Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Scope Of Pandemic's Traumatic Toll On Health Workers Detailed
CNN: One In Five Health Care Workers Faced Depression And Anxiety During The Pandemic
Staggering numbers of health care workers -- more than one in five -- have experienced anxiety, depression or post-traumatic stress disorder during the pandemic, new research has revealed. Health care workers have been working for long hours under strenuous conditions. Because of this, Nathaniel Scherer, co-lead author of the systematic review and meta-analysis published Wednesday in PLOS One, said he was not surprised by the numbers. (Marples, 3/11)
In other health care industry news —
Modern Healthcare: Quest Acquires Mercy's Outreach Lab Business
Quest Diagnostics has entered an agreement to acquire the outreach laboratory services business of healthcare system Mercy, the companies announced this week. With the acquisition, Quest will pick up the business from 29 Mercy hospital labs and two independent clinic labs servicing patients and providers throughout Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. Testing formerly done by Mercy's outreach business will be done at Quest's laboratory in Lenexa, Kansas and a network of rapid response labs throughout the region. (3/10)
Stat: AmerisourceBergen Rewards CEO Despite The Ravages Of The Opioid Crisis
You can file this under, “What opioid crisis?” In one of the more startling examples of tin-ear syndrome, AmerisourceBergen wants its shareholders to bless a $14.3 million pay package for chief executive officer Steven Collis. Not only is this a hefty amount of money, but it represents a 26% boost over the previous year. (Silverman, 3/11)
Stat: 4 Lessons From IBM’s Failure To Transform Medicine With Watson Health
The demise of IBM’s Watson Health would be easy to file away as another ill-fated attempt to tackle health care without understanding its complexities. But its downfall offers specific lessons on the implementation of artificial intelligence in an industry still clamoring for new ways to mine mountains of data. (Ross, 3/10)
Modern Healthcare: Surprise Billing Ban Details Yet To Be Determined, Leaving Industry Fights To Come
Providers and insurers will continue their fight over surprise billing as federal officials figure out how to put the No Surprises Act into practice, according to experts. The new law protects consumers from receiving unexpected medical bills resulting from out-of-network emergency care delivered by an out-of-network facility or out-of-network providers at an in-network facility. It also blocks out-of-network providers at in-network facilities from balance billing patients for non-emergency care unless they get patient consent. But patients will still be responsible for paying the in-network cost-sharing amount. (Brady, 3/10)
