Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Hospitals Aim To Bolster Communities' Overall Health To Help Address Socio-Economic, Racial Inequities
Modern Healthcare: As Health Inequities Mount, Hospitals Step Up Economic Development Initiatives
Large healthcare organizations around the country are stepping up their efforts to reduce socio-economic, racial and ethnic disparities in health outcomes in their communities. Leaders recognize that far more than clinical care, socio-economic factors largely determine people’s health and well-being. So progressive-thinking executives like former Kaiser Permanente chairman and CEO Bernard Tyson, who died in November, have spearheaded investments and partnerships in affordable housing, job-creating economic development, education, nutrition, healthy behaviors, and other social determinants of health. (Meyer, 12/14)
Modern Healthcare: Cleveland Clinic Laundry Cooperative Draws Interest From Other Systems
Cleveland Clinic was seeing a decline in the cleanliness of its annual 18 million pounds of laundered linens. Supply chain managers there were scrambling because they were receiving as little as half the clean linens they needed for patients. So, two years ago, the health system explored alternatives to its laundry outsourcing contract with industry giant Sodexo, which was scaling back its healthcare laundry business. (Meyer, 12/14)
Modern Healthcare: Lawmakers Seek Great Transparency Of Provider Insurer Contracts
To the dismay of hospital leaders, the House-Senate compromise legislation to end surprise out-of-network bills includes bans on secret contract terms between providers and health plans that critics say are anti-competitive and drive up prices. Earlier this month, three key Senate and House committee leaders announced a bipartisan deal on surprise bill legislation that covered a broader range of issues, though it's unclear whether that will be included in the year-end government funding package. (Meyer, 12/13)
New Hampshire Union Leader: New Medical Co-Op Aimed At Saving Health Care Costs
A former state health commissioner and owner of a surgery center has launched a cooperative aimed at reducing costs for independent physicians and health care providers. Independent physicians and health care providers are struggling to stay afloat with rising costs and more competition from hospital-based networks, said Nick Vailas, cofounder of Bedford Ambulatory Surgical Center. He launched Patriot Health Partners in September to help even the playing field. The cooperative allows practices to band together to reduce costs, he said. (Phelps, 12/15)
The Advocate: Oceans Mental Health Hospital Gets $1.4M Grant Approved
Baton Rouge Metro Council unanimously approved an economic incentive agreement with a Plano-based mental health provider for $1.4 million as a grant in exchange for a new niche psychiatric hospital in the parish. The Oceans Behavioral Health Care hospital is slated to be built at Howell Place near Harding Boulevard and Interstate 110. (Mosbrucker, 12/13)
Columbus Dispatch: Athens Rehabilitation Center Helps People Transition From Psychiatric Hospitals To Home
Andrew Green was being released from Summit Behavioral Healthcare in Cincinnati in May, but he wasn’t quite ready to go to his Athens County home. So he checked into the Adam-Amanda Mental Health Rehabilitation Center in Athens, the only clinic in the state designed specifically for people being discharged from psychiatric hospitals who could still use a little inpatient care. ...Too often, people who aren’t ready to function without the support of inpatient care end up back in the hospital, on the streets, in prison or dead, mental health experts say. And the suicide rate for individuals leaving a psychiatric hospital within the first 90 days after they’ve been released is 14 times higher than the general population, said Margaret Sterling, clinical coordinator for the Adam-Amanda Mental Health Rehabilitation Center. (Henry, 12/16)
The CT Mirror: How They Came To A $1.8 Billion Hospital Settlement
The administration of Gov. Ned Lamont pulled back the curtain Friday on the negotiations that produced a tentative settlement of a massive hospital tax lawsuit that would pay Connecticut’s hospitals $1.8 billion over seven years, while costing the state $872 million. Administration officials told lawmakers in an informational hearing that the settlement is structured to limit the state’s liability by leveraging $1 billion in federal funds. It raises Medicaid rates by 14 percent over seven years, and it makes supplemental payments the officials say are Medicaid eligible. (Pazniokas and Carlesso, 12/13)
Sacramento Bee: Kaiser’s 4,000 Behavioral Health Workers Launch 5-Day Strike
Kaiser Permanente’s behavioral health clinicians will be picketing Monday outside the health care giant’s Sacramento Medical Center on Morse Avenue, joining in a weeklong labor strike that will affect services at more than 100 facilities around California Roughly 4,000 psychologists, psychiatric nurses and other behavioral health workers — members of the National Union of Healthcare Workers — say they want the company to shorten wait times for return appointments and reduce therapist caseloads. (Anderson, 12/15)
Modern Healthcare: Nurses Vote To Unionize At Struggling Chicago Hospital
Registered nurses at Community First Medical Center, a Medicaid-dependent hospital on the Northwest Side of Chicago struggling with staff and supply shortages and malfunctioning equipment, voted yesterday to unionize after failing in several previous attempts. The vote was 207-16 in favor of joining the National Nurses United union. Flyers backing the push cited a string of workplace complaints, such as five years without a raise; suspension and cancellation of insurance coverage despite continuing premium deductions; and security doors that won't close. (Strahler, 12/13)
Georgia Health News: Kemp’s Emergency Action To Bring 30-Bed Mobile Unit To Grady
Gov. Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency Friday over flood damage at Grady, which will speed the transfer of a 30-bed mobile unit to the Atlanta hospital. The emergency declaration allows the state to use Georgia Emergency Management Agency funding to bring the mobile unit, owned by the state of North Carolina, to the Grady campus. (Miller, 12/13)
