our health systems and our communities at risk,” Mr. Adams said.

☆ Dr. Fauci Looks Back: ‘Something Clearly Went Wrong’
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( David Wallace-Wells | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +55 min

Dr. Fauci Looks Back: ‘Something Clearly Went Wrong’ In his most extensive interview yet, Anthony Fauci wrestles with the hard lessons of the pandemic — and the decisions that will define his legacy. But when people say, “Fauci shut down the economy” — it wasn’t Fauci. But somehow or other, the general public didn’t get that feeling that the vulnerable are really, really heavily weighted toward the elderly. We also had a public-health system that we thought was really, really good. But it was really, really antiquated.

☆ Amazon is the No. 1 company to work for in the U.S. for the third year in a row, according to LinkedIn
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Morgan Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

1 company to work for in the U.S., according to new research from LinkedIn: For the third year in a row, Amazon has claimed the top spot on the networking platform's annual Top Companies list, followed by Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase. Meta, which ranked twelfth on LinkedIn's list last year, was not eligible for this year's list after announcing it was eliminating approximately 13% of its workforce in November 2022. Just last month, Amazon told its staff the company would lay off 9,000 more employees in the coming weeks. 1 on LinkedIn's list for the third consecutive year. Amazon maintained its top spot after making a "significant investment" to support employees' upskilling and raise salaries, says Roth.

☆ How to avoid getting dropped from Medicaid as states narrow coverage
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Annie Nova | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

As a pandemic-era policy winds down, millions of people on Medicaid may lose their coverage — even though they remain eligible, advocates say. For the last three years, due to the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, states have been required to provide continuous Medicaid coverage to enrollees in order to get federal funding. That meant people on Medicaid couldn't be dropped from the program during that time. "From March 2020 to March 2023, people could only enter Medicaid, and no one was at risk of losing coverage," said Kosali Simon, professor of health economics at the O'Neill School at Indiana University. Here's how to avoid losing your Medicaid coverage if you believe you remain eligible.

☆ Torch Capital's founder has some advice for startup founders: Down rounds aren't such a bad thing right now. Here's why.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( April Joyner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Jonathan Keidan founded VC firm Torch Capital, which backed Ro and recently raised $200 million. Good founders will opt for down rounds over deal terms that could come back to bite, he says. As venture capital funding plummets and investors tighten their purse strings, Jonathan Keidan has a word of advice to startup founders: It's OK to take a down round. Most of the founders Torch has backed, Keidan said, are still steering clear of the relatively sluggish market. "You can roll up your sleeves and really help them, which has been critical in this environment," Keidan told Insider.

☆ A huge win in Wisconsin shows Dems how fiercely defending abortion rights can kneecap the GOP in 2024
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-16 | by ( Nicole Gaudiano | Brent D. Griffiths | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Expect Democrats to make abortion rights a dominant theme in 2024. The Democratic party chair there says it's "vital" that party members convey their position. Expect Democrats to make sure of that, especially after a recent Wisconsin election further demonstrated the power of abortion rights at the ballot box. Abortion rights advocates protest outside the White House in July 2022. Dems shift to talking openly about abortionThe Democratic Party has rapidly changed its views on abortion.

☆ Abortion Pills, the Latest Battleground, Have Been Little Known to Americans
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Ruth Igielnik | Andrew Fischer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Abortion pills have dominated headlines in the past week, but until recently, relatively few Americans were familiar with the concept of medication abortions, even as the use of pills like mifepristone has surpassed surgical procedures as the most common method to terminate pregnancies and as national support for abortion rights has grown in recent years. Two conflicting rulings on mifepristone, the first pill in a two-drug regimen used to terminate pregnancy, have put the long-term availability of the medication in limbo. The Justice Department has asked the Supreme Court to step in and ensure the drug’s accessibility while it pursues an appeal. About one in three Americans said they had heard of mifepristone or a medication abortion in a January survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan research group that focuses on health issues. But that share is most likely growing, Ashley Kirzinger, the organization’s director of survey methodology, said.

☆ Health plans could soon reduce coverage for preventive care. Here's what to know
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Annie Nova | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Around 100 million people with private insurance got preventive care required under the ACA in 2018, one estimate found, making it the provision with the widest reach. Insurers generally must not impose copays or deductibles on the recommended preventive care. "Many preventive care services are not covered by this decision," Simon said. Health plans will still be required to ensure no copays for many preventive services, including birth control and mammograms, Simon said. Some states have their own mandates, meanwhile, around free preventive care.

☆ Biden seeks expanded health insurance access for DACA participants
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Leah MillisWASHINGTON, April 13 (Reuters) - The Biden administration is seeking to allow immigrants illegally brought to the United States as children greater access to health insurance through federal programs, the White House said on Thursday. The proposal would allow participants in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, to access to health insurance under Medicaid and Affordable Care Act (ACA) exchanges, it said. I've worked hard to get more Americans health insurance than ever before," President Joe Biden said on Twitter, adding the move would give "Dreamers the same opportunities." About 580,000 people were enrolled as of last year in the Obama-era 2012 DACA program, which grants protection from deportation and work permits. Eight U.S. states have already expanded state insurance access to health coverage regardless of immigration status, according to data from the healthcare policy organization Kaiser Family Foundation.

☆ Inside the Online Market for Overseas Abortion Pills
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Allison Mccann | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +17 min

A selection of abortion pill kits available online from overseas sellers. A chart of the estimated number of abortion pills provided outside the U.S. health care system from July through December 2022. For most patients, the cost of the service remains the most important factor in deciding where to get pills online. A chart showing the minimum, average and maximum cost of abortion pills from overseas providers: Aid Access, Las Libres and for-profit online sellers. A chart showing the minimum, average and maximum delivery speeds of abortion pills from overseas providers: Aid Access, Las Libres and for-profit online sellers.

WASHINGTON, April 10 (Reuters) - A federal judge's decision last week to suspend the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) approval of abortion pill mifepristone could severely weaken the agency if allowed to stand, health policy and legal experts said. The FDA approved mifepristone, part of a two-drug regimen that accounts for more than half of U.S. abortions, over 20 years ago. Banning its sale calls into question the FDA's power to regulate all drugs nationwide, the experts said. The challenge was brought by a coalition of anti-abortion groups and doctors seeking withdrawal of the FDA's mifepristone approval before Kacsmaryk, who is himself a conservative former Christian activist. Plaintiffs are arguing that the FDA in its 2000 approval did not adequately consider the drug's safety when used by girls under age 18 to terminate a pregnancy.

☆ Healthcare, college education, and childcare started getting worse decades ago. Now we're all finally feeling it.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-08 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +16 min

Americans are accruing billions in debt to pay for things like education and healthcare. But that would require shifting the idea of childcare, education, and healthcare and thinking of them as public goods — not businesses. That ultimately meant millions in funding for public childcare. "If the US health system was a country, it would be about the fourth-largest country in the world," Cooper said. There's much less government involvement in the US healthcare system than in other countries, Cooper said.

LONDON, April 6 (Reuters) - Banking sector turmoil has not dented demand for equities, with MSCI's world stock index up 7% so far this year. But under the surface, bad omens for world stocks are building. Central bank surveys show U.S. and European banks are already tightening lending standards, historically a predictor of dismal stock market performance. Credit tightening predicts poor stock market returns2/ MANUFACTURING SLOWDOWNRecessions starting in the United States tend to flow to the rest of the world and consequently global stocks. Seven mega-cap tech stocks were responsible for 92% of the S&P 500's first-quarter rise, Citi notes.

Any impact on the FDA will depend on details of the judge's ruling in the case known as Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The challenge was brought by a coalition of anti-abortion groups and doctors seeking withdrawal of the FDA's mifepristone approval before U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of the Northern District of Texas, a conservative former Christian activist. The court could order mifepristone pulled from the market while it considers a final ruling. It would call into question the entire drug approval process, said Laurie Sobel, associate director for Women's Health Policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation. 'SO MUCH UNCERTAINTY'The possibility of its approvals being overruled would likely see the FDA become more cautious, Lee said.

When it comes to filing taxes, people "can get caught in a thought loop and often overthink in these situations," Dr. Moss says. Others are stressed about the strict deadline for filing taxes. Tax stress can spill out into the rest of your lifeKol explains that this stress often makes late filers "want to stay far away from taxes." The stress of filing late can spill over into other parts of life. "At the end of the day, filing taxes is emotional for some people, and that's something that I have an understanding of from working with my clients," she says.

☆ Millions will start losing Medicaid coverage as Covid safety net is dismantled
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Congress basically barred states from terminating Medicaid coverage during the pandemic through the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. Congress slipped a provision in federal spending legislation in December that allows states to start disenrolling people on April 1. Although some states will start terminating coverage in April, others are waiting until May, June, July and October before they do so. A list of when all 50 states will start ending coverage is below. Click here for a list of when states will have their first round Medicaid coverage terminations.

☆ Google's AI teams are experiencing a brain drain. Here's where its top researchers are now.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Thomas Maxwell | Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Top AI researchers have been leaving for startups where their work can have more impact. That frustration over Google's slow movement has been corroborated by other former Google researchers who spoke to Insider. Niki Parmar left Google Brain after five years to serve as a co-founder and CTO of Adept, though like Vaswani she recently left for a stealth startup. Lukasz Kaiser left Google Brain after over seven years to join OpenAI in 2021. Sharan Narang, another contributor to the T5 paper, left Google Brain in 2022 after four years.

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