Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
State Highlights: USC Faculty Pushes For President's Ouster As Number Of Patients Suing University Ticks Up; Advocates Decry NYC Hospital's Decision To Close Birthing Center
Los Angeles Times: Number Of Patients Suing USC Over Sex Abuse Claims Tops 300 As Faculty Push For Nikias' Exit
The number of former patients suing USC for allegedly failing to protect them from sexual abuse at a campus health clinic increased to more than 300 this week amid a new push by university faculty to speed the departure of the outgoing president, C.L. Max Nikias. The university’s trustees announced in May that Nikias had “agreed to begin an orderly transition” to a new president. At the time, the move appeared to be an attempt to quell outrage by professors and students over the handling of Dr. George Tyndall, the longtime campus gynecologist who was the subject of repeated complaints during his three decades at the student health center. (Ryan and Hamilton, 7/31)
The Wall Street Journal: Mount Sinai To Close Natural Birthing Center After Two Decades
For more than two decades, pregnant New Yorkers who desired a natural birth environment with access to medical interventions have flocked to the only full-service hospital where that type of experience was a cab ride away: Mount Sinai West on Manhattan’s West Side. That option will be gone after December. (West, 7/31)
The Associated Press: Virginia Launches New Emergency Room Communications Program
Virginia has launched a new program connecting all emergency rooms to a new program designed to streamline and speed up doctors’ access to patient information. Officials said the Emergency Department Care Coordination Program is the first of its kind in the country. Gov. Ralph Northam said at a news conference Tuesday that the program is a “huge step in the right direction.” Northam, a pediatric neurologist, said the program will give doctors the tools to improve care while cutting unnecessary costs. (8/1)
Austin American-Statesman: Texans Don't Like How Feds Are Handling Health Care, Poll Says
Most Texans disapprove of how Congress and the federal government are handling the country’s health care issues despite supporting the Medicaid and Medicare programs, according to a poll by the Texas Lyceum released Tuesday. Of the 1,178 adult Texans polled, 71 percent said they had little or no trust in the federal government to do what’s best for Texans when it comes to health care. (Chang, 7/31)
Boston Globe: Most Massachusetts Hospitals Turned A Profit In The Last Fiscal Year
Most Massachusetts hospitals — 49 out of 62 — were profitable last year, according to a new analysis from the state Center for Health Information and Analysis. ...The median operating margin for acute-care hospitals last year in Massachusetts was 1.6 percent. That’s down from 2.8 percent in 2016 and 3.2 percent in 2015. In 2014, the median operating margin was 2.4 percent. (Dayal McCluskey, 8/1)
Houston Chronicle: Poll: Texas GOP Voters Favor Child Immunization Laws
While a growing number of Texas parents opt out of having their children vaccinated, a new poll shows that 86 percent of Texas Republican voters want children to receive vaccines before starting school. The poll found the vast majority of Republican primary voters want schoolchildren immunized, an increasingly contentious issue in the Legislature. In recent sessions, some GOP members have sponsored bills to make opting out of vaccinations easier and opposed bills to make each school report its opt-out numbers. (Ackerman, 7/31)
WBUR: Tempering The Cost Of Aging, Dying In Prison With The Demands Of Justice
A Massachusetts state prison is expanding the graveyard where it buries inmates who die in custody, one consequence of the state's huge increase in aging prisoners. And as more inmates age and die behind bars, the cost of their care is skyrocketing, fueling new efforts to release prisoners who are too old or sick to pose a threat. (Burrell and McKim, 8/1)
The Star Tribune: UnitedHealthcare Is Fined $2.5 Million By New Jersey Regulators
UnitedHealthcare is paying a $2.5 million fine in New Jersey after regulators alleged various insurance violations ranging from a failure to promptly comply with outside appeals of coverage decisions to wrongly telling people they couldn't buy individual insurance policies due to medical conditions. The New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance said last week the fine was the largest issued by the agency against a licensee in nine years. (Snowbeck, 7/31)
The Washington Post: The Shocking Reason That This Man’s Legs And Hands Were Amputated: A Dog’s Saliva
Greg Manteufel’s symptoms began with fever and vomiting, as if he had the flu. But by the following morning, he was delirious, and his temperature had soared. His wife rushed him to the hospital, a quick drive from their Wisconsin home. Once they arrived, Dawn Manteufel said she noticed bruises — several of them, all over his body — that weren’t there when they left their house just five minutes earlier. To Dawn, it was as if her husband had just been beaten with a baseball bat. (Phillips, 7/31)
KQED: Company Won’t Pay More Than $5,000 After Pesticide Exposure Sickens 17 Farmworkers
The Monterey County agricultural commissioner plans to issue a single fine of up to $5,000 against a Salinas produce company that employed 17 celery workers sickened in a pesticide drift incident last year. The commissioner's decision has angered farmworker advocates and re-energized their push for stronger pesticide enforcement laws. (Goldberg, 7/31)
KCUR: Johnson County Poised To Expand Mental Health Services
Johnson County’s proposed $1.1 billion budget for 2019 includes a $3 million increase in spending on mental health services. The money would fund six additional workers at the Johnson County Mental Health Center, including three new case managers who would work with both children and adults. (Okeson-Haberman, 7/31)
Dallas Morning News: Coppell Facility To Close After Walgreens Buys Prescription-Drug Unit From DaVita
Walgreens has bought DaVita prescription-drug unit, which will lead DaVita to lay off 869 employees in Coppell. Coppell-based DaVita Rx employees will be given the opportunity to interview for open positions at Walgreens retail stores and central facility locations, Walgreens said in a statement. ... The employees who do not move to Walgreens will be able to move to a different unit at DaVita, said Skip Thurman, a spokesman for DaVita. The company notified the state of the layoffs this week. (Quigley, 7/31)
