Pandemic safety protections, wage increases key for nursing unions in new contracts

The nation's largest nursing union has reached agreements on more than 50 contracts covering around 27,000 nurses across the country at major hospital chains like HCA and Tenet since February.

By Hailey Mensik • Sept. 1, 2021

Hospital lobby urges Congress to extend Medicare cut relief

The cuts, if they go through, will result in an estimated loss of $36 billion in funding in 2022 alone, the Federation of American Hospitals said.

By Rebecca Pifer Parduhn • Sept. 1, 2021

Explore the Trendline➔

Provider burnout

Hospitals are still struggling with provider burnout, after the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated underlying staffing issues and prompted workers to quit their jobs.

By Healthcare Dive staff

Sutter to pay $90M in largest False Claims Act settlement against a health system for alleged MA fraud

The record payment comes on the heels of another massive settlement for the nonprofit, adding to the hit on its already stressed bottom line.

By Rebecca Pifer Parduhn • Aug. 31, 2021

Hospitals boost hiring efforts, sweeten employee benefits, survey finds

The findings from employment services firm Aon contrast sharply with this time last year, when widespread shutdowns of nonemergency care led systems to institute furloughs and other cost-cutting measures.

By Hailey Mensik • Aug. 31, 2021

New Jersey hospitals appeal FTC merger challenge

Hackensack Meridian Health, the largest health system in New Jersey, wants to to acquire a close competitor. The Federal Trade Commission won an injunction to stop the deal, which is now headed to an appeals court.

By Samantha Liss • Aug. 30, 2021

Cleveland Clinic profitable in Q2 as patients return, but COVID-19 surge hits Florida hospitals

The hospital system's rebound from 2020's pandemic-driven losses accelerated, but its facilities in Florida saw an increase in COVID-19 patients in July and August, with some non-emergency care postponed.

By Susan Kelly • Aug. 30, 2021

Embracing transformation to thrive in the future of healthcare

Healthcare leaders identify their top priorities and investments in the months ahead.

Aug. 30, 2021

Outpatient facilities targeted for cyberattacks nearly as often as hospitals, data shows

Business associates such as claims processors are also a prime target for hackers, and now account for 43% of all healthcare breaches, according to the report from Critical Insight.

By Hailey Mensik • Aug. 27, 2021

Swell of COVID-19 cases likely to pressure hospital margins, Fitch says

As hospitalizations overwhelm facilities, operators need more staffing. But workers are in short supply, causing costs for contracted labor to rise. The ratings agency expects staffing shortages to persist into next year.

By Samantha Liss • Aug. 27, 2021

Mayo Clinic, Alphabet's Verily partner to build clinical decision support tools

The two plan to initially focus on a set of cardiovascular and cardiometabolic conditions.

By Rebecca Pifer Parduhn • Aug. 27, 2021

Intermountain giving pay raises, boosting minimum wage to $15 an hour

The last time the system raised its minimum wage across the board was in 2019, to $13 an hour, though earlier this year nurses did receive an off-cycle wage adjustment, according to a spokesperson.

By Hailey Mensik • Aug. 26, 2021

North Carolina amends certificate of need in bill headed to governor's desk

The laws came under scrutiny as the COVID-19 pandemic gripped the nation last year and overwhelmed hospital resources, raising questions about the value of the restrictions.

By Samantha Liss • Aug. 26, 2021

UPS delivers COVID-19 vaccines via temperature-controlled drone

The first delivery will go from Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist in North Carolina to one of the health system's family medical practices.

By Matt Leonard • Aug. 25, 2021

Hospital volume recovery on shaky ground amid delta, Kaufman Hall reports

Outpatient revenues fell 2% in July from the month prior, suggesting patients might again be delaying non-urgent care due to virus concerns.

By Hailey Mensik • Aug. 25, 2021

Health systems need to provide policymakers with audited financial statements: report

An examination of 50 health systems points to the uneven distribution of federal coronavirus relief funds as a consequence of not having nuanced financial information readily available, Harvard and the Urban Institute researchers said.

By Samantha Liss • Aug. 23, 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

AHA moves to shift cost blame to health plans in letter to antitrust regulators

The letter included an updated AHA-funded study on the benefits of hospital mergers, which was previously criticized by outside experts for cherry-picked data, among other methodological weaknesses.

By Rebecca Pifer Parduhn • Aug. 19, 2021

The federal price transparency rules have critical gaps that must be addressed to achieve their objectives

Castlight Health CEO Maeve O'Meara argues that if regulations aren't implemented in a meaningful way for consumers, the efforts will likely fail to inform healthcare decision making and achieve the desired cost savings.

By Maeve O'Meara • Aug. 18, 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

Patients were still hesitant to seek medical care out of virus fears this spring, survey finds

Despite reopenings, one in 10 nonelderly adults put off needed medical care this spring, an April survey from the Urban Institute funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found.

By Hailey Mensik • 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

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

AI gains steam, though some execs still not sold at HIMSS21

Data released Wednesday finds 7% of healthcare executives said they believe AI and machine learning are the top priority for the future, while 7% called them a "distraction."

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