Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Rural Minnesota City Fights Back Against Hospital's 'Decline' After 2009 Takeover
MPR News: Fosston Moves To Regain Control Of Hospital From Essentia Health
As rural areas across Minnesota grapple with the loss of key medical services and increasing hospital consolidation, one community is fighting back. The city of Fosston in northwestern Minnesota, about 45 miles northwest of Bemidji, wants to hold Essentia Health, the hospital system that took over operations of its local hospital nearly 20 years ago accountable, alleging it has failed to meet the community’s health care needs in violation of its affiliation agreement. (Work, 6/29)
North Carolina Health News: Martin County Residents Press For Funding To Reopen Hospital
When Martin General Hospital closed its doors in 2023 after 73 years of service, residents of Martin County in eastern North Carolina were left without a local emergency department. At the time the hope was to get the facility reopened quickly with new management. Three years later, residents still have to travel across county lines to access life-saving care. (Baxley, 6/29)
The Baltimore Sun: St. Agnes Hospital Plans To Bring In Replacement Nurses During 1-Day Strike
Baltimore’s Ascension Saint Agnes Hospital will remain operational during a nurses’ union’s planned one-day strike next month, the hospital announced Saturday. (Bazos, 6/27)
Cardinal News: Radford University Finalizing Plan To Build New Health Sciences Center On Roanoke's Jefferson Street
Radford University is finalizing plans to build its new health sciences facility on Roanoke’s Jefferson Street, using a site not far from its current location, a university spokesperson confirmed. (Verrelli, 6/29)
Modern Healthcare: Care New England CEO Michael Wagner To Step Down Next Year
Dr. Michael Wagner, president and CEO of Care New England Health System, will step down early next year. Care New England’s board of directors has launched a national search for Wagner’s successor. After a new leader is selected and in place, Wagner will retire from full-time work and transition to board chair, replacing Gary Furtado, the system said Friday. (DeSilva, 6/26)
KFF Health News: Florida Hospitals Act Fast To Discharge Gun Victims — Especially If They’re Not Insured
Alea Bates wasn’t ready to leave Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare’s main hospital four days after a stranger shot her seven times at close range. Miraculously, hospital records show, none of the bullets damaged her internal organs. But after surgery, Bates said, she couldn’t get out of bed or walk to the bathroom without help. She complained of intense pain radiating down her left leg, weakness in her knee, and a numbing sensation below it, according to hospital records. Bates, who worked as an Uber Eats driver, didn’t have the strength to drive a car. Still, Bates said, the hospital told her it was time to go. (Chang, Clasen-Kelly and Pierce, 6/29)
On mental health care —
Chicago Tribune: Chicago 911 Mental Health Response Team Flounders
Throughout his 2023 mayoral campaign, Brandon Johnson championed a progressive vision of sending teams of mental health clinicians instead of police officers to help people suffering from psychiatric emergencies. But since he took office and started phasing cops out of the city’s Crisis Assistance Response and Engagement program, those teams of mental health workers have struggled to respond to 911 calls. (Yin, 6/28)
Bloomberg: Hospital ERs' New Approach To Psychiatric Patients Faces Payment Risk
Ericca Voelker bounced from emergency rooms to psychiatric wards for years as she dealt with substance abuse and mood disorders. But after a bout of mania landed her back in the hospital in 2024, a new approach changed her trajectory. Rather than stay in the chaotic ER, she was diverted to a specialized unit designed to give people in mental distress swift treatment in a calmer setting. Voelker stayed for three days, left with a recovery plan and has been stable since. (Inampudi, 6/27)
On the use of AI in healthcare —
Medical Xpress: Some Patient Groups Are Far More Vulnerable To Near-Perfect Privacy Attacks From Medical AI
In a recent study, researchers conducted a first-ever patient-level privacy audit to see how easily individual patients could be identified from the underlying data used to train medical AI models. At first glance, an AI model may appear to protect everyone's privacy equally well, but a closer look reveals a different story. Researchers found that attackers can identify certain individual patients with near-perfect accuracy, exposing a hidden unfairness in privacy. People from underrepresented groups—such as racial minorities, Medicaid recipients or patients with rare medical conditions—are significantly more vulnerable to privacy leaks than the majority population. (Mondal, 6/26)
Modern Healthcare: How UnitedHealth's Optum Insights Could Help It Win The AI War
UnitedHealth Group, one of healthcare’s biggest artificial intelligence believers, wants the whole sector to buy into the technology — and to buy its products. Insurers and providers aim to reduce costs and boost margins by embracing AI for internal processes including claims adjudication, call center automation, workforce training, chatbots, clinical programs and ambient scribes. UnitedHealthcare parent company UnitedHealth Group is at the forefront, investing $1.5 billion in AI this year. Not far behind, Elevance Health is spending more than $1 billion and CVS Health is launching a new technology subsidiary. (Tong, 6/26)
Stat: Portugal Contracts With Sword For AI-Supported Physical Therapy
Can artificial intelligence-powered care solve medical problems at national scale? A modest-sized European country is about to find out. (Aguilar, 6/29)
