Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
State Highlights: St. Louis Health System Disrupted By Computer Outage; Iowa Advocates Push State To Keep Mental Health Hospitals Open
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch: St. Louis Area Health System Endures 20-Hour Computer Outage
An executive with the St. Louis area's biggest hospital provider say the network is rebounding from a 20-hour computer outage that disrupted its operations system-wide. BJC HealthCare's executive vice president, Rich LIekweg, tells the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the system lost computer services from 3 p.m. Tuesday to about 11 a.m. Wednesday. It blocked functions that included email, electronic medical records, registration and scheduling systems at all of BJC's 13 hospitals. Those sites included St. Louis' Barnes-Jewish Hospital, which on Wednesday also had to deal with a water main break that flooded a nearby street and forced about 130 patients to be moved to different rooms. (Liss, 7/30)
The Des Moines Register: Advocates: Keep Remaining Iowa Mental Health Hospitals Open
Advocates delivered a petition with more than 5,100 signatures to Gov. Terry Branstad’s office Thursday, urging him to keep the two remaining state mental health hospitals open. Aubreeanna Dolan, a West Des Moines resident, started the petition on MoveOn.org after Branstad suggested earlier in July he’s open to closing the mental hospitals in Independence and Cherokee. Branstad this year shuttered state-run hospitals in Mount Pleasant and Clarinda, a move that sparked a lawsuit from Democratic legislators and the state’s largest public employees union. (Rodgers, 7/30)
The Associated Press: New State Budget Comes With Higher Costs For MinnesotaCare
Minnesota lawmakers kept MinnesotaCare intact but not without a cost that will trickle down to some of the more than 100,000 low-income residents on the program in the form of higher monthly premiums starting in August. The increases kicking in Saturday vary based on income, and those making less than 150 percent of federal poverty level — roughly $17,600 for a single adult — will escape the increases altogether. But others will see bill increases from as low as an extra $8 a month to as much as an additional $30, according to a letter from the Department of Human Services sent to lawmakers earlier this month. (Potter, 7/30)
Health News Florida: Miami Activists Push For Needle Exchange Program To Fight Region's Growing HIV Rate
For the past three years, public health activists have been trying to convince Florida lawmakers to support a needle-exchange program to fight the HIV epidemic in South Florida, and for the past three years they’ve been turned down. One Miami activist refuses to wait for lawmakers. George Gibson is an ordained minister. Nearly everyone calls him Elder as in a church elder. He says his needle-exchange program is related to his religious work. (Hinton, 7/30)
McClatchy: Audit Cites California VA Hospital’s ‘Confusion’ In Patient’s Death
An erroneous wristband placed on a 65-year-old Vietnam veteran caused a “delay in life-saving intervention” at the Mather VA facility in Sacramento, federal investigators say in a new report prompted by the patient’s death under questionable circumstances last October. The wristband incorrectly identified patient Roland Mayo as having given a “Do Not Resuscitate” order, also known as a DNR. (Doyle, 7/30)
The Chicago Tribune: United Healthcare Offers Savings For Shopping Healthy At The Grocery
When Terry Frett goes to Pick 'n Save in suburban Milwaukee for his weekly groceries, he gives the cashier his loyalty card to take advantage of in-store discounts. He then pulls out another card that can cut his grocery bill by an extra $10 to $15. The second card, for a program called Healthy Savings, is an unusual perk offered by UnitedHealthcare. Starting in August, the insurer will begin offering the same benefit to some Chicago-area participants. (Sachdev, 7/30)
