Pub Date : 2025-11-07DOI: 10.1001/jamahealthforum.2025.4928
Caleigh Propes, Katherine Cheung, Matthew D Eisenberg, David Yaden
{"title":"Gaps in US Psychedelic Policy and How to Close Them.","authors":"Caleigh Propes, Katherine Cheung, Matthew D Eisenberg, David Yaden","doi":"10.1001/jamahealthforum.2025.4928","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1001/jamahealthforum.2025.4928","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":53180,"journal":{"name":"JAMA Health Forum","volume":"6 11","pages":"e254928"},"PeriodicalIF":11.3,"publicationDate":"2025-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145460700","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-07DOI: 10.1001/jamahealthforum.2025.6266
Vanya Jones, Joshua M Sharfstein
{"title":"Establishing Community Networks to Support Routine Vaccination.","authors":"Vanya Jones, Joshua M Sharfstein","doi":"10.1001/jamahealthforum.2025.6266","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1001/jamahealthforum.2025.6266","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":53180,"journal":{"name":"JAMA Health Forum","volume":"6 11","pages":"e256266"},"PeriodicalIF":11.3,"publicationDate":"2025-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145566292","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-07DOI: 10.1001/jamahealthforum.2025.4916
Irene Papanicolas, Maecey Niksch, Jinru Wei, Reginald D Williams, Jose F Figueroa
{"title":"Racial Disparities in Premature Mortality and Unrealized Medicare Benefits Across US States.","authors":"Irene Papanicolas, Maecey Niksch, Jinru Wei, Reginald D Williams, Jose F Figueroa","doi":"10.1001/jamahealthforum.2025.4916","DOIUrl":"10.1001/jamahealthforum.2025.4916","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":53180,"journal":{"name":"JAMA Health Forum","volume":"6 11","pages":"e254916"},"PeriodicalIF":11.3,"publicationDate":"2025-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12595528/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145460783","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-07DOI: 10.1001/jamahealthforum.2025.5183
Osman Moneer, Kushal T Kadakia, Sanket S Dhruva, Joseph S Ross, Leah M Roth, James F Burke, Vinay K Rathi
{"title":"Hospital Acquisition Costs for Breakthrough-Designated Devices Awarded Supplemental Medicare Reimbursement.","authors":"Osman Moneer, Kushal T Kadakia, Sanket S Dhruva, Joseph S Ross, Leah M Roth, James F Burke, Vinay K Rathi","doi":"10.1001/jamahealthforum.2025.5183","DOIUrl":"10.1001/jamahealthforum.2025.5183","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":53180,"journal":{"name":"JAMA Health Forum","volume":"6 11","pages":"e255183"},"PeriodicalIF":11.3,"publicationDate":"2025-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12658659/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145607291","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-07DOI: 10.1001/jamahealthforum.2025.4157
Sara A Mar, Brian D Earp, Gnendy Indig, Meredithe McNamara, Elizabeth R Boskey, Katharine B Dalke, Elizabeth Dietz, Morgan Carpenter, Cynthia Kraus, Erika Lorshbough, Quinnehtukqut McLamore, Kimberly Zieselman, Hannah C Wenger
Importance: Since 2021, there have been growing calls in the US to prohibit gender-affirming medical care (GAMC) for transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) minors (ie, <18 years). Supporters of these bans have argued the restrictions are necessary to protect TGD minors from potentially risky or unproven medical interventions; however, the same bans include exceptions for similar procedures when performed on presumptively non-TGD minors: primarily, infants and children with variations in sex characteristics, or intersex traits.
Objective: To comprehensively describe US legislation seeking to prohibit GAMC for TGD individuals and determine the extent to which such legislation contains exceptions for similar interventions performed on presumptively non-TGD minors.
Evidence review: All US jurisdictions with statutes restricting GAMC across 4 full legislative sessions (January 1, 2021, to December 31, 2024) were searched. For each statute, the authors identified descriptions of sex, gender, and GAMC; restricted health care services; stated purpose(s) for which services are restricted; exceptions to restrictions; and penalties for statutory violations.
Findings: All US states with legislation restricting voluntarily sought TGD-related health care contain statutory exceptions that allow for physically comparable, but typically nonvoluntary interventions to "normalize" the benign bodily attributes of children with intersex traits. Some statutes also explicitly permit medically unnecessary procedures like penile circumcision on presumptively non-TGD minors.
Conclusions and relevance: Inconsistent statutory rules appear to be applied to TGD and presumptively non-TGD minors. Furthermore, these findings suggest such rules are shaped by definitions of sex and gender that conflict with current scientific understanding. Sound health policy ought to afford equal access to health care services affecting sexual anatomy, without discrimination based on sex traits or gender.
{"title":"US Laws Restricting Medical Care for Transgender Minors: Statutory Inconsistencies Involving Intersex and Other Individuals.","authors":"Sara A Mar, Brian D Earp, Gnendy Indig, Meredithe McNamara, Elizabeth R Boskey, Katharine B Dalke, Elizabeth Dietz, Morgan Carpenter, Cynthia Kraus, Erika Lorshbough, Quinnehtukqut McLamore, Kimberly Zieselman, Hannah C Wenger","doi":"10.1001/jamahealthforum.2025.4157","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1001/jamahealthforum.2025.4157","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Importance: </strong>Since 2021, there have been growing calls in the US to prohibit gender-affirming medical care (GAMC) for transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) minors (ie, <18 years). Supporters of these bans have argued the restrictions are necessary to protect TGD minors from potentially risky or unproven medical interventions; however, the same bans include exceptions for similar procedures when performed on presumptively non-TGD minors: primarily, infants and children with variations in sex characteristics, or intersex traits.</p><p><strong>Objective: </strong>To comprehensively describe US legislation seeking to prohibit GAMC for TGD individuals and determine the extent to which such legislation contains exceptions for similar interventions performed on presumptively non-TGD minors.</p><p><strong>Evidence review: </strong>All US jurisdictions with statutes restricting GAMC across 4 full legislative sessions (January 1, 2021, to December 31, 2024) were searched. For each statute, the authors identified descriptions of sex, gender, and GAMC; restricted health care services; stated purpose(s) for which services are restricted; exceptions to restrictions; and penalties for statutory violations.</p><p><strong>Findings: </strong>All US states with legislation restricting voluntarily sought TGD-related health care contain statutory exceptions that allow for physically comparable, but typically nonvoluntary interventions to \"normalize\" the benign bodily attributes of children with intersex traits. Some statutes also explicitly permit medically unnecessary procedures like penile circumcision on presumptively non-TGD minors.</p><p><strong>Conclusions and relevance: </strong>Inconsistent statutory rules appear to be applied to TGD and presumptively non-TGD minors. Furthermore, these findings suggest such rules are shaped by definitions of sex and gender that conflict with current scientific understanding. Sound health policy ought to afford equal access to health care services affecting sexual anatomy, without discrimination based on sex traits or gender.</p>","PeriodicalId":53180,"journal":{"name":"JAMA Health Forum","volume":"6 11","pages":"e254157"},"PeriodicalIF":11.3,"publicationDate":"2025-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145515021","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-07DOI: 10.1001/jamahealthforum.2025.5029
Thuy D Nguyen, Christopher M Whaley, Kosali Simon, Neil Mehta, Hao Yu, Ryan K McBain, Ateev Mehrotra, Jonathan H Cantor
{"title":"Adoption of Artificial Intelligence in the Health Care Sector.","authors":"Thuy D Nguyen, Christopher M Whaley, Kosali Simon, Neil Mehta, Hao Yu, Ryan K McBain, Ateev Mehrotra, Jonathan H Cantor","doi":"10.1001/jamahealthforum.2025.5029","DOIUrl":"10.1001/jamahealthforum.2025.5029","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":53180,"journal":{"name":"JAMA Health Forum","volume":"6 11","pages":"e255029"},"PeriodicalIF":11.3,"publicationDate":"2025-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12639477/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145566249","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-07DOI: 10.1001/jamahealthforum.2025.5023
Yu-Chia Sam Hsu, Ashish P Thakrar, Charles E Leonard, Margaret Lowenstein, Colleen M Brensinger, Warren B Bilker, Kacie F Bogar, Sean Hennessy
{"title":"Trends in Methadone Use for Pain and Opioid Use Disorder Among Medicaid Enrollees.","authors":"Yu-Chia Sam Hsu, Ashish P Thakrar, Charles E Leonard, Margaret Lowenstein, Colleen M Brensinger, Warren B Bilker, Kacie F Bogar, Sean Hennessy","doi":"10.1001/jamahealthforum.2025.5023","DOIUrl":"10.1001/jamahealthforum.2025.5023","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":53180,"journal":{"name":"JAMA Health Forum","volume":"6 11","pages":"e255023"},"PeriodicalIF":11.3,"publicationDate":"2025-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12639476/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145566377","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-07DOI: 10.1001/jamahealthforum.2025.4078
Katherine Callaway Kim, Eric T Roberts, Julie M Donohue, Lindsay M Sabik, Chester B Good, Joshua W Devine, Mina Tadrous, Katie J Suda
<p><strong>Importance: </strong>Angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs) are common treatments for hypertension, heart failure, and chronic kidney disease. From 2018 to 2019, hundreds of valsartan, losartan, and irbesartan products were recalled due to ingredient impurities.</p><p><strong>Objective: </strong>To estimate the impact of the 2018 to 2019 ARB shortages on medication adherence, switches to alternatives, and associated drug spending up to 18 months.</p><p><strong>Design, setting, and participants: </strong>This longitudinal cohort study with a difference-in-differences (DiD) analysis used pharmacy claims data from IQVIA's all-payer Formulary Impact Analyzer dataset from July 2017 to January 2020, comprising prerecall users of valsartan, irbesartan, and losartan vs similar nonrecalled medications (other ARBs, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors [ACEIs]). Analyses were conducted from November 2023 to October 2025.</p><p><strong>Exposures: </strong>Use of the recalled drugs (valsartan, irbesartan, and losartan) at baseline vs comparison antihypertensives (nonrecalled ARBs, ACEIs).</p><p><strong>Main outcomes and measures: </strong>Mean proportion of days covered for ARBs and ACEIs, switches to alternatives, medication gaps of 30 or more days, and associated drug spending (insurer and patient out-of-pocket costs).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>For 13.8 million ARB users (median [IQR] age in 2018, 66 [56-74] years; 54.8% female) vs 23.4 million comparison drug users (median [IQR] age in 2018, 62 [54-72] years; 46.0% female), mean proportion of days covered changed by 0.55 percentage points (pp; 95% CI, 0.34-0.76 pp) within 18 months. Relative changes in gaps of 30 or more days, insurer drug spending, and patient out-of-pocket drug spending changed by less than 5% (relative changes of -2.5%, 0.6%, and 3.7%, respectively). ARB users experienced an increase in medication switches in the 90 days after the valsartan recall (DiD estimate: 8.46 pp; 95% CI, 8.30-8.63 pp; 229.0% relative increase). Smaller increases in switching occurred after the first irbesartan and first losartan recalls (DiD estimate: 1.20 pp; 95% CI, 1.12-1.27 pp; 32.4% relative increase). The proportion of individuals switching was greater among those with Medicare (DiD estimate: 9.49 pp; 95% CI, 9.28-9.72 pp; 256.8% relative increase) or third-party insurance (DiD estimate: 7.81 pp; 95% CI, 7.57-8.04 pp; 210.8% relative increase) vs Medicaid fee-for-service insurance (DiD estimate: 2.54 pp; 95% CI, 2.31-2.77 pp; 43.1% relative increase) or among customers paying with cash (DiD estimate: 3.42 pp; 95% CI, 3.22-3.61 pp; 87.1% relative increase).</p><p><strong>Conclusions and relevance: </strong>This cohort study shows that access to alternatives may have mitigated gaps in treatment during the 2018 to 2019 ARB recalls and drug shortages. Potential disparate impacts among certain subgroups highlight the need for policies to mitigate financial and other systematic access barri
{"title":"Adherence, Switches, and Drug Spending After Angiotensin Receptor Blocker Recalls and Shortages.","authors":"Katherine Callaway Kim, Eric T Roberts, Julie M Donohue, Lindsay M Sabik, Chester B Good, Joshua W Devine, Mina Tadrous, Katie J Suda","doi":"10.1001/jamahealthforum.2025.4078","DOIUrl":"10.1001/jamahealthforum.2025.4078","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Importance: </strong>Angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs) are common treatments for hypertension, heart failure, and chronic kidney disease. From 2018 to 2019, hundreds of valsartan, losartan, and irbesartan products were recalled due to ingredient impurities.</p><p><strong>Objective: </strong>To estimate the impact of the 2018 to 2019 ARB shortages on medication adherence, switches to alternatives, and associated drug spending up to 18 months.</p><p><strong>Design, setting, and participants: </strong>This longitudinal cohort study with a difference-in-differences (DiD) analysis used pharmacy claims data from IQVIA's all-payer Formulary Impact Analyzer dataset from July 2017 to January 2020, comprising prerecall users of valsartan, irbesartan, and losartan vs similar nonrecalled medications (other ARBs, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors [ACEIs]). Analyses were conducted from November 2023 to October 2025.</p><p><strong>Exposures: </strong>Use of the recalled drugs (valsartan, irbesartan, and losartan) at baseline vs comparison antihypertensives (nonrecalled ARBs, ACEIs).</p><p><strong>Main outcomes and measures: </strong>Mean proportion of days covered for ARBs and ACEIs, switches to alternatives, medication gaps of 30 or more days, and associated drug spending (insurer and patient out-of-pocket costs).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>For 13.8 million ARB users (median [IQR] age in 2018, 66 [56-74] years; 54.8% female) vs 23.4 million comparison drug users (median [IQR] age in 2018, 62 [54-72] years; 46.0% female), mean proportion of days covered changed by 0.55 percentage points (pp; 95% CI, 0.34-0.76 pp) within 18 months. Relative changes in gaps of 30 or more days, insurer drug spending, and patient out-of-pocket drug spending changed by less than 5% (relative changes of -2.5%, 0.6%, and 3.7%, respectively). ARB users experienced an increase in medication switches in the 90 days after the valsartan recall (DiD estimate: 8.46 pp; 95% CI, 8.30-8.63 pp; 229.0% relative increase). Smaller increases in switching occurred after the first irbesartan and first losartan recalls (DiD estimate: 1.20 pp; 95% CI, 1.12-1.27 pp; 32.4% relative increase). The proportion of individuals switching was greater among those with Medicare (DiD estimate: 9.49 pp; 95% CI, 9.28-9.72 pp; 256.8% relative increase) or third-party insurance (DiD estimate: 7.81 pp; 95% CI, 7.57-8.04 pp; 210.8% relative increase) vs Medicaid fee-for-service insurance (DiD estimate: 2.54 pp; 95% CI, 2.31-2.77 pp; 43.1% relative increase) or among customers paying with cash (DiD estimate: 3.42 pp; 95% CI, 3.22-3.61 pp; 87.1% relative increase).</p><p><strong>Conclusions and relevance: </strong>This cohort study shows that access to alternatives may have mitigated gaps in treatment during the 2018 to 2019 ARB recalls and drug shortages. Potential disparate impacts among certain subgroups highlight the need for policies to mitigate financial and other systematic access barri","PeriodicalId":53180,"journal":{"name":"JAMA Health Forum","volume":"6 11","pages":"e254078"},"PeriodicalIF":11.3,"publicationDate":"2025-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12658656/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145607281","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-07DOI: 10.1001/jamahealthforum.2025.5191
Austin S Kilaru, Julie M Donohue, Sandro Galea
{"title":"Study Designs and Methods for Health Policy and Health Services Research: A Look Back, A Look Ahead.","authors":"Austin S Kilaru, Julie M Donohue, Sandro Galea","doi":"10.1001/jamahealthforum.2025.5191","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1001/jamahealthforum.2025.5191","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":53180,"journal":{"name":"JAMA Health Forum","volume":"6 11","pages":"e255191"},"PeriodicalIF":11.3,"publicationDate":"2025-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145566302","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-07DOI: 10.1001/jamahealthforum.2025.5188
Mary D Naylor, Martha A Q Curley, Connie M Ulrich
{"title":"The Enduring Impact of the National Institute of Nursing Research and Why We Still Need It.","authors":"Mary D Naylor, Martha A Q Curley, Connie M Ulrich","doi":"10.1001/jamahealthforum.2025.5188","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1001/jamahealthforum.2025.5188","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":53180,"journal":{"name":"JAMA Health Forum","volume":"6 11","pages":"e255188"},"PeriodicalIF":11.3,"publicationDate":"2025-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145566341","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}