Author: Healthcare Propulsion Staff

New York City officials have released thousands of previously unseen documents questioning the air quality at Ground Zero following the 9/11 attacks.The city launched its public online portal on Tuesday with more than 170,000 pages of documents from across government agencies dealing with post-9/11 air quality and health risks. The documents provide more evidence that concerns about toxic air persisted for months after the attacks. Meanwhile, officials at the time assured the public the air was safe. The files released Tuesday include 68 boxes of documents that were found last year, the Harding Memo, and records concerning World Trade Center 7.”These are documents that show what…

People living with a severe form of asthma show subtle differences in the structure of their brains compared with people whose asthma is well controlled, according to new research presented at the European Respiratory Society (ERS) Congress in Barcelona, Spain. The study, led by researchers from NIHR Biomedical Research Centre: Bristol (NIHR BRC: Bristol) and City St George’s University of London, UK, suggests that the inflammation driving severe asthma may affect more than the lungs. The findings were presented by Dr George Nava, NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer in the Bristol Academic Respiratory Unit, UK. Previous studies have suggested that asthma…

Immune cells can become exhausted after prolonged exposure to cancer, gradually losing their ability to attack tumor cells. This phenomenon is particularly pronounced in aggressive brain tumors and can severely limit the effectiveness of immunotherapy. A KAIST research team has now discovered that all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA), a vitamin A derivative, may help prevent such exhaustion and enhance the efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors. KAIST (President Choongsik Bae) announced on September 8 that a research team led by Professor Heung Kyu Lee from the Department of Biological Sciences, in collaboration with researchers from Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital, and Konyang University…

Five Kansas health systems have launched a regional collaboration, called Astra Health, to pool resources and coordinate services while retaining their independence.  The new shared services organization was announced Tuesday and will include LMH Health, The University of Kansas Health System, Amberwell Health, Newman Regional Health and Salina Regional Health Center. Together, the organizations see more than half a million patients annually and extend into every county in the state.  “The partnership will help participating hospitals improve quality, share best practices, enhance performance measurement, and strengthen care delivery in the communities they serve,” Shelly Kortkamp, M.D., president and CEO of…

The Trump administration is cracking down further on durable medical equipment (DME) suppliers as part of its broader push to root out fraud. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said Monday that it has identified 11 medical supply companies that it will block from receiving payments under Medicare Advantage or Medicare Part D. The agency said it suspects these firms were involved in more than $3.4 billion in fraudulent billing practices in 2025 and 2026. These companies had filed no claims prior to last year, used improper billing practices to submit claims and billed for medical equipment for patients…

Pushing the accelerator and the brake at the same time is rarely a good idea. But researchers at the University of Gothenburg are using this approach to treat leukemia. A new drug forces cancer cells to keep working hard even though they have run out of energy. The first study in mice shows very promising results. A team led by Leif Eriksson at the University of Gothenburg and Boaz Tirosh at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland has developed a new treatment for acute myeloid leukemia (AML). AML is an aggressive form of cancer affecting the blood and bone marrow,…

Publishing in the journal Scientific Reports, researchers at Kyushu University found that using mats made from Japanese Igusa, or rush grass, was associated with increased activity in regions of the brain related to concentration and engagement. Furthermore, surveyed participants reported reduced tension and anxiety after using Igusa mats. Igusa has been used in Japan for centuries, and the research team hopes scientific evidence on its health benefits will provide new value for this traditional material. What is the first thing you notice when you walk into a Japanese-style room? Is it the floor-level furniture? The sliding wood-and-paper doors? Or is…

Health tech startup Forus banked $150 million in series C funding as it aims to expand its artificial intelligence-powered network to more medical specialties and care settings. The fresh funding comes just four months after the company announced it raised $160 million in a series B round. The latest funding round boosts Forus’ valuation to $3 billion, tripling from its series B round in May, according to the company. Forus has raised more than $300 million to date. Bain Capital Ventures, an investor in Forus since its seed round, led the latest round, with every existing institutional investor reinvesting, including…

The planned affiliation between Cambia Health Solutions and Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield has taken another step forward. Oregon-based Cambia revealed late last week that the deal had secured approval from regulators at the Arkansas Insurance Department. The affiliation plans were first revealed in November 2025, with the two Blues plans saying that joining forces would support efforts to improve access and simplify the healthcare journey. The partners said that despite the integration, Arkansas Blue Cross will maintain its local identity, and combining will allow the Natural State plan to tap into Cambia’s “robust technology infrastructure.”  The combination enables the…

In the event of a global catastrophe, such as a nuclear war, an enormous volcanic eruption or large asteroid strike, the best place to be is Australia, according to a new study.Researchers looked at the places that were most resilient to global catastrophic risks, which are events that would kill more than 10% of the global population over several months or years.”These kinds of catastrophes are under-researched” because they are not very likely, study first author Florian Ulrich Jehn, a researcher at FernUniversität in Hagen, Germany, told Live Science. “That makes them easy to ignore.”Latest Videos FromLive ScienceBut they are…