Access to specialists in ACA plans may be inadequate: study

While 12 million Americans are enrolled in health care networks through the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) insurance marketplace, a recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) raises concerns about patient access to specialists within these insurance plans.

Guillamondegui: One standard needed to track concussions

Data in sports concussion studies will continue to be disputed as long as the injuries are diagnosed by differing standards instead of universal guidelines, a Vanderbilt investigator concludes in a recent review.

Flu vaccine helps reduce hospitalizations due to influenza pneumonia: study

More than half of hospitalizations due to influenza pneumonia could be prevented by influenza vaccination, according to a study led by investigators at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Findings do not support chlorhexidine bathing in ICUs

Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers have found that bathing critically ill patients with disposable chlorhexidine cloths did not decrease the incidence of health care-associated infections when compared to less expensive nonantimicrobial cloths, according to a study appearing online in JAMA this week.

More breast cancer patients opting for mastectomy, Vanderbilt study finds

Study finds accuracy of lung cancer imaging varies by region

A new analysis of published studies found that FDG-PET technology is less accurate in diagnosing lung cancer versus benign disease in regions where infections like histoplasmosis or tuberculosis are common.