A New York hospital says it has performed the first fully robotic double lung transplant. The procedure is aimed at speeding up the healing process and shortening hospital stays. It builds on other minimally invasive procedures; back in 2022, Cedars Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles completed a partially robotic single lung transfer. And here at the NYU Langone Health Center on the East Side of Manhattan, doctors announced in September that they had performed the first fully robotic single lung transplant. The double lung procedure was conducted on 57-year-old resident of upstate New York, Cheryl Mehrkar, on Oct. 22.
Adding to the steady drumbeat of healthcare labor organizing in New England, about 160 clinicians at Cambridge Health Alliance on Thursday informed the state that they were forming a union to push back against what they say have become unsustainable, burnout-inducing working conditions. The bargaining unit includes physicians, psychologists, and physician associates in a range of fields at the safety-net health system.
In healthcare—with patient well-being and lives at stake—the advancement of AI seems particularly momentous. In an industry battling staffing shortages and increasing costs, health system leaders need to consider all possible solutions, including AI technologies.
Pharmacy access is expanding in Rochester after Walgreens shut down five pharmacy stores in November. The four largest health systems in Rochester will now provide pharmacy services open to the public, not just their own patients. All pharmacy locations are in areas labeled a pharmacy desert, where Walgreens locations were recently closed.
“When I have a bad day at work and I come to Rose and Peppi is here, my day's going to be made better,” EMT Jasmine Richardson said. “And if I have a patient who's having a tough day, Peppi just knows how to light up the room.”
After unveiling new signage making visible the shift to new owner Brown University Health on Tuesday afternoon, Gov. Maura Healey toured Saint Anne's Hospital and celebrated that Massachusetts did "something that no other state was able to do" as Steward Health Care collapsed.
Saint Anne's was one of eight Steward hospitals in Massachusetts whose futures were thrown into doubt earlier this year when Steward's financial problems came to light and then when the company filed for bankruptcy. The Fall River hospital is one of six former Steward hospitals that remain open under new management.
Brown University Health (formerly known as Lifespan) finalized the acquisition of Saint Anne's Hospital in Fall River and Morton Hospital in Taunton for $175 million on Oct. 1 and on Tuesday hosted the governor, Health and Human Services Secretary Kate Walsh, Public Health Commissioner Robbie Goldstein and others from Beacon Hill to see the facility and help rebrand it with Brown Health signage and logos.