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Policy & Ethics

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 24-Apr-2026 14:16 ET (24-Apr-2026 18:16 GMT/UTC)

What would bring nurses back? New research shows how hospitals can reverse nursing workforce losses

University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Most registered nurses who recently left hospital employment are motivated to return to health care work—and safe nurse staffing levels is the top factor that would bring them back, according to new research from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing’s Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research (CHOPR).

Journal: JAMA Network Open

PBM markets for Medicare Part D or Medicaid are highly concentrated in nearly every state

University of Southern California
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The study provides one of the most detailed examinations to date of PBM competition within states.

Journal: JAMA Health Forum

Why melting glaciers are drawing more visitors and what that says about climate change

Rice University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

As glaciers around the world continue to shrink and disappear, they are drawing more visitors than ever, not only for their beauty but for what they have come to represent in an era of climate change. A new study co-authored by Rice University anthropologist Cymene Howe examines this phenomenon, showing how melting glaciers have become powerful destinations for tourism, sites of collective grief and symbols of political meaning even as their loss threatens the communities that depend on them.

Journal: Nature Climate Change

Study finds outdated Medicare rule delays nursing care, wastes hospital resources

Brown University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A long-standing Medicare policy meant to manage rehabilitation services in nursing homes may keep older Americans in hospitals longer than necessary without improving patient health or saving Medicare money, new research finds.

Journal: JAMA Internal Medicine
Funder: National Institute on Aging, National Institute on Aging

Businesses can either lead transformative change or risk extinction: IPBES

Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES)
Reports and Proceedings

Approved by representatives of 150+ member Governments, the IPBES Business and Biodiversity Report, finds that businesses are central to halting and reversing biodiversity loss, but many often lack information to address their impacts and dependencies, as well as biodiversity-related risks and opportunities.

Prepared over three years by 79 leading experts from 35 countries, the Report finds the loss of biodiversity is among the most serious threats to business, and that business as usual is not inevitable: "with the right policies, as well as financial and cultural shifts, what is good for nature is also what is best for profitability. To get there, the Report offers tools for choosing more effective measurements and analysis.”

Have associations between historical redlining and breast cancer survival changed over time?

Wiley
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Historical redlining, a 1930s–1960s residential segregation policy, has been linked to shorter survival time in people with breast cancer. New research published by Wiley online in CANCER reveals that this association has changed over time, with disparities narrowing until recently.

Journal: Cancer

Celebrity alcohol ads slip into teens’ Insta feeds, new study

La Trobe University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Celebrity actors, musicians and athletes are promoting their own alcohol products on Instagram without clear disclosure of advertising content - and almost all posts are visible to underage users, according to new research from La Trobe University’s Centre for Alcohol Policy Research.

Journal: PEDIATRICS

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