Bugged Doctors’ Offices; $22M for Healthcare Hackers? What to Know About Ibogaine

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Ambient artificial intelligence (AI) listens to clinician-patient conversations and processes information, but security and privacy issues are unclear. (Forbes)

The White House is planning to announce a new federal task force aimed at easing healthcare costs. (Politico)

Drugmakers involved in Medicare price negotiations have sent counter offers, President Biden said. (Reuters)

Did hackers behind the Change Healthcare ransomware attack receive a $22 million payment? (WIRED)

Meanwhile, calls mounted for government help as the attack froze medical payments. (Wall Street Journal)

And the AMA said that the attack jeopardizes physician practices.

A whistleblower accused Aledade, the nation’s largest independent network of primary care medical practices, of Medicare fraud. (KFF Health News)

From 2019 through 2021, the overall infant mortality rate for the U.S. was 5.48 infant deaths per 1,000 live births, the CDC reported, with rates highest among infants of Black women and American Indian and Alaska Native women.

Novo Nordisk said semaglutide (Ozempic) delayed progression of chronic kidney disease in diabetes patients in the FLOW trial, lowering the risk of major cardiac events and death by 24%.

In France, lawmakers made abortion a constitutional right. (Reuters)

Brazil has seen a million cases of dengue so far this year. (NPR)

Most Americans said they have at least a fair amount of confidence in scientists, but ratings have fallen since early in the COVID-19 pandemic. (PNAS)

The first U.S. over-the-counter birth control pill will soon be available in stores and online. (New York Times)

This is how the U.S. may be sabotaging its best tools to prevent deaths in the opioid epidemic. (STAT)

Ivermectin for COVID-19 appeared unlikely to provide clinically meaningful improvements in recovery, hospital admissions, or longer-term outcomes, the PRINCIPLE study showed. (Journal of Infection)

Some women with excess weight turned to weight loss drugs before pregnancy. (New York Times)

The FDA expanded the indication of perflutren lipid microsphere (Definity) as an ultrasound enhancing agent for use in pediatric patients with suboptimal echocardiograms, Lantheus announced.

And Hugel said it received FDA approval for letibotulinumtoxinA (Letybo) to treat moderate-to-severe frown lines.

Six people incarcerated at prisons in Pennsylvania filed a federal class action lawsuit to end indefinite solitary confinement, saying it worsens mental health crises. (AP)

Here’s what to know about ibogaine, which is illegal in the U.S. (New York Times)

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