Thousands of US doctors, nurses, and other hospital workers are attacked—both physically and verbally, threatened, or harassed every year while attempting to treat patients.

Some members of Congress—including a doctor in the US House of Representatives—are looking to crack down on that behavior while also helping hospitals protect staff.

US Reps. Larry Bucshon (R-Ind.) and Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.) reintroduced legislation in April that would create federal legal penalties—from fines up to 20 years’ imprisonment—for individuals who knowingly assault or intimidate hospital employees. (The penalties would exempt behavior tied to mental illness, substance abuse, or disabilities.)

The bipartisan proposal, known as the “Safety from Violence for Healthcare Employees” (SAVE) Act, would also authorize up to $25 million—subject to the appropriations process—in new federal grants annually over 10 years to help hospitals with de-escalation training, coordination with law enforcement, and security systems upgrades. (An earlier version of the bill did not pass last session.)

Bucshon, who served as chief of cardiothoracic surgery at then-St. Mary’s Hospital (now Ascension St. Vincent Evansville) in Indiana, prior to joining Congress in 2011, told Healthcare Brew that the new penalties—similar to those for people who assault airline workers—are needed to curb the rising rates of violence directed at healthcare workers.

“There needs to be more of a deterrent,” he said, arguing that existing state laws fall short.

The renewed legislative push comes amid new data suggesting that healthcare workers—who have long been subject to such behavior—faced increased aggression and violence during the Covid-19 pandemic.

A Press Ganey analysis released in September 2022 found that more than two nurses, on average, were assaulted every hour—or 57 per day—in the second quarter of 2022. Nurses surveyed by National Nurses United in 2022, meanwhile, reported significant increases in workplace violence compared to 2021.

Keep reading here.—SY

Do you work in healthcare or have information about the industry that we should know? Email Shannon at [email protected]. For completely confidential conversations, ask Shannon for her number on Signal.

Most of us don’t ever get the chance to invest in a company before their planned public listing. But opportunity is knocking.

Meet Monogram, the company planning to use surgical robots and 3D-printed technology to create custom-made knee implants built for each patient’s unique anatomy.

Surgeons perform around 1.7m knee replacement surgeries annually, but as many as 100k of these fail. Dr. Doug Unis believes the problem is straightforward, and that’s why he founded Monogram.

With the help of advanced surgical robotics and personalized, 3D-printed implants, Monogram wants to make knee replacement surgeries safer, less invasive, and more precise.

They’ve already received FDA approval for their implant components. Now they’re planning to list on the Nasdaq—and they’re offering you a chance to invest in this current round and join(t) the effort.

Last day to complete your investment is May 10.

The global fertility services industry was worth $29.9 billion in 2021, and with recent data from the World Health Organization showing that one in six people globally experience infertility, it’s likely to continue growing.

But fertility services—like in vitro fertilization (IVF) and egg freezing—can be very costly, and many employers don’t offer coverage.

In 2020, about 61% of large employers offered some sort of fertility coverage, though just 27% covered IVF, according to 2021 data from consulting firm Mercer. Among small employers (with 50–499 employees), about 32% offered some sort of fertility coverage in 2020, and 14% covered IVF.

Employers that do offer fertility benefits allocate $36,000 per employee on average, according to data from FertilityIQ, an online fertility data platform. But the average cost of one IVF cycle is more than $23,000, and it takes an average of 2.3–2.7 cycles to get pregnant. That means the average person would need around $50,000 to cover the cost.

“Often, in the absence of having a fertility benefit, people end up spending tens of thousands, and sometimes even upwards of hundreds of thousands out of pocket,” Neel Shah, CMO at virtual care platform Maven Clinic, told Healthcare Brew.

There’s a “clear business case” for employers and payers to cover fertility services, Kate Ryder, founder and CEO of Maven Clinic, said in a news release.

Maven, along with polling agency Wakefield Research, conducted an online survey of 500 people who sought fertility care and found that 97% of respondents said they’d have more desire to work for a company if it offered fertility benefits. (The respondents were surveyed between March 31 and April 12, 2023, and the study had a margin of error of  +/- 4.4 percentage points).

Keep reading here.—MA

Do you work in healthcare or have information about the industry that we should know? Email Maia at [email protected]. For completely confidential conversations, ask Maia for her number on Signal.

On Fridays, we schedule our rounds with Healthcare Brew readers. Want to be featured in an upcoming edition? Click here to introduce yourself.

This week’s Making Rounds spotlights Amanda Eisenberg, our New York City-based founding editor who started this newsletter in October 2022. Eisenberg discussed her goals for Healthcare Brew, and the healthcare topics she is passionate about.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

How would you describe your job to someone who doesn’t work in journalism?

My job is a lot of management and organization, as well as thinking about the big picture of healthcare and what’s interesting to our readers. My goal is to make sure every story we publish is compelling, and to seek out an angle that maybe mainstream media outlets are not necessarily covering…to highlight women and marginalized people. Those are things I’m really passionate about. We try to think about the news and think about the business of healthcare in that way.

What is the most fulfilling aspect of your job?

It’s been really exciting to see the level of enthusiasm our readers have for Healthcare Brew. I have not had that kind of relationship with readers before on this scale. Our readership growth has been tremendous. The amount of feedback I get and the reporters get has been so fulfilling, because often it feels like—especially with newsletters—you’re often sending them out into a void or you’re not sure if people are reading them. The level of feedback we’ve gotten makes me feel really good that people are reading and are really excited about the kinds of [stories] we’re putting out.

Keep reading here.—KW

Do you work in healthcare or have information about the industry that we should know? Email Kristine at [email protected]. For completely confidential conversations, ask Kristine for her number on Signal.

Today’s top healthcare reads.

Stat: Nearly half of patients with Alzheimer’s disease who took an experimental drug “showed no decline on a key measure of cognition over the course of a year,” according to a large clinical trial from Eli Lilly. (CNN)

Quote: “He gasped for air a couple of times when I held him. I watched my child take his first breath, and I held him as he took his last one.”—Deborah Dorbert, a Florida woman who was forced to give birth under the state’s restrictive abortion laws (CNN)

Read: Kansas has one of the most anti-trans laws in the country, which experts say will keep people and companies from putting down roots in the state. (KMUW)

Catch up on the top Healthcare Brew stories you may have missed:

• Say goodbye to trypanophobia—this biotech is trying to turn injectable drugs into pills
• Jefferson Health uses AI to help diagnose patients
• NYC Health + Hospitals attracts behavioral health pros with student debt relief