Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
State Highlights: Former Chief Of Troubled North Carolina Hospital Could Be In Line For UNC Presidency; Outreach About New Hampshire's Medicaid Work Requirement Falls Short
The New York Times: Chief During Turmoil At Children’s Hospital May Be Next UNC President
As the University of North Carolina begins its formal search for a permanent president, a likely top candidate is the former head of the state-owned medical system, which is now being investigated over turmoil at its children’s hospital during his tenure. Dr. William L. Roper, who since January has been interim president of the university, was chief executive of UNC Health Care when doctors at the institution’s Chapel Hill children’s hospital warned administrators that their young heart patients seemed to be dying at higher-than-expected rates or faring poorly after surgery. (Gabler, 7/5)
Concord Monitor: New Hampshire Medicaid Work Requirement Faces Crucial Test
It was the linchpin that delivered Medicaid expansion – the key to a bipartisan compromise last year for an over $500 million health program. But the work requirement for New Hampshire’s Medicaid expansion is in trouble. Weeks after the requirement kicked in on June 1, more than 20,000 people had still not reported their employment or logged an exemption, the state’s Department of Health and Human Services has said recently. The state’s effort to let people know it applies to them is falling short; few are answering their phones long enough to be told what to do. (DeWitt, 7/6)
The Baltimore Sun: Baltimore Jury's Record $229 Million Malpractice Verdict May Change A Life — But Likely Not The System
[Zuida Byrom's] family hopes the round-the-clock care by a nursing staff will be paid for with the $229.6 million a jury awarded her Monday after finding Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center liable for brain damage she suffered during birth. Her lawyers believe it’s the largest medical malpractice verdict in the United States. Such an award from a jury is rare and is certain to be reduced, perhaps substantially, according to legal experts. And as enormous as the outcome may be for the family, the ultimate award likely won’t improve the next family’s prospects in the legal system — and it likely won’t change the way care is delivered. (Cohn, 7/4)
Boston Globe: Blood Samples Reveal Valuable Data — And Life-Changing Surprises For Donors
More than 103,000 patients have agreed to provide blood to the Partners HealthCare Biobank, and their samples are providing valuable data for some 200 studies about Alzheimer’s, depression, diabetes, epilepsy, heart disease, and other conditions. But the research initiative is also having another impact, one that is more personal and immediate: It’s revealing genetic red flags that patients otherwise might never have seen. (McCluskey, 7/5)
Kansas City Star: Supreme Court Lifts Kansas Medical Malpractice Damages Cap
That cap on noneconomic damages is now gone — struck down in a Kansas Supreme Court ruling last month. Doctors say that ruling will open the floodgates to high-dollar lawsuits that will drive up the cost of care for everyone. But patients like Lundeen and plaintiffs’ attorneys say Kansas doctors have for too long been shielded from responsibility for mistakes that cause a lifetime of suffering. (Marso, 7/5)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Catheters Cause 25% Of Hospital Infections, Study Says
Catheters, needles and other indwelling devices may cause more harm than good, according to a new report. Previous studies have found catheters cause roughly 25% of hospital infections, so researchers from the University of Michigan conducted an investigation to further explore why the devices are being misused. (Parker, 7/6)
The New York Times: ‘A Space Where You Could Be Free’: Puerto Rico’s L.G.B.T. Groups Rebuild After A Hurricane
Puerto Ricans mourned so many losses after Hurricane Maria that the closing of a beloved tiki bar in San Juan might have seemed of little consequence, another casualty of the battered post-storm economy. But the bar — El Escondite, or the Hideaway — was not just a place for a strong screwdriver cocktail. It was also a mainstay for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender patrons wanting to share a good time or enjoy a drag show. (Rosa And Mazzei, 7/7)
The Washington Post: Social Workers And Custodians Help Form The Backbone Of A Campus. But Virginia Schools Have Lost Billions For Those Jobs.
School systems across Virginia have lost billions of dollars in state money for social workers, custodians and psychologists after the state imposed a funding cap on school support staff amid the Great Recession. The cap hasn’t been lifted, even as the state rebounded in the years after the downturn, according to a report from the Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis, a Richmond think tank. As a result, the number of support staff across the state dropped by 2,800 workers in the past decade, while enrollment grew by 55,000 students. (Truong, 7/7)
Tampa Bay Times: At Tampa General Hospital, 3-D Printers Are Removing Guesswork For Doctors And Patients
When a patient with a gunshot wound to the face came through the Level 1 trauma center at Tampa General Hospital a few months ago, it was up to Dr. Joshua Elston to try to reconstruct what had been shattered. But putting the pieces back together after a traumatic injury can sometimes feel like trying to build a house without blueprints, said Elston, a plastic surgeon. ...In this case, though, Elston was able to call on the expertise of a forensic anthropologist, Summer Decker, who also directs the 3D Anatomical Modeling and Printing Division within the department of radiology at the University of South Florida’s USF Health. (Griffin, 7/7)
Health News Florida: Further Changes To Certificate Of Need Program Proposed
Tallahassee health-care regulators on Wednesday started the layered process of reshaping the state’s certificate of need program, moving ahead to focus it on nursing homes, hospices, and institutions for individuals with developmental disabilities. But the proposed changes to the CON rules are only the beginning of a two-step process for Florida hospitals, as the Agency for Health Care Administration simultaneously moves to change the licensure requirements for hospitals. (Sexton, 7/5)
Nashville Tennessean: Harrow Health CEO Looks To Nashville For Pharma Growth
When Harrow Health Inc. CEO Mark Baum saw the headlines about now infamous Martin Shkreli jacking up the price of a cancer and HIV drug by more than 5,000 percent, he wasn't shocked. Buying older drugs and drastically pushing up prices was not an uncommon business model, and he was glad to see this particularly egregious scenario grab the media spotlight in 2015. ...Calls from several national media outlets also began to pour in to cover Baum’s alternative drug, providing him a platform on drug affordability advocacy that he has maintained since. Advocacy and a focus on access and affordability has been central to his two decades in the pharmaceutical sector.(McGee, 7/7)
Miami Herald: The Many Reports Of Neglect That Preceded Brothers’ Drowning
In April 2018, state child welfare authorities were told that then-21-year-old Wildline Joseph got stoned regularly, and allowed two of her small children to wander the neighborhood day and night with no supervision. Investigators with the Broward Sheriff’s Office apparently decided this was acceptable behavior, as they took no action to stop it. So Joseph continued to leave her children outside alone.Until it killed them. (Miller, 7/5)
Des Moines Register: Sanford Execs: Fraud Claims Against Neurosurgeon Wilson Asfora 'Bogus'
Three of Sanford Health’s top executives blasted the federal government and two Sanford doctors who filed a federal lawsuit against their colleague, Dr. Wilson Asfora, in an email sent to Sanford employees. In the email, which was obtained Wednesday by the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, Sanford CEO Kelby Krabbenhoft, Chief Operating Officer Matthew Hocks and Chief Medical Officer Allison Suttle call the allegations against Asfora “bogus.” (Ellis, 7/6)
