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A change in how physicians are paid is bringing many benefits to patients. Since the dawn of modern medicine and until recently, payment was generally based on the volume of services doctors provided, a ‘fee-for-service” plan that incentivized doctors to maximize testing and interventions to a level that actually can do harm. (Howard Forman, 9/25)

Time and time again, research has shown that with treatment, people with severe mental illness are less likely to experience tragic consequences, and even return to leading productive lives. The only glimmer of hope that we and other family members have is seeing the nearly unanimous vote earlier this summer, when Congress passed the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act. The legislation creates a mandatory assisted outpatient treatment program. It empowers providers to take patients before judges in special courts, who can order them to stay on their treatment plans or face hospitalization. ... Sen. Ron Johnson must take action and bring mental health reform to a vote. He cannot afford to stand by while families such as mine continue to suffer. We cannot afford to wait. (Paula John, 9/24)

[H]ere I’ll present a simple modification of health-care payment policies that I think could yield large dividends, too — in health, in finances and in patient satisfaction. The principle is straightforward: Pay physicians a bonus for providing continuity of care. In other words, insurers (including Medicare) would pay a bit extra to a physician who sees a particular patient multiple times over a long period, versus a physician seeing the same patient for the first time. (John Sotos, 9/25)

When I started my nursing career nine years ago, I was confident that my nursing education prepared me with the fundamentals of the profession — anatomy and physiology, pharmacology, clinical skills, and more. What I wasn’t prepared for was that some of the basic aspects of health that we ensure for our patients, like nutrition, rest, and removal from constant stressors, aren’t necessarily guaranteed for nurses. ... nurses need undisturbed break time on each shift to balance the emotional and physical demands required to provide high-quality care to patients and to keep more front-line nurses at the bedside. (Vanessa Patricelli, 9/23)

Sometimes a source gives information to journalists before a public announcement in exchange for an agreement that the journalist won't publish the information until an agreed-upon time. This process -- called an embargo -- is actually reasonable and beneficial to the public, because it gives reporters time to dig into a technical subject without feeling that they have to only skim the paper quickly and dash off an article so they can be the first to publish and get the scoop. The FDA's “close hold” embargo is an innovation I’d never heard of, however: It forbids reporters to talk to any third parties until the embargo date and time. (Megan McArdle, 9/23)

Most of the chemicals added to food and beverages — from cheese to chips to chicken soup — are never reviewed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) before those products are sold in grocery stores. ... Responding to a court-approved settlement agreement, the FDA recently issued a final rule on its process for handling substances in food that are “Generally Recognized as Safe,” also known as GRAS. The problem is, generally recognized as safe is an oxymoron. Under the GRAS process, ingredients can bypass FDA safety reviews, and the manufacturers themselves can determine a substance is safe without ever informing the FDA that they are using it in food. (Sen. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., 9/23)

Currently, New Mexico receives four dollars in federal funds for every state dollar invested in Medicaid. This money goes directly into patient care and supports over 50,000 mostly private-sector jobs in the state. Rather than maximizing this $4 to $1 return on investment, New Mexico underfunded the Medicaid budget in the 2016 legislative session. (Abuko Estrada And Sireesha Manne, 9/26)

If you’re a pregnant woman and have a backache or headache, or a fever, your options for over-the-counter treatment basically boil down to one medication: the pain reliever acetaminophen, better known as Tylenol. Doctors advise against using nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories, like ibuprofen and aspirin, during late pregnancy because they can compromise fetal circulation and have other adverse consequences. (Moises Velasquez-Manoff, 9/24)

The Zika virus has arrived in the United States, threatening reproductive-age American women with the prospect of compromised pregnancies — and returning the country to its decades-long debate over reproductive rights. If a pregnant American woman wanted to end a Zika-compromised pregnancy, could she? If she wanted to prevent pregnancy until she knew that any Zika risk was past, could she find the contraception she would need? (Rebecca Kreitzer and Candis Watts Smith, 9/26)

California made 465,873 marijuana-related arrests between 2006 and 2015. Nationwide, despite spending billions on the war on drugs, drug abuse remains at unacceptable levels. Illegal production has degraded the environment, often in pristine wilderness areas, and black market producers do not pay taxes. As a law professor, I also am troubled that respect for the law diminishes when we criminalize conduct that so many people engage in, especially when people of color are arrested on marijuana charges far more frequently than white offenders, despite similar use across racial groups. Still, the more extravagant claims that some proponents of legalization make leave me skeptical. (Michael Vitiello, 9/24)

On Oct. 1, the honeymoon ends for Piedmont Healthcare and Athens Regional Medical Center (ARMC), and the realities of their marriage will set in. Next week Athens Regional, with 350 beds, will become the second-largest facility in Piedmont’s system and the only one with a residency program. ARMC will be Piedmont’s seventh hospital. (Meera Naqvi, 9/24)

Allowing heroin users to shoot up at a government-sanctioned medical facility is a radical idea. When a King County task force studying the regional heroin and opioid crisis proposed a so-called “safe injection site,” it appropriately generated controversy. But peel back the skepticism and fear. Reams of research in Canada, Europe and Australia show that such a facility could reduce rates of overdose and HIV infection, increase rates of treatment and cut down on public drug consumption and the health hazard of discarded needles on the street. It could even save money. It is a radical idea that King County should try. (9/22)