JAMA Author Interviews

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

Most epidemiological studies of heart failure have been conducted in high-income countries. JAMA Senior Editor Kristin L. Walter, MD, MS, interviews Philip George Joseph, MD, from the Population Health Research Institute, Ontario, Canada, about a study of more than 23 000 patients with heart failure in 40 countries. Related Content: Global Variations in Heart Failure Etiology, Management, and Outcomes

Interview with Gbenga Ogedegbe, MD, MPH, USPSTF member and coauthor of Screening for Latent Tuberculosis Infection in Adults: US Preventive Services Task Force Recommendation Statement. Hosted by JAMA Editor in Chief Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, PhD, MD, MAS. Related Content: Screening for Latent Tuberculosis Infection in Adults Screening for Latent Tuberculosis Infection Among Non–US-Born Adults in the US Screening for Latent Tuberculosis Infection in Adults Screening for Latent Tuberculosis

The mental health of young people in the US has been an issue of increased concern in recent years. In this podcast, author Tanner Bommersbach, MD, MPH, assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Psychology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and Greg Rhee, PhD, a health services researcher and pharmacoepidemiologist at the University of Connecticut, join JAMA Senior Editor Kristin Walter, MD, MS, in a discussion about mental health-related emergency department visits in the US among children, adolescents, and young adults from 2011-2020. Related Content: National Trends in Mental Health–Related Emergency Department Visits Among Youth, 2011-2020