Cardiovascular health is essential to everyone, but especially important to address in individuals who can become or who are pregnant or postpartum. JAMA Associate Editor Melissa Simon, MD, MPH, and Sadiya S. Khan, MD, MSc, Northwestern University, discuss the importance of cardiovascular health in pregnancy-capable, pregnant, and postpartum persons, how to counsel such individuals, issues of access to care and health equity, and their impact on cardiovascular health. Related Content: Trends in Cardiovascular Health Counseling Among Postpartum Individuals

The performance of whole-genome sequencing in comparison with targeted genomic testing methods is not well understood. In this podcast, JAMA Associate Editor W. Gregory Feero, MD, PHD, interviews author Jill L. Maron, MD, MPH, of the Women and Infants Hospital of Rhode Island about a study of whole-genome sequencing vs a commercially available targeted genetic testing platform for diagnosing ill neonates with suspected genetic conditions. Related Content: Rapid Whole-Genomic Sequencing and a Targeted Neonatal Gene Panel in Infants With a Suspected Genetic Disorder

Bempedoic acid is an effective option for some statin-intolerant patients with an elevated predicted risk of cardiovascular events. However, as JAMA Executive Editor Gregory Curfman, MD, discusses with editorialist Dhruv S. Kazi, MD, MSc, MS, bempedoic acid should not be considered a substitute for statins, which remain the first-line therapy for primary prevention. Related Content: Bempedoic Acid for Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Events in Statin-Intolerant Patients Bempedoic Acid for High-Risk Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease

Valganciclovir is standard cytomegalovirus (CMV) prophylaxis in high-risk kidney transplant recipients, but its use is limited by myelosuppression. JAMA Deputy Editor Preeti Malani, MD, MSJ, interviews Ajit Limaye, MD, from the University of Washington, about a multinational randomized trial of letermovir vs valganciclovir for CMV prevention in CMV-negative patients receiving a kidney from a CMV-positive donor. Related Content: Letermovir vs Valganciclovir for Prophylaxis of Cytomegalovirus in High-Risk Kidney Transplant Recipients

US hospitals report data on numerous quality metrics to government and independent rating organizations, but the cost of doing so is not well known. JAMA Associate Editor Karen E. Joynt Maddox, MD, discusses a new study that examines just how many quality metrics hospitals have to report, and attempts to quantify how much data collection and reporting costs in hours and dollars, with corresponding author Stephen A. Berry MD, PhD, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland. Related Content: The Volume and Cost of Quality Metric Reporting

Interview with Michael Silverstein, MD, MPH, USPSTF chair and coauthor of Screening for Depression and Suicide Risk in Adults, and Screening for Anxiety Disorders in Adults: US Preventive Services Task Force Recommendation Statements. Hosted by JAMA Editor in Chief Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, PhD, MD, MAS. Related Content: Anxiety Screening Depression and Suicide Risk Screening Screening for Depression and Suicide Risk in Adults Screening for Anxiety Disorders in Adults Screening for Depression and Suicide Risk in Adults Screening for Anxiety Disorders in Adults Are There Reasons to Fear Anxiety Screening? Reframing the Key Questions Regarding Screening for Suicide Risk

The US Black population experienced more than 80 million excess years of life lost compared with the White population over a recent 22-year period. JAMA Editor in Chief Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, PhD, MD, discusses the research that quantified this disparity with authors César Caraballo, MD, Harlan M. Krumholz, MD, SM, and Clyde W. Yancy, MD, MSc. Related Content: Excess Mortality and Years of Potential Life Lost Among the Black Population in the US, 1999-2020

Intentional miscoding of abortion services may put clinicians and hospital systems at legal risk. JAMA Senior Editor Linda Brubaker, MD, MS, and Carmel Shachar, JD, MPH, from the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics, Harvard Law School, discuss the risks of intentional miscoding practices and possible penalties. Related Content: Abortion Miscoding—Legal Risks for Clinicians and Hospital Systems

The Covenant of Water, Stanford University professor Dr Abraham Verghese’s long-awaited follow-up to his 2009 novel Cutting for Stone, traces the lives of a family in southern India negotiating forces of history, fate, and a genetic condition that takes the life of a member in each generation by drowning. In part 2, JAMA Arts and Medicine Section Editor Michael Berkwits, MD, MSCE, talks with Dr Verghese about the craft of writing fiction, the role of the humanities in medicine, of artificial intelligence in literature, and more. Related Content: “The Art of the Craft,” From The Covenant of Water The Covenant of Water – Reflections on Fiction, the Humanities, and Medicine (Part 1 of this interview)

The ACA’s preventive services mandate requires insurers to cover, without charge, nearly 200 basic primary care services. But now, a federal judge has issued a nationwide injunction preventing the Biden administration from enforcing this cost-free care for a significant number of these services. JAMA Executive Editor Gregory Curfman, MD, discusses this and more with Abbe R. Gluck, JD, Solomon Center for Health Law & Policy, Yale Law School. Related Content: Cost-Free Preventive Care Under the ACA Faces Legal Challenge