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Jimmie Bishop lived a life of homelessness for two years, punctuated by frequent trips to the emergency room as he bounced from crisis to crisis caused by uncontrolled mental illness and addiction. ... But things did change for the better two years ago, after Bishop enrolled in Hennepin Health, a project created by Minnesota’s largest county to take health care far beyond the front door of a hospital. By adding services that have nothing to do with medical care — helping clients find a job or an apartment — the project has shown it can improve patients’ health while saving money and greatly reducing the number of times they turn up at the ER in crisis. (Howatt, 12/30)

[Dwight deVera's] King of Prussia-based Forerunner Group has created a track-and-trace platform for hospital pharmacies called RXTransparent. The entrepreneurial endeavor was inspired by the Drug Supply Chain Security Act, passed in 2013 to combat counterfeit prescription medications and establish a comprehensive and efficient system for tracking prescription drugs from production to end user. Requirements will be phased in over 10 years, establishing a variety of must-dos for manufacturers, wholesale drug distributors, repackagers, and dispensers (mostly pharmacies). Compliance will be monitored by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.  RXTransparent launched a year ago to help hospital pharmacies meet those requirements. Among them: keeping information on each drug purchase for six years. (Mastrull, 12/30)

At 44 years old, Dave Adox was facing the end of his two year battle with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. He needed a ventilator to breathe and couldn’t move any part of his body, except his eyes. Once he started to struggle with his eyes — his only way to communicate — Adox decided it was time to die. He wanted to donate his organs, to give other people a chance for a longer life. To do this, he’d need to be in a hospital when he went off the ventilator. ... Adox was asking to be admitted to the hospital specifically to end his life. And despite the planning, his request made some people uncomfortable. (Shakerdge, 1/3)