Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Health Care Industry Hit Hardest By Supply Shortages
Modern Healthcare: Healthcare Was The Hardest Hit By Supply Shortages Across All U.S. Industries
The healthcare industry was the hardest hit by supply shortages, new data on the U.S. economy show. That was one of the findings from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' survey of nearly 600,000 U.S. businesses gathered from mid-July through September. The results illustrate the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on businesses based on size, location and industry. Sixty-four percent of healthcare companies reported a shortage of supplies or inputs. Retail trade and accommodation and food services were the next hardest hit sectors at 59% and 50%, respectively. The national average across all industries was 36%. (Kacik, 12/9)
In other health industry developments —
Modern Healthcare: Encompass Health Exploring IPO, Merger Or Sale Of Home Health And Hospice Segment
Inpatient rehabilitation hospital and home health operator Encompass Health is looking at options for its home health and hospice segment. The company on Wednesday said "a range of options are under consideration," including a separation of the home health and hospice business through an initial public offering, spin-off, merger or sale. "Since joining together with Encompass Home Health and Hospice in 2015, we have generated substantial growth in both our business segments," Encompass Health President and CEO Mark Tarr said in a prepared statement. (Christ, 12/9)
The Washington Post: Johns Hopkins, University Namesake, Owned Slaves
Johns Hopkins, the 19th-century businessman who bequeathed a fortune to found the hospital and university in Baltimore that bear his name, and who on scanty evidence was long heralded as an abolitionist, enslaved at least four Black people before the Civil War, school officials disclosed Wednesday. Newly unearthed census records show Hopkins, who amassed wealth as a merchant and railroad investor, held one person as property in 1840 and four people in 1850, according to Johns Hopkins University officials. Census records listed no enslaved people in the Hopkins household as of 1860. (Anderson, Lumpkin and Svrluga, 12/9)
Modern Healthcare: Henry Ford And Acadia Partnering On Detroit Area Behavioral Health Hospital
Henry Ford Health System is the latest not-for-profit health system to partner with investor-owned Acadia Healthcare, this time to open a behavioral health hospital in suburban Detroit. Detroit-based Henry Ford said the 192-bed hospital, slated to open in late 2022, would fill a critical need for modernized inpatient behavioral health services there. The health system would own a roughly 20% minority stake in the joint venture with Acadia, which will pay for the hospital's estimated $50 million construction, equipment and annual operating costs. (Bannow, 12/9)
