Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Deal Struck To End 10-Week Kaiser Permanente Mental Health Worker Strike
Modern Healthcare: Kaiser Permanente, Union Ink Contract For Mental Health Workers
Kaiser Permanente and the National Union of Healthcare Workers inked a proposed four-year contract Tuesday, ending the 10-week standoff between mental health workers and the Oakland-based integrated health system. (Kacik, 10/18)
In other health care industry news —
Modern Healthcare: ‘Flawed’ Employer-Backed Insurance Skews CT, MRI Prices: Study
More than a 10-fold gap exists between the highest and lowest negotiated price for common imaging services provided at the same hospital, new research shows. (Kacik, 10/18)
Axios: Health System Ransomware Attack Highlights Patients' Vulnerability
A crippling ransomware attack on the second-largest U.S. nonprofit health system is showing how much patients can be left in the dark when critical health care infrastructure goes down. (Reed, 10/18)
Modern Healthcare: Supreme Court Denies Molina's Medicaid Whistleblower Appeal
The Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal from Molina Healthcare that would have ended a False Claims Act lawsuit brought by a former business partner and could have raised the bar for future whistleblower cases. (Tepper, 10/18)
Carolina Public Press: No Internet, No Telehealth: Rural North Carolina Residents Struggle To Connect With Doctors Virtually
Two summers ago, Lee Berger sat in her Macon County, N.C., home hunched over a laptop — pulling the small computer closer to her face. It was Berger’s first telehealth appointment, a routine check-up with her primary care physician, and she couldn’t hear what the doctor was saying. Berger thought about telling the doctor to speak up, but then she remembered her house, fastened at the end of a 17-house subdivision in the small town of Franklin, doesn’t often invite steady internet connection. (Harris, 10/18)
