Hospitals Roundup—Baltimore, hospitals team up on new opioid initiative; NIH finally launches All of Us campaign

Baltimore, city hospitals team up on fighting opioid crisis

Baltimore hospitals will have new incentives for better addressing the opioid crisis—and sharing best practices with their counterparts across the city—under a new initiative announced by the city's top officials Monday.

Baltimore's 11 hospitals have agreed to participate in the program centered around identifying certain levels of responses to the opioid epidemic and recognizing hospitals that successfully implement them, the city said in a release. The effort was announced by Baltimore Mayor Catherine E. Pugh and Baltimore City Health Commissioner Leana Wen, M.D. 

The program design is based on a similar effort in Rhode Island, where overdose deaths declined in 2017.

Hospitals will be scored on their ability to provide treatment to patients who screen positive for addiction and distribute naloxone to patients. They will also be scored based on how well they connect patients with support services and ensure physicians are prescribing opioids appropriately.

Already, Baltimore has issued a standing order that provides a blanket prescription of naloxone to all city residents and announced plans to launch the state’s first stabilization center, which is a place for individuals who are under the influence to sober up and receive short-term medical and social interventions, by spring 2019.

(FierceHealthcare)

NIH: All of Us precision medicine project finally ready for prime time

Two Colorado nurses received prison time this week after being found guilty of stealing pain drugs from patients at the hospitals where they worked, The Denver Post reported this week.

Those nurses had already lost jobs elsewhere for similar behavior, The Post reported.  

“These nurses put their patients at risk so they could get high. For that they will go to prison,” said U.S. Attorney Bob Troyer in a statement. “Patients place enormous trust in their healthcare providers.  Caregivers who betray that trust will pay with their own freedom.”

Lisa Marie Jones, 43, was sentenced to 14 months in prison after pleading guilty to stealing fentanyl, morphine and hydromorphone from the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Denver and UCHealth in Aurora, Colorado, the U.S. Attorney's office said in the statement.

Marlene Gilmore, 28, was sentenced to four months in prison after she pleaded guilty to stealing those same drugs from North Colorado Medical Center in Greeley.

(Denver Post)

Ascension, Ramsay Health team up in joint purchasing venture

Catholic health giant Ascension and Australia-based Ramsay Health Care Limited, one of the largest private hospital operators in the world, are teaming up to boost their combined purchasing power.

The new global supply chain joint venture will be owned equally by Ascension and Ramsay, officials said in a statement. Ascension Holdings International and The Resource Group, Ascension’s group purchasing organization and strategic sourcing subsidiary, will work with Ramsay’s International Procurement Office to launch operations of the new buying group.

“As we looked for partners to help us improve the quality and reduce the costs of the millions of items our caregivers use to provide compassionate, personalized care, we were tremendously impressed by Ramsay Health Care, whose values and mission align closely with our own,” said Ascension's CEO Anthony Tersigni. Ramsay operates more than 230 healthcare facilities in six countries on four continents. 

(Release)