good morning. Welcome to the second edition of Philly Health Insider. This is the Inquirer's subscriber-only newsletter about the region's healthcare industry and rapidly growing medical field.
Today we bring you news about a citywide conversation about harm reduction and addiction support, an architectural review of Jefferson's new Center City location, and a data study on how popular area hospitals are with patients. Masu.
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— Aubrey Whelan and Abraham Gutman, Inquirer health reporters @aubreywhelan and @abrahamgutman.
The big story: Tensions over harm reduction in Manayunk and deadly addition to Philadelphia's volatile drug supply
AUBREY: This week's big stories are actually two articles detailing how Philadelphia's opioid crisis has become deadly and unpredictable, and political tensions are rising over how to solve it.
I have led the Inquirer's coverage of the opioid crisis since 2018. When I began writing about this epidemic, overdose deaths were reaching record numbers, a new toxic additive (fentanyl) was contaminating the city's drug supply, and politicians were experimenting with . Allows the nation's first supervised injection site to open in Philadelphia.
Fast forward to 2024. Deaths remain at record highs, more toxic additives (xylazine, nitazene) are contaminating the city's drug supply, and politicians are devoting city funds to replace syringes. I am proposing to collect it.
My latest article looks at how tensions are extending beyond Kensington, the epicenter of the opioid crisis. In Manayunk, staff at Unity Recovery, an addiction support group, are in conflict with local business owners who believe the growing political rhetoric around harm reduction is attracting drug users to their neighborhoods. He says that this is causing friction.
At the same time, a new danger, a class of drugs called nitazene analogs, has emerged in the city's volatile drug market, causing problems for people with addictions and those seeking treatment for them.
Nitazene analogs are opioids that are up to 40 times more potent than fentanyl. The city's health department has been tracking Nitazen and recently announced it was found in toxicology results of at least five overdose patients and two who died of other “traumatic causes.” And authorities suspect that nitazene analogs were present in at least 12 more overdose cases.
From years of reporting on this beat, I know that getting help for addiction is extremely difficult. The advent of more powerful drugs may be contributing to what health officials call a “vicious cycle” that drives people away from treatment and causes overdoses to skyrocket. Learn more about Nitazen and how the city tracks Nitazen.
Latest news of interest
data dive
Here's Abraham: This week, I'd like to take a closer look at patient satisfaction metrics from one of my favorite studies. (Data geeks, let us know your favorite survey!)
Let's get started.
This week's numbers: 92%.
This is the number of patients who would recommend Philadelphia hospitals to their friends and family. (So much for our grumpy reputation…)
Having so many would-be promoters in the community is a huge benefit. Research shows that patients consider recommendations from friends and family they know when choosing where to receive care.
Which general hospital has the most compliments from patients? Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Chester County Hospital, and Doylestown Hospital. Almost all patients surveyed said they would recommend these hospitals.
The acute care hospitals with the lowest number of recommended patients are St. Francis Hospital, Lansdale Hospital, and Nazareth Hospital.
This study is from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' latest update to the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems.
Find out what percentage of patients would recommend your hospital here.
hospital inspection
Last summer, Lankenau Medical Center received an “imminent danger” warning, the state's most serious warning, for several hours. Wynnewood Hospital earned this label after a nurse gave a patient her 3 mg of hydromorphone instead of her prescribed 1.5 mg of hydromorphone. The patient overdosed and was eventually resuscitated with naloxone and treated in the ICU.
Lankenau provided the state with a plan to ensure such a mistake never happens again. Since then, state inspectors have investigated two more complaints and found the hospital was in compliance in both cases.
If you are interested, please see below for a complete list of Lankenau's inspections from August to January.
Q&A with the new president of the American Psychiatric Association
Teresa Miskimen wants to incorporate psychiatrists into primary care practices and use telemedicine to expand access to mental health care.
Rutgers professor The newly elected head of psychiatry at Hunterdon Medical Center to lead her professional association believes these steps can help fill the shortage of psychiatrists.
“It's clear that we don't have enough psychiatrists to meet the mental health needs of our population,” Dr. Miskimen said.
Read our colleague Sarah Ganz's full Q&A with Miskimen here.
I take action
While AI may someday make some jobs obsolete, it is also creating jobs at the University of Pennsylvania. Well, at least one job.
Penn State Perelman School of Medicine has appointed Marylyn Ritchie as first associate dean for artificial intelligence and computing.
Ritchie, who is also director of the University of Pennsylvania's Institute for Biomedical Informatics, will be responsible for developing plans to incorporate AI into medical school education.
We asked ChatGPT to write a short limerick celebrating Ritchie's appointment.
Congratulations, Maryn Ritchie, so bright!
As Penn's associate dean for AI, that's exactly what I do.
In the field of computing, her leadership is deep-rooted;
For innovation to new heights in healthcare!
First in Philadelphia
Pennsylvania gene therapy innovator Jim Wilson's startup iECURE has received FDA approval to test a method of gene editing in infants.
Wilson continues his efforts to help children with OTC deficiency, a condition in which the liver cannot make a key enzyme.
This is the same disease Wilson sought to treat 20 years ago in a clinical trial that ended in patient deaths and Congressional hearings. Jesse Gelsinger was born with mild symptoms, but died at age 18 after his body rejected the virus Wilson used in his experimental treatment.
The new clinical trial uses a different virus that is already used in other treatments and does not provoke an immune response.
we were impressed
The last thing a patient undergoing a vasectomy wants is for the earth to start shaking. It also stands out as a surgeon's nightmare.
Urologist Stephen Hershberg of Midlantic Urology in Huntingdon Valley remained calm during Friday morning's earthquake while performing a vasectomy on Justin Allen of Horsham. Ta.
“The room was shaking, but I wasn't shaking,” Hershberg said.
Were you in the middle of an earthquake, a vasectomy, IUD insertion, or open surgery? Email us with your story. And kudos to you for keeping your cool.
