Samaritan Health Services this month reduced its workforce by about 80 positions. Samaritan, a nonprofit regional health system, operates hospitals in Newport, Lincoln City, Corvallis, Albany and Lebanon along with several regional clinics. The system has more than 6,000 employees. A Samaritan spokeswoman in Lincoln County said the organization would "not share community-specific layoff numbers" for layoffs in Lincoln, Benton or Linn counties. Samaritan said it was able to manage a small, yet positive, margin through the pandemic and the following few years. But in 2024, a variety of pressures, including rising inflation, cyber incidents, inclement weather, a decline in volume in some clinical areas and unfavorable payer reimbursements, impacted its ability to maintain a favorable margin. In July, officials said that operational expenses exceeded operational revenues by nearly $23 million.
A former employee of an organ recovery group said in a letter to a congressional committee that in 2021 Kentucky Organ Donor Affiliates tried to harvest organs for transplant from a patient who was still alive. Nyckoletta Martin said a man who was incorrectly listed as brain dead woke up in a Kentucky hospital. But KODA wanted to proceed with the operation anyway, Martin said. Martin called it an alarming case of patient abuse. Organ transplantation in the United States is overseen by a Richmond-based contractor, the United Network for Organ Sharing, a spokesperson for the contractor, said UNOS was unaware of the allegation until it was referenced at a Congressional hearing Wednesday by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Some families are still pushing for recognition after their loved ones died from cancer that they believe is linked to Sept. 11, but that the federal government won't recognize as such. The World Trade Center Health Program and the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund cancer latency policy stipulates that many cancers diagnosed before Sept. 11, 2005, cannot be considered linked to the attacks, and therefore those victims and their families are not eligible for federal benefits.
Gov. Kathy Hochul on Thursday announced a program called Career Pathways Training, which will provide funding to recruit and train thousands of much-needed workers.
DoD is taking a four-pronged approach to improve military hospitals and clinics following a drop in patient load that has caused providers' skills to deteriorate.