Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
State Highlights: Huge Tobacco Ban Victory In San Francisco Sparks Action Elsewhere; Turmoil Over Cincinnati VA Clinic Renewed After Surgery Patients Were Turned Away
KQED: Will San Francisco's Ban On Flavored Tobacco Spark A National Trend?
The same week voters passed San Francisco's ban, the Board of Supervisors in San Mateo County unanimously passed a similar comprehensive ban that will also remove traditional tobacco products from pharmacies. ...City officials like [Carole] Groom say local initiatives are necessary because there is very little regulation of e-products at the federal level, even though use is increasing. (McClurg, 6/11)
Cincinnati Enquirer: Patients Diverted As Cincinnati VA Surgery Closed Without Approval
At least three patients needing surgery came to the Cincinnati VA Medical Center over a four-day period last month, only to be turned away because the surgery department had taken a long weekend. When the hospital’s chief of staff questioned the unexcused absence of the department, VA officials reassigned her and imposed a gag order on her. (Saker, 6/11)
Boston Globe: In Bridging Cultures, Beth Israel And Lahey Learn From Missteps In Another Merger
It was a risky idea hatched in a hurry: two historic Boston hospitals would join and form a streamlined health care system. But the 1996 merger of Beth Israel and New England Deaconess hospitals immediately ran into problems: Rivalries lingered, doctors left, donations fell, and financial losses grew. ...More than two decades later, the result of that rocky union, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, is trying to heed the lessons learned from that experience as it plans a new merger, this time with Lahey Health. (Dayal McCluskey, 6/11)
St. Louis Post Dispatch: This Midtown Clinic For Uninsured Immigrants Adds Mental Health Services To The Treatment
The mental health services are part of a collaborative, bringing six agencies under one roof to treat patients referred by the clinic’s primary care physicians. It eliminates the long wait time — the average is 18 months — to see a specialist and alleviates the anxieties that often come with going to a new health care facility. ...The new mental health center has four consultation rooms used by the Casa partners and three more for professionals starting out and not affiliated with a practice or agency. The rooms are connected by small observation areas to help with training, especially for medical students. (Moore, 6/11)
KCUR: Medical Debt Is 'Financially Crippling' Families In Kansas And Missouri
A quarter of Kansas working-age adults and a third of the state’s children live in households dealing with medical debt. That’s one of the takeaways from a new report commissioned by five Kansas and Missouri health foundations, believed to be the largest survey to date of health consumers in the two states. In Kansas, about 2,600 adults and minors were included. The survey answers point to problems with access to dental and mental health care, among other services. (Llopis-Jepsen, 6/11)
Reveal: Tesla Fired Safety Official For Reporting Unsafe Conditions, Lawsuit Says
A former high-level safety official at Tesla Inc. has sued the company for failing to treat injured employees and misclassifying work injuries to avoid reporting them as required by law. Carlos Ramirez, a director of environmental, health, safety and sustainability at Tesla until June 2017, alleges he was fired in retaliation for reporting unsafe working conditions, such as chemical exposures and fires, and for refusing to go along with what he believed to be illegal practices. (Evans, 6/11)
Kansas City Star: Health Survey Finds Medical Debt In Kansas, Missouri
While traveling through Kansas talking about health care, David Jordan has heard story after story about people drowning in a sea of medical bills they can't pay. So Jordan, the president of the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund, said he wasn't surprised when one of the largest surveys of Missouri and Kansas health care consumers ever conducted showed that medical debt was one of their top concerns. (Marso, 6/11)
Kansas City Star: The Cost Of Kansas City's Two Measles Outbreaks
What is known at this point is that more than $170,000 in taxpayer resources was spent to hold the outbreaks to 35 total cases — 22 in Kansas and 13 in Missouri. Some of the $170,000 is federal money, some of it came out of redirected state and local resources and none of it includes other costs that are difficult or even impossible to quantify. (Marso, 6/11)
KCUR: Overland Park Weight-Loss Hospital Loses Bid To Regain Its Medicare Funding
Blue Valley Hospital, an Overland Park facility specializing in bariatric surgery, has lost its bid to retain its Medicare certification, throwing its future in doubt. A federal judge last week ruled she did not have jurisdiction to hear the hospital’s legal challenge and dismissed Blue Valley’s lawsuit. The hospital promptly appealed her decision to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which it hopes will take up the case on an expedited basis. (Margolies, 6/11)
State House News Service: Calling For Higher Minimum Wage, Anti-Poverty Protesters Block Traffic In Downtown Boston
Calling for a higher minimum wage and other priorities, activists with the Poor People's Campaign shut down an intersection in Boston's Post Office Square on Monday afternoon, sitting down in the middle of Congress and Franklin Streets. The protest came during week five of a six-week movement to revive the equality campaign that the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. launched before his death 50 years ago. (Metzger, 6/11)
