Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Industry Bumping Up Nurses' Salaries Amid Staffing Shortage
The Wall Street Journal: Nurse Salaries Rise As Demand For Their Services Soars During Covid-19 Pandemic
Nurses are winning raises worth thousands of dollars a year from hospitals, the latest employer reckoning with a tight labor market. HCA Healthcare Inc., HCA 0.57% one of the nation’s largest hospital chains, increased nurse pay this year to handle heavy Covid-19 pandemic case loads and keep pace with rivals that are also trying to fill vacancies and hold on to existing staff, the company’s human resources chief said. Raises varied by market; an HCA spokesman declined to say by what amounts. (Evans, 11/22)
In other health industry news —
WJCT News: UF Health Jax Launches The Haley Brain Health Wellness Center For Veterans And First Responders
UF Health Jacksonville on Friday celebrated a ribbon-cutting for its Leon L. Haley Jr. Brain Health Wellness Center, bringing neurological and psychological care to military veterans and first responders. The center will serve veterans suffering from the “invisible wounds of war," according to a press release, specifically mild to moderate traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress and substance abuse. The program also will serve nonveterans, helping subsidize the cost of care for vets. (Boles, 11/22)
Reuters: GSK Ties Up With Arrowhead To Develop NASH Drug Candidate
Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals Inc (ARWR.O) on Monday entered a drug development deal with GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK.L) under which the British drugmaker will develop and market Arrowhead's potential treatment for patients with fatty liver disease NASH. Under the pact, Arrowhead said it would get an upfront payment of $120 million and is eligible for additional milestone payments including up to $190 million at first commercial sale of the product, and up to $590 million in sales-related milestone payments. The drug candidate, ARO-HSD, is currently in an early-to-mid stage trial for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), a fatty liver disease. It is based on RNA interference technology, where genes that contribute to disease are silenced. (Maddipatla, 11/22)
Crain's Cleveland Business: Cleveland Clinic Expands Capabilities In Cancer Genomic Testing
Cleveland Clinic has expanded its cancer genomic testing capabilities in order to better understand a patient's cancer and identify potential therapeutic targets, according to a news release. The system now offers an advanced genomic testing platform as standard of care for patients with cancer, an expanded capability to test tumor samples. It involves whole exome sequencing, which examines all portions of DNA in the genes that are responsible for making proteins in the body, and RNA sequencing that assesses how these proteins are encoded, according to the release. (Coutré, 11/22)
Axios: Private Equity Firms Buy Athenahealth, Again
Private equity firms Bain Capital and Hellman & Friedman acquired Athenahealth, an electronic health records vendor for physician practices, for $17 billion. This is one of the largest leveraged buyouts of the year, and it means the previous private equity firms that took Athenahealth private in 2018 — Veritas Capital and Evergreen Coast Capital, a subsidiary of Elliott Management— tripled their investment. (Herman, 11/23)
Houston Chronicle: Houston's Largest Hospitals Aren't Posting Price Lists For Medical Services, Could Face Federal Fines
The Texas Medical Center’s largest hospitals are not fully complying with a federal mandate to post a list of prices they negotiate with private insurers — information that could be used to drive down the cost of health care, according to a review by the Houston Chronicle. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services required hospitals to post the information — which includes the negotiated prices of basic services such as x-rays and lab tests - by Jan. 1, 2021, or face fines up to $300 per day. Houston Methodist Hospital, the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center and Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center all had not posted their negotiated prices as of Friday. (Gill and Carballo, 11/22)
Stat: Talkspace’s Leadership Exodus Leaves Behind Pressing Questions
Talkspace, the virtual behavioral health company that went public in a splashy SPAC merger earlier this year, has lost a number of its top executives in the past week, raising questions about its ability to maintain its early-mover advantage in a space with more and more startups vying for traction. On Monday, the company announced that chief operating officer Mark Hirschhorn had resigned following an internal review of “conduct in connection with a company offsite that took place late last week.” Further details were not available about what prompted the review. (Aguilar, 11/22)
Modern Healthcare: Texas Turnaround Firm To Buy Two Tower Health Hospitals
A Texas turnaround company will take over two embattled Tower Health hospitals starting January 1, one of which had been slated to close that day. Canyon Atlantic Partners, LLC will assume ownership and operations of West Reading, Pennsylvania-based Towers' Brandywine and Jennersville hospitals, Tower announced Monday. Terms of the definitive agreement were not disclosed. The deal saves the Jennersville hospital from closure after Tower's board signed off on shuttering the facility in September as part of a broader restructuring plan. (Bannow, 11/22)
Modern Healthcare: BelHealth Sells American Health Staffing Group To Littlejohn & Co.
BelHealth Investment Partners, a healthcare private equity firm, has sold American Health Staffing Group, which provides healthcare talent and technology solutions, the company announced Monday. Private equity firm Littlejohn & Co. acquired American Health Staffing Group from the other investment group. CEO Mark Smith and the senior management team will continue to lead the staffing company. The terms of the sale were not disclosed. (Devereaux, 11/22)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: PruittHealth To Pay $4.2 Million In False Claims Case
PruittHealth, Inc., the metro Atlanta-based nursing home giant, will pay $4.2 million to resolve a federal case alleging that it billed Medicare and Medicaid for home health services that weren’t eligible for reimbursement. The settlement, which stemmed from a whistleblower lawsuit brought by a former employee, was announced on Monday by the U.S. Justice Department as part of an investigation that dates back to claims PruittHealth submitted to the federally funded health care programs in 2011 and 2012. (Schrade, 11/22)
In news on the Theranos trial —
The Wall Street Journal: The Elizabeth Holmes Trial: Founder Recounts ‘Big Idea’ That Led To Creation Of Theranos
Elizabeth Holmes took jurors into the Theranos Inc. lab Monday during testimony at her criminal-fraud trial, describing ways the startup sought to reduce errors in lab testing and miniaturize traditionally bulky blood-testing machines. “We thought this was a really big idea,” Ms. Holmes said of Theranos’s attempts to remove human error from steps involved in the testing process by automating it. Ms. Holmes’s narrative is an effort to strike back at prosecutors’ allegations that Ms. Holmes knew Theranos’s blood-testing technology was inaccurate and unreliable when she solicited hundreds of millions of dollars from investors and the startup rolled out its testing to patients. She has appeared confident and relaxed on the witness stand. (Randazzo, 11/22)
