Featuring hospital and health care headlines from the media and the web.
Iowa news
Mathews named CFO of UnityPoint Health-Des Moines
UnityPoint Health-Des Moines announced that Tom Mathews has been named chief financial officer for the organization, effective Aug. 17. He fills the position previously held by Michael Dewerff, who was named CFO of Bryan Health in Lincoln, Neb. Mathews was formerly vice president of finance for Mercy Health in Joplin, Mo., where he had responsibility for the southwest Missouri/Kansas region for that system. (Business Record)
IDPH reports state COVID-19 deaths top 1,000
The Iowa Department of Public Health’s website shows more than 1,000 Iowans have now died from COVID-19. Sixteen more deaths have been reported as well as 580 new cases of the virus diagnosed. The new numbers reflect testing reported on the website over the 24 hours between 10 am Tuesday and 10 am Wednesday. The IDPH still hasn’t publicly acknowledged a glitch in its reporting of the numbers that was discovered by an Iowa City nurse practitioner, which skewed the number of confirmed cases. It’s also unclear whether the numbers are affected by an underreporting of negative tests at a clinic in Webster County. (WHO-TV)
Broadlawns announces completion of $31M expansion; virtual open house set
Broadlawns Medical Center officials announced that construction is complete on its new hospital floor, and that the new medical-surgical, intensive care and birthing center units will be populated with patients beginning Monday, Aug. 24. Construction on the 41,900-square-foot addition to the hospital’s Sands Building began in November 2018. The completion of the $31 million expansion project provides private medical-surgical suites, a state-of-the-art ICU and 10 labor, delivery, recovery and postpartum suites at the hospital, located at 1801 Hickman Road in Des Moines. (Business Record)
National news
Who helps the helpers? Why health care workers need ’emotional PPE’
As an emergency room nurse, Kristin Dorow thought she understood the complexities of her job. Each shift brought a different, and sometimes exciting, challenge but she felt adept at quickly assessing and treating a patient. When COVID-19 patients started flooding her Austin, Texas area hospital, work — and life — started getting tougher. (Today.com)
Sound security practices key to fulfilling telehealth’s promise, study shows
More than 70% of respondents polled by cybersecurity firm CynergisTek say they’ll keep using telehealth services, even once the pandemic subsides. But they also say privacy and data security are big concerns – and that breaches involving virtual care technologies could cause them to stop using telehealth or switch physicians. (Healthcare IT News)
Pandemic won’t be contained until June 2021, half of physicians say
The Physicians Foundation’s 2020 Survey of America’s Physicians finds that most physicians believe COVID-19 won’t be under control by January 2021, with nearly half not seeing the virus being under control until after June 1, 2021. Furthermore, most physicians believe that the virus will severely affect patient health outcomes because of delayed routine care during the pandemic. (PhysiciansFoundation.org)