Â鶹ŮÓÅ

Hospital staff are forced to write notes by hand and deliver orders for tests and prescriptions in person in the ongoing fallout from a recent ransomware attack at the national health system Ascension. Ascension is one of the largest health systems in the United States, with some 140 hospitals located across 19 states and D.C. (Aldridge, 5/23)

Ascension hospitals around the country are still dealing with the fallout from a ransomware attack, and Metro Detroit nurses are worried about patient safety. For the last two weeks, doctors and nurses at Ascension hospitals in more than a dozen states haven't had access to patient electronic medical records because of a massive ransomware attack. (Gutierrez, 5/23)

In more than a dozen states, doctors and nurses have resorted to paper and handwritten treatment orders to chart patient illnesses and track them, unable to access the detailed medical histories that have long been available only through computerized records. Patients have waited for long stints in emergency rooms, and their treatments have been delayed while lab results and readings from machines like M.R.I.s are ferried through makeshift efforts lacking the speed of electronic uploads. (Abelson, 5/23)

Layoffs have begun at Walmart Health less than a month after the mega-retailer announced it would shutter all clinics and end virtual care. Walmart Health will lay off 74 virtual care employees in Phoenix, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notice filed May 17. The notice did not specify when the layoffs would take effect, but employers are required to file notices at least 60 days in advance. (Hudson, 5/23)

The Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) vote to ban noncompete agreements is set to have an outsized impact on the health care sector, empowering clinicians and raising anxiety among private practices who worry it will compound staffing problems. The FTC voted 3-2 last month to ban all current and future agreements preventing workers from going to competitors or starting a competing business after they leave a job. The rule is set to go into effect on Sep. 4, though the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has already sued to stop it. (Choi, 5/23)

Hospital prices are on the upswing, pressuring patients and slowing progress on efforts to trim overall inflation. In April, prices for medical care rose 2.7% year-over-year, the Labor Department reported last week. Prices specifically for hospital services, meanwhile, rose 7.7%. (DeSilva, 5/23)