A Year In Action, CMS’ Rural Pay Model Has Helped Hospitals

Modern Healthcare: One Year Later: How CMS' Rural Pay Model Has Helped Hospitals
Friend Community Healthcare System’s hospital was hours from closing its doors in July. The City of Friend, a community of about 900 people in southeast Nebraska, gave its local hospital, Warren Memorial Hospital, $250,000 to help administrators make payroll and fund operations. But that was only a temporary solution for the 15-bed critical access hospital, which has struggled against bigger competitors in Lincoln and Omaha as it treats an increasing number of Medicaid beneficiaries. (Kacik, 1/24)

In other health care industry news —

The Boston Globe: Steward Health Care Financial Issues Spur Receivership Discussion
Massachusetts legislators are feverishly working to prevent the closure of hospitals amid the financial crisis at Steward Health Care, according to one lawmaker, who said options on the table include measures to potentially order endangered facilities into receivership. State Representative Andy Vargas, a Haverhill Democrat, said in a statement late Wednesday that local legislative leaders had been meeting daily “for several weeks” about the precarious financial status of one of Steward Health Care’s hospitals — Holy Family Hospital, which has campuses in both Haverhill and Methuen. (Bartlett, 1/24)

Los Angeles Times: U.S. News Sues S.F. City Attorney Over Hospital Ranking Subpoenas
A dispute between U.S. News & World Report and the San Francisco city attorney’s office over the media company’s well-known but increasingly scrutinized system for ranking hospitals and other healthcare institutions has in recent weeks turned into an all-out legal battle. San Francisco City Atty. David Chiu issued two subpoenas to the media company earlier this month. The first demanded answers about the company’s process for ranking hospitals. The second ... might reveal ... whether the financial relationships with hospitals are a factor. (Rector, 1/24)

Axios: Health Care Providers Want Hospitals To Fight Climate Change
Nearly 80% of health care providers say it's important for their hospital to minimize its environmental impact, according to a large new Commonwealth Fund survey of clinicians. Health care accounts for 8.5% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, with hospitals responsible for the largest portion of those emissions. (Goldman, 1/24)

North Carolina Health News: Group Tackles Health Care Workforce Shortage
When Jessica Aguilar had an acute gallbladder attack last year, she had no choice but to bring her 12-year-old twins with her to the emergency room at 3 a.m. The boys, who are both on the autism spectrum, are somewhat familiar with trailing their mother to adult spaces. Aguilar, a single parent, has approval for some Medicaid caregiving services for her sons, but more often than not over the past three years she has been unable to find a caregiver. (Hoban, 1/25)

Also —

Axios: Patients Are Drowning In Notifications
Got an upcoming doctor's appointment? Perhaps a prescription to refill or a dental cleaning? Odds are your phone has been pinging away with incessant reminders about it. It's not just you. There's a growing flood of emails, texts, phone calls and other prods to patients that — beyond just potentially becoming another digital annoyance — may make them tune out the important stuff. (Reed, 1/25)

Bloomberg: One Of World’s Richest Doctors Sees Fortune Surge To $12 Billion
A Saudi doctor saw his fortune close in on $12 billion on Thursday as shares of his healthcare firm rebounded, returning him to the ranks of the Middle East’s wealthiest private individuals. Shares in Sulaiman Al Habib’s eponymous company have surged 30% since hitting a one-year low in October. That’s made Al Habib — who founded the firm and holds a 40% stake — the third-richest person in the Middle East who’s not a member of a royal family, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. (Martin, 1/25)