Disparities between care in rural, urban areas getting worse

"The game is rigged," Janice Probst, a professor at the University of South Carolina's Arnold School of Public Health, said. "If we don't change the game, we never win."

By Rebecca Pifer Parduhn • Dec. 4, 2019

Hospitals sue HHS, warning price transparency rule would chill competition, crash computers

An agency spokeswoman shot back that hospitals "should be ashamed that they aren't willing to provide American patients the cost of a service before they purchase it."

By Samantha Liss • Dec. 4, 2019

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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

Depression in doctors linked to increase in medical errors, study finds

The authors of the study in JAMA Network Open urged healthcare institutions to remove barriers that may keep doctors suffering with depression from obtaining help.

By Ron Shinkman • Dec. 2, 2019

Amazon's new medical transcription service bolsters voice-to-text bid

Transcribe Medical was developed in partnership with AWS clients, including EHR giant Cerner. However, unlike other end-to-end offerings in development, it doesn't automatically input personal health data into a patient's record.

By Rebecca Pifer Parduhn • Dec. 2, 2019

Hospital margins climb in October, boosted by volume growth

Hospitals also saw modest gains in revenue last month while bad debt and charity care were lower, according to a new report from Kaufman Hall.

By Linda Wilson • Nov. 27, 2019

Mayo joint venture to operate complex care hospital in Abu Dhabi

The facility, which includes 24 specialized medical clinics, began accepting patients earlier this month and is expected to be fully operational early next year. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

By Linda Wilson • Nov. 26, 2019

AdvaMed lobbied EPA chief Wheeler on cancer report amid delay in ethylene oxide regs

Group purchasing organizations working with hospitals are already seeing the impacts of the closure of ethylene oxide sterilization facilities, said David Gillan, senior vice president of sourcing operations at Vizient.

By David Lim • Nov. 25, 2019

Medical devices bigger culprit in antibiotic-resistant infections than surgical procedures, CDC analysis shows

Antibiotic resistance was higher in hospital-associated infections linked to use of devices like central lines, ventilators and urinary catheters, according to data collected from more than 5,600 sites between 2015 and 2017.​

By Susan Kelly • Nov. 25, 2019

Nonprofit bad debt climbs again amid steeper deductibles, Moody's says

At the same time, deductibles and premiums are increasing faster than wage growth, another ominous signal for hospitals.

By Samantha Liss • Nov. 25, 2019

Kroger partners with local providers in care access initiative

The grocer currently operates 215 Little Clinic locations across nine states and has more than 2,000 pharmacies.

By Lauren Manning • Nov. 25, 2019

Advocate Aurora triples surplus, eyes Wisconsin expansion

Returns on investment income were also relatively strong for the merged operator of hospitals and medical networks in Illinois and Wisconsin.

By Ron Shinkman • Nov. 24, 2019

Hundreds of hospitals sue HHS over payment cuts

Hospitals have filed three separate lawsuits this week. One alleges the government is unlawfully continuing a reduction in inpatient reimbursement. The other two claim DSH calculations are wrong.

By Samantha Liss • Nov. 22, 2019

Myth Diagnosis: Is healthcare recession-proof?

"That's a little bit of a misnomer," Ben Isgur, health researcher at PwC, told Healthcare Dive. "It is a little recession-resistant, but eventually that wears off."

By Shannon Muchmore • Nov. 22, 2019

Uncompensated care up significantly at US hospitals, led by Southeast

Smaller hospitals and those in states that did not expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act were most hit, according to a new survey.

By Ron Shinkman • Nov. 22, 2019

Some of the nation's largest health systems want to care for patients in their homes. Here's why.

Ascension, CommonSpirit and Highmark Health are some of those signing joint venture deals with Nashville-based Contessa over the past few months, in a move away from the "heads in beds" model.

By Samantha Liss • Nov. 21, 2019

University of Chicago Medical Center averts Thanksgiving strike

More than 2,000 nurses had been expected to walk off the job this week. Hospital officials had said they were worried about finding replacement workers over the holiday.

By Samantha Liss • Updated Nov. 25, 2019

Hospital market power shares blame for mushrooming middle-class health costs, Commonwealth Fund says

"There is very little restraint on pricing," the research group's president David Blumenthal said. Hospitals are motivated to boost prices to offset declining rates of inpatient utilization, particularly if they have excess capacity, he added.

By Linda Wilson • Nov. 21, 2019

Providers take next step in social determinants: hyperlocalism

Industry can "help others have an uncomfortable dialogue about what is truly driving health outcomes in this country," Atrium Health's Alisahah Cole said at the Healthcare of Tomorrow conference.

By Shannon Muchmore • Nov. 19, 2019

CommonSpirit growing pains lead to quadrupled operating loss in 1st quarter

The nine-month-old nonprofit health system, struggling to integrate Dignity Health and Catholic Health Initiatives into one organization, also reported relatively flat operating revenue.

By Rebecca Pifer Parduhn • Nov. 19, 2019

Sutter to pay $45M on DOJ kickback, overbilling claims

The dominant system serving Northern California has agreed to pay about $75 million to settle various claims so far this year. The latest claims relate to alleged financial arrangements with physicians to incentivize them to refer patients to Sutter. 

By Samantha Liss • Nov. 18, 2019

Hospitals pledge to fight Trump admin price transparency plan in court

President Donald Trump said patients have "been getting ripped off for years" and HHS Secretary Alex Azar said the requirements are a "revolutionary" change for the industry.

By Samantha Liss , Shannon Muchmore • Nov. 18, 2019

An expanding Mayo Clinic sees net income double

The nonprofit reported financials for the first three quarters of 2019 as well as details on an expansion into the United Kingdom.

By Ron Shinkman • Nov. 18, 2019

JAMA: Lower cost hospitals have similar patient outcomes as higher cost counterparts

A new study in JAMA Network Open questions the assumption that patient acuity and case mix have as much of an impact on patient cost as the priciness of the individual hospital itself.

By Ron Shinkman • Nov. 15, 2019

Hospitals waste billions on bad supply chain management, Navigant says

Unnecessary spending on supply chain products and related operations reached $25.7 billion in 2018, according to the study of 2,127 hospitals.

By Ron Shinkman • Nov. 15, 2019

Hospitals — and now insurers — to reveal secret rates under latest Trump admin pitch

Industry lobbies have argued the government lacks authority to issue such mandates and are sure to fight back against what would be a landmark shift in healthcare.

By Samantha Liss • Nov. 15, 2019