Texas medicine
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Any physician can look out over the COVID-19 landscape and see important areas of health care tied to their specialty that are being downplayed or ignored as resources pour into fighting the pandemic and scared patients chose not to come to their doctors' offices.
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Novel diseases like COVID-19 could be a tough test for Texas' public health system.
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The widespread call to severely curb or end "surprise" medical bills prompted competing federal legislation during the summer and fall of 2019. The negotiations, maneuvering, and bill markups have continued into this year. ⋯ But with insurer-friendly language lurking in many of those proposals, Dr. Fleeger warns the impact of such legislation could go well beyond out-of-network payment.
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Measuring treatments used by 202 patients with chronic low back pain in the PRECISION Pain Research Registry, this study determined the associations of opioid and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) therapy with clinical status. More than one-fourth of patients did not use nonpharmacologic treatments for low back pain. Patients age 50-59 and 60-79 years old were more likely to use opioids than younger patients. ⋯ No significant associations between pharmacologic therapy and clinical status remained after controlling for potential confounders. Neither opioids nor opioids combined with NSAIDs were more effective than just NSAIDs. Greater use of nonpharmacologic therapies and better second-line, nonopioid pharmacologic therapies appear necessary for more effective treatment of chronic low back pain.