Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Biggest Nurses Union Praises OSHA Threats Over States' Poor Covid Safety
ABC News: Largest Nurses Union Applauds Possible OSHA Action Against 3 States Over PPE
The country's largest nurses' union praised the federal government on Wednesday after officials said three states tasked with implementing their own safety measures for health care workers would lose that right unless they adhered to agreed-upon guidelines. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration had announced Tuesday it was considering stripping Arizona, Utah and South Carolina of their abilities to oversee workplace safety enforcement because they're not in compliance with an emergency standard order passed over the summer that guarantees certain protections. (Pereira, 10/20)
KHN: Worn-Out Nurses Hit The Road For Better Pay, Stressing Hospital Budgets — And Morale
In parts of the country where covid-19 continues to fill hospitals, a rotating cast of traveling nurses helps keep intensive care units fully staffed. Hospitals have to pay handsomely to get that temporary help, and those higher wages are tempting some staff nurses to hit the road, too. Nearly two years into the pandemic, there’s some truth in a joke circulating among frustrated ICU nurses: They ask their hospitals for appropriate compensation for the hazards they’ve endured. And the nurses are rewarded with a pizza party instead. (Farmer, 10/21)
In other health care industry news —
AP: Princeton Hospital Joining WVU Health System
Princeton Community Hospital is joining the West Virginia University Health System. The hospital’s board of directors, the WVU Health System and the city of Princeton have signed a letter of intent for the hospital to be integrated into the WVU system, the university said in a news release Wednesday. (10/21)
AP: Former HCA CEO, Wife Donate $10M To Belmont Medical School
The former HCA Healthcare CEO who is currently Belmont University’s board chairman and his wife have donated $10 million to the Nashville institution’s new medical school. The private university says Milton Johnson and his wife, Denice, announced the gift Wednesday for the Thomas F. Frist Jr. College of Medicine. (10/21)
CNBC: Bomb Threat Locks Down Walter Reed Hospital, Navy Base
A shelter-in-place order was lifted Wednesday afternoon at a U.S. Navy base just outside of Washington, D.C., hours after a bomb threat was made against Walter Reed Medical Center located there. The order ended a lockdown at the base in Bethesda, Maryland, which had closed the facility’s gates to nonemergency traffic, according to tweets posted by the base and Walter Reed accounts. (Mangan and Breuninger, 10/20)
