Stay in the know with Becker's Hospital Review's weekly roundup of the nation's biggest healthcare news. Here's what you need to know this week.
1. Trump, Clinton's healthcare plans would achieve opposite results, studies find
Voters know Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton's healthcare plans are dramatically different, but they may not realize just how distinct they are: A pair of studies conducted by Rand Corp., and released by The Commonwealth Fund suggests the candidates' plans would achieve almost opposite outcomes.
2. Pressure mounts in Allina strike with nurses set to lose health coverage Oct. 1
Striking Allina Health nurses could lose their health insurance coverage Oct. 1, reports Pioneer Press.
3. Mylan CEO defends price hikes during heated EpiPen hearing: 5 takeaways
Members of Congress grilled Mylan CEO Heather Bresch with questions about the high price of EpiPens during her Wednesday hearing with the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, according to The New York Times.
4. Chinese billionaire ups stake in CHS for $31.9M
Chinese billionaire Tianqiao Chen has a more than 12.9 percent stake in Community Health Systems after recently buying nearly 3.5 million more shares of the Franklin, Tenn.-based for-profit hospital operator, according to a recent Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
5. Yahoo confirms 500M users affected in 2014 breach
Yahoo confirmed Thursday that it was struck with a data breach in 2014 that resulted in user account information being stolen from the company's network.
6. Banner Health algorithm unintentionally forecasts which patients are most likely to die
In 2009, a team of researchers at Phoenix-based Banner Health set out to create an algorithm that would warn providers when patients were most at risk for contracting sepsis. The algorithm didn't work, but the failure had an unexpected result, reports BuzzFeed News.
7. 3 Penn Medicine heart patients infected by heater-cooler devices, hundreds to be notified
Three patients who underwent heart surgery at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center in Philadelphia are being treated for nontuberculous mycobacterium infections contracted from contaminated heater-cooler machines used during surgery. A fourth patient tested positive for the bacteria, but has not displayed signs of infection. According The Philadelphia Inquirer, the addition of the three patients brings the total of such infections in the state of Pennsylvania to 20.
8. Wisconsin ACO lays off 40% of staff
Integrated Health Network of Wisconsin, an accountable care organization based in Brookfield, laid of 21 employees as a result of a decision to shift certain functions from ACO administrators to participating healthcare organizations, according to the Milwaukee Business Journal.
9. Down the rabbit hole at Epic: 9 key points from the Users Group Meeting
Close to 18,000 people gathered at Epic Systems' headquarters in Verona, Wis., this week for the vendor's annual Users Group Meeting. Hospital and health system leaders shared their experiences with Epic's platform, and Epic leaders discussed new developments and offerings in its software suite. This idea of collaborating to build on successes, and doing so with a humanitarian mindset, was the underlying theme of Tuesday morning's executive address, delivered by Epic founder and CEO Judy Faulkner.
10. Boston Children's 2014 hacker explains why he did it
In April 2014, Boston Children's Hospital was struck with a series of cyberattacks attempting to infiltrate and crash the hospital's website by overwhelming its capacity. The cyberattacks were in response to a high-profile case involving a 15-year-old patient in which the court took away parental custody, citing medical child abuse. Now, the mastermind behind the attack has spoken out, detailing why he initiated the attack.