Literature Review

Around the nation: Steward Health Care puts hospitals up for sale following bankruptcyAdvisory Board; 5/10/24Steward Health Care, which filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy on Monday, has placed all its 31 hospitals in the United States up for sale in hopes of finalizing transactions by the end of the summer to address its $9 billion debt, in today's bite-sized hospital and health industry news from Georgia, Illinois, and Texas.

HCA accused of withholding pay of 1,000 workersBecker's Hospital Review; by Kelly Gooch; 5/6/24 HCA Healthcare faces a lawsuit alleging its Asheville, N.C.-based Mission Health illegally kept pay from at least 1,000 employees, the Citizen Times reported May 6. Sharon McRee — who said she worked as a nonexempt, hourly respiratory therapist at Mission from July 2002 through its 2019 acquisition by Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA before leaving in July 2022 — alleges she and approximately 1,000 or more employees "clocked in as required and performed the principal activities of their jobs," but their employer "generally did not pay them for all of their time worked," according to the lawsuit, which was accessed by Becker's.

How Mass General Brigham provides emergency care at home Becker's Health IT; by Giles Bruce; 5/6/24Somerville, MA-based Mass General Brigham now treats patients needing emergency or urgent care at home. The health system's patients can request referrals to the Home Hospital Emergency Care program through their primary care providers, who decide if patients are stable enough to be treated at home. If they are, a nurse talks to the provider and schedules a home visit, where a paramedic completes a physical exam joined virtually by an emergency medicine physician. Editor's Note: Pair this article with others in today's newsletter: "Stranded in the ER, seniors await hospital care and suffer avoidable harm" (in our Post-Acute Care section), and "[Australia] Palliative patients can die peacefully at home with paramedic support, claims proposed framework" (in our International section). 

Steward files for bankruptcyBecker's Hospital CFO Report; by Laura Dyrda; 5/6/24Dallas, Texas-based Steward Health Care filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and will receive millions in financing from Medical Properties Trust to maintain operations at existing hospitals and clinics, according to a May 6 health system news release. The 30 hospitals in the Steward network will continue patient care during the bankruptcy proceedings, and the physician-led health system does not expect interruptions to daily operations. ... The for-profit health system has faced financial challenges and liquidity issues in recent months, blaming low reimbursement from government payers and increasing costs for labor, materials and operations due to inflation. The system also reported continuing to experience negative financial effects from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Star ratings of Leapfrog's 25 straight-'A' and 'F' hospitals Becker's Hospital Review; by Mackenzie Bean; updated 5/3/24 A comparison of data from CMS and The Leapfrog Group suggests that a hospital's strong performance in one national quality rating system does not necessarily mean it will be a top performer in another. Leapfrog updated its spring safety grades May 1, recognizing 15 hospitals that have received an "A" grade in every consecutive update since 2012. Of these hospitals, only eight received a five-star rating from CMS. Similar discrepancies are seen across Leapfrog's "F" hospitals. While two did receive one star — the lowest possible rating — another five received two stars, and one hospital earned four stars. [Click on the title's link for the list.]

Palliative patients can die peacefully at home with paramedic support, claims proposed frameworkRiotack - Australia; by James Day; 5/6/24A proposed national framework suggests paramedics could help ease pressure on emergency departments by supporting palliative care patients who wish to die at home. Published in the leading international peer reviewed journal Palliative Medicine, the framework seeks to embed palliative care into paramedics’ core business and reduce needless transports to hospital. ... Lead author and trained paramedic Dr. Madeleine Juhrmann developed the framework in consultation with paramedics, palliative care doctors, GPs, carers with lived experience and others. The expert group – representing six countries and all the states of Australia – agreed on the framework’s 32 service changes to standardise best practice for paramedics delivering palliative care in community-based settings.Pair this with a USA article in today's newsletter, "Stranded in the ER, seniors await hospital care and suffer avoidable harm." 

Terminal cancer: What matters to patients and caregivers Medscape Medical News; by Megan Brooks; 5/6/24 What's most important to patients with terminal cancer and their caregivers? New research found that patients and caregivers both tend to prioritize symptom control over life extension but often preferring a balance. Patients and caregivers, however, are less aligned on decisions about cost containment, with patients more likely to prioritize cost containment. ... As patients approached the end of life, neither patients nor caregivers shifted their priorities from life extension to symptom management.

Big Bend Hospice, Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare Partner on transformative approach to transitional careBusiness Wire; 5/2/24 Big Bend Hospice (BBH) and Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare (TMH) announced a partnership today to improve patient navigation within the healthcare system. This collaboration aims to streamline transitions between hospitals, doctor's offices, rehabilitation centers, and home care. The signing of the Affiliation Agreement creates a governance structure that will develop a transformative approach to improving transitions of care in the Big Bend community. Transitions of care involve a patient's movement between healthcare settings, such as doctor's offices, hospitals, rehabilitation centers, long-term care, home health, hospice, etc. This partnership establishes a network of connected healthcare services, creating a seamless patient journey regardless of specific needs.

43 health systems ranked by long-term debt Becker's Hospital CFO Report; by Alan Condon; 4/29/24 Long-term debt has long been a staple in healthcare, but many hospitals and health systems are responding to the increasing cost of debt and debt service in the rising rates environment. Highly levered health systems are looking to sell hospitals, facilities or business lines to reduce their debt leverage and secure long-term sustainability, which creates significant growth opportunities for systems with balance sheets on a more solid financial footing. Forty-three health systems ranked by their long-term debt: ... [Click on the title's link for the list.]

Ensign Group buys 7 nursing homes in 6 states Modern Healthcare; by Diane Eastabrook; 5/1/24 Senior living services company Ensign Group acquired seven skilled nursing facilities in six states, as well as a long-term acute care hospital. The deals closed Wednesday [5/1], the same day Ensign Group will report first quarter 2024 earnings. The acquisitions include: [click on the title's link for the list] ...

20 states with most rural hospital closures Hospital CFO Report; by Molly Gamble; 4/29/24 Since 2005, 192 hospitals in rural America have shut down, and the COVID-19 pandemic only accelerated rural hospitals' risk of closure. Eight rural hospitals closed in 2023, as many as in 2022 and 2021 combined, according to the report. This followed a landmark 18 rural hospital closures in 2020, more than any year in the previous decade. [Click on the title's link for] 

OSF launches new tools to help make end-of-life planning easier News25, Peoria, IL; by Liz Lape; 4/26/24 OSF Healthcare reports that thousands of patients are dying in medical facilities without end-of-life care plans. ... Sarah Overton, Chief Officer of Nursing, describes that studies show that over 70% of patients would prefer a setting other than a hospital to spend their last moments, like at home hospice or palliative care. OSF has launched self-service resources such as an Advanced Careplanning page and Patient Questionnaire on their app MyChart. Overton says the goal is to make end-of-life care planning more available to the public.

Understanding the scope of aggressive incidents in hospitals | Safer Hospitals Chief Healthcare Executive; by Ron Southwick; 4/26/24 Researchers found healthcare workers are facing a verbal or physical incident at least once for every 40 hours worked. Joanne De Santo lennaco of Yale University talks about protecting staff. Even with more attention being placed on violence in hospitals and health systems, healthcare leaders say many incidents don’t come to light. ... Much attention has been focused on incidents involving healthcare workers that have resulted in physical injuries, but she says that fails to capture the hostility healthcare workers routinely encounter, she says.