This month, an alarming report from the U.N. announced that there
may be as little as 12 years to curb climate change and reach the
target set by the 2015 Paris climate agreement. That could have
serious implications for healthcare systems increasingly coming
face-to-face with the realities of how climate change can
directly and indirectly affect patients’ well-being.
Every year, pharmaceutical companies contribute millions of
dollars to U.S. senators and representatives as part of a
multipronged effort to influence health care lawmaking and
spending priorities.
A rare condition causing weakness in the arms or legs — and
sometimes paralysis — has been confirmed in 62 children so far
this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said
Tuesday. One child has died of the condition, called acute
flaccid myelitis, or AFM.
Jeffrey Klausner has seen the damage congenital syphilis can do
to newborns, and it makes him a little sick. “It’s one of
the horrible outcomes,” said Klausner, an infectious disease
professor at UCLA’s medical school. “You have devastation of the
newborn.”
The palm trees surrounding it still bear the black-as-charcoal
scars of the Thomas Fire that raged here and left in its path a
crisis-level shortage of in-patient psychiatric beds.
On October 9, Cottage Health hosted a reception in the Compton
Courtyard for about 150 major donors to celebrate the completion
of the final phase of new construction of Santa Barbara Cottage
Hospital. The capital campaign raised $110 million from more than
6,000 donors for the $820 million project.
Emergency departments (EDs) are seeing more patients, but a
smaller proportion of them are being admitted to the hospital
from the ED, a study has shown.
California’s family physicians are warning federal officials that
a proposed change in immigration rules will put public health at
risk because it weakens “herd” immunity, especially in the Golden
State where one in every two children has a foreign-born parent.
A new pilot project in Los Angeles County aims to reduce the
burden of childhood asthma in low-income communities and on the
public health system by putting “smart” inhalers in the hands of
kids.
Searches from California’s most competitive swing districts are
reflecting an outsize interest in health care issues, according
to search data from Google Trends. In nearly all of the
seven districts rated “Lean” or “Toss Up” by the Cook Political
Report, election searches around health care issues outnumbered
interest in issues like immigration or the economy.
Open enrollment begins Monday for Californians who want to sign
up for health insurance through Covered California, the state-run
marketplace that sells plans to people who don’t receive health
benefits through work or the government. Consumers have
until Dec. 15 to sign up for coverage that takes effect Jan. 1,
and until Jan. 15 to sign up for coverage that takes effect Feb.
1.
The Los Angeles-based National Health Foundation on Oct. 12
opened a 62-bed recuperative-care facility in Pico-Union for
homeless residents discharged from nearby hospitals. The
downtown-based nonprofit hosted a grand opening alongside HomeAid
Los Angeles and Etco Homes at the health center at 1032 W. 18th
St.
Tackling the opioid crisis has been a challenge for some years
now. In fact, it’s an epidemic that causes nearly 17,000 deaths
in the U.S. each year. That’s more deaths related to overdoses
than from motor vehicle accidents. Thankfully, recent initiatives
are beginning to mitigate the effect of this huge epidemic —
starting with the problem of defining appropriate opioid
prescribing patterns.
Many Florida hospitals have evacuated or are in the midst of
evacuating patients due to damage and disruptions caused by
Hurricane Michael, and government health agencies are seeking
ways to provide both immediate and longer-term assistance in
affected areas.
For many of us, finding health care doesn’t pose much of a
problem. Through a few mouse clicks and keyboard strokes, we can
usually find providers nearby who accept our insurance, read
other patients’ reviews, and even make an appointment. But
for the homeless, health care often isn’t an option.
Francine Williams describes herself as “a Tuesday, Wednesday,
Saturday person.” Those are the days that Williams, 63,
sits for three hours at a time hooked up to a dialysis machine
that filters toxins from her kidneys and pumps blood back into
her bloodstream. It’s been part of the Oakland resident’s routine
for a decade and will continue to be until she gets to the top of
the kidney transplant list.
An atrium lobby connects the multiple levels between the main
entry and the mezzanine pedestrian “boardwalk.” Extensive glazing
allows natural light to shine into the lobby. Ventura County
Medical Center’s 248,000-square-foot replacement wing opened to
patients in August 2017. The four-story building includes 119
hospital beds; an expanded emergency department; three intensive
care units; surgery with advanced technology; labor, delivery and
NICU departments; and a new pediatrics wing.
Doctors have gradually come to realize that people who survive a
serious brush with death in the intensive care unit are likely to
develop potentially serious problems with their memory and
thinking processes.
Ensuring that people with pre-existing health conditions can get
and keep health insurance is the most popular part of the
Affordable Care Act. It has also become a flashpoint in this
fall’s midterm campaigns across the country.
In communities across California, and across the country, mental
health conditions are prevalent. But for too many, mental health
care is inaccessible — or stigmatized. In fact, of the 6 million
in our state that experience mental health issues, only 1 out of
3 will get the treatment they need.
Completing the final phase of construction work at Santa Barbara
Cottage Hospital is a “milestone,” according to Ron Werft,
Cottage Health’s president and CEO.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Office for Civil Rights (OCR), the number of data breaches at
American health care organizations has dramatically increased
from 199 in 2010 to 154 in just the first six months of
2018.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) escaped repeal last year, though
Republicans have subsequently taken a number of steps to
undermine the law. These actions have certainly wounded the ACA,
but not struck at the heart of its benefits or protections. Now,
however, a seemingly convoluted legal case bolstered by the Trump
administration threatens to do what these legislative and
administrative actions could not.
St. Anthony’s Memorial Hospital hosts a monthly, no-cost diabetes
support group and a certified diabetes educator holds educational
sessions to empower those with the disease. The hospital also
developed the Community Diabetes Program in 2015, which provides
additional resources for those with diabetes — especially the
underinsured and uninsured — in four separate locations.
On a bright recent morning, Van Thomas was holding forth from his
front porch in Central Los Angeles, alongside his mixed-breed
dog, Princess. “I’ve been a part of this neighborhood for
45 years,” he said. “I grew up playing ball across the
street.” Thomas has seen a world of change sweep through
the area over the years, the latest occurring in a small,
century-old complex of buildings right next door. A health-care
center is opening there for as many as 62 people newly released
from the hospital, all of them homeless, many of them struggling
to recover from drug addiction.
California Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation
requiring hospitals in the state to create policies for
discharging homeless patients, the governor’s office announced
Sept. 30.
There are a lot of misconceptions out there about the flu
shot. But following a winter in which more than 80,000
people died from flu-related illnesses in the U.S. — the highest
death toll in more than 40 years — infectious disease experts are
ramping up efforts to get the word out.
In communities across California, and across the country, mental
health conditions are prevalent. But for too many, mental health
care is inaccessible — or stigmatized. In fact, of the 6 million
in our state that experience mental health issues, only 1 out of
3 will get the treatment they need.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services recently made
several proposals that could reduce access to care in the
community, particularly for vulnerable patients. The agency, in
its proposed rule for the 2019 outpatient prospective payment
system, proposed reducing payment for visits in certain
off-campus hospital-connected clinics to 40 percent of the OPPS
rate, a drastic cut.
When patients aren’t feeling well, they often want not only good
care but also fast results. They want to get back to their daily
routines, ready for that big vacation, or at their very best for
their daughter’s wedding. And, they can be very persistent. While
it is easy to provide a prescription for antibiotics, clinicians
must serve as responsible leaders for their patients and for the
health of the general public by practicing good stewardship and
acting in the best interest of all patients.
Behavioral Health Action is a coalition of more than 50 statewide
organizations united to raise awareness about behavioral health
issues in California.
It was early in their courtship seven years ago when Manuel
Villanueva warned his now-husband, “I come as a package of
three.” The other parts of that deal: his father, Ramon
Villanueva, whose failing kidneys forced him to stop working, and
his mother, Maria Guadalupe Olague.
Maria Gloria Dominguez-Bello had just moved to New York when
Hurricane Sandy blew in from the Atlantic and buffeted the East
Coast. She heard that the labs at New York University,
where she was working — and its freezer — were losing power. So
she ran to the failing freezer, took the microbiota samples she’d
gathered as a researcher in Puerto Rico over the past 14 years
and stored them elsewhere.
The length of the flu season1 may vary depending on where you
live, with large cities enduring longer periods of transmission
and smaller cities experiencing shorter, but more explosive,
spread, a new study suggests.
Maintaining a healthy diet in midlife is independently associated
with a larger hippocampus years later and may
protect against mental illness and cognitive decline,
researchers say.
When the next deadly pandemic flu hits, the first challenge
will be to develop a vaccine. But looming behind that
obstacle is another: How to get an inoculation to millions
of people without inadvertently exacerbating the
crisis.
“I think what millennials bring to our world is fresh eyes on how
to look at patient care with technology supporting us, as opposed
to being a barrier,” said Surani Hayre-Kwan, director of
professional practice and nursing excellence for Sutter Health.
“That has been a huge change.”
Rosalynn Carter, former first lady of the United States, is an
advocate for mental-health care through the Carter Center.
Patrick J. Kennedy, former U.S. representative (D-R.I.) from 1995
to 2011, is the founder of the Kennedy Forum and author of “A
Common Struggle: A Personal Journey Through the Past and Future
of Mental Illness and Addiction.”
If you’re looking for cheaper health insurance, a whole host of
new options will hit the market starting Tuesday. But buyer
beware! If you get sick, the new plans – known as
short-term, limited duration insurance — may not pay for the
medical care you need.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services today announced
updated tools to help Medicare beneficiaries compare coverage
options and estimate costs during open enrollment, part of a
multi-year initiative to modernize how beneficiaries get Medicare
information.
The opioid epidemic’s grip on our communities continues to be a
major challenge. At the same time, we also see progress in
addressing the problem. The reason? We see firsthand the
work the women and men of America’s hospitals and health
systems are putting into combatting this deadly epidemic. They
are treating patients with the latest non-addictive approaches to
pain management and compassion. They are acting as stewards of
opioids, ensuring appropriate use and limiting misuse. They are
helping heal families by providing comprehensive behavioral
health services.
Foreign-born immigrants in rural areas of the United States are
facing grinding poverty, high levels of stress, discrimination
and lack access to medical resources, putting their mental and
physical health in jeopardy, according to a new study by the
University of California, Riverside.
The move to population health and away from fee-for-service
medicine is working to the detriment of U.S. hospitals, a new
report from Fitch Ratings indicates.
Even before Emirates flight EK203 arrived in New York on
September 5 carrying dozens of ill passengers, the crisis
response was under way. Crew members alerted authorities about
the sick travelers from the air. Health officials dispatched an
emergency response team with mobile diagnostic equipment to the
tarmac to await the plane’s arrival. Ambulances waited nearby.
EMTs notified hospitals about a potential influx of severely ill,
potentially infectious patients.
When Teresa McKeown was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006, her
disease was easily treated with standard therapies. But 11 years
later, the cancer returned. This time, it morphed into what’s
called triple-negative disease, an aggressive and
difficult-to-treat form.
Within 20 minutes of last year’s mass shooting in Las Vegas,
doctors and nurses at Sunrise Hospital’s emergency room knew what
horror was unfolding at the Route 91 Harvest Festival.
Human trafficking occurs in every community. Over the last 10
years, more than 40,000 cases of human trafficking have been
reported in the U.S. including the District of Columbia and U.S.
territories (the national Human Trafficking Hotline has more
statistics).
California Gov. Jerry Brown, who faced the final bill-signing
deadline of his gubernatorial career on Sunday, approved a
variety of health care measures that will directly affect
consumers — right down to the drinks in their children’s
kiddie meals.
Rob Purdie is an upbeat guy. You can hear it in his unfailingly
positive statements, his voice tinged with a Central Valley twang
from a life spent in Bakersfield.
InSight has an overall Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 53 and is seen
as a telepsychiatry industry leader. InSight recently gained
endorsement from the Hospital Association of Southern California
and the Hospital Council of Northern and Central California.
The US House of Representatives today approved a broad package of
opioid legislation that’s intended to give healthcare
professionals and federal agencies new authority and new tasks
for combating substance abuse.
To confront a public health issue of epidemic proportions, it
takes a public policy effort of similar magnitude. At least
that’s what we can infer from a bipartisan effort to address the
nation’s opioid crisis. After weeks of negotiating to reconcile
House and Senate bills, legislative leaders from both chambers
released a 660-page bill containing public health and law
enforcement measures aimed at decelerating the growth rate of
opioid-related overdose deaths and at preventing addiction.
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice will host a
workshop Oct. 17-18 in Washington, D.C., on health system
interventions to prevent firearm injury and death.
The reflective blue tower of St. Francis Medical Center is the
tallest structure in Lynwood, a symbol of the outsized role the
hospital plays in the mostly working-class city. Founded in
1945, the facility delivers about 5,000 babies a year, more than
almost any other hospital in the state. It is home to a trauma
center, treating gunshot victims and others with serious
injuries. And it’s the largest employer in Lynwood, a town of
less than five square miles.
Yearly influenza vaccination is a standard recommendation for all
healthcare professionals (HCPs) to protect themselves and their
patients, but new data from the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) show that rates of flu vaccination among HCPs
have stalled at about 74% since 2014.
Influenza was especially severe in the United States last year.
According to new data released today at a news briefing held by
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and National
Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID), 900,000 people were
hospitalized and 80,000 died from the flu in the US last season.
A study published in Scientific Reports found that the bacteria
in a person’s nose correlates with the type and severity of cold
symptoms they will develop. Researchers discovered that the
bacteria in people’s noses fell into six different patterns of
nasal microbiomes, and each pattern was associated with different
levels of symptom severity, inflammatory response and viral titer
– the amount of the cold virus in the body.
Hospital groups are warning that CMS’ plan to institute
site-neutral payments could lead to access problems and canceled
services—and, they say, the change may not even be within the
agency’s authority to make.
Medicare patients treated in a hospital outpatient department
tend to be sicker and poorer than those cared for in an
independent physician office, new research conducted by
KNG Health Consulting and paid for by the American Hospital
Association shows.
A decade and a half ago, a landmark study explored how racial and
ethnic minorities face disparities in health care quality, even
after accounting for socioeconomic differences.
This month, Orange, who is now a community activist, attended the
unveiling of what he hopes will help bring an end to the cycle of
violence and trauma that has plagued many areas of South Los
Angeles for decades. On Sept. 5, the Los Angeles County
Department of Public Health unveiled its new Community Healing
and Trauma Prevention Center.
On orders from Congress, Medicare is easing up on its annual
readmission penalties on hundreds of hospitals serving the most
low-income residents, records released last week show.
In California, saving teeth and money — one mouth at a
time. At the children’s dental clinic that Dr. John Blake
runs in Long Beach, toddlers come in all the time with problems
so severe they need root canals.
In times of distress, Americans turn to hospital emergency
departments. They do so because they know that there they will
find care – from simple stitches to sophisticated diagnostics to
emergency surgery. And they know that, no matter what, they will
not be turned away.
Assembly Bill 3115, authored by Assembly Member Mike Gipson, is
pending before Governor Jerry Brown after having passed both
houses of the Legislature. AB 3115 would authorize a local
emergency medical services agency (LEMSA) to develop community
paramedicine and triage to alternate destination programs until
2025.
Darren Lee doesn’t want people to settle for care at the new St.
John’s Pleasant Valley Hospital that will be unveiled on
Saturday. The CEO of the Camarillo hospital doesn’t want
patients to end up at this place that took $80 million and three
years to build simply because it’s where the ambulance took
them.
One in seven Americans has diabetes, and many don’t know they
have the blood sugar disease, a new report shows. According to
the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 14 percent
of U.S adults have diabetes. Ten percent know it and more than 4
percent are not diagnosed.
The Surgeon General’s Spotlight on Opioids and Digital Postcard
calls for a cultural shift in the way Americans talk about the
opioid crisis. Read the Spotlight and see the actions you can
take.
In November 2016, an alert popped up on the computer screen of
Kim Lilley. Lilley is a care coordinator at UMass Memorial Health
Care, overseeing patients in trouble, trying to keep their health
in order without blowing up the system’s finances.
American Hospital Association CEO Rick Pollack and California
Hospital Association CEO Carmela Coyle responded in a joint
article to a recent op-ed that criticized emergency rooms as the
main drivers of rising healthcare costs.
In a rare moment of bipartisanship, the Senate overwhelmingly
passed on Monday evening a sweeping package of bills aimed at
addressing the nation’s deadly opioid epidemic.
In the shadow of Silicon Valley, the hub of the world’s digital
revolution, California officials still submit their records to
the feds justifying billions in Medicaid spending the
old-fashioned way: on paper.
Nearly two-thirds of 104 U.S. health systems saw deteriorated
operating margins from fiscal year 2015 to fiscal year 2017. For
systems reporting decline, the overall hit tallied in at a $6.8
billion loss, a 44% reduction overall.
A coalition of health care providers, insurers, seniors and
others is pushing back on some of the latest claims by the
Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America that
incorrectly blame hospitals for the rising price of drugs.
More than 72,000 people died of a drug overdose last year – most
of them due to opioids – and hospitals and health systems across
the country are working hard to tackle the opioid epidemic,
writes AHA Chair Nancy Howell Agee, president and CEO of Carilion
Clinic, in an article in Becker’s Hospital Review. Agee describes
a number of initiatives underway at her organization to address
the challenges from all angles.
The Community Memorial Health System recently took possession of
the newly constructed six-story building at Loma Vista Road and
Brent Street. CMHS anticipates that the new Ocean Tower will
open to patients and the public in about four months.
After the launch of an initiative to reduce maternal mortality in
California, which focused on preventing death caused by
hemorrhage and preeclampsia, the maternal death rate fell from an
average of 13.1 per 100,000 live births from 2005 to 2009 to 7.0
between 2011 and 2013, according to new research in Health
Affairs.
Today, four national organizations representing hospitals and
other stakeholders in the 340B Drug Pricing Program sued the
federal government over its delay of regulations that would
require pricing transparency for drug manufacturers and penalties
for overcharging covered entities in the program.
The Senate will vote this week on a bill to prevent illicit
fentanyl1 trafficking, account for drug diversion in opioid
manufacturing quotas2, and improve access to addiction treatments
via telemedicine.
House GOP legislation that would delay or repeal
certain parts of ObamaCare will cost $51.6 billion over the
next decade, according to a new government analysis.
For weeks, smoky, unhealthy air from large wildfires has plagued
much of the West Coast and beyond. What’s the public health
impact of an increase of urban wildfires, in which homes and
other structures burn? Special correspondent Cat Wise meets some
of the researchers studying the risks for people from smoke and
ash.
A pilot program in Los Angeles County to boost the number of kids
receiving vision care through the Medi-Cal program appears to
have succeeded, even as utilization of such services has seen a
sharp decline in recent years.
A Zero Suicide Initiative at the Utah-based Intermountain
Healthcare has underscored the importance of holistic, team-based
care. Through integrated mental health and primary care, the
health system has leaned on system-wide care coordination to
address a mental health issue that looms over the state of Utah.
Diabetic ketoacidosis is a terrible way to die. It’s what happens
when you don’t have enough insulin. Your blood sugar gets so high
that your blood becomes highly acidic, your cells dehydrate, and
your body stops functioning.
Employment at the nation’s hospitals rose by 0.16% in August to a
seasonally adjusted 5,189,300 people, the Bureau of Labor
Statistics reported Friday.
Roughly 44 million people — 13% of Americans — live in a county
with a shortage of primary care doctors, according to a new
report this morning from UnitedHealth Group, the country’s
biggest insurer.
Substandard housing conditions have been linked to higher rates
of infectious disease, chronic illnesses and injuries, but
millions of low-income Americans have little choice about where
they live.
UMass Memorial is bringing care to low-income children through a
mobile clinic; Winona Health is showing children that physical
activity can be fun; and FirstHealth provides dental services to
tens of thousands of kids who need them. Read on to learn more
about how hospitals are delving into the community to help
children in need, before they must set foot in a hospital.
Sometimes IV bags are hard for hospitals to come by. Other times
it’s injectable folic acid to treat anemias. Right now, the
tissue-numbing agent lidocaine is in short supply.
The Senate will vote next week on its version of an omnibus bill
to address the opioid crisis, Sen. Lamar Alexander, chairman of
the health committee, announced last night.
For the past four years, the California Legislature has been
engaged in the several changes in ownership of what was formerly
known as the Daughters of Charity Health System, and known today
as Verity Health System.
In an effort to further advance health in America, the American
Hospital Association today officially launched the AHA Center for
Health Innovation to support hospitals and health systems as they
respond to and proactively lead change.
Everyone knows a walk in the woods is good for the body and the
mind. Now, as data on the health perks accumulate, doctors are
promoting – or even prescribing – time in nature.
In the confusing first hour or two after an Emirates Airline jet
was quarantined at New York’s JFK Airport1 on Wednesday, there
was little certainty over how many people were sick or what was
ailing them. But one thing was clear: A system years in the
making to spot and halt importation of dangerous illnesses to the
United States was set into motion.
The Community Memorial Health System recently took possession of
the newly constructed six-story building at Loma Vista Road and
Brent Street. CMHS anticipates that the new Ocean Tower
will open to patients and the public in about four months.
Accountable care organizations saved Medicare about $314 million
in 2017, according to a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
data set released Aug. 30. The data showed that overall the
program’s 472 ACOs caring for 9 million beneficiaries accounted
for $1.1 billion in gross savings. The data also showed 60
percent of ACOs saved money in 2017 and 34 percent of ACOs earned
shared savings, up from 56 percent and 31 percent, respectively,
in 2016.
Most people probably associate three things with hearing aids: an
elderly demographic, beige plastic construction and high-pitched
feedback in public places. As it turns out, all those notions are
now obsolete—or will be soon.
With nearly 50,000 drug overdose deaths from opioids last year
and an estimated two million Americans addicted, the opioid
crisis continues to rage throughout the U.S. This statistic must
be contrasted with another: 25 million Americans live with daily
chronic pain, for which few treatment options are available apart
from opioid medications.
A California law that aims to limit the number of people who can
refuse vaccines has led to a slight improvement in
kindergartners’ vaccination rate in recent years, according to a
new study in Health Affairs. But the law was not as effective in
private schools, and did little to break up localized clusters of
children who opted out of vaccines.
As deaths of new and expectant moms multiplied in the United
States, the picture in California and the rest of the developed
world has veered in the opposite direction.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a plan
Tuesday to demolish the long-shuttered LAC+USC Women and
Children’s Hospital and build a psychiatric “village” with a
sobering center, recuperative care beds and access to a full
range of mental health services.
Memorial Medical Center is using technology to broaden patient
access to psychiatry services in emergencies. The Modesto
hospital at Briggsmore Avenue and Coffee Road rolled out
telepsychiatry service in July and already has assisted dozens of
patients in crisis who came through the emergency-room doors.
A California nurse who never forgot a premature baby she cared
for early in her career has been reunited with her patient – now
a doctor at the same hospital where he was born 28 years ago.
As he grew older, Dale Kunitomi paid closer attention to his
health — and to his doctor’s advice. When he noticed rectal
bleeding in 2010, he went to see his physician, who ordered a
colonoscopy. The diagnosis: colon cancer.
Recuperative care facilities offer specialized care and
assistance to homeless residents recovering from injuries not
serious enough to require hospital care. According to data
from the Regional Task Force on the Homeless, 35 percent of
homeless residents in San Diego are 55 or older and 43 percent
suffer from a physical or mental health issue.
Health care is one of the issues taking center stage in this
November’s midterm elections as Democrats press Republicans on
preserving protections for pre-existing conditions under
ObamaCare. But there is also plenty of unfinished work for
Congress and the administration this fall, from passing opioid
legislation to tackling drug costs.
New technology is getting Sacramento doctors back into the
business of making old-fashioned house calls, employing a mobile
application in an attempt to extend the amount of time they can
spend on interviewing and bonding with their patients.
Seven years after construction started on a new Community
Memorial Hospital and three years after it was once projected to
be finished, state inspectors have declared the work virtually
complete.
As deadly fires and record-breaking heat waves ravage California,
four of the state’s largest health systems joined to form the
California Health Care Climate Alliance ahead of the Global
Climate Action Summit in September to call for greater
coordinated action to address climate change.
Over the years, I have been to Israel many times and it is always
an inspiring, amazing experience. This country is without
question the United States’ most important ally in the Middle
East. This time, I returned as a sponsored guest
of Sheba Medical Center, Israel’s largest and most advanced
hospital.
In its quest to improve the health of underserved communities and
boost nutrition for those without homes recovering from illness,
National Health Foundation (NHF) is teaming up with healthy meal
delivery subscription service Fitness Kitchen LA to provide food
at two of NHF’s recuperative care facilities, including its
soon-to-be-opened Pico-Union location in downtown Los Angeles.
Verity Health System of California Inc, a non-profit operator of
six California hospitals managed by billionaire former surgeon
Patrick Soon-Shiong’s NantWorks LLC, filed for bankruptcy on
Friday to help resolve a cash crunch while it seeks a buyer.
Consumers who buy insurance through the Affordable Care Act
markets may be pleasantly surprised this fall as average premiums
are forecast to rise much less than in recent years.
Verity Health System, the nonprofit operator of six California
hospitals, filed for bankruptcy protection Friday, blaming
mounting losses and debt that had forced it to seek a buyer for
some or all of the facilities.
The new operator of the now-shuttered Long Beach Community
Hospital will give an update on the reopening of the
facility at a meeting on Monday, July 30.
For years, Diane Shinstock watched her adult son deteriorate on
the streets. Suffering from severe schizophrenia, he slept
under stairwells and bushes, screamed at passersby and was
arrested for throwing rocks at cars.
Hospitals, especially nonprofit facilities, are facing difficult
times. Morgan Stanley recently reported that about 18%
of more than 6,000 hospitals studied were at a risk of closure or
are performing weakly. About 8% of studied hospitals were at risk
of closing and 10% were called “weak,” according to that
report.
When it was announced that Community Hospital Long Beach was
closing its doors, residents and community leaders voiced
concerns about overburdening other emergency departments and
urgent care facilities in the city. Six weeks after the closure,
hospital representatives reported that the number of patient
visits has been higher than usual this summer, but still well
within their operational capacity.
It’s a warm summer day in Sacramento and Amanda Buccina, a
registered nurse, has just arrived at Johnston Park to see her
second patient of the day. Brian is a 68-year-old man diagnosed
with leukemia and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Although
he worked his entire life, Brian’s health conditions caused him
to lose both his job and ability to pay rent.
A group of influential, deep-pocketed business and health care
organizations that have long helped shape the legislative agenda
in California have joined forces to oppose any future effort to
craft a universal, single-payer health care system for the
nation’s largest state.
The opioid crisis continues to take a devastating toll on our
communities. According to the latest estimates from the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 50,000 people died
last year as a result of an opiate overdose, contributing to a
record high number of drug overdose deaths.
City of Hope | South Bay officially opens its doors today in
Torrance, bringing top-ranked cancer care to the region. For the
first time, South Bay residents will have access to both the
facility’s leading-edge, quality cancer care and innovative
clinical trials.
Preliminary data indicate that rates of three sexually
transmitted diseases (STDs) — Chlamydia infection, gonorrhea, and
syphilis — hit an all-time high in 2017, according to the US
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
In children, antibiotics are the leading cause of emergency
department visits for adverse drug events, according to a Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention study published yesterday in
the Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society. The
study estimates that 70,000 children 19 years or younger visited
the ED for antibiotic-related adverse drug events each year from
2011–2015.
Artificial intelligence, or AI, can support health care leaders
to a staggering degree, as a recent webinar hosted by the AHA’s
Health Forum and sponsored by GE Healthcare illustrates. It can
anticipate patient outcomes, help assess and treat nuanced
conditions, and give clinicians valuable evidence to aid them in
complicated decision-making. On top of that, its ability to
supplement clinical documentation errors and to mine the
sometimes-unstructured electronic health record can save time and
money.
In a time when more than half a million people in the United
States nightly face homelessness, health care leaders across the
country have an opportunity to make a difference on this growing
issue.
Lompoc Valley Medical Center has entered into talks about taking
over the Sansum Clinic operations in the city, with the hopes of
also reopening a closed urgent care.
Dr. Rob Davidson, an emergency physician from western Michigan,
had never considered running for Congress. Then came February
2017. The 46-year-old Democrat found himself at a local town-hall
meeting going toe-to-toe with Rep. Bill Huizenga, his Republican
congressman of the previous six years.
A Georgia university with a history of expanding telehealth
resources into rural parts of the state has opened a new
telemedicine clinic in a town whose one and only physician
recently retired.
New York University’s School of Medicine is learning that no good
deed goes unpunished. The highly ranked medical school announced
with much fanfare this month that it is raising $600 million from
private donors to eliminate tuition for all its students — even
providing refunds to those currently enrolled. Before the
announcement, annual tuition at the school was $55,018.
In a national survey, well over half of community health centers
had at least one vacancy for a family physician, according to a
report published in the August issue of American Family
Physician.
Sherri and Thomas Croom have been foster parents to 27 children —
from newborns to teenagers — during the past decade. That
has meant visits to dozens of doctors and dentists for issues
ranging from a tonsillectomy to depression.
As deadly fires and record-breaking heat waves ravage California,
four of the state’s largest health systems joined to form the
California Health Care Climate Alliance ahead of the Global
Climate Action Summit in September to call for greater
coordinated action to address climate change.
Community Memorial Health System has again been awarded the
American Heart/American Stroke Association’s “Gold Plus
Achievement Award” as well as the association’s “Target Stroke
Honor Roll Elite Plus Achievement Award” highlighting dedication
to the highest standards in stroke care.
For the first time, 29 new ICD-10 codes will be available on Oct.
1 to allow providers to identify and assist victims of human
trafficking and coding professionals to translate that
information into data that will provide greater insights into the
problem.
The state budget that kicked in last month devotes more than $100
billion to Medi-Cal, California’s health system for the poor. The
bulk of that money will be spent on a tiny fraction of patients.
And although they’re in need of help, they’re not the sickest
people.
A group of tech firms including Alphabet, Amazon and Microsoft
say they’re “jointly committed to removing barriers for the
adoption of technologies for healthcare interoperability,” CNBC’s
Christina Farr reports.
A last-minute contract agreement means patients covered by Anthem
Blue Cross will keep their in-network access to doctors at St.
John’s hospitals in Oxnard and Camarillo, officials said.
The California Legislature has passed a bill banning the sale of
short-term health insurance plans — a type of insurance the Trump
administration is seeking to expand.
Bryan Bucklew, President and CEO of the Greater Dayton Hospital
Association in Dayton, Ohio, has been selected as the new
President and CEO of the Hospital Council of Northern and Central
California.
Sacramento’s newest homeless shelter was set to close at the end
of August — but a local hospital system has stepped up to pay to
keep it open. Dignity Health is donating $1.2 million to
fund the city’s Winter Homeless Triage Center through November.
With a little more than four months to go in 2018, California
residents already have contracted more cases of the measles this
year than they did in all of 2017, according to the California
Department of Public Health.
The July Kaiser Health Tracking Poll finds a candidate’s position
on continuing protections for people with pre-existing health
conditions is the top health care campaign issue for voters,
among a list of issues provided.
We still have an uninsured problem in the U.S., but we have a far
broader health care affordability problem that hits sick people
especially hard. Why it matters: It’s time to think more
broadly about who’s having trouble paying for the health care
they need. The combination of lack of insurance and affordability
affects about a quarter of the non-elderly population at any one
time, but almost half of people who are sick.
Anthem and Walmart are launching a program aimed at increasing
access to over-the-counter medications and other related health
products for consumers enrolled in Anthem’s Medicare Advantage
plans, according to a joint press release issued Monday.
Rideshare companies, such as Uber and Lyft, are cruising into the
healthcare spotlight. As medical professionals focus on improving
patient access to care and addressing the social determinants of
health (SDOH), these rideshare services are a cheap and effective
option for meeting industry needs.
The Claremont Colleges plans to open a medical school, the fourth
new campus designed to produce physicians for parts of Southern
California struggling with shortages.
In 2014, Dr. Elizabeth Rogers and her colleagues at the UCSF
Benioff Children’s Hospital in San Francisco noticed a disturbing
trend among the tiniest preemies in their neonatal intensive care
unit: a high rate of brain bleeds among these babies born before
28 weeks’ gestation.
In its quest to improve the health of underserved communities and
boost nutrition for those without homes recovering from illness,
National Health Foundation (NHF) is teaming up with healthy meal
delivery subscription service Fitness Kitchen LA to provide food
at two of NHF’s recuperative care facilities, including its
soon-to-be-opened Pico-Union location in downtown Los Angeles.
A Ventura psychiatric hospital that burned in the Thomas Fire is
projected to reopen Sept. 10, alleviating a shortage that means
suicidal teens sometimes go without needed help, according to the
facility’s CEO.
With a little more than four months to go in 2018, California
residents already have contracted more cases of the measles this
year than they did in all of 2017, according to the California
Department of Public Health.
Every year, thousands of people addicted to opioids show up at
hospital emergency rooms in withdrawal so agonizing it leaves
them moaning and writhing on the floor. Usually, they’re given
medicines that help with vomiting or diarrhea and sent on their
way, maybe with a few numbers to call about treatment.
Two cases of influenza A (H1N2) variant virus infection have been
laboratory-confirmed in persons who had pig exposure at the
California Mid-State Fair, which occurred in Paso Robles, CA
during July 17–29. Influenza A (H1N2) was also detected in a pig
at the fair. When the H1N2 influenza virus is transmitted from
pigs to humans, the resulting infection is called H1N2 variant
(H1N2v).
California’s emergency departments are becoming more crowded — a
trend experts say indicates larger problems in the health
system. New data from the California Health Care Foundation
shows that emergency department visits rose 44 percent from 2006
to 2016. California patients who get admitted to the hospital
spend about an hour longer in the emergency room than patients
nationally.
Since 2015, the California Emergency Medical Services Authority
(EMSA) has been testing the viability of asking paramedics to
step outside of their traditional scope of practice. Known as
Community Paramedicine (CP), or mobile integrated health
(MIH-CP), this model of care aims to improve the effectiveness
and efficiency of health care delivery by creating partnerships
between existing paramedics and other health care providers in
local settings.
More than four years after the implementation of the Medicaid
expansion included in the Affordable Care Act, debate and
controversy around the implications of the expansion continue.
As the deadliest fires in California history swept through leafy
neighborhoods here, Kathleen Sarmento fled her home in the dark,
drove to an evacuation center and began setting up a medical
triage unit. Patients with burns and other severe injuries were
dispatched to hospitals. She set about treating many people whose
symptoms resulted from exposure to polluted air and heavy smoke.
As fire raged in Ventura, Calif., earlier this month, Gracie
Hartman made her way to the county fairgrounds to look for her
friend, Fernando. She found him there at the evacuation
center, among 69 patients from the Vista del Mar acute
psychiatric hospital, one of two such facilities in the county.
They had been removed with little time to spare as the hospital
was overtaken by flames.
The specter, and ongoing rise, of antibiotic resistant superbugs
has shaken public health officials around the world. But a new
study underscores how even practices meant to curb preventable
infections may wind up, at least partially, making matters worse.
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Seema
Verma yesterday challenged technology developers and insurers to
make health information more interoperable and available to
patients.
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine has
named a committee to study and report on the scientific evidence
regarding the causes of clinician burnout, the consequences for
clinicians and patients, and interventions to support clinician
well-being and resilience.
Alarms go off so frequently in emergency rooms, doctors barely
notice. And then a colleague is wheeled in on a gurney, clinging
to life, and that alarm becomes a deafening wake-up call.
The effects of poor behavioral health can be seen all around us
every day. We see it in the form of alcoholism or drug addiction,
including the epidemic of opioid use. It can be seen in the
daily struggles of those with depression, anxiety, or other
psychiatric conditions. It can make headlines, as with the
shocking suicides of celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain and designer
Kate Spade.
The destructive wildfires that continue to burn thousands of
acres across California have created an air pollution nightmare
for millions of residents on the West Coast. Smoke pouring from
20 active wildfires has prompted officials to issue air-quality
alerts in several states.
The Federal Communications Commission today agreed to seek
comments for 30 days on creating a new $100 million Connected
Care Pilot Program to support telehealth for low-income
Americans, especially those living in rural areas and veterans.
If established, the program would support the expansion of
broadband and promote the use of broadband-enabled telehealth
services among low-income families and veterans, with a focus on
services delivered directly to patients beyond the doors of
brick-and-mortar health care facilities.
You can’t run out to get a bite to eat when you’ve been admitted
to the hospital, and when you’re visiting you want to stay
close. That means eating from the hospital menu, once
reputed for the industrial delicacies of green beans from a No.
10 tin can, a square of Jell-O or vending-machine mystery
meat. Cafeterias are offering more choices. A quick snack
is getting healthier.
Toward the end, the pain had practically driven Elizabeth Martin
mad. By then, the cancer had spread everywhere, from her
colon to her spine, her liver, her adrenal glands and one of her
lungs. Eventually, it penetrated her brain. No medication made
the pain bearable. A woman who had been generous and good-humored
turned into someone hardly recognizable to her family: paranoid,
snarling, violent.
Adjusting her white coat, Michele Woods pored over patient charts
Monday morning. Her nursing shifts at Dignity Health hospital in
Redding, California, have helped ease the shock and pain of
losing her home in the intense, unpredictable Carr fire since
dozens of her coworkers are going through the exact same thing.
This brief is the fourth in a series of issue briefs highlighting
data from the 2016 AHA Annual Survey Information Technology
Supplement for community hospitals collected November 2016 –
April 2017. This fourth brief compares the use of health IT by
hospitals and health systems that are participating in new models
of care with those that are not.
Officials at Lompoc Valley Medical Center recently announced a
collaborative effort with Cottage Health — which manages the
Cottage Hospital system — that aims to enhance clinical
services, expand clinical research and education, and broaden
outreach programs for both health care providers.
Iliana Prudente has greeted thousands of patients and visitors in
her two years as a patient liaison at the emergency department at
Community Regional Medical Center — some bleeding from gunshot
wounds — but nothing seemed amiss about the young man who came to
visit his wife a few weeks ago.
The Trump administration is clearing the way for insurers to sell
short-term health plans as a bargain alternative to pricey
Obama-law policies for people struggling with high premiums.
Thousands of women who carry mutations in the genes BRCA1 and
BRCA2 and joined ‘private’ Facebook groups recently learned that
their groups were vulnerable to a Chrome plug-in that
allowed marketers to discover group members’ names and other
private health information. That Chrome plug-in has since
been removed from this, and apparently all other private groups,
but has left a deep scar in the BRCA community’s trust in
Facebook.
In California, one in three people is now covered by Medi-Cal,
California’s version of Medicaid. Drawing upon various credible
research and data sources, Medi-Cal Matters compiles a set of key
facts and figures illustrating the breadth and scope of Medi-Cal
coverage and the benefits of that coverage to the program’s
nearly 14 million beneficiaries across the state. Sources include
the California Health Interview Survey; studies by the Kaiser
Family Foundation, Bay Area Economic Institute, and New England
Journal of Medicine; local Medi-Cal managed care plan data; and
more.
Medicare is reviewing whether seniors should undergo spine
surgeries at same-day surgery centers, the government-run health
program announced Wednesday, five months after a USA Today
Network-Kaiser Health News investigation revealed a spate of
patient deaths following the procedures.
At least eight doctors and other health care workers at Redding’s
Shasta Regional Medical Centers lost their homes in the Carr
fire, but they reported for work as scheduled. The situation is
the same for personnel at Mercy Medical Center Redding and at the
VA Redding Outpatient Clinic.
Today’s health care environment is changing rapidly as hospitals
and health systems continue to redefine their role in delivering
the highest quality health care, but also in driving partnerships
that promote health and well-being in the communities they serve.
Although the path forward in health reform isn’t clear, there are
a few principles that people on both sides of the issue can try
to agree on, experts said here Wednesday.
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