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The federal government has systematically shortchanged communities with large Black populations in the distribution of billions of dollars in Covid-19 relief aid meant to help hospitals struggling to manage the effects of the pandemic, according to a study published Friday. The study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that the funding inequities resulted from a formula that allocated large chunks of a $175 billion relief package based on hospital revenue, instead of numbers of Covid-19 cases or other health data. (Ross, 8/7)

On a Thursday morning early in the pandemic, Providence Senior Vice President and Chief Value Officer Jennifer Bayersdorfer and her team met with officials at Kaas Tailored to craft a way to work with the Mukilteo, Wash.-based upholstery manufacturer on personal protective equipment. By noon, Kaas had a basic face shield prototype on the production line. The Seattle area was one of the first in the U.S. to be hit by the novel coronavirus, and Providence’s supply of PPE in hospitals caring for COVID-19 patients was at “critically low levels.” The medical supply chain relies heavily on China, where the virus originated, and was unable to keep pace with skyrocketing global demand. (Christ, 8/8)

Nurses at Rush University Medical Center are working to unionize as the COVID-19 crisis raises new safety and health concerns. Unions representing front-line medical staffers at other institutions have advocated on behalf of their members during the pandemic, calling attention to shortages of personal protective equipment and staffing ratios they say endanger both workers and patients. In some cases, they've won paid sick leave and higher wages. (Goldberg, 8/7)

The largest U.S. health insurers posted enormous profits in the second quarter as hospitals and physician practices postponed elective services and patients put off routine medical care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Insurers paid billions of dollars less in medical claims for care unrelated to the novel coronavirus, producing savings that vastly outweighed any costs for coronavirus testing, hospitalizations and treatment. As a result, the seven biggest publicly traded insurers reported combined profits of $17 billion in the three months ended June 30, an increase of roughly 79% over the same quarter in 2019. (Livingston, 8/7)

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted a steep operating loss at Mass General Brigham, formerly Partners HealthCare, in the recently ended quarter. The Boston-based health system reported a $373 million operating loss on $3.1 billion in revenue in the quarter ended June 30—a 12% loss margin—compared with a $156 million operating gain on $3.6 billion in revenue in the prior-year period, a 4.4% operating margin. (Bannow, 8/7)

Students applying to graduate schools can take the GRE, the LSAT and other tests at home this year because of the risks of gathering in an exam room for hours during the pandemic. But applicants sitting for the longest and arguably most grueling graduate entrance exam, the Medical College Admission Test, do not have that option. Even as the nation is overwhelmed by a tide of Covid-19 cases, the Association of American Medical Colleges, which administers the test, is requiring would-be doctors to sit for the $320 exam in small groups at testing centers running back-to-back sessions in order to make up for time lost in the spring, when exams were canceled. (Caryn Rabin, 8/7)

An emergency room doctor in Boston is assembling thousands of voter registration kits for distribution at hospitals and doctor’s offices. Later this month, students at Harvard and Yale’s medical schools are planning a contest to see which of the Ivy League rivals can register the most voters. (Marcelo, 8/9)

Kaiser Health News: Pandemic Hampers Reopening Of Joint Replacement Gold Mine 

Dr. Ira Weintraub, a recently retired orthopedic surgeon who now works at a medical billing consultancy, saw a hip replacement bill for over $400,000 earlier this year. “The patient stayed in the hospital 17 days, which is only 17 times normal. The bill got paid,” mused Weintraub, chief medical officer of Portland, Oregon-based WellRithms, which helps self-funded employers and workers’ compensation insurers make sense of large, complex medical bills and ensure they pay the fair amount. (Wolfson, 8/10)

Kaiser Health News: ‘An Arm And A Leg’: Financial Self-Defense School Is Now In Session 

When you need medical care, it can be a lot like entering a casino — playing for your financial life with the deck stacked against you. But in this episode, reporter Celia Llopis-Jepsen offers insight and tips no dealer will divulge. She got a health care executive to talk honestly — maybe more honestly than he realized — about how his company and others are playing the game when they send patients huge bills. (Weissmann, 8/10)

Since the 1960s, medical convention has been that intersex variations should be “corrected,” often through a combination of painful surgeries and hormone therapy starting from infancy or before a child can consent. But on July 28, the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago became the first hospital in the United States to suspend the operations. The news comes after a three-year campaign against the hospital led by Wall and Pidgeon Pagonis, co-founders of the Intersex Justice Project. (Sosin, 8/7)

Epic Systems has told its employees they will not be required to return to in-person work on Monday at the health care records company based in Wisconsin. The company had planned to start a phased approach to bringing employees into work. Wisconsin Public Radio report s the company informed its employees they changed that plan after Public Health Madison and Dane County questioned whether they would comply with guidance on preventing coronavirus infections. (8/9)