Go to Blogger edit html and find these sentences.Now replace these sentences with your own descriptions.This theme is Bloggerized by Lasantha Bandara - Premiumbloggertemplates.com.
Go to Blogger edit html and find these sentences.Now replace these sentences with your own descriptions.This theme is Bloggerized by Lasantha Bandara - Premiumbloggertemplates.com.
Go to Blogger edit html and find these sentences.Now replace these sentences with your own descriptions.This theme is Bloggerized by Lasantha Bandara - Premiumbloggertemplates.com.
Go to Blogger edit html and find these sentences.Now replace these sentences with your own descriptions.This theme is Bloggerized by Lasantha Bandara - Premiumbloggertemplates.com.
Go to Blogger edit html and find these sentences.Now replace these sentences with your own descriptions.This theme is Bloggerized by Lasantha Bandara - Premiumbloggertemplates.com.
Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa underwent additional testing Friday and remained in the concussion protocol a day after hitting his head against the turf during a game, a frightening moment that has sparked controversy about how the league handles potential head injuries.
Tagovailoa had a headache Thursday night and Friday morning, Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said. The team was waiting still for results from the MRI, which McDaniel said was done out of “extra precaution” on top of the CT scans and X-rays taken the night before.
McDaniel said he had no timetable on when Tagovailoa might be able to return.
“I’m not even really thinking about timetables or anything regarding him as a player right now,” McDaniel said. “It’s all about Tua the person.”
Medical staff tend to quarterback Tua Tagovailoa of the Miami Dolphins after an injury during a game against the Cincinnati Bengals at Paycor Stadium on Sept. 29, 2022 in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Getty Images
Tagovailoa tweeted a statement Friday evening, thanking fans for their support.
“It was difficult to not be able to finish the game and be there with my teammates, but I am grateful for the support and care I’ve received from the Dolphins, my friends and family, and all the people who have reached out,” he said. “I’m feeling much better and focused on recovering so I can get back out on the field with my teammates.”
Tagovailoa was sacked by Bengals defensive tackle Josh Topou late in the first half Thursday. On the play, he spun awkwardly and was thrown to the turf. While on the ground, Tagovailoa appeared to display the fencing response, with his fingers frozen in front of his face.
He remained down for more than seven minutes before being loaded onto a backboard and stretchered off the field. He was taken to University of Cincinnati Medical Center for evaluation.
The Dolphins later said he was conscious and had movement in all of his extremities. He was discharged Thursday night and flew back to Miami with the team.
McDaniel said Tagovailoa was interacting with teammates on the flight home. He sat next to McDaniel and talked to him about the game.
“His personality was normal Tua,” McDaniel added.
It was unclear what is next for Tagovailoa, whose breakout season has been interrupted by a scary injury two weeks after he threw a career-high six touchdowns in Week 2 against Baltimore.
Last Sunday against Buffalo, Tagovailoa took a hit from Bills linebacker Matt Milano late in the first half and appeared to hit his head on the turf. He stumbled when he got up and was immediately taken to the locker room, where he was evaluated for a concussion. He returned to the game at the start of the third quarter and was not in the concussion protocol the following week, despite questions about why he was allowed to return to the game at all.
The Sunday incident prompted the NFL and National Football League Players Association to jointly review the extent of his injuries and if the Dolphins followed proper concussion protocol that day.
“Ninety-nine point nine percent of the time that player is ruled out of the game without even thinking,” CEO of the Concussion Legacy Foundation Chris Nowinski told “CBS Mornings” co-host Nate Burleson.
Nowinski, a neuroscientist, said that the Dolphins put Tagovailoa’s life in danger and failed to protect him.
“This is a failure by everybody. This is a failure by the medical team. This is a failure by the independent medical team on Sunday. This is a failure by the coaching staff. The problem is all these failures, none of them are going to be punished. The person who is punished here is Tua,” Nowinski said.
The results of the joint investigation between the NFL and the NFLPA have not yet been released, but Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel is adamant that the Dolphins followed proper protocols last Sunday.
“If there’s any sort of inclination that someone has a concussion, they go into concussion protocol, and it’s very strict. As long as I’m the head coach that will never be an issue that you guys have to worry about,” McDaniel said.
The NFLPA tweeted Thursday night: “Player health and safety is at the core of the union’s mission. Our concern tonight is for Tua and we hope for a full and speedy recovery. Our investigation into the potential protocol violation is ongoing.”
McDaniel reiterated Friday that Tagovailoa was cleared by several layers of medical professionals during that game and said he did not have a head injury.
“My job as a coach is here for the players. I take that very serious,” McDaniel said. “And no one else in the building strays from that.”
He added: “There was no medical indication from all resources that there was anything regarding the head. If there would have been, of course, I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself if I prematurely put someone out there.”
Reaction Thursday came swiftly from around the NFL. Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and Broncos QB Russell Wilson promptly tweeted with concern for Tagovailoa’s well-being.
“Praying for you Tua,” Wilson wrote.
Some criticized the decision to play Tagovailoa so soon after his injuries in Sunday’s game.
Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh called the situation “astonishing.”
“I couldn’t believe what I saw last night,” Harbaugh told reporters Friday. “I couldn’t believe what I saw last Sunday. It was just something that was astonishing to see, and I’ve been coaching for 40 years…I’ve never seen anything like it before.”
Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe tweeted: “That’s a serious injury . Tua shouldn’t have been out there with Sunday Thursday turn around. Sometimes players need protecting from themselves. Dolphins failed Tua.”
Brie and Camembert cheeses sold at retailers nationwide and in Mexico are being recalled due to a multistate listeria outbreak that has sickened six people, hospitalizing five of them, federal officials say.
Friday’s recall by Benton Harbor, Michigan-based Old Europe Cheese involves all of its Brie and Camembert products with “best by” dates through December 14, 2022, the company stated in a notice posted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (See here for a detailed list of the recalled products, which involve more than 20 brands.)
The recalled cheeses were sold at supermarkets from August 1, 2022, through September 28, 2022. Those retailers likely included Albertsons, Athenian Foods, Fresh Thyme, Giant Foods, Harding’s, Lidl, Market Basket, Meijer, Price Chopper, Raley’s, Safeway, Save Mart, Sprouts, Stop & Shop and Whole Foods, the company said.
Image of one cheese product recalled on Friday by Old Europe Cheese of Benton Harbor, Michigan.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
The FDA cautioned against eating any of the recalled cheeses in light of an outbreak of listeria infections in California, Georgia, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey and Texas. Of the five people who provided information to the FDA, four reported eating Brie or Camembert cheese before becoming ill, said the agency, which is investigating the outbreak along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Listeria infections can cause serious and sometimes fatal illness in young children, frail or elderly people, or others with weakened immune systems, according to the CDC. Healthy people may experience symptoms like high fever, severe headache and stomach pain. The organism can also cause miscarriages and stillbirths.
An estimated 1,600 Americans get listeriosis each year, and about 260 die, according to the CDC.
Federal safety regulators have recalled a slew of residential elevators over the years because of potentially deadly risks to children, and September is proving to be a case in point, with three such recalls issued this month alone.
All three recalls involve a problem that is relatively inexpensive to fix with space guards or electronic monitoring devices that deactivate the elevators after a child is detected in a gap between the inner and outer doors, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
One of the recalls involves some of 15,200 residential elevators made by Custom Elevator, more than a year after a child was crushed to death after being trapped in one of the products, according to the agency and the company.
The 7-year-old died in an elevator at a beach rental home in North Carolina’s Outer Banks in July 2021. Found between the bottom of the elevator car and the home’s upper door frame, the boy’s neck was crushed after he apparently became trapped between the moving elevator’s inner accordion door and outer door. The death prompted the CPSC to urge Airbnb and other vacation rental platforms to take steps to protect young children from certain residential elevators.
The Custom Elevator recall, announced Thursday, is specific to elevators used in people’s homes and made by the Plumsteadville, Pennsylvania, company with either hydraulic drives or winding drum drives. The products were sold to contractors nationwide from 2003 through August 2022 for between $10,000 and $25,000, excluding installation costs.
Residential elevator with space between the exterior landing door and interior elevator car. A young child can become entrapped if there is a gap between the doors.
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
People with the elevators should keep young children away from them and contact the company for free space guards to eliminate any dangerous gaps. Custom Elevator can be reached toll-free at (888) 443-2800 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern time Monday through Friday.
Another recall, also announced Thursday, involves about 1,700 residential elevators made in Canada by Cambridge Elevating and sold nationwide from 1991 through August 2022 for between $12,000 and $60,000, including installation.
Space guards will be provided free of charge by the company, which can be reached at (866) 207-6551 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern time Monday through Friday. No injuries related to the Cambridge products have been reported, according to the recall notice.
Coastal Carolina Elevators in 2015 recalled about 240 residential elevators made by Cambridge Elevating after three reported incidents, including one that resulted in a catastrophic brain injury to a 10-year-old boy from Baltimore, Maryland.
Scenario depicting a child trapped between an exterior landing door and an interior elevator car door due to a dangerous gap. The exterior door locks the young child in the hazard space between the doors when the elevator is called to another floor, putting the child at risk of being crushed or pinned and suffering serious injuries or death.
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
Earlier this month, on September 14, the CPSC said it had settled a claim against thyssenkrupp Access Corp., now known as TK Access Solutions, involving three incidents its elevators, including the 2017 death of a 2-year-old and a 2010 case that permanently disabled a 3-year-old.
As part of the settlement, the Grandview, Missouri-based company is recalling about 16,800 residential elevators to inspect them and install space guards, if needed. The recalled products sold for between $15,000 and $25,000 through 2012. Homeowners can call (800) 285-9862 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern Monday through Friday.
The hazard includes elevators made by other companies, with the Washington Post in July 2019 reporting that residential elevators at large had resulted in at least eight children dying and two seriously hurt since 1981.
After decades of lawsuits, the nation’s elevator safety code shrank the door gap in 2017, but the new rules only impacted new installations, leaving hundreds of thousands of existing elevators posing a deadly hazard for small bodies.
According to the CPSC, residential elevators are commonly found in multi-level homes, townhomes, vacation homes and rentals, as well as in large homes that were converted to inns or bed-and-breakfast hotels. But the elevators have proved heart-wrenching for some vacationing families.
Safety advocates have for years warned about catastrophes involving children and home elevators, including the parents of then-10-year-old Jordan Nelson, paralyzed in 2013 in an elevator accident at a beach house rented by his family in South Carolina. “He has these huge dimples, this bright smile and he just knew how to work it,” his mother told CBS News in 2014.
Academic and integrated health system Henry Ford Health (Detroit) and behavioral healthcare company Acadia Healthcare (Franklin, Tenn.) broke ground on a 120,000-square-foot behavioral health hospital in West Bloomfield, Mich.
Situated on Henry Ford Health’s West Bloomfield campus, the Henry Ford Behavioral Health Hospital will initially house 184 inpatient beds, with capacity to expand to 192 beds.
The new hospital will provide inpatient psychiatric services for adults, seniors, adolescents, and children. The hospital will also serve as an academic site for behavioral healthcare providers including psychiatry residents, medical students, and nurses.
Scheduled to open in 2023, the hospital will be designed to achieve LEED certification.
The health system plans to consolidate inpatient services from two aging facilities, Henry Ford Kingswood Hospital and Henry Ford Macomb Hospital – Mt. Clemens, to the new location.
Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa sustained neck and head injuries after being slammed to the ground in Thursday’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals and was stretchered from the field.
The Dolphins said Tagovailoa was conscious, had movement in all his extremities and was taken to University of Cincinnati Medical Center for further evaluation.
Tagovailoa was chased down and sacked by 6-foot-3, 340-pound Josh Tupou with about six minutes left in the first half. He was spun around and thrown to the turf. While on the ground, his hands froze in front of his face. He remained down for more than seven minutes before being loaded on a backboard, stabilized and strapped to a stretcher after his facemask was removed.
Medical staff tend to quarterback Tua Tagovailoa of the Miami Dolphins after an injury during a game against the Cincinnati Bengals at Paycor Stadium on Sept. 29, 2022 in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Getty Images
Dolphins players gathered around as Tagovailoa was rolled off the field and the crowd chanted “Tua! Tua!”
Reaction came swiftly from around the NFL. Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and Broncos QB Russell Wilson promptly tweeted with concern for Tagovailoa’s well-being.
“Praying for you Tua,” Wilson wrote.
The 24-year-old Tagovailoa was suffering from a sore back and was listed as questionable for most of the week ahead of the game.
Tagovailoa briefly left Sunday’s 21-19 victory over the Buffalo Bills after appearing to be disoriented by what the team originally said was a head injury after taking a hard hit from Bills linebacker Matt Milano late in the first half. He missed just three snaps and returned after halftime, a decision that prompted a joint review by the NFL and National Football League Players Association of what went into the decision to allow him to return to the game.
The team and Tagovailoa said after the game the quarterback had a back injury that caused his awkward stumble and fall after he was slammed into the turf in the second quarter. The team said Monday that Tagovailoa was not in concussion protocol.
He said he “hyper-extended” his back after getting his legs caught under someone on a quarterback sneak.
Before leaving Thursday’s game, Tagovailoa was 8 for 14 for 100 yards and an interception. He was replaced in the game by Teddy Bridgewater, who threw a touchdown pass to Chase Edmonds with 15 seconds left in the half.
The play of Tagovailoa, who won a national championship at Alabama, has been key for the 3-0 Dolphins. He came into the game second in the NFL with 925 passing yards.
Driven by market demand for its highly differentiated proposition, FullCircl now works with 40% of the UK’s top financial institutions and 7 of the top 10 UK banks. As well as notable customer wins, more than 20 new hires, 4 major banner clients, and several significant product development announcements that consolidate the combined value proposition, FullCircl also confirmed it has achieved EBITDA profitability.
A New Ally for Regulated Businesses
From the outset there was strong product rationale for bringing Artesian and DueDil together. Twelve months on, FullCircl has made significant progress incorporating the best of both platforms to build a strong foundation to meet the needs of tomorrow’s financial institutions and regulated businesses.
Its Customer Lifecycle Intelligence (CLI) proposition helps companies:
Onboard customers faster – Know Your Customer (KYC) screening for customer suitability, verification checks via a rules-based decision engine and automated onboarding journeys powered by API
Keep customers for life – Proactive monitoring and in-life customer care based on configurable rules to spot risks and opportunities sooner
Supporting next generation needs
FullCircl launched several new features including new Ultimate Beneficial Owner (UBO) API endpoint to improve onboarding speed and customer experience whilst vitally mitigating regulatory, financial and reputational risk; Group Explorer, a visual way to discover company hierarchies so regulated companies can improve onboarding and reduce risk; a HMRC Import and Export Data extension to allow users to understand which of their customers are trading internationally; and a Sustainability Gazette summarising the latest ESG initiatives across every market in which customer operate.
Additionally, FullCircl integrated its API with its decision engine – a major milestone which brought together two of its market-leading solutions to enable businesses to programmatically screen customers based on customised rules and policies, allowing them to reduce cost to serve by automating pre-screening, executing compliance checks at point of origin, and bring new levels speed and efficiency to onboarding activities.
More Partnerships
FullCircl announced new data and technology partnerships with:
Slalom Consulting, a modern strategy, technology, and business transformation consulting firm
nCino, to provide a comprehensive compliance and risk assessment platform,
TechLabs London, a Microsoft Dynamics Integration Partner
Codat, to provide users with a universal API for small business data
Wiserfunding, to provide the most accurate SME credit risk analytics
Umazi, the enterprise digital identity provider.
NayaOne Marketplace and its Digital Sandbox to provide the opportunity for more regulated businesses to securely evaluate the customer lifecycle intelligence advantage.
Speaking about FullCircl’s success Justin Fitzpatrick, COO and Co-Founder of FullCircl, commented:
“Our rapid growth is the result of our differentiated proposition in the business intelligence space, and our emergence as the leader in the customer lifecycle intelligence market – FullCircl is the only provider to offer a single solution for better decisions across every stage of the customer lifecycle. Through our relentless focus on recruiting top talent and continuously driving product innovation, we have become the trusted platform for over 600 B2B clients.”
“Looking ahead, we see how the macroeconomic environment is impacting the wider financial market. While our fundamental value proposition of helping our clients win the right business customers, onboard them quickly and keep them for life remains unchanged, we’re sensitive to shifting requirements in how we deliver this value. 2023 will see improvements to search functionality, powerful new customer monitoring and alerting capabilities, enhanced depth and breadth of company coverage, and even more data partnerships, so that we cement our position as the fintech frontrunner when it comes to supporting the next generation of financial institutions and regulated businesses.”
-Ends-
NOTES TO THE EDITORS
For more information please contact:
Kelly Prior, PR Consultant
Tel: 07730 572878
Email: Kelly@kellyprior.co.uk
About FullCircl:
FullCircl is a Customer Lifecycle Intelligence (CLI) platform that helps B2B companies in regulated industries do better business, faster. Its solutions allow front and middle office teams to win the right customers, accelerate onboarding and keep them for life. Best-in-class data enrichment provides a comprehensive customer view and a powerful, low-code decision engine reduces the regulatory burden and drives greater automation. Through its web applications and APIs, FullCircl drastically reduces the cost to acquire and serve the right business customers.
FullCircl was formed following the merger of Artesian Solutions and DueDil. Backed by top tier investors including Octopus Investments, Notion Capital, Augmentum Fintech and notable angel investors, FullCircl brings together decades of combined experience serving UK financial institutions. Today, it serves some 600 customers and 15,000 users.
Federal health authorities are urging at-risk Americans to continue taking precautions against monkeypox, while early data suggests that the Jynneos vaccine for the virus may be helping to slow cases.
The figures, published Wednesday on the CDC’s website, tally reported monkeypox infections in people eligible for the vaccine in 32 states. Through late August, rates of infections were 14 times higher in people who had not gotten at least one shot.
The new findings come as the Biden administration is touting new moves to expand eligibility for the shots, and other initiatives aiming to drive down severe infections and deaths.
“These new data provide us with a level of cautious optimism that the vaccine is working as intended. These early findings, and similar results from studies in other countries, suggest that even one dose of the monkeypox vaccine offers at least some initial protection against infection,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said at a briefing.
However, the CDC says its new “crude case rates” data carry several major limitations that make it difficult to determine the precise impact the vaccine is having on reducing the outbreak.
For example, people who are vaccinated may already be less likely to participate in activities that raise their risk of catching the virus, which is largely spreading through intimate contact among men who have sex with men.
Not every state is reporting enough data to feed into the estimate. New York, which makes up more than 15% of the nation’s 25,509 confirmed cases, is not yet included in the rates.
The agency is still waiting for more data after people get second doses of the shot. Laboratory data suggests the follow-up shot will provide more “durable, lasting protection” against monkeypox, Walensky said.
The National Institutes of Health is also still gathering data from its clinical trial scrutinizing the “intradermal” approach to administering the shots, which is being used in the U.S. to stretch supply of the vaccine. That study is not expected to yield its first results until early 2023.
For now, Walensky urged vaccinated people to continue to take steps to “further protect themselves from infection.”
“Consider reducing the behaviors that could increase risk of exposure. These prevention measures are key to continuing to drive down monkeypox infections,” said Walensky.
Expanding vaccinations
The promising data on the shots comes as the Biden administration is now moving to ease barriers it says may have deterred some from getting the monkeypox vaccine.
Last week, the CDC said it had now recorded more than half a million first doses of vaccine administered nationwide. That works out to around a third of the number of people the White House estimates are “most at risk of contracting the virus.”
Citing a growing supply of the shots, federal health officials said they are now moving to a “pre-exposure prophylaxis” or PrEP approach to vaccine eligibility — meaning offering it to people as a preventive measure before they had any known exposure.
Previously, the CDC had only recommended the shots for “post-exposure prophylaxis” in people who were likely to have already been exposed to the virus.
Federal guidelines now say health departments should now offer it to broader swaths of Americans before they are exposed to the virus, including all gay men who have been diagnosed with a sexually transmitted disease in the last six months.
“That increases who is eligible for vaccination and encourages vaccine providers to minimize the risk assessments of people seeking vaccine. Fear of disclosing sexuality and gender identity must not be a barrier,” said Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, the White House’s deputy response coordinator for monkeypox.
The CDC also updated its guidance to allow the shots to be administered in other parts of the body, like in the upper back or shoulder.
“Many jurisdictions and advocates have told us that some people decline vaccine to monkeypox because of the stigma associated with the visible, but temporary mark, often left on their forearm,” said Daskalakis.
Severe infections
While most monkeypox infections resolve after weeks of often very painful rashes and lesions, a handful of patients have ended up in the hospital and at least one U.S. death has been officially blamed on the virus.
Health officials have voiced concern over growing reports of severe infections, even as cases have been slowing overall. Walensky said Wednesday that she was not aware of any of these kinds of severe infections happening in people who had been vaccinated with Jynneos.
An updated “technical report” from the agency is also expected by early next month, outlining trends in where and how the virus is still spreading.
“We want to bring attention to the fact that in recent weeks we’ve been hearing about some severe infections,” the CDC’s Dr. Agam Rao said at a webinar hosted by the Infectious Diseases Society of America over the weekend.
The agency has been working on updated recommendations for doctors treating these severe cases, which federal data suggests are now happening mostly in immunocompromised Hispanic or Black men with advanced HIV.
“Even though we’re finding it, I guess, comforting or reassuring that the number of case counts are decreasing, we just want to highlight that there are some severe infections occurring,” Rao said.
Alexander Tin
CBS News reporter covering public health and the pandemic.
Officials said people who received a single dose of the vaccine were substantially less likely to get infected than those who did not, but the study came with major limitations.
The quality of life of young transmasculine people dramatically improves after receiving top surgery — a mastectomy procedure that removes breast tissue — according to a study by Northwestern Medicine.
The study, published in peer-reviewed journal JAMA Pediatrics on Monday, is the first to show that top surgery is “associated with significant improvement in chest dysphoria, gender congruence, and body image in transmasculine and nonbinary teens and young adults,” Northwestern Medicine said in a press release.
The study compared two groups of patients ranging in ages from 14 to 24: one group of 36 patients received top surgery, and a control group of 34 patients received gender-affirming care, but did not get top surgery. Three months after surgery, the patients who had the procedure experienced significantly less chest dysphoria than they had prior to surgery, while patients in the control group experienced around the same levels of chest dysphoria as they had at the start of their care.
“When we compared the outcomes of patients who received gender-affirming top surgery to those who did not, we recognized that surgery significantly improved the quality of life for patients,” said Dr. Sumanas Jordan, the director of the gender pathways program at Northwestern Medicine.
Participant seen holding a sign at the 2022 Queer Liberation March in NYC.
Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images
Prior studies have also shown that chest dysphoria is a pervasive issue for trans and gender non-conforming youth. In a study published by the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2021, researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center “observed consensus that chest dysphoria is a major source of distress and can be functionally disabling to transmasculine youth.”
“This has been well documented in adult patients, but until now it hasn’t been well-described in teens and young adults,” said Jordan, who is also the lead author of the Northwestern study.
American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Chase Strangio went viral on Twitter Monday after sharing his own experience with top surgery, which he received in his mid-20s. “There is not a day that goes by that I don’t think about how it was the best thing I have ever done for my survival,” the tweet read.
“I also had orthopedic knee surgery at 14 and often regret it. But no NYTs pieces about orthopedic regret I see,” he added, seemingly referencing a New York Times article published Monday about access to gender-affirming surgeries for trans people.
I had top surgery 13 years ago. There is not a day that goes by that I don’t think about how it was the best thing I have ever done for my survival. I also had orthopedic knee surgery at 14 and often regret it. But no NYTs pieces about orthopedic regret I see.
Anti-LGBTQ+ bills have seen a sharp rise in recent years, with transgender Americans specifically becoming a political talking point. According to Bloomberg Law, “In the 2022 state legislative year, about 60% of all proposed LGBTQ-health related bills aimed to ban or limit transgender-related health care,” and the stakes are high.
Access to gender-affirming surgical care can be a life or death issue for trans youth. A study published in the journal Pediatrics found that nearly 51% of female-to-male respondents had attempted suicide, while the average youth suicide rate in the U.S. is 9%, according to a 2022 study by UCLA.
“It is so important to be able to have evidence and treat them not based on politics, but based on science and medicine,” Jordan told the Chicago Tribune.
But access to gender-affirming surgery can be a major step in improving quality of life for trans people. An analysis of 56 peer-reviewed works by the What We Know Project found that in 93% of the studies, gender transition improved the overall well-being of trans respondents.
“Patients who choose gender-affirming top surgery feel better about their bodies, and it enhances their quality of life,” Jordan said. “Our hope is that this study will now be used as a resource for teens, young adults and for families who want to learn more about surgical transition options.”
Health authorities in New York’s Rockland County say they have seen the pace of their emergency polio vaccination effort stall in recent weeks, amid fierce opposition from anti-vaccine groups. The first U.S. polio case in over a decade was confirmed in the county in July, in a young man who wasn’t vaccinated, and health officials said the illness left him paralyzed.
The slowing immunization campaign comes as states around the country say they are preparing to expand the testing of wastewater to search for undetected cases. Authorities are concerned polio could now be spreading undetected more widely around the country, especially in communities with low vaccination rates.
“We have a lot of infiltration of especially our insular community in Rockland by the anti-vaxxers, and we are now working to supersede them as best we can. It’s going to be very, very difficult,” Rockland County’s chief medical officer Patricia Schnabel Ruppert said last week at a meeting of the federal National Vaccine Advisory Committee.
Schnabel Ruppert said authorities have faced a deluge of nightly robocalls and death threats, aimed at curtailing efforts by staff and leaders in the county’s religious communities supporting the polio vaccination effort. Vaccination rates are especially low in local ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities.
With help from state and federal health agencies, county residents have been blanketed with pleas for polio vaccinations through the outreach and letters. The county is also stepping up “school and daycare audits” in search of unvaccinated children, Schnabel Ruppert added.
“It’s unfortunate that we haven’t sustained that level of increased immunization in the areas that we need. We have a lot more work to do,” she said.
Samantha Fuld, a spokesperson for New York state’s health department, said 11,328 doses of vaccine have been administered to children across Rockland County and neighboring Orange County through September 22.
“The work to vaccinate unvaccinated and under-vaccinated New Yorkers, particularly in the affected communities, is ongoing and will continue,” Fuld said in a statement.
Searching for undetected cases
Only a single confirmed U.S. case has been identified in the outbreak so far. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed evidence that the virus is continuing to spread across several counties in New York.
Many of the positive samples collected from sewer systems, except for those collected from New York City’s Coney Island neighborhood, have been genetically linked to the virus in Rockland County. That case also shares genetic ties to virus samples collected abroad in the United Kingdom and Israel.
Concerns over undetected cases have spurred the CDC to begin working with health departments to expand their National Wastewater Surveillance System — currently used to help track monkeypox and COVID-19 — to search for polio as well.
Professor Monica Trujillo holds up a wastewater sample at a lab at Queens College on August 25, 2022, in New York City. Since the first polio case was identified in July in New York’s Rockland County, the virus has been detected in New York City sewage, suggesting wider spread.
ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images
New Jersey’s health department said it has already been working with the CDC to test wastewater for polio. Samples collected through August from a handful of sites have tested negative so far.
The health departments for California, Colorado, Chicago, Los Angeles, Michigan, Minnesota, and Ohio said they are also in talks with federal health authorities about potentially expanding their wastewater surveillance, pending guidance from the CDC.
“It is somewhat complicated for polio as the oral polio vaccine which is given abroad will lead to excretion in wastewater of the vaccine-derived virus,” said a spokesperson for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.
“Many visitors to LA may have recently received OPV vaccine in other countries. This would be detected in wastewater. We would need adequate coverage and a baseline to better understand what is happening,” the spokesperson said.
A handful of state health departments – Indiana, Missouri, Pennsylvania and Texas – told CBS News they were not planning to launch polio wastewater surveillance efforts with the CDC.
“The considerations for selection of areas include local vaccination coverage, the extent of travel to and from countries where poliovirus is still circulating, and NWSS presence,” a CDC spokesperson said in a statement.
Polio vaccination rates
Outside of statewide National Immunization Survey data published by the CDC, the Biden administration has released scant official figures on where polio vaccination rates are lowest. The agency last published local estimates back in 2011.
Most states do have some more granular local figures on vaccinations based on data collected from public school districts, which screen for the shots when enrolling kindergarteners.
Another window into polio vaccination comes from data collected by health insurance companies.
For communities where enough data is available through 2019, new figures shared by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association suggests some of the nation’s lowest vaccination rates may be in these metropolitan areas:
Colorado Springs, CO 73.5%
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA 78.0%
El Paso, TX 78.6%
Madison, WI 81.9%
Fresno, CA 82.1%
McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX 82.2%
Jackson, MS 82.4%
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA 83.0%
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA 83.3%
Stockton-Lodi, CA 85.7%
These figures differ from the federal estimates shared by the National Immunization Survey with states. A spokesperson for the Texas Department of State Health Services said 2019’s data for El Paso County puts the polio vaccination estimate at 91.50%.
“It’s concerning that before the pandemic some communities didn’t have enough vaccinated children to reach herd immunity of polio — a disease once eradicated in the United States,” Dr. Adam Myers, the insurer’s chief clinical transformation officer, said in a statement.
The insurer last published a report in 2018 on childhood vaccination levels, including for polio, blaming missed well-child visits with doctors as “a primary driver of under-vaccinated children.”
“The pandemic has likely only exacerbated this and now the U.S. has seen its first polio case in decades,” said Myers.
Alexander Tin
CBS News reporter covering public health and the pandemic.
The new leaders from Allstate and Microsoft will support Beyond Now’s growing momentum in the U.S. and in its global expansion
Dallas, TX & Dublin, Ireland – September 27th – Beyond Now, a fast-growing ecosystem orchestration and digital platform provider, today announced the appointment of Chris Gates and Ashley Haynes-Gaspar to its Board of Directors. The two appointments will help extend the expertise of the board and continue Beyond Now’s growing momentum in the U.S. market and globally.
Chris Gates, former Group Chief Information Officer and head of Infrastructure Structure at Allstate, the largest publicly held personal lines property and casualty insurer in America, joins Beyond Now’s Board as a non-executive member. At Allstate, Gates led the strategy and execution of the company’s Infrastructure Services, Systems Engineering and Architecture functions. This includes leading the CompoZed agile development labs as Allstate continues to transform how it builds and delivers software for its customers. Chris is also a Board member of SustainableIT.org, a non-profit organization looking to advance global sustainability through technology leadership. Beyond Now is aiming to leverage his involvement in SustainbleIT.org to drive its own sustainability initiatives as well as support customers’ projects.
“I’m proud to be joining Beyond Now’s Board of Directors, working with a strong team of expert members to execute its strategy in the U.S.,” said Chris Gates. “Beyond Now is pioneering the fast-growing market for partner ecosystem orchestration through its unique platform technology. Critically, it is enabling organizations across sectors to restructure as platform-based organizations so they can better address the technology needs of enterprises within a variety of industries. I look forward to being part of Beyond Now’s journey as it continues to support businesses in realizing their digital ambitions.”
Ashley Haynes-Gaspar, Chief Operating Officer of Industry & Business Applications for the U.S. Subsidiary at Microsoft, also joins the Beyond Now Board. At Microsoft, Haynes-Gaspar leads strategy, and the development of end-to-end go-to-market solutions across the customer lifecycle to deliver revenue growth, market share expansion, and customer value. Before joining Microsoft, she held leadership roles across GE including the Vice President of two, intact software and service P&Ls, delivering top line revenue growth and margin expansion. She was also the CMO of GE’s $18B Oil & Gas division and spent several years in leadership positions in finance. Haynes-Gaspar’s expertise in the field of technology and business acumen will provide valuable leadership to unlock new growth opportunities for Beyond Now in the U.S.
“I have a deep passion and heart space for connecting humans and technology and Beyond Now, at its core, is about that connection,” said Ashley Haynes-Gaspar. “Beyond Now is integral in connecting capabilities within the IT ecosystem to help customers rapidly launch, sell, fulfill, monetize solutions and ultimately, grow. Beyond Now’s focus on empowering digital acceleration across industries is inspiring, and I’m proud to be joining its Board of Directors to be a part of the company’s next chapter.”
Based in Dallas, TX and Seattle, WA, respectively, Chris and Ashley will focus on accelerating Beyond Now’s global expansion, penetration to new verticals and its growing momentum in North America. Since its spin-off from BearingPoint, Beyond Now has grown its international customer base through wins with TELUS and NTT. Beyond Now is also extending its collaboration with technology leaders such as Google and AWS.
Beyond Now’s digital business platform, marketplace and SaaS BSS enable organizations to grow further and faster with their ecosystem of partners, co-creating and monetizing new services at scale. Companies across many sectors can also use Beyond Now’s platform to monetize new technologies such as edge, IoT, AI, 5G and more, helping drive higher efficiency and automation, and become more agile in the face of competition.
“As a newly independent company, we’re incredibly proud to see the growth of our remit and expanding our Board with expert leaders will certainly help to continue this success,” said Angus Ward, CEO at Beyond Now. “Chris and Ashley will bring specialist knowledge to the board and are ideal candidates to build our team and support our technological growth in the U.S.”
– ENDS –
About Beyond Now
Beyond Now is a fast-growing ecosystem orchestration and digital platform provider, powering organizations to launch new services at speed and grow revenue by utilizing our digital platform, digital marketplace and SaaS BSS.
Our platforms are designed to help our customers experiment, monetize and orchestrate services while taking advantage of new technologies such as cloud, edge, IoT, AI, 5G and more. We enable them to co-create solutions with a growing network of partners; bringing them closer to their customers, helping drive higher efficiency and automation, taking them further, faster, Beyond Now.
We serve customers across Asia-Pacific, Europe, Middle East, Africa and the Americas, spanning industries from telecommunications, media and entertainment, to tech and IT, financial, and automotive.
Bethlehem, Connecticut — Emma Wanstall has learned it’s OK to ask for help. The 18-year-old former cheerleader started treatment for her mental health in July after she fell into a deep depression during the pandemic.
“It got to the point where I overdosed,” she said. “I was planning on going to bed that night and not waking up in the morning.”
At first, Wanstall struggled opening up to her parents about her mental health, saying she felt like it would “make them feel they failed as a parent.”
Suicide is the third leading cause of death among people aged 15 to 24 in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Since 2019, the number of teenage girls who have been suicidal has increased 50%, according to the CDC.
Samantha Quigneaux, a family therapist at Newport Healthcare, said it’s getting worse because of “the pressure of the return to normalcy.”
“We’re trying to get back to normal when we’ve all lost out on some skills,” Quigneaux said.
She says parents should look for changes in behavior, such as isolating from friends, substance use, self-harm or eating disorders. It’s “absolutely” OK to talk with your child about suicide, she said.
“That’s a very big fear, right? If you’ve named that for your adolescent, it’ll put the idea in their head. And that’s not the case,” she said. “So you want to ask your child, ‘Are you having thoughts of hurting yourself? Are you having thoughts of worthlessness or hopelessness? You can talk to me. If you can’t, we’ll get you the help that you need.'”
Wanstall is learning to cope through various therapies and now relies on boxing as an emotional outlet.
“You’re not alone,” she said to other kids suffering from depression and possibly thinking about suicide. “There is a lot of people out there that are going through the same thing as you. It’s hard, but you have to face it head on.”
If you or someone you know is in emotional distress or suicidal crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
For more information about mental health care resources and support, The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) HelpLine can be reached Monday through Friday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m. ET, at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264) or email info@nami.org.
Meg Oliver
Meg Oliver is a correspondent for CBS News based in New York City.
CommonSpirit Health reported a $1.85 billion net loss for fiscal 2022 and closed out the year with a -3.8% operating margin, the Catholic not-for-profit health system disclosed Thursday.
The Chicago-based company’s performance during the fiscal year that ended June 30 compares to a $5.19 billion net gain during the prior 12-month period. Operating expenses were up 9% to $35.2 billion and revenue rose 2% to $33.9 billion. CommonSpirit cited elevated labor costs, higher prices due to inflation, lower patient volumes and reimbursements that didn’t keep pace with expenses as challenges.
The end of federal COVID-19 relief was another factor. CommonSpirit received $1.6 billion in CARES Act grants as of June 30, most of which were awarded in 2020 and 2021.
CommonSpirit’s fiscal 2022 performance may wind up looking better depending on an upcoming federal decision. California is awaiting Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approval of a policy designed to support hospitals that treat Medicaid enrollees and uninsured patients. If federal authorities renew the program, which expired in last year, eligible California providers would receive retroactive supplemental reimbursements. For CommonSpirit, that would translate to an estimated $260 million in additional net income, according to the company.
“This continues to be a very challenging time for health systems, especially nonprofit health systems like CommonSpirit where a majority of patients are Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries,” Chief Financial Officer Dan Morissette said in a news release. “As an integrated organization with a broad footprint, we’ve been able to take many steps to reduce costs and grow revenue. But it’s clear we need to do more to improve performance.”
CommonSpirit Health executives were not available for interviews.
In August, Wright Lassiter III, formerly of Detroit-based Henry Ford Health, took over as CommonSpirit CEO, succeeding Lloyd Dean, who announced his retirement a year ago.
Earlier this month, CommonSpirit ended a 25-year joint operation with Livonia, Michigan-based Trinity Health when Trinity completed its acquisition of MercyOne, a health system based in Clive, Iowa.
Most health systems are seeing big losses this year. St. Louis-based Ascension reported a $1.84 billion net loss for its latest fiscal year. Ohio-based Cleveland Clinic posted a $1.07 billion net loss during the first half of the year. Providence of Renton, Washington, posted losses nearing $2 billion for the first six months.
After an Indiana judge on Thursday blocked the state’s abortion ban from being enforced, phones starting ringing across Indiana abortion clinics, which are preparing to resume the procedure a week after the ban had gone into effect.
“People are getting the word that abortion is now legal again, and people are ready to get their health care that they deserve and that they desire,” Dr. Katie McHugh, an abortion provider at Women’s Med in Indianapolis, told The Associated Press.
Owen County Judge Kelsey Hanlon issued a preliminary injunction against the ban, putting the new law on hold as abortion clinic operators argue in a lawsuit that it violates the state constitution.
Indiana’s seven abortion clinics were to lose their state licenses under the ban — which only permits abortions within its narrow exceptions to take place in hospitals or outpatient surgical centers.
The ban was approved by the state’s Republican-dominated Legislature on Aug. 5 and signed by GOP Gov. Eric Holcomb. That made Indiana the first state to enact tighter abortion restrictions since the U.S. Supreme Court eliminated federal abortion protections by overturning Roe v. Wade in June.
The judge wrote “there is reasonable likelihood that this significant restriction of personal autonomy offends the liberty guarantees of the Indiana Constitution” and that the clinics will prevail in the lawsuit. The order prevents the state from enforcing the ban pending a trial on the merits of the lawsuit.
Doctor at center of abortion debate speaks out
03:58
Republican state Attorney General Todd Rokita said in a statement: “We plan to appeal and continue to make the case for life in Indiana,” calling the abortion ban law “a reasonable way” to protect the unborn.
Women’s Med is expecting to see patients again starting Friday, McHugh said.
“I had really hoped for this, but honestly, I didn’t really expect it,” she said. “So the fact that this is what happened is such a pleasant surprise and such a validation of what we have been saying this whole time.”
Whole Woman’s Health, which operates an abortion clinic in South Bend, said its staff members “are making plans to resume abortion care in the near future.”
“Of course, this landscape of legal back-and-forth leads to disruption in patient care and uncertainty for our staff,” said Amy Hagstrom Miller, president and CEO of Whole Woman’s Health.
Indiana’s ban followed the political firestorm over a 10-year-old rape victim who traveled to the state from neighboring Ohio to end her pregnancy. The case gained wide attention when an Indianapolis doctor said the child came to Indiana because of Ohio’s “fetal heartbeat” ban.
An Ohio judge has temporarily blocked that state law, indicating he will allow abortions to continue up to 20 weeks’ gestation until after a court hearing scheduled for Oct. 7.
With Indiana now on hold, bans on abortion at any point in pregnancy are in place in 12 Republican-led states. In Wisconsin, clinics have stopped providing abortions amid litigation over whether an 1849 ban is in effect. Georgia bans abortions once fetal cardiac activity can be detected and Florida and Utah have bans that kick in after 15 and 18 weeks gestation, respectively.
The Indiana ban replaced state laws that generally prohibited abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy and tightly restricted them after the 13th week. The ban includes exceptions allowing abortions in cases of rape and incest, before 10 weeks post-fertilization; to protect the life and physical health of the mother; and if a fetus is diagnosed with a lethal anomaly.
Demonstrators protest proposed abortion bill in Indiana
01:50
The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana, which is representing the abortion clinics, filed the lawsuit Aug. 31 and argued the ban would “prohibit the overwhelming majority of abortions in Indiana and, as such, will have a devastating and irreparable impact on the plaintiffs and, more importantly, their patients and clients.”
Ken Falk, the ACLU of Indiana’s legal director, pointed to the state constitution’s declaration of rights including “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” in arguing before the judge on Monday that it included a right to privacy and to make decisions on whether to have children.
The state attorney general’s office said the court should uphold the ban, saying arguments against it are based on a “novel, unwritten, historically unsupported right to abortion” in the state constitution.
“The constitutional text nowhere mentions abortion, and Indiana has prohibited or heavily regulated abortion by statute since 1835 — before, during, and after the time when the 1851 Indiana Constitution was drafted, debated, and ratified,” the office said in a court filing.
The question of whether the Indiana Constitution protects abortion rights is undecided.
A state appeals court decision in 2004 said privacy was a core value under the state constitution that extended to all residents, including women seeking an abortion. But the Indiana Supreme Court later set aside that ruling without addressing whether the state constitution included such a right.
Hanlon, a Republican who was first elected in 2014 as a judge in the rural southern Indiana county, wrote that Indiana’s constitution “is more explicit in its affirmation of individual rights and its limitation of legislative power to intrude into personal affairs” than the U.S. Constitution.
“There is a reasonable likelihood that decisions about family planning, including decisions about whether to carry pregnancy to term,” are protected by the state constitution, Hanlon wrote.
Planned Parenthood and other abortion clinic operators involved in the lawsuit said in a statement that they were “grateful that the court granted much needed relief for patients, clients, and providers but this fight is far from over.”
Los Angeles Clippers star John Wall wrote candidly about his struggles with mental health in a piece posted to the Players’ Tribune Thursday.
In the column, titled “I’m Still Here,” the 32-year-old said his difficulties began in early 2019, when he ruptured his Achilles while a member of the Washington Wizards, the team that drafted him No. 1 overall back in 2010. Wall said that he sustained “such a bad infection from the surgeries that I nearly had to have my foot amputated.”
“In 2017, I’m jumping up on the announcer’s table in D.C. after forcing Game 7 against Boston, and I’m the king of the city,” Wall wrote. “I’m getting a max extension, thinking I’m a Wizard for life. A year later, I tore my Achilles and lost the only sanctuary I’ve ever known – the game of basketball.”
NBA player John Wall attends a game between the Houston Rockets and the Orlando Magic during the 2022 NBA Summer League at the Thomas & Mack Center on July 7, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Getty Images
Wall said the chronic injuries coupled with the death of his “best friend in the whole world” — his mother, Frances Ann Pulley — a year later sent him to “a really dark place.”
In December 2020, the Wizards traded the five-time NBA All-Star — who was still recovering from his torn Achilles — to the Houston Rockets, in exchange for Russel Westbrook.
Wall said that outwardly “you never would’ve thought anything was wrong. I wasn’t telling my circle anything, even my right-hand guy. I was partying a lot, trying to mask all the pain.”
“But when everybody goes home at the end of the night, and your head hits that pillow? There’s no forgetting. There’s no more mask,” he wrote.
Wall said it was ultimately “the love of my sons” which motivated him to keep going. And he eventually confided in a friend that, “Yo! I need some f—— help!”
He began meeting with a therapist, “and it slowly turned things around.”
“I still talk to my therapist to this day, and I’m still unpacking a lot of the crazy s— that I’ve been through,” Wall explained. “I’m never going to stop doing it, because I really don’t know when the darkness could come back. Right now, though? I’m feeling better than I’ve felt in years. I feel like I’m breathing fresh air again. I feel a sense of peace.”
Wall reached a contract buyout with the Rockets this past summer and subsequently signed a deal to join the Clippers.
“I get to wake up in the morning and do what I love to do – play basketball for a living, be a good father to my sons, and carry on the legacy and the light of Frances Ann Pulley,” he wrote.
Earlier this week, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, an independent panel of health experts, proposed depression screenings for all adults, and anxiety screenings for all those under 65. The screenings, according to the panel, are designed to identify early signs of anxiety and depression in Americans who may not be showing symptoms.
If you or someone you know is in emotional distress or suicidal crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255). For more information about mental health care resources and support, The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) HelpLine can be reached Monday through Friday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m. ET, at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264) or email info@nami.org.
The news, under Noble Health letterhead, arrived at 5:05 p.m. on a Friday, with the subject line: “Urgent Notice.” Audrain Community Hospital, Paul Huemann’s workplace of 32 years, was letting workers go.
Word travels fast in a small town. Huemann’s wife, Kym, first heard the bad news in the car when a friend who’d gotten the letter, too, texted.
“Your termination was not foreseeable,” said the letter, dated Sept. 8 and signed Platinum Health Systems, adding that the firing was permanent “with no recourse” and that the “medical facility will be shuttered.”
“I don’t know what my next steps are,” said 52-year-old Huemann, who supervised the laboratory at the Audrain hospital.
The future for the Huemanns, hundreds of other workers and thousands of patients in two small Missouri towns began to unravel long before that afternoon. The drama playing out in Paul Huemann’s hometown is familiar to many who live in rural America: Communities are so desperate to keep their hospital open that they’re willing to gamble on any buyer, including those backed by private equity.
Sometimes they lose.
Paul Huemann, the former laboratory supervisor at Audrain Community Hospital in Mexico, Missouri, was recently let go after the hospital’s parent company suddenly announced it was shuttering the facility.
Kym Huemann
Noble Health, a three-year-old private equity-backed startup, had acquired Audrain and nearby Callaway Community Hospital during the pandemic. In March, it suspended all hospital services and later furloughed 181 employees, state records show.
Noble — facing staggering debt, more than a dozen lawsuits, and at least two federal investigations — struck a deal to sell the hospitals in April to Platinum Neighbors, which is affiliated with Texas-based Platinum Team Management and Platinum Health Systems. In late June, Platinum asked Missouri officials to extend until Sept. 21 a deadline to reopen the hospitals.
On Tuesday, Platinum officials told KHN that, “on behalf of Noble,” they asked Missouri regulators for an additional 30-day extension “in an attempt to explore all alternatives for reopening these facilities,” Ryann Gordon, Platinum’s director of marketing, said. “The backpay and health benefits of the employees is of utmost importance.”
Hours before the licensing deadline Wednesday, Platinum submitted a request for a 90-day variance. Missouri regulations do not allow another extension within a year, said Lisa Cox, a spokesperson for the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. So the state “worked with them” and granted the request, she said.
Platinum said the hospitals need time to complete construction projects. Audrain’s “emergency room area” has broken windows, and Callaway’s hospital needs “critical repair to the plumbing,” according to the state approval letter. The hospitals can change ownership during the 90 days, Cox said.
Cory Countryman, president of Platinum Health Systems, confirmed the termination of the remaining hospital staff. “We are working with multiple partners to reopen the hospitals,” he said.
That could involve a new owner. One prospect is Owen Shuler, a Georgia-based entrepreneur, who said he is thinking about buying them. Shuler, who was reached by phone after he’d visited the rural communities, said, “I love what I see.”
“It’s heartbreaking as to what has occurred,” said Shuler, whose companies include Bankers Realty Corp. and Shuler Capital Corp. If he bought the hospitals, he said, he would do so as managing director of his new venture, CareONE Global. “In terms of the due diligence, I do not like what I’m seeing and learning,” he said. What he concluded from his review is that “private equity and venture capital need to be kept the heck out of health care.”
Shuler, who confirmed the hospitals were saddled with substantial debt — “in the ballpark” of $45 million to $50 million — said, “I am not prepared to go on the record about business strategy quite yet.” He said his approach would be “holistic” and include telehealth. Many industry leaders have argued telehealth is a way to bring high-quality medicine to rural communities that can’t afford, and don’t need, a full platoon of specialists on-site.
“Our target is acquiring hospitals in rural and disadvantaged areas and introducing our capabilities to them,” Shuler said, adding that fixing the two “basically broken” Missouri hospitals from the bottom up would be “much easier than trying to go into a healthy system.”
Still, it’s unclear whether Shuler or another buyer will come through and what it would take to reopen them after years of ownership instability and financial trouble.
Venture capital and private equity firm Nueterra Capital launched Noble in December 2019 with executives who had never run a hospital, including Donald R. Peterson, a co-founder who prior to joining Noble had been accused of Medicare fraud. Peterson settled that case without admitting wrongdoing and in August 2019 agreed to be excluded for five years from Medicare, Medicaid, and all other federal health programs, according to the Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General.
Federal regulators did not block the acquisition in which Peterson was involved. “All ownership and managing control information is self-reported,” said Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services spokesperson Kristen Clemens.
Skimping on care
It didn’t take long for problems to surface under Noble Health’s stewardship. Noble has accepted nearly $20 million in federal COVID-19 relief funds, including $4.8 million from paycheck protection programs, according to public records.
After employees filed complaints about surprise medical bills, the Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration launched an investigation in early March, according to a letter sent to the company and obtained by KHN. The department confirmed a second investigation by another one of its divisions, Wage and Hour, into Noble’s management of its Audrain hospital and clinic.
In April, Noble struck a deal to sell both hospitals for $2 and a stock transfer to Platinum, which assumed all liabilities, according to the agreement. In a June 22 letter to state regulators about the hospitals’ operating licenses, Platinum said, “We are requesting this continuance as Noble Health stock has been transferred to Platinum Medical Management.”
While visiting the hospitals in April, Countryman told employees it was a “priority” to pay the back wages Noble owed them.
Neither Noble nor Platinum made good on that in the months since, employees contend. In addition to the federal investigations, nine wage claims — the largest for $355,000 — have been filed against Noble in Kansas, according to data provided through a Kansas Open Records Act request.
By early August, others were recognizing the employee complaints. Principal, which provided dental and vision care coverage, sent letters to workers saying it would not demand that any worker repay benefits the insurer covered after Noble stopped sending premiums for employee coverage. “This situation is not typical,” wrote Principal spokesperson Ashley Miller in an email.
Huemann, as laboratory supervisor, was among the workers who weren’t furloughed in the spring. They reported for work every day in the hopes that the Audrain hospital would reopen. Huemann checked reagents and kept machines operational even as money for supplies was tight.
“We couldn’t get anything,” Huemann said, “so we were living with what we had.”
Audrain Community Hospital is seen in Mexico, Missouri, in August.
Matt Kile for KHN
Huemann, who provided pay stubs to KHN, said he received a paycheck from Noble in late March. He said he did not receive another paycheck until late May. He received regular paychecks in June and early July. But his second July check, under Platinum, was a week late. His final paycheck arrived Aug. 8 and was also late.
His last seven checks came from three companies. They were all on Platinum’s watch: Initially Platinum Neighbors issued the checks, then Callaway County Community Hospital, and finally Noble Health Audrain Inc.
“Everyone cashed their check as soon as they got it,” Huemann said. “There are so many red flags. But you know, we’re at their mercy, we have no control, and we’re still thankful they are saving us.”
The check stubs also show the hospital’s operators deducted $1,385 in total from Huemann’s pay for insurance. The medical insurance was supposed to be with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas, but Huemann said he never received a card and could not confirm coverage.
“I called four or five times on different days,” he said. “They could never find me no matter how they looked me up, with Social Security or date of birth, or anything.”
Countryman referred all financial questions to Platinum’s corporate offices. Ryan Cole, chief executive of Platinum Team, did not directly respond to calls and emails seeking comment.
“Nerve-wracking”
Some doctors left town as the upheaval swallowed the hospitals.
Others, such as family medicine doctor Diane Jacobi and her nurse practitioner, Regina Hill, joined MU Health Care, affiliated with the University of Missouri, in Mexico, Missouri, the 11,000-person town where Audrain Community Hospital is located.
Jacobi said her patients want local care. “I don’t know if you’re a mama, but if you’re in labor, the idea that you have to spend 45 minutes in a car on the way to the hospital is nerve-wracking,” she said. “It’s safer if you have care.”
Lou Leonatti, an attorney who lives in Mexico, said he feels so strongly that the community needs a hospital and emergency care that he provided loans last year to Noble so the company could meet payroll. Leonatti’s personal $60,000 loan, with an interest rate of about 3%, was due in January but, he said, remains unpaid.
Leonatti helped start Project Sunrise, a local economic development group. If a new agreement is not reached, he said, “we would like to have a Plan B available.”
Peterson, who helped launch Noble’s failed effort to turn around the two Missouri hospitals, seems to have found his Plan B in Dubai. “I’m sitting in the Emirates Air lounge in Dubai marveling at the experience being afforded me at the tender age of 68,” he wrote on LinkedIn. “I’ll be in Riyadh for the next week finishing up due diligence on launching a new business there.”
The post made Tonya Linthacum, a nurse practitioner who worked at Audrain’s cancer screening center for more than two decades, furious. She said that he “destroyed a lot of people’s lives and livelihoods,” adding that “to have someone dupe you like that” and “going on with no consequences. It’s just not the way the world is supposed to be.”
