Lison Joseph
@lisonjoseph.bsky.social
Health and science journalist. An editor at STAT (@statnews.bsky.social) dealing mostly with technology in health care/medicine/life sciences
Could poop pills be the next treatment for food allergies? www.statnews.com/2026/08/05/f... via @statnews.com
Could poop pills be the next treatment for food allergies?
Some participants in a small trial showed improved tolerance to peanuts after fecal microbiome transplant.
statnews.com
Medicare eliminates key pathways used by 'breakthrough' medical devices for extra payments www.statnews.com/2026/08/03/c... via @statnews.com
Medicare eliminates key pathways used by 'breakthrough' devices for extra payments
Medicare is removing flexibilities that have allowed "breakthrough" medical devices to leapfrog qualifications for extra payments.
statnews.com
Are AI scribes useful tools in medical education, or a crutch that imperils learning? www.statnews.com/2026/08/03/a... via @statnews.com
Are AI scribes useful tools in medical education, or a crutch that imperils learning?
Educators want future physicians to be fluent in AI scribes, but they worry what off-loading clinical notes to AI could do to learning.
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Hims misled consumers and violated their privacy, FTC alleges in a lawsuit www.statnews.com/2026/07/29/f... via @statnews.com
Hims misled consumers and violated their privacy, FTC alleges in a lawsuit
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission sued telehealth company Hims & Hers alleging business practices that agency says misled consumers.
statnews.com
Breaking: At a highly anticipated Senate hearing, Anthony Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment right to refuse to answer questions about the Covid-19 pandemic and its origins, saying he was doing so on the advice of his attorneys. www.statnews.com/2026/07/29/f...
Fauci invokes Fifth Amendment in declining to answer questions before Senate panel
At a highly anticipated Senate hearing, Anthony Fauci evoked his Fifth Amendment right to refuse to answer questions about the Covid-19 pandemic and its origins.
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1/ In the last five years, over half a dozen biotech executives have come to the same conclusion: AATD is the perfect gene therapy candidate. So how did a rare liver disorder become the latest biotech gold rush? www.statnews.com/2026/07/28/b...
From ‘lost cause’ to gold rush: Biotechs swarm to cure AATD
Biotech companies are racing to cure alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, AATD, fueling patent disputes, startup defections, arbitration, and a U.S.-China rivalry.
statnews.com
What benchmarks do — and don’t — say about clinical LLMs from OpenEvidence, Doximity, and UpToDate www.statnews.com/2026/07/29/c... via @statnews.com
Clinical chatbots are taking medicine by storm. Should doctors trust them?
As LLMs compete for doctors' attention, some developers say the science of benchmarking their AI tools for safety and accuracy is flawed.
statnews.com
In a major policy shift, Medicare proposes to ban vendors from providing remote monitoring services www.statnews.com/2026/07/15/c... via @statnews.com
In a major policy shift, Medicare proposes to ban vendors from providing remote monitoring services
Medicare is proposing to ban vendors from providing remote patient monitoring services on behalf of doctors.
statnews.com
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As states absorb Medicaid funding cuts, family caregivers face financial ruin, reports @rosebroderick.bsky.social www.statnews.com/2026/07/13/f... via @statnews.com
As states absorb Medicaid funding cuts, family caregivers face financial ruin
Family caregivers of people with disabilities face a grim financial future as several states consider steep cuts to their wages.
statnews.com
A secret shopper study has pulled back the veil on the practices of nearly 50 telehealth sites that prescribe popular GLP-1 medications for weight loss. www.statnews.com/2026/07/06/g...
Online GLP-1 prescriptions are often fast, easy — and low on clinical oversight
A new secret-shopper study found that GLP-1 prescriptions from telehealth sites aren't often backed by appropriate clinical care.
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Online GLP-1 prescriptions are often fast, easy — and low on clinical oversight www.statnews.com/2026/07/06/g... via @statnews.com
Online GLP-1 prescriptions are often fast, easy — and low on clinical oversight
A new secret-shopper study found that GLP-1 prescriptions from telehealth sites aren't often backed by appropriate clinical care.
statnews.com
FDA gives generative AI in radiology two breakthrough designation nods www.statnews.com/2026/06/25/r... via @statnews.com
FDA gives generative AI in radiology two breakthrough designation nods
FDA has granted breakthrough designation to two devices that use generative AI to interpret chest X-rays and draft the radiology reports.
statnews.com
AI wades into a vexing medical mystery: What causes sudden cardiac death? New from @caseyross.bsky.social www.statnews.com/2026/06/24/a... via @statnews.com
AI wades into a vexing medical mystery: What causes sudden cardiac death?
A new study published in Nature uses artificial intelligence to identify people at high risk for sudden cardiac death, and pinpoints a possible reason.
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What an abandoned heart failure trial says about devices that FDA considers 'breakthrough,' but don’t make it past the agency to reach patients, @katiepalmer.bsky.social reports: www.statnews.com/2026/06/24/f... via @statnews.com
What an abandoned heart failure trial says about 'breakthrough' devices that don’t reach patients
An abandoned heart-failure trial offers a rare window into devices that the FDA deems "breakthrough" but never reach patients.
statnews.com
EXCLUSIVE: Eli Lilly gave compassionate use access to retatrutide, their unapproved powerful obesity drug, to a 79-year-old man in April. The application was arranged by a top doctor at NIH, and cleared by the FDA. www.statnews.com/2026/06/23/e...
Eli Lilly gave extraordinary obesity drug access to a 79-year-old patient. Who was it?
Exclusive: STAT has learned that Eli Lilly and the FDA allowed a 79-year-old to gain extraordinary access to an experimental obesity drug through the agency’s “compassionate use” program.
statnews.com
A sweeping new AI to detect heart conditions is coming to OpenEvidence www.statnews.com/2026/06/23/p... via @statnews.com
A sweeping new AI to detect heart conditions is coming to OpenEvidence
EchoNext, a new AI tool cleared by the FDA, will let doctors use an EKG to easily screen patients for structural heart diseases.
statnews.com
Cadence raises $100 million to automate chronic disease care with regulated AI www.statnews.com/2026/06/23/c... via @statnews.com
Cadence raises $100 million to automate chronic disease care with regulated AI
Digital health startup Cadence has raised $100 million at a $1.23 billion valuation to expand its chronic disease management program.
statnews.com
FDA to launch pilot program to speed up early-stage clinical trials www.statnews.com/2026/06/22/f... via @statnews.com
FDA to launch pilot program to speed up early-stage clinical trials
Federal health officials aim to speed up drug development and better compete with China.
statnews.com
DOJ’s swift win in OhioHealth case should have hospitals studying their contracts, @tarabannow.bsky.social reports: www.statnews.com/2026/06/17/o... via @statnews.com
DOJ’s swift win in OhioHealth case should have hospitals studying their contracts, experts say
The speed of DOJ's proposed antitrust settlement with OhioHealth should put other hospitals on notice, experts say.
statnews.com
Following dispute with FDA, UniQure is cleared to submit Huntington’s treatment for approval www.statnews.com/2026/06/17/h... via @statnews.com
Following dispute with FDA, UniQure is cleared to submit Huntington’s treatment for approval
The FDA has reversed its opposition to a closely watched experimental treatment for Huntington’s disease, clearing a path for its maker.
statnews.com
Verge Genomics is pivoting, after the clinical trial of its ALS drug failed. Now, as Verge Labs, the company has built a brain AI model to solve patient-stratification problems for neurology clinical trials, @brittanytrang.com reports: www.statnews.com/2026/06/16/v... via @statnews.com
Verge Labs’ new AI model solves patient stratification problems for neurology clinical trials
As the saying goes, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Or as Verge Labs might put it, one company’s failed clinical trial … is that same company’s
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As states follow Trump's Medicaid fraud playbook, people with disabilities struggle to find care www.statnews.com/2026/06/15/m... via @statnews.com
As states follow Trump's Medicaid fraud playbook, people with disabilities struggle to find care
Medicaid cuts and fraud crackdown trickle down to states, threatening people with disabilities.
statnews.com
tl;dr: A government watchdog investigated what STAT found in its Pulitzer-finalist "Denied by AI" series and found: -health insurance companies' denials for care were overturned 97% of the time when they were appealed -82% of people do not appeal and thus were wrongly denied care for no reason
Bob Herman@bobjherman.bsky.social · 2mo agoBiggest Medicare Advantage insurers denied rehabilitative care for older and disabled Americans at higher rates than industry peers, then frequently overturned those denials when patients appealed, OIG finds. Confirms reporting from @caseyross.bsky.social and me: www.statnews.com/2026/06/11/m...
Blood Cancer United buys experimental cancer drug to maintain patient access www.statnews.com/2026/06/11/b... via @statnews.com
Nonprofit buys experimental cancer drug to maintain patient access
In a rare move, nonprofit organization Blood Cancer United is buying the remaining supplies of a discontinued investigational cancer drug.
statnews.com
New data may cast doubt on competitiveness of Boehringer’s obesity drug www.statnews.com/2026/06/07/b... via @statnews.com
New data may cast doubt on competitiveness of Boehringer’s obesity drug
Boehringer Ingelheim’s obesity drug showed promise in cutting liver fat, but it was less impressive at overall weight loss, new data shows.
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Lilly shares safety, tolerability data on its next-gen obesity drug www.statnews.com/2026/06/06/i... via @statnews.com
Lilly shares safety, tolerability data on its next-gen obesity drug
Eli Lilly presented new safety and tolerability data on retatrutide at the annual meeting of the American Diabetes Association on Saturday.
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Couldn't make it to American Diabetes Association's annual conference in New Orleans? Follow along with STAT's ADA in 30 seconds newsletter where @elizabethcooney.bsky.social brings you the highlights. Here's Friday's dispatch: www.statnews.com/2026/06/05/n... via @statnews.com
Newer GLP-1s, pushback on research cuts, and a protest
You're reading the web edition of STAT's ADA in 30 Seconds, from the American Diabetes Association's annual conference in New Orleans.
statnews.com
A growing legislative movement across multiple states is targeting undesirable levels of corporate influence in how medicine is practiced. That may have implications for how DTC telehealth businesses operate, @katiepalmer.bsky.social reports: www.statnews.com/2026/06/02/t... via @statnews.com
Online care is caught in the crossfire as states crack down on corporate medicine
Growing legislative scrutiny across multiple states targets the corporate structure underlying most direct-to-consumer telehealth businesses.
statnews.com
The new wave of blood pressure products could raise awareness about hypertension, which affects nearly half of American adults. But the unproven underlying technology could mislead users, and delay necessary care, @mariojoze.bsky.social reports: www.statnews.com/2026/05/28/f... via @statnews.com
Blood pressure tech floods the market after FDA relaxes wearables oversight
Wearables with unvalidated blood pressure measuring tech are flooding the market after the FDA relaxed oversight of wellness devices.
statnews.com