Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Steward Health Care Has Secured Bids For All Its For-Sale Mass. Hospitals
NBC Boston: All Of Steward Health Care’s Mass. Hospitals Have Bids, Governor Says
All of Steward Health Care's Massachusetts hospitals received bids as the for-profit company looks to sell off its facilities during ongoing bankruptcy proceedings, Gov. Maura Healey said Tuesday. "We have qualified bids for all the hospitals," Healey told reporters Tuesday afternoon when asked whether any of Steward's hospitals had not received bids, which were due on Monday July 15. (Kuznitz, 7/23)
The Boston Globe: Steward Hospitals Face Staffing Challenges And Broken Equipment
A court-appointed patient care advocate found staffing challenges and broken equipment at Steward Health Care’s hospitals in Massachusetts and three other states, according to a court filing Tuesday. Despite those problems, the advocate, called an “ombudsman,” said Steward patients are safe and found no issues requiring immediate attention by the US Bankruptcy Court in Houston. Staffs at the hospitals are “committed to providing excellent care,” the filing said. (Weisman, 7/23)
More health industry developments —
CBS News: Michigan Medicine Notifies Nearly 57K Patients After Health Information Potentially Exposed In Cyberattack
Michigan Medicine notified approximately 56,953 people about a data breach that impacted employee email accounts and possibly exposed patient health information. Officials on Monday said three Michigan Medicine employee email accounts were breached on May 23 and May 29 due to a cyberattack unrelated to the recent CrowdStrike outage. (Powers, 7/23)
CBS News: HealthPartners Leaving UnitedHealthcare's Medicare Advantage Network Over High Claim Denial Rate
HealthPartners announced Tuesday that it will no longer be part of UnitedHealthcare's Medicare Advantage network starting next year. The nonprofit healthcare organization says it made the decision because "UnitedHealthcare delays and denies approval of payment for our patients' Medicare Advantage claims at a rate unlike any other insurer in our market." HealthParnters claims its denial rate with UnitedHealthcare has been up to 10 times higher than that of other insurers it works with. (Moser, 7/23)
Modern Healthcare: Molina Healthcare To Acquire ConnectiCare Holding Company
Molina Healthcare said Tuesday it is expanding into Connecticut through an agreement to acquire EmblemHealth subsidiary ConnectiCare Holding Co., for $350 million. The Farmington, Connecticut-based health insurer has approximately 140,000 members in marketplace, Medicare and other health insurance plans across the state, according to a news release. (Eastabrook, 7/23)
Axios: FTC Hones In On Dialysis Noncompetes
The Federal Trade Commission is expanding its scrutiny of the health care industry to the growing dialysis market and investigating whether dialysis giants DaVita and Fresenius Medical Care are squeezing out competitors by restricting kidney doctors from changing jobs. (Goldman, 7/24)
Modern Healthcare: HCA Healthcare Profits Rise As Labor Costs Shrink
HCA Healthcare reported second-quarter net income of nearly $1.5 billion, beating expectations and partially due to a sizable drop in contract labor costs. The Nashville, Tennessee-based system said Tuesday its quarterly contract labor expenses decreased by more than 25% from the second quarter of 2023. (DeSilva, 7/23)
Modern Healthcare: Adventist HealthCare Names John Sackett President, CEO
Adventist HealthCare named John Sackett its next president and CEO, the nonprofit health system announced Tuesday. Sackett will officially begin his new role on Aug. 4, replacing Terry Forde, who is set to lead Rockledge, Florida-based system Health First. (Kacik, 7/23)
Also —
MedPage Today: U.S. News Releases This Year's 'Best Medical Schools,' With Changes
After being delayed for the second year in a row, U.S. News & World Report rolled out this year's "Best Medical Schools" rankings with substantial changes. Notably, the best institutions for research and primary care were sorted into tiers, rather than by ordinal rankings. (The "Best Hospitals" rankings from U.S. News have also moved away from ordinal rankings.) In another change, medical schools that have opted to no longer submit data to U.S. News went unranked this year. (Henderson, 7/23)
Fierce Healthcare: Fierce Healthcare's 2024 Most Influential Minority Executives
Many healthcare organizations prioritize improving diversity in their leadership and workforce, especially at the executive level. Diverse leaders bring a unique understanding of cultural differences that impact health, values and beliefs in addition to the experience of race in America. Study after study has shown the importance of the contributions of individuals from different races and ethnicities for the delivery of healthcare and the innovation that changes patients' lives. At the same time, research demonstrates that a racially diverse medical workforce results in improved self-reported patient experiences and reduced healthcare spending. (Landi, Kreimer and Burky, 7/22)
