Carilion Mental Health names vice president to team leading Roanoke facility
(Augusta Free Press CIDRAP – November 30, 2023)

Lisa Sprinkel, vice president of Carilion Clinic Home Health and Hospice, has been selected to also serve as vice president of Carilion Mental Health. Carilion Mental Health is an outpatient facility offering mental health services at Tanglewood Center in Roanoke. The 37,000-square-foot facility offers addiction services, child and adolescent psychiatry, geriatric psychiatry, women’s mental health services, interventional treatment, research and development, psychology services, emergency psychiatry, telepsychiatry and help for grief and healing.

CDC: Virginia has ‘very high’ COVID-19 activity levels in wastewater
(13 News Now CIDRAP – November 30, 2023)

The Virginia Department of Health (VDH) reports cases of COVID-19 in Virginia are holding steady after the Thanksgiving holiday. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lists the Commonwealth as one of the few states with “very high” COVID-19 activity levels in the wastewater as of Saturday. The CDC said the wastewater data acts as an early warning that levels of infections may be increasing or decreasing in certain communities.

Good Mental Health: The Best Gift You Can Give Yourself This Holiday Season
(Bon Secours CIDRAP – November 30, 2023)

Watching upbeat holiday movies can only take you so far if you have the holiday blues. Though depression and anxiety can strike at any time, lots of people are more vulnerable to these feelings during the holiday season. Holiday depression statistics can be, well, depressing. In fact, studies showed the holidays negatively impacted well over half of those suffering from mental illness.

Keeping children safe with new toys this holiday season
(NBC 29 CIDRAP – November 30, 2023)

With the holiday season approaching, some gifts given to children might not be safe for them to play with. According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (USCPSC), an estimated 76,900 children were treated for a toy-related injury in 2021 across the United States. These injuries could be related to lacerations, choking and foreign objects passing through the digestive system. Leslie Harris, a registered nurse in pediatrics at Sentara RMH, said children often have no concept of the consequences children can face when swallowing a toy or other foreign object.

Minimally invasive spine surgery
(HCA Virginia CIDRAP – December 1, 2023)

If you’re considering surgery for your back or neck, minimally invasive spine surgery might offer you a faster, less painful option. Using small incisions (cuts), spine surgeons can perform many different procedures with less trauma to your body. And minimally invasive surgery often has faster recovery times. During minimally invasive spine surgery, the surgeon makes a small incision and inserts a tube to access the problem area. The surgeon then inserts their tools through the tube to work on the spine without disrupting nearby muscles and tissue.

Minimally invasive spine surgery
(HCA Virginia CIDRAP – December 1, 2023)

If you’re considering surgery for your back or neck, minimally invasive spine surgery might offer you a faster, less painful option. Using small incisions (cuts), spine surgeons can perform many different procedures with less trauma to your body. And minimally invasive surgery often has faster recovery times. During minimally invasive spine surgery, the surgeon makes a small incision and inserts a tube to access the problem area. The surgeon then inserts their tools through the tube to work on the spine without disrupting nearby muscles and tissue.

Recognizing Cognitive Dysfunction
(Augusta Health – November 30, 2023)

Cognitive dysfunction, including its more advanced form, dementia, is a highly common condition affecting approximately 8% of the population, or about 30 million people in the United States. The prevalence increases with age and is associated with other disabling conditions, decreased mobility, increased burden of other diseases, multiple medications, procedures, and hospitalizations. Dementia, in its many forms, including Alzheimer’s, vascular dementia, frontotemporal dementia, alcohol use-related dementia, and Lewy Body Dementia, is linked to the specific anatomic disordering of the brain. Dementia is a neurologic condition studied by neurologists who manage cases with the patient’s primary clinician. It had historically been regarded as a psychiatric diagnosis, and it may be hard to separate from other psychiatric diagnoses such as depression.

‘The Healing Space’ uses technology to create a place of respite for patients, families and staff
(VCU Massey Cancer Center – November 30, 2023)

A newly-opened space in VCU Health’s Adult Outpatient Pavilion offers an immersive, calming experience for patients, caregivers and staff. The Healing Space, a unique room featuring a 9-by-16-foot curved LED display wall, 13 hidden speakers and customizable lighting, is offered through VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Integrative Health department. The room is the brainchild of Massey board members and volunteer leaders Terrell Harrigan, Becky Massey and Shelly Arthur. The team envisioned the space as a place for individuals to find peace in a busy and stressful environment, and they hope the space will also be used for gatherings like support group meetings, yoga and meditation classes.

UVA Health helping to test device to treat bacterial infections in the lungs
(NBC 29 – November 30, 2023)

A new device is being tested to help treat bacterial infections in the lungs, such as pneumonia. A research team with UVA Health partnered with Qnovia, a Richmond-based pharmaceutical company, to find a way to help. Qnovia’s device offers a different way to inhale the drugs that patients can breathe in. This treatment is also meant to kill the bacteria in the lungs. “We’ve discovered a new drug candidate to treat bacterial infections and we’re hoping that we can use Qnovia’s device to aerosolizes and make into a mist that can be breathed in by a patient in order to treat pneumonia,” Matthew Crawford with UVA Health said Thursday, November 30.

UVA Health helping to test device to treat bacterial infections in the lungs
(NBC 29 – November 30, 2023)

A new device is being tested to help treat bacterial infections in the lungs, such as pneumonia. A research team with UVA Health partnered with Qnovia, a Richmond-based pharmaceutical company, to find a way to help. Qnovia’s device offers a different way to inhale the drugs that patients can breathe in. This treatment is also meant to kill the bacteria in the lungs. “We’ve discovered a new drug candidate to treat bacterial infections and we’re hoping that we can use Qnovia’s device to aerosolizes and make into a mist that can be breathed in by a patient in order to treat pneumonia,” Matthew Crawford with UVA Health said Thursday, November 30.

Connecticut: RSV vaccine shortage forces some pediatricians to ration doses as virus spreads
(The CT Mirror– November 30, 2023)

Hospitals and pediatricians are facing a “severe shortage” of a vaccine meant to protect children from respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local health officials in Connecticut. “We have requested doses and not received all of the vaccines that we’ve requested from CDC,” according to Dr. Jody Terranova, deputy commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Public Health. “It is very tough for the pediatricians’ offices,” said Terranova, a pediatrician herself. “They’re giving them out as quickly as they’re getting them.”

Illinois Supreme Court finds medical personnel exemption to biometric information privacy law
(St. Louis Public Radio – November 30, 2023)

The Illinois Supreme Court on Thursday ruled the state’s strongest-in-the-nation biometric information privacy law does have an exemption: health care workers who use fingerprints or similar scans to access things like medication, materials or patient health information. In a unanimous opinion, the justices ruled against a pair of nurses who sued their employers over their use of fingerprint-enabled medication storage – a technology many hospitals have adopted to curb abuse or theft of certain drugs. The nurses alleged their hospitals’ use of these medicine cabinets violated Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act by not properly notifying them or their colleagues when their fingerprints were collected and stored.

North Carolina Medicaid expansion kicks in
(Healthcare Dive CIDRAP – December 1, 2023)

North Carolina is the 40th state to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, following other recent expansions in Missouri, Oklahoma and South Dakota. Expanding Medicaid provides insurance to people who make too much money to qualify for traditional Medicaid, but too little to qualify for federal subsidies for plans in the ACA exchanges. Red states — traditionally leery of expanding government-funded programs — have become increasingly open to considering expansion a decade after the government gave them the option to extend Medicaid insurance to a larger share of their low-income populations. Ten states have yet to expand Medicaid: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

Brain Study Suggests Traumatic Memories Are Processed as Present Experience
(The New York Times – November 30, 2023)

At the root of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, is a memory that cannot be controlled. It may intrude on everyday activity, thrusting a person into the middle of a horrifying event, or surface as night terrors or flashbacks. Decades of treatment of military veterans and sexual assault survivors have left little doubt that traumatic memories function differently from other memories. A group of researchers at Yale University and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai set out to find empirical evidence of those differences.

Covid vaccine rates in the U.S. are slumping — and it will be a challenge to boost them
(CNBC – November 30, 2023)

Covid shot uptake is slumping, and vaccine makers and health experts believe vaccination rates in 2024 and beyond will likely look similar to the uptake of the latest round of shots this year. The bigger uncertainty appears to be whether rates could increase down the line — and what would cause more people to roll up their sleeves. What experts and vaccine makers can agree on is that low vaccination rates put more people at risk of getting severe Covid infections.

Healthcare-associated infections fell at US hospitals in 2022, report says
(CIDRAP – December 1, 2023)

New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show significant declines in healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) at US acute care hospitals in 2022. According to the CDC’s 2022 National and State Healthcare-Associated Infections Progress Report, which includes data from more than 38,000 US healthcare facilities, acute care hospitals saw a 19% decrease in ventilator-associated events from 2021 to 2022, a 16% decrease in hospital-onset methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia, a 12% decrease in catheter-associated urinary tract infections, a 9% decrease in central line–associated bloodstream infections, and a 3% decrease in hospital-onset Clostridioides difficile (CDI) infections. On the state level, 31 states performed better on at least 2 infections types in 2022 compared with 2021, 17 saw improvements in at least 3 infection types, and 6 on at least 4 HAIs.

Insurers Cigna and Humana reportedly in talks to merge
(Healthcare Finance News – November 30, 2023)

Major insurers Humana and Cigna are exploring a possible merger that could exceed $60 billion in value, and would create a company worth about $140 billion based on each companies’ respective market value as of Wednesday morning. According to The Wall Street Journal, a stock-and-cash deal between Cigna and Humana could be finalized before the end of the year, aided by limited business overlap between the two companies, which entails mostly Medicare Advantage plans. The likely reason for the proposed merger appears to be scale: A combined company would rival the size of giants such as UnitedHealth Group and CVS Health. WSJ reported that Cigna would be able to combine its strong commercial insurance and sizable pharmacy benefit unit, which manages drug plans, with Humana’s clout in Medicare.

New study reinforces skin-to-skin contact is critical for premature babies
(Good Morning America – November 30, 2023)

For babies born prematurely, early skin-to-skin contact may have significant health benefits, according to a new study. The study, published Thursday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that premature babies who were held close to their mother or father’s skin right after birth showed better communication, social skills and more positive interaction with their mothers at 4 months compared to those who were placed in an incubator. Crucially, premature babies benefit the most from skin-to-skin contact right after birth, the study suggested.

People with congenital heart disease are living longer — but facing new threat of heart failure
(STAT News – December 1, 2023)

When Jennifer Case was living in Los Angeles in her early 30s, she was hospitalized 11 times. She had been born with two rare heart abnormalities, Ebstein anomaly and Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. Her parents were told that she probably wouldn’t live. She did live. But by her 30s, she had also developed heart failure, a condition in which the heart can’t pump blood throughout the body properly. She had dizziness and swelling in her legs, and at one point during work, she fainted. She visited three different hospitals with her full history of medical records in hand, but none of the cardiologists thought that serious intervention was needed. Case eventually traveled to Minnesota to see specialists at the Mayo Clinic. They came to a different conclusion than the LA doctors — that one of her critical valves was severely leaking. She had emergency open heart surgery to replace the valve.

Pneumonia rates in U.S. “typical,” despite reported spikes: CDC
(CNN Health – December 1, 2023)

Despite reported spikes of pneumonia cases among kids in two states, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says U.S. transmission rates are still considered “typical” for this time of year. Health officials in Massachusetts and Ohio have reported a sharp uptick in pediatric pneumonia caused by the bacteria Mycoplasma pneumonia, often the cause of what’s known as “walking pneumonia” because of its typically mild symptoms. It comes amid reports that hospitals in China, as well as some European nations like Denmark, have been overwhelmed by a surge in childhood pneumonia and other respiratory illnesses.

The threat of respiratory illnesses is underway, CDC director says, and hospitalizations are on the rise
(CNN Health – November 30, 2023)

Dr. Mandy Cohen, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, updated a congressional subcommittee Thursday about cases of respiratory illness in the US due to three viruses: flu, the coronavirus and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV. “RSV season is in full swing,” Cohen told the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. “Flu season is just beginning across most of the country, though accelerating fast, and while we’re seeing relatively low levels of Covid, Covid is still the primary cause of new respiratory hospitalizations and deaths, with about 15,000 hospitalizations and about 1,000 deaths every single week,” she said.

What is ‘White Lung Syndrome,’ the Ohio child pneumonia outbreak?
(The Hill – December 1, 2023)

An outbreak of pediatric pneumonia cases in Ohio is causing concern among parents worried that the spread of the illness is linked to a surge in similar cases in China and other countries around the globe. Ohio is the first state in the U.S. to report an outbreak of the illness, with an “extremely high” number of children being hospitalized. The strain of pneumonia, dubbed “white lung syndrome,” has spawned 142 pediatric cases in Ohio’s Warren County since August of this year, according to a press release from the Warren County Health District (WCHD).

Anthony Fauci to Testify in House on Covid-19 Pandemic’s Origins, U.S. Response
(The Wall Street Journal – November 30, 2023) SUBSCRIPTION REQUIRED

After months of negotiations, former chief White House medical adviser Anthony Fauci has agreed to testify in Congress on the U.S. response to the Covid-19 pandemic and the virus’s origins in China. The testimony by Fauci, who led the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases from 1984 until last year, will be his first before the Republican-controlled House.

Investors see opportunity in high-needs Medicaid market
(Modern Healthcare – November 30, 2023) SUBSCRIPTION REQUIRED

A cooling market for Medicare Advantage has some investors seeing opportunities in Medicaid. Investors have long been drawn to Medicare Advantage, but that segment has become crowded, dominated by a handful of big companies and less appealing amid regulatory changes. At the same time, states have invited innovation by creating incentives to attract companies willing to take on high-risk Medicaid beneficiaries.

Medicare Advantage Increasingly Popular With Seniors — But Not Hospitals and Doctors
(KFF Health News – November 29, 2023)

A hospital system in Georgia. Two medical groups in San Diego. Another in Louisville, Kentucky, and nearly one-third of Nebraska hospitals. Across the country, health care providers are refusing to accept some Medicare Advantage plans — even as the coverage offered by commercial insurers increasingly displaces the traditional government program for seniors and people with disabilities. As of this year, commercial insurers have enticed just over half of all Medicare beneficiaries — or nearly 31 million people — to sign up for their plans instead of traditional Medicare. The plans typically include drug coverage as well as extras like vision and dental benefits, many at low or even zero additional monthly premiums compared with traditional Medicare. But even as enrollment soars, so too has friction between insurers and the doctors and hospitals they pay to care for beneficiaries. Increasingly, according to experts who watch insurance markets, hospital and medical groups are bristling at payment rates Medicare Advantage plans impose and at what they say are onerous requirements for preapproval to deliver care and too many after-the-fact denials of claims.