Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
New Treatment Clinic Opens For People With Down Syndrome In Southeast
WMFE: AdventHealth Opens Southeast’s First Lifespan Down Syndrome Clinic In Orlando
Adults with Down syndrome in the Southeast now have a one-stop shop for specialty treatments in Orlando. AdventHealth is expanding its services for children and adults by opening the Stella Tremonti Down Syndrome Clinic (SMILE, for short). The clinic is named after the 2-year-old daughter of one of the founding donors — the lead guitarist of the band Creed, Mark Tremonti. (Pedersen, 10/19)
In other health care industry news —
Becker's Hospital Review: New York Hospital Limits Care After City Runs Out Of Water
Samaritan Medical Center in Waterton, N.Y., is pausing some clinical services and rescheduling surgeries due to a major water main break, the hospital said Oct. 19.The water main break occurred the morning of Oct. 19 outside Waterton's main water treatment facility. As of 2 p.m., Mayor Jeffrey Smith said the city's reservoirs were completely depleted and that all the water left is what is in the pipes, according to The Watertown Daily Times. Once the break is located and repaired, it will take 24 to 36 hours to refill the reservoirs. (Bean, 10/19)
Modern Healthcare: Aetna Coverage Cuts Threaten Access, Hackensack Meridian CEO Says
Hackensack Meridian Health will ask Aetna about its coverage cuts to virtual care during contract negotiations, said Robert Garrett, CEO of the nonprofit health system. CVS Health subsidiary Aetna plans to cut commercial telehealth reimbursement for dozens of services as of Dec. 1, including some mental health services. Aetna said the move is “in-line with the industry” as the healthcare system continues to transition out of the COVID-19 pandemic, when telehealth utilization spiked and has since waned. (Kacik, 10/19)
Modern Healthcare: Prospect Medical Holdings To Sell Crozer Health
Prospect Medical Holdings is looking to sell Crozer Health within a year, the private equity company said Thursday. Prospect said in a statement it will work with Morgan Stanley to advise on the sale—a process it hopes to begin after 60 days. (Hudson, 10/19)
Kansas City Star: KU Health, Liberty Hospital Announce Partnership Plan
Liberty Hospital, an independent institution in Kansas City’s Northland for nearly 50 years, could soon join the growing University of Kansas Health System, hospital officials said Thursday. Liberty Hospital’s board of trustees voted to pursue a partnership with KU, a decision that came after the public hospital announced in May its plans to begin a national search for a “strategic growth partner.” Over the coming days, leaders plan to draft a letter of intent outlining the specifics of aligning the two. (Lukitsch, 10/19)
Modern Healthcare: Waystar IPO Could Reopen Market For Digital Health Startups
Digital health investors and analysts will see how Wall Street responds to digital health’s first U.S.-based initial public offering in 2023 before declaring another IPO window has opened. Healthcare payment technology company Waystar announced its parent company, Waystar Holding Corp., had filed a registration statement on Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission related to a proposed initial public offering. (Turner, 10/19)
Also —
Stat: Hospital Price Transparency Does Save Money, Advocate Argues
For all those who think hospital price transparency will not save money, Cynthia Fisher has a message: it’s already doing so. Fisher, who spoke Wednesday at the annual STAT Summit in Boston, is the successful entrepreneur and founder of PatientRightsAdvocate.org who has been leading an unorthodox campaign to get hospitals to disclose prices. (Wilkerson, 10/19)
Stat: Meta's Zuckerberg And Chan On Track To Put $50 Billion Into Science
Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan sit atop a fortune that is currently valued at $113 billion, and they’ve promised to give almost all of it away. Their philanthropic funding group, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, is committed to investing in an array of fields, including science, education, housing insecurity, and expanding access to startup capital to entrepreneurs of color. (Molteni, 10/19)
Stat: HHS Leader On Health, Climate Change And Biopharma Emissions
Renee Salas, an emergency medicine physician at Massachusetts General Hospital, blames climate change for the sinking feeling she had so often in the ER. “I often feel like I’m in the emergency department pulling patients out of a river, only to see many more behind,” she told STAT’s Sarah Owermohle on Thursday at the STAT Summit in Boston. “So I started walking upstream to find what is causing patients to fall in the river in the first place. And I found that the burning of fossil fuel’s producing pollution, especially air pollution, that’s causing disease.” (Trang, 10/19)
