Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Complications During Birth Are Driving Up Hospital Costs And Prevention Could Be Key To Reining In Spending
Modern Healthcare: More Birth Complications Push Up Hospital Costs
Women are more likely to experience an unexpected outcome during delivery and it's adding to hospital costs, according to a new analysis from Premier. The rate of women with a severe maternal morbidity factor, which are complications during labor such as sepsis, shock or eclampsia, rose by 36% from 2008 to 2018, Premier found. And those vaginal births cost nearly 80% more on average than those without complications. Additionally, cesarean deliveries for women with a severe maternal morbidity factor cost almost twice as much as uncomplicated C-sections on average. (Casstellucci, 1/6)
The Associated Press: Regulator Cites Failures At Hospital Where 3 Preemies Died
A major Pennsylvania hospital where three premature infants died in a bacterial outbreak last year routinely failed to sanitize the equipment it used to prepare donor breast milk, according to a state health department report released Monday. Health department staff ordered Geisinger Medical Center in Danville to correct several deficiencies, determining the hospital’s systemic failure to prevent infection in its most vulnerable patients constituted “immediate jeopardy” — a legal finding that means Geisinger placed its patients at risk of serious injury or death. (1/6)
New Hampshire Public Radio: With New State Funding In Place, Hospitals Add Mental Health Beds
Portsmouth Regional Hospital and Parkland Medical Center in Derry have announced they are adding a combined eight new in-patient psychiatric beds. The new beds come amid a years-long shortage that has forced many mental health patients to languish in emergency rooms. (Moon, 1/6)
KCUR: Boonville, Missouri, Hospital Ordered To Stop Performing Surgery
Missouri health regulators have told a Boonville, Missouri, hospital that specializes in bariatric surgery and is affiliated with a similar privately owned hospital in Overland Park, Kansas, to discontinue performing surgery. The directive was issued last month, after the regulators conducted an inspection at Pinnacle Regional Hospital and cited it for sterile processing procedures. (Margolies, 1/6)
Georgia Health News: Gainesville-Based Health System, Anthem Finally Reach Contract Deal
Three months after their previous contract ended, Northeast Georgia Health System and Georgia’s largest insurer reached an agreement Monday on a new deal that restores network status to thousands of consumers. The long-running contract dispute had attracted the interest of major state lawmakers and had unnerved many patients of the Gainesville-based system who have Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield insurance. Northeast Georgia has hospitals in Gainesville, Braselton, Winder and Dahlonega, dominating medical care in those areas. (Miller, 1/6)
Modern Healthcare: Beaumont, Summa Health Deal Moves Forward
Beaumont Health and Summa Health signed a definitive agreement to form a $6.1 billion system, the Southfield, Mich.-based and Akron, Ohio-based not-for-profit health systems announced Monday. Summa, its four hospitals and health plan would be a wholly owned subsidiary of Beaumont, which has eight hospitals. The proposal follows other regional health system combinations that aim to leverage scale to boost capacity, among other endeavors. (Kacik, 1/6)
