Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Logistics Logjams Threaten Saline, Dextrose Solution Supplies
Politico Pro: Hospitals Worried About Saline, Dextrose Fluid Shortages
Hospitals and supply chain experts are raising concerns that shortages of dextrose and saline solutions necessary for routine care and delivery of medications will impact patient care if logistical logjams for the products do not resolve in the coming weeks. Transportation delays at U.S. ports, Covid-19 infections among manufacturing facility staff and increased demand for raw materials are all partially to blame, according to Erin Fox, a senior director at University of Utah Health knowledgeable about medical product shortages. (Lim, 3/16)
In other health care industry news —
Stat: Doctors Often Turn To Google Translate. They Want A Better Option
The patient had just undergone a cesarean section, and now was struggling to put words to her pain in her native Taiwanese. The physician making rounds, Natasha Mehandru, was used to communicating with patients who didn’t speak English as a first language at her county hospital in Phoenix. But this time, calling in an interpreter by phone wasn’t working. “The service was not really good,” she said — and soon, she realized the patient and the interpreter weren’t even speaking the same dialect. “It was difficult to communicate, even with the interpreter.” So Mehandru turned to a familiar tool: Google Translate. Typing translations back and forth — Taiwanese to English, English to Taiwanese — she and the patient slowly came to an understanding with the help of the interpreter still on the line. (Palmer, 3/16)
Modern Healthcare: Google, Meditech To Pilot Care Studio Software Integration In EHR
Google plans to bring its Care Studio clinical software into Meditech's electronic health records system, the companies said Tuesday at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society trade show in Orlando, Florida. Google Health and Westwood, Massachusetts-based EHR vendor Meditech will work together to embed Care Studio, an EHR search tool that's separately been piloted at St. Louis-based Ascension, into Meditech's Expanse EHR. Care Studio standardizes patient data and offers an interface where clinicians can search for details within a patient record to quickly find information. (Kim Cohen, 3/15)
Modern Healthcare: Underfunding Linked To Americans' Lower Primary Care Access
Systemic underinvestment has limited access to effective primary care across the U.S, according to a new report. U.S. adults are among the least likely to have a regular doctor compared to individuals in other developed countries, which has compounded chronic conditions and increased healthcare costs, according to the Commonwealth Fund's 2019 and 2020 international health policy surveys. The fund polled practicing primary care doctors in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the U.S. The physician fee schedule should be adjusted to incentivize more doctors to practice primary care, policy experts said. (Kacik, 3/15)
Crain's Detroit Business: Henry Ford Health 2021 Earnings Come Out
Henry Ford Health System lost money last year providing healthcare, but the Detroit-based system was able to post a positive net income thanks to its investment portfolio. HFHS reported Monday an operating loss of $168 million, or a negative 2.5 percent operating margin, on net patient revenue of $4.2 billion. Cutting into its margins was a $135 million in COVID-19 related costs and a $200 million shortfall from insurance claims, including a $76 million premium deficiency reserve from healthcare costs and premiums from its integrated insurer Health Alliance Plan, the system said in a press release. (Walsh, 3/15)
In pharmaceutical industry news —
Stat: Gilead Faces Criticism For Donations To Lawmakers Who Backed 'Don't Say Gay' Bill
There was a curious dichotomy underlying the outcry over the “Don’t Say Gay” bill that passed the Florida Senate last week: Nine of the 22 lawmakers who voted in favor of the legislation had received donations from Gilead Sciences (GILD), the big purveyor of medicines to combat HIV. Over the past decade, the drug company contributed a total of $12,000 to those nine senators, most of which was provided in 2020. At the same time, Gilead donated $10,000 to 11 of the 17 state senators who opposed the bill. Nearly all of the donations were made between 2014 and 2018, according to data from OpenSecrets, a nonprofit that tracks campaign financing and lobbying. (Silverman, 3/15)
CNBC: Theranos Saga Returns To Courtroom As Ex-COO Balwani Set For Trial
He was the man behind the lab curtain at blood-testing start-up Theranos. Now he takes center stage in his own criminal fraud case. Opening arguments in the trial of Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, former president and chief operating officer of Theranos, begin Wednesday in the San Jose federal courthouse, where a jury in January found Theranos ex-CEO Elizabeth Holmes, guilty of four counts of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. A jury of six men and six women will decide the fate of Balwani, who has been charged with the same crimes as Holmes. Each carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison. He pleaded not guilty. (Khorram, 3/15)
