Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Senate Bill Aims To Prevent Russian Cyberattacks On Hospitals
Las Vegas Review-Journal: Jacky Rosen Bill Aims To Protect Hospitals From Russian Cyberattacks
Nevada Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen and Republican Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy late Wednesday introduced bipartisan legislation aimed at protecting hospitals and the health care sector from potential Russian cyberattacks. The Healthcare Cybersecurity Act would direct the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to collaborate with the Department of Health and Human Services to bolster cybersecurity in the health care and public health sector, according to Rosen’s office. (Hynes, 3/24)
In other health care industry news —
WUSF 89.7: Planned Psychiatric Hospital In Tampa To Care For Women Who Have Experienced Trauma
A psychiatric hospital that will be built in Tampa will be the first of its kind in the region to focus primarily on women. The Mariposa Women’s Neuropsychiatric Hospital will be located in the East Seminole Heights neighborhood and run by Gracepoint Wellness, a nonprofit that provides health care to women and children. The 24-bed facility will feature treatment for a variety of issues, including substance abuse, domestic violence and sexual assault. (Comber-Wilen, 3/24)
Bangor Daily News: Bangor’s New Autism Center Will Connect Kids With Therapy During Most Impactful Life Stage
A center that provides individualized therapy to young children with autism will open in Bangor on Monday. Heartleaf ABA will teach children ages 2-6 a variety of skills to prepare them to function and succeed in everyday settings from school to grocery stores, according to National Clinical Director Katie Arnold. Those include motor skills, social skills, eating, communication and using the bathroom. The center on Griffin Road is Heartleaf’s first brick-and-mortar location after the organization started out exclusively offering home visits. (O'Brien, 3/25)
Louisville Courier Journal: University Of Louisville Health Hospital Set For Major Expansion To Treat More Patients
Last year, University of Louisville Health CEO Tom Miller said, 40 patients per day weren't able to get a bed at the health care provider's downtown hospital. The facility doesn't turn away people seeking medical care, he added, and the hospital's emergency room has doubled as an inpatient unit to handle the influx of patients. But a planned expansion of the medical center, a seven-story tower next door with construction set to begin soon, will give doctors and nurses more room to operate. (Aulbach, 3/24)
Stat: Hospital Group AHA Makes An Unlikely Pivot Into Venture Capital
The American Hospital Association is a lobbying powerhouse, championing the interests of its thousands of member hospitals before Congress. Now, though, the trade group is dipping its toes into a decidedly different arena: venture capital investing. It’s rare for trade groups to dabble in venture capital — where investors fund startups in exchange for stakes in those emerging companies — because it’s so different from their typical bread and butter. But the not-for-profit AHA says it’s well-positioned to get health care startups off the ground because it can offer up their technologies to its almost 5,000 hospital and health system members. (Bannow, 3/24)
Houston Chronicle: A Legacy Of Racism In The Health Care System Is Hurting Patients, New Houston Research Shows
Iliana Oberkircher can’t quite recall how old she was. Maybe 10? But she clearly remembers holding an orange pill bottle, doing her best to translate the prescription from English to Spanish for her mother. The medicine was for her younger brother, Juan Carlos or “Carlitos,” who suffered from a complex heart condition, requiring her mother to shuttle him from doctor to doctor in the Rio Grande Valley, Oberkircher always came along to translate. “Looking back now,” Oberkircher said, “having a Latino physician who spoke Spanish was just unheard of.” (Carballo, 3/24)
Modern Healthcare: Google Teaming CVS, Scheduling Vendors To Display Appointment Availability
Google will soon enable patients to view appointment availability for participating healthcare providers directly from its search page, the technology giant announced Thursday. The new feature, unveiled at Google's annual The Check Up health event, adds appointment availability to business profile boxes that display when users search for a physician or healthcare facility. Patients will be able to click on an appointment slot, which redirects them to the third-party partner's website and means they're not booking a visit through Google itself. (Kim Cohen, 3/24)
KHN: Bill Of The Month: The Case Of The $489,000 Air Ambulance Ride
Sean Deines and his wife, Rebekah, were road-tripping after he lost his job as a bartender when the pandemic hit. But while visiting his grandfather in a remote part of Wyoming, Sean started to feel very ill. Rebekah insisted he go to an urgent care center in Laramie. “‘Your white blood count is through the roof. You need to get to an ER right now,’” Deines, 32, recalls a staffer saying. The North Carolina couple initially drove to a hospital in Casper but were quickly airlifted to the University of Colorado Hospital near Denver, where he was admitted on Nov. 28, 2020. There, specialists confirmed his diagnosis: acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a fast-growing blood cancer. (Appleby, 3/25)
In news about health care personnel —
AP: Defense Rests In Trial Of Ex-Nurse Who Made Medication Error
The defense rested Thursday in the trial of a former Tennessee nurse who killed a patient by accidentally injecting her with a paralyzing drug. RaDonda Vaught, 37, is facing a charge of reckless homicide for administering vecuronium to 75-year-old Charlene Murphey instead of the sedative Versed on Dec. 26, 2017. Prosecutors argued that Vaught disregarded the standard of care expected of nurses as well as her own training when she made multiple errors leading to the fatal injection. Vaught’s attorney argued that the nurse was not acting outside of the norm and that systemic problems at Vanderbilt University Medical Center were at least partly to blame for the error. (Loller, 3/24)
The Boston Globe: Nurses At Beth Israel Lahey Health Sites Take Step Closer To Strike
The 650 nurses at three Beth Israel Lahey Health locations have voted to authorize a potential strike, bringing the facilities closer to a three-day walkout over contract negotiations. The nurses are part of Northeast Hospital Corporation — which includes Beverly Hospital, Addison Gilbert Hospital in Gloucester, and Lahey Outpatient Center in Danvers. Nurses of Northeast, which is owned by Beth Israel Lahey Health, have been negotiating a new contract since October, in preparation for the current contract to expire next week. (Bartlett, 3/24)
