Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Yale New Haven Health Axes All Gender-Affirming Care For Under-19s
The CT Mirror: Yale New Haven Health To Cut Youth Gender-Affirming Care Services
Yale New Haven Health will no longer provide medication treatment as part of its gender-affirming care services for patients 19 and under, a spokesperson confirmed Thursday morning. The announcement comes one day after Connecticut Children’s Medical Center publicly announced that it would be “winding down” its gender-affirming care program for children. The two facilities were the most prominent providers of youth gender-affirming care in the state. (Golvala, 7/24)
More health industry updates —
San Francisco Chronicle: Feds Reject Laguna Honda's Bid To Restore 120 Nursing Home Beds
San Francisco’s largest skilled nursing home, Laguna Honda, will not be able to reinstate 120 beds — which would have improved capacity for such care in the rapidly aging city — after federal regulators this month denied the hospital’s attempt to gain approval for the expansion. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) turned down Laguna Honda’s request to reinstate the beds, citing federal regulations that require nursing facilities certified after 2016 to limit residents to two per room. Reinstating the 120 beds would have meant Laguna Honda would have three residents in some of its rooms. (Ho, 7/24)
The Baltimore Sun: Saint Agnes Nurses Strike Over Working Conditions
A chorus of honking cars during Thursday’s morning rush hour on Caton Avenue signaled support for registered nurses at Baltimore’s Ascension Saint Agnes Hospital, who staged a one-day strike to protest staffing shortages, concerns over patient safety and stalled contract negotiations. (Karpovich, 7/24)
The New York Times: She Tended To Patients Across 4 States. But She Wasn’t A Nurse, Police Say.
A woman who the Pennsylvania State Police say worked under multiple aliases faces multiple criminal charges. The authorities still aren’t sure of her real name. (Walker, 7/24)
The 19th: The Number Of Family Caregivers Is Surging, New AARP Report Shows
A growing number of Americans — more than 63 million, or nearly 1 in 4 — have served as a family caregiver for a loved one in the past year. The figure is a jump of 20 million Americans compared to a decade ago, according to findings released Thursday by AARP and the National Alliance for Caregiving (NAC). (Rodriguez, 7/24)
Modern Healthcare: Henry Ford Health, Michigan State Launch Venture Capital Fund
Henry Ford Health, Michigan State University and the MSU Research Foundation have created a $10 million venture fund to invest in early-stage healthcare companies. The organizations have a goal of investing an additional $2 million per year over the next five years, according to a Wednesday news release. (DeSilva, 7/23)
On artificial intelligence —
Fierce Healthcare: Doximity Rolls Out No-Cost AI Scribe Tool For Doctors
Ambient AI medical scribes have become a crowded market, with numerous players jostling for market share. Health tech company Doximity has now jumped in to go head-to-head with AI startups. (Landi, 7/24)
Becker's Hospital Review: AI Tool Flags Heart Disease With 77% Accuracy
Researchers from New York City-based organizations Columbia University and NewYork-Presbyterian have developed an AI tool capable of identifying patients at risk of having undiagnosed structural heart disease. The tool, called EchoNext, was trained on more than 1.2 million electrocardiogram and echocardiogram data pairs from 230,000 patients, according to a July 16 news release from NewYork-Presbyterian. Upon validation, the tool accurately identified 77% of structural heart problems in 3,200 electrocardiograms compared to 64% accuracy of 13 cardiologists analyzing the same data. (Gregerson, 7/23)
