Microsoft reported the initiative was developed with internal clinicians, its team of engineers and a panel of 230 doctors to provide medical expertise and safety feedback. While this is welcome news, it remains to be seen what benefit it will provide.
Category: Cost of Healthcare
Tuesday Links – 17 March 2026
- In 2024, almost 10 million patients received Botox or similar injections, up from over six million patients in 2014.
- Survey: 82 million Americans are cutting back on everyday living expenses, including skipping meals and stretching prescription medications to afford health care.
- The downside of NAFTA: For 45-year-old men in communities most exposed to Mexican import competition roughly three percent lost a full year of remaining life.
- One in four children in America has at least one immigrant parent, compared with 13 percent about 25 years ago.
- Every year in the United States, about 600,000 people are reported missing. (NYT)
Penn Study: Telemedicine is Here to Stay, But Varies Among Patients
What began as an emergency stop-gap measure during Covid has settled in and become an established part of normal, everyday medical care. While virtual care over the telephone was relatively rare in the years (decades) prior to Covid, doctors began to consult online with patients almost overnight. Few patients wanted to risk catching Covid by congregating with other patients in a physician’s waiting room. Few doctors wanted to risk treating contagious Covid patients through in-person exams. A recent study found telemedicine has become an established practice across the University of Pennsylvania Health System.