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What We're Reading: Mammogram Guidelines Update; Weaning Patients off Opioids; New York Measles Outbreak
The American College of Physicians has updated their breast cancer screening guidelines to recommend that women of average risk of breast cancer get a mammogram at age 50 and every other year; the FDA advised clinicians against aburptly halting opioid prescribing for patients with chronic pain; New York’s mayor declared a public health emergency over the state’s measles outbreak.
American College of Physicians Updates Mammogram Guidelines
According to updated breast cancer screening guidelines from the American College of Physicians, women of average risk of disease should start getting mammograms at age 50 and then be screened every other year thereafter. The guidelines, published in Annals of Internal Medicine, also state that for women aged 40 to 49 years, clinicians should determine if the harms outweigh the benefits of screening before age 50. The new guidelines are in concordance with those from the United States Preventive Services Task Force, which recommends biennial screening for women aged 50 to 74 years.
FDA Warns Against Abruptly Stopping Opioid Treatment
The FDA Tuesday advised doctors not to abruptly halt prescribing opioids for patients who are taking them for chronic pain. According to The Washington Post, the FDA will add guidance to labels on how to reduce opioid use and warn doctors that abruptly discontinuing opioids in patients who are dependent on them can cause withdrawal, which in the worst cases has been linked to suicide. The agency underscored the importance of doctors and patients agreeing on a customized plan to gradually reduce their dosage based on factors such as treatment history and type of pain.
New York Declares Public Health Emergency Over Measles Outbreak
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has declared a public health emergency as the state continues its months-long battle with a measles outbreak in ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities in Brooklyn. The state will require unvaccinated people in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to get the measles vaccine. Failing to do so would result in possible fines of $1000, reported The New York Times. The state has tried multiple measures to reach the populations, including education and outreach, working with rabbis and distributing fliers, and banning unvaccinated children from attending school.
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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