Today’s NewsStand

Today’s NewsStand

By siglerr|
|May 30, 2023

Iowa news

Iowa nursing homes got more funding from lawmakers to stem rampant closures. Will it help?

After an increase in nursing home closures across Iowa driven by months of severe workforce shortages and rising inflation, industry officials say additional appropriations from state lawmakers this year will be a boon for struggling facilities. Since January of last year, 24 nursing homes in Iowa have permanently closed or announced plans to do so soon. That includes six facilities that have closed this year or will close later this year. In all, Iowa has a little more than 400 nursing homes remaining. (Des Moines Register)

Jamieson named VP for medical affairs, Carver College of Medicine dean

Denise Jamieson, the James Robert McCord professor and chair of the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics at Emory University School of Medicine and chief of gynecology and obstetrics for Emory Healthcare, has been named vice president for medical affairs and dean of the Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine at the University of Iowa. She will begin Aug. 1. Jamieson succeeds Brooks Jackson, who announced in February 2022 his plan to return to faculty and pursue his research after his successor was hired. (IowaNow)

Report ranks Iowa 20th in nation for senior health

A new report has ranked Iowa 20th in the nation for senior health. The 11th annual America’s Health Rankings report by the United Healthcare Foundation looks at over 50 factors that affect seniors’ health. It found Iowa seniors have low rates of frequent mental distress and food insecurity. But Archana Dubey, the chief medical officer at United Healthcare, said Iowa still lags behind the national average in some important categories such as access to high-speed internet and the number of geriatric health care providers. (Iowa Public Radio)

National news

Committee advances bills to expand site-neutral payment cuts, delay Medicaid DSH cuts, add reporting requirements for 340B hospitals

The House Energy and Commerce Committee voted 49-0 to advance H.R. 3561. As amended, this legislation would impose billions of dollars a year in additional site-neutral payment reductions to services provided in off-campus hospital outpatient departments. The proposed reductions fail to account for the fundamental differences between hospital-based outpatient departments and other ambulatory care sites, would exacerbate Medicare’s chronic failure to cover the cost of care and would threaten beneficiary access to quality care. (American Hospital Association)

U.S. security agencies update ransomware, data-extortion prevention best practices and response checklist

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Security Agency, and Multistate Information Sharing and Analysis Center released a comprehensive guide that includes resources about ransomware and data-extortion prevention best practices and a response checklist for critical infrastructure organizations such as hospitals and health systems. It also provides tips about threat hunting, preventing common initial infection vectors, cloud backups and zero-trust architecture. (Industrial Cyber)

U.S. progress in HIV fight continues to trail many other rich nations

New HIV infections continue to ebb only modestly in the U.S. while many other wealthy Western nations have posted steep reductions thanks to more successful efforts overseas to promptly diagnose and treat the virus and promote the HIV prevention pill, PrEP. The U.S. remains so far behind in combating HIV because of the nation’s lack of a national health care system and sexual-health clinic network, fragmented and underfunded public health systems, and poorer synchronization between government, academia, health care and community-based organizations. These experts also pointed to factors such as racism, inadequate adoption of evidence-based treatment for opioid-use disorder, state laws criminalizing HIV exposure and medical mistrust in people of color. (NBC News)

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