Latest news with #WVUM
Miami Herald
3 days ago
- Sport
- Miami Herald
Sports on TV: Friday, May 30, 2025
ON THE RADIO NCAA Baseball: Miami-Alabama, 3 p.m., WVUM 90.5 FM MLB: San Francisco at Miami, 7:10 p.m., WINZ 940; WAQI 710 (Spanish)
Miami Herald
20-05-2025
- Sport
- Miami Herald
Sports on TV: Tuesday, May 20, 2025
ON THE RADIO NCAA Baseball: California-Miami, 9 a.m., WVUM 90.5 FM MLB: Chicago Cubs at Miami, 6:40 p.m., WINZ 940; WAQI 710 (Spanish) NHL: Florida at Carolina, 8 p.m., WQAM 560
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Hospital Association, Mon Health oppose new micro-hospital Certificate of Need bill
Mar. 26—dbeard @ MORGANTOWN — While the governor's bill to repeal the Certificate of Need process died in February, some delegates are making a stab at doing away with CON for what they term micro-hospitals. And as with the prior bill, the West Virginia Hospital Association and Mon Health oppose this one. The House Health Committee held its informational hearing on HB 3487 on Tuesday. It would eliminate from CON requirements construction or acquisition of a small format or micro-hospital owned by a system with one or more existing licensed hospitals in the state. The new facility would have to be located to increase care capacity without jeopardizing any nearby critical access hospitals. It could include up to 25 in-patient beds, up to 25 emergency room beds (there was confusion if the bill meant 25 total or 50 beds total, and the bill sponsor wasn't sure but guessed 50), a CT scanner, an MRI scanner and other services. The cost could not exceed $100 million. Lead sponsor Wayne Clark, R-Jefferson, said this is the third year they've tried to move this bill. The Eastern Panhandle has a bed shortage, with just WVU Medicine's critical access Jefferson Medical Center and WVUM's 160-bed Berkeley Medical Center serving 250, 000 people. "Many of us that live in border states have to go out of state for our services, " he said. In his area, the go to Maryland and Virginia. The bill, he said, would expand local care, bring more providers into the state, and keep money in the state that's going elsewhere. Jim Kaufman, president and CEO of the WVHA, explained their opposition. The effect of the bill, he said, would be to eliminate CON altogether. Under legislation passed two years ago, a company could build a micro-hospital then immediately expand to 1, 000 beds without a CON. The average critical access hospital (located in a rural area either more than 35 miles from the nearest hospital or more than 15 miles in areas with mountainous terrain or only secondary roads ; maintain no more than 25 inpatient beds that can be used for either inpatient or swing-bed services ; and furnish 24-hour emergency care services seven days a week) provides 90 % of its services on an outpatient basis and can expand those services without a CON, he said. The sometimes testy questioning by Eastern Panhandle delegates focused on beds versus services. The delegate maintained that the bill will expand care in the panhandle. Kaufman maintained that systems must make business decisions based on various factors. They could expand services without beds — as WVUM is planning at Jefferson, without affecting federally established critical access status. They could add beds to a critical access hospital and lose the increased Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements in exchange for volume. Or they could — as Mon Health did in Marion and Harrison counties — obtain CONs to build new small-format hospitals. Or they could build another critical access hospital. Part of the decision, he said. Would hinge on the payer makeup — how much money comes from the government and how much from commercial insurance. The panhandle delegates argued that more facilities is better. Kaufman countered that existing facilities have a responsibility to remain economically viable in order to go on offering care. Mon Health comments Asked for thoughts on this bill, David Goldberg, president and CEO of Mon Health System and Davis Health System — Vandalia Health Northern Region, and executive vice president of Vandalia Health, told The Dominion Post, "A small-format hospital — some say micro-hospital — is a hospital. It meets all Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) licensure requirements, state rules and regulations, and life safety standards expected of a hospital. "We have a successful demonstration model with Mon Marion Neighborhood Hospital and the soon-to-be-opened Mon Harrison Neighborhood Hospital, " he said. "Both went through the CON process and faced no opposition or issues in receiving state approval. No one should be exempt from following the state process. Apply and prove the feasibility and need. "We did, demonstrating to both the community we serve and the state the need and the justified rationale for its approval, " Goldberg said. "Mon Marion Neighborhood Hospital is recognized by Becker's Healthcare as the fastest ER in the state and among the top 10 in the country. We have had no infections or hospital-acquired conditions since opening and served 15, 000 ER patients in 2024. We support maintaining the laws as written, and this form of hospital should be held to the same standards as those applied by the federal government for a licensed hospital." WVU Medicine did not wish to comment at this time. HB 3487 on the committee's Thursday agenda for markup and passage for recommendation to the full House. It would need to pass out of the House to the Senate by April 2, Crossover Day, the 50th day of the session. when bills need to leave their house of origin.
Yahoo
14-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
WVU Medicine warns against scam calls using its phone number
Feb. 13—MORGANTOWN — WVU Medicine announced on Thursday that it has received reports of fraudulent phone calls appearing to come from the WVU Medicine phone number 304-598-4200. It said the bad actors behind these calls are scammers posing as WVU Medicine in hopes of gaining access to Medicare numbers and personal health information. (Mon Health Medical Center issued a similar announcement on Wednesday regarding its number, 304-598-1200.) WVU Medicine said it takes patients' and employees' privacy and security very seriously. Fraudsters frequently mask their phone numbers to impersonate people calling on behalf of trusted or familiar entities, a practice known as spoofing. WVUM said no WVUM facility or staff member will ever call patients to request their Medicare numbers or personal health information. Anyone who receives one of these calls from 304-598-4200 should hang up immediately, WVUM said. Protective measures WVUM offered these suggestions for protection against spoofing scams: — Zip it: If someone asks for sensitive data like a Medicare number, Social Security number, or any personal information, do not say anything — just hang up. — Check it: After hanging up, call recipients may verify the call's legitimacy by contacting WVU Medicine J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital's main number at 304-598-4000. — Report it: Inform the Federal Trade Commission of any fraudulent calls by visiting /Calls. — Screen it: There are many services and apps available that can help block or screen out scam calls. Some may be included as part of a phone carrier's calling plan. The Federal Communications Commission provides a list of these services at /Call-Blocking.
Yahoo
09-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
WVU Medicine leads trial of procedure to maintain weight loss without GLP-1 drugs
Feb. 9—dbeard @ MORGANTOWN — WVU Medicine is playing a lead role in a national clinical study of a minimally invasive surgical procedure for people who've lost weight through drugs like Mounjaro and fear regaining the weight when they go off the drugs. Dr. Shailendra Singh is WVUM's director of Bariatric Endoscopy and the WVU site's principal investigator. He explained what they're exploring. Drugs such as Mounjaro and Zepbound (the generic name is tirzepatide) and Ozempic and Wegovy (semaglutide) are part of a drug class known as GLP-1s. GLP-1s are approved to treat Type-2 diabetes, but are also effective as weight-loss drugs. But GLP-1 users may have to stay on them long-term to maintain their weight loss. Side effects and high costs pose barriers to long-term use, he said. And studies show that people who go off their GLP-1 therapy see a 3 % weight gain within four weeks. Some gain more than what they lost. Singh explained how GLP-1s work and why the weight comes back. They act in several areas. They slow the stomach down, which slows gastric emptying, meaning the food in the stomach for a longer time. They also act on the hunger center. "That kind of changes your relationship to food. What people say is there's not as much food noise and they can kind of avoid things which they were previously tempted to eat." They also increase insulin production and digestion. "So once the medication is gone, all those factors are totally reversed. Now you have patients whose satiety or hunger was controlled. No they don't have that inhibition anymore. So once that's reversed, then people kind of tend to, obviously, eat. ... So I think there's a huge need that needs to be addressed here." The surgical procedure trial is called REMAIN-1 and builds on trials and practice of a procedure called Revita DMR, developed by Fractyl Health, a metabolic therapeutics company focused on approaches to the treatment of metabolic diseases, including obesity and Type 2 diabetes. DMR is short for hydrothermal duodenal mucosal resurfacing. The duodenum is the first part of the small intestine, just beyond the stomach. Fractyl says it has an important role in regulating hunger and body weight. The duodenum is sensitive to the foods you eat and can signal to your brain to help the brain control your appetite. Singh said, "What we think is that over a period of time in diabetes, in patients with Type 2 diabetes or obesity or other factors, these cells [in the duodenum ] are inflamed or hypertrophic [enlarged or thickened ] which leads to the imbalance in the hormones." In the Revita procedure, an endoscope is inserted through the mouth down into the duodenum. Hot water is circulated into the duodenum to burn away the inflamed lining (called heat ablation). This allows regeneration of a new lining. "And the idea is that the new lining that comes in is a healthy lining, which is secreting GLP-1s and other beneficial hormones, " Singh said. The Revita DMR was developed to treat Type 2 diabetes and had positive results in improving blood glucose levels, liver insulin sensitivity, and other metabolic measures. REMAIN-1 finds a new focus for the procedure: the potential to maintain weight loss. It builds on the experience of a prior trial, REVEAL-1. In REVEAL-1, four weeks after Singh's first patient underwent Revita, none of the 15 % of weight loss was regained. Further data will be forthcoming later this quarter. REMAIN-1 is now recruiting patients, Singh said, who have either have lost weight or will take Zepbound to lose 15 % of their body weight. When the desired weight loss is achieved, they will undergo the Revita DMR procedure. "So there's a lot of interest, and we're seeing very heavy interest." Fractyl said the REMAIN-1 study has enrolled more than 100 patients across the first eight clinical study sites in less than four months. REMAIN-1 is a randomized controlled trial. Singh explained that for two patients who undergo the DMR procedure, a third will undergo what's called a "sham " procedure where the endoscope is inserted but the lining is not burned away. The randomization takes away the psychological component the patient may bring to the trial — any pre-existing biases regarding lifestyle modification or other matters — Singh said. It's the next step beyond REVEAL-1 where all the patients underwent the DMR. Singh said he expects it will take about a year to fully enroll all the patients for the trial. Then will come follow-up. "I think that's the important part is you want to follow these patients, " he said. "They might do well like our first, second patient [in REVEAL-1 ]. They did well for the first month. They did well for the second month. But what we want to see is what are the outcomes at six months ? What are the outcomes at 12 months ? So that's when we might start getting some preliminary data." The endoscopy, he said, is a low-risk procedure, he said. Patients go home the same day. They then go on a regular healthy diet. Harith Rajagopalan, co-Founder and CEO of Fractyl Health, said this about the REMAIN-1 trial: "As interest from key stakeholders continues to grow, we are increasingly confident in the transformative potential of our platform. Revita is more than a technological advancement — it represents a redefinition of how we approach metabolic disease treatment and raises the prospect of durably modifying the obesity epidemic without the need for burdensome drug therapy. For the millions of people struggling with obesity, this marks an exciting step forward in providing accessible and enduring solutions."
