City officials and private developer Joe Gramando have struck a deal to convert a city-owned downtown property that was the site of Waterbury's first Catholic school into apartment housing for hospital workers. The Board of Aldermen is being asked to approve a purchase agreement to sell the former St. Mary Catholic Grammar School complex to New York-based Kaybar Development Corp. for $1.6 million.
Members of Congress from both parties raised concerns about the potential impact on rural hospitals in the OBBBA. In response, and just prior to passage, the Senate added $50 billion in funding for a new 'rural health transformation program.' This brief describes the rural health fund, explains what the law says about the allocation of funds, and highlights outstanding questions about how the funds will be distributed across and within states to pay rural hospitals and for other purposes.
Bankrupt Steward Health Care System LLC hit former insiders, including ex-CEO Ralph de la Torre, with a nearly $1.4 billion lawsuit alleging they 'pilfered' the healthcare network's assets for their own gain. The former executives 'through greed and bad faith misconduct' enriched themselves at the expense of Steward Health and creditors via a series of transactions in 2021 and 2022, Steward Health said in a suit filed Tuesday in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. 'These insiders pilfered Steward's assets for their own material gain, while leaving the Company and its hospitals perpetually undercapitalized and insolvent,' the suit said. 'Their misconduct ultimately led to Steward's collapse and the filing of these chapter 11 cases.'
Geisinger is eliminating nearly 100 Geisinger Health Plan positions as part of a restructuring that comes as the system's health insurance operation faces financial headwinds, officials said. 'There are no staff reductions elsewhere at Geisinger,' system President and CEO Dr. Terry Gilliland said in the message sent to all Geisinger employees and reviewed by The Times-Tribune. 'In fact, we're currently recruiting for approximately 2,500 open positions systemwide, and expect many impacted GHP employees to transition into new roles within Geisinger.' But Gilliland's message also notes financial challenges that Geisinger Health Plan has grappled with in recent years, including a $231 million operating loss last year. It's still operating at a loss despite performing 'much better' this year, per the internal correspondence.
A man from Oakmont, Pennsylvania, is accused of threatening and harassing Tampa General Hospital CEO John Couris. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida said 63-year-old Lawrence Brunn was charged with cyber harassment. Prosecutors say Brunn has been harassing the CEO of Tampa General Hospital "at least as far back" as 2023, and that his online harassment escalated in frequency and intensity over the last two years, including Brunn calling for the execution of the CEO and his beheading with a guillotine. Officials said Brunn previously worked with the CEO at Jupiter Medical Center in Jupiter, Florida, and he was fired in 2014 after he falsely accused the hospital's chief financial officer of embezzling funds. After his firing, authorities said he harassed Jupiter Medical Center, leading to a lawsuit.
Dogs trained to detect Parkinson's disease using scent have shown remarkable accuracy in new research. In a double-blind trial, they identified skin swabs from people with Parkinson's with up to 80% sensitivity and 98% specificity, even when other health conditions were present. The findings offer hope for a simple, non-invasive diagnostic method using biomarkers that appear long before traditional symptoms, potentially allowing earlier treatment and slowed disease progression.