Publications

Implementation of Programmatic Mailed Fecal Immunochemical Testing for Colorectal Cancer Screening in the Veterans Health Administration.

Dominitz JA, Robertson DJ, Patil A, Yao Y, Mitchell R, Bonkowski SL, Gawron AJ, Granquist J, Hoffman-Hogg L, Kaltenbach T, Kim J, McKee G, Ritchison L, Moore C

2026 Oct 16;doi: 10.14309/ajg.0000000000004235

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted the Veterans Health Administration (VA) to implement programmatic mailed fecal immunochemical test (FIT) screening for colorectal cancer. This paper describes VA's programmatic mailed FIT development, implementation and initial outcomes.

Am J Gastroenterol|2026 Oct 16

Associations of surgical breast cancer treatment at regional or community hospitals with patient-reported experience measures.

Gonzales SR, Ramesh U, O'Malley AJ, Brooks GA, Onega T, Moen EL

2026 Oct 18;220(1)doi: 10.1007/s10549-026-08105-1

High-volume hospitals deliver improved outcomes for patients with breast cancer, supporting referrals for breast cancer surgical care to high-volume regional facilities. This retrospective cohort study investigated how multidisciplinary cancer care trajectories and patient care experiences varied by surgical facility classification (regional vs. community as a proxy for high- vs. low-volume) and whether effects differed by rural-residence.

Breast Cancer Res Treat|2026 Oct 18

A qualitative analysis of the impact of English proficiency on clinician-patient communication related to immediate breast reconstruction following mastectomy.

Maaneb de Macedo KA, Huang J, Geary AD, Woods AP, Danford J, Cassidy M, Gunn CM, Drake FT

2026 Aug 26;201:110561doi: 10.1016/j.surg.2026.110561

Quantitative studies have shown that patients with limited English proficiency are less likely to undergo immediate breast reconstruction than English-proficient patients, yet patient experiences remain poorly characterized. To better understand this disparity, we explored the effects of language proficiency on communication during immediate breast reconstruction decision-making.

Surgery|2026 Aug 26

Feasibility of Implementing a Pharmacist-Integrated Collaborative Model for Opioid Use Disorder: A Nonrandomized Clinical Trial.

Homsted F, Fiellin DA, Ghitza UE, Gardner VT 3rd, McLeman B, Joudrey PJ, Cochran G, Moore SK, Saldana L, Chongsi E, Kramer K, Vena A, Ottesen RA, Harris J, Boggis JS, Rao D, Murray O, Gerlach S, Gauthier P, Osterhage KP, Baldwin LM, Marsch LA

2026 Oct 14;doi: 10.1007/s11606-026-10924-3

Addressing the opioid crisis requires an interdisciplinary approach. Pharmacists may provide medication expertise to primary care addiction teams.

J Gen Intern Med|2026 Oct 14

Digital patient decision aids for cancer prevention in socially disadvantaged women: A scoping review protocol.

Lüthi E, Pittet O, Montagnese J, Freund R, Selby K, Grazioli VS, Brauchli T, Durand MA

2026;21(10):e0359332doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0359332

This scoping review aims to map and analyze the existing evidence on digital Patient Decision Aids (PtDAs) for cancer prevention targeting socially disadvantaged women. Cancer is a leading cause of premature mortality among women. Cancer prevention strategies can effectively reduce cancer incidence and mortality. Socially disadvantaged women face lower screening rates and higher mortality. Effective cancer prevention requires informed decision-making. One approach is the use of digital PtDAs. They represent a promising innovation for this population. However, their characteristics, development process, and evaluation for cancer prevention targeting this population remain underexplored. This scoping review will include digital PtDAs designed to meet the needs of socially disadvantaged women aged 18-75 in the context of cancer prevention and meeting the minimum criteria established by the International Patient Decision Aid Standards. We will include studies and sources covering quantitative and qualitative research, and gray literature. This scoping review will follow the JBI methodology for scoping reviews. A comprehensive three-step search will be conducted across MEDLINE, CINAHL, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane databases, Google Scholar and gray literature sources. All studies and sources available in any language will be considered. Citations will be imported into Rayyan for screening. Two independent reviewers will conduct study selection, data extraction, and analysis. Data will be summarized using tables and descriptive content analysis to identify characteristics, development processes, and evaluation methods of digital PtDAs. The review will be reported in accordance with PRISMA-ScR guidelines. Findings will be submitted for publication in an international peer-reviewed journal and presented at national and international conferences focused on cancer prevention, shared decision-making, digital health or socially disadvantaged women. We will share findings with healthcare professionals, public health and cancer prevention stakeholders, and socially disadvantaged communities and their network. This protocol has been registered with the Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/f3428/).

PLoS One|2026

"Am I a candidate for magic mushrooms?" A mystery shopper study of Oregon psilocybin service centers.

Adams DR, Hartman M, Gong L, Shankar S, Ling R, Steinle JT, Siegel JS, Nicol GE, Grucza RA, Borodovsky JT, Cabassa LJ, Xu KY

2026 Oct;4(10):qxag231doi: 10.1093/haschl/qxag231

Oregon is the first US state to permit supervised psilocybin services through a nonmedical, wellness-based model. We examined what prospective clients with psychiatric histories encounter when contacting service centers, including how staff communicate about safety, eligibility, and cost.

Health Aff Sch|2026 Oct

Communicating Uncertainties About the Benefits and Risks of New Cancer Drugs: Two Randomized Clinical Trials.

Cherla A, Wagner AK, Woloshin S, Davis C, Bourgeois FT, Mossialos E, Naci H

2026 Oct 12;doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2026.4969

Cancer drugs are frequently approved based on uncertain benefits and risks that are not communicated to patients.

JAMA Intern Med|2026 Oct 12

Comfort discussing financial challenges and accessing resources in cystic fibrosis care among people with cystic fibrosis and their care partners: A cross-sectional survey study.

Perkins RC, Carey K, King JR, Beidler L, Moo-Young J, Broekema K, Sawicki GS, Benitez D, Brown AW, Duncan C, Groenendyk I, McGarry ME, Phan H, Ren CL, Shaver A, Willis A, Dieni O, Van Citters AD

2026 Oct 10;pii: S1569-1993(26)03772-0. doi: 10.1016/j.jcf.2026.10.002

People with cystic fibrosis (PwCF) face considerable financial burdens. PwCF who are most likely to make financial and healthcare tradeoffs, had the lowest comfort discussing financial issues with their CF team. The association of comfort with financial discussions and accessing resources is unknown. Our study assessed the relationship between comfort discussing financial issues with the CF care team and PwCF accessing resources.

J Cyst Fibros|2026 Oct 10

Can Large Language Models Recognize Primary Immunodeficiency from Patient-Described Symptoms?

Reteig LC, Woloshin S, Maglione PJ, Farmer JR, Ong MS

2026 Oct 4;pii: 2026.05.26.26353818. doi: 10.64898/2026.05.26.26353818

Patients with primary immunodeficiency (PI) face prolonged diagnostic delays and may increasingly turn to large language models (LLMs) to interpret their symptoms during this period. We evaluated whether an LLM could recognize PI from symptom descriptions derived from interviews with 21 PI patients. In prior work, we showed that GPT-4o identified PI in 96% of cases when prompted with physician-written patient histories (Rider ., 2025). Here, when prompted with symptom descriptions in patients' own words, GPT-5.2 identified PI in only 7 cases (33%), although it suggested general immune system concerns in 17 cases (81%). This expert-versus-patient gap may indicate that LLMs are sensitive to the language and framing of symptom descriptions, performing substantially worse when patients describe their own symptoms in everyday language than when clinicians summarize patient histories in structured medical terms. This study underscores the need to carefully evaluate how LLMs are used in patient-facing applications.

medRxiv|2026 Oct 4

Economic evaluation of antimicrobial stewardship programme in primary care in Kosovo: study protocol.

Zhubi R, Bunjaku J, Kain E, Abazi AA, Krasniqi S, Jakupi A, Sreenivasan N, Zaman AW, Skov RL, Graves N, Ademi Z, Raka L, Hoxha I

2026 Oct 9;16(10):e124661doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2026-124661

BMJ Open|2026 Oct 9