Montana’s Home Care Workers Push For Higher Pay Rates
The Billings Gazette reports Montana's home health workers earn $10.77 an hour, below the $12 national average. Meanwhile, a new study highlights the gender pay gaps for internal medicine specialists, with women paid 90% of men's median annual salary.
Axios:
Pay Gaps Persist In Academic Internal Medicine Specialties
Women who teach internal medicine specialties still get paid less and have less representation in leadership, according to a new study from JAMA Internal Medicine. In their analysis across 154 medical schools in the U.S. between 2018 and 2019, researchers found women were paid at least 90% of men's median annual salary in 10 of 13 internal medicine specialties. (Fernandez, 7/13)
AP:
Surgeon General Thanks Health Care Workers In New Mexico
Surgeon General Vivek Murthy met with New Mexico officials and spoke at an awards ceremony honoring health care workers. Murthy thanked nurses, doctors, and a laboratory manager for their work fighting the pandemic, but warned that the task of caring for the sick and inoculating the hesitant is not over. (Attanasio, 7/14)
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette:
Health System Ordered To Pay 4 Ex-Workers In Bias Suit
White River Health System Inc., which provides health care services to a large part of north-central Arkansas, was ordered Tuesday to pay $52,500 to four former employees as part of an age discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The lawsuit, filed in February 2020, alleged that White River Health System fired the four employees because its insurance policy excluded drivers older than 72. According to a consent decree agreed upon by the EEOC and White River Health System, part of the settlement included payment of $52,500 to three named employees, James Kipfer, Julie Milburn, Donna Boyd and an unnamed member of the class-action lawsuit. (Ellis, 7/14)
In other health care industry news —
Houston Chronicle:
VA Expands Veteran Healthcare Options With Humble Clinic
The Department of Veterans Affairs opened a new clinic in Humble this summer that give veterans in north Houston easier access to care. The outpatient clinic offers primary care, mental health, and phlebotomy services. According to Public Affairs Officer Maureen Dyman, Humble is one of the fastest growing areas for new enrollment for veteran health care. The Humble VA Outpatient Clinic will join their Tomball and Conroe locations in providing care to veterans outside of the fullsize hospital in Houston. (Nickerson, 7/13)
Axios:
Hospitals Launch Antitrust Lawsuit Against Intuitive Surgical
Several hospitals have mounted a legal battle against the company that makes the da Vinci surgical robot, alleging its monopoly position forces hospitals to buy its maintenance services and replacement parts at inflated prices even though cheaper options exist. In one allegation, a hospital says Intuitive Surgical remotely shut down a hospital's surgical robot "in the middle of a procedure" which forced the surgeon "to convert the procedure to open surgery with the patient on the operating table," after the hospital said it was considering a service contract with a third party. (Herman, 7/13)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Laguna Honda Hospital Patient Abuse: S.F. Settles First Of Three Lawsuits
A Laguna Honda hospital patient alleged to have suffered abuse at the hands of staff will get $800,000 in a settlement stemming from a scandal that rocked one of the nation’s largest skilled nursing facilities. The Board of Supervisors approved the settlement Tuesday. The San Francisco Department of Public Health revealed two years ago that two dozen patients at Laguna Honda Hospital and Rehabilitation Center endured systemic abuse at the hands of six hospital employees between 2016 and January 2019. (Moench, 7/13)
Bloomberg:
Nassau County Hospital Seeks Another Round Of Turnaround Advice
A Long Island hospital that treats some of the area’s most vulnerable residents is seeking another round of turnaround advice after an earlier recommendation to shut its inpatient unit and sell its nursing facility. Nassau Health Care Corp. this month issued a request for advisers to help boost revenues and performance at the 530-bed Nassau University Medical Center and its 589-bed skilled nursing facility. Like other so-called safety net hospitals, most of Nassau Medical’s patients are on publicly funded insurance -- about 80% according to a December report issued by Alvarez & Marsal, the advisers previously hired. (Coleman-Lochner, 7/13)
Axios:
UnitedHealth Group To Kick Off Health Care's Q2 Earnings
Corporate America is expecting big jumps in profits in the second quarter. That's especially the case in health care, an industry that hasn't really lost a lot of financial momentum throughout the coronavirus pandemic. Health care spending is basically back to pre-COVID levels. Expect big numbers across the board. (Herman, 7/14)
