Over Half Of Health Workers Say Racial Discrimination Against Patients Is A Major Problem
In a survey of U.S. health workers, 47% said they have personally witnessed racism or discrimination against patients. That number is higher among Black and Latino health care professionals.
USA Today:
Nearly Half Of Health Care Workers Have Witnessed Racism, Discrimination, Report Shows
Younger and Black or Latino health care workers were more likely than their older or white counterparts to say they noticed discrimination against patients. Among the key findings in the survey: 47% of U.S. health care workers said they witnessed discrimination against patients, and 52% said that racism against patients was a major problem. (Alltucker, 2/15)
On artificial intelligence —
Modern Healthcare:
Congress Tiptoes Toward Healthcare AI Legislation
Artificial intelligence is already a fact of life for the healthcare sector but for Congress, dealing with it remains a matter for the future. Congress doesn’t appear anywhere close to moving significant legislation. For the most part, lawmakers are stuck in the stage of declaring that they should act, even as businesses embrace the technology and federal agencies issue regulations to address emerging issues and to carry out President Joe Biden’s executive order. (McAuliff, 2/15)
Modern Healthcare:
UnitedHealthcare, Aetna, Oscar Implement Generative AI
The health insurance industry increasingly is utilizing artificial intelligence and similar technologies to streamline operations, train employees and enhance customer service. Insurers have been using so-called traditional AI to process claims, identify fraud and predict risk for years. Now, companies such as UnitedHealth Group, CVS Health, Oscar Health and Florida Blue are experimenting with generative AI models that use context to answer prompts and have great potential in healthcare settings. (Berryman, 2/15)
In other health industry news —
Boston Globe:
Sick Patients Collapsed Waiting For Care At Massachusetts Hospital With Known Safety Violations
Struggling to breathe, the patient stepped out of the registration line in the hospital’s overwhelmed emergency department to find help. Her chest hurt, she told the triage nurse on duty that evening at Brockton’s Good Samaritan Medical Center. The nurse, backed up with more than a dozen waiting patients, thought it was anxiety and told her to get back in line. That is where the patient collapsed. Medical personnel rushed in and tried to jump-start her heart using a defibrillator and life-saving medications, according to a state inspection document and an internal staffing report. But it was too late. (Kowalczyk and Freyer, 2/15)
The Boston Globe:
Dartmouth Health Warns: Long Wait Times, Emergency Department At Capacity
Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center’s emergency department has reached its patient capacity and has been overcrowded for the past several weeks, according to hospital executives. Respiratory virus season is in full swing, which hospital executives said is contributing to the problem. In a statement released Wednesday, they also pointed to the ongoing national shortage of healthcare workers, which puts hospitals in a poor position to respond to high demand for care. (Gokee, 2/15)
Modern Healthcare:
Nursing Homes Grapple With CNA Training Backlogs
Instructor shortages and regulatory hurdles are creating training logjams for certified nursing assistants as nursing homes struggle to find enough of them to meet increased demand. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services requires nursing assistants to receive at least 75 hours of training for certification. Those workers are vital to nursing homes because they provide most of the hands-on patient care and are at the heart of a proposed federal staffing mandate. (Eastabrook, 2/15)
The Boston Globe:
Point32Health Acquires Health New England Of Springfield
Point32Health, a nonprofit based in Canton, announced the deal on Thursday. … “As the only two health plans in the state that serve commercial, Medicaid and Medicare populations, we have the commitment and expertise to serve people of all socioeconomic backgrounds, especially the underserved, and to improve members’ quality of life through programs and services that improve whole person health,” Cain A. Hayes, president and CEO of Point32Health, said in a statement. (Alanez, 2/15)
On the high cost of health care —
Stat:
340B Hospital Says It Was ‘Drastically’ Overcharged By Drugmakers
For several years, some of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies that participate in a U.S. drug discount program overcharged the federal government and numerous hospitals by hundreds of millions of dollars, according to claims made in a recently unsealed lawsuit. (Silverman, 2/15)
KFF Health News:
Patients See First Savings From Biden’s Drug Price Push, As Pharma Lines Up Its Lawyers
Last year alone, David Mitchell paid $16,525 for 12 little bottles of Pomalyst, one of the pricey medications that treat his multiple myeloma, a blood cancer he was diagnosed with in 2010. The drugs have kept his cancer at bay. But their rapidly increasing costs so infuriated Mitchell that he was inspired to create an advocacy movement. Patients for Affordable Drugs, which he founded in 2016, was instrumental in getting drug price reforms into the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. Those changes are kicking in now, and Mitchell, 73, is an early beneficiary. (Allen, 2/16)
KFF Health News’ ‘What The Health?’ Podcast:
Biden Wins Early Court Test For Medicare Drug Negotiations
A federal judge in Texas has turned back the first challenge to the nascent Medicare prescription-drug negotiation program. But the case turned on a technicality, and drugmakers have many more lawsuits in the pipeline. Meanwhile, Congress is approaching yet another funding deadline, and doctors hope the next funding bill will cancel the Medicare pay cut that took effect in January. (2/15)
