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? ICYMI: My Healio article on HHS’ massive cuts, announced yesterday. Experts have continued to offer their insight into the real-world ramifications of the layoffs and departmental consolidation that will dramatically change HHS. (Thank you, Andrew “Drew” Rhoades, for contributing these great interviews!) Along with a former CDC director and the founding head of the Division of Medical Ethics at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, today we heard from Lawrence Gostin, a professor at Georgetown Law. “Put simply, this is just a cost cutting exercise and will make Americans less healthy and safe,” he said. “The president has strong powers to reorganize federal agencies. But it cannot fail to spend funds that Congress has already allocated.” “The administration often forgets that Congress holds the power of the purse under the Constitution.” ?? Read the full story here: https://lnkd.in/gnm_bG7N ??

Learning from 2 decades of?off-label #rituximab use?in #lupus may point the way toward developing “new and improved” B-cell depleting agents for patients with the disease. ?? ?? Healio sat down with Dr. Marit Stockfelt from the University of Gothenburg to?discuss the limitations of rituximab, the optimal SLE populations for B-cell depletion and the future of personalized medicine in the disease. ?? ?? https://lnkd.in/e9MNSqrX

?? Spring is here! Ready to bloom with your medical knowledge? Try your hand at today’s WORD DOC and see how quickly you can guess the medical term. It's the perfect way to flex those brain muscles! https://bit.ly/3L1eafv

HHS announced a dramatic restructuring process to comply with an executive order on government efficiency. There are several key elements to the restructuring: ?massive layoffs (dropping from 82,000 to 62,000 full-time employees when including other recent downsizing efforts); ?halving the number of regional offices (there will now be five); ?consolidation of “redundant units” across the HHS’ 28 divisions (there will now be 15 new divisions); and ?reflecting HHS’ current priorities (ending the chronic illness epidemic through safer food and water as well as reduced environmental toxins). Healio talked to Art Caplan, a professor and founding head of the Division of Medical Ethics at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, and Tom Frieden, former CDC director and current president and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives, to learn more about the real-world implications of the cuts. “These savings, to me, are not major relative to the federal budget. They're tiny,” Caplan said. “So you're giving up a lot of safety surveillance and public health protections for minuscule return. I mean, when you think about what they're going to save relative to what these agencies do, particularly FDA, it's nothing.” “It sounds like a big number, but relative to what the federal government says it needs to achieve its savings, it's a rounding error,” he said. Read more on the restructuring, including all of the details we know now and further insight from the experts ?? ?? https://lnkd.in/gnm_bG7N ? Also, catch up on other important news with Healio’s collection of articles on health care and politics: https://lnkd.in/g4Jh_s5q ?

“It may have been a mistake to walk away from these procedures.” Eleanor R. Menzin, MD, trained before work hour restrictions. Although she can’t name a movie that came out during her residency, the “completely immersive experience” ensured she felt comfortable performing various medical procedures. The restrictions were enacted, in part, to reduce burnout among medical trainees. But today, there has been “a remarkable decline in trainees’ procedural competence,” and PCPs are frustrated mostly by “Sisyphean tasks that don’t bring a lot of satisfaction, but take a lot of time.” Surprisingly, increasing primary care procedures may be a remedy to both of these problems, Menzin told Healio. Some of the benefits of performing procedures in a primary care practice include: ?? Physician job satisfaction ?? Patient comfort and happiness ?? Better reimbursement Read more on Healio??? ?? https://lnkd.in/gbKmWBCu

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?? 125 YEARS and we’re celebrating with a HUGE giveaway! Want to win a Skylight Calendar to keep you on track this year? Here’s your chance! ? Follow the clues in our interactive timeline ?? Solve the challenge question ? Enter to win! Hurry, the clock’s ticking! Enter here: Healio.com/DNA #125Years

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?? The past 25 years of data suggest the #immunesystem is connected to nearly every aspect of cardiac function. ?? Meanwhile, more recent findings point to a significant overlap between #rheumatology and #cardiovascular patients. In response, several institutions have established cardio-rheumatology clinics, but the field is still in its infancy. ?? ??? “There is still no unified practice for risk models,” Heba Wassif MD,MPH, told Healio. “Based on the equations we use for evaluating cardiovascular risk, we are clearly underestimating the risks for certain patients with autoimmune disorders.” Read the full story in Healio Rheumatology here ?? https://lnkd.in/ePP5aZrR

??Are you ready for our upcoming Healio Community event??? Join Hansa Bhargava MD and Navin Goyal MD on Tuesday, April 1, at 1:15 p.m. EST as they discuss?#mentalfitness, moving through?#burnout?and more!???? Join Community and register for this live event via the link ?: https://lnkd.in/eswBetDD