Ascension inks strategic relationship with Labcorp, expanding testing capabilities

Under the terms of the deal, Labcorp will manage Ascension's hospital-based laboratories in 10 states, and acquire select assets of the St. Louis-based system's outreach laboratory business.

By Rebecca Pifer Parduhn • Feb. 10, 2022

Tenet continues bet on ambulatory surgery centers to drive long-term growth

The hospital operator plans to buy 30 more centers from SurgCenter Development in 2022, in addition to the 16 it's already acquired this year, executives said on a earnings call Tuesday.

By Hailey Mensik • Feb. 9, 2022

Explore the Trendline➔

Surprise Billing

Federal legislation banning surprise bills has hit a barrage of roadblocks, complicating efforts to protect consumers from unexpected out-of-network charges.

By Healthcare Dive staff

Jury trial gets underway in antitrust suit against Sutter Health

The California hospital system is accused of wielding its market power to drive up health insurance premiums for hundreds of thousands of consumers.

By Susan Kelly • Feb. 9, 2022

Black women disproportionately concentrated in low-wage, hazardous healthcare jobs, study finds

The U.S.'s historical legacies of racism and sexism have shaped the employment trajectories of Black women, dating back to how care work was divided in slavery and domestic service, according to new research.

By Rebecca Pifer Parduhn • Feb. 8, 2022

Hospital-acquired COVID-19 infections rare and dropping, study suggests

In the last half of 2021, the rate of patients who contracted COVID-19 in a hospital rose at only half the rate as overall COVID-19 admissions, likely due to increased vaccination rates, researchers said.

By Rebecca Pifer Parduhn • Feb. 7, 2022

Staffing overtakes financial challenges as top concern among hospital CEOs, survey finds

While earlier shortages were characterized by staff calling in sick and school closures, stress and burnout now are leading to rising turnover with many healthcare personnel at their breaking points.

By Hailey Mensik • Feb. 7, 2022

Staffing firms defend traveling nurse rates as industry groups, Congress push for investigation

Legislators in some states are even looking to cap the rate hospitals can pay agencies for temporary nurses as worker shortages persist across the U.S.

By Hailey Mensik • Feb. 3, 2022

As hospitals sue over surprise billing ban, healthcare experts ask why

While provider associations take the battle to court, private equity backed physician groups are absent from the litigation.

By Samantha Liss • Feb. 1, 2022

Spectrum, Beaumont launch new system following merger

The combined organization — temporarily named BHSH System — will have a major presence in Michigan with 22 hospitals, a sizable outpatient business, a health plan covering 1 million people and combined revenue of $13 billion.

By Hailey Mensik • Feb. 1, 2022

Hospitals felt omicron's full force in late 2021, Kaufman Hall says

A respite from treating large volumes of COVID-19 patients was short-lived last fall as people with symptoms filled hospital emergency rooms and boosted visits in December, according to a new report.

By Susan Kelly • Feb. 1, 2022

Healthcare trends of 2022

U.S.-based digital health startups brought in almost $30 billion in 2021, nearly doubling the total investment from the prior year. Market watchers are wary on making forecasts that 2022 will break that record, but most are optimistic.

Jan. 31, 2022

Cleveland Clinic reports COVID-spurred financial windfall in 2021

The nonprofit has yet to publicly issue a comprehensive financial statement, but some initial figures illustrate how Cleveland Clinic — like some other major hospital chains — has actually prospered financially during the pandemic.

By Rebecca Pifer Parduhn • Jan. 31, 2022

Most doctors are compensated for volume, not value of care, research finds

Health systems used financial incentives for quality and cost performance measures, but the percentage of total physician compensation based on quality and cost was just 9% for primary-care providers, according to the study.

By Hailey Mensik • Jan. 28, 2022

Staffing agencies 'exploiting' nurse shortage, hospital lobby says in letter urging White House to investigate

With nurses in high demand, hospitals and nursing homes are forced to accept "exorbitant" rates set by staffing agencies, their lobbies argue.

By Samantha Liss • Jan. 28, 2022

3 key labor trends for hospitals in 2022

Hospitals are still grappling with rising turnover, widespread burnout and numerous staff calling in sick nearly two years after the pandemic began. It's unclear when it might get better — or how much worse it could get.

By Hailey Mensik • Jan. 27, 2022

HCA to build 5 new hospitals in Texas

The news comes on the heels of HCA's plans to build three new hospitals in Florida, another core market for the Nashville-based health system.

By Samantha Liss • Jan. 27, 2022

Safety net hospitals report growing financial hit from loss of 340B drug discounts

Drugmakers' ability to restrict discounts is currently being litigated in court. But more companies have enacted policies limiting such discounts since the time of a new 340B Health report, so it likely underestimates hospital losses.

By Rebecca Pifer Parduhn • Jan. 27, 2022

HHS to distribute $2B in COVID-19 relief funds to providers this week to ease staffing, financial challenges

The agency is sending payments to more than 7,600 healthcare providers nationwide this week to help them as staffing shortages and heightened labor expenses pose new financial challenges.

By Hailey Mensik • Jan. 26, 2022

Mass General dinged for spending growth by state regulator

A key driver behind spending at the health system is prices, not increased utilization, according to the Health Policy Commission, which is charged with policing healthcare cost growth in the state.

By Samantha Liss • Jan. 26, 2022

Hospitals request more federal help battling rising labor expenses, staffing shortages amid omicron

The hospital lobby also is renewing its push in requesting the Federal Trade Commission investigate travel-nurse staffing firms for anticompetitive behavior as facilities have seen elevated pay rates throughout the pandemic.

By Hailey Mensik • Jan. 25, 2022

OIG audit targets hospital compliance with surprise billing rule

The effort aims to gauge whether providers receiving federal relief funds to help survive the pandemic complied with restrictions on unexpected bills for inpatients with COVID-19.

By Susan Kelly • Jan. 25, 2022

Emergency physicians' level of burnout jumped last year

An overload of bureaucratic tasks, such as charting and paperwork, was doctors' No. 1 reason for burnout, affecting 60% of those polled by Medscape.

By Susan Kelly • Jan. 24, 2022

4 key trends for payers and providers in 2022

The sectors face continued operational pressure as they head into a third year of the pandemic, including a tight labor market and shifts in payer mix.

By Samantha Liss • Jan. 21, 2022

Study finds racial bias in how clinicians describe patients in medical records

Black patients were 2.5 times more likely to have one or more negative descriptor such as "noncompliant" or "aggressive" in their EHR compared with White patients, researchers found.

By Rebecca Pifer Parduhn • Jan. 20, 2022

AHIP backs HHS in surprise billing suit, pushes back against provider claims

Relying on the qualifying payment amount, or median in-network rate, helps center the payment dispute, creating a starting point for when payers and providers may need to turn to a third-party arbiter, the lobby argued.

By Samantha Liss • Jan. 19, 2022