Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Community Meeting Highlights Rift Between Nashville General And Meharry Medical College
Nashville Tennessean: Nashville General Hospital: Community Meeting Exposes Tension With Meharry Medical College
Hours after Mayor Megan Barry abruptly reversed plans to end inpatient care at Nashville General Hospital, a pre-planned community meeting exposed a rift that months of uncertainty have created between two institutions, which long have partnered to provide health care to the city's poor and uninsured patients. Nashville General Hospital and Meharry Medical College officials have worked together for decades to provide care at the city's only public hospital, which is located on the college's campus. Meharry residents have trained at the hospital and its staff have provided healthcare to hospital patients. Both institutions have deep roots in Nashville's African-American communities. (Wadhwani, 1/11)
Nashville Tennessean: Weathering Criticism, Meharry Medical College President Vows To Continue Push On Indigent Care
When Mayor Megan Barry backpedaled on her controversial plan to downsize the city's only public hospital Thursday, she also distanced herself from its affiliated medical college. Meharry Medical College, which trains students and residents at Nashville General Hospital, had volunteered to convene stakeholders to help guide the mayor and Metro Council in the aftermath of her announcement. It was an offer Barry gladly accepted. She had just publicly lauded the college for its new partnership with HCA that gave medical students access to training at another local hospital besides Nashville General. (Wadhwani, 1/12)
The Baltimore Sun: State Investigating University Of Maryland Hospital Where Woman Was Found In Gown, Outside On Baltimore Street
A state agency charged with ensuring health facilities meet federal and state standards is investigating a University of Maryland Medical Center hospital where a woman was found outside in just a gown and socks in a case that some are calling patient dumping. The incident at the medical center’s midtown campus in Baltimore was caught on tape by local psychotherapist Imamu Baraka. The woman in the video appears disoriented and is stumbling about. What appears to be four security guards are walking back into the hospital. One has a wheelchair. (McDaniels, 1/12)
Cincinnati Enquirer: No IV Bags? Cincy Hospitals Say They Are Adapting To Shortage Through Flu Season
As hospitals in Greater Cincinnati and across the country cope with a bad flu season, they also are figuring out how to deliver medicine without an important tool of the trade: the intravenous fluid bag. Hurricane Maria’s devastation of Puerto Rico, the key American manufacturing hub for medical supplies, triggered a monthslong shortage in fundamental hospital gear, especially IV fluids. (Saker, 1/15)
Chicago Sun Times: ACLU Urges City Council To Deny $5.5M Subsidy To Presence Health
The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois on Monday urged the City Council to deny a $5.5 million subsidy to Illinois’ largest Catholic health system because of Presence Health’s anti-abortion policy. “At a time when reproductive health care is under attack, the city of Chicago should work to expand access to the full range of women’s health care — not use taxpayer dollars to support an institution that imposes its religious beliefs to deny patients basic health care,” the ACLU wrote in a letter addressed to all 50 Chicago aldermen. (Spielman, 1/15)
