Mergers Of Rural Hospitals Saved Lives, Study Finds

Modern Healthcare: Consolidation Boosted Mortality Rates In Rural Hospitals, Study Finds
Rural hospitals that merged with or were acquired into larger health systems are associated with greater reductions in mortality for conditions like heart failure, stroke and pneumonia compared to facilities that remained independent, according to a new study. The annual inpatient mortality rate for acute myocardial infarction decreased from 9.4% to 5% among acquired hospitals, researchers at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and IBM Watson Health found. Meanwhile, independent facilities saw inpatient AMI mortality fall from 7.9% to 6.3% during the period studied. (Ross Johnson, 9/20)

In other health care industry updates —

Modern Healthcare: HCA To Buy Five Hospitals In Utah From Steward Health Care
HCA Healthcare will buy five hospitals in Utah owned by Steward Health Care, adding to HCA's presence in the mountain states. HCA currently owns 8 hospitals in Utah. This purchase allows the for-profit hospital giant to compete with the state's largest provider, Intermountain Healthcare, which owns 24 hospitals in the state, including a virtual hospital. Not-for-profit Intermountain last week announced it was merging with SCL Health to form an $11 billion system with 33 hospitals. (9/20)

Modern Healthcare: ASCs Livid Over CMS Plan To Curb Approved Procedures
Ambulatory surgery centers are fuming over potentially losing more than 250 procedures they can offer patients if the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reinstates the inpatient-only list limiting them to hospitals, according to comments on CMS's proposed outpatient pay rule for 2022. Ambulatory surgery centers argue that CMS doesn't have enough information to support such a significant policy change. The providers also claim the agency made a series of flawed assumptions about the real-world impact of restoring the inpatient-only list and limiting the procedures allowed under the ambulatory surgery center covered procedures list, known as the ASC-CPL, according to the Ambulatory Surgery Center Association. (Brady, 9/20)

Modern Healthcare: CVS Sues Startup Competitor Capital Rx Over Non-Compete Agreement
CVS Pharmacy sued competitor Capital Rx in federal court on Thursday, alleging the startup pharmacy benefit manager is relying on an "unenforceable and unreasonable" contract to prevent a former employee from jumping ship from the New York-based business. The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts, claimed Capital Rx has threatened to sue CVS multiple times for violating a non-compete agreement Dr. Suresh Yarlagadda signed the day before he started work at the online pharmacy in May 2021. Buried in an 11-page contract is a single paragraph that states Yarlagadda cannot work at any competitor of Capital Rx's for six months after leaving his job. He also can't hold more than 3% worth of securities at any business Capital Rx designates as a competitor, according to the complaint. (Tepper, 9/20)

KHN: ‘An Arm And A Leg’: They Turned Grief Into Action
In 2004, 24-year-old Manny Lanza urgently needed surgery for a life-threatening brain condition. But he didn’t have insurance, so his hospital refused to schedule the treatment — until it was too late. Manny died waiting. In the months that followed, Manny’s parents, Reynaldo Prieto and Levia Lanza, fought to make their son’s story known — and to make sure it didn’t happen again. They came up empty … until a reporter from the New York Post took their call. Then, things changed fast. (Weissmann, 9/21)

KHN: The Solution To Au Pairs’ Health Coverage Gaps May Be Simple: ACA Plans 
In 2016, Isis Mabel, of Mexico, wanted to improve her English. On advice from an aunt, she enrolled with an au pair agency to come to the United States to live with a family and care for the children. The job typically pays about $200 a week on top of lodging and meals. She said she gave the agency $360 and was told that would cover costs like visa fees and health insurance. It was all explained “super quick,” she said, with no details on what the insurance would cover. When she arrived in the United States, she recalled, a representative of the au pair agency recommended she buy extra coverage for sports, because even an accident caused by jumping could be considered sports-related. Mabel opted to purchase the extra policy for an additional $180. (Covert, 9/21)

In news about data and IT —

CNN: Alaskan Health Department Still Struggling To Recover After 'Nation-State Sponsored' Cyberattack 
Some computer networks at the Alaskan health department are still offline after foreign government-backed hackers breached the department in May, a spokesperson told CNN on Monday. News of the breach first emerged in May, but Alaskan officials now say that "nation-state sponsored" hackers exploited a vulnerability in the health department's website to gain further access to department data. The hackers may have accessed Alaskans' Social Security numbers and health and financial information, officials said. (Lyngaas, 9/20)

Modern Healthcare: Consensus On Data Needed In ONC's Rule, IT Trade Groups Say
Healthcare organizations and software developers may have trouble determining what data elements they need to exchange under new federal interoperability regulations, according to a trio of health information technology and management trade groups Monday. Currently, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology's data-sharing rule requires healthcare providers, health information exchanges and developers of health IT software that have earned approval from the agency's health IT certification program to share a limited set of data elements with patients and one another. (Kim Cohen, 9/20)

In news about health care personnel —

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Nurses In Nevada And California Ratify 4-Year Contract With Dignity Health
Registered nurses in Nevada and California ratified a four-year contract with Dignity Health giving them a wage increase and additional safety protections. The California Nurses Association and National Nurses Organizing Committee announced Monday that the labor agreement covers more than 14,000 nurses. “As we face yet another surge of Covid-19 patients filling up our hospitals, we are proud to have achieved additional health and safety protections for our RNs and patients,” said CNA/NNOC President and registered nurse Sandy Reding. (Hudson, 9/20)

Modern Healthcare: Healthcare Workers Charged In $1.1 Billion Telehealth Fraud Scheme
Federal prosecutors allege that more than 40 healthcare workers across the U.S. have filed $1.1 billion in false or fraudulent telehealth claims to Medicare and other government insurers since August 2020. Telemedicine executives allegedly paid 43 doctors and nurse practitioners to order unnecessary durable medical equipment, diagnostic and genetic tests and pain medicines with little to no telephone or virtual interactions with patients, according to a news release issued by the Justice Department on Friday. (Tepper, 9/20)

Modern Healthcare: Mount Sinai Names Female President, First For New York's Academic Health Systems
Mount Sinai Health System has promoted its chief operating officer, Margaret Pastuszko, to president, making her the first female president of a large academic health system in New York, according to Mount Sinai. The move comes amid a handful of leadership changes the New York health system's board announced Monday. The board said the changes are designed to better position Mount Sinai to weather future challenges. Among them: Dr. Kenneth Davis will continue to serve as CEO through the end of 2024. After that, he'll stay on as a strategic advisor through 2027. (Bannow, 9/20)

Modern Healthcare: Allina's Retiring CEO Penny Wheeler Vows To Keep Rebuilding Minneapolis
Following a summer of upheaval and deadly protests in Minneapolis after the murder of George Floyd, Allina Health signed a commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion with dozens of other large Minnesota companies. Allina CEO Dr. Penny Wheeler talked about the pact on the local news. It's the kind of thing that usually makes Atum Azzahir, a longtime community organizer and a Black woman, skeptical. But this was different. Azzahir, CEO of the Minneapolis not-for-profit Cultural Wellness Center, had worked with Wheeler for years on projects designed to improve health and wellbeing for people in the City of Lakes, where Allina Health is headquartered. (Bannow, 9/20)