Becker's Hospital Review

77 FINANCE CMO / CARE DELIVERY North Carolina hospital loses physicians after contract negotiations By Ayla Ellison A t least 55 physicians have decided to part ways with Asheville, N.C.- based Mission Health since it was acquired by Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare in February 2019, according to a Feb. 23 report from TV station WLOS. Transylvania Regional Hospital in Brevard, N.C., part of Mission, saw a "good majori- ty" of its physicians leave aer contractual negotiations, one of the hospital's executives said in January, according to e Transylva- nia Times. At least 16 physicians have not renewed their contracts but are still medical staff at the hospital, an HCA spokesperson told Becker's Hospital Review. e hospital has 270 active medical staff. e physicians are leaving Transylvania Regional Hospital aer being offered con- tracts with 10 percent to 25 percent pay cuts, according to WLOS. Financial compensation isn't the only reason physicians are leaving the system. One phy- sician told e Transylvania Times in Febru- ary that expectations of HCA and physicians have diverged. However, he said the company has supported physicians who have decided to leave the system and facilitated record transfer requests in the interest of patients. Regarding the physician departures, Mission Health released the following statement to Becker's Hospital Review: "As with any organization, employee con- tracts are confidential. rough our con- tracts with our employed physicians, Mission Health seeks to support our focus on patient care while compensating our physicians at fair market value. While most Mission Health physicians were offered new employ- ment contracts, some have chosen to pursue other options." Mission said it is actively recruiting to fill any anticipated vacancies. HCA declined to comment to Becker's earlier in February about how many physicians are leaving Mission and why they decided to part ways with the system. n Avoid painkillers before getting COVID-19 vaccine, experts say By Maia Anderson P eople should avoid taking pain relievers such as ibuprofen right before getting a COVID-19 vac- cine, which may affect the body's immune response, experts told USA Today. The CDC and World Health Organization both recommend against the preventive use of pain relievers before getting a vaccine, USA Today reported Jan. 29. But the organiza- tions say it's fine to take pain relievers after getting a vac- cine if symptoms develop. A study published in the Journal of Virology found that non- steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as ibuprofen, can reduce the production of antibodies. Pain relievers may reduce inflammation triggered by the immune system, ac- cording to USA Today. A 2016 study from Duke University found children who took pain relievers before getting various vaccines had fewer antibodies than those who didn't, USA Today reported. But there haven't been enough studies to draw a defini- tive conclusion on painkillers' effects on vaccine efficacy. There's no data showing a reduced immune response if pa- tients take painkillers after getting a vaccine, experts told USA Today. n Saliva test may predict COVID-19 severity, Yale researchers say By Mackenzie Bean S aliva tests are not only a less invasive way to screen for COVID-19, but could also be a predictor of which patients will develop severe cases, according to research from the Yale School of Medicine in New Ha- ven, Conn., published Feb. 15. Researchers found a correlation between virus levels in a person's saliva and increasing disease severity. The presence of the virus in saliva means it's also likely got- ten into a patient's lungs, where COVID-19 can cause the most damage, according to lead study author Akiko Iwasaki, PhD, an immunologist at Yale School of Medi- cine. This information could help physicians identify patients who would benefit from early treatments like monoclonal antibodies. The FDA granted a Yale-developed saliva test emergen- cy use authorization in August 2020, but the test is still only being used in select labs. Yale's research was published on the preprint medical server medRXiv in January and has not been peer re- viewed. Researchers said they hope other organizations will conduct more work to support their findings to pave the way for FDA approval, which would make the test more widely available. n

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