Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Hospice Nurse Staffing Also Hit By Pandemic Shortages
Modern Healthcare: Hospice Staffing A Daily ‘Tactical Exercise' During The Pandemic
Hospice organizations have not been spared from the staffing shortages that have plagued the healthcare industry. They have had to redeploy workers to cover gaps, offer overtime and bring in costly contingent help and even turn patients away. In the worst cases, they haven't been able to get a nurse to a dying patient's bedside to comfort them or their family in the final moments. "Every day is basically a logistical and tactical exercise in making sure we identify our resources and deploy our resources to the bedside," said Dean Forman, chief operating officer of Chapters Health System in Florida, a community-based not-for-profit care delivery system. "Anybody would be lying to you if they said we haven't had an incident or two that we regret." (Christ, 3/31)
And more about health care workers —
The Boston Globe: Atrius Lays Off Dozens Of Nurses As COVID Needs Wane And Merger Nears
As the attorney general reviews plans for Atrius Health to be acquired by health care company Optum, the statewide doctor group has announced sizable layoffs. The Massachusetts Nurses Association said that 60 nurses — approximately 10 percent of Atrius’s nursing staff — were let go on Wednesday. Most of the employees worked for a special call center set up during the COVID pandemic. Atrius, however, put the number of nurses let go at 58, but added that 14 non-nurse positions were also eliminated. (Bartlett, 3/31)
Tri State Public Radio: SCC Receives Its Single Largest Gift; It Will Boost The School’s Nursing Program
Southeastern Community College has signed a partnership agreement with the Great River Health Foundation to help educate more aspiring nurses in the region. Great River Health Foundation is providing a grant of up to $10 million to fund the partnership. This gift is the single largest donation SCC has ever received. The funding will be distributed for the next five years to help SCC expand support to faculty and students and provide tuition assistance to students entering the nursing program. (Buss, 3/31)
Chicago Tribune: South Side ER Doctor Publishes "Emergency" Amid Pandemic
Thomas Fisher figured he would end up in the very place he works, in the emergency room. Eventually, everyone passes through. Two springs ago, at the onset of the pandemic, he thought he might die of the thing he was treating in others. He updated his will, removed enough cash from the bank for six months, stocked his refrigerator. He doesn’t own a car so rather than risk contracting the virus in an Uber, he borrowed a car for several months. Then, each day, he drove in for his eight-hour shift in the emergency room of the University of Chicago medical center and he did whatever he could. The next day, at home, he journaled and journaled. (Borrelli, 3/31)
In other health care industry news —
Modern Healthcare: AMA Asks For Delay In Provider Relief Fund Clawbacks
The American Medical Association and more than 30 other medical groups want the Health Resources and Services Administration to give providers more time to report on the Provider Relief Funds dollars they received before the government takes the money back. Providers that got more than $10,000 in COVID-19 relief funding from HRSA between April 10, 2020, and June 30, 2020 had to report how they used the money by Nov. 30, 2021. HRSA distributed more than $42 billion during this first phase. (Goldman, 3/31)
The Wall Street Journal: Hospital Deal Gone Bust Puts Real-Estate Firm In Spotlight
A group of investors bought this small city’s only hospital in late 2019. To pay for the deal, its buildings and land were sold to one of the country’s largest owners of medical properties. Two years later the hospital went bankrupt. The Watsonville Community Hospital has served the largely Latino farming region of strawberry fields and apple orchards for more than a century. Now, the community is trying to raise as much as $70 million to buy the hospital and save it from closure. (Spegele, 3/31)
Las Vegas Review-Journal: North Las Vegas Plans To Build Medical Campus Next To VA Hospital
North Las Vegas intends to build a multibillion dollar medical campus to complement the nearby Veterans Affairs hospital and greatly expand health care offerings urgently needed in the city and region. The project, which Mayor John Lee compared on Wednesday to building a second Allegiant Stadium as he sought to illustrate its impact, is expected to be constructed in phases on 135 acres next to the veterans hospital and would ultimately more than quadruple the number of hospital beds in the city. It is also proposed to develop medical research and specialty care facilities, as well as hotel, restaurant and retail operations. “This will help really put North Las Vegas on the map,” Lee said. (Johnson, 3/31)
AP: Planned North Las Vegas Medical Campus To Include Hospital
A planned new medical campus in North Las Vegas will include at least one new hospital, medical research and specialty care facilities and hotel, restaurant and retail operations. The City Council in early March approved selling the 135-acre (54-hectare) site near the existing Veteran Affairs hospital for nearly $37 million to a unit of Salt Lake City-based Pacific Group. (3/31)
