Healthcare Staffing Shortages, Mental Health Awareness and Other Recent Health News Trends

A look at health news from PR Newswire in May and June that you might have missed.

By Rocky Parker | Published July 9, 2024

The past two months have been busy ones in the healthcare space. During May and June, PR Newswire distributed more than 5,700 health-related press releases.

Several observances took place during that time, covering everything from mental health to living with migraines, stroke awareness and more. The calendar events led to an influx of related press releases crossing the wire. We also celebrated Nurses Week in May and saw many companies share their appreciation for these deserving staff members.

But it wasn’t all celebratory news on the health wire. Staffing shortages and burnout continue to be a concern across the healthcare industry and recent cyberattacks are raising alarms about the privacy of patient data. Both crises were cited in a number of announcements to hit the wire in recent weeks.

Below, we highlight some of the most-read health press releases of the last two months and take a deeper dive into the big trends to help you catch up.

Popular Health Releases

The most-read healthcare announcements from May and June covered a variety of topics. Here’s what readers clicked on the most:

• Semler Scientific® Announces Bitcoin Treasury Strategy
• AbbVie and Gilgamesh Pharmaceuticals Announce Collaboration and Option-to-License Agreement to Develop Next-Generation Therapies for Psychiatric Disorders
• Quest Diagnostics to Acquire PathAI Diagnostics to Accelerate AI and Digital Pathology Adoption in Cancer Diagnosis; Forms Licensing Agreements with PathAI
• Lilly announces departure of Anat Ashkenazi, chief financial officer
• NeuroSense Announces New Positive Data Analysis from PARADIGM Clinical Trial Demonstrating Statistically Significant Slowing of Disease Progression in High-Risk ALS Patients

Health News Trends

Below, we dive into the big health news trends of May and June.

Addressing Healthcare Staffing

The healthcare industry continues to feel the effects of the pandemic on staffing. Ongoing staffing shortages are leading to burned-out workforces, high turnover and heightened labor costs. According to recent labor data from Healthcare Dive, many physicians and nurses are considering leaving their professions altogether, citing factors like high stress, fatigue and stagnant wages.

These shortages are projected to continue over the next 15 years, according to the Health Resources & Services Administration, which expects shortages in the thousands across health-related fields like nursing, behavioral health, physicians, women’s health and more.

Press releases on the wire during May and June reflected these trends. A healthcare workforce crisis is indeed here and among the announcements, companies introduced new tools to help fill shifts, healthcare worker unions negotiated new contracts and more.

Here are a few releases you might have missed:

• CareRev, an on-demand workforce platform for acute care nursing, found that its AI-powered Smart Rates product allows hospitals to fill shifts at a 23% higher rate.
• Medicus Healthcare Solutions addressed the shortage of anesthesia providers in a new whitepaper that “offers a strategic solution to directly address anesthesia staffing challenges, ensuring workforce stability.”
• To help address nursing shortages and improve education outcomes, Pearson announced the integration of AI study tools into its Nursing: A Concept-Based Approach to Learning series.
• GHR Healthcare, a healthcare staffing and workforce solutions provider, launched GHR Live!, a user-friendly and comprehensive job search app. The app expands beyond traditional nursing and allied health job apps to encompass the entire healthcare ecosystem.
• Matchwell announced the launch of the nation's first resource pool for flexible healthcare staffing.

Celebrating Nurses

National Nurses Week took place May 6-12, marking a weeklong celebration of nurses’ dedication and compassion. The week also includes National Student Nurses Day (May 8) and National School Nurse Day (May 8). The celebration came at a time when frustration due to the pandemic still runs high among nurses: more than a third say they are extremely likely to change jobs this year.

Companies across the healthcare industry took time to share their recognition, education programs and support for nurses across the country.

Throughout the past two months, PR Newswire distributed nearly 400 healthcare releases that mentioned “nurse” or “nursing.” Catch up with just a few of them:

• A survey by Medely ahead of National Nurses Week found that 60% of nurses think it's important that a hospital or facility shows appreciation to their nurses.
• American College of Education awarded 2024 Indiana Center for Nursing Scholarships to six nursing students. "These students represent the bright future of our field and I have no doubt that they'll continue to make meaningful contributions to society through their nursing careers," ACE Nursing Department Chair Bette Bogdan said.
• ShiftKey released a new report, "Social Media, Gen Z and the Future of Nursing," which found that social media is not just a source of work information for Gen Z, but also the most influential factor in their career decision journey – which may be causing a branding problem for the nursing profession.
• The American Academy of Ambulatory Care Nursing and the Commission for Nurse Reimbursement (CNR) announced a strategic partnership with a goal to “explore new and innovative ways to demonstrate the value of nursing care and ensure that payers reimburse health care delivery systems fairly for nursing services.”

National Health Observances

The past two months were big ones for health-related awareness, including Stroke Awareness Month (May), Mental Health Awareness  Month (May), Alzheimer’s and Brain Awareness Month (June) and Migraine and Headache Awareness Month (June). Across the wire, health companies were sharing new research, medical devices, advocacy initiatives and much more in recognition of these health-related issues that impact many Americans.

Mental health was a particularly big topic on the wire – nearly 500 related releases were sent in May and June – as the stubborn crisis that gained strength during the pandemic persists across the country. 

"We've gotten better at measuring the extent of mental health problems…but we do not have good strategies for addressing a lot of them," Sherry Glied, dean of NYU's Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, told Axios. U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy has even suggested a tobacco-like warning label on social media sites about the tech’s effects on youth mental health.

Here are a few of the releases from May and June:

• A survey by MedStar Health found that while 64% of respondents said they were "confident" about their knowledge of stroke symptoms, just 23% could name the signs that make up the acronym BEFAST, which indicates sudden changes that can be a sign of stroke.
• In May, which is also National Maternal Mental Health Month, Postpartum Support International encouraged people to check in on the new and expectant moms in their lives.
• The AbbVie Migraine Career Catalyst Award was launched in June to award individuals living with migraine with a financial prize that they could use to support their career and professional development goals.
• Maybelline New York announced a global partnership with the WHO Foundation to help 10 million people access 1:1 mental health support and shared its plans to donate $20 million to the cause by 2030.
• A study by NYU Langone examined the benefits of in-home blood pressure monitoring among low-income Black and Hispanic stroke survivors.
• New research by Girl Scouts of the USA revealed that as girls grow older, feelings of loneliness increase and, in turn, confidence decreases. But the data also points to the power of friendship in boosting girls' confidence to try new things.

Cybersecurity in Healthcare

Healthcare and public health were the sectors most hit by ransomware attacks in 2023, according to an FBI report on internet crime. Hospitals’ troves of patient information and the likelihood of these organizations paying ransoms to keep critical services running make them lucrative targets for hackers.

Unfortunately, that trend continues this year. Earlier this year, a ransomware attack on health insurance and billing company Change Healthcare reportedly exposed personal data and protected health information that may “cover a substantial proportion of people in America.” UnitedHealth, which owns Change Healthcare, paid a $22 million ransom in Bitcoin to protect the information stolen in the attack.

The decision to pay the ransom seems to have led to a surge in ransomware attacks at healthcare organizations. In May, for example, a cyberattack disrupted “clinical operations” at healthcare nonprofit Ascension, which operates 140 hospitals and 40 senior living facilities in 19 states.

Attacks like this can cause huge issues for healthcare providers, including billing disruptions and impacts on patient care, not to mention huge financial losses for the companies.

On the wire, we spotted dozens of releases in the healthcare and tech industries with the latest efforts to improve data security at healthcare companies and keep this alarming issue top of mind:

• Health technology company Mindray announced that its BeneVision N12, N15 and N17 monitors obtained the UL Solutions Cybersecurity Assurance Program (CAP) certification.
• Microsoft announced a new program to address the rising number of cyberattacks at rural hospitals. These attacks can be particularly damaging, as rural healthcare providers typically have limited means to prevent and remediate security risks and are often the only healthcare option for many miles in their communities.
• ZEISS Medical Technology shared new cybersecurity features of its CIRRUS® 6000, including protection against cyber threats, advanced data security, instant disaster recovery, enhanced password security and more.
• InSite, a clinical data management solution provider, announced the launch of PACS Guardian, an air-gapped, cloud-based imaging infrastructure that “represents a new era in cybersecurity.”

Looking Ahead

When it comes to staffing shortages across the healthcare industry, we’ll be watching to see if the new FTC ban on non-competes will have a positive effect on the crisis. And here’s hoping that everyone takes some time on International Self-Care Day (July 24) to focus on their mental wellbeing.

We’ll be keeping tabs on all the health-related headlines and will be back soon with another trend recap!

About the Author

Rocky Parker is the Manager of Audience and Journalist Engagement at Cision PR Newswire. She's been with the company since 2010 and has worked with journalists and bloggers as well as PR and comms professionals. Outside of work, she can be found trying a new recipe, binging a new show, or cuddling with her pitbull, Hudson.