More Epic, Health's Spotlight in Midterms, Biotech, Vaccines, Addiction, and Hospitals' Impact on Climate Change

Welcome back! Ryan Fitzgerald and Alexander Bois-Spinelli here with your weekly dose of STAT news … news. Been waiting weeks to crack that one. We have a lot to cover so let’s hop to it!?

We have more Epic coverage

(No, literally)?

Casey Ross continues his coverage of the nation’s largest seller of electronic health records with his latest special report on the company’s flawed algorithm. After a series of STAT investigations dating back to last year, Epic released a re-engineered version of the sepsis prediction model that it had steadfastly defended. While it’s common for software companies to upgrade products after their initial release, this was a wholesale remaking of an algorithm used to guide decisions about millions of seriously ill patients in U.S. hospitals at any given time. What does that mean for the future of #AI in medicine??

#Midterms put health in the spotlight

Is anti-science rhetoric even more intense now than it was during the last election cycle? Sarah Owermohle reports that even if the pandemic is fading from our daily lives, it’s at the forefront of Republican campaigns.?

After a Senate debate in Pennsylvania, Democratic candidate John Fetterman’s performance was met with headlines about his “painful debate” and “struggles” despite the fact that he’s recovering from a stroke he had five months ago. But experts say that issues with language skills following a stroke are separate from a person’s cognitive abilities—and some suggest the media has been ableist stigmatizing in its scrutiny of Fetterman.?

And Rachel Cohrs Zhang tells us that a large caucus of House Republican lawmakers have outlined ideas to change #Medicare that would upend the status quo of the #healthcare industry. But their plans could prove politically difficult to enact.?

The latest in biotech

What does a music maven whose college band caught the attention of Pharrell Williams have in common with someone who’s spent their entire career working in drug discovery for the likes of Novartis and Pfizer? The pair launched a new health care VC firm - becoming biotech’s newest odd couple.?

The newest acronym you need to know is ADAR. That stands for “adenosine deaminases acting on RNA” (not very catchy). But this little RNA-editing class of proteins is having its moment in the bioengineering sun.?

And we hope you didn’t miss our latest exclusive on Michelle McMurry-Heath’s quick exit from her role as chief executive of BIO, the world’s largest biotech trade organization. Her sudden departure was a jarring fall given her status as a prominent, rising force in health policy.

Vaccines, addiction, and cardiovascular health

When should you get the flu shot and Covid booster? It’s a question that’s been lingering for a while now. Megan Molteni tells us what the experts are saying.?

Lev Facher has found another angle on covering the addiction crisis - vocabulary. New research shows that simple word choices like addict, alcoholic, junkie, and abuser have a major impact on how health professionals view and treat their patients.

Fun fact: women’s lean body mass, composed mostly of skeletal muscle, correlates with a better-functioning heart. The same isn’t true of men.? Wanna learn more? Read the full piece on a recent cardiovascular study from STAT’s news intern Jayne Williamson-Lee.

Hospitals and climate change

We leave you with a special report (and an illustration that we’re big fans of). Did you know the U.S. has the largest share of health care emissions across the globe??

While hospitals might seem to be the unwitting victims of climate disasters, the U.S. health-care system — and hospitals in particular — shoulder a good deal of the blame. But a number of forces may push the country’s health-care system to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels as well as other greenhouse gas producers.

Two quick friendly reminders!

1. The STAT Summit is three weeks away! You don't want to miss it. Tickets are still available. Learn more here.?
2. If you are interested in clinical trials, you need STAT Trials Pulse. By combining machine learning and feedback from STAT reporters, we’ve developed a platform that lets you monitor the clinical trials landscape and surface critical insights and trends more easily than ever before. Explore here.

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That’s it for this week! Join us next Thursday for another edition of “Weekly Update.”?

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— Ryan and Alexander