As weight loss drugs like Ozempic continue to rise in popularity, economists are looking at their potential to disrupt the market. We asked a doctor turned business analyst which industries he thinks could see the most impact.
A surprising class of blood cell not typically associated with immunity plays a role in shaping the durability of immunity to vaccination, new research suggests.
California-based, for-profit Tenor Health Partners has reached an agreement to acquire Steward Health Care's Sharon Regional Medical Center that was scheduled to close Monday. Dallas-based Steward Health System LLC is the 31-hospital chain that declared bankruptcy in May and owns Sharon Regional. Medical Properties Trust Inc. is the Birmingham, Ala.-based investment company that owns all of the hospital's real estate. Steward's creditors have not yet endorsed the deal. If approved, Pasadena-based Tenor would be the third for-profit owner of the struggling 80-bed hospital since 2014. The deal could save some 850 jobs and critical heart care services that are not available elsewhere in rural Mercer County. Tenor's website indicates the company targets struggling hospitals for partnerships and acquisitions. As of April, Tenor did not own any hospitals.
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey's office is making positive noises about recently approved legislation to tame the role of private equity in healthcare. The bill would close loopholes in state law exposed by last year's collapse of Steward Health Care.
America's top doctor is calling for cancer warnings on alcohol after a report cites studies linking alcoholic beverages to more than a half-dozen malignancies, including breast cancer. On Friday, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy released a new Surgeon General's Advisory on Alcohol and Cancer Risk, outlining the direct link between alcohol consumption and increased cancer risk. According to the CDC, alcohol consumption is the third leading preventable cause of cancer in the United States, after tobacco and obesity. And according to the report released by Muthy's office it increases the risk for at least seven types of cancer. "While scientific evidence for this connection has been growing over the past four decades, less than half of Americans recognize it as a risk factor for cancer," Murthy's office said. The advisory includes a series of recommendations, including updating the existing Surgeon General's health warning label on alcohol-containing beverages to now include cancer risk. In a post on X, Murthy wrote alcohol contributions to about 100,000 cancer cases and 20,000 cancer deaths annually.