Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Health Care Hiring Dips In April On The Heels Of Unusually Strong March Report
Modern Healthcare: After Unusually Strong March, Healthcare Hiring Dips In April
Healthcare hiring fell in April, which shouldn't come as a surprise following March's unusually strong jobs report. Hiring in the healthcare sector declined 45% in April, having added 27,000 jobs, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' newest jobs report, released Friday. That's compared with March's 49,100 new hires, a number that approached December 2018's historic high. (Bannow, 5/3)
In other health industry news —
Tampa Bay Times: WellCare-Centene Deal Alarms American Hospital Association
A big player in health care wants federal officials to scrutinize the proposed $17.3 billion acquisition of Tampa-based WellCare Health Plans by Centene Corp. of St. Louis. In a letter this week, the American Hospital Association urged the anti-trust division of the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the proposed merger "because it threatens to reduce competition in delivery of Medicaid managed care and Medicare Advantage services to tens of millions of consumers across broad swaths of the country." (Danielson, 5/3)
Kaiser Health News: A Boat Crushed His Face, Then Plastic Surgeons Hit Him With $167,000 In Bills
Bob Ensor didn’t see the boom swinging violently toward him as he cleaned a sailboat in dry dock on a spring day two years ago. But he heard the crack as it hit him in the face. He was transported by ambulance to an in-network hospital near his home in Middletown, N.J., where initial X-rays showed his nose was broken as were several bones of his left eye socket. The emergency physician summoned the on-call plastic surgeon, who admitted him to the hospital and scheduled him for surgery the next day. (Andrews, 5/6)
