Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
More Health Care Workers Consider Unionizing
NPR: Pandemic Strain Pushes Some Health Care Workers Toward Unions
In September, after six months of exhausting work battling the pandemic, nurses at Mission Hospital in Asheville, N.C., voted to unionize. The vote passed with 70%, a high margin of victory in a historically anti-union state, according to academic experts who study labor movements. The nurses had originally filed paperwork to hold this vote in March but were forced to delay it when the pandemic began heating up. And the issues that had driven them toward unionizing were only heightened by the crisis. It raised new, urgent problems too, including struggles to get enough PPE, and inconsistent testing and notification of exposures to COVID-positive patients. (Pattani, 1/11)
Modern Healthcare: Health Systems Revamp Vetting Process During COVID-19
Ideas that used to take up to eight months for Mayo Clinic to vet are now ready to execute in less than two weeks. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated a push to streamline decision-making at Mayo, a move that will permanently shape its governance model. Healthcare organizations across the country are making similar adjustments as they aim to improve long-standing and potentially obsolete oversight policies. (Kacik, 1/9)
In insurance industry news —
FierceHealthcare: UnitedHealth Group Subsidiary Indicted On Antitrust Charges
Surgical Care Affiliates, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group, was indicted this week by a federal grand jury on charges that it entered agreements with competitors to not poach executives. The Department of Justice (DOJ) alleges that the company, which operates outpatient medical centers, engaged in "two bilateral conspiracies" with other healthcare companies that aimed to avoid competition between them for senior executives, which violates the Sherman Act. (Minemyer, 1/8)
Modern Healthcare: COVID-19 Still A Big Uncertainty For Health Insurers In 2021
Given the continuation of the pandemic, health insurers are steeling themselves for a possible bumpy ride. Industry analysts said they expect 2021 to be a volatile year for insurers, although nothing can compare to the dramatic peaks and valleys in profits publicly traded companies reported in the first half of 2020. Moody’s Investors Service forecasts mid- to single-digit earnings growth among insurers in 2021. “The need to control health costs has been a huge problem for the industry and for the country,” said Dean Ungar, vice president and senior credit officer at Moody’s. “The health insurers know that their future in a way depends on helping keep costs under control without government intervention and government meddling. The insurers are investing in things like value-based care and digital, remote monitoring.” (Tepper, 1/9)
Also —
The Baltimore Sun: Dr. Robert Heptinstall, Retired Johns Hopkins Pathology Chief, Dies
Dr. Robert H. Heptinstall, a retired head of the Johns Hopkins Department of Pathology, a kidney disease expert and a World War II medical veteran, died of old-age complications Jan. 5 at his home in Lutherville. He was 100 and formerly resided in Roland Park. (Kelly, 1/10)
KHN: One Ambulance Ride Leads To Another When Packed Hospitals Cannot Handle Non-Covid Patients
Keely Connolly thought she would be safe once the ambulance arrived at Hutchinson Regional Medical Center in Kansas. She was having difficulty breathing because she’d had to miss a kidney dialysis treatment a few days earlier for lack of child care. Her potassium was dangerously high, putting her at risk of a heart attack. But she trusted she would be fine once she was admitted and dialysis was begun. (West, 1/11)
KHN: ‘An Arm And A Leg’: How A Former Health Care Executive Became A Health Care Whistleblower
Former health care executive Wendell Potter spent part of 2020 publishing high-profile apologies for the work he used to do — the lies he said he told the American people for his old employers. These days, he said, he’s also trying to debunk myths he once sold. “What I used to do for a living was mislead people into thinking that we had the best health care system in the world,” Potter said. (Weissmann, 1/11)
KHN: ‘Peer Respites’ Provide An Alternative To Psychiatric Wards During Pandemic
Mia McDermott is no stranger to isolation. Abandoned as an infant in China, she lived in an orphanage until a family in California adopted her as a toddler. She spent her adolescence in boarding schools and early adult years in and out of psychiatric hospitals, where she underwent treatment for bipolar disorder, anxiety and anorexia. The pandemic left McDermott feeling especially lonely. She restricted social interactions because her fatty liver disease put her at greater risk of complications should she contract covid-19. The 26-year-old Santa Cruz resident stopped regularly eating and taking her psychiatric medications, and contemplated suicide. (Kown, 1/11)
