Health

By many measures, as indicated in The Pew Charitable Trusts’ 2018 “State of the City” report, scheduled for release in early April, Philadelphia is on an upward trend, with an increasing population, strong job growth, and a vibrant arts and culture scene. But the city is also facing one of the highest drug overdose rates in the nation, fueled predominantly by an intensifying... Read More

The emergence of alarming and unusual types of resistant bacteria around the world underscores the need for new antibiotics to treat patients with serious and life-threatening infections. Yet there are too few drugs in development to meet anticipated patient needs, and many major pharmaceutical companies have abandoned efforts to develop new antibiotics. Read More

The transition from paper medical records to electronic health records (EHRs) has transformed health careand improved safety and quality. Digitizing has also highlighted issues with usability—how clinicians interactwith EHR systems—that can contribute to patient harm. Varied EHR formats and a lack of consistent, intuitiveinterfaces—combined with EHR customization by health care... Read More

Rising drug costs remain top of mind for policymakers and payers, who continue to consider ideas to rein in spending at the state and national levels. From efforts intended to reduce out-of-pocket costs for patients to pending policy proposals from the Trump administration, here are some recent developments on this issue.  Read More

States spend billions of dollars annually on health care costs, and policymakers increasingly recognize that decisions made in sectors such as transportation, energy, and housing affect those expenditures. To ensure that health is considered in decision-making, leaders in several states have taken up bills to require that local officials, planners, and others evaluate potential health effects... Read More

The emergence of alarming and unusual types of resistant bacteria around the world underscores the need for new antibiotics to treat patients with serious and life-threatening infections. Yet there are too few drugs in development to meet anticipated patient needs, and many major pharmaceutical companies have abandoned efforts to develop new antibiotics. Read More

Rising drug costs remain top of mind for policymakers and payers, who continue to consider ideas to rein in spending at the state and national levels. From efforts intended to reduce out-of-pocket costs for patients to pending policy proposals from the Trump administration, here are some recent developments on this issue.  Read More

States spend billions of dollars annually on health care costs, and policymakers increasingly recognize that decisions made in sectors such as transportation, energy, and housing affect those expenditures. To ensure that health is considered in decision-making, leaders in several states have taken up bills to require that local officials, planners, and others evaluate potential health effects... Read More

The Pew Latin American Fellows Program in the Biomedical Sciences provides funding for scientists to receive postdoctoral training at leading research institutions in the United States. Through the program, The Pew Charitable Trusts has supported more than 200 outstanding young researchers, strengthening scientific communities across borders. Fellows who complete the two-year program and return... Read More

The Food and Drug Administration recently asked Congress for an additional $8 million for its Center for Veterinary Medicine’s Animal Drugs and Feeds Program, including money to enhance the country’s only public health surveillance system for assessing antibiotic resistance in intestinal bacteria found in people, retail meats, and food animals. Read More

By many measures, as indicated in The Pew Charitable Trusts’ 2018 “State of the City” report, scheduled for release in early April, Philadelphia is on an upward trend, with an increasing population, strong job growth, and a vibrant arts and culture scene. But the city is also facing one of the highest drug overdose rates in the nation, fueled predominantly by an intensifying... Read More

New federal criteria for electronic medical records used in the care of children, due out as soon as this month, provide a golden opportunity to make digital records more effective for the youngest and often most vulnerable patients.  Read More

On March 1, The Pew Charitable Trusts and the Infectious Diseases Society of America will co-sponsor a briefing on “Innovation and the Fight Against Superbugs.” The event aims to inform congressional staff about efforts to combat antibiotic resistance by key federal agencies, as well as their successes and challenges in advancing antibiotic innovation and stewardship. Read More

And antibiotics do far more than simply cure infections; they safeguard almost every aspect of modern medicine. Without effective antibiotics, procedures we take for granted today—including chemotherapy, joint replacement surgery, kidney dialysis, organ transplants, and many more—would be too risky to undertake. Read More

According to “State Oversight of Drug Compounding,” a report released today by The Pew Charitable Trusts and the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP), states have taken important steps to protect patient safety since Pew research first assessed their compounding policies in 2015. Read More

The transition from paper medical records to electronic health records (EHRs) has transformed health careand improved safety and quality. Digitizing has also highlighted issues with usability—how clinicians interactwith EHR systems—that can contribute to patient harm. Varied EHR formats and a lack of consistent, intuitiveinterfaces—combined with EHR customization by health care... Read More

For more than 125 million Americans, basic dental care is out of reach. But there’s a solution that can help: dental therapy. Read More

Nearly 8 in 10 Americans believe that prescription drug prices are unreasonable, and many would support legislation to lower them. But what determines the cost of prescription drugs in the first place, and how much do Americans really pay for these medications? Think you know? Take our quiz to find out! Read More

Prescriber use mandates are state laws that require health care providers to check the prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP)—a state-based electronic database intended to help reduce misuse and diversion of controlled substances—under specific circumstances. Read More

Across the country, virtually all doctor’s offices and hospitals use electronic health records, or EHRs, to capture patient information. But EHR usability – their layout, design, customizations, and how they fit into different workflows—can impact patient safety. Read More