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Elon Musk Says the First Human has Received an Implant from Neuralink, but Other Details are Scant
MedicalXpress | By WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS and LAURA UNGAR
According to Elon Musk, the first human received an implant from his computer-brain interface company Neuralink over the weekend.
In a Monday post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, Musk said that the patient received the implant the day prior and was "recovering well." He added that "initial results show promising neuron spike detection."
The billionaire, who co-founded Neuralink, did not provide additional details about the patient. When Neuralink announced in September that it would begin recruiting people, the company said it was searching for individuals with quadriplegia due to cervical spinal cord injury or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as ALS or Lou Gehrig's Disease.
Neuralink is one of many groups working on linking the nervous system to computers, efforts aimed at helping treat brain disorders, overcoming brain injuries and other applications. There are more than 40 brain computer interface trials underway, according to clinicaltrials.gov.
Neuralink reposted Musk's Monday post on X, but did not publish any additional statements acknowledging the human implant. The company did not immediately respond to The Associated Press' requests for comment Tuesday.
Neuralink previously announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had approved its "investigational device exemption," which generally allows a sponsor to begin a clinical study "in patients who fit the inclusion criteria," the FDA said Tuesday. The agency pointed out that it can't confirm or disclose information about a particular study.
Neuralink's device is about the size of a large coin and is designed to be implanted in the skull, with ultra-thin wires going directly into the brain. In its September announcement, Neuralink said the wires would be surgically placed in a region of the brain that controls movement intention. The initial goal of the so-called brain computer interface is to give people the ability to control a computer cursor or keyboard using their thoughts alone.
In a separate Monday post on X, Musk said that the first Neuralink product is called "Telepathy"—which, he said, will enable users to control their phones or computers "just by thinking." He added that intial users would be those who have lost use of their limbs…
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APTA Reports Reveal Workforce Trends
APTA | By Keith Loria
Three recent reports give APTA and its members data on the demographics, wages, and vacancies in the profession.
What with the tail of a global pandemic, shifting dynamics between employers and employees, economic uncertainty, and emerging artificial intelligence technologies, the U.S. workforce is in a state of disruption. Add in continuing examination of health care reform as the nation attempts to make services more accessible, more affordable, and with better outcomes, and health care in particular — physical therapy even more specifically — faces mounting challenges.
To that end, APTA has taken measures to understand and improve the physical therapy workforce, releasing several reports based on data from its latest periodic practice profile surveys and other sources. In 2023 alone, three such reports were released and are freely available to all APTA members. These include in-depth reports on the demographics, wages, and outpatient clinic vacancy rates in the profession.
But these reports are more than just numbers on a page. In getting a greater sense of the profession and its workers, APTA is using the data and results to inform advocacy efforts, increase diversity in the profession, and encourage salary transparency. So what does that mean for you?
It's clear from the reports that APTA membership largely reflects the physical therapy profession as a whole — something APTA has long assumed but until now didn't have evidence to back the claim — but it also points to some challenges and holes in the workforce.
Here's a look at the reports and how APTA staff and members are using them to benefit the profession and inform the association's work on members' behalf.
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APTA CSM 2024 will be held Feb. 15-17, 2024, in Boston, Massachusetts, at the Boston Convention and Exposition Center. Attendees can enjoy hundreds of educational sessions, posters, and a huge exhibit hall. Programming for the APTA Combined Sections Meeting is designed by APTA's 18 specialty sections and academies.
Click here to learn more about CSM.
APTA Home Health Specific Events:
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Another ‘Doomy, Gloomy’ Home Health Landscape Awaits Providers In 2024
Home Health Care News | By Andrew Donlan
Home health providers could be facing a “doomy, gloomy” landscape in 2024, fresh off of two years that could be characterized as, well, doomy and gloomy.
On Monday at the Home Care 100 conference in Scottsdale, Arizona, Partnership for Quality Home Healthcare CEO Joanne Cunningham tried to emphasize the positives, while also recognizing the realities.
In particular, she harped on the need for the Preserving Access to Home Health Act to pass. The bill was introduced in the Senate in June, and in the House in August. A similar bill was also put forth in 2022, but failed to gain traction.
“If things don’t change with regard to payment policy, we will see a very doomy, gloomy future of the PDGM payment stream,” Cunningham said. “I don’t think I’ve ever said it this emphatically, but we must see this legislation pass.”
The legislation would mitigate further cuts to fee-for-service home health payment cuts and any future payment “clawbacks” from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
In addition, it would force the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) – which regularly recommends additional cuts to home health payments – to view home health margins more holistically.
“All of those [cuts] need to be wiped away,” Cunningham said. “This is also really important. In the legislation, we require MedPAC to do a better analysis of the financial condition of home health agencies right now. They take a very skewed look at the fiscal picture and financial stability picture of home health agencies.”
Part of the reason that view is skewed is because MedPAC does not include Medicare Advantage (MA) reimbursement for home health services, which tends to be considerably lower than fee-for-service reimbursement from CMS.
On that note, MA remains one of the hot-button issues in the home health industry.
Ironically, MedPAC also could finally be directing some of its scrutiny toward MA plans as well, Cunningham said.
“The MedPAC staff recently presented a report that essentially said that, [according to their calculations], in 2024, CMS will be overpaying MA plans to the tune of $88 billion,” she said…
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Support S. 2137/H.R. 5159 to Save the Medicare Home Health Program
Two weeks ago, NAHC & The Partnership held a Medicare Home Health Staff Briefing regarding the Preserving Access to Home Health Act of 2023 (S.2137/H.R. 5159). Here are the leave-behinds, including the testimonials, that were shared:
- To download Ms. Edwards' presentation, CLICK HERE.
- To download Ms. Massey's presentation, CLICK HERE.
- To download the Home Care Chartbook 2023, CLICK HERE.
Passage of this legislation is imperative to ensure the continued functioning of the Medicare Home Health Program
Please click on the following link to send a message to your representatives, and then share it with staff, colleagues, family, friends and your social media outlets.
https://p2a.co/8IGAgf7 |
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