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Amid ongoing concerns over conflicts of interest that may affect medical practice, a new analysis finds that 81% of authors whose work appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine and Journal of the American Medical Association — two of the most influential medical journals — failed to disclose payments as required. The analysis examined 31 original research articles that were published in each journal in 2017 and then identified 118 authors who received a total of $7.48 million, according to OpenPayments, a U.S. government database to which drug and device makers must report payments to physicians and other health care providers. The payments were for speaking, consulting, travel and food, among other things. (Silverman, 1/19)

Doctors’ notes are meant to be an objective record of their interactions with patients. Among other uses, the notes provide important context for any other providers who treat those patients in the future. But these notes aren’t as objective as doctors might think. For example, a doctor might write that a patient was “agitated” at an appointment, or “nonadherent” with the treatment plan they discussed the last time. These words are negative descriptors, and according to a new study, they are applied unequally across racial lines: Black patients had 2.54 times the odds of white patients of having at least one negative term in their notes. (Preston, 1/19)

Nearly three-quarters of healthcare data breaches reported to the federal government last year were attributed to hacking or information-technology incidents, according to a review of the latest data from the Health and Human Services Department's Office for Civil Rights. As of Wednesday, the agency lists 712 breach reports that healthcare providers, insurers and their business associates submitted to the agency in 2021. These incidents affected more than 45 million patients. Last year's tally was the highest since the Office for Civil Rights debuted its breach portal in 2010; the previous record was 663 in 2020. (Kim Cohen, 1/19)

A quarter of Medicare Advantage plans now offer chronically ill beneficiaries healthy food, transportation and other special supplemental benefits in 2022, representing a nearly 40% year-over-year increase in carrier uptake of these unconventional services, a new study found. The report, released by consultancy ATI Advisory on Wednesday, found that 1,292 Medicare Advantage plans offered special supplemental benefits this year, up 383.8% from 267 carriers in 2020, the first year plans were able to offer chronically ill patients these benefits, the report said. Greater understanding of how the social determinants of health can impact individual conditions and competition in the Medicare Advantage market is driving carrier adoption of these unique products, said Tyler Cromer, a partner at ATI and co-author of the report. (Tepper, 1/19)

Digital health continues to break funding records as companies across the globe raked in $30.7 billion in venture capital in 2021, according to data from Digital Health Business & Technology. Investments during the fourth quarter were $7.6 billion across 206 deals, a 6% drop from the recording-setting $8.1 billion raised by digital health companies during the previous quarter. But venture capital funding increased 68% year-over-year, as digital health companies raised just $4.5 billion in 139 deals during the fourth quarter of 2020. (Brady, 1/19)

Capital Health signed a definitive agreement to acquire Trinity Health's St. Francis Medical Center, the New Jersey-based health systems announced Wednesday. Capital Health operates Capital Health Medical Center—Hopewell in Pennington and Capital Health Regional Medical Center in Trenton, which is two miles away from St. Francis. Preserving and strengthening healthcare services in Trenton will be a priority, executives said. The deal, which started with a letter of intent in May, now awaits customary state and federal regulatory approval. (Kacik, 1/19)

Encompass Health plans to spin off its home health and hospice business as a separate publicly-operated company known as Enhabit Home Health and Hospice, the company announced Wednesday. Birmingham, Alabama-based Encompass Health expects to complete the spin-off in the first half of 2022 and will begin rebranding the home health and hospice segment in April, the company said in a news release. (Christ, 1/19)