Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Nobel Prize In Physics Awarded To Trio With Ties To UC Berkeley
UC Berkeley News: John Clarke, UC Berkeley Emeritus Professor, And 2 Others Awarded 2025 Nobel Prize In Physics
John Clarke, an emeritus professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley, was awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on quantum tunneling, one of many strange aspects of quantum mechanics. Clarke shared the prize with two other physicists, Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis, who at the time of their prize-winning research were at UC Santa Barbara. Quantum tunneling is the ability of particles, such as electrons, to move or tunnel through barriers that, according to classical physics, they should not be able to breech. The three Nobel laureates demonstrated this effect in the early 1980s in a simple electrical circuit incorporating a superconductor, which allows current to flow without resistance. Clarke eventually used this simple circuit as the basis of an ultrasensitive detector he called a SQUID, or superconducting quantum interference device. He has used SQUIDs in many applications, including detection of NMR signals at ultralow frequencies, geophysics, the nondestructive evaluation of materials and as biosensors. (Sanders, 10/7)
The New York Times: Winning A Nobel Prize Interrupted His Off-The-Grid Vacation
Fred Ramsdell was parked at a campground in Montana on Monday afternoon after camping and hiking across the Rocky Mountains when his wife, Laura O’Neill, suddenly started shouting. He first thought that maybe she had seen a grizzly bear. Instead, Ms. O’Neill had regained cellular service and had seen a flood of text messages with the same news. “You just won the Nobel Prize!” she yelled. “No, I didn’t,” said Dr. Ramsdell, whose phone had been on airplane mode, he recalled in an interview. But she said, “I have 200 text messages saying that you did!” (Yoon, 10/7)
More health industry updates —
Modern Healthcare: Atlantic Health, Saint Peter's Call Off Merger
Atlantic Health and Saint Peter’s Healthcare System have called off plans to combine. The New Jersey health systems said in a joint Monday news release they mutually agreed to end discussions due to the impact of a “rapidly evolving healthcare landscape nationally” on providers. (Hudson, 10/6)
Stat: Telehealth Growth Fueled By Doctors With 50 State Licenses
Jonah Mink started racking up medical licenses during the Covid-19 pandemic. The family medicine doctor, who finished his residency at the University of Pennsylvania in 2016, was already working for a digital health company as the virus took root in the United States. But when doctors’ offices started shutting down, physicians like him saw the writing on the wall: Telehealth was the future. At the end of 2019, Mink had licenses in just four states. Over the next three years, he accumulated 47 more — one for every state, plus the District of Columbia. (Palmer, 10/7)
Becker's Hospital Review: An Effective Approach To Cut Wasteful Pre-Surgery Testing: Study
A customized, team-based strategy significantly reduced unnecessary pre-operative testing for common elective surgeries, according to a new study led by researchers at Ann Arbor-based Michigan Medicine. The intervention, called Right-Sizing Testing Before Elective Surgery, or RITE-Size, was piloted at three hospitals. It focused on reducing low-value testing for patients undergoing gallbladder removal, hernia repair or breast lump removal, which are considered low-risk procedures for healthy individuals. (Cerutti, 10/6)
ProPublica: How To Fight Your Health Insurance Denial With An External Appeal
When a health insurance company refuses to pay for treatment, most people begrudgingly accept the decision. Few patients appeal; some don’t trust the insurer to reverse its own decision. But a little-known process that requires insurers and plans to seek an independent opinion outside their walls can force insurers to pay for what can be lifesaving treatment. External reviews are one of the industry’s best-kept secrets, and only a tiny fraction of those eligible actually use them. (Eldeib, 10/7)
In news about physician pay and burnout —
Modern Healthcare: Physician Pay Trends: On-Call Requirements Becoming Nonnegotiable
Physician pay is increasing, largely through sign-on bonuses, but higher salaries alone often aren’t enough to retain physicians or attract top-tier talent. Advanced technology, paid time off and compensation for on-call requirements are just a few of the demands incoming physicians have for potential employers, according to respondents to Modern Healthcare’s 2025 Physician Compensation Survey. This year’s results reflect data from nine staffing and consulting firms, indicating that the trend of rising physician compensation isn’t likely to slow down anytime soon. (DeSilva, 10/6)
MedPage Today: These Physicians Are More Likely To Leave Clinical Practice
Physician attrition increased across the board from 2013 to 2019, but some physician and patient characteristics were linked to higher rates, a longitudinal study found. The unadjusted rate of clinical practice attrition increased from 3.5% in 2013 to 4.9% in 2019 (rate difference 1.4 percentage points, 95% CI 1.3-1.4 percentage points), reported Lisa Rotenstein, MD, MBA, MSc, of the University of California San Francisco, and colleagues. (Robertson, 10/6)
Phys.org: Health Care Workers Turn To AI To Reduce Electronic Paperwork Burnout
A Yale School of Medicine-led research group, working with six US health systems, reports an association between a single ambient AI scribe platform and lower short-term burnout among ambulatory clinicians. ... Among 186 participants included in the burnout models, the proportion meeting the burnout threshold fell from 51.9% to 38.8% after 30 days. ... A sensitivity analysis using a severe burnout cutoff of four showed a reduction from 18.4% to 12.2%. (Jackson, 10/6)
