A seemingly old-school tech for treating neurological disorders is gearing up for a comeback. A class of neurotechnology known as neuromodulation is showing promising clinical results for patients with certain illnesses.

Neuromodulation technology uses nervous system and brain stimulation devices to treat a range of ailments including depression and Alzheimer’s. A 2021 survey in the journal Brain Stimulation found 1,252 clinical trials using a neuromodulation treatment, and said the number of registered trials has “trended upward” since 1997, which is when the database first went live.

In 2018, the global neuromodulation market was valued at $4.51 billion. It’s projected to grow to $16.25 billion by 2032.

Last month, a Massachusetts-based biotech, Sinaptica Therapeutics, announced that its transcranial magnetic stimulation treatment improved symptoms of Alzheimer's and overall well-being, according to recently released data. Also in October, Flow Neuroscience in Sweden showed in its research that at-home transcranial direct current stimulation improved depression symptoms in adults.

Around the same time, medical devices and healthcare giant Abbott announced that it’s rebooting a clinical trial evaluating the effects of deep brain stimulation on patients with treatment-resistant depression. On top of that, several other ongoing trials are evaluating neuromodulation for a variety of psychiatric disorders like obsessive compulsive disorder and schizophrenia.

Keep reading here.—CH

Just because patients have health insurance doesn’t mean they can afford healthcare.

Joseph Betancourt, primary care doctor and president of nonprofit health policy research firm the Commonwealth Fund, sees this “firsthand.”

“I regularly care for patients who struggle to afford essential medications, battle denied claims for the care they need,” he said during a November 20 press conference.

The Commonwealth Fund’s 2024 biennial health insurance survey, released November 21, found that though 79% of US adults had continuous health insurance for 12 months, 23% were underinsured, meaning they have health insurance and still can’t afford care. About 56% of those surveyed had adequate insurance coverage all year.

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An estimated 1.7 million Medicare members who receive hospice care every year account for about $23 billion of Medicare spending on hospice care.

A new study published on November 18 in JAMA Network found that care quality can be linked to care center ownership, with not-for-profit hospice outperforming for-profit services.

And for-profit facilities in the space are growing. In 2010, 53% of hospice facilities were for-profit, growing from 2,300 to 3,500 over a 10-year span, according to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission. By 2020, that share jumped to 70% of 5,200 facilities analyzed, per the CDC.

Private equity (PE) ownership has also been on the rise at hospice facilities. Between 2015 and 2022, 47 PE firms bought 124 hospices, a report out of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai found.

Meanwhile, quality of care is not always up to snuff, with the US Department of Health and Human Services raising concerns in 2023 about patient neglect and abuse. Generally, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ), about 10% of people over 65 in the US experience elder abuse each year, 5.1% of which is due to caregiver neglect.

Keep reading here.—CM