Trending News Today: Importance of Real-World Evidence Continues to Grow

Despite attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), favorability of the law has never been higher, according to The Hill. A recent analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation showed that 54% of the public was in favor of the ACA and 42% were opposed to the law. The increase was largely due to a change in the opinions of independents, with 55% favoring the ACA compared with 48% last month, according to the article.

The popular ride-sharing service, Uber, is now offering to take patients to their health care appointments, CNBC. Through Uber Health Business, the offices of health care providers can set up and pay for rides to appointments. The new service can be scheduled as little as a few hours before an appointment and does not require patients to have access to smartphones, which may help elderly or lower income individuals, according to the article.

Pharmaceutical manufacturers are quick to analyze data from patient health records to uncover how their products perform in real-world use, information that is quickly growing in importance, according to The New York Times. Real-world evidence allows manufacturers to prove the efficacy of their drugs outside of randomized clinical trials. As medicine becomes more personalized, the ability to quantify real-world data from a wider sample of society is crucial, the Times reported.