Rising Costs Straining US Hospitals As Pandemic Continues
A report in Bloomberg covers how pandemic-era rises in labor costs, plus prices of drugs and supplies mean some hospitals are having difficulty absorbing the costs. A hack of a North Dakota health care billing company, an emergency mental health system in Detroit, and more are also in the news.
Bloomberg:
U.S. Hospitals Struggle To Absorb Covid Pandemic-Era Rising Costs
U.S. hospitals are struggling to absorb rising costs for labor, drugs and supplies as the pandemic drags on, the American Hospital Association said Monday in a report. Labor costs per patient jumped by 19% in 2021 from 2019, and supplies rose by over 20% per patient during that period, according to the report. Nursing expenses shifted heavily toward travel nurses. The travelers’ share of nursing budgets rose to 39% in 2022 from 5% in 2019. (Goldberg, 4/25)
In other health industry news —
AP:
North Dakota-Based Healthcare Billing Services Group Hacked
Federal investigators say a cyber attack on a North Dakota-based company that provides software and billing services for doctors and healthcare professionals affected more than a half-million customers. Adaptive Health Integrations of Williston was the target of a hacking incident that happened in mid-October, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The data breach was reported to the government earlier this month. (4/25)
Detroit Free Press:
Common Ground To Open Online Behavioral Health Urgent Care
Metro Detroiters who need urgent mental and behavioral health care can now get it without going to a hospital emergency room. Common Ground is opening the region's first virtual Behavioral Health Urgent Care with an aim of filling a huge gap in services. "The time is really good because there is such a high need out there in our in our community right now," said Heather Rae, president and CEO of Common Ground, a 24-hour crisis services nonprofit agency that is expanding the care it already provides to more than 88,000 people at sites in Pontiac and Royal Oak. (Jordan Shamus, 4/25)
In news about nurses and other health workers —
Bay Area News Group:
Thousands Of Stanford, Packard Children's Nurses Begin Strike To Demand For Better Staffing, Mental Health Support
After treating patients without a contract since the end of March, 5,000 nurses lined streets near Stanford Hospital raucously picketing and urging medical center officials to deliver an agreement ahead of negotiations scheduled for Tuesday morning. Holding signs that read “Stanford hates caregivers” and shouting slogans like “shame on Stanford” as drivers blared their car horns in support, nurses appeared more than ready to pressure Stanford indefinitely until a “reasonable” contract is reached. (Lin and Toledo, 4/25)
The Boston Globe:
McLean Nurses, Clinicians Vote In Union Following Fiercely Contested Campaign
Following a contentious union campaign that generated staunch resistance from management at McLean Hospital, nurses and other clinicians at the world-renowned psychiatric hospital in Belmont have voted to join AFSCME Council 93. The results of two elections, announced Friday, were close. Registered nurses, nurse practitioners, and clinical coordinators voted 113-100 in favor of the union, and mental health specialists and community residence counselors approved the union 121-91. About 60 ballots have been contested, but Council 93 expects the victories — representing more than 700 workers in all — to stand. (Johnston, 4/25)
Houston Chronicle:
Texas Leader Overseeing State Psychiatric Hospitals Resigns In Lieu Of Being Fired
The associate commissioner in charge of operations and planning for Texas’ 10 publicly funded psychiatric hospitals resigned to avoid being fired last month, state records show. Tim Bray oversaw state mental hospital operations between September 2016 and this month. During that time, the waitlist for beds grew more than 550 percent, from 354 in September 2016 to 2,309 in March, according to a Houston Chronicle analysis of state data. (Stuckey, 4/25)
