Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Theranos Whistleblower Says Company Used Employees' Blood For Tests
Bay Area News Group: Elizabeth Holmes Trial: Theranos Used Workers' Blood
Theranos whistleblower Erika Cheung’s first inkling that the company’s technology fell short of founder Elizabeth Holmes’ claims arose because the startup used its workers’ blood to check how well tests performed, the former laboratory assistant testified Tuesday. “Employees would essentially donate their blood to Theranos for cash,” Cheung told jurors on the second day of Holmes criminal trial, without saying how much was paid. When Cheung’s blood was used to “validate” Vitamin D testing on Theranos machines, “it would always come up that I was deficient,” she testified. But her results didn’t show the same problem when her bloodwork was done on another company’s machines that Theranos kept upstairs to conduct tests its own machines couldn’t perform. (Baron, 9/14)
The Wall Street Journal: Elizabeth Holmes Trial: Theranos Gave Investors Rosy Picture Of Revenue, Witness Says
Theranos Inc. gave investors far rosier revenue projections than what the company’s finance staff expected, jurors heard Tuesday during the second day of witness testimony in Elizabeth Holmes’s criminal fraud trial. The testimony supported one of prosecutors’ key contentions: That Ms. Holmes deliberately lied to investors, business partners and patients to keep afloat a startup she said would change the world by testing for illnesses with just a few drops of blood. (Randazzo, Somerville and Weaver, 9/14)
In other health industry news —
Modern Healthcare: Cost Of "Preventable" COVID-19 Hospitalizations More Than $5B
About 287,000 unvaccinated Americans were hospitalized from June through August, costing the healthcare system $5.7 billion, according to a new study. Of that total cost, $3.7 billion came in August, when cases across the country started surging, the Kaiser Family Foundation said in a research brief Tuesday. "This ballpark figure is likely an understatement of the cost burden from preventable treatment of COVID-19 among unvaccinated adults," the authors wrote. More than 98% of those who have been hospitalized in the U.S. since June, after vaccines were made widely available to adults, have been unvaccinated, KFF predicted. making them "preventable hospitalizations," KFF predicted. To calculate costs, KFF estimated that 84% of hospitalizations for COVID-19 were preventable with vaccination. (Christ, 9/14)
The Boston Globe: Boston Children’s Gets $20 Million Donation To Research, Treat Pediatric Heart Disease
Boston Children’s Hospital on Tuesday said it has received a $20 million donation from the Benderson Family Foundation to research and treat pediatric heart disease. The donation will create two endowed chairs at the heart center and fund research programs, hospital officials said in a news release. “Ten years from now, we will look back and remember that a decade of progress began today with this generous gift,” said Dr. Pedro del Nido, chairman of the department of cardiovascular surgery. The hospital’s cardiovascular programs, renamed as the Benderson Family Heart Center, will move into a new clinical tower on the Boston Children’s Longwood campus, which is expected to open next summer. The heart center will span more than five floors at the new Hale Family Building. (9/14)
Modern Healthcare: Bay Area Healthcare Workers Vote To Strike Alleging Widespread Understaffing
More than 500 healthcare workers at two facilities in the San Francisco Bay Area voted to strike, saying they've endured understaffing, challenging working conditions, and unfair labor practices. Set to take place in October, the strikes will include a variety of employees from Sutter Delta Medical Center in Antioch and John Muir Behavioral Health Center in Concord, including emergency room technicians, mental health counselors, respiratory therapists, transporters and licensed vocational nurses, among other positions. Workers at each location allege that the facilities' dire conditions stem from management ignoring concerns about severe understaffing. (Devereaux, 9/14)
Bangor Daily News: Ex-OB Nurse Alleges Calais Hospital Kept Her In The Dark About Her Firing For 2 Years
A former obstetrics nurse has sued the hospital in Calais, alleging that she was kept on administrative leave for nearly two years after the decision was made to fire her due to concerns she’d raised about dangerously low staffing and a stillborn birth. Donna Webb, 62, of Calais claims in her lawsuit that management delayed informing her of the termination because she had raised concerns beginning in 2013 that having just four obstetric nurses to cover all shifts endangered patients, especially those whose pregnancies were considered high risk. (Harrison, 9/15)
