Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Chicago Safety Net Hospitals Say They Won't Survive Under 'Fair Workweek' Ordinance
Modern Healthcare: Here's How The 'Fair Workweek' Rule Would Hurt Us, Safety-Net Hospitals Say
Chicago-area hospitals that serve low-income patients say they won't survive under the proposed "fair workweek" ordinance. The measure, which would require Chicago employers to schedule workers two weeks in advance and pay them for last-minute changes, is set to be heard July 22 by the City Council's Committee on Workforce Development. Since the ordinance was first proposed in 2017, hospitals have asked for exceptions due to the unpredictable nature of their work, with patient volumes changing from shift to shift. (Goldberg, 7/19)
Modern Healthcare: Why You'll Have To Go Farther For Some Hospital Care
Hospitals are embracing specialization as cost pressures and consolidation upend healthcare service models. Expanding Chicago-area chains have begun reconfiguring themselves as networks of specialty hospitals with narrower offerings. Three-hospital Loyola Medicine is consolidating open-heart surgery at its flagship facility in Maywood. And NorthShore University HealthSystem is centralizing orthopedics, urology and open-heart surgery at various locations in its four-hospital network. (Goldberg, 7/19)
Modern Healthcare: Most Hospitals Fail To Meet Leapfrog's Surgery Volume Standards
The vast majority of hospitals fail to comply with the Leapfrog Group's minimum volume standards for eight high-risk surgeries, according to a new analysis. The report, published Thursday, found most hospitals that participated in the 2018 Leapfrog Hospital Survey perform less than the recommended number of surgeries for the procedures to be performed safely. The Leapfrog Group volume standards were set by a technical expert panel and target eight procedures that have research showing a strong relationship between outcomes and the number of times the procedures are performed. (Castellucci, 7/18)
CNN: An Anonymous Donor Asked A Hospital Where It Needed Help And Gave $25 Million To Make It Happen
Children's Hospital Los Angeles will now be able to help many more kids, thanks to an anonymous $25 million gift. It is one of the largest single donations in the hospital's history, according to president and CEO Paul Viviano. "This truly transformative gift comes at a time when demand is growing quickly -- particularly among underserved children in Southern California -- both for pediatric neurological care as well as interventional radiology's broad range of minimally invasive procedures," Viviano said in a statement. (Sherry and Zdanowicz, 7/19)
Sacramento Bee: Rural Gold Country Hospitals Received $1.5 Million In Grants
For the past three decades, the number of hospitals in American rural areas has been declining at a steep pace. In California, 50 rural hospitals – close to 10 percent of the total hospitals in the state – are on the brink of closing. Twenty have shut down since 1995, experts say. On Thursday, the federal Department of Health and Human Services attempted to stop the bleeding with a $20 million grant, distributed across 21 states. (Ghisolfi, 7/19)
WBUR: Shortage Of Life-Saving Infusion Strains Hospitals And Leaves Patients In Limbo
Intravenous immunoglobulin is used to treat many medical conditions, from chronic to acutely life-threatening, and its supply recently shifted abruptly and indefinitely, says Dr. Paul Biddinger, the chief of emergency preparedness at Mass. General. Signs of a crunch had been building for months, "but really, it's within the last couple of weeks that it's become a critical shortage across the whole country," he says. (Goldberg, 7/19)
The Associated Press: Baby's Family Mad About Hospital Bills In Cut-From-Womb Case
A Chicago-area hospital says it regrets sending bills to the family of a baby boy who died about seven weeks after attackers cut him from his mother's womb. Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn sent bills for Yovanny Lopez's care that totaled about $300,000, said the family's lawyer, Frank Avila. Some bills even referred to Yovanny as "Figueroa, boy" — the last name of Clarisa Figueroa, who is accused of orchestrating the attack on the baby's mother so that she could claim him as her own. (7/19)
Kansas City Star: KU Hospital Signs Deal With IBA For Proton Beam Therapy
When University of Kansas Hospital leaders announced the purchase of a $40 million proton beam therapy machine this month, they also entered one of the biggest controversies in cancer care. President and CEO Bob Page described it as a major boon for area patients. KU will be the first hospital in the region to have one of the high-tech, room-sized devices for delivering targeted radiation. (Marso, 7/22)
