Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
NY Hospitals Woo Replacement Nurses With $9,000-A-Week Pay During Strike
Bloomberg: NYC Nurse Strike Has Hospitals Paying $9,000 A Week To Substitutes
New York City hospitals are paying as much as $9,000 a week to nurses willing to cross picket lines, creating an expense for medical centers that further strains their struggling budgets. The $9,006 a week that Continuum Health Center is offering to pay travel nurses for pulling five 12-hour shifts is nearly three times the average salary that data from Indeed shows hospitals typically offer in the Big Apple. The pay, which is on the higher end of what temporary nurses typically get, is a large slice of the millions of dollars major hospitals are spending because of the strike. (Thornton, 1/15)
The New York Times: Nurses Describe Fear On The Job As Bitter Strike Enters Fifth Day
Five days into the New York City nurses’ strike, only one of the three hospital systems affected by the walkout had returned to the negotiating table as both sides appeared to dig in for a protracted battle. Representatives from NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia Hospital and the nurses’ union resumed talks Thursday evening and met for several hours. But they left far from a resolution. (Latson, 1/16)
In health news from California —
CalMatters: The Fight Over How To Pay For Medi-Cal Puts Pressure On Newsom To Raise Taxes
California health care advocates, labor unions and progressive lawmakers are urging the governor and the Legislature to find new money to fund medical care and other social services for millions of low-income and disabled Californians. Their coalition, known as “Fight for Our Health,” demanded Wednesday on the Capitol steps that the Legislature and soon-to-be lame duck Gov. Gavin Newsom take action to backfill funding cuts that President Donald Trump and Republicans approved last year. (Miller and Kuang)
Modern Healthcare: Sutter Health Signals Plans To Expand Outside California
Sutter Health is seeking to grow its footprint outside of California for the first time. The system said in a news release Thursday it had hired Scott Nordlund to oversee potential mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and other strategic collaborations outside the state as the health system’s first executive vice president of corporate development and partnerships. Sutter has no facilities or other business outside of California, a spokesperson said. (DeSilva, 1/15)
KFF Health News: Kaiser Permanente To Pay $556 Million In Record Medicare Advantage Fraud Settlement
In the largest Medicare Advantage fraud settlement to date, Kaiser Permanente has agreed to pay $556 million to settle Justice Department allegations that it billed the government for medical conditions patients didn’t have. The settlement, announced Jan. 14, resolves whistleblower lawsuits that accused the giant health insurer of mounting a years-long scheme in which it overstated how sick patients were to illegally boost revenues. (Schulte, 1/15)
More health news from across the U.S. —
Missouri Independent: Abortion Trial Details How Laws Drove Providers From Missouri Planned Parenthood Clinics
In 2015, the Planned Parenthood clinic in Columbia reached out to every OBGYN in Missouri with a request. Would any of the doctors be willing to help provide abortion services? The responses were similar, said Emily Wales, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, which operates the Columbia location. “Could this affect my practice?” the physicians asked. “Could this put me at risk?” (Spoerre and Hardy, 1/15)
Verite News: Youth Trans Health Care Ban Lawsuit Continues As Judge Denies Key Motion
An East Baton Rouge Parish judge on Thursday (Jan. 15) denied the state of Louisiana’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit that five transgender teenagers and their parents brought against the state challenging a 2023 law banning medical professionals from providing trans health care to minors. The two-year-old case was filed days after the law, Act 466, went into effect in 2024, by the trans teens and their parents, who filed under pseudonyms to protect their privacy. They claimed that the state’s ban interferes with parents’ ability to make health decisions for their children and unlawfully denies trans kids access to necessary medical care on the basis of their sex, violating the rights of privacy and equal protection under the law that are guaranteed in the Louisiana State Constitution. (Costley, 1/15)
KFF Health News: How Is Your County Spending Opioid Settlement Cash? Our Tracking Tool Follows The Money
More than $50 billion in opioid settlement funds — meant to help curb the nation’s addiction crisis — is going to local and state governments. But because of lax reporting rules and little guidance on what’s appropriate, the money is generally being spent with next to no accountability. Survivors of the overdose epidemic and families who lost loved ones to it are calling for stricter rules to govern how the payout can be used. (Pattani, 1/16)
CIDRAP: Diminished US Nursing Homes Capacity May Limit Access To Long-Term Care, Slow Hospital Release
Likely due to staffing shortages, US nursing-home capacity has declined—by 15% or more in some cases—since the COVID-19 pandemic began, potentially narrowing access to long-term care and complicating hospital releases, a team led by University of Rochester, New York, researchers writes in JAMA Internal Medicine. (Van Beusekom, 1/15)
The Washington Post: More Seniors Are Now Caregivers As They Tend To Spouses Alone
Lori Gonzalez never trained to be a nurse. But at 75, she is her husband’s full-time caregiver — helping him bathe, dress and move about their Phoenix home. She makes sure he eats, and she knows not to argue when he’s agitated or confused. And she hasn’t left him home alone in three years. Gonzalez knows that his dementia will only worsen and that she’ll be tending to him as her own health challenges mount, including the severe stenosis that leaves her back stiff and in pain. (Najmabadi, 1/15)
