Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Chicago Hospital Files For Bankruptcy After State Rejected Closure Plans
Modern Healthcare: Trinity Health's Mercy Hospital Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection
Mercy Hospital and Medical Center filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Wednesday as the Chicago-area community continues to fight to keep the safety-net hospital open. Mercy Hospital has been largely operating in the red for years. Mercy's parent company, Trinity Health, has tried to find suitable merger partners for the hospital and either downsize or completely wind down its inpatient operations. But Bronzeville residents have fought to keep the 400-bed hospital that predominately serves Medicaid beneficiaries fully operational. (Kacik, 2/10)
Bloomberg: Chicago’s Mercy Hospital Files Bankruptcy Amid Plans To Shut
The Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing comes weeks after Illinois state health officials rejected plans by Mercy’s owner, Trinity Health Corp., to close the 258-bed medical center and open an outpatient center in Chicago’s South Side. “The quality of care at Mercy is an increasing concern as physicians and other colleagues have left Mercy and operating losses have accelerated to $7 million per month,” Trinity’s board of directors said in a resolution dated Feb. 5 that authorized the Chapter 11 filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Chicago. (Harrington and Coleman-Lochner, 2/11)
In other health care industry news —
Albuquerque Journal: UNMH Gains Status As State’s First Comprehensive Stroke Center
University of New Mexico Hospital is touting its new status as the state’s first Comprehensive Stroke Center, a designation that could make a big difference for stroke patients who have a narrow window to get help before suffering permanent damage. That’s the highest designation from the Joint Commission, “the primary accrediting body that partners with the American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association to certify centers in cardiac and stroke care,” UNMH neurosurgeon Dr. Andrew Carlson said on Wednesday. The certification indicates that UNMH has the 24-7 capability to perform surgical procedures to repair aneurysms in the brain, or endovascular procedures inside blood vessels to remove blood clots. (Nathanson, 2/11)
The New York Times: College Student’s Simple Invention Helps Nurses Work And Patients Rest
During his day shift at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Anthony Scarpone-Lambert steps into a patient’s room. The lights are off, but he knows he has to change the IV without disturbing the patient. He has two choices: turn on the overhead lights or attempt to use some sort of hand-held light to navigate in the darkness. It’s this dilemma that he sought to fix by inventing what he and his co-founder call the uNight Light, a wearable light-emitting diode, or LED, that allows nurses to illuminate their work space without interrupting a patient’s sleep. (Waller, 2/10)
