Hierarchy vs. accountability | Pediatrics society sued | Medical debt mauler | more

California’s decision to restrict the use of the title “doctor” in clinical settings underscores a growing disconnect between healthcare policy and the realities of modern care delivery. In an op-ed, health policy professor and former Virginia legislator, Dawn M. Adams, DNP, and Marissa J. Levine, MD, a public health physician and former Virginia health commissioner, argue that rigid physician-centric hierarchies no longer reflect how patients actually receive care.

The Children’s Health Defense, a vaccine-skeptic lobby once chaired by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., filed a complaint in federal court against the American Academy of Pediatrics, alleging it engaged in systemic corruption. The same day, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said his state would be investigating the financial ties between vaccine developers, insurers and pediatricians.

Several states use taxpayer dollars to help struggling residents pay down medical debt. One is considered a leader of the movement—by critics as well as proponents. 

The U.S. Department of Justice announced four more guilty pleas on Thursday, bringing the total to 12. The scheme involved providers paying kickbacks to patients, all employees of Amtrak, in exchange for billing their insurance for unnecessary medical care. The incidents happened between 2019 and 2022. 

Can you guess the (lightly disputed) champion of healthcare AI suppliers? Here’s a hint. This company caters to physicians and just this week reached a valuation of $12B. 

Gene-editing drugs have shown potential to treat a wide variety of diseases, and this will be one of the first in cardiovascular medicine to begin human trials.

Authors of a new paper contend their findings could be beneficial in adapting public messaging related to supplemental imaging to better inform those who may need it.