Featuring hospital and health care headlines from the media and the web.
Iowa news
Variety donates more than $130,000 to MercyOne Des Moines
MercyOne Des Moines has been awarded more than $130,000 from Variety – the Children’s Charity to enhance the care and services to Iowa children at MercyOne Children’s Hospital and MercyOne House of Mercy. A $120,000 grant from Variety is designated to MercyOne Children’s Hospital to fund innovative technology in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit — a new NicView Streaming Camera System and Stryker Nara Bassinet. (Business Record)
UnityPoint Health-Des Moines receives third LGBTQ Health Care Equality Leader award
UnityPoint Health-Des Moines has received the LGBTQ Health Care Equality Leader designation for a third time from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. The designation was awarded in the 13th edition of HRC’s Healthcare Equality Index and is the first time all four of UnityPoint’s Des Moines hospitals received the distinction. A record 765 health care facilities participated in the HEI 2020 survey, with 495 earning a top score of 100 and the “Leader in LGBTQ Health Care Equality” designation. (Business Record)
Quad Cities sees spike in COVID-19 hospitalizations
Genesis Health System said Wednesday it is seeing a spike in hospitalizations due to COVID-19. Craig Cooper, senior communications specialist at Genesis, said 32 patients combined are in intensive care units and medical-surgical floors at Davenport East and Silvis campuses as of Wednesday afternoon. It’s the highest number since April, Cooper said. (KWQC-TV)
National news
New England Journal of Medicine: ‘Dangerously incompetent’ politicians must go
The New England Journal of Medicine, one of the most prestigious medical journals in the world, on Wednesday broke with a nearly two-century tradition of avoiding politics to lambast US politicians for their handling of the coronavirus pandemic. In a first for the journal, the editors called for Americans to vote out leaders who have not done enough to address the pandemic. (NBC News)
HHS threatens to withhold funding from hospitals that fail to report COVID-19 data
CMS released guidance Oct. 6 on how it will implement an interim final rule that requires hospitals to report data about COVID-19 and influenza patients in order to participate in the Medicare program. Hospitals will be given 14 weeks to comply with reporting requirements, and the department will work with hospitals to bring them into compliance during that time, CMS Administrator Seema Verma said on an Oct. 6 call with reporters. (Becker’s Hospital CFO Report)
Patient satisfaction with telehealth high following COVID-19
Telehealth is a top health sector yielding a high patient satisfaction score, but half of patients are still citing some barriers to virtual care access, according to the J.D. Power 2020 US Telehealth Satisfaction Study. Although telehealth has been around for years, it has seen its biggest use during the COVID-19 pandemic. As medical providers shuttered their doors to non-urgent and non-emergency care access, they turned to telehealth to make ends meet. The virtual care access technology enabled remote chronic disease management and generated some income for primary care clinics in dire financial straits. (PatientEngagementHIT.com)