Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Rural Georgia Hospitals To See Financial Benefit From New Tax Increase
Voters in Monroe and Jefferson counties Tuesday approved tax increases to help preserve their rural hospitals, which are in financial danger. And a proposed tax credit upgrade for donors to rural hospitals, an idea that had appeared dead in this year鈥檚 Georgia General Assembly session, is alive again less than two weeks before the legislators are expected to adjourn. (Miller, 3/22)
The chief executives of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Lahey Health on Wednesday pitched their proposed merger as an antidote to the state鈥檚 high health care costs, arguing that coming together would allow them to grab market share from pricier hospitals. In their first sit-down interviews with The Boston Globe since going public with their merger negotiations nearly two months ago, Dr. Howard R. Grant of Lahey and Dr. Kevin Tabb of Beth Israel Deaconess said the deal would also help them weather coming changes in the health care market, including shrinking reimbursements from insurers and the government, and changes to federal health care policy. (Dayal McCluskey, 3/23)
Wednesday鈥檚 event was Paws for Pennsy (P4P), a popular program that was started last year at the Philadelphia hospital. It was the creation of Care for the Care Provider, a hospital committee whose mission is to look at ways to address the stress and even sorrow that can come with being in the medical profession. Losing a longtime patient, experiencing the unexpected death of a patient or colleague, or other on-the-job losses can be so traumatic, the consequences have come to be known as "second-victim phenomenon." (Giordano, 3/22)
