Healthcare Roundup—Dignity Health, CHI to become CommonSpirit Health

Dignity Health, Catholic Health Initiatives to become CommonSpirit Health 

Dignity Health and Catholic Health Initiatives have chosen a name for their planned joint health system: CommonSpirit Health. 

The two systems announced late last year that they intended to merge and form the country’s largest Catholic health system. The deal has also been approved by the Vatican

Dignity and CHI parsed through more than 1,200 possible names for their new unified health system and settled on CommonSpirit as it reflects both system’s faith-based mission and the spirit of team members working together to provide care. 

“It was important that our name could provide a connection between all people: our employees, physicians, patients, families and neighbors alike,” Dignity CEO Lloyd Dean said. “CommonSpirit does just that.” (Announcement

Azar touts HHS’ regulatory rollbacks in speech 

Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said in a speech that the agency is leading the way in President Donald Trump’s call to roll back red tape. 

The White House set a goal for federal agencies to eliminate two regulations for each new one they institute. Azar told the Federal Society’s Annual Lawyers Convention that HHS has taken five deregulatory actions for each new regulation it rolled out. 

He said that the regulatory changes have saved physicians 53 million hours of paperwork. 

“Regulation is one of the most significant sources of unintended consequences,” Azar said. (Speech

Public health experts concerned about impacts of smoke form California wildfires 

Californians are taking steps to prevent smoke inhalation—such as staying indoors—as wildfires rage in the state, but public health experts warn that the smoke’s impacts may be unavoidable. 

Short-term exposure to the smoke can exacerbate asthma and other lung problems and is especially dangerous for children and the elderly. As the state’s wildfire season grows longer, experts say that precautions need to be taken for prolonged exposure. 

Researchers are also working to differentiate between symptoms causes by wildfire smoke and symptoms caused instead by the smog that’s common in California’s urban areas. (The Associated Press