Michael Jordan donates $ 10 million to North Carolina clinics

USA Today: Michael Jordan donates $ 10 million to new medical clinics

Basketball legend Michael Jordan donated $ 10 million to help open two new medical clinics in New Hanover County, North Carolina. Jordan’s donation to Novant Health will improve access to affordable healthcare in his hometown of Wilmington, North Carolina, according to a press release from Novant Health. The two new clinics are due to open in early 2022. The statement does not specify where the clinics will be located. Jordan partnered with Novant Health to open two Michael Jordan Family Clinics in Charlotte. These clinics offered comprehensive primary care, including behavioral health and social support services, to the most vulnerable communities in the area, according to the statement. (Dill, 2/15)

In other news from the health sector –

AP: South Carolina considers dismantling public health agency

South Carolina public health workers are tasked with keeping the state safe for 143 years, since lawmakers created a health council in 1878, after an outbreak of yellow fever killed 20,000 Americans. Now, with the coronavirus pandemic rising, lawmakers are trying to break their agency. As in most states, the South Carolina public health agency was underfunded and overburdened long before it had to maintain an exhaustive defense against a virus that humans had never seen before. (Liu, 2/15)

Crain’s Chicago Business: Pritzker, local authorities Blast Mercy’s Plan To Shutter Without State Approval

A group of elected officials, including Governor JB Pritzker, is condemning the owner of Mercy Hospital & Medical Center, Trinity Health, for moving to close the South Side facilities without state approval. “As elected officials and advocates for our communities, we implored Trinity to work with us and our community partners to save Mercy Hospital and continue to provide much needed health care to underserved black, brown, Asian and white communities on the South Side of Chicago, ”According to the statement, signed by 13 elected officials. (Goldberg, 2/12)

Modern Healthcare: Florida Healthy Kids claims third parties revealed 3.5 million data breach

More than 3 million people have signed up or signed up for coverage by Florida Healthy Kids Corp. may have their data exposed in a seven-year breach. The breach, which Florida Healthy Kids said occurred at the company that previously hosted its website, affected about 3.5 million people, according to a report that Florida Healthy Kids submitted to the HHS Civil Rights Office in January. The HHS agency published the report in its online database of health data breaches in an update on Friday. This is a considerable breach to be reported in the first month of 2021. The biggest breach of health data reported in all of the compromised data in 2020 in almost 1.3 million patients. (Kim Cohen, 2/12)

Furthermore –

Modern health: COVID-19 pushes more healthcare CFOs to plan employee benefits

It takes a lot of difficulty to project employee benefits – or at least the entire executive team, says OhioHealth chief financial officer Mike Browning. Every year, OhioHealth’s human resources department surveys its 35,000 employees about their health insurance needs. After analyzing the responses, the HR team tries to match the needs of the employees with the plans available on the market. From there, Browning analyzes the proposals, taking a strategic look at what will keep Columbus, Ohio-based healthcare competitive. He analyzes the numbers to see how employee wages fit together. Of course, in the end, the CEO needs to weigh the benefits offered. (Tepper, 2/13)

Modern healthcare: hospital apps becoming more patient friendly

As smartphones have become so strongly intertwined in the lives of so many Americans, hospital executives have realized that to play a central role in their patients’ health, they need to find them where they are – through their phones. Having an app to engage patients is a “table game,” said Tom Kiesau, leader of the Chartis Group’s digital transformation unit. But while most healthcare system application strategies have historically centered on the electronic patient-specific patient portal, an increasing number of systems want to offer more personalized applications. (Kim Cohen, 2/13)

Stat: Increasing mental health unicorn race to meet employer needs

Companies struggling to provide employees with expanded mental health care options are sustaining an expanding market for digitally minded startups that rush to meet their needs. Two of the biggest, Lyra Health and Modern Health, raised a mountain of funds and doubled their customers last year. (Aguilar, 2/16)