Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Critics Question NYC Mayor's Staffing Plan To Fix Budget Crunch At Public Hospitals
Bloomberg: New York Hospitals In Critical Condition As Deficit Looms
New York City’s public hospitals are in critical condition with rising costs and plummeting revenue. There’s no dispute about that diagnosis. The problem is with Mayor Bill de Blasio’s proposed cure, according to health policy makers, hospital administrators and budget watchdogs. As NYC Health + Hospitals President Ram Raju describes it, the largest U.S. municipal-healthcare provider is an ailing system of 11 hospitals that’s losing revenue because of increased competition from non-profit hospitals for Medicaid patients and drastic cuts in federal and state aid for indigents. (Goldman and Braun, 8/22)
Houston Chronicle: Kindred To Close Another Local Hospital
For the second time this month a Houston-area Kindred hospital has announced it will close. The Kindred Hospital at 2130 W. Holcombe Blvd., near the Texas Medical Center, will shutter in October, and all 204 positions will be eliminated, according to a letter sent to the Texas Workforce Commission last week. The health care company confirmed the news Monday. Earlier this month, the Kindred Hospital in Baytown also announced its closing and the elimination of 33 jobs, the Workforce Commission reported. (Deam, 8/22)
New Hampshire Times Union: Staffing Agencies Say Exeter Hospital Has Invalid Claim Against Them
A judge will hear arguments later this month from lawyers representing two medical staffing agencies who say their clients should be excluded from contributing toward legal settlements paid to 188 patients who tested negative during a hepatitis C outbreak. Exeter Hospital filed a lawsuit in January 2014 against a half dozen staffing agencies, saying the agencies are responsible for allowing former technician David Kwiatkowski to remain working in the medical field while knowing about his drug habit. (Kimble, 8/22)
New Hampshire Times Union: State Likely To OK Hospital Contract For Psychiatric Services
The Executive Council on Wednesday is expected to approve a $36.5 million contract for Dartmouth-Hitchcock to provide psychiatric services at New Hampshire Hospital and other state institutions, despite continued concerns over changes in staffing. Those concerns were heightened after a recently discharged New Hampshire Hospital patient committed suicide in Nashua. Republican gubernatorial candidate and Manchester Mayor Ted Gatsas has asked the council to hold off on the vote. (Solomon, 8/22)
And, Stat reports from a Boston hospital on what a successful arm transplant procedure takes —
Stat: Grueling Work Required To Make Arm Transplants Succeed
(Will) Lautzenheiser, one of about 80 people worldwide with transplanted arms, can’t fathom what another American recipient told People Magazine last month — that he had considered getting his transplants removed. ... Patients go into their surgeries fully aware that the procedure is experimental and might not succeed, though 95 percent of the transplanted limbs have had good outcomes, said Dr. Vijay Gorantla, administrative medical director of the Reconstructive Transplant Program at the University of Pittsburgh. Fewer than 10 of the transplants have had to be removed. (Weintraub, 8/23)
