Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
GW Hospital Residents Plan 3-Day Work Stoppage If Deal Isn't Struck
The Washington Post: GW Hospital Residents Are Ready To Strike. What It Means For Patients.
Time is running out for George Washington University and resident physicians to make a deal to avert a strike set to start early Tuesday. A last-minute bargaining session is set for Monday afternoon, but in the meantime, hundreds of doctors in training at one of the D.C. region’s largest hospitals are finalizing plans for a three-day work stoppage. (Portnoy, 12/16)
More health industry news —
ProPublica: UnitedHealth Is Strategically Limiting Access To Critical Treatment For Kids With Autism
There was a time when Sharelle Menard thought her son would never be able to speak. She couldn’t soothe Benji when he cried, couldn’t read him books he could follow, couldn’t take him out in public. “The screaming, and screaming, and screaming,” she said. “He would get so frustrated because he couldn’t communicate.” (Waldman, 12/15)
Modern Healthcare: AdventHealth CEO Terry Shaw To Retire In 2025
Terry Shaw, president and CEO of AdventHealth, will retire in July, the health system said Friday. An internal successor is expected to be selected in April. Shaw will continue to serve on AdventHealth's board following his retirement, according to the health system. (DeSilva, 12/13)
ProPublica: A Strange Alliance: Oxygen Companies and Their Medicare Patients Want Congress to Pay the Companies More
For years, the home-oxygen industry has failed in myriad ways the million-plus Americans who struggle to breathe. Lincare, the country’s largest distributor of breathing equipment, has a decadeslong history of bilking Medicare and the elderly, as ProPublica has revealed. Philips Respironics hid serious problems with its sleep apnea machines, with devastating consequences, including reported deaths. Other large respiratory companies have paid multimillion-dollar fraud settlements. But as the current session of Congress hurtles to a close, advocates for oxygen patients — in a seemingly improbable alliance with the companies that have victimized them — are making a final push for legislation that, among other things, would pay the scandal-scarred industry hundreds of millions of dollars more than it currently receives. (Elkind, 12/16)
KFF Health News: Native American Patients Are Sent To Collections For Debts The Government Owes
Tescha Hawley learned that hospital bills from her son’s birth had been sent to debt collectors only when she checked her credit score while attending a home-buying class. The new mom’s plans to buy a house stalled. Hawley said she didn’t owe those thousands of dollars in debts. The federal government did. (Houghton and Zionts, 12/16)
KFF Health News: Helicopters Rescued Patients In ‘Apocalyptic’ Flood. Other Hospitals Are At Risk, Too
April Boyd texted her husband before she boarded the helicopter. “So, I don’t want to be dramatic,” she wrote on Sept. 27, “but we are gonna fly and rescue patients from the rooftop of Unicoi hospital.” Earlier that day, Hurricane Helene roared into the Southern Appalachian Mountains after moving north through Florida and Georgia. The storm prompted a deadly flash flood that tore through Unicoi County in eastern Tennessee, trapping dozens of people on the rooftop of the county hospital. (Sausser and Hacker, 12/16)
In obituaries —
The Boston Globe: Dr. Thomas O’Brien, Visionary Who Addressed Dangers Of Antimicrobial Resistance, Dies At 95
With insight few possessed decades ago, Dr. Thomas F. O’Brien sounded the alarm about the increasing danger of antimicrobial resistance in a world growing ever more connected. Drug-resistant strains of bacteria, viruses, and germs could emerge in far-flung places and hitch a ride on an unwitting tourist, who then headed home and spread the infection thousands of miles away. ... Dr. O’Brien, who had served as the first director of the infectious diseases division at what is now Brigham and Women’s Hospital, died Monday in his Brookline home. He was 95 and his health had been failing. His wife, Ruth Reardon O’Brien, who was the second woman partner at the Ropes & Gray law firm, was 92 when she died Thursday in their home. Their son is Conan O’Brien, the late night TV talk show host and podcaster. (Marquard, 12/12)
