Author: Healthcare Propulsion Staff

When a patient is facing certain cancers or an immune condition, clinicians turn to their white blood cells for clues about the progression of both diseases and their treatments. From a standard blood draw, a clinical lab isolates peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), which are predominantly immune cells, and then counts the abundance of different cell types, along with some basic measures of how they’re functioning. “PBMCs can be isolated clinically really easily, and they’re already used in the clinical workflow,” says Melissa Skala, an investigator in biomedical engineering at the Morgridge Institute and senior author of a new study…

UnitedHealthcare said earlier this year that it was aiming to eliminate 30% of prior authorization requirements by the end of 2026. Now, the insurance giant is offering a deeper look at codes that will no longer be subject to prior auth as of Oct. 1, including adjustments across its commercial, Medicaid, Medicare Advantage and individual market coverage. About 1,700 codes are included overall. The bulk of CPT codes no longer subject to prior auth are concentrated in UHC’s commercial and individual plans, according to the notices. The number of codes varies across the 17 states and the District of Columbia…

A region of the brain called the striatum is critical for many cognitive and motor functions, including decision-making, control of movement, habit formation, and processing of reward. It also plays a role in addiction and is significantly affected by Huntington’s disease, schizophrenia, and other disorders. In work that could help scientists devise new treatments for those diseases, MIT researchers have generated a new atlas of the neurons found within the striatum. Using single-cell RNA sequencing and other techniques, they were able to identify 31 subgroups of neurons based on which genes they express. These groups include neurons that are involved…

OpenAI is expanding ChatGPT’s healthcare capabilities with new integrations that connect it more directly with clinical workflows and public healthcare sources. ChatGPT for Healthcare, initially announced in January, as a workspace for researchers, clinicians and administrators, powered by GPT-5 models that went through doctor-led testing. The company developed a suite of tools for healthcare enterprises as it expands its reach to hospitals and health systems. In April, OpenAI launched ChatGPT for Clinicians, a version of ChatGPT designed to support clinical tasks like documentation and medical research. On Tuesday, OpenAI announced that ChatGPT for Healthcare now integrates with Epic’s electronic health record…

Lighteum Medical CEO Gaurav Agarwal [Photo courtesy of Lighteum Medical]Nitinol supplier Lighteum Medical has hired Gaurav Agarwal as CEO effective Aug. 31, 2026. “Gaurav is an accomplished medtech leader and proven growth-oriented operator with a track record of building high-performing organizations and driving results,” Lighteum Medical Chair Greg Lucier said in a statement shared with Medical Design & Outsourcing ahead of the announcement. “Throughout his career, he has demonstrated an ability to set a focused strategy and translate it into disciplined execution and sustained performance.” Lighteum Medical, a medical device contract manufacturing and development organization owned by private equity firm…

Medical technology trade groups Tuesday failed to revive their challenge to the Library of Congress’ decision to exempt medical device repair from an anti-hacking copyright law. Medical Imaging & Technology Alliance and the Advanced Medical Technology Association failed to plausibly allege how the medical device repair exemption was unreasonable or beyond the Library’s statutory power, US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit said. The appeals court also rejected the trade group’s argument that there’s a distinct body of repair software independent of the operating software with its own standalone market. The group failed to build a record to support…

Senescent cells – cells that have stopped dividing but remain metabolically active – can accumulate with age and contribute to chronic inflammation and tissue dysfunction. A new Mini Review in Geromedicine examines a protein interaction that may help some of these cells survive, highlighting a possible route toward more selective strategies for clearing them. The review, led by researchers at Kyoto University, focuses on the interaction between phosphoglycerate mutase 1 (PGAM1) and checkpoint kinase 1 (Chk1). The authors describe evidence that this interaction is increased in multiple models of cellular senescence and supports a distinct, heightened form of glucose metabolism in…

Payment policy changes proposed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in July are being roundly condemned by health systems, with industry groups telling the agency in recently submitted public comments that its plans will damage care delivery and, in the case of a new 340B rate cut, are “straightforwardly unlawful.”  The proposed 2027 Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment (OPPS) and Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC) Payment Systems rule ruffled plenty of feathers upon its unveiling. Between its net 2.4% annual rate increase, “site-neutral” cuts to imaging-without-contrast services furnished off-campus and a pay reduction for drugs acquired through the 340B program…

Football is a high-impact sport. A player may take hundreds of hits over the course of their career, including some that cause concussions. Other impacts may seem minor at the time, but there are concerns that repeated head blows can negatively impact long-term brain health.Those worries gained new attention after a recent study estimated that at least 25% of recently deceased NFL players had chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). CTE is a degenerative brain disease linked to repeated head impacts. Although the study doesn’t necessarily mean that 25% of current NFL players have CTE, it does add to the growing evidence…

The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has received a $4.1 million grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, to study how everyday exposures affect the health of people with sickle cell disease. The funding may help clinicians better understand how everyday factors in people’s homes and neighborhoods-including food, air quality, temperature, and housing-may worsen symptoms. Led by the Department of Emergency Medicine, the study aims to improve health and quality of life for people with sickle cell disease. We have heard time and time again from our patients:…