The Bay State is already struggling with a primary care provider crisis, and the head of the largest not-for-profit healthcare system in Central Massachusetts sees an increasingly grim road ahead if current trends persist. This week on the monthly Health or Consequences episode of The Codcast, John McDonough of the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and Paul Hattis of the Lown Institute speak with Eric Dickson, president and CEO of UMass Memorial Health.
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health has relaunched its investigation into patient safety at Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester, after the union representing nurses complained the for-profit hospital was no longer following the corrective plan stemming from the original investigation. Additionally, the hospital now is embroiled in a whistleblower lawsuit filed on behalf of Carla LeBlanc, a former Saint Vincent nurse who was fired on May 1, over comments she made on a podcast about dire patient conditions.
The man who attacked the CDC headquarters in Atlanta on Friday fired more than 180 shots into the campus and broke about 150 windows, with bullets piercing "blast-resistant" windows and spattering glass shards into numerous rooms, according to information circulated internally at the agency. It may take weeks or even months to replace windows and clean up the damage, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention personnel said. Building 21, which houses CDC Director Susan Monarez's office, was hit by the largest number of bullets. CDC officials did not say if her office was hit. CDC employees were advised to work from home this week.
A sign posted at the Uptown hospital emergency room notified patients of the closure Friday morning. The ER is closing after the hospital lost access to Medicare and Medicaid funds on Saturday.
Insight Health Systems is on track to reopen one of two shuttered Warren hospitals in the next few weeks, officials announced at a public meeting this week. "We lost over $30 million dollars over this transaction," Insight CEO Dr. Jawad Shah said. "We signed up for this, we are going to make the hospital work." Services at the two Insight hospitals — Insight Hospital & Medical Center Trumbull and Insight Rehabilitation Hospital Hillside — ended in March, seven months after Insight obtained the properties from Steward Health System through bankruptcy proceedings. Insight officials said Steward Health, which ran billing for the two hospitals, withheld funds—making continued operation impossible. A letter to staff announced furloughs, but said the hospital closures would be temporary, and were projected to last no more than six months.