https://medicalxpress.com/ en-us provides the latest news from Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute A new study led by researchers at the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, Boston University, Boston Medical Center, UMass Chan Medical School, and Brown University finds that children's mental health concerns are appearing more often during routine visits with primary care doctors. Published in JAMA Network Open, the study shows a steady rise over the past decade, with especially large increases in visits related to anxiety. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-05-primary-children-mental-health-surge.html Mon, 18 May 2026 11:00:12 EDT news698071921 Fewer people in the United States can reach hospital-based obstetric care within a reasonable drive than a decade ago, according to a new national study led by the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute. The study found that from 2010 to 2021, access to obstetric care declined across the country as hospitals closed labor and delivery units, forcing many pregnant people to travel farther for care. The study, "Obstetric Service Availability and Travel Time to Access Obstetric Services in the U.S., 2010–2021," is published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-americans-maternity.html Wed, 01 Apr 2026 15:30:07 EDT news694274714 Nearly one in five pediatric hospital deaths in the United States involve sepsis, according to a new national study published in JAMA. The study also found that sepsis occurs in about one in every 75 pediatric hospitalizations and that more than one in 10 children with sepsis die during hospitalization. Based on these findings, the authors estimate that more than 18,000 hospitalized children in the United States have sepsis each year, including more than 1,800 who do not survive to discharge. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-sepsis-linked-pediatric-hospital-deaths.html Sun, 22 Mar 2026 14:30:04 EDT news693150121 A new study led by the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute finds that mental health care gaps for U.S. children remain stark: one in five households reported a child needing treatment, yet nearly a quarter didn't receive it, and many who did still struggled to access care. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-barriers-mental-health-children-cautions.html Mon, 16 Feb 2026 11:00:03 EST news690454261 A new study led by the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute evaluates the impact of a voluntary code intended to improve ethical recruitment of physicians from World Health Organization-designated shortage countries. While the WHO Code initially reduced physician migration from these countries, the research finds it did not improve their physician supply, highlighting the need for broader investments to strengthen global health systems. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-impact-world-health-code-global.html Fri, 06 Feb 2026 11:00:05 EST news689529601 Early access to new cancer drugs, granted accelerated approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), has provided mixed benefits for patients while costing Medicare billions of dollars, reveals research published in the journal BMJ Medicine. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-12-cancer-drug-yield-modest-survival.html Sun, 21 Dec 2025 12:30:01 EST news685365951 Researchers from the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute have produced the first national estimate of how many medical students would be affected by new federal loan restrictions imposed by the 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). Their findings suggest the reforms are likely to place substantial financial barriers on aspiring physicians, potentially reducing workforce diversity and worsening existing physician shortages. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-federal-loan-caps-disrupt-medical.html Wed, 26 Nov 2025 11:00:15 EST news683217361 A new study led by researchers at the Department of Population Medicine–Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, Boston Medical Center, and Boston University School of Public Health finds that how Medicaid programs are designed can make a big difference in the care pregnant and postpartum people receive. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-10-medicaid-moms.html Wed, 08 Oct 2025 11:00:18 EDT news678987721 A new analysis by researchers from the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute examines the first Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) add-on code targeting a single physician specialty: infectious disease (ID). The measure is a significant departure from the agency's past strategies, with the potential to combat the growing shortage of ID physicians and broader implications for physician reimbursement and health care delivery, according to the authors. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-06-payment-adjustments-infectious-disease-physician.html Wed, 25 Jun 2025 11:00:14 EDT news670059961 A new study led by the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute highlights the significant impact of living in disadvantaged neighborhoods on the onset of menopause. The research followed 691 women from pregnancy to midlife and found that those residing in highly vulnerable neighborhoods, particularly within 10 years of perimenopause onset, experienced menopause approximately two years earlier than those in less vulnerable areas. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-05-disadvantaged-neighborhoods-linked-earlier-menopause.html Thu, 22 May 2025 11:00:12 EDT news667123441 A new study led by the Center for Sepsis Epidemiology and Prevention Studies (SEPSIS) at the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute raises critical questions about the effectiveness of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS) sepsis quality measure, known as the Severe Sepsis/Septic Shock Management Bundle (SEP-1). https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-effectiveness-sepsis-quality-patient-outcomes.html Wed, 19 Mar 2025 13:56:05 EDT news661611361 A new study led by the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute reveals the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on new physicians, highlighting significant shifts in their job market perceptions, compensation trends, and practice location choices. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-reveals-covid-toll-physicians-rural.html Wed, 12 Mar 2025 13:40:02 EDT news661004679 A new study led by researchers at the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute has found that a 2019 Medicare opioid safety policy showed initial reductions in opioid prescribing to high-risk populations. However, the policy's effectiveness diminished over time. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-02-success-term-medicare-opioid-safety.html Mon, 10 Feb 2025 15:52:58 EST news658425175 A new Perspective published in the New England Journal of Medicine led by researchers from the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute calls for urgent regulatory reforms to address the rising trend of physician strikes in the United States. The piece provides a comprehensive analysis of the increasing frequency of physician strikes and offers a framework for U.S. policymakers to learn from international best practices. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-01-experts-highlight-urgent-physician.html Sat, 11 Jan 2025 07:30:01 EST news655731301 A new study has found that rates of chlamydia and syphilis plummet among people prescribed doxycycline for sexually transmitted infection prevention in routine clinical care. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-01-doxypep-linked-sharp-decline-sti.html Mon, 06 Jan 2025 11:00:01 EST news655134421 Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a critical public health concern, with risk factors such as high blood pressure, abnormal blood sugar levels, elevated cholesterol, and obesity beginning in childhood. A new study pinpoints the age when cardiovascular health (CVH) trajectories begin to decline, revealing a crucial window for targeted interventions to improve CVH into adolescence and adulthood. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-12-pivotal-period-cardiovascular-health-children.html Wed, 18 Dec 2024 11:00:01 EST news653734612 Finding sound strategies to meet the growing demand for primary care, especially in underserved areas, is an ongoing public health challenge among policymakers. A new study led by the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute suggests that policy interventions aimed at recruiting physicians to specialize in primary care, especially to practice in underserved areas, should be tailored to the citizenship status of international medical graduates (IMGs). https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-10-urges-strategies-primary-physician-shortages.html Fri, 18 Oct 2024 13:08:03 EDT news648475681 The longstanding epidemic of severe pediatric depression is a significant public health concern, with only one third of the affected population receiving any mental health care. A new systematic review suggests that FDA-issued warnings about antidepressant use, intended to increase monitoring of suicidal thoughts among youth, have led instead to unintentional harm. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-10-highlights-decline-mental-health-suicides.html Mon, 07 Oct 2024 16:00:02 EDT news647510701 A new thought piece led by the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute with collaborators from Duke University and Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute highlights the challenges facing health care researchers and decision makers in the quest to improve population health in a constantly evolving health care landscape. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-10-bridging-gap-pragmatic-trials-health.html Wed, 02 Oct 2024 11:00:01 EDT news647081859 Limited access to healthy foods, resulting from residence in under-resourced neighborhoods, is a critical public health concern. A new study suggests that residing in these areas during pregnancy or early childhood significantly raises the risk of obesity and severe obesity from childhood to adolescence. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-09-links-neighborhood-food-access-child.html Mon, 16 Sep 2024 11:00:01 EDT news645695221 New evidence comparing weight gain under eight different first-line antidepressants finds that bupropion users are 15–20% less likely to gain a clinically significant amount of weight than users of sertraline, the most common medication. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-07-weight-gain-common-antidepressants.html Mon, 01 Jul 2024 17:00:01 EDT news639043861 Compared to heterosexual women, bisexual women died 37% sooner and lesbian women 20% sooner, according to results from one of the largest studies to examine sexual orientation-related inequities in mortality and the first to differentiate between lesbians and bisexual women. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-04-premature-mortality-higher-sexual-minority.html Thu, 25 Apr 2024 11:00:01 EDT news633253501 A new study led by the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute has identified that a deficit in the placental expression of the gene insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGFBP1) and low IGFBP1 circulating levels are associated with insulin resistance during pregnancy, highlighting a potential risk factor for the development of gestational diabetes. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-04-focuses-placenta-clues-gestational-diabetes.html Tue, 16 Apr 2024 05:00:01 EDT news632410141 A new study led by Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute and Duke University researchers found that state policies intended to reduce insulin out-of-pocket (OOP) costs for commercially insured people were not associated with increased insulin use in the overall population. However, monthly insulin OOP costs declined substantially for members in high deductible health plans with health savings accounts, plans that generally require high insulin OOP payments. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-03-insulin-copayment-caps-commercially-populations.html Tue, 26 Mar 2024 13:09:56 EDT news630677390 A new study examining the impact of the 2009 National Health Service Corps (NHSC) expansion on clinical diversity has found the number of Hispanic NHSC clinicians lacking relative to the Hispanic population. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-03-diversified-clinical-workforce-effectively-hispanic.html Wed, 20 Mar 2024 16:04:19 EDT news630169457 In the first national estimate of county-level disparities in heat-related emergencies, a new study led by investigators from the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute found that vulnerable communities were at high risk. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-03-effects-emergencies-vulnerable-populations.html Tue, 19 Mar 2024 11:47:48 EDT news630067664 A new policy analysis led by the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute describes the intensive care crisis in rural America and provides a comprehensive policy solution to bolster intensive care capacity. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-03-analysis-policy-solutions-intensive-crisis.html Tue, 19 Mar 2024 11:14:03 EDT news630065641 Results from a new nationwide cohort study show that, despite strong recommendations in favor of consuming omega-3 fatty acids for optimal pregnancy outcomes and offspring health, 25% of participants reported rarely or never eating fish during pregnancy, with fewer taking omega-3 supplements. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-03-results-pregnant-people-omega-fatty.html Fri, 01 Mar 2024 11:48:01 EST news628516076 A new study led by researchers at the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute has found that reducing out-of-pocket costs for patients with diabetes, especially those considered low-income, can be one step toward improving health outcomes. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-02-diabetes-medication-outcomes-income-patients.html Fri, 09 Feb 2024 11:00:01 EST news626692180