Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Efficiency Study Finds VA Facilities Are The Best
Medical Xpress: Who Is Most Efficient In Health Care? Study Finds, Surprisingly, It's The VA
Private-sector hospitals, clinics, and insurers are bloated, bureaucratic nightmares compared to efficiently run Veterans Health Administration facilities that put care over profits, a new study reveals. The study, by researchers at Hunter College of the City University of New York, Harvard Medical School, the Veterans Health Administration, and the University of Washington, points fingers at profit-driven private facilities and insurers, where a whopping 30% of staff are stuck in the tangled web of paperwork, while the VHA shines with a lean 22.5% administrative staff. That means nearly 900,000 fewer paper pushers would be needed if private hospitals, clinics, and insurers took a page from the VHA's playbook. The research is published in the journal JAMA Network Open. (1/19)
More health care industry news —
Becker's Hospital Review: ED Boarding At Crisis Levels, Mass General Says
Boston-based Massachusetts General Hospital is requesting permission from the state to add more than 90 inpatient beds amid what it says is an "unprecedented capacity crisis." The hospital's emergency department has experienced critical levels of overcrowding nearly every day for the past six months, Massachusetts General said in a Jan. 19 news release. The hospital boards between 50 to 80 ED patients every night who are waiting for a hospital bed to open. On Jan. 11, Massachusetts General had 103 patients boarding in the ED, representing one of the most crowded days in the hospital's more than 200-year history. (Bean, 1/19)
The New York Times: New York Is Planning to Shutter a Major Brooklyn Teaching Hospital
The state is planning to drastically shrink or even close University Hospital at Downstate in Brooklyn, the only state-run medical hospital in New York City. A number of concerns — too few patients, annual operating deficits of about $100 million and a deteriorating hospital building — have led to the proposal, which hospital administrators shared with doctors this week. It is unclear how the plan will affect access to medical care for residents of central Brooklyn and beyond. The hospital, in East Flatbush, is directly across the street from another public hospital, the city-run Kings County Hospital, so the change would not mean a swath of the city suddenly lost access to a nearby hospital. (Goldstein, 1/20)
The Boston Globe: Steward Health Care News: Potential Closures, Layoffs In Future
Steward Health Care, a for-profit health system that serves thousands of patients in Eastern Massachusetts, is in such grave financial distress that it may be unable to continue operating some facilities, according to public records and people with knowledge of the situation. The fast-moving crisis has left regulators racing to prevent the massive layoffs and erosion of care that could come if hospital services were to suddenly cease. (Bartlett, 1/19)
Stat: General Catalyst, Summa Health Deal Will Turn On Physician Buy-In
It makes sense in theory for hospitals and startups to strike deals. Not only would doctors get first dibs on new health care technologies, their organizations would see windfalls if those startups hit it big. In practice, it often doesn’t work out that way. (Bannow, 1/22)
Bloomberg: American Healthcare REIT Said To Seek $700 Million In IPO
American Healthcare REIT Inc. is seeking to raise about $700 million in an initial public offering, according to people familiar with the situation. The Irvine, California-based senior housing and assisted living property owner could start gauging investor interest in the listing as soon as next week, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private. The company is a non-traded REIT, which is required to make regular filings and only infrequently trades over the counter. (Or, 1/19)
The New York Times: Medical Helicopter Crash Kills 3 Crew Members In Oklahoma
Three crew members died in a medical helicopter crash in Oklahoma on Saturday after transporting a patient, according to the company that runs the service. The company, Air Evac Lifeteam, said on social media that the crew members lost contact with the company’s control center around 11:23 p.m. local time while they were returning to their base in Weatherford, Okla., about 70 miles west of Oklahoma City. (Carballo, 1/21)
Also —
WUSF: In 'Maya' Case, Judge Lowers Jury Award But Dismisses All Children's Retrial Request
A judge ruled this week that Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg will not get a retrial in a case that accused the health care provider of holding a young girl against her will. But the judge did decrease the $261 million awarded to the girl and her family by a jury by $47.5 million. (Bowman, 1/19)
Stat: Dana-Farber Researchers Moving To Retract Paper In Investigation
Scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, one of the nation’s leading cancer research and treatment centers, are “moving to” retract one paper and correct others amid an expanding investigation of data manipulation, officials told STAT. The investigation includes scores of papers authored by four top scientists and institute leaders, including CEO Laurie Glimcher and COO William Hahn. (Wosen and Chen, 1/19)
KFF Health News: What The Health Care Sector Was Selling At The J.P. Morgan Confab
Every year, thousands of bankers, venture capitalists, private equity investors, and other moneybags flock to San Francisco’s Union Square to pursue deals. Scores of security guards keep the homeless, the snoops, and the patent-stealers at bay, while the dealmakers pack into the cramped Westin St. Francis hotel and its surrounds to meet with cash-hungry executives from biotech and other health care companies. After a few years of pandemic slack, the 2024 J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference regained its full vigor, drawing 8,304 attendees in early January to talk science, medicine, and, especially, money. (Castle Work and Allen, 1/22)
The New York Times: Berish Strauch, Path Breaker In Reconstructive Surgery, Dies At 90
Berish Strauch, a plastic surgeon whose pioneering procedures and devices to reattach or replace vital body parts included one of the first toe-to-thumb transplants, a device to reverse vasectomies and, perhaps most notably, the first inflatable prosthetic penis, died on Dec. 24 in Greenwich, Conn. He was 90. Beginning in the late 1960s, Dr. Strauch was at the forefront of a revolution in plastic surgery, in particular microsurgery, in which doctors use microscopes and precision instruments to sew together minuscule blood vessels, nerves and ligaments, some thinner than a human hair, said Dr. June K. Wu, an associate professor of surgery at Columbia University who completed her residency under Dr. Strauch. (Risen, 1/21)
