Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Micro-Hospitals Arrive In Pennsylvania To Fill Coverage Gaps
Philadelphia Inquirer: Southeastern Pennsylvania Is Getting Its First Micro-Hospitals
Southeastern Pennsylvania will get its first micro-hospitals — facilities with small emergency departments and 10 inpatient beds for people who are not seriously ill — as ChristianaCare and Lehigh Valley Health Network seize upon an efficient option for expanding into the Philadelphia market. Also called neighborhood hospitals, the model is designed to fill coverage gaps in areas that can’t support a full-scale hospital, while allowing health systems to expand their reach into more distant communities. (Brubaker, 2/12)
News Service of Florida and WFSU: House And Senate Committees OK Bills To Create 'Rural Emergency Hospitals'
With supporters pointing to a need to ensure health care access in rural areas, House and Senate committees Thursday moved forward with bills that would create a new category of “rural emergency hospitals” in the state. The House Health & Human Services Committee approved the House version of the bill (HB 309), sponsored by Rep. Jason Shoaf, R-Port St. Joe, with the measure now positioned to go to the full House. (Andrews, 2/9)
The 19th: For Some Pregnant Patients, Crisis Pregnancy Centers Are The Only Option
Savannah McNally was 24 years old, and in the middle of a divorce, trying to sell her house, wrapping up her service in the Navy and figuring out a way to finish college. She was also pregnant. (Luthra, 2/9)
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Experts Say At-Home Rape Assessment Kits Aren’t Best Option. But This Entrepreneur Is Selling Them To Sororities, Military
By the time she was 23, Madison Campbell had racked up more than a dozen cease-and-desist letters and was seated at a deposition table, staring down lawyers who argued she was endangering the same vulnerable people she claimed to be helping. In the five years since, the Bridgeville, Penn., native has won accolades for helping sexual assault survivors, first in Forbes magazine, and most recently when she was crowned Miss Pittsburgh in the 2023 pageant — a month before moving her DIY rape assessment startup from Brooklyn to her hometown. One thing hasn’t changed since she first started promoting Me Too Kits in 2019: Her product hasn’t actually been used in court. (Robinson-Johnson, 2/9)
Also —
The Washington Post: Police Kill Female Shooter, Injure Child After Shots Fired Inside Megachurch
A woman wielding a long gun is dead and the child who accompanied her is in critical condition after she walked into a famous Texas evangelical megachurch on Sunday afternoon in Houston and opened fire. Off-duty law enforcement officers confronted the woman shortly after she entered the massive Lakewood Church building just before 2 p.m., when the church was changing between English and Spanish-speaking services, according to Houston Police Chief Troy Finner. (Hernandez and Boorstein, 2/11)
AP: New York Woman Sentenced To Probation And Fines In COVID Aid Fraud Schemes
A Brooklyn woman who pleaded guilty to fraud in connection with various pandemic-era relief schemes was sentenced Thursday to three years of probation and $650,000 in penalties. Prosecutors said Chanette Lewis, 32, carried out some of the schemes by leveraging her job at a call center, part of a New York program meant to provide health care workers with isolation rooms in hotels. They said she provided free hotel rooms to people she knew weren’t eligible health care workers or COVID-19 patients, including herself. (2/8)
