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Scott Becker - 10 Healthcare News Stories We Are Following Today 1-26-26 · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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  This is Scott Becker with the Becker's Healthcare
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  Podcast.
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  These are 10 health care stories that we're
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  following today, and thank you for listening to
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  the Becker's Healthcare Podcast.
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  I'd love your feedback on this podcast.
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  Feel free at any time to text Scott
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  Becker
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  at (773)
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  766-5322,
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  whether the content's helpful, whether the sound is
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  okay. And quite frank, if you're the first
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  person to text (773)
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  766-5322,
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  we'll send you a $50 gift certificate for
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  thanking us, for giving us comments on the
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  the sound quality, and the content. Thank you
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  so much for listening.
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  So here are 10 stories that we're following
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  today at Becker's HealthCare.
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  First, oncology's bedrock remains the same.
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  This is a story that comes out of
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  a podcast that we did with doctor Frederick
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  Green, and and doctor Green
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  is one of the key oncologists
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  that was in the world of setting up
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  the staging of cancer. So when you get
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  cancer or someone in your family gets cancer,
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  you learn about stages one, two, three, four
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  with one being
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  the least scary and four being the scariest.
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  And doctor Green himself spent a lot of
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  his career in the middle of developing these
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  standards. It's remarkable to talk to doctor Green.
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  The podcast is at Becker's Health Care. Again,
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  doctor Frederick Green. He's with the Levine Cancer
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  Center, which is part of the Advocate Health
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  System today.
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  Second,
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  US hospitals brace for massive winter storms.
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  That's again a a a story that we're
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  following throughout the country this week.
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  US hospital storm for big storms.
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  Brace for massive storms.
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  Third,
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  Cedars Sinai, it's a 30,000,000
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  gift for a specialized cancer center.
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  Again, what we're against seeing in health care
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  is more and more dollars moving towards big
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  ticket areas like orthopedics,
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  oncology, and heart disease.
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  It seems like when everything new is getting
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  built on a campus, it's often related to
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  these three areas to one of these three
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  areas.
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  Fourth, common spirit health in talks to sell
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  sever their hospitals.
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  Again, an effort by a major system to
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  get their footprint right,
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  and to keep their their their total size
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  in in the right spot and be in
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  markets where they could really be strong.
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  Fifth,
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  Pennsylvania
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  Hospital to reopen
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  with operational discipline under new ownership. And, again,
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  this is the Crozer Chester Health Center,
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  that had closed down, after being bought by
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  a private equity fund. Now a new investors
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  come in, and let's hope they can make
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  this work. We'll see how it goes.
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  Sixth, a discussion about the $50,000,000,000
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  federal funds going to rural hospitals.
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  Rural hospitals
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  assert
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  that they're not listening to any of the
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  recommendations coming from rural hospitals,
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  and we'll see how this all plays out.
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  Again, we'll see if it actually has any
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  impact or positive impact on rural health care.
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  Very tough nut to crack is is essentially
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  we need more doctors and nurses in rural
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  areas, and not enough doctors and nurses wanna
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  move back to rural areas.
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  Seventh,
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  a discussion about how one hospital
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  set a cap,
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  a maximum cap of four to one nurse
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  to patient ratios.
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  And and I love this, not because it's
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  it's
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  it's a sign of the reality of trying
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  to stamp things well with the right level
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  of nursing help, the right level of PA
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  help, the right level of everything help,
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  but not being
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  sort of chasing
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  high staffing
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  ratios,
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  when they don't necessarily make the difference. We
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  all wanna be well staffed enough, but this
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  is basically signing up it's putting a line
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  in the sand that need to hit it
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  hit the right balance,
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  on staffing and and not to sort of,
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  overstaff or hopefully understaff.
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  Eighth, a story about community health systems, and
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  this is similar to the discussion about common
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  spirit health.
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  Community health systems has now shared 41 hospitals
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  since 2020
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  in an effort to get much more,
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  much leaner and get some of their debt
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  paid down.
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  Ninth, one of the huge growth stories over
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  the last ten to twenty years is Prime
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  Healthcare. They're in the process of acquiring their
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  ninth Illinois Hospital, and we cover that at
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  Becker's Healthcare.
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  Finally, tenth is an article by Kristen Kuchno,
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  which which goes through the highest call by
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  different specialties,
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  neurosurgeons at the top of the call list.
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  But, again, a a constant issue now. We're
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  also hearing more and more about smaller and
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  larger surgery centers having to pay subsidies for
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  anesthesia. I know a very different issue than
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  qual, but, again, speaks to the same thing.
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  Shortages of physicians
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  requiring health systems to pay for qual,
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  and all kinds of surgical types of locations
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  having to pay for anesthesia coverage.
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  Again, these are 10 of the stories that
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  we're following
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  this week at Becker's Healthcare. Thank you so
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  much for listening to the Becker's Healthcare podcast.
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  We'd love your feedback,
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  both on content
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  and on sound quality.
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  I also would love your feedback. My guess
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  is I'm talking a little bit too quickly
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  today. Would love to hear your feedback on
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  all of that. If you're the first person
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  to pay your feedback to Scott Becker at
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  (773)
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  766-5322,
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  we'd love to provide you an Amazon gift
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  certificate for $50. Thank you for listening to
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  the Becker's Healthcare podcast.