HIT Consultant 

– The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the final rule for Medicare payments and policies for inpatient hospitals and long-term care hospitals (LTCHs) for fiscal year (FY) 2025. – The FY 2025 IPPS and LTCH PPS rule focuses on improving health outcomes, addressing social determinants of...

CMS Finalizes Medicare Payment Rule for Hospitals, Focuses on Equity, Safety, and Innovation

Newark, NJ

Scott Schissel, MD, PhD, is joining RWJBarnabas Health as chief medical officer of Newark (N.J.) Beth Israel Medical Center, according to an Aug. 7 news release sent to Becker's. He joins the West Orange, N.J.-based health system from Brigham and Women's Faulkner Hospital in Boston, where he served as CMO,...

Brigham and Women's Faulkner exec heads to RWJBarnabas Health

Massachusetts State

When Dallas-based Steward Health Care shared plans to close two of its Massachusetts hospitals and lay off 1,243 employees, its CEO, Ralph de la Torre, MD, was in France at Versailles for the equestrian 2024 Olympic events, according to the Boston Globe. The Aug. 7 opinion piece, authored by former...

Eyes stay on Steward CEO amid France trip

Round Rock, TX

JW Newman was named CEO of St. David's Round Rock (Texas) Medical Center, a 209-bed facility and level 2 trauma center. Mr. Newman will transition to his new role on Aug. 12, according to a hospital news release shared with Becker's. He joins St. David's Round Rock from TriStar Centennial...

Texas hospital names CEO

Decatur, IN

The gap between hospitals with strong and weak margins is growing, according to Kaufman Hall, and the top hospitals are vigilant about evaluating their physician strategies. "Data from the National Hospital Flash Report show that not all hospitals are generating losses; higher performing organizations are carefully reviewing their employed physician portfolios with a focus on profitable service lines and are more effective at deploying advanced practice providers," stated the research firm in the second quarter Physician Flash Report, released Aug. 5.

What top financially performing hospitals do differently with physicians

Kansas State

Pittsburg, KS

Drew Talbott, president of Via Christi Hospital in Pittsburg, Kan., will retire Aug. 30, one day before the hospital transitions to ownership by St. Louis-based Mercy. Mr. Talbott joined Via Christi in 1996 and has been president for four years, according to an Aug. 6 news release shared with Becker's by St. Louis-based Ascension. He was previously its COO for 13 years.

Ascension Kansas hospital president to retire

The FDA has approved the first nasal spray to treat anaphylaxis. The epinephrine nasal spray, called neffy, is for emergency treatment of allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis, in adult and pediatric patients weighing approximately 66 pounds or more, according to an Aug. 9 news release from the agency. The approval is...

FDA approves 1st anaphylaxis nasal spray

Georgia State

Waycross, GA

Justin Inglett has been appointed CFO of Memorial Satilla Health in Waycross, Ga., part of Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare. Mr. Inglett started Aug. 5, according to an Aug. 7 LinkedIn post from the hospital. He previously served as assistant CFO at Memorial Health in Savannah, Ga., also affiliated with HCA....

HCA Georgia hospital taps CFO

Nashville, TN

Nashville, Tenn.-based Ascension Saint Thomas is introducing an AI-powered administrative assistant to its second- and third-year internal medicine residents. The health system will allow residents to use Suki, the AI healthcare assistant, to help with documentation burdens. Additionally, Saint Thomas is expanding Suki's availability to more than 700 clinicians. The...

Ascension hospital rolls out AI to residents

The FDA released guidance Aug. 6 on the Medtronic NIM Vital Nerve Monitoring System recall. The recall is in response to 10 reported injuries resulting from false negative responses received while using the device. No deaths have been reported. Affected users need to contact Medtronic to have the device's software...

False negatives reported on Medtronic device

Walgreens shared in an Aug. 7 Securities and Exchange Commission filing that it could sell off its entire stake in primary care clinic chain VillageMD. "The company is currently evaluating a variety of options with respect to VillageMD in light of ongoing investments by the company in VillageMD’s businesses and VillageMD’s substantial ongoing and expected future cash requirement," the filing said. "These options could include a sale of all or part of the VillageMD businesses, possible restructuring options and other strategic opportunities."

Walgreens eyes offloading all of VillageMD

Recently, the recommended screening age for two cancers dropped, which could impact oncologist workloads. In March, the Prostate Cancer Foundation released new guidelines for prostate-specific antigen-based screening in Black men, recommending screening to start between ages 40 and 45 and continue until age 70. In May, the U.S. Preventive Services...

How cancer screenings are shaking up physician workloads

Premature babies born at 22 weeks are a "gray zone" for hospitals, which must decide whether or not to offer treatment, The Wall Street Journal reported Aug. 7. There is general consensus that babies born at 25 or 26 weeks can and should be treated, and those born at 20 weeks or less are too small to save, but in between is a "gray zone." About 8,000 infants are born between 22 and 24 weeks gestation in the U.S. each year and most can only be treated at level 3 or 4 NICUs.

Extremely premature babies a gray zone for hospitals: WSJ

Large health systems publicly reported billions in profits for the first half of 2024 and Kaufman Hall data shows a strong uptick in year over year hospital margins. Average operating margins reached nearly 5% in January, up from 2.7% in the previous month, and have hovered between 4.4% and 4.1% since then.

The truth about hospital profitability

COVID-19 deaths fell 68.9% from 2022 to 2023 — dropping from the fourth leading cause of death to the tenth, the CDC said. The CDC used U.S. death certificates to estimate the highest causes of death. The report, released Aug. 8, shares the estimated number of deaths in 2023, and the final report is expected to be released later this year, NBC News reported.

COVID deaths fell 69% in 1 year

Key opinion leaders (KOLs) examine real-world evidence and draw on their clinical experiences to inform their practice, discussing real-world dose escalations and key insights gained from practical application. Focusing on real-world evidence (RWE), how do outcomes compare what’s seen in practice and how does that impact your choice of therapy?...

Real-World Evidence and Emerging Therapies in Lower-Risk MDS: Insights from EHA 2024

Savannah, GA

Contributors represent independent, third-party users who have joined our contributor program and self-verified their accounts. They have also demonstrated their experience writing hard news for other outlets. Contributors are expected, like all users, to adhere to our Community Standards.

contributor

Daily Coffee Press

Newly returned indictments in the Southern District of Georgia include felony charges for illegal firearms possession and drug distribution, while additional defendants have been sentenced to federal prison or await further proceedings after pleading guilty to federal gun charges.

Federal Charges in Southern GA: Indictments and Sentences for Firearms and Drug Offenses

Steward Health Care has made "significant progress" on deals to sell five Massachusetts hospitals and its physician group to enable the facilities to remain open under new operators, an attorney for the health system said Tuesday. Steward Health Care, a for-profit that runs 31 hospitals in several states, is currently...

Steward Health Care making 'significant progress' on deals to sell Massachusetts hospitals, physician group

Vizient recommends supply chain leaders at health systems keep close watch of a looming, potential strike on East Coast and Gulf Coast ports. Since fall 2023, the International Longshoremen's Association has told its members to prepare for a tentative coast-wide strike. The union is currently negotiating with the United States Maritime Alliance for a six-year contract, and if an agreement is not reached, ILA said a strike will begin Oct. 1.

Port strike would disrupt hospital supply chains

Alabama State

An organization that supplies blood to hundreds of hospitals is back to normal operations following a July 29 ransomware attack. OneBlood said Aug. 8 that it restored its software system used to manage its blood supply online. "OneBlood is processing and distributing blood products to the more than 250 hospitals...

Hospital blood supplier back online following ransomware attack

NewsBreak

CMS issues new hospital patient safety measures

CMS will add seven new measures to its hospital inpatient quality reporting program as part of its Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System final rule released Aug....

CMS issues new hospital patient safety measures

Comments / 0