More U.S. parents are using in vitro fertilization to grow their families, according to newly released data.
The big picture: IVF and other assisted reproductive technologies have grown in popularity, as hopeful parents gain more access to infertility treatments and choose to have kids later in life.
The Biden administration on Friday said it will take more time to review a long-awaited ban on menthol cigarettes, after months of delays have left the fate of the life-saving measure in limbo.
Why it matters: The ban is expected to prevent the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans over the next few decades and have an outsized impact in the Black community, but political considerations are prompting the delay.
Some health systems have recovered from the pandemic much better than others, and those with healthier margins tend to be the ones that made a stronger push into outpatient care.
The big picture: There's a wildly large and growing difference between the operating margins of top-performing health systems and those at the bottom, according to Kaufman Hall data shared with Axios.
Economists say in an ideal world, different hospitals will specialize in different forms of care while others — particularly in rural areas — will focus on providing basic services.
Why it matters: The hospital of the future will likely mean a significantly different patient experience, in ways both obvious (it'll have better technology) and potentially disruptive (it could require more travel).
Hospitals' business models are being upended by fundamental changes within the health care system, including one that presents a pretty existential challenge: People have far more options to get their care elsewhere these days.
Why it matters: Health systems' responses to major demographic, social and technological change have been controversial among policymakers and economists concerned about the impact on costs and competition.
