New options for patients with cardiovascular risk come in the form of a newer medication recently tested through a clinical trial at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. The drug, a prescription-strength form of purified omega-3 fatty acid EPA, was found to significantly reduce the risk of death in patients with elevated triglyceride levels.

Necessity is said to be the mother of invention—and there is perhaps no more urgent need in today’s health care system than treatments for opioid use disorder. For years, the only solutions for patients have been developed largely outside the medical system, leaving emergency department (ED) doctors with little to offer patients.

​What is the essential skill for a physician in a world with artificial intelligence (AI)? That was the question that elicited a momentary pause from Gregg Meyer, MD, MSc, Partners HealthCare Chief Clinical Officer, on the stage of the World Medical Innovation Forum.

​This year we covered a wide range of stories with impact on health care and medicine at the local, national, and international levels. From the human and economic toll of the ongoing opioid crisis to efforts to make health care better for people with complex medical conditions and social factors, our goal was to capture a snapshot of the system.

Holiday revelers who center celebrations around elaborate dinners may be heartened by recent Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) research indicating that people burn about 130 more calories right around dinnertime.

​Our country’s 5.2 million Native Americans represent around 1.7% of the U.S. population—but only .56% of active physicians and .48% of full-time faculty members at U.S. medical schools and teaching hospitals nationwide.