Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Cigna Rebrands Into 3 Business Units
Modern Healthcare: Cigna Rebrands Into 3 Corporate Units
Cigna Corp. will be the Cigna Group, Cigna Healthcare the insurance arm and Evernorth Health Services the pharmacy and care delivery division that includes the pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts. The company's ticker symbol on the New York Stock Exchanges remains unchanged as CI. Shares will begin trading as the Cigna Group Feb. 23, the company reported to the Securities and Exchange Commission Monday. (Berryman, 2/13)
Modern Healthcare: Amazon-One Medical Merger Could Hit Snag With FTC
The Federal Trade Commission’s skepticism of tech-fueled healthcare mergers could spell trouble for Amazon and One Medical, experts say. For years, the FTC has tried to thwart mergers between large hospital systems. Recent action reveals its focus could be widening to include mergers involving digital health providers and big tech companies. (Turner, 2/13)
Modern Healthcare: Hospital CEOs Worry Over Labor Shortages, Behavioral Health Demands
Behavioral health issues were third among hospital CEOs’ top concerns, rising from fourth in the 2021 survey. Respondents noted a lack of appropriate facilities, not enough dedicated funding and insufficient reimbursement levels as hospital operators have been forced to treat patients in their emergency departments for long stretches because their traditional outpatient and residential referral partners at capacity. (Kacik, 2/13)
The Colorado Sun: How A Rural Hospital Came Back After It Was Down To Its Last Dollar
At the end of 2019, Memorial Regional Health reached a crisis. The hospital in Craig is the sole hospital in Moffat County, a vital lifeline to health care services in a corner of the state nearly the size of Connecticut. But, as the year came to a close, the hospital was staring at a grim number in its bank account: It had zero days cash-on-hand left. (Ingold, 2/14)
In other health care industry developments —
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin Supreme Court Declines To Hear UW Health Nurse Union Case
The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Monday said it would not take up a case filed by a Wisconsin health care system seeking clarity on whether it could voluntarily recognize its nurses' unions. The court's decision halts an attempt by the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics Authority to bypass lower state courts in deciding whether voluntary union recognition is allowed under state law. (Van Egeren, 2/13)
AP: RIP Medical Debt Seeks To Buy, Resolve More Hospital Debt
RIP Medical Debt has found a working formula to relieve medical debt for millions of people. It still has room to grow. The New York nonprofit uses donations to buy medical debt in bulk from hospitals and debt collectors for pennies on the dollar. It mostly targets the debt of people with low incomes and then forgives the amounts. Founded in 2014, the organization says that it has relieved more than $8.5 billion in medical debt so far. (Murphy, 2/13)
Fierce Healthcare: Doximity Rolls Out Beta Version Of ChatGPT Tool For Docs
The internet is buzzing with news about ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence large language model developed by OpenAI, and its potential uses in medical practice and education. Doximity, a digital platform for medical professionals, rolled out a beta version of a ChatGPT tool for doctors that helps streamline some of their time-consuming administrative tasks, such as drafting and faxing pre-authorization and appeal letters to insurers. (Landi, 2/10)
Stat: How A Black Veteran Desegregated A Texas Medical School
When we think of notable civil rights issues in medicine, the best-known cases might be Henrietta Lacks, whose cells were taken without consent for research, or the participants of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study who were subject to unethical experiments. These are important events that changed the course of medicine, but they’re also examples in which Black people were unknowingly harmed as patients. Vanessa Northington Gamble, a physician and researcher at George Washington University, wants us to know more stories of Black people actively resisting racism within medicine. (Gaffney, 2/14)
The Washington Post: Jury Awards Ex-Eagles Player $43.5 Million For Alleged Medical Malpractice
A jury in Philadelphia on Monday awarded former Eagles player Chris Maragos $43.5 million after he sued the medical team in charge of treating his injured knee. Maragos had accused orthopedic surgeon James Bradley and Rothman Orthopaedics of neglecting to address a torn meniscus he suffered during his playing days, leading to the premature end of his NFL career and causing ongoing pain and physical limitations. (Bieler, 2/13)
