Adding music therapy to conventional depression treatments could improve patient outcomes, according to a study published in Cochrane Library.

Engineers from Cornell University have developed a microchip “tag” capable of collecting vital signs form a distance using radio frequency signals. The method is outlined in a study published in Nature Electronics.

Researchers from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) from Worcester, Massachusetts, and the University of Connecticut have developed a smartphone app that uses machine learning to predict eating patterns to provide potential interventions for users hoping to lose weight. Findings were presented at the annual symposium for the American Medical Informatics Association.

Racial discrimination was by far the most common reason cited by black patients for receiving poor service or treatment from physicians or hospitals, according to a study published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. White and Hispanic patients, however, also reported “high rates of discrimination” for other reasons such as age, weight or income.

A Chicago Tribune investigation found Illinois is a “hot spot for fraud” among home health care agencies (HHAs), estimating they’ve improperly collected at least $104 million from Medicare and Medicaid over the past five years.

Belgian researchers have identified a protein formulation that mimics the structure and rigidity of the natural lining in a women’s ovaries, a breakthrough for women with infertility or cancer patients who had radiation or chemotherapy treatments. Findings are published in the Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics.

High-deductible health plans have been framed as a way to give healthcare consumers more “skin in the game,” leading them to avoid low-value services as a way to save money. According to researchers from the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics and the RAND Corporation, they’re having little to no impact.

NewYork-Presbyterian and Walgreens are collaborating to bring convenient access to NewYork-Presbyterian’s world-class care through new telemedicine services, now available through Walgreens digital properties and at self-service kiosks at select Duane Reade drugstores in New York.  NewYork-Presbyterian, New York’s No. 1 hospital, is offering the telemedicine services as part of its NYP OnDemand suite of digital health services.