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The article offers information on the impact of drug overdose on children in the United States from 2011 to 2021. Topics include the number of children who lost a parent to drug overdose, the disproportionate impact on communities of color and tribal communities, and the need for support for affected children and families.

The article offers information on the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) weighing in on key Supreme Court cases related to child health. Topics include cases on vaccine misinformation, gun violence prevention, and reproductive rights. The AAP participates in judicial advocacy to ensure that scientific evidence and pediatric professionals' expertise are considered in these cases.

Objective: The economic pressures widely discussed in health care have a large impact on spine practices. This current study is the first to look at characteristics associated with revenues from an outpatient spine clinic., Methods: All clinic visits to spine providers were identified at a single academic institution spanning the dates June 1, 2014, to June 1, 2018. All payment information was calculated using Medicare reimbursement values for Current Procedural Terminology codes. Relevant clinical, surgical, and cost structure data was collected for each patient., Results: On average, providers had 21.9 average appointments over the course of 7.6 hours per clinic day. The average ratio of new to follow-up patients was 39.3%, with an average new patient to surgery conversion rate of 15.0%. The adjusted average total procedural revenue per new patient, controlled for scheduled appointment length and actual appointment length, was $686.02. The adjusted average procedural revenue per surgery was $3444.64 and average procedural revenue per hour in spine clinic was $552.40. With a 1% and 5% increase in new patient visits, total procedural revenue increases 2.7% and 13.5%, respectively. With a 1% and 5% increase in conversion rate, total procedural revenue increases 6.7% and 33.3%, respectively. With a decrease in new patient appointment length from 30 minutes to 25 minutes, the opportunity for 1.7 new patient appointments per day was created resulting in a net increase in procedural revenue per clinic day of $837.57., Conclusions: Incremental changes in practice structure can significantly affect procedural revenue. Significant heterogeneity also exists among spine providers., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: Growing relationships between industry related financial payments and physicians have become an increasingly controversial topic as they relate to clinical judgment and patient care. Our objective is to analyze and quantify the effects of physician reported industry payments on the patient experience and patient satisfaction as defined by Physician Rating Websites (PRW)., Patients and Methods: We analyzed physician-reported industry payments received by neurosurgeons over four consecutive years as defined by the Physician Payments Sunshine Act (PPSA). All board-certified neurosurgeons on three widely used PRWs were further identified. Data was collected on average rating, number of ratings and composite ratings. Demographic, training-related and practice-related data were also collected. Each physician was identified and matched to their individually reported payments from the PPSA database., Results: Receiving higher amounts of industrial payments had no correlation to average PRW ratings, however was associated with receiving higher composite PRW ratings (p = 0.0389). Higher composite ratings (p = 0.0389), decreasing age (p = 0.005), being male (OR 1.7960, p = 0.005), completing a fellowship (OR 1.3310, p = 0.0085), having a more complete profile (OR 1.1121, p = 0.0057) and speaking more languages (OR 1.1253, p = 0.03802) all were correlated with receiving more total monetary payments. Training at a top 25 residency program was predictive of being in the bottom quartile of total monetary payments received (OR 1.676, p = 0.0002)., Conclusions: Patient experience as defined by PRW ratings are likely not strongly influenced by industry related monetary payments, however some relationship may exist. Further study is needed to determine the true relationship between industry related monetary payments and the patient experience., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)