For Now, Chicago Hospital Can’t Close

AP: Illinois Board Rejects Plan To Close A Chicago Hospital
A state board rejected a plan Tuesday to close a Chicago hospital after pleas from the community to keep the doors open. Trinity Health wants to close Mercy Hospital in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood, saying the site is losing money as well as patients. It has proposed to open an outpatient clinic about two miles away. (12/15)

In insurance industry news —

Houston Chronicle: 65,000 Blue Cross Patients To Lose In-Network Access At CHI St. Luke's On Wednesday
Roughly 65,000 Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas members will lose in-network access to CHI's Texas locations, including its flagship Baylor-St. Luke’s Medical Center, by the end of Wednesday as negotiations stall in a dispute over health care costs. The hospital network and insurer announced in October that they would part ways. CHI St. Luke’s CEO Doug Lawson said at the time that Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas, along with another insurance carrier, Molina, were paying the hospital system "significantly" less than its competitors for the same services. (Wu, 12/15)

Modern Healthcare: Insurers, Providers Prepare For COVID-19 Vaccine Administration Costs
While the federal government is covering the cost of the COVID-19 vaccine for consumers during the public health emergency, some insurers may be left to foot the bill for providers' time administering the shot. Although several insurers have said their members won't be charged for the vaccine or its administration, some providers expect to shoulder some costs as well. "We greatly appreciate that the federal government is covering the cost of the vaccine, and the administration fee will be covered by individuals' health insurance, so the residents and staff will not have to pay," the American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living said in an emailed statement. (Christ and Tepper, 12/15)

KHN: ‘An Arm And A Leg’: Shopping For Health Insurance? Here’s How One Family Tried To Pick A Plan
When host Dan Weissmann and his wife set out to pick a health insurance plan for next year, they realized that keeping the plan they have means paying $200 a month more. But would a “cheaper” plan cost them more in the long run?  It depends. And the COVID pandemic makes their choice a lot more complicated. After trying to puzzle it out, Weissmann debriefs with Karen Pollitz, a health insurance expert at KFF, who knows about the angst of medical bills from personal experience. (Weissmann, 12/16)

In other health care industry news —

Modern Healthcare: Study: 1 In 5 Patients Report Discrimination When Getting Healthcare
New research has found more than one in five adults say they experienced discrimination when receiving healthcare, with such occurrences more common among racial and ethnic minorities, lower income, and less healthy patients. Racial discrimination was the most common type reported among patients included in a study published Tuesday in JAMA Network Open. A higher proportion of Black and Brown patients, as well as adults with other non-white racial and ethnic identities, reported experiencing discrimination in their interpersonal encounters with healthcare staff compared to white respondents. (Ross Johnson, 12/15)

Stat: For Some Rare Disease Patients, PPE Shortages Pose A Continued Threat
When the coronavirus sent cities across the United States into shutdown in March, Laura Bonnell realized that her family’s supply of masks and disinfectant wipes was quickly running out. “We didn’t have any N95 masks and we only had about 20 disposable masks,” said Bonnell, whose two daughters have cystic fibrosis, a rare genetic condition that makes infections easier to catch and harder to get rid of by producing a thick, sticky mucus that traps germs in the lungs. (Goshua, 12/16)