September Saw 2021’s Second Biggest Decline Of Health Care Workers
Health care employment fell for the third time this year in September, according to a report in Modern Healthcare, with around 17,000 fewer workers. Separately, hospital staff are facing such a surge in violence that they're raising the alarm. News outlets report on other health industry news, as well.
Modern Healthcare:
Healthcare Employment Plummeted In September
Healthcare hiring nosedived in September as it declined for the third time this year, according to the latest federal jobs report. Employment in the healthcare sector fell by an estimated 17,500 jobs last month, preliminary data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show. The decline is the second-biggest this year, overshadowed only by January, when hiring contracted by 80,500 jobs. (Christ, 10/8)
KHN:
‘Are You Going To Keep Me Safe?’ Hospital Workers Sound Alarm On Rising Violence
The San Leandro Hospital emergency department, where nurse Mawata Kamara works, went into lockdown recently when a visitor, agitated about being barred from seeing a patient due to covid-19 restrictions, threatened to bring a gun to the California facility. It wasn’t the first time the department faced a gun threat during the pandemic. Earlier in the year, a psychiatric patient well known at the department became increasingly violent, spewing racial slurs, spitting toward staffers and lobbing punches before eventually threatening to shoot Kamara in the face. (Sable-Smith and Miller, 10/11)
In other health care industry news —
AP:
NH Hospital Reaches Contracts With Major Insurance Carriers
For the first time, New Hampshire’s only state-run psychiatric treatment facility has negotiated contracts with all major insurance carriers in the state. Carriers now under contract with New Hampshire Hospital include Aetna, Ambetter, Anthem, Cigna, Harvard Pilgrim and United Health Care, state officials said. “Over the past few years, we have made significant strides to rebuild New Hampshire’s mental health system, and those critical efforts will continue,” Gov. Chris Sununu said in a statement. (10/10)
WUSF Public Media:
TGH Children's Hospital Marks A Major Renovation At Tampa General
Tampa General Hospital is renaming its pediatric inpatient services and undergoing a major renovation, the first phase of which is projected to begin in spring 2022. The first phase of the renovation involves a $7.5 million remodel of two of the three wings of what is now known as the TGH Children’s Hospital. “Our vision is to be the safest and most innovative academic health system in America and that applies to our youngest patients as well. Through our partnership with USF Health and our private practice physicians across the community, we are well on our way to making that vision a reality,” John Couris, president and CEO of Tampa General Hospital, said in a prepared statement. (Miller, 10/10)
AP:
Team Gets $32.7M For Colorectal Cancer Prevention Study
A Dartmouth-Hitchcock research team has been approved for $32.7 million for a colorectal cancer prevention study of older adults. The study will compare colonoscopy and stool-based testing for the prevention of the cancer in adults 70 and older with prior small colon polyps, said Audrey Calderwood, who leads the research team. (10/10)
Stat:
Devoted Health Raises More Than $1 Billion To Expand Care For Older Adults
It is an extraordinary amount of money at an extraordinary time. Devoted Health, a startup using technology to provide better care for older Americans, raked in $1.23 billion in Series D funding, the company said Friday, marking a record haul for a health tech business and one of the largest sums raised by any venture at such an early stage. The company is now valued at about $12.7 billion and planning to expand its services nationwide. (Ross, 10/8)
Axios:
Hospitals Overhaul Climate Prep After A Relentless Year Of Damages
A growing part of the U.S. will face an increased risk of critical infrastructure, like emergency services and hospitals, being rendered inoperable due to severe flooding linked to climate change over the next 30 years, a report out Monday from the First Street Foundation shows. Hospital systems are increasingly being disrupted due to climate-fueled weather disasters like superstorms, flooding, heatwaves and cold snaps and have to harden their infrastructure. (Fernandez, 10/11)
In obituaries —
The Boston Globe:
Dr. Robert Hsun-Piao Yuan, ‘The Neurosurgeon’s Neurosurgeon,’ Dies At 99
During Dr. Robert Hsun-Piao Yuan’s long career as a neurosurgeon, a younger colleague once asked why he took on cases for which success seemed beyond reach. “You must always give patients hope,” he replied. Buoyed by his Christian faith, and guided by his commitment to healing, Dr. Yuan traveled from boyhood in 1920s China to serving as chief of neurosurgery at three Greater Boston hospitals. He was 99 when he died Oct. 3 in his Newton Centre home while in hospice care for failing health. (Marquard, 10/10)
