January 2024

Upcoming changes from HHS in the world of cybersecurity

January 20, 20249 min

BY Michael Alexander, Esq., Brown & Fortunato, P.C. Periodically, and it seems with greater frequency, I open my work email to find an email that just stands out as being odd in one form or another. Due to my generally conservative approach to technological issues, I do not understand, my immediate response is to forward the message along to our firm’s IT expert. Occasionally he will respond that the email is legitimate, and I...

THA

Our New Year’s resolution: Set the record straight for hospitals

January 20, 20246 min

BY John Hawkins, CEO, THA New Year’s resolutions are all about taking a step forward – improving yourself or something about the world around you, whether striving for big changes or more modest ones. Here at the Texas Hospital Association, our New Year’s resolution is an ambitious one: set the record straight and make sure the contentious year our hospitals faced in 2023 won’t be repeated. This year is a critical one. We’re...

Breaking Ground

Harris Health unanimously approves $2.5B bond proposal to build new LBJ hospital, upgrade system

January 20, 20244 min

The Harris Health System Board of Trustees unanimously approved a request to the Harris County Commissioners Court to order a bond election for an estimated $2.5 billion. This request is to finance the rebuilding and upgrading of Harris Health’s facilities, which are quickly reaching their end of use and have been operating at near-full capacity for years. This bond referendum will provide much-needed investment for the public safety net. “Without immediate public investment, our...

Integrative Medicine

Ketamine therapy and possibilities for treatment

January 20, 20249 min

BY Samuel Mathis, MD, Assistant Professor, UTMB Recently, there has been increased interest in the use of ketamine therapy for psychiatric conditions. Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic that also contains hallucinogenic effect. It was first approved for use in the 1970s. It is often used for short surgical treatments that do not require full anesthesia. I remember using it in the Emergency Room during residency to perform small procedures such as stitches or foreign...

Special Feature

Infusion of bone marrow mononuclear cells results in decreased intensive care needs and white matter preservation for children with severe traumatic brain injury

January 20, 20248 min

BY Caitie Barkley, UTHealth Houston Charles S. Cox Jr., MD, Professor in the Department of Pediatric Surgery with McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston. Linda Ewing-Cobbs, PhD, Professor in the Department of Pediatrics with McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston. After children experienced severe traumatic brain injury, the infusion of bone marrow mononuclear cells derived from the patient’s own bones led to less time spent in intensive care,...

Hospital Headlines

Memorial Hermann Health System, Aldine ISD Launch Innovative Health Care-Focused High School to Address Local Health Care Workforce Shortages with Support from Bloomberg Philanthropies

January 20, 20247 min

Memorial Hermann Health System and Aldine ISD recently announced an unprecedented partnership to design a career-technical education (CTE) high school that will help prepare students for well-paying careers in health care and address local education and health care talent needs. The Health Education and Learning High School, or HEAL High School, will share a campus with Nimitz High School and will fully integrate health care career knowledge and job-training with a high-quality, well-rounded high school experience...

Hospital Headlines

CD19-targeted CAR NK cell therapy achieves promising one-year results in patients with B-cell malignancies

January 20, 20245 min

Researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center reported promising results in a Phase I/II trial of 37 patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell malignancies who were treated with cord blood-derived chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) natural killer (NK) cell therapy targeting CD19. The findings reveal an overall response (OR) rate of 48.6% at 100 days post treatment, with one-year progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) rates of 32% & 68%, respectively. The trial reported an...

Hospital Headlines

UH Receives $2 Million Gift to Establish Endowed Chair in Health Care Business Innovation

January 20, 20244 min

Renowned Houston philanthropist Elaine Finger has made a generous $2 million gift for an endowed chair to advance education, research and innovation in business and health care at the University of Houston. The Elaine W. Finger Endowed Chair in Health Care Business Innovation will be a joint appointment in the C.T. Bauer College of Business and the Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine, catalyzing groundbreaking advancements and further propelling the university into a leading...

Hospital Headlines

Changes in gut microbiome may influence cancer growth in other parts of the body

January 20, 20242 min

Interleukin-17 (IL-17) signaling in the intestines maintains a healthy balance of gut microbes but also has been linked to several types of diseases, including cancer. However, IL-17 inhibition can interfere with the body’s ability to fight tumors, highlighting a need for further insights into this potential therapeutic target. In this study, researchers including Florencia McAllister, M.D., and Vidhi Chandra, Ph.D., found that deleting the IL-17 receptor specifically in the gut of lab models led to an imbalance of gut bacteria, or dysbiosis,...

Hospital Headlines

Long-term screening study shows promising predictive tool for ovarian cancer

January 20, 20243 min

The Normal Risk Ovarian Screening Study (NROSS) is a two-phase screening strategy for postmenopausal women who are considered at normal risk for ovarian cancer. The first phase uses a cancer antigen 125 (CA125) blood test and a Risk of Ovarian Cancer Algorithm (ROCA) to determine whether the second phase, a transvaginal sonography, is needed. Patients with an abnormal transvaginal sonogram would then be referred for surgery. A new analysis published by Robert Bast, M.D., Karen Lu, M.D., and...

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