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Is the promise of a flexible, affordable nursing degree sometimes too good to be true? Too often, for-profit nursing schools fail to deliver on those promises. When that happens, students stand to lose tens of thousands of dollars in federal loans, the chance to sit for their nursing licensure exam, and a career many say they felt called to since childhood. As part of her investigation into for-profit nursing programs, Shannon Firth, MedPage Today's Washington Correspondent, spoke with more than a dozen current and former nursing students, as well as academics, nursing professors, and regulators. Firth was a Trade Journalism Award Finalist at the National Institute for Health Care Management (NIHCM) awards for her series, "What's the Matter With For-Profit Nursing Programs?" Learn more: https://bit.ly/3JFszix #nursingschool #nurse #nursingstudent #nursing #forprofitcollege #forprofituniversity #nurses

Though it faces legal challenges, the FTC has banned most noncompete agreements in employer contracts, saying it will boost wages and reduce healthcare costs.

Jeremy Faust, MD, asks: Which professional accomplishment is Admiral Rachel Levine, MD, most proud of? "I am most proud of that throughout my academic medicine career, and now my public health career, that I have been able to help people," said Dr. Levine, the assistant secretary for health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Oregon will be the first state to refer to PAs as "physician associates" instead of "physician assistants." Governor Tina Kotek signed the bill into law on April 4, following its passage by the state legislature about a month earlier. PAs in Oregon will retain their current title of physician assistants until the law officially changes on June 6, 2024. https://bit.ly/3JtevZv

Why have two separate licensing boards for osteopathic and allopathic physicians? Since 2017, West Virginia state senator Tom Takubo, DO, FCCP, has questioned the status quo in his state, claiming that the separation is confusing to patients and constitutes a double standard. https://bit.ly/448VEMR

Happy #EarthDay! 🌎 Taking care of the planet 🤝taking care of our health. "Taking action, no matter how small, matters," said Neelu Tummala, MD, an ENT physician, in an #OpEd. https://bit.ly/3xQo3Lt

The Nepali medical graduates who filed a class action lawsuit against the NBME have amended and refiled their complaint, alleging that having their USMLE scores invalidated caused "severe harm" and was the result of discrimination based on national origin. https://bit.ly/3JsypUm

In an #OpEd, Aderonke Bamgbose Pederson, MD, discusses the detrimental impact of anti-DEI initiatives in medicine. https://bit.ly/3VV1r6C

The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM Group) is cutting off certain publications from advanced access to its embargoed journal articles. News outlets that report for physician readers, including MedPage Today, will no longer meet criteria for embargoed access. For a host of reasons, this is a "really bad policy," according to Ivan Oransky, MD, who has held leadership positions at medical news publications focused on healthcare professionals over the last two decades. Oransky suggested that "NEJM now sees anyone writing for a clinical audience as competition and is therefore restricting access of its flagship publication from the competition." "What NEJM is doing here is restricting access and apparently trying to grow their market share," he added. Read more from Kristina Fiore: https://bit.ly/4aIge9h