Hearing aids, fraud plea and smoking cessation study lead morning update

A new study suggests hearing aids may be linked with a lower risk of dementia in people with epilepsy, while a lab owner has pleaded guilty in a federal testing fraud case involving more than $60 million. Also in today’s medical update, researchers are preparing to test a smartphone program that pays pregnant patients for verified smoking abstinence.

Hearing aids may cut dementia risk in epilepsy

A study of more than 250 million patient records found that the potential protective association between hearing-aid use and dementia appeared only in people with epilepsy, not in other higher-risk groups. The research was presented at the European Academy of Neurology Congress 2026.

According to the report, adults with both epilepsy and hearing loss who used hearing aids had a 23% lower risk of developing dementia than those who did not use hearing aids. Researchers from University Hospital Zurich and the University of Liverpool analyzed electronic health records from the TriNetX network and compared hearing-aid users with closely matched non-users. The analysis included the broader hearing-loss population as well as people with epilepsy, stroke, type 2 diabetes, chronic kidney disease, heart failure, migraine and osteoarthritis.

The association was seen only in epilepsy. No significant link was found in any of the other groups studied. For people with epilepsy, hearing-aid use corresponded to a 2.7 percentage point lower risk of dementia over five years, which the researchers said was about one fewer case for every 37 people using hearing aids.

Lead author Carolina Ferreira-Atuesta said the pattern may relate to cognitive reserve, noting that people with epilepsy often have less of it and may therefore benefit more from removing a source of strain on the brain. The researchers also emphasized that the study was observational and cannot show that hearing aids directly reduce dementia risk.

The report did not say whether the hearing aids themselves affected other outcomes or whether the findings should change clinical practice. It also did not report any randomized trial data.

Lab owner pleads guilty in $60 million testing scheme

In a separate case, James Shuford Price III, 59, of Raleigh, North Carolina, pleaded guilty to paying illegal kickbacks for referrals to his Los Angeles lab and to filing a false federal tax return, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina.

Prosecutors said Price’s company, Golden Star Labs, billed California’s Medi-Cal program and Medicare more than $96 million for COVID-19, influenza and RSV tests between August 2023 and June 2025. The company collected more than $60 million on claims that were largely built on fraudulent samples, prosecutors said.

The government said the lab paid more than $17 million to collectors who supplied bulk test samples, and many of those samples were obtained through identity theft. In some periods, more than 90% of the claims depended on stolen clinician identities used to authorize the testing, prosecutors said.

Price faces up to 13 years in prison and must pay restitution to Medi-Cal, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the IRS. The FBI also seized more than $6 million in assets tied to the fraud.

The source did not report a sentencing date or any additional details about the plea agreement beyond the charges and penalties described by prosecutors.

Paying pregnant patients to quit smoking

A federal grant will support expanded testing of a smartphone tool that deposits cash rewards for verified smoking abstinence onto a restricted debit card. The National Institute on Drug Abuse awarded a multi-phase grant to the University of Vermont to further test the program, which is designed for pregnant patients who smoke.

The app was built with DynamiCare Health. Participants record themselves taking salivary cotinine tests that confirm whether they have smoked, and rewards are then deposited onto a secure debit card. The card is blocked from purchases such as alcohol, cannabis and firearms.

The article notes that cigarette smoking remains the leading preventable cause of poor pregnancy outcomes in the U.S., and that the burden falls especially hard in rural areas where hospital closures have reduced access to clinic-based cessation programs. The effort builds on contingency-management research led by Stephen T. Higgins, Ph.D., who has shown that small financial rewards can raise quit rates among pregnant smokers.

If trial results hold up, the treatment could be designated as an FDA-approved digital intervention. Enrollment is expected to begin this summer.

The source did not report the size of the grant, the number of participants planned, or how long the trial will run.

Taken together, the three items highlight how medical research, federal enforcement and digital health tools continue to shape care. One study points to a possible dementia-related benefit associated with hearing-aid use in a specific patient group, a federal case describes a major billing fraud tied to lab testing, and a new grant will help evaluate whether digital incentives can support smoking cessation during pregnancy.

As with the hearing-aid study, the reporting on the smoking program remains early-stage. The researchers have not yet reported final results, and the case for expanded use will depend on what the new testing shows. Likewise, the guilty plea in the lab case reflects allegations and admissions described by prosecutors and does not add findings beyond the court process as reported.

For now, the morning update centers on three very different parts of medicine: prevention, fraud enforcement and behavioral support. Each story is at a different stage, from observational research and a federal grant to a criminal plea, but all have implications for how clinicians, patients and payers may think about care and oversight in the months ahead.