Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
2,000 Kaiser Permanente Mental Health Workers Strike
AP: Kaiser Permanente Mental Health Workers Go On Strike Over Staffing
Nearly 2,000 Kaiser Permanente psychologists, therapists, social workers and other mental health workers in Northern California began an open-ended strike Monday over staffing shortages that their union said have led patients to wait for months to get help. The National Union of Healthcare Workers, which represents the workers, is negotiating a new contract with the Oakland-based health giant. It said the strike is to demand Kaiser hire more mental health workers to ease the burden put on the current staff. (Rodriguez, 8/15)
Modern Healthcare: Kaiser Permanente Mental Health Workers On Strike
No further bargaining sessions are scheduled, according to Kaiser Permanente spokesperson Steve Shivinsky. “Kaiser Permanente has made it known we are prepared to meet with the union at any time and will continue bargaining in good faith. Our goal is to reach a fair and equitable agreement and bring this strike and our negotiations to a conclusion,” he wrote in an email. (Christ, 8/15)
In other news about health care workers —
Crain's New York Business: New York Hospitals, Healthcare Workers Reach Few Agreements On Staffing Levels
Hospitals across New York largely failed to reach consensus with nurses and ancillary-service workers in their final clinical staffing plans submitted to the state Department of Health, union members said. (Kaufman, 8/15)
More developments from the health care industry —
Bloomberg: Activist Elliott Takes Large Stake In Cardinal Health, Dow Jones Reports
Elliott Management Corp., the activist investor firm, has taken a large position in drug distributor Cardinal Health Inc. and is seeking seats on the company’s board, Dow Jones reported, citing people familiar with the matter. (Lauerman, 8/15)
Billings Gazette: Montana Hospitals Facing Unprecedented Financial Crisis
Record high hospitalizations during surges of COVID-19 infections led to burnout among nurses and front-line workers, resulting in an exodus from the field. To backfill, hospital administrators have turned to traveling or contracted staff, whose wages, agency fees and housing cost at least three times more than the wages of permanent employees. (Schabacker, 8/14)
Axios: Few Cancer Centers Have Price Transparency
Less than a third of the 63 National Cancer Institute-designated cancer centers in the U.S. are fully complying with federal price transparency rules, according to an analysis in JAMA Surgery. (Reed, 8/15)
KHN: Buy And Bust: Collapse Of Private Equity-Backed Rural Hospitals Mired Employees In Medical Bills
The first unexpected bill arrived in December, just weeks before Tara Lovell’s husband of 40 years died from bladder cancer. Lovell worked as an ultrasound technologist at the local Audrain Community Hospital, in Mexico, Missouri, and was paying more than $400 a month for health insurance through her job. The town’s struggling hospital, the sole health care provider and major employer, had changed ownership in recent years, selling in March 2021 to Noble Health, a private equity-backed startup whose managers had never run a hospital. (Tribble, 8/16)
KHN: After Wiping Out $6.7 Billion In Medical Debt, This Nonprofit Is Just Getting Started
Soon after giving birth to a daughter two months premature, Terri Logan received a bill from the hospital. She recoiled from the string of numbers separated by commas. Logan, who was a high school math teacher in Georgia, shoved it aside and ignored subsequent bills. She was a single mom who knew she had no way to pay. “I avoided it like the plague,” she said, but avoidance didn’t keep the bills out of mind. (Noguchi, 8/16)
