Spending Package Pushes Nursing Homes To Boost Staff Numbers

Modern Healthcare: House-Passed Bill Would Mandate Some Staffing Changes
Nursing homes across the country would need to meet new staffing requirements under a domestic policy package that passed the House Friday, a change the industry says would force facilities to close but which advocates say is sorely needed. The $1.75 trillion package, which awaits approval from the Senate, directs the Health and Human Services Department to issue regulations on "appropriate" minimum staffing ratios at skilled nursing facilities, which would mark the first update to the law since the 1980s. (Hellmann and Goldman, 11/19)

Health News Florida: Costs And Considerations For Home Health Care Of Aging Loved Ones In Florida
Gary Barg worked with his mom throughout most of her 80s. She would drive to the Fort Lauderdale office of his company, Caregiver Media Group. She had a stroke in July and Barg found himself practicing what he had built his business around for more than a quarter of a century — caring for aging loved ones. "We had to learn how to do the things that we were teaching and teaching caregivers for 26 years," he said. (Hudson, 11/22)

In other industry news —

AP: New Orleans EMS Director Quits Amid Staffing Shortages
There’s a vacancy in the top post of New Orleans Emergency Medical Services. The director, Dr. Emily Nichols, is resigning after more than three years in the job, a spokesperson for the agency said Friday. Nichols told her paramedics that she was leaving the agency, which has been hit by staffing shortages worsened by the coronavirus pandemic. The agency intended to announce the resignation Monday, spokesperson Jonathan Fourcade said. (11/21)

Modern Healthcare: TriHealth To Construct $30M Ambulatory Campus In Underserved Community
TriHealth is planning to build a large medical campus in near its headquarters in Cincinnati, as a "one-stop shop" for care, the not-for-profit health system announced. The Finneytown, Ohio, facility will be two stories with an area of 55,000 square feet and is expected to be completed in mid-2023, the health system announced on Friday. Recruitment is currently underway to staff the ambulatory campus with 18 to 20 primary care providers. (Devereaux, 11/19)

Stat: Flagship Pioneering’s Noubar Afeyan On Moderna's 'Crazy' Path
On his desk — placed so its visible on his Zoom calls — Flagship Pioneering founder and CEO Noubar Afeyan has a plaque imploring those who see it to “trust your crazy ideas.” It’s effectively a slogan for Flagship Pioneering, the brazen venture capital firm behind Moderna. (Sheridan, 11/21)

The Wall Street Journal: Novartis Rethinks Sales Strategy For New Cholesterol Drug Launch
Novartis AG NVS -0.38% bet big on its new cholesterol-busting drug. To overcome the tricky market for new heart medicines, it is pursuing an unconventional strategy that turns the traditional drug launch on its head. Rather than seeking to grab the attention of patients and winning support from individual physicians, the Swiss pharmaceutical giant is focusing on the people who run large hospital systems. Its pitch: A large-scale rollout of the drug, called Leqvio, could avert thousands of heart attacks and strokes. (Roland, 11/21)

Stat: Verily’s Amy Abernethy Hints At Clinical Trial Blueprint For 2022
Verily’s quest to become a major player in the life sciences has resulted in a scattershot string of efforts, but as the company plans for 2022, charging forward with its clinical trial strategy will be the Alphabet spinout’s priority. Speaking at the 2021 STAT Summit, Amy Abernethy, president of Verily’s clinical trials platform, said that company is gearing up to release a new “blueprint” for its future in the space, and spelled out some of the pillars of the approach. The company’s strategy includes making it easier for a diverse pool of people to participate in trials, enabling more robust data collection, and preparing for more complex study designs that the first two pillars enable. (Aguilar, 11/19)

Modern Healthcare: Bain Capital Nabs Majority Stake In InnovaCare
Bain Capital Private Equity invested an undisclosed sum in InnovaCare Health on Friday, making the private equity powerhouse a majority owner of the value-based primary care provider group. The new investment ousts Summit Partners from its majority stake in the 23-year-old system. InnovaCare will continue to be led by CEO Dr. Richard Shinto and the current management team, who will also retain significant ownership in the business. The company's primary care provider network currently treats more than 250,000 patients annually, including 27,000 Medicare Advantage members. (Tepper, 11/19)

NBC News: A Rural Hospital Closed Its Obstetrics Unit, Hitting Most Vulnerable The Hardest
Shantell Jones gave birth in an ambulance parked on the side of a Connecticut highway. Even though she lived six blocks away from a hospital, the emergency vehicle had to drive to another one about 30 minutes away. The closer medical center, Windham Hospital, discontinued labor and delivery services last year and is working to permanently cease childbirth services after “years of declining births and recruitment challenges,” its operator, Hartford HealthCare, has said. (Lee, 11/21)

On the cost of health care —

AP: Cap On Drug Price Hikes For Privately Insured Sparks Battle
Workers and families with private health insurance would reap savings on prescription drugs from a little-noticed provision in President Joe Biden’s sweeping social agenda bill. It’s meant to break the cycle of annual price increases for widely used medicines. That provision would require drug companies to pay rebates to Medicare if they increase prices above the rate of inflation. Drugs sold to private plans would count in calculating the penalty, like a tax on price increases. The issue is dividing business groups in a fierce lobbying battle. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 11/21)

KHN: ‘An Arm And A Leg’: The Insurance Warrior’s Battle Plan
Matthew Lientz was an engineer for Boeing for over 30 years. When he was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, he needed surgery from an expert doctor in another state. Although the surgery was his only option, his insurance denied the claim. That’s when his wife, Diane, contacted Laurie Todd, who calls herself the “Insurance Warrior.” Together, the three of them made the case for Lientz’s life. Fourteen years later, the speeches they gave in a conference room full of executives are a master class in winning insurance appeals — and living to tell the tale. Through this battle, Todd learned that taking on your health insurance provider often means going up against your employer. That’s because most large companies “self-insure.” (Weissmann, 11/22)