Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Buyouts Offered To 1,600 Brigham and Women's Hospital Workers To Control Costs
Boston Globe: Brigham Hospital Offers Voluntary Buyouts To 1,600 Workers
Brigham and Women’s Hospital, one of Boston’s largest employers, said Thursday that it is offering voluntary buyouts to 1,600 workers to rein in costs, a sign of financial stress in one of the region’s bedrock business sectors. The hospital is profitable, Brigham officials said, but is being squeezed as payments from insurers and the government flatten while labor and other costs grow. (Dayal McCluskey, 4/27)
The Associated Press: Major Boston Teaching Hospital Offering Buyouts To 1,600
One of Boston's most prestigious teaching hospitals on Thursday announced that it is offering voluntary buyouts to 1,600 employees as a way to control costs during a period of uncertainty in the health care business. (4/27)
Los Angeles Times: Under Fire From Hospitals, Legislator Drops Measure Requiring Reports Of Superbug Deaths
After complaints from California hospitals and physicians, a state legislator has stripped his bill of a measure that would have required doctors to record deadly infections on death certificates. The California Hospital Assn. and the California Medical Assn. wrote letters saying they opposed the plan by state Sen. Jerry Hill (D-San Mateo). The measure would have required physicians to include drug-resistant bacterial infections on the death certificate if in their opinion it helped cause a person’s death. (Petersen, 4/27)
The Associated Press: Kansas Governor Seeks $24M To Ban Guns At State Hospitals
Republican Gov. Sam Brownback proposed Thursday spending an additional $24 million over two years on armed guards and other security measures that would allow Kansas to continue banning concealed guns at state hospitals for the mentally ill and developmentally disabled. (Hanna, 4/27)
KCUR: Kansas Lawmakers Balk At Brownback’s $24M Plan For Gun Security At State Hospitals
Lawmakers signaled Thursday that they could exempt Kansas psychiatric hospitals from a law requiring them to allow concealed handguns. Gov. Sam Brownback has requested an additional $24 million in spending over the next two budget years on upgrades needed to provide security at state mental health hospitals and facilities for people with developmental disabilities. A state law taking effect July 1 will allow people to carry concealed guns into any public building that is not secured by armed guards and mental detectors. (McLean and Wingerter, 4/27)
The Baltimore Sun: Hopkins Adds Pennsylvania Hospital To Research Network
Allegheny Health Network in Pennsylvania has joined a research network run by Johns Hopkins that aims to accelerate the pace that new treatments are discovered. The network developed by the Johns Hopkins Institute for Clinical and Translational Research connects researchers from academic institutions with those who work in community settings to collaborate on research and share findings. (McDaniels, 4/27)
Kansas City Star: KU Health System Working With Nashville For-Profit To Purchase Topeka Hospital
The head of the University of Kansas Health System has contacted the owner of struggling St. Francis Hospital in Topeka with an offer to buy and operate the hospital in partnership with Ardent Health Systems, a for-profit hospital chain based in Nashville. KU Health System provided a letter Thursday from its CEO Bob Page to SCL Health CEO Mike Slubowski. (Marso and Woodall, 4/27)
The Philadelphia Inquirer: Jefferson And National Jewish Health Form New Respiratory Institute In Philly
Jefferson Health and Denver-based National Jewish Health, a leading respiratory hospital, on Thursday announced the creation of a new respiratory institute in Philadelphia. The Jane and Leonard Korman Respiratory Institute will adopt the centralized, streamlined care model used at National Jewish Health. Patients will see specialists and receive tests during one visit, rather than making multiple trips to various locations, said Gregory Kane. chair of Jefferson's department of medicine. (McCullough, 4/27)
State House News Service: Partners HealthCare, Brigham Hospital Pay $10M In Medical Research Fraud Case
Partners HealthCare and Brigham and Women's Hospital have agreed to pay $10 million to settle a medical research fraud case involving three doctors who are no longer affiliated with the companies. The U.S. attorney's office in Boston announced Thursday that the settlement resolves allegations that a Brigham and Women's stem cell research lab run by Dr. Piero Anversa fraudulently obtained grant funding from the National Institutes of Health by using improper protocols, inaccurately characterized cardiac stem cells, recklessly kept records, and fabricated data and images included in applications. (Norton, 4/27)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Kenosha's United Hospital System To Become Froedtert South
Froedtert Health and United Hospital System in Kenosha would work more closely together and United Hospital System would operate under the Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin brand name in a tentative agreement announced Thursday. The two health systems would not merge under the proposed agreement but would share a system for electronic health records and the same protocols for quality. (Boulton, 4/27)
