Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
State Highlights: Questions Surround Future Of Kansas Mental Hospital; Documents Reveal Gaps In Wisconsin's Reporting Of Elizabethkingia Outbreak
A rolling landscape and tree-dotted vistas belie a flurry of activity at the state mental hospital in eastern Kansas, as administrators and employees work to bring it back into line with federal standards this summer and officials ponder its longer-term future. (Hanna, 4/16)
The State of Wisconsin鈥檚 Department of Health Services began investigating the Elizabethkingia outbreak in December 2015, several months before it was reported to the public, according to documents released to Action 2 News. Action 2 News made an open records request for documents detailing the state鈥檚 response to the potentially deadly bloodstream infection. (Hay and Roberts, 4/15)
Orlando Health issued $315 million in bonds on Thursday to refinance some of its existing debt. This the health system's largest-ever debt offering. It comes shortly after it received an upgrade in credit ratings from A3 to A2 with a stable outlook by Moddy's Investment Services. (Miller, 4/16)
Years ago, Dartmouth ALS doctor and researcher Elijah Stommel started noticing an unusual pattern around some of New Hampshire鈥檚 lakes and ponds. (Nilsen, 4/17)
Vermont doctors and health care providers can now monitor if their patient has entered an emergency room or been admitted to a hospital or nursing home with a new online app. PatientPing is being used around the state in a pilot program supported by a federal grant. Before, health care providers had relied on phone calls or faxes to get that information about their patients. But that didn't always happen. (Rathke, 4/17)
Nursing assistants do some of the most intimate, as well as physically and emotionally draining, work in nursing homes. They make sure residents are bathed, groomed and dressed; lift them from their beds; and take them to meals, activities and medical and therapy appointments. Yet they earn near-poverty wages, work unpredictable hours, get limited training and are given little on-the-job support, according to a new report by PHI, the Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute, a New York advocacy group of home-care workers. (Pyle, 4/18)
Belknap County Nursing Home employees have voted down a proposed labor agreement. Chapter president Tanya Phillips says the proposal from the Belknap County Commissioners didn't add up for workers, because the additional health care costs would have more than offset the proposed wage increases. (Carlson, 4/17)
Amador Rodriguez bent down next to a plastic bucket in the woods and suctioned a sample of brown water with a turkey baster. "Ouch. That one just got me," Rodriguez said, pointing to a mosquito and a fresh bloody spot on his forearm. (Jacobson, 4/16)
