Darius Tahir

Author's posts

The Biggest, Buzziest Conference for Health Care Investors Convenes Amid Fears the Bubble Will Burst

This year’s JPMorgan confab, the first since covid’s chilling effect on such gatherings, was full of energy and enthusiasm. But it was also marked by questions about the future of health care investment.

Behavioral Telehealth Loses Momentum Without a Regulatory Boost

As flexible treatment options spurred by the covid pandemic wane, patients relying on medications classified as controlled substances worry that without action to extend the loosened rules, it’ll be harder to get their meds.

A New Use for Dating Apps: Chasing STIs

For contact tracers of sexually transmitted infections, telephones and text messages have become ineffective. Dating apps increasingly are their best bet for informing people of their exposure risks.

Patients Complain Some Obesity Care Startups Offer Pills, and Not Much Else

A new wave of obesity care startups offer access to new weight loss medications. But do they offer good health care?

Blind to Problems: How VA’s Electronic Record System Shuts Out Visually Impaired Patients

Veterans Affairs’ electronic health records aren’t friendly to blind- and low-vision users, whether they’re patients or employees. It’s a microcosm of America’s health care system.

Embedded Bias: How Medical Records Sow Discrimination

Medical records can contain seemingly objective descriptions that are actually full of coded language and subtext. How does that affect care?

Big Employers Are Offering Abortion Benefits. Will the Information Stay Safe?

Work-based benefits may expand access to abortion for people who live in areas where the service is unavailable, but experts warn that claiming benefits could create a paper trail for law enforcement officials to follow.

Health Care Startups Turn to ‘Coaches’ to Help Patients Cope and Monitor Treatment

The interest, and investment, in coaching and encouragement is a curious turn for an industry that likes to boast of its billion-dollar pills and sophisticated artificial intelligence.

Why the War in Ukraine Might Make Root Canals More Difficult

Russia’s attacks on Ukraine are making it harder for the health care system to secure important supplies, including gases used in imaging and by dentists.

The Private Sector Steps In to Protect Online Health Privacy, but Critics Say It Can’t Be Trusted

Health data can be shockingly available. A group of nonprofits and corporations is proposing to patch up the holes in health apps, but many of the biggest companies didn’t participate in the proposal’s creation.