Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
State Highlights: New Program Expands Treatment For New Hampshire's Opioid Epidemic; Hospital, College Take Step To Improve Pediatricians' Training In Louisiana
UNH's nurse practitioner programs will now include training in medication-assisted treatments for addiction. Nurse practitioners, like doctors, can write prescriptions and can serve as a patient's primary care provider. Thanks to a new $450,000 federal grant, nurse practitioner students at UNH will now be trained in how to use medication to treat addiction. (Moon, 11/5)
Children鈥檚 Hospital and Tulane University will partner to train aspiring pediatricians and conduct research, part of an effort to increase access to high-quality pediatric health care for children across Louisiana. Last week, Children鈥檚 and Tulane signed an affiliation agreement to work together on clinical, academic and research activities in pediatrics, according to a news release. Under the partnership, Tulane medical school students and residents will start caring for Children鈥檚 Hospital patients in 2019. (Nobles, 11/5)
Sean Clements, a spokesman for the pharmaceutical company, said Shingrix 鈥渉as been met with an unprecedented level of demand from patients and health care professionals,鈥 but GlaxoSmithKline, or GSK, is ramping up production and patients should keep checking with their providers to see if they have it in stock. ...Shingles is a painful skin condition caused by the herpes zoster, or chicken pox, virus. (Marso, 11/5)
The owner of the 66-bed Promise Hospital of Dallas filed for bankruptcy Monday in Delaware federal court and seeks to reorganize after years of financial losses. The long-term, acute-care hospital in Dallas specializes in "ventilator weaning and medically complex care," according to the hospital's website. The facility is on Harry Hines Boulevard, north of Dallas' medical district. (Mosier, 11/5)
A federal judge in Sacramento said Monday that she intends to appoint an independent investigator to look into whether state corrections officials committed 鈥渇raud on the court鈥 in reports they have submitted regarding the level of psychiatric care inside California鈥檚 prisons. The extraordinary move by U.S. District Judge Kimberly Mueller would give an investigator or law firm access to corrections records and witnesses to determine whether allegations leveled by the state鈥檚 chief prison psychiatrist have merit. (Stanton, 11/5)
Beaumont Health announced details Monday about its plan聽to build聽a new mental health hospital in Dearborn in conjunction with Pennsylvania-based Universal Health Services.聽Construction on the $40-million聽freestanding hospital is to begin in early 2019 on 8 acres of vacant land on Oakwood Boulevard聽near the Southfield Freeway.聽When it opens, the hospital 鈥 Beaumont's ninth 鈥 will have space for 150 beds and will be operated and managed by UHS, which also will be the majority owner.聽(Shamus, 11/5)
Johns Hopkins doctors have set up shop and worked in Saudi Arabia, treating its citizen鈥檚 health needs, since at least 2010. The Baltimore medical system has thrived in the Middle Eastern nation under the auspices of spreading good health care throughout the world, but done so against a backdrop of human rights complaints about which Hopkins officials have largely stayed quiet. (McDaniels, 11/5)
A class-action lawsuit that could cost CalPERS $1 billion is headed to trial in June, and many of the 122,000 retirees who bought an insurance plan at the center of the case are receiving small checks from an agreement that settled a portion of the claims. A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge on Friday set a date for the main trial, known as Sanchez. vs. CalPERS. The three- to four-week trial is scheduled to begin on June 10. (Ashton, 11/5)
Depending on whom you ask, health department officials on Sunday either stopped an unlicensed group from illegally handing out potentially bacteria-ridden food or destroyed the property of some 鈥渇riends鈥 having a 鈥減icnic.鈥 According to official documents, the Kansas City Health Department stopped volunteers of Free Hot Soup Kansas City from handing out food at several Kansas City parks because they lacked the required food handling permits. The food was seized and discarded or was destroyed with bleach. (Smith, 11/5)