Read AMA Morning Rounds®’ most popular stories in medicine and public health from the week of Oct. 20, 2025–Oct. 24, 2025.
Few older adults eligible for cochlear implant coverage under Medicare have undergone procedure
The New York Times (10/18, Span) reported that hearing loss among older adults “remains vastly undertreated,” with federal epidemiologists estimating “that it affects about one in five people ages 65 to 74 and more than half of those over 75.” Furthermore, “fewer than one-third of people over 70 who could benefit from hearing aids have ever worn them.” Starting in 2022, “Medicare expanded cochlear implant coverage to include older adults who could identify up to 60% of words on a speech recognition test, increasing the pool of eligible patients. Still, while the American Cochlear Implant Alliance estimates that implants are increasing by about 10% annually, public awareness and referrals from audiologists remain low. Less than 10% of eligible adults with ‘moderate to profound’ hearing loss receive them, the alliance says.”
AMA launches Center for Digital Health and AI
Healthcare IT News (10/20, Fox) reports, “After two years spent studying how doctors use artificial intelligence and developing guidance around AI to better serve its physician members, the American Medical Association on Monday announced a new Center for Digital Health and AI.” The association “hopes it will ‘put physicians at the center of shaping, guiding and implementing technologies transforming medicine,’ said AMA officials.” AMA Chief Medical Information Officer and Vice President of Digital Health Innovations Margaret Lozovatsky, MD, said in August, “Physicians must be full partners throughout the AI lifecycle, from design and governance to integration and oversight, to ensure these tools are clinically valid, ethically sound and aligned with the standard of care and the integrity of the patient-physician relationship.” In a Monday statement, AMA CEO and Executive Vice President John Whyte, MD, MPH, said, “By launching this center, the AMA is leading in this space so physicians have a say in the technology and clinical care of the future.”
Medical Economics (10/20, Payerchin) reports “physicians must lead development of new ways for doctors to use” AI “programs in treating patients and managing their work, according to the” AMA. The association “said the Center for Digital Health and AI will have four areas of focus”: policy and regulatory leadership, clinical workflow integration, education and training, and collaboration. In the AMA’s official announcement, Whyte said, “Our goal is to harness innovation responsibly and effectively, so it improves patient care and reduces unnecessary burdens on physicians.”
STAT (10/21, Aguilar, Subscription Publication) reports, “The center is one of the first major initiatives from CEO” and Executive Vice President John Whyte, MD, MPH, “who took the helm of the physician lobbying group earlier this year.”
Editor's Note: The AMA Center for Digital Health and AI gives physicians a powerful voice in shaping how augmented intelligence (AI) and other digital tools are harnessed to improve the patient and clinician experience. Learn more.
Measles outbreak sickens over 100 people along border of Utah and Arizona
The New York Times (10/21, Rosenbluth) reports a measles outbreak “has taken off along the border of Utah and Arizona.” The latest outbreak “began in August and has sickened more than 100 people, making it the second-largest cluster of cases in the country this year.” The article highlights the “several parallels between the current situation at the Utah-Arizona border and the outbreak that exploded from the Western edge of Texas in January: Both started in rural towns with a sizable population of children who had not been immunized against measles, mumps and rubella. And in both outbreaks, the virus traveled to a neighboring state and took root in similarly vulnerable pockets.” Both Utah and Arizona “allow parents to opt their children out of those requirements for personal, religious or medical reasons.”
Study details cardiovascular benefits of semaglutide beyond weight loss
The New York Times (10/22, Blum) reports a study published in The Lancet found that Wegovy (semaglutide) “lowers the risk of major heart issues like heart attacks and strokes in some adults, but showed that weight loss could not fully explain the cardiovascular benefits. How else, exactly, the drug protects the heart remains a mystery.” The study “followed over 17,000 adults who” had overweight or obesity “and had heart disease.” The results indicated the drug “appeared to lower the risk of heart attack, stroke or death from cardiovascular issues by 20%.” Furthermore, researchers found that “a shrinking waist size—a measure of shedding belly fat—was responsible for only around a third of the observed cardiovascular benefits in people who took Wegovy. In their first 20 weeks of taking the drug, patients experienced cardiovascular benefits no matter how much weight they lost.” Overall, “the new paper adds to the mounting evidence that Wegovy and similar medications have much broader uses than weight loss alone.”
Small changes in alcohol intake may impact blood pressure, research finds
Healio (10/23, Buzby) reports, “Decreasing alcohol intake, even if an individual reports having two or fewer drinks per day, may have a positive impact on blood pressure, researchers” found. Investigators found that “women who reported alcohol intake of one to two drinks per day and later stopped drinking experienced an average decrease of 0.78 mm Hg in systolic BP...and 1.14 mm Hg in diastolic BP.” Meanwhile, “men who reported alcohol intake of one to two drinks per day and later stopped drinking experienced an average decrease of 1.03 mm Hg in systolic BP...and a 1.62 mm Hg in diastolic BP.” The data indicated that “among individuals who reported not drinking at baseline visit, every 10 g increase in reported alcohol intake at subsequent visit was associated with an 0.78 mm Hg increase in systolic BP...and a 0.53 mm Hg increase in diastolic BP.” The findings were published in JACC.
You may also be interested in: New BP guideline: 5 things physicians should know.
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