Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
After Katrina Destroyed Charity Hospital, New Orleans Opens Doors To Its Replacement
PBS NewsHour: Will Reimagined New Orleans Hospital Meet The Needs Of Its Most Vulnerable?
After Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans’ much-loved state-run hospital was declared unfit to reopen. A new medical center, a decade in the making and costing in excess of $1 billion, has now opened its doors. While many are thrilled with the new facility, others fear that it does not share the mission of serving patients no matter the cost. (8/26)
The Boston Globe: State Hospitals Report $1.2 Billion In Earnings
Last year was good to most Massachusetts hospitals. Despite fewer patient admissions, more competition, and constant pressure from the government and insurers to control costs, the state’s 62 hospitals maintained their combined earnings of $1.2 billion last year, while more hospitals shared in the profits. All types of hospitals, from small community facilities to big urban medical centers, increased earnings, according to a new report from the state Center for Health Information and Analysis. (Dayal McCluskey, 8/27)
The Charlotte Observer: Novant Health Closes Night-Shift Pharmacies At Charlotte-Area Hospitals
Four days after the July 13 announcement that Novant Health would cut 400 employees, it also shut down the night-shift pharmacies at hospitals in Matthews and Huntersville, two of the system’s four Mecklenburg County hospitals. Dr. Thomas Zweng, chief medical officer for Novant Health, told me the pharmacy closings should not affect nurses’ jobs or patient care because any questions are now being handled by pharmacists at Presbyterian Medical Center, Novant’s largest Charlotte hospital, near uptown. Zweng said the system has cut pharmacy hours at several other hospitals – in Charlotte, Winston-Salem, Thomasville, Kernersville and Brunswick County – because of “low volume.” Having electronic medical records (EMR) allows pharmacists at Presbyterian to access patient records at Matthews, he said. Even before the changes in Matthews and Huntersville, Novant’s Charlotte Orthopaedic Hospital had also moved to “virtual pharmacy” coverage through Presbyterian at night, Zweng said. (Garloch, 8/27)
The Charlotte Observer: Levines Give $3M For Psychiatry Training Program At Carolinas Medical Center
A $3 million gift from the Leon Levine Foundation to Carolinas HealthCare System will be used to launch a residency training program in psychiatry at Carolinas Medical Center, officials announced Wednesday. The first class of three psychiatric residents will enter the four-year program in July 2017. The program will help meet a pressing need for physicians providing behavioral health services in this region, hospital and foundation officials said at a news conference on the CMC campus. (Garloch, 8/26)
The Philadelphia Inquirer: Area Medical Group Gets A Bonus For Cutting Costs
The Delaware Valley ACO, a group of five health systems and 450 primary care doctors that is participating in Medicare's new accountable care organization payment model, got good news recently. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), which operates Medicare, announced late Tuesday that it is giving the local group a $6.6 million reward for lowering costs last year. This puts DVACO, the largest such group in the region, near the top of its class. Only 19 percent of accountable care organizations that entered the market in 2014 received rewards or "shared savings" payments. (Burling, 8/26)
