When a cancer drug fails to heal a patient, oncologists often fly blind. A precision technique — trying drugs on tumor cells the way they're tried on bacterial infections, for example — might light the way. Great, hopeful story from Angus Rohan Chen.

statnews.com/2024/04/11/ped…

Medicare for the first time has estimated that a new Alzheimer’s treatment could cost the program billions of dollars by next year — well beyond what Wall Street or even the drug’s manufacturer has projected — according to a document obtained by STAT.

statnews.com/2024/04/11/med…

The country's biggest #hospital chain, HCA, told CMS it spent ~$1 billion more on charity care than it reported to shareholders, helping it draw more taxpayer $ from safety-net programs

“This is the underbelly of the health care system.'

shorturl.at/pqrFW via STAT

wow, I had no idea about this: griefbots that use large language models to replicate a dead person's tone/style of messaging.
undark.org/2024/04/04/opi…

This week, Bernie Sanders released a proposal for a long Covid “moonshot” that would pour $10B into studying the disease — and finding treatments — over a decade.

statnews.com/2024/04/11/san…

STAT News: '$10 billion long Covid ‘moonshot’ is being floated by Bernie Sanders'

'Sanders’ proposal echoes what patient-advocates have been calling for since the beginning of the pandemic, a demand that has only become more forceful with time..'

statnews.com/2024/04/11/san…

Hospitals must report charity care to the government and their investors / bondholders. But charity care numbers are not always the same — and in some cases are way off. Tara Bannow did some digging and found big inconsistencies at HCA and elsewhere. statnews.com/2024/04/08/hca…

For #LivingWith , I spoke to Tiffany ⁷ about the years before she got a lupus diagnosis, and how she’s been able to build an international online patient community since: statnews.com/2024/04/09/lup…

huzzah! my first STAT story is live!

it's about why so few ppl get cochlear implants — only 1 in 20 ppl who are eligible actually get the procedure!

statnews.com/2024/04/04/coc…

What we know about H5N1 bird flu in cows — and the risk to humans. Via Helen Branswell 🇨🇦 statnews.com/2024/04/03/h5n…

If you missed it, Deborah J. Balthazar wrote a super cool story on how companies are trying to leverage the magic of breastmilk to help adults with weakened immune systems or chronic inflammatory diseases. 🍼
statnews.com/2024/03/29/hum…

NEW: Would you send a dick pic to a random AI that says it can scan for STIs? A company called HeHealth is betting on it. The company falls into an FDA digital health gray area, giving it cover to unleash this unproven tech on the market:
statnews.com/2024/04/02/heh…

Today we launch the result of a three-year investigation into the police use of 'less lethal force.' The project was done in partnership with FRONTLINE and The Howard Center for Investigative Journalism,
Howard Center for Investigative Journalism. The story: bit.ly/3PF5Nup and the interactive bit.ly/4ac8BHS

💀Death is my intimate shadow partner.

It is a disability intimacy.

I wrote for TIME about my relationship with mortality as someone who just turned 50 as a disabled person.

Shit has been rough but I’m still fucking here

time.com/6960765/alice-…

After Justice Alito's repeated questions Tuesday about who, if anyone, could sue the FDA to restrict a drug label, I asked around about whether it's happened, and when.

The answer: Opioids. Here's how it went:
statnews.com/2024/03/28/who…

What does a Sharon Begley Fellow do while they're at KSJ and STAT? Well, current fellow Deborah J. Balthazar is doing some incredible reporting.
Check out this story ⬇️