Iowa news
Opening this summer: Jojo’s Rehabilitation Unit at ChildServe
ChildServe will soon open its newly completed inpatient rehabilitation unit, Jojo’s Pediatric Rehabilitation Unit. The 14-bed unit, which replaces a smaller inpatient rehabilitation unit that has operated since 2007 at ChildServe’s Johnston medical campus, provides the only free-standing, comprehensive pediatric inpatient rehabilitation program for Iowa children and teens. (Business Record)
Iowa numbers continue to seesaw
New reported COVID-19 cases rose this week, while the number of people hospitalized with the virus in Iowa dropped, continuing the pandemic’s recent seesawing trend in the state. New reported cases and hospitalizations have alternatively risen and fallen in each of the past several weeks. Both are up substantially over the past two months, according to data from the Iowa Department of Public Health and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (Des Moines Register)
UnityPoint Health-St. Luke’s partners with Wings One
UnityPoint Health-St. Luke’s in Sioux City has partnered with Wings One Air Rescue to provide air transportation for critically ill or injured patients. Wings One is an accredited critical care program, and they have provided air rescue to the Siouxland community for 35 years. UnityPoint and Wings One’s partnership began June 1, and there are hopes of this becoming a long-term partnership. (KMEG)
National news
Proposed bill would protect health care workers like airline staff
U.S. Reps. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa., and Larry Bucshon, MD, R-Ind., have introduced a bill to protect health care workers from violence. The bill is modeled after existing protections for aircraft and airport workers. The Safety From Violence for Health Care Employees Act would criminalize assault or intimidation of hospital employees and provide legal penalties for people who knowingly and intentionally do so. There would be protections for those who may be mentally incapacitated due to illness or substance use. (Becker’s Hospital Review)
Atlanta system 1st in U.S. to face CMS fines for price transparency violations
Atlanta-based Northside Hospital is the first health system in the nation to be fined by CMS for violating federal price transparency laws. Northside was fined more than $1 million. CMS said Northside Hospital didn’t have a searchable list for consumers posted in a prominent manner that clearly identified the location of the hospital concerned. CMS said “no consumer-friendly list of standard charges was found,” for Northside Hospital Cherokee. (Becker’s Hospital Review)
HHS sounds alarm about ‘most dangerous malware’ threat targeting health care
The HHS Cybersecurity Program has issued a warning about dangerous malware Emotet, which is responsible for most malware infections at health care organizations. First detected in 2014, Emotet, which is primarily delivered via email, is considered one of the most-dangerous malware variants, infecting 1 in 5 organizations worldwide. The malware includes a dropper for delivering other malware variants and is offered to other cybercriminal groups under the infrastructure-as-a-service model. (Becker’s Health IT and CIO Report)