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MMS MediaWatch, Wednesday, February 18, 2015
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Today's Reports (27)
---Partners ends bid for South Shore Hospital (3)
---Lawmaker files bill for assisted suicide
---Problems worsen for drug treatment centers
---Treatments for rare diseases increase
---Researchers find new information on cancer
---Medical staffs get to work despite storms
---Natick officials address drug overdoses
---St. Luke's Hospital closes blood bank
---Oregon: May ban personal vaccine exemption
---Vermont: Slim chance for legalized pot this year
---States add dental to Medicaid, but access is hard
---Small states struggle to fund health exchanges
---Doctors focus on harm from inattentive care
---ACA enrollment hits 11.4 million at deadline
---CDC: Measles outbreak remains a mystery
---Americans may see Cuba for medical tourism
---Medicine helps before smokers are ready to quit
---Hospital discharges occur at most lucrative times
---CVS warns about cost of new cholesterol drugs
---Pakistan: Vaccinating children can be deadly
---Africa: AIDS is top killer of adolescents
---Doctor's notes: Ebola survivor sees faith, teamwork create a medical success, by Dr. Rick Sacra, on CNN.com, February 18, 2015
---Deadly Germs May Lurk In Your Doctor's Clothing, Forbes.com, February 18, 2015
---Health Spending Is Rising More Sharply Again, by Drew Altman, in The Wall Street Journal, February 17, 2015
---Baker, Healey must take on opioid epidemic as one, The Patriot Ledger, The Enterprise, and Taunton Daily Gazette, February 18, 2015
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Across the Commonwealth
Partners ends bid to acquire South Shore Hospital
The Boston Globe
---The state’s most powerful health care system on Tuesday abandoned its three-year effort to acquire South Shore Hospital, the centerpiece in Partners HealthCare’s controversial expansion drive, which had riveted and divided the Massachusetts medical community.
Related Reports
Partners gives up on South Shore Hospital
acquisition, leaves Hallmark acquisition on the table
Boston Business Journal
---While Partners has agreed to withdraw plans surrounding South Shore Hospital, the health system may still acquire two other health systems.
Report
Critics glad Partners abandons S. Shore hospital buy
Boston Herald
---Partners HealthCare System’s decision to abandon a controversial plan to acquire South Shore Hospital is a victory for the state’s efforts to help rein in rising health care costs, according to critics of the proposed purchase.
Report
Renewed interest in “death with dignity”
law for Massachusetts
State House News Service via WWLP.org
---An emotional debate around end-of-life decisions could be revived on Beacon Hill after a lawmaker again filed legislation to allow terminally-ill patients to request medication to end their lives.
Report
Problems worsen for two drug treatment centers
The Boston Globe
---Time stopped in October for two drug treatment centers on Boston’s Long Island, when the city shut down the bridge that was the only route to their facilities.Both had to abandon their offices on the island.... Now, the problems have multiplied. The centers filed insurance claims under their “business interruption” policies, expecting to recover enough money to set up new service sites. Their claims were rejected.
Orphan drugs for rare diseases soar
Boston Herald
---Treatments for rare diseases — key to the success of several Bay State companies — surged nationally last year, a trend that experts say will likely only continue.
Report
Boston researchers help ID key in cancer DNA
Boston Herald
---Local scientists have unlocked new information about cancer cells that could give late-stage patients hope for better, targeted treatment options down the road, according to a study published today.
Report
Medical staff have become storm troupers,
getting to work any way they can
The Lowell Sun
---Area hospitals have been encouraging essential staff to stay over during inclement weather rather than risk driving in it, providing them meals and other amenities to make it through difficult, snowy days.
Report
Natick officials stress teamwork
in responding to drug overdoses
The MetroWest Daily News, Framingham
---“We’re trying to work as collaboratively as possible to look at preventing these issues,” said Katie Sugarman, executive director of Natick Together for Youth.
Report
St. Luke's Hospital closes blood bank
The Standard-Times, New Bedford
---St. Luke’s Hospital has closed its blood bank and will rely on the American Red Cross to provide the hospital’s blood supply, officials announced Tuesday. The change, which was effective Feb. 11, will provide the hospital with access to a national inventory of blood products....
Report
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From the States / Regions
Oregon mulls banning personal
belief exemption for vaccines
CBSNews.com
---The measles outbreak is of particular concern in Oregon, home to the highest rate of unvaccinated children in the country. Parents have been warned to get their children vaccinated by Wednesday or face expulsion from school.
Report
Little chance seen for Vermont
legalizing pot this year
Burlington Free Press
---A state senator has filed a long-promised bill to legalize marijuana in the state, but the chairs of two key legislative committees are giving it little chance for passage this year.
Report
States Add Dental Coverage For Adults
On Medicaid But Struggle to Meet Demand
Kaiser Health News
---Colorado was one of five states last year to begin offering routine dental coverage to millions of low-income adults in Medicaid — an unprecedented expansion.... [but] many have had trouble finding dentists willing to treat them because of Medicaid’s low reimbursements, according to providers, advocates and patients.
Small States' Big Struggle to Fund Health Exchanges
Governing.com
---The size of smaller states' markets are small -- meaning there’s less revenue from taxes -- but they face many of the same fixed costs in maintenance and technology as large states do.
Report
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Across the Nation
Doctors Strive to Do Less Harm by Inattentive Care
The New York Times
---...reducing patient suffering — the kind caused not by disease but by medical care itself — has become a medical goal. The effort is driven partly by competition and partly by a realization that suffering, whether from long waits, inadequate explanations or feeling lost in the shuffle, is a real and pressing issue.
About 11.4 Million Enrolled Under Health Law
The Wall Street Journal
---Some 11.4 million Americans picked health plans through HealthCare.gov and state-run insurance exchanges during the official sign-up window for insurance under the federal health law, the White House said Tuesday.
Measles outbreak remains a mystery
TheHill.com
---A total of 141 people have been infected with the measles in 7 states as of Feb. 13, with the majority stemming from Disneyland in California, according to the CDC.... But health officials cannot yet pinpoint precisely how the outbreak began.
Americans May See Appeal
of Medical Tourism in Cuba
The New York Times
---Thousands of people from other countries go to Cuba each year for what is known as medical tourism: travel abroad for surgery or other medical care, often because the treatment is less expensive there or is not available where patients live.
Medicine Given Even Before Smokers
Are Ready to Quit Is Found to Help Them
The New York Times
---Doctors typically wait until smokers are ready to quit before prescribing pills to help them do it. But a new study has found that even for those who are not ready to stop smoking immediately, medicine taken over time can substantially improve their chances of eventually quitting.
Report
Hospital Discharges Rise at Lucrative Times
The Wall Street Journal; subscription required
---A Wall Street Journal analysis found that many long-term-hospital companies discharge a disproportionate share of patients during that window when hospitals stand to make the most, a sign that financial incentives in the Medicare system may shape patient care.
Report
CVS urges cost controls for new cholesterol drugs
Reuters via FoxNews.com
---CVS Health warned on Tuesday that the costs of a potent new class of cholesterol treatments could eclipse those of other expensive medicines and overwhelm the U.S. healthcare system "if rigid cost control mechanisms are not put in place."
Report
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Around the World
In Pakistan, vaccinating children
has become a deadly battle
Associated Press
---Long eradicated in the West, polio remains endemic in Pakistan after the Taliban banned vaccinations, attacks targeted medical staffers and suspicions lingered about the inoculations.
Report
Health groups say AIDS No. 1 killer
of adolescents in Africa
Associated Press
---Global health organizations said Tuesday that AIDS is now the leading cause of death for adolescents in Africa, and the second leading cause of death among adolescents globally.
Report
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Articles / Interviews / Features
Doctor's notes: Ebola survivor sees faith,
teamwork create a medical success
by Dr. Rick Sacra, Special to CNN.com, February 18, 2015
---Monday morning, February 9, was my last morning at the hospital; in just a few hours I would be headed for the airport.... Along with Dr. (Jerry) Brown, our medical director, I was asked to say a few words.
Deadly Germs May Lurk In Your Doctor's Clothing
Forbes.com, February 18, 2015
---The February 2014 issue of the Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology journal addresses the issue of contamination of healthcare personnel attire in non-operating room settings.
Article
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Editorials
Baker, Healey must take on opioid epidemic as one
The Patriot Ledger, Quincy, The Enterprise, Brockton, and Taunton Daily Gazette, February 18, 2015
---We believe Gov. Charlie Baker and Attorney General Maura Healey will make good on their promises to address the addiction crisis, but they must do so together, with a joint plan. The opioid epidemic is too big for any one person to confront; resources must be shared.
Editorial
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