Cartoon – Working from Work
Cartoon – Back into the Recovery Room
Cartoon – Good News!
Cartoon – Physician’s Stimulus Package
Cartoon – Sign of the Times (Economic Stimulus)
Sutter Health to lay off 400 workers
As part of a financial restructuring plan, Sacramento, Calif.-based Sutter Health will issue another round of layoffs this year, according to the Sacramento Business Journal.
The health system said it plans to lay off 400 more employees. These newly announced layoffs are in addition to 277 information technology jobs that were cut April 2.
Sutter said most of the new layoffs affect employees in administrative positions in benefits, human resources, data services and accounting. The layoff notice said many of these employees were working remotely or in the field.
Sutter told the Business Journal that it’s working to evaluate every aspect of its business model.
“Moving forward, we will continue to work to minimize staff reductions and their impact on our dedicated employees as we look for ways to eliminate variation, streamline resources and more efficiently manage our indirect costs,” Sutter told the Business Journal.
Sutter ended 2020 with a $321 million operating loss, including $800M in funding from the Coronavirus, Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act. Without the funding, Sutter’s operating loss would have been $1.1 billion. As a result, Sutter initiated a sweeping review of its finances in March 2021.
Sutter Health also gave voluntary severance packages to 800 workers in 2020.
North Carolina AG gets 116 complaints about Mission Health
The North Carolina attorney general’s office received 116 complaints about Asheville, N.C.-based Mission Health over a 12-month period, WLOS reported June 8.
WLOS reported that most of the complaints were related to billing issues, 23 percent were concerns over quality of care, 16 percent were related to cost of service, 7 percent were from employees or former employees of Mission Health and 5 percent were related to charity care requirements.
“It’s a concerning number, 116 over a year,” Attorney General Josh Stein told WLOS. “That’s a lot, so we’re sharing our serious concerns with the management of the health system and we are going to be on top of this to the extent we possibly can.”
Mr. Stein told the publication that his office recently dedicated one of his employees to keeping track of all the complaints about Mission Health.
Mission Health was acquired by Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare in 2019. HCA agreed to certain commitments as part of the deal, including keeping major Mission Health facilities open and continuing to provide certain services.
Since the acquisition, there have been a number of physician exits from the health system, and an independent monitor is looking into the reason behind the exits.
Mission Health shared the following statement with WLOS:
“Since January of 2021, we are aware of 15 complaints made to the Attorney General’s office, nine of which were related to billing and all of which have been resolved. We address every issue the Attorney General’s office brings to our attention promptly—both with them and the patient. Our patient care is our first priority. We strongly encourage everyone to contact us directly any time there is a concern so we can address it with them immediately and personally.
“Going back to 2020, the majority of billing concerns were made shortly after acquisition of Mission and primarily regarded questions around changes to medical practice operations and a variety of billing issues all of which were resolved. Any patient or guarantor with billing questions or concerns should contact 833-323-0834 and we are happy to discuss, answer any questions you may have, and seek resolution where needed. Further, we have an email address, contactmission@hcahealthcare.com, where people can reach out to us on any matter.”
Wisconsin pharmacist who intentionally damaged 570 vaccine doses sentenced to 3 years in prison
An Advocate Aurora Health pharmacist who intentionally damaged 570 doses of COVID-19 vaccine was sentenced to three years in prison, according to NBC affiliate WTMJ of Milwaukee.
Steven Brandenburg worked at Aurora Medical Center in Grafton, Wis., when he removed Moderna COVID-19 vaccine vials from refrigeration twice in December. He told investigators he believed the vaccine could harm patients or change their DNA.
He was arrested Dec. 31 on charges of first-degree recklessly endangering society, adulterating a prescription drug and criminal damage to property.
Fifty-seven people received the vaccines after they were left out, but they will likely experience no harm, according to officials with Aurora Health Care, based in both Milwaukee and Downers Grove, Ill.
After Aurora Health Care investigated the incident, Mr. Brandenburg was fired. He and the Wisconsin Pharmacy Examining Board agreed on his license suspension during a Jan. 13 meeting.
Mr. Brandenburg on Jan. 26 agreed to plead guilty to two counts of attempting to tamper with consumer products with reckless disregard.
On June 8, Mr. Brandenburg was sentenced to three years in prison. After serving his sentence, he will face another three years of supervised release.
Mr. Brandenburg told the court he was “desperately sorry and ashamed” about tampering with the vaccines. He also said Aurora Health Care is a “pillar of the community” and “did not deserve” the incident, according to WTMJ.
Top 20 smart hospitals in the world, ranked by Newsweek
Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic was named the best smart hospital in the world in 2021 by Newsweek.
For the list, the magazine partnered with consumer research company Statista to find the 250 hospitals that best equip themselves for success with technology. Newsweek said the hospitals on the list are the ones to watch as they “lead in their use of [artificial intelligence], robotic surgery, digital imaging, telemedicine, smart buildings, information technology infrastructure and EHRs.”
The ranking, published June 9, is based on a survey that included recommendations from national and international sources in five categories: digital surgery, digital imaging, AI, telehealth and EHRs.
The top 20 smart hospitals in the world:
1. Mayo Clinic
2. The Johns Hopkins Hospital (Baltimore)
3. Cleveland Clinic
4. The Mount Sinai Hospital (New York City)
5. Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston)
6. Brigham and Women’s Hospital (Boston)
7. Cedars Sinai (Los Angeles)
8. Karolinska Universitetssjukhuset (Solna, Sweden)
9. MD Anderson Cancer Center (Houston)
10. Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin
11. Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (New York City)
12. Houston Methodist Hospital
13. Sheba Medical Center (Ramat Gan, Israel)
14. NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital (New York City)
15. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (Boston)
16. Boston Medical Center
17. Abbott Northwestern Hospital (Minneapolis)
18. Stanford (Calif.) Health Care
19. Aarhus Universitetshospital (Aarhus, Denmark)
20. AP-HP-Hôpital Européen Georges Pompidou (Paris)
Health And Economic Outcomes Of A Workplace Wellness Program
The goal of workplace wellness programs is twofold: improve employee health and lower health care costs for employers and insurers.
A workplace wellness program was implemented at a random subset of worksites within BJ’s Wholesale Club from 2015 to 2017. Zirui Song and Katherine Baicker looked into its effects.
While the program led to better self-reported health behaviors, notably active weight management, the authors found that it did not produce significant differences in clinical measures of health, health care spending and use, or employment outcomes between treatment and control.
“To the extent that these results are representative of other wellness programs, they temper expectations of substantial improvements in health outcomes or financial returns on investment from wellness programs,” wrote Song and Baicker.
HENRY KOTULA 