Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Hospitals Hit With One-Two Financial Punch Of High COVID-19 Costs And Canceled Procedures
NPR: U.S. Hospitals Hit By Financial 'Triple Whammy' During Coronavirus Pandemic
The coronavirus outbreak has thrown hospital systems throughout the U.S. into crisis — both medical and financial. The cost of treating coronavirus patients, combined with the loss of revenue from canceling elective procedures, has left many hospitals in desperate financial straits. Some estimates suggest hospitals are losing $50 billion a month, says Rick Pollack, president and CEO of the American Hospital Association. (Chang, 4/23)
Modern Healthcare: COVID-19 Could Cause More Than 26 Million Hospitalizations
The COVID-19 outbreak may be as severe as the 1918 influenza pandemic that killed an estimated 675,000 people in the U.S., according to a report by consulting firm Matrix Global Advisors. MGA predicts that 12.3 to 26.3 million people will be hospitalized in the U.S. because of the virus, placing extraordinary demand on the healthcare system. (Brady, 4/23)
ABC News: Another Coronavirus Victim: America's Largest Health Systems
As the novel coronavirus leaves a path of human devastation in its wake, the financial future of some of the nation's largest health care systems is also now in jeopardy -- leading many of these institutions to let go of health care workers at a time when patients need them most. While private practices and smaller health systems were some of the first to be affected, as time has stretched on, some of the country's largest health systems have shown that they too are vulnerable. (Anoruo and Kagan, 4/24)
Modern Healthcare: HHS Formula For $20 Billion In CARES Act Provider Grants Prompts Questions
The formula HHS will use to distribute $20 billion in COVID-19 relief grants is unclear about how much money providers will get and if enough money will be left after the first direct deposits go out Friday. HHS Secretary Alex Azar said Wednesday that the department will soon pay out an additional $20 billion from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act's provider relief fund to top up providers that were disadvantaged in the department's first $30 billion round of grant funds based on Medicare fee-for-service reimbursement. (Cohrs, 4/23)
San Francisco Chronicle: With No Coronavirus Surge, Hospitals Slowly Resume Nonemergency Surgery
At least one Bay Area hospital is already performing and scheduling nonemergency surgeries — postponed during California’s shelter-in-place order — as the state takes the first tentative steps toward reopening. Even before Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday that hospitals could begin to schedule some elective surgeries for the first time in more than a month, UCSF has been getting such surgeries on the calendar for the past two weeks, including replacing kidneys and conducting certain heart surgeries and cancer procedures — all of which have been deemed nonemergency during the pandemic. (Moench, 4/23)
Cincinnati Enquirer: Coronavirus In Ohio: Hospitals Say Elective Surgeries Can Resume With COVID-19 Testing, PPE
Ohio hospitals and outpatient clinics plan to restart some procedures halted during the coronavirus pandemic, but that will only happen if COVID-19 testing and personal protective equipment are not scarce. On March 17, Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Amy Acton issued an order halting most elective surgeries and procedures. The order allowed procedures to continue under a few exceptions such as if skipping them would "rapidly" worsen the condition (Borchardt, 4/23)
Las Vegas Review-Journal: Routine Medicine Continues Amid Coronavirus Pandemic
Surreal is as good a word as any to describe how, even in the midst of a global pandemic, routine medical care — preventive checkups, pediatric visits, births, even the occasional trauma surgery — continues in a way that’s surprising to both doctors and patients. (Przybys, 4/23)
ProPublica/The Frontier: This Hospital Has Only 8 Nurses. They Are Also The Janitors.
Eight nurses at the lone hospital in the rural Oklahoma town of Stigler now double as the cleaning crew. They stabilize patients with life-threatening conditions, mop floors and scrub toilets. The nurses, along with an office manager and a part-time maintenance worker, are the only remaining employees at the Haskell County Community Hospital, which two years ago had a staff of 68 and provided some of the highest-paying jobs in the southeastern Oklahoma town. (Bailey, 4/23)
