Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Vermont Hospitals Hit In Cyberattack
Burlington Free Press: UVM Health Network Suffers Cyberattack Causing IT Outage
The University of Vermont Health Network has confirmed it suffered a cyberattack that compromised some of its systems, and is working with the FBI and Vermont Department of Public Safety to investigate the attack. "We expect that it will take some time to restore (our systems) and we are working as quickly as possible to return to normal operations," spokesman Neal Goswami said in a statement Thursday afternoon. (D'Ambrosio, 10/29)
Also —
AP: Utah Epidemiologist's Home Address Leaked Online For Protest
Anti-mask protesters stood in front of the home of Utah Epidemiologist Dr. Angela Dunn on Thursday evening after her personal information was leaked online. Dunn said it was “scary and wrong” that anyone would feel comfortable sharing her personal information and protesting outside her home. “It’s taken a really big toll on my family and myself,” Dunn said when asked about the protest during the governor’s weekly COVID-19 briefing. “I think it’s really unfortunate we live in a state where people feel that it is OK to harass civil servants.” (Eppolito, 10/30)
The New York Times: 40 Dead, Now 40 Laid Off: Inside A Nursing Home In Crisis
On a recent morning in Staten Island, the quiet at Clove Lakes Health Care and Rehabilitation Center was unsettling. Employees in sanitary gowns and face masks moved through a brightly decorated front area devoid of residents or chatter. Six months ago, the nursing home was one of the deadliest places in the city, with 40 residents dying in the course of a month. Now the workers who cared for them, sometimes holding their hands as they died, face a second crisis: The home recently laid off more than 40 employees, and others fear they will be next. (Leland, 10/29)
Crain's Detroit Business: Health Systems Join Forces With $48 Million Shared Laundry Facility In Detroit
Since opening June 1, a $48 million laundry facility in downtown Detroit shared by three health systems has been running two shifts over a six-day work week. With COVID-19 cases on the rise in Michigan and flu season approaching, health care executives said in a Wednesday morning news conference that demand for clean laundry has become even more important. Each week, the 115,000-square-foot facility is expected to wash, press and fold 700,000 pounds of laundry. (Greene, 10/29)
Crain's Chicago Business: Here's How A Chicago Rehab Hospital Is Treating COVID 'Long-Haulers'
Given the wide range of possible responses to COVID, the rehabilitation process often requires much more cross-collaboration among different disciplines in the facility. While non-COVID patients normally come for one specific issue, the COVID unit had to transform into a place where a variety of team members are involved, given the myriad of ways the virus affects the body, said Shirley Ryan AbilityLab CEO Dr. Joanne C. Smith. (Asplund, 10/29)
Georgia Health News: Though Standard Medical Visits Have Made A Comeback, Telehealth Is Here To Stay
The surge in telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic has leveled off, with more patients seeing their doctors in person again. But experts say virtual medical appointments will continue, and with more frequency than before COVID struck. Some of the change appears permanent. (Miller, 10/29)
Modern Healthcare: Molina's Profits Cool As Utilization Normalizes
Molina Healthcare's profit growth rate slowed in the third quarter as utilization rebounded to more normal levels seen prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Insurers reaped record profits in the second quarter as fewer people sought healthcare amid the pandemic, even as many companies lowered or eliminated patients' costs for in-network COVID-19 tests as well as for some treatment, while some waived cost-sharing for primary care and offered premium "credits" to plan members. (Kacik, 10/29)
Stat: Ashish Jha On Covid, Pandemic Fatigue, And When We Get Back To Normal
A very 2020 thing is that we now have a group of people who’ve become pandemic celebrities. They’d probably prefer not to have that moniker. But the fact is, public health experts are now well-known faces on TV news and well-known voices on your favorite podcasts. Among them is Ashish Jha, who’s now dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health. (Feuerstein, Tirrell and Garde, 10/30)
And concerns over PPE continue —
KHN: Why State Mask Stockpiling Orders Are Hurting Nursing Homes, Small Providers
Nursing homes, small physician offices and rural clinics are being left behind in the rush for N95 masks and other protective gear, exposing some of the country’s most vulnerable populations and their caregivers to COVID-19 while larger, wealthier health care facilities build equipment stockpiles. Take Rhonda Bergeron, who owns three health clinics in rural southern Louisiana. She said she’s been desperate for personal protective equipment since her clinics became COVID testing sites. Her plight didn’t impress national suppliers puzzled by her lack of buying history when she asked for 500 gowns. And one supply company allows her only one box of 200 gloves per 30 days for her three clinics. Right now, she doesn’t have any large gloves on-site. (Weber, 10/30)
Modern Healthcare: HCA Employees Write Investors Over PPE, Coronavirus Safety Concerns
HCA Healthcare employees on Thursday said they sent a letter directly to the company's investors about lack of personal protective equipment and workplace safety concerns during the coronavirus pandemic, asking them to meet with workers and to seek answers from the giant hospital chain. Employees said the Nashville-based system's "PPE protocols may be systemically putting lives at risk." (Christ, 10/29)
