How should #policymakers address rising #HealthCare costs? JAMA Health Forum is soliciting Viewpoints on #policy strategies to improve #affordability and address #spending. Authors may submit policy-focused perspectives through December 31, 2026. ja.ma/3VWneNe

📝 Cuts to adult #Medicaid #Dental benefits may lower total spending, but states retain only a fraction of those reductions as savings because most fee-for-service dental spending is federally financed. ja.ma/4BoJr6W

📊 After routine adult #Depression screening was recommended by the US Preventive Services Task Force, psychotherapy use increased and antidepressant use alone decreased, with changes concentrated among adults reporting psychological distress. ja.ma/4s5FFuK

📝 Editorial: The next phase of #Telehealth will depend on policy and #ArtificialIntelligence, with open questions about appropriate use, equity, costs, outcomes, and oversight as AI-mediated remote care becomes more common. ja.ma/4BgM0Ib

💬 Viewpoint: A 2-tier #AI ecosystem in health care may emerge if responsibility for safe deployment remains concentrated at the local level while control over model design and updates remains with developers. ja.ma/4i2ElnM

Commercial insurance directories often did not translate into meaningful access to #MentalHealth care, with low appointment success, frequent directory inaccuracies, and additional barriers from clinician capacity limits, wait times, and travel burden ja.ma/4jpDa4e

📈 Spending on withdrawn #AcceleratedApproval indications was driven largely by drugs that failed to verify clinical benefit in confirmatory studies, supporting payment and regulatory reforms that better address clinical uncertainty. ja.ma/4jOqxjd

#Medicare site-neutral payment for selected #HospitalOutpatientDepartment services generated similar savings under a 40% Outpatient Prospective Payment System rate and a Physician Fee Schedule-based approach, but service-level differences remained. ja.ma/3W0Q6no

📊 Medicaid lesser-of rules were associated with greater admission of dually eligible individuals to lower-resource #SkilledNursingFacility care, along with earlier discharge and modestly higher readmission rates. ja.ma/3TJvyzb

📝 Viewpoint: Use of #AI chatbots among young people is expanding fast. Research and regulation should advance together so that evidence generation, proportionate safeguards, and evaluation occur before social harms become the basis for policy action. ja.ma/3VpZ6Cx

📈 #PharmacyBenefitManagers and opioid manufacturers had undisclosed financial relationships that encouraged increased dispensing of branded opioids in this study of litigation documents from 1997 to 2018. ja.ma/4rXmzHe

In Pennsylvania, nonprofit #AmbulatorySurgeryCenters had higher profit margins than for-profit centers and accounted for a larger share of total net income relative to their share of facilities. ja.ma/4d85TGV

In Medicaid, covering obesity-labeled #GLP1 receptor agonists was associated with higher obesity-labeled use, while total glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist use increased less, suggesting possible substitution across label indications. ja.ma/3V3O6dR

📊 Among Medicare beneficiaries who reached the Inflation Reduction Act Part D cap in 2025, most without a low-income subsidy paid less than the full $2000 out of pocket, with lower payments in Medicare Advantage plans vs stand-alone Part D plans ja.ma/4iuScVX

📝 Viewpoint: #SchoolBasedHealthServices support student health and academic success, but federal Medicaid cuts under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act could disrupt access, especially in low-income and rural districts. ja.ma/3V1P3mL

Across 41 states, millions of people lived in #Broadband deserts, most of them in rural areas, with many also facing limited access to ambulance and health care services. ja.ma/4ApKRO6

For adults with #schizophrenia, #CommunityBasedRehabilitation was associated with improved outcomes and cost savings across health system, multipayer, and societal perspectives in a resource-constrained setting. ja.ma/3UZWqv0

Katy Backes Kozhimannil, PhD, MPA, of the University of Minnesota joins JAMA Health Forum Editor in Chief Sandro Galea, MD, DrPH, to discuss health policy and improving health for rural populations. ja.ma/4iP68dt

Consolidation of #GroupPurchasingOrganizations may have policy implications for competition, contracting practices, drug shortages, and hospital purchasing power in the US supply chain. ja.ma/46HuEpz

Explicit policies on #CognitiveDecline in aging physicians are uncommon across G7 countries, and age-based assessments in medicine raise ethical, legal, and practical tensions not seen to the same degree in other safety-critical professions. ja.ma/4yeAIl6