Florida facing shortage of nearly 18,000 doctors

| 1/18/2022

Florida facing shortage of nearly 18,000 doctors

Beautiful weather, sports champions and gorgeous beaches are alluring to newcomers. The influx of new neighbors, while exciting, has some downsides. Housing is becoming scarce and rents are rapidly rising. Another effect of population growth in Florida is a growing shortage of doctors. The Safety Net Hospital Alliance of Florida and the Florida Hospital Association conducted research and found that if current trends continue, Florida would be short 17,924 physicians by the year 2035. [Source: WTSP]

FDA gives three-month extension to nearly 1 million Florida COVID tests that expired in storage

The Food and Drug Administration has granted a three-month emergency-use extension for about 800,000 to 1 million COVID tests that had expired while in storage in Florida. The Abbott BinaxNOW tests, which had expired in late December, are earmarked for emergency management offices, county health departments, hospitals and long-term care facilities, according to the Gov. Ron DeSantis. [Source: WUSF]

Florida Hospital Association calling for more federal resources to help strained health care systems

The president and CEO of the Florida Hospital Association is calling on additional steps to be taken by the Biden Administration to help support hospitals across the state amid the surge in COVID-19 patients and hospital staff shortages. On Thursday, President Joe Biden outlined new steps the White House is taking to support hospitals and U.S. residents as the spike in COVID-19 cases continues due to the omicron variant. Among these new steps is the federal government sending 120 health care workers to six states to help with hospital staffing shortages. Florida is not on that list. [Source: WPBF]

Florida bill to bolster mental health resources for families advances

Florida lawmakers are starting to take action on a bill that aims to connect family members of students receiving mental-health services with additional resources. The proposal would require schools to provide parents of students receiving mental-health services with information about additional behavioral-health services available through the school or in the community. [Source: CBS Miami]

Florida's growing medical marijuana program could lead to changes, from better access to stricter rules

With Florida’s medical marijuana program continuing to grow as more patients seek approval for marijuana cards, some state lawmakers in the 2022 session are pursuing changes to make it easier to access medical marijuana, raising concerns from some marijuana activists that physicians could be negatively impacted. The changes could mean everything from allowing patients to get exams to qualify for medical marijuana through telehealth services rather than office visits, and allowing medical marijuana cards to last for two years instead of one. [Source: Florida Phoenix]

ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:

› Opioid lawsuit could deliver millions to Volusia, Flagler for treatment, deterrence [Daytona Beach News Journal]
With opioid deaths continuing to mount in Volusia and Flagler counties in the pandemic years, a legal settlement with three of the largest distributors and one major manufacturer could bring the area as much as $30 million to combat misuse. State attorneys general, including Florida's Ashley Moody, sued distributors McKesson, Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen and manufacturer Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and its parent company Johnson & Johnson, alleging they downplayed the drugs' addictive qualities during years when prescriptions skyrocketed.

› Two new bills push for financial accountability in Florida nursing homes [State of Reform]
Legislators are leading a bicameral effort to require Florida nursing homes to be more transparent about how they spend their funds—particularly Medicaid funds. Advocates say funds for staffing recruitment and caregiver pay should be prioritized to help respond to the diminishing care quality in Florida’s long-term care facilities resulting from its health care workforce crisis.

› How quick thinking stopped a ransomware attack from crippling a Florida hospital [CNN]
It was approaching midnight on Sunday and the head of IT at a Florida hospital had a problem. The emergency room of Jackson Hospital, a 100-bed facility on Florida's panhandle, called to report that it couldn't connect to the charting system that doctors use to look up patients' medical histories. Jamie Hussey, Jackson Hospital's IT director, soon realized that the charting software, which was maintained by an outside vendor, was infected with ransomware and that he didn't have much time to keep the computer virus from spreading.

› Kindred to build new hospital at Broward Health [South Florida Business Journal]
Kindred Rehabilitation Services formed a joint venture with nonprofit South Florida Health to create a 40-bed inpatient rehabilitation hospital in Fort Lauderdale. The new hospital would support 120 to 140 jobs, providing an economic boost for the area. The hospital will be located on land adjacent to Broward Health Medical Center, the government health care system’s flagship hospital.

Tags: Health Care eNews

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