Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Organ Transplant Surgeon In Texas Accused Of Manipulating Database
The New York Times: Texas Surgeon Is Accused Of Secretly Denying Liver Transplants
For decades, Dr. J. Steve Bynon Jr., a transplant surgeon in Texas, gained accolades and national prominence for his work, including by helping to enforce professional standards in the country’s sprawling organ transplant system. But officials are now investigating allegations that Dr. Bynon was secretly manipulating a government database to make some of his own patients ineligible to receive new livers, potentially depriving them of lifesaving care. ... It was not clear what could have motivated Dr. Bynon. Reached by phone on Thursday, he referred questions to UTHealth Houston, which declined to comment. Dr. Bynon did not confirm he had admitted to altering records. (Rosenthal and Silver-Greenberg, 4/11)
More health care industry developments —
Minnesota Public Radio: Medical Providers Remain In Limbo As Cyberattack Impacts Continue
In late February, Emily Benson noticed something strange: her counseling practice was getting no checks from insurance claims. It was the start of a grating month and a half. Since then, her clinic in Edina has been making around five percent of the revenue it usually brings in. “It feels like COVID-19 all over again, but much, much worse,” Benson said. (Timar-Wilcox, 4/12)
Modern Healthcare: UnitedHealth Behavioral Health Lawsuit Revived By Federal Court
A federal appeals court has revived a proposed class action lawsuit alleging UnitedHealth Group used an algorithm to more stringently review patient claims for substance abuse treatment compared with requests for medical or surgical procedures. (Tepper, 4/11)
Reuters: Prison Health Co. May Stay In Bankruptcy, But Needs New Deal, Judge Rules
A U.S. judge on Thursday declined a bid to end Tehum Care Services' bankruptcy, but he said the prison healthcare company would need to come up with a new bankruptcy deal if it wants its restructuring to move forward. Opponents of Tehum's so-called "Texas two-step" bankruptcy, including prisoners who have sued over substandard medical care and the U.S. Department of Justice, had argued that the company's predecessor Corizon Health abused U.S. bankruptcy law when it created a new shell company, Tehum, and placed it into bankruptcy solely to halt lawsuits filed against it. They said the case must be dismissed because it was filed in a bad faith effort to protect YesCare, the new company that inherited Corizon's contracts and business assets. (Knauth, 4/11)
Stat: Online Counseling Firm Banned By FTC From Sharing Patient Data
On Thursday, the Federal Trade Commission took action against alcohol addiction telehealth company Monument, affirming its promise to crack down on digital health companies’ misuse of personal health data. (Palmer, 4/11)
Modern Healthcare: Kaiser Permanente Launches Food-Is-Medicine Hub
Kaiser Permanente launched a Food is Medicine Center of Excellence on Thursday, expanding the health system’s food and nutrition scanning methods, research, partnerships and clinical nutrition training, according to a news release. (DeSilva, 4/11)
Also —
CIDRAP: Study: Pathogens That Cause Surgical Infections May Be Coming From Patients' Skin
A study of patients who developed infections after spinal surgery found that for most, the bacteria causing the infection was present on their skin before surgery, researchers reported yesterday in Science Translational Medicine. (Dall, 4/11)
Stat: New Precision Technique Helped Guide Pediatric Cancer Regimen
It seemed as if Logan Jenner had the best possible chance for a cure. Diagnosed at age 3 with acute myeloid leukemia, an aggressive blood cancer, Logan happened to have a targetable mutation that occurs in a small minority of childhood AML cases, making it possible for him to receive a precision therapy drug that — with chemotherapy — got him to a point where he could receive a bone marrow transplant. (Chen, 4/11)
Stat: Lower Back Pain: Empathetic Physicians Lead To Better Outcomes, Study Finds
Amid the many demands of practicing medicine, doctors can have less time and energy for their patients, and those relationships can suffer. Yet research has shown that when physicians show empathy, that can generally lead to better clinical outcomes, at least over the near-term. Now, a new study, published Thursday in JAMA Network Open, demonstrates that those benefits can extend longer and be even more effective than some clinical therapies in dealing with lower back pain, which affects half of the U.S. population in any given year. (Balthazar, 4/12)
