Unvaccinated COVID-19 hospitalizations costing US healthcare system billions, KFF says

Roughly 113,000 of the 185,000 inpatient stays with a COVID-19 diagnosis, or about 61%, could have been prevented by vaccination in June and July, researchers estimated.

By Rebecca Pifer • Aug. 24, 2021

Mayo Clinic's financials see sharp Q2 rebound

While the report was generally upbeat, the system warned “COVID-19 could still negatively affect the operating margins." And results don't include the late summer surge due to the delta variant that has hammered some regions.

By Ron Shinkman • Aug. 22, 2021

Hospital patient volumes match 2019 levels, will exceed them next year

Hospital executives surveyed by McKinsey also said they will focus on growing surgical volumes — which took a huge hit in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. — but will shift more of them to the outpatient setting.

By Ron Shinkman • Aug. 20, 2021

SSM Health, insurer Medica to launch joint venture

Medica will invest an undisclosed sum in Dean Health Plan, a subsidiary of St. Louis-based SSM Health, one of the nation's largest nonprofit health systems.

By Samantha Liss • Aug. 19, 2021

Burnout, delta variant boost demand for traveling nurses again

Hospitals are probably paying 10% to 20% more than they were during previous COVID-19 waves for travel nurses, Kathy Kohnke, senior vice president of client relations at Fastaff, said.

By Hailey Mensik • Aug. 18, 2021

Payments to MA plans raised overall Medicare spend by $7B in 2019, analysis finds

The Kaiser Family Foundation chalked the higher spending up to how MA is paid, including how benchmarks for plan payments are set and the risk adjustment process.

By Rebecca Pifer • Aug. 18, 2021

Providence posts H1 operating loss amid increased labor costs

As more patients returned for care, the Washington state-based system's expenses increased to meet demand and was further stressed by worker shortages.

By Samantha Liss • Aug. 18, 2021

Biden administration invests $19M to bolster rural telehealth

The investments will provide funding to train primary care providers, aid groups delivering virtual care, pilot new telehealth services and research the efficacy of digitally delivered care in rural geographies.

By Rebecca Pifer • Aug. 18, 2021

HHS OIG backs nixing capital cost exemption for new hospitals

Currently, new facilities help pay for their capital costs through a special exemption. An HHS watchdog says Medicare could see significant cost savings if regulators did away with the carveout.

By Samantha Liss • Aug. 17, 2021

Centene awarded Ohio Medicaid contract following $88M settlement

In addition, a subsidiary of Molina has nabbed a Medicaid contract win in Nevada, the payer's first in the state.

By Rebecca Pifer • Aug. 17, 2021

Predicting the future of healthcare: 10 takeaways from HIMSS21

Along with "guarded optimism" on the current state of the pandemic, some 19,000 on-site attendees in Las Vegas mulled what's next for AI, telehealth, cybersecurity, mental health and more.

By Rebecca Pifer , Hailey Mensik • Aug. 13, 2021

Tackling healthcare's female leadership problem at HIMSS21

Women are largely absent from most healthcare companies' C-suites where major decisions are made, despite their massive influence as consumers and workers in the industry.

By Hailey Mensik • Aug. 12, 2021

Kaiser Permanente's Q2 profit down one-third despite revenue climb

The integrated health system remained in the black for the quarter ending June 30, but rising costs associated with COVID-19 are eating into its bottom line.

By Ron Shinkman • Aug. 10, 2021

Delaware caps hospital price growth to fund more primary care

Gov. John Carney signed the multi-pronged healthcare bill on Friday. "As I think about the things, particularly in healthcare that we focus on, there's not much that's more important than this," he said.

By Samantha Liss • Updated Oct. 5, 2021

Utilization bounced back for payers in Q2, dinging profitability

Patient volumes returned and drove net income down significantly year over year for insurers, which posted record profits during the same time last year when medical care was largely put off.

By Hailey Mensik • Aug. 6, 2021

JPM venture arm Morgan Health invests $50M in value-based primary care player Vera

The investment bank launched Morgan Health two months ago following the high-profile dissolution of Haven, its previous venture to lower employer healthcare costs in tandem with Amazon and Berkshire Hathaway.

By Rebecca Pifer • Aug. 6, 2021

Evernorth drives Cigna's Q2 revenue growth despite more return to care than expected

Executives said Thursday that COVID-19-related costs were also higher than anticipated for the quarter.  

By Shannon Muchmore • Aug. 5, 2021

CVS profit dips to $2.8B as patients return, COVID-19 costs persist

Lagging vaccination rates lead the company to expect the pandemic to be a "modest negative for 2021," CFO Shawn Guertin said. Previously, it expected COVID-19 to have little to no impact on full-year earnings.

By Rebecca Pifer • Aug. 4, 2021

Medicare-reliant hospitals perform worse financially, more likely to face closure or acquisition: Health Affairs

But researchers cautioned policymakers not to view the results as a reason to avoid reducing Medicare reimbursement.

By Samantha Liss • Aug. 3, 2021

Despite pandemic, independent medical practices say they are more confident than ever

This feeling of optimism came despite the fact that 11% of independent medical practices said they had shut down temporarily during the COVID-19 crisis, according to a new survey.

By Ron Shinkman • Aug. 2, 2021

For-profit hospitals saw volumes rebound in Q2, but delta variant poses threat

Some services were near or back to pre-pandemic levels in the second quarter, though others like ER visits are still lagging. At the same time, increasing cases of the delta variant could hinder full business recoveries this year.

Aug. 2, 2021

Telehealth investments soar even as market matures

In the second quarter, late-stage investments outpaced those going into early-stage deals. Moreover, investor exits also reached a record high, according to CB Insights.

By Ron Shinkman • July 30, 2021

Cerner reports $1.5B in revenue, raises full-year guidance

Net income, however, plummeted in the second quarter as restructuring charges dragged on the health IT giant's margin.

By Rebecca Pifer • July 30, 2021

CHS profit down in Q2 but buoyed by non-COVID-19 care

Jefferies analysts said in a Thursday note they view the results positively, especially a jump in surgeries and "healthy organic growth trends." Still, CHS' stock was trading down about 8% Thursday morning.

By Hailey Mensik • July 29, 2021

Molina sees bump in coronavirus inpatient costs as delta variant takes hold

Those COVID-19 costs quickly tapered off as the quarter progressed, executives said. Still, the insurer was able to post a second quarter profit as more members sought care. 

By Samantha Liss • July 29, 2021