Becker’s Hospital Review reports on a Newsweek survey ranking OHSU Hospital as the best in Oregon. The outlet also includes OHSU among the top 14 oncology hospitals, per patients and providers.

OPB-Radio covers a new Hospital Association of Oregon quarterly report reflecting improved finances among Oregon hospitals between April and June of this year. The report cites continued financial pressure for hospitals, citing the proposed merger of OHSU and Legacy Health as an example of major changes.

Amid alarming increases in overdose deaths nationwide among adolescents, The National Desk interviews Laurel Hallock-Koppelman, D.N.P., who says it’s critical to improve access to basic medical care including providing addiction treatment through primary care as opposed to specialized and scarce rehabilitation centers. She says, “Seventy percent of people that have a substance use disorder will go to the emergency room for their primary treatment. … And in primary care, it’s about 10% of people that you see overall will have a substance use disorder.”

Axios Portland notes that Oregon ranks third nationally for young people with substance use disorder with limited access to treatment. Elizabeth Waddell, Ph.D., says, “Hardly any of them are getting treatment in a specialty facility.”

Benzinga covers new study recruiting participants for a study at OHSU and two other institutions studying the effects of cannabis use among oncology patients receiving immunotherapy.

In a New York Post story about a herbal supplement believed to be useful in relieving pain and anxiety, Amala Soumyanath, Ph.D., says, “Laboratory studies show that ashwagandha extracts can act on neurotransmitter pathways including those involving serotonin and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA).” See OHSU story from 2020 about new research center.

In continuing news coverage of the National Medal of Technology and Innovation awarded by President Joe Biden for the invention of optical coherence tomography, David Huang, M.D., Ph.D., says, “Another thing that I want to work on in my research group is to apply OCT in the eye to detect neurological and cardiovascular diseases, including multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s … and using the eye as a window to systemic blood flow, coronary and carotid heart disease.”

NPR’s All Things Considered interviews Alyssa Colwill, M.D., about the fact that Oregon now has some of the strongest protections for reproductive rights in the country, drawing patients from across the country seeking abortions. She says, “We have patients that tell us that they’ve been trying to figure out where they can go for sometimes multiple weeks at a time.”

While discussing OHSU’s ongoing contract negotiations with insurer Aetna, and a recent message that notified patients who currently have Aetna coverage that OHSU may not participate in Aetna’s network beginning in 2024, Jeff Conklin says: “What we're asking for from Aetna is not unusual or inconsistent with what we're asking from others, and others have stepped up.”

President Joe Biden presented David Huang, M.D., Ph.D., with the National Medal of Technology and Innovation on Oct. 24 for co-inventing the imaging technology optical coherence tomography.