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What We’re Reading: HHS Announces New Office; Memorial Day COVID-19 Infections Up; Monkeypox Pandemic Unlikely
HHS announces Office of Environmental Justice; CDC says Memorial Day weekend COVID-19 cases were up nearly 6 times over last year; World Health Organization says the monkeypox outbreak is unlikely to lead to a pandemic.
HHS Announces Office of Environmental Justice
On Tuesday, HHS announced its new Office of Environmental Justice (OEJ), which will address climate-related health issues, especially those affecting underserved and marginalized communities, The Hill reported. The OEJ will be overseen by the Office of Climate Change and Health Equity and led by interim director Sharunda Buchanan, PhD, MS, a former CDC official specializing in environmental issues. This office will develop HHS’ broader environmental health strategies and coordinate its annual environmental justice reports, implement methods to reduce the impact the health sector has on carbon emissions, and focus on strengthening resilience to address health effects of climate change.
Memorial Day COVID-19 Infections Higher vs Last Year
According to the CDC, COVID-19 cases reported over Memorial Day weekend were nearly 6 times higher than last year, ABC News reported. The CDC also said this marks the eighth consecutive week of increasing US COVID-19 cases, with nearly 110,000 new cases reported every day. This also marks week 7 of increasing pediatric cases, with 112,000 new cases reported last week, reflecting a doubling of cases vs 4 weeks prior. At this time in 2021, around 10,000 pediatric cases were reported each week.
WHO Says Monkeypox Not Likely to Become Pandemic
The World Health Organization (WHO) announced that monkeypox is unlikely to lead to a pandemic, following news of more than 300 confirmed and suspected cases in May, Reuters reported. WHO officials said it is still unclear whether people with monkeypox who are asymptomatic can transmit the disease, which typically spreads through close contact and can cause flu-like symptoms and skin lesions. However, the WHO is debating whether to assess this outbreak as a "potential public health emergency of international concern" to accelerate research and funding—and, therefore, containment—of the disease, as was done with COVID-19 and Ebola.
Urticaria Diagnosis Challenged by Overlapping Pruritic Skin Conditions
April 23rd 2025Urticaria is complicated to diagnose by its symptomatic overlap with other skin conditions and the frequent misclassification in literature of distinct pathologies like vasculitic urticaria and bullous pemphigus.
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New Research Challenges Assumptions About Hospital-Physician Integration, Medicare Patient Mix
April 22nd 2025On this episode of Managed Care Cast, Brady Post, PhD, lead author of a study published in the April 2025 issue of The American Journal of Managed Care®, challenges the claim that hospital-employed physicians serve a more complex patient mix.
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Personalized Care Key as Tirzepatide Use Expands Rapidly
April 15th 2025Using commercial insurance claims data and the US launch of tirzepatide as their dividing point, John Ostrominski, MD, Harvard Medical School, and his team studied trends in the use of both glucose-lowering and weight-lowering medications, comparing outcomes between adults with and without type 2 diabetes.
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ACOs’ Focus on Rooting Out Fraud Aligns With CMS Vision Under Oz
April 23rd 2025Accountable care organizations (ACOs) are increasingly playing the role of data sleuths as they identify and report trends of anomalous billing in hopes of salvaging their shared savings. This mission dovetails with that of CMS, which under the new administration plans to prioritize rooting out fraud, waste, and abuse.
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