As Congress gains ground on stimulus, healthcare workers ask people to stay home

President Donald Trump, however, said he wanted the nation to be "opened up" by Easter, despite strong advice from public health experts that the U.S. continue social distancing efforts.

By Shannon Muchmore • March 25, 2020

Ratings agencies issue foreboding reports on hospital finances as AHA seeks $100B to respond to COVID-19

"While the healthcare sector has responded extremely well to past crises, the scale of the coronavirus pandemic is unprecedented," Fitch Ratings warned.

By Ron Shinkman • March 20, 2020

Telehealth vendors scramble to hire doctors as patient volume soars amid COVID-19

"We've gotten a lot of applications, more in the past two days since we put out this temporary position than we could have imagined," 98point6 CEO Robbie Cape told Healthcare Dive. "That being said, we need 10 times more."

By Rebecca Pifer Parduhn • March 20, 2020

Block-granting Medicaid would cause program funding to plunge, Commonwealth Fund says

The funding caps created by block grants "would require states to cut coverage, reduce benefits, increase cost-sharing, lower provider payment rates" or otherwise reduce expenditures, according to a new report.

By Ron Shinkman • March 9, 2020

Payer stocks rebound as Super Tuesday results quell M4A fears

A slew of primary wins by former Vice President Joe Biden helped tamp down fears that managed care companies could be downsized or eliminated under "Medicare for All" pushed by Sen. Bernie Sanders.

By Rebecca Pifer Parduhn • March 4, 2020

JAMA finds public insurance payments increased more than private

Lower back and neck pain and other musculoskeletal disorders accounted for the highest amount of spending in 2016 at an estimated $134.5 billion — 57.2% of which was paid for by private insurance, according to the research.

By Hailey Mensik • March 3, 2020

Allscripts eyes margin improvement following $182M loss in 2019

The Chicago-based EHR vendor plans to hire a financial advisory firm to create an improvement plan following what the CFO called "disappointing" margins and "pathetic" free cash flow.

By Rebecca Pifer Parduhn • March 3, 2020

GAO: Number of hospitals heavily dependent on Medicare has shrunk

The agency attributed the smaller number of facilities in the Medicare Dependent Hospital Program to closures, mergers or acquisitions and changes in designation.

By Ron Shinkman • March 2, 2020

UPMC topline soars on Highmark truce

Highmark members receiving inpatient care at UPMC's facilities increased by 30% in 2019, and those receiving outpatient care increased by 26%, according to the Pittsburgh-based hospital system's financial results released Friday.

By Rebecca Pifer Parduhn • March 2, 2020

Kaufman Hall: Hospital revenue, margins improved in 2019, but warning signs ahead

The consultancy's year in review report also noted rising expenses, and said the modest gains came amid a rosy economy and before the 2020 election and coronavirus outbreak.

By Ron Shinkman • Feb. 28, 2020

'Feeding the flywheel': Teladoc sees opportunity in coronavirus

Though the global telehealth vendor did not quantify expected tailwind from the novel coronavirus, its CEO noted: "We do benefit from people becoming new users."

By Rebecca Pifer Parduhn • Feb. 27, 2020

Cleveland Clinic's 2019 topline jumps on record patient visits

The system also reported a 50% year-over-year rise in income, coming as nonprofit providers face scrutiny over their tax free status.

By Rebecca Pifer Parduhn • Feb. 27, 2020

Corporate watchdog pegs Centene, CVS CEOs as among most overpaid

With healthcare costs rising faster than inflation, industry executives are ripe targets for criticism over compensation. The payer defended the figure and said it's based on industry standards.

By Rebecca Pifer Parduhn • Feb. 26, 2020

Tenet closes out 2019 at $243M loss

Volume growth in the fourth quarter was a bright spot for the for-profit hospital operator. Tenet has now reported hospital adjusted admissions gains for four consecutive quarters.

By Rebecca Pifer Parduhn • Feb. 25, 2020

Richer not-for-profit hospitals less generous with charity care, JAMA analysis finds

Hospitals in states that expanded Medicaid eligibility under the Affordable Care Act also tend to provide less charity care, the survey of 2,500 health systems found.

By Ron Shinkman • Feb. 18, 2020

Last year saw 19 rural hospitals close, most in nearly a decade

The states with the highest number of closures in the past 10 years are Texas at 20 and Tennessee at 12, followed by Oklahoma and Georgia with seven each, according to a report from The Chartis Center for Rural Health.

By Shannon Muchmore • Feb. 18, 2020

Price hikes drove employer-sponsored health costs to record high in 2018

The Health Care Cost Institute, drawing on data from Aetna, Humana, Kaiser Permanente and United Healthcare, found higher prices accounted for about three-quarters of the increase, while usage rose just about 3%.

By Hailey Mensik • Feb. 14, 2020

Moody's weighs coronavirus impact across hospitals, other sectors

For hospitals, the impact will depend on the length of stay for patients. Any further outbreak would increase volumes but could pressure margins if facilities are forced to cancel more lucrative elective procedures.

By Shannon Muchmore • Feb. 13, 2020

CVS swings to $6.6B profit in 2019, buoyed by Aetna

The payer also saw growth in government services, reporting its Medicare Advantage business grew over three times the industry average in 2019, CEO Larry Merlo said Wednesday.

By Rebecca Pifer Parduhn • Feb. 12, 2020

Molina posts mixed Q4, says ACA shoppers not switching for savings

In an effort to drive greater membership in the marketplaces this year, the payer cut prices by 4% on average. But that didn't spur the growth hoped for in 2020, particularly in Texas and Florida.

By Samantha Liss • Feb. 11, 2020

Hospitals, clinics most likely to be hit with ransomware attack

Nearly 1,500 healthcare companies have been hit with an attack over the past four years, affecting 6.6 million patients, according to a report published Tuesday by Comparitech, which rates IT privacy tools.

By Shannon Muchmore • Feb. 11, 2020

Hospital margins rose in December following slump

Hospitals saw increased volumes and revenues in the last month of 2019 despite increases in bad debt and charity care, along with mixed performance on expenses, according to a new report from Kaufman Hall.

By Hailey Mensik • Feb. 6, 2020

Cerner teases M&A, divestitures, touts backing for interoperability rules

CEO Brent Shafer re-upped the EHR giant's support for two HHS rules promoting free data sharing between health IT systems, due to be finalized any day, which rival Epic Systems has lobbied stridently against.

By Rebecca Pifer Parduhn • Feb. 4, 2020

Payers, providers urge CMS to scrap rule targeting supplemental Medicaid payments

The AHA warned the rule would "severely curtail the availability of health care services to millions" of people and cut Medicaid payments to hospitals by up to $31 billion annually.

By Samantha Liss • Feb. 3, 2020

CHS estimates slight uptick in 2019 same-store revenue

About a month ahead of releasing its official earnings report, the for-profit chain gave some information in an SEC filing as it prepares to sell a $1 billion round of senior secured notes.

By Ron Shinkman • Jan. 24, 2020