Becker's Hospital Review

141 FINANCE CMO / CARE DELIVERY USPS delays leave some patients without their prescriptions By Maia Anderson O perational changes at the United States Postal Ser- vice caused some patients to go without their med- ications in August as mail-order prescriptions were delayed, KHOU, a Houston-based CBS affiliate, reported. USPS said Aug. 7 that Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who started in the role in June, modified the organizational struc- ture of the postal service to "align functions based on core business operations" and "provide more clarity and focus on what the Postal Service does best: collect, process, move and deliver mail and packages." Mr. DeJoy acknowledged that the changes had "unintended consequences," CNN reported. e restructuring slowed de- liveries and limited the postal service's capacity. A Texas man told KHOU that delivery delays caused him to go a week without his daily heart medication. He said he tracked his package and it sat at a mail-processing facility in north Houston for 10 days. e Veterans Affairs Department began requiring medica- tions to be mailed three years ago, and some veterans are now seeing delays in their prescriptions, KSFM 5News, a local news station in Northwest Arkansas, reported. Veteran Greg Carney told 5News that his prescriptions tend to either get put in the wrong mailbox at his apartment com- plex, or they don't show up. "I would finally get the medication weeks, up to three weeks later, at the rental office, but that takes control of my health- care at home away from me by virtue of unreliability," he said. e American College of Physicians released a statement saying: "A delay in receiving a necessary prescription could be life-threatening. My patients who rely on their insulin, or their inhalers, or any other type of medication can't wait weeks to see whether or not their prescription will be de- livered. Mail-order prescriptions can be particularly import- ant in rural areas where the local pharmacy may be a long distance away ... Any prescription medication can only be as effective as a patient's ability to access it. We need to ensure that patients can continue to rely on the U.S. Postal Service to receive their critical medications." USPS released a statement saying: "e Postal Service is flexing its available resources to match the workload creat- ed by the impacts of the ongoing Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. We appreciate the patience of our custom- ers and apologize for any inconvenience that may have been experienced." n Couple alleges Florida hospital lost body of newborn baby By Molly Gamble A Florida couple alleged St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa lost the body of their newborn son, who died three days after his birth, according to the Tampa Bay Times. Kathryn and Travis Wilson accused the BayCare Health System hospital of negligence and reckless infliction of emotional dis- tress. They seek more than $30,000 in damages. The Tampa Bay Times reported that the lawsuit stated their son, Jacob, was born Feb. 25 and died Feb. 28. St. Joseph's hired a transportation company to take his body to Orlando Regional Medical Center for an autopsy. The body returned to St. Joseph's on March 5, and the family began preparing funeral arrange- ments. On March 11, someone called the family to say the baby's body was missing. It still had not been located as of Aug. 7. In a statement cited by the Tampa Bay Times, BayCare said the hospital has "investigated all avenues and fully cooperated in all search efforts" to find the body. "Our heartfelt sympathy goes out to the Wilsons for the loss of their child," the statement said. "We also deeply regret not being able to account for the remains. St. Joseph's leadership and all personnel in our morgues are committed that this unforeseen sit- uation will not happen again." n $1M gift creates COVID-19 staff morale fund at UC San Francisco By Anuja Vaidya T he University of California San Francisco received a $1 mil- lion gift to establish a COVID-19 morale support fund for faculty and staff. The COVID-19 Faculty and Staff Morale Support Fund will pro- vide grants of up to $5,000 for activities that focus on well-be- ing, including remote yoga classes or fitness challenges, semi- nars on parenting, and community-building initiatives. The fund will also expand the resources available through the UCSF Employee Coping and Resiliency Program, which pro- vides access to resources for employees coping with pandem- ic-related anxiety and stress. "This gift is a tangible recognition of how important the well-being and morale of our faculty and staff members is to our ability to care for patients," said Beth Harleman, MD, asso- ciate chair for faculty experience in the university's department of medicine. n

• Cover