Image: Courtesy of Pasca lab/Stanford University

Here's The Latest in Health Care:

•  The Senate HELP committee bill requires the DEA to create guidelines on how providers in health care can prescribe controlled substances in a telemedicine setting. It also outlines ways in which to expand access of care for addicted patients, while limiting who can prescribe opioids through telemedicine.  Read More

•  Desperate oncology physicians are turning to immunotherapy drugs for dying cancer patients. However, experts are split. Some offer immunotherapy drugs in the hopes that the cancer drug will help but at the risk of not knowing which patients might benefit and from which drugs. Others argue that scientists must first gather rigorous evidence before treating their patients with experimental drugs.  Read More

•  Nearly a year after canceling a planned release of Medicare Advantage encounter data, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) are finally making good on their promise. CMS collected data from private insurers who administered Medicare Advantage plans since 2012. The data release is part of CMS' new data sharing program that puts patients first.  Read More

•  Research on cerebral organoids, or minibrains, are raising ethical questions about the potential development of lab-grown consciousness or sentience and what that means for human brain cells that live and grow outside the human body. Minibrains are created by transforming skin cells from a person into neural stem cells.  Read More

Each Friday, Signor Goat reports the latest from the week in health care. Check back next Friday for your dose of our little medical corner of health care news. Brought to you by pMD, innovators in charge capture software.

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