Popular Tool For Childbirth Risks After C-Sections Loses Race Bias

Stat: Researchers Remove Race From A Calculator For Childbirth
Since 2007, obstetricians have counseled patients planning to give birth after a previous C-section with help from a simple calculator designed to determine the likelihood of having a successful vaginal birth after cesarean, or VBAC. The tool takes into account a patient’s age, height, weight, and their history of vaginal and cesarean delivery. It also asks two yes-or-no questions: “African-American?” “Hispanic?” The answers can predict a drastically lower chance of success for patients of color. But now, after years of work by researchers, advocates, and clinicians, that racialized calculator has been replaced by a newly validated version that is the same in almost every way — except for eliminating race and ethnicity as a risk factor. (Palmer, 6/3)

In other health care industry news —

Modern Healthcare: Small, Rural Hospitals Have More Trouble Enabling EHRs, ONC Says
Most hospitals have an application programming interface for patients to keep track of their health information, but small and rural providers still haven't given patients full access to their data, according to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology on Wednesday. In 2019, 7 in 10 hospitals reported using an application programming interface to allow inpatients to access health data—a 50% increase from 2018 that's largely attributed to financial incentives that started that year. (Gellman, 6/2)

Modern Healthcare: Ohio State Wexner, DispatchHealth To Offer Hospital-At-Home Care
The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center is teaming up with DispatchHealth, an in-home medical care provider, to offer Columbus-area patients care at home. Starting July 1, Ohio State Wexner patients and providers will be able to request same-day at-home care for viral infections, COPD exacerbations, congestive heart failure and other injuries and illnesses, according to a news release. Those at-home services will be coordinated with a patient's care team. Some high-risk patients also will be able to request DispatchHealth's Bridge Care, which provides at-home care 24-72 hours after an acute care hospital stay. (Christ, 6/2)

Bloomberg: Chicago’s Mercy Hospital To Get $50 Million From New Owner
Mercy Hospital and Medical Center’s new owner will invest $50 million in the next two years as it works to rebuild a facility once slated for shutdown. Insight, which took over June 1, will create a “comprehensive plan to increase services and meet community need,” a representative said in an email Wednesday. It will also appoint three independent community board members within 90 days and restore a full emergency department. Insight last week said it also intends to revive Mercy’s status as a teaching hospital as part of a plan to operate Mercy as a full-service hospital “through 2029 and beyond.” (Coleman-Lochner, 6/2)

The Baltimore Sun: ‘Jumping The Gun’ On Johns Hopkins? Researchers Say There’s No Evidence University Founder Owned Enslaved People. 
One day last winter, officials at Baltimore’s most prestigious research university made the kind of announcement that can cause even a powerful worldwide institution to reassess its long-standing self-image. A team of researchers at Johns Hopkins University, the officials said at a news conference, had determined its founder, merchant and philanthropist Johns Hopkins, owned enslaved people. It was a finding that contradicted his reputation as an abolitionist who founded and aided institutions that served Black people. (Pitts, 6/3)

North Carolina Health News: COVID Sowed Doubts, But Nursing Student Doubled Down 
Kate Schauss knew she wanted to enter the medical field since the fifth grade, when her interest in medicine was sparked while dissecting a squid on a school field trip. By her sophomore year of high school, she was certain nursing was the path she would pursue. Then the pandemic rattled the world in 2020 and she had some doubts. (Dougani, 6/3)