Literature Review

'Sky is the limit' for health information networks' SNF insightsMcKnights Senior Living, by Kimberly Marselas; 1/24/24An expanding health information exchange connecting 71 hospitals and almost 600 post-acute providers in New Jersey is exceeding expectations and providing staffing insights not necessarily envisioned when state officials launched a patient discharge initiative.

New program to provide emergency funding to rural hospitalsCapitol Beat, by Dave Williams; 1/17/24A nonprofit health-care organization announced plans ... to help financially struggling rural hospitals in Georgia in danger of closing. Ohio-based CareSource will contribute $5 million in emergency funding to hospitals and hospital-owned nursing homes in rural communities suffering critical cash deficits. Working in partnership with Cumming-based HomeTown Health, which represents rural hospitals across Georgia, the CareSource Rural Access Advancement Program will provide bridge loans to be repaid and reinvested into the program once the recipient has stabilized. Since 2010, nine rural hospitals have closed in Georgia, third-most in the nation.

To tackle financial distress, hospitals, health systems are turning to mergersKFF Health News; 1/19/24Modern Healthcare looks into the phenomenon of rising health care mergers and acquisitions being driven by financial pressures on health providers in the aftermath of the pandemic. Separately, Stateline explains how private equity-backed hospitals can see cutbacks and closures.

15 most common reasons CMS cited a hospital in 2023Becker's Clinical Leadership, by Paige Twenter; 1/17/24Accreditation organizations, including The Joint Commission and DNV Healthcare, completed nearly 4,000 surveys in 2023. [Click on the article for a list of the top 15 citations.]

Study shows 'alarming' sharp increase of colon cancer in younger AmericansThe National Desk, by Jamel Valencia; 1/17/24Colorectal cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in men and the second in women under the age of 50, according to the American Cancer Society's annual report on cancer facts and trends. It indicated that colon cancer moved up from being the fourth leading cause of cancer death in both younger men and women two decades ago to first in men and second in women. Breast cancer leads in women under 50 with 2,251 deaths in 2021.

Report adds to scrutiny of private equity-owned hospitalsModern Healthcare, by Mari Devereaux; 1/16/24Lifepoint Health and ScionHealth's ownership by Apollo Global Management is the focus of a report by a nonprofit formed to hold private equity buyers accountable for the impact their acquisitions have on services and communities.

JPM 2024: 10 takeaways for providers, insurers, digital companiesModern Healthcare, by Alex Kacik; 1/12/24Key takeaways from the 42nd annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference include:

In 2024, data will drive IFDHE's discussions on health equityAmerican Hospital Association (AHA) Institute for Diversity and Health Equity (IFDHE), by Joy Lewis; 1/12/24For the Institute for Diversity and Health Equity, 2024 can be summed up in a single phrase: “letting the data speak and guide us.” Data is critical to eliminating health disparities and advancing equity, diversity and inclusion and serves as the starting point. Data shines a light on the experiences of different patient populations who are accessing care. With data, we are able to see different outcomes for these groups, broken down by race, ethnicity, gender, insurance status or socioeconomic status. Data provides context about our patients’ experiences and health outcomes so we might see where the gaps are that need to be closed. Our mission, then, is to make data actionable. This year, we will embark on several initiatives to provide us with the data — both qualitative and quantitative — that will help us take our necessary next steps.

Unity Hospice and Palliative Care awarded five-year General In-Patient Care contract with UTMB HealthPress release, 1/11/24Unity Hospice and Palliative Care, a leader in providing end-of-life care, announced today that it has entered a five-year agreement with the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) Health. Unity will provide general in-patient (GIP) care for all four hospitals within the Health System: Angleton, Clear Lake, League City, and Galveston Campus Hospitals.

Videos help increase communication of care goals for hospitalized older adultsNational Institute on Aging; 1/11/24A video intervention delivered to older hospital patients by palliative care educators helped increase communication and documentation of care preferences. These findings, published in JAMA Network Open, are from a study led by NIA-funded Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital researchers.

Hospice of Cincinnati launches new inpatient unit at Christ HospitalThe Business Journals - Cincinnati Business Courier, by Liz Engel; 1/11/24Christ Hospital is set to debut a new unit at its flagship campus this week, and it serves as a significant expansion for one of the region’s oldest nonprofits.Full access requires a subscription

"We can't save lives without you."PR Newswire, Philadelphia; 1/10/24Gift of Life's Community & Hospital Partners Advance 50-Year Legacy as the Most Generous Region in the Country ... Gift of Life has coordinated 14,196 donors and 39,469 organs for transplant – more than any other U.S. organ procurement organization (OPO) since the inception of our national donation system in 1988. Yet the need for life-saving organs continues to far exceed the number available. Each day, seventeen people die waiting for a transplant and, every ten minutes, another child or adult is added to the national waitlist.