'Burning Man' and Humboldt General Hospital end contract; VA accelerates deployment of new opioid tool;

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> The Department of Veterans Affairs will accelerate the deployment of the Opioid Therapy Risk Report, a state-of-the-art tool that protects patients on high doses of opioids or those with increased risk of complications from opioid use, according to an announcement from the VA. Announcement

> Burning Man, the week-long festival held every August in the Nevada desert, has ended its $500,000-a-year medical services contract with Humboldt General Hospital as it reviews its options, but neither side has mentioned imposing penalties for breaking the contract, the Reno Gazette-Journal reports. Article

> Kaci Hickox, the nurse who defied quarantines in New Jersey and Maine after treating Ebola patients in West Africa, plans to leave Maine on Friday after accepting a position with a healthcare system in Oregon, according to the San Antonio Express-News. Article

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> A new report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the Inspector General determined that the government could save billions of dollars a year if the swing beds at critical access hospitals were reimbursed at rates comparable to those of skilled nursing facilities. Article

> The cost of cancer therapies--among the most expensive in the healthcare delivery system--drive care decisions made by both patients and hospitals, but also could create tension between patients and their physicians. Article

And Finally… Another reason to be careful when you post on Facebook. Article