Author: admin

For more than two decades, medical schools have worked hard to diversify, expanding pipeline programs, scholarships, and recruitment strategies to increase representation among students from historically excluded groups. These efforts have produced measurable gains in medical school enrollment, with the proportion of Black and Latino students increasing over the past decade.

And yet, diversity in the physician workforce has remained relatively unchanged. Black and Latino physicians continue to comprise a disproportionately small share of practicing physicians. 

Read the rest…

STAT is co-publishing this with Undark. This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center.

In 1975, in a medical school classroom in what was then the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Predrag Sikiric had an idea that he has pursued for more than 50 years. 

Read the rest…

Health insurers, providers, and consumer advocates praised the Trump administration’s long-awaited fixes to the No Surprises Act’s arbitration process, but some warned they won’t address its most pernicious problem: the provider gaming that’s costing millions. 

The final rule issued Thursday makes changes designed to improve communication between insurers and providers and give Medicare more visibility into their negotiations. Other tweaks are aimed at attacking the problems of ineligible disputes and of arbitration being used as a catch-all instead of a last resort. 

“It does make meaningful progress to reduce burdens and streamline, but we need additional action to address some of the underlying incentives that are driving overuse of the process,” said Jennifer Jones, the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association’s senior director of legislative and regulatory policy. “We need more to address the egregious award amounts.” 

Continue to STAT+ to read the full story…