Uninsured People Often Charged The Most By Hospitals, Data Show

The Wall Street Journal: Hospitals Often Charge Uninsured People The Highest Prices, New Data Show 
Raul Macias was rushed to an emergency room last November, with pain shooting from his back to his legs. His breathing was shallow. Doctors at Avera St. Luke’s Hospital in Aberdeen, S.D., discovered a potentially life-threatening tear in the lining of his largest artery. They moved him to Avera Health’s heart hospital, where he stayed for three days. Avera then billed Mr. Macias, who was uninsured, some of the highest prices the hospitals charge to any payer, the Wall Street Journal found in an analysis of Avera’s previously confidential hospital price data. (Evans, Mathews and McGinty, 7/6)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Study Links Language Barriers To Much Lower Access To Health Care
Language barriers significantly limit access to health care for U.S. residents with limited English proficiency — a population of over 25 million people nationwide, including more than 500,000 in Georgia. That’s the main takeaway from a new study published Tuesday in Health Affairs, a leading health policy research journal. According to the study’s authors, a group of researchers from Harvard Medical School and the City University of New York’s Hunter College, Spanish speakers receive approximately one-third less care than other Americans, even with differences in baseline health, age, income and health insurance taken into account. While there have been multiple policy initiatives at the federal level aimed at strengthening language services in hospitals and clinics, the study indicates these might have had limited effectiveness: Key language-based disparities in health care access have only grown over the past two decades. (Grinspan, 7/6)

NBC News: ‘This Will Shut Us Down’: HIV Prevention Clinics Brace For Gilead Reimbursement Cuts
Tony Christon-Walker was determined to set up an HIV prevention clinic in Birmingham, Alabama, that would succeed where others have long struggled to combat the scourge of the virus among his fellow queer Black men. The director of prevention and community partnerships at the nonprofit AIDS Alabama, he spent much of 2019 hiring a clinic staff composed of people of color. They were trained to provide the kind of affirming care that, he said, “reflects our culture,” and that would encourage local men at risk of HIV to keep coming back. (Ryan, 7/7)

In other health care industry developments —

Modern Healthcare: Sutter Workers Protest Understaffing At Hospitals
Sutter Health's service and tech employees plan to protest low staffing levels at eight hospitals, saying they lead to longer wait times and a lack of patient safety. The workers will set up "danger zones" at each hospital in July to illustrate the dangerous conditions they allege patients and employees face. The danger zones will include caution tape, orange cones, large signs and caregivers in uniform and PPE giving speeches to draw attention to care delays caused by understaffing, said Tom Parker, senior communications specialist at SEIU-UHW. (Devereaux, 7/6)

Modern Healthcare: Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals Post First-Quarter Financials
For the first quarter of 2021, Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals each posted operating incomes close to their projections as the health systems emerge from the financial challenges of COVID-19, per recently released financial disclosures. Cleveland Clinic's operating income for the first three months of the year was $61.7 million, compared with an operating loss of $39.9 million in the first quarter of 2020. This was slightly under what the Clinic expected from an operating performance perspective, but it's not material, said Steven Glass, the Clinic's chief financial officer. He also notes that the Clinic set its projections last fall prior to the winter surge. (Coutré, 7/6)

Fox News: Texas Hospital Delivers 100 Babies In 91-Hour Span
A Texas hospital set a new baby boom record recently when staff delivered over 100 newborns over two, two-day stretches. The first round of rapid deliveries began June 24 and saw 25 girls and 27 boys delivered over 47 hours at Andrews Women’s Hospital at Baylor Scott & White All Saints Medical Center in Forth Worth, WFAA.com reported. The second round, which began June 28, saw staff welcome 55 more babies, including a set of twins, a matter of 44 hours. (Hein, 7/6)

Billings Gazette: Montana Family Medicine Residency Announces 2021 Graduates
Eight family doctors graduated on June 30 from the Montana Family Medicine Residency, based at RiverStone Health. Five will stay in Montana and a sixth plans to return after a year. (7/4)