Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Surging Oxygen Demands Could Lead To Nationwide Crunch
Stat: Why Some Hospitals Have To Scramble For Oxygen To Treat Covid-19 Patients
As the number of patients at Adventist Health White Memorial Hospital in Los Angeles reached 200 a day, the facility quickly began using six times its normal amount of oxygen. To cope, a 6,000-gallon tank was added as a backup to the usual 9,000-gallon tank, but finding that extra tank took two weeks. And once it was in place, it had to be refilled every day or two. (Silverman, 2/4)
NPR: COVID-19 Pandemic's Demands For Extra Oxygen Stretches Suppliers
The cold snap late last year hit El Paso at the exact wrong time; new COVID-19 patients were streaming into hospitals, many needing high flows of oxygen to breathe. That abrupt, massive draw on the gas created myriad problems: It froze the hospital's pipes and the vaporizers on oxygen tanks, restricting the flow by as much as 70%. So local companies built pop-up tents with new oxygen pipes in hospital parking lots. That wasn't the only hurdle; tubes, flow meters, nasal cannulas and portable cylinders needed to make the gas breathable were also in short supply. "When things got pretty bad in our area, we saw the demand for the cylinders at least triple," says Esteban Trejo, general manager of Syoxsa, an El Paso-based oxygen distributor. (Noguchi, 2/3)
In other health care industry news —
The New York Times: A Parallel Pandemic Hits Health Care Workers: Trauma And Exhaustion
Doctors, paramedics and nurses’ aides have been hailed as America’s frontline Covid warriors, but gone are the days when people applauded workers outside hospitals and on city streets. Now, a year into the pandemic, with emergency rooms packed again, vaccines in short supply and more contagious variants of the virus threatening to unleash a fresh wave of infections, the nation’s medical workers are feeling burned out and unappreciated. (Jacobs, 2/4)
Modern Healthcare: Cigna Eliminates Prior Authorization For Coronary CT Scans
Cigna will no longer require prior authorization for some CT scans of the heart, a move that providers said will relieve administrative burdens among physicians and result in better outcomes for patients. On Feb. 1, Cigna will end prior authorizations for CT angiogram of the heart, coronary arteries and bypass grafts with contrast material. This includes 3D image post-processing. Cigna also removed prior consent for fractional flow reserve-computed tomography. Patients must have stable chest pain and an intermediate risk of coronary artery disease for coverage under the policy. (Tepper, 2/3)
Modern Healthcare: Nurses Union Says HCA Should Invest Profits In COVID-19 Safety, Public Health
National Nurses United, a nurses' union, has criticized hospital chain HCA Healthcare for its $3.75 billion in profits in 2020, claiming that the company instead should have invested that money into public health and COVID-19 safety during the pandemic. The nurses' union called the Nashville-based company's 7.1% year-over-year jump in profits "a clear demonstration of the financial consequences of a year of short-staffing and other cuts affecting patient and worker safety despite a once-in-a-century pandemic." HCA said it is proud of its response during the pandemic and called the union exploitive. (Christ, 2/3)
Modern Healthcare: Oregon Sets First Hospital-Specific Community Benefit Spending Floor
Oregon set its first community benefit spending floor for one of its health systems, establishing a more rigorous regulatory framework that more states may follow, experts said. As mandated by state bill HB 3076 passed in 2019, Portland, Ore.-based Legacy Health will have to spend at least $253 million on community benefits in fiscal 2022 based on its three-year average of unreimbursed care; direct spending on the social determinants of health, health equity and other community benefits; and its operating margin. Oregon officials hope to address unmet needs and health inequities by setting minimum spending thresholds and tracking those investments. They believe a separate state bill to align and coordinate community benefit programs across providers, health plans and public health departments can also help. (Kacik, 2/4)
