One of the many healthcare disparities that people of color face is lower-quality dermatological care, due in part to a lack of education among clinicians on how skin conditions affect people with darker skin tones, according to a 2022 study.

To address these disparities, Caroline Opene, a dermatologist at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Health, opened a skin of color clinic located near the health system’s Santa Monica Medical Center. Opene told Healthcare Brew the clinic serves as a “hub for patients with diverse skin tones and backgrounds to seek care.”

The goal of the UCLA Skin of Color clinic, which opened in fall 2022, is to “make sure that patients with medium to deeper skin tones feel that the unique needs and nuances of their skin are being addressed, and their concerns are being heard,” Opene said.

Keep reading here.—MA

Do you work in healthcare or have information about the industry that we should know? Email Maia at [email protected]. For confidential conversations, ask Maia for her number on Signal.

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For almost a year, many hospitals have followed guidance the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) issued last June to withhold a dose of certain diabetes medications before surgery because of concerns that they could cause health complications. But a new study released Tuesday suggests that stopping the medication may not always be necessary.

The study, published in the Journal of Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism, found that taking glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonists the week of an elective surgical procedure did not increase patients’ risks for at least six potential peri- and postsurgical complications, including gastroparesis, respiratory failure, and death.

Researchers from the Mills-Peninsula Medical Center, Stanford University, the University of Miami, Thomas Jefferson University and the Diabetes Technology Society partnered with data company Atropos Health and used artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze millions of anonymous patient records from when GLP-1s were first introduced in January 2015 to April 2023.

Keep reading here.—NB

Do you work in healthcare or have information about the industry that we should know? Email Neelam at [email protected]. For confidential conversations, ask Neelam for her number on Signal.

Fallout from a May 8 ransomware attack on national hospital operator Ascension has continued into this week, with most staff transitioning to manual recordkeeping as some software systems remain down, according to a Tuesday press release.

Ascension, a St. Louis-based Catholic nonprofit with 140 hospitals and thousands of affiliates around the country, said it made progress to restore some systems over the weekend, according to the press release.

All of the system’s hospitals and physician sites remain open and operational, according to the release, and its website recommends that patients show up for their elective procedures unless otherwise notified. But Ascension said that some of its pharmacies are currently only able to process cash payments, and that some diagnostic imaging, tests, and treatments have been delayed.

Keep reading here.—NB

Do you work in healthcare or have information about the industry that we should know? Email Neelam at [email protected]. For confidential conversations, ask Neelam for her number on Signal.

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