Healthcare Spending News and Resources for Healthcare

UHG reports losses after cyberattack, providers warm up to AI

April 24, 2024 - The major health insurer UnitedHealth Group has not yet issued a formal breach notification, prompting more scrutiny of its response to the Change Healthcare cyberattack. So far, UnitedHealth Group reported that the breach involved files containing personal health information, but there is no evidence of malicious actors accessing full medical...

Top Healthcare Industry Predictions for 2024: Tech, Workforce, Costs

January 08, 2024 by Editorial Staff

The start of a new year brings a slew of healthcare industry predictions. What trends will take hold in 2024? What strategies will be widely adopted? What will remain the same and what will radically change? Our editorial senior...

CMS Starts Maternal Health Program, 2022 National Spending Normalizes

December 20, 2023 by Editorial Staff

CMS announced an initiative to improve maternal health outcomes for Medicaid and CHIP beneficiaries. The new initiative, called the Transforming Maternal Health model, will last ten...

House Passes $1.9B Budget for VA EHRM, Uninsured Rate Drops During COVID

August 08, 2023 by Hayden Schmidt

In healthcare policy news this week, an appropriations act aims to overhaul the VA’s Oracle Cerner EHR implementation. Meanwhile, HHS data showed that 6.3 million people gained healthcare...

AHA and FTC Tussle Over Antitrust, Senators Reintroduce Virtual Care Act

June 20, 2023 by Hayden Schmidt

In healthcare policy news this week, an AHA friend-of-the-court brief derided the Federal Trade Commission as biased. Meanwhile, a large group of United States senators is working to push the CONNECT...

CDC Finds 3,500 Long COVID Deaths, Healthcare Spending Reaches $4.3T

December 20, 2022 by Hayden Schmidt

In this week’s policy roundup, the annual CMS accounting report found that healthcare expenditures slowed compared to 2020 but still reached $4.3 trillion in 2021. And a CDC study looking at...

NIH $2.7M Machine Learning Grant, HHS Forges Family Caregiver Strategy

September 27, 2022 by Hayden Schmidt

Digital health vendor, Eko, received $2.7 million from the National Institutes for Health (NIH) to build its machine learning smart stethoscope device. The machine learning algorithm that will make the...

OIG Identifies Unnecessary Denials, Delays by Medicare Advantage Plans

May 03, 2022 by Kyle Murphy, PhD

The Medicare Advantage program has proven quite lucrative for commercial health plans over the years, but a federal agency is calling into question whether certain business practices are leading to...

NY Surgeon Charged with $10m Telehealth Fraud, $226M for Worker Training

April 27, 2022 by Hayden Schmidt

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced two different funding initiatives to improve healthcare nationwide. The first, $90 million, will support data analysis at community health...

Court Ruling Brings an End to Proposed New Jersey Hospital Merger

April 19, 2022 by Kyle Murphy, PhD

The tides appear to be changing with regard to healthcare mergers and acquisitions in both federal courts and the court of public opinion. Interoperability Holding Back Healthcare Digital...

Primary Care Physician Turnover Tied to Increased Healthcare Spending

March 08, 2022 by Kyle Murphy, PhD

The continued strain on the healthcare system is driving physicians out of practice and new findings suggest that primary care physician turnover has a large financial effect on healthcare...

Care Gaps Among Seniors Remain Prevalent, Warrant Action

February 22, 2022 by Kyle Murphy, PhD

Senior populations are more vulnerable to severe infection from COVID-19, but they also face health risks due to delayed or foregone care during the pandemic. A Third of Seniors Experiencing Impact of...

Pandemic Continues to Take Toll on Provider Financial Performance

November 02, 2021 by Kyle Murphy, PhD

Labor expenses and declining patient volumes are having a significant impact on provider financial performance throughout 2021. Hospital Volumes Declining, Healthcare Expenses Rising Healthcare...

Despite Relief Funds, One-Third of Hospitals Eye Expected Losses

September 23, 2021 by Kyle Murphy, PhD

While pandemic relief funds may have enabled leading hospitals to weather the storm of COVID-19, quite a few hospitals anticipate significant losses during the second year of the pandemic. Hospital...

Genetic Testing Key to Advancing Precision Medicine Efforts

September 14, 2021 by Kyle Murphy, PhD

The pandemic has revealed some harsh realities about health equity in the United States. And thanks to more analysis of relief funds, the hits keep on coming. COVID-19 Relief Funds Failed to Help...

MSSP ACOs Generated Billions in Value-Based Care Savings in 2020

September 02, 2021 by Kyle Murphy, PhD

It's back-to-school time, and the healthcare industry is likely to learn a lesson in value-based care from leading accountable care organizations. MSSP ACOs Saved Medicare More Than $4B in...

Medicare ACOs Saw Record Savings Years During Pandemic

August 26, 2021 by Kyle Murphy, PhD

The past year was a difficult one for the nation and the healthcare industry in particular. As it turns out, value-based care could've played an even greater role in improving population health and...

COVID-19 Cost-Sharing Quickly Becoming Reality for Consumers

August 24, 2021 by Kyle Murphy, PhD

FDA’s full approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine will have implications for mandates alongside the financial motivation coming from more payers regarding cost-sharing for COVID-19 treatments...

How Does the Healthcare Industry Lower Prescription Drug Spending?

July 27, 2021 by Emily Sokol, MPH

The exponential cost of prescription drugs has long been a debate in the United States. While many solutions have been proposed, few have been successful. From rate negotiations to pricing cap limits, no strategy to cut prescription drug...

Biden Seeks 23% Increase to HHS Budget; Mount Sinai AI Predicts COVID-19 Risks

June 02, 2021 by Kyle Murphy, PhD

It’s already Wednesday. With a short week, the roundup will publish today and Friday. Here’s what is making news across healthcare. Biden Seeks to Boost HHS Budget by 23 Percent As part...

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