Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Study Links Having A Chronic Condition With Later Money Issues
Axios: Chronic Conditions Linked To Financial Hardships
Individuals with a higher number of chronic conditions have a higher chance of encountering financial hardship like medical debt, according to a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine. It further cements the connection between well-being and financial stability. (Reed, 8/23)
More on medical debt and the high cost of health care —
Modern Healthcare: Insured Patients Become Top Reason For Bad Debt At Providers
Almost 58% of patient bad debt in 2021 came from self-pay accounts after insurance, compared with about 11% in 2018, according to a recent study from professional services firm Crowe. Self-pay accounts after insurance include the deductible and amount due after the insurance payment. (Hudson, 8/23)
KHN: ‘An Arm And A Leg’: How To Negotiate For Lower Medical Bills
Negotiating medical bills is often possible. It sounds hard — and it can be — but what if we got it down to a science? Mapped out all the moves ahead of time? Jared Walker and his team at the nonprofit Dollar For are running a big experiment to see whether they can do just that. The folks at Dollar For went superviral on TikTok in early 2021 with a 60-second recipe for crushing medical debt by accessing charity care, financial assistance that most U.S. hospitals are legally required to offer. (Weissmann, 8/24)
In other health care industry news —
Los Angeles Times: Backroom Deal To Change Earthquake Standards In California Hospitals Collapses
A secretive deal between a group of hospitals seeking to weaken seismic upgrades at medical centers and an influential union looking to increase the pay of employees collapsed on Tuesday, just days after it was made public. (Gutierrez, 8/23)
KHN: Timely Mental Health Care Is A Key Factor In Strike By Kaiser Permanente Workers
A California law that took effect in July requires health plans to offer timely follow-up appointments for mental health and addiction patients. Whether that’s happening is a point of contention in an open-ended strike by Kaiser Permanente clinicians in Northern California who say staffing shortages saddle them with stifling workloads that make providing adequate care impossible. KP says it is making every effort to staff up but has been hampered by a labor shortage. The therapists — and the National Union of Healthcare Workers, which represents them — counter that the managed-care giant has difficulty attracting clinicians because its mental health services have a poor reputation. (Wolfson and Finn, 8/24)
Las Vegas Review-Journal: Las Vegas ‘Medical Hub’ Moves Closer To Reality
The vision for the growing 684-acre Las Vegas Medical District — which comprises University Medical Center and the soon-to-be completed Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV — was laid out Tuesday at Las Vegas City Hall, in an event that appeared to be aimed at medical professionals and prospective developers. Gov. Steve Sisolak was among those in attendance. (Torres-Cortez, 8/23)
Modern Healthcare: ChristianaCare-Crozer Health Deal Canceled
ChristianaCare, a Wilmington, Delaware-based not-for-profit health system, signed a letter of intent in February to purchase Springfield, Pennsylvania-based Crozer Health from Prospect Medical and revert the hospital system to not-for-profit profit status. Prospect Medical, health system based in Orange, California, acquired Crozer Health in 2016 and converted it to for-profit. (Berryman, 8/23)
Bloomberg: X-Ray Company Carestream, Once Owned By Kodak, Goes Bankrupt
Carestream Health, the century-old medical imaging company founded by photography pioneer Eastman Kodak Co., filed for bankruptcy with a lender-backed proposal to cut its debt by $470 million. (Church, 8/23)
Columbus Dispatch: Nationwide Children's Hospital Receives $10 Million Donation
The Steve and Cindy Rasmussen Institute for Genomic Medicine that focuses on genomics as the root cause of many childhood diseases will be among the areas to benefit from the donation. Since its inception in 2016, the institute has provided more than 59,000 clinical genomics-based tests for more than 16,000 patients with a variety of conditions. (Williams, 8/23)
