On October 19, the number of new cases of COVID-19 in the United States was down to 83,264 with a weekly average of just under 80,000 per day. There are about 58,433 individuals hospitalized with complications due to SARS-CoV-2 infection and there were 1,557 reported deaths.
According to the New York Times Coronavirus in the U.S.:...
President Joe Biden's spending package, including a massive infrastructure bill and budget reconciliation bill that initially would have cost $3.5 trillion, is being whittled down to $1.9 or even $1.75 trillion total, and healthcare programs are on the chopping block.
The president informed House progressives on Tuesday that...National News
The COVID-19 pandemic, combined with existing challenges, has caused the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and Children’s Hospital Association (CHA) to declare a national emergency in children’s mental health.
According to AAP News, rates of childhood mental...National News
Last week, the National Association of ACOs (NAACOS) sent a letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) requesting leniency regarding performance benchmarks and the potential option for accountable care organizations to select pre-pandemic years as the basis for benchmark measurements. Additionally, CMS announced the...
A bipartisan group of senators, including Senators Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) and Mark Kelly (D-AZ), sent a letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure last Friday, warning against any potential cuts to the Medicare Advantage (MA) program. The letter comes as Democrats look for places to...
In the wake of a pandemic that forcibly accelerated the adoption of telemedicine, insurers are starting to offer virtual-first plans at lower costs and they are being met with both enthusiasm and concern.
Some of the biggest players in health insurance—Humana, UnitedHealthcare, Kaiser Permanente—have started offering...
In April, Governor Doug Ducey signed a bill banning abortions based on a genetic abnormality or disability diagnosis in Arizona. The law would penalize doctors who provide abortions based on fetal anomalies, leading to felonies and loss of license for the performing physician and fines up to $10,000 for medical professionals who fail to...
On October 19, The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a landmark proposal to improve access to and reduce the cost of hearing aid technology for millions of Americans.
The proposed rule aims to address barriers to use, including cost, access, social stigma, perceived value of the devices, and certain state and federal...
On Tuesday, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced it would intervene in three states, including Arizona, revoking their authority to regulate workplace safety. This announcement comes as Governor Doug Ducey's administration is embroiled in an ongoing legal battle with the federal government over the use of...
The new Open Enrollment Period (OEP) Nov. 1, 2021 through January 15, 2022 will give Americans shopping for health insurance more time to review choices, seek enrollment assistance and enroll. Arizona consumers shopping on HealthCare.gov will find health plan options from Arizona Complete Health, Banner|Aetna, Blue Cross and Blue Shield...
Construction is ongoing to complete the 673,000-square-foot, 10-story building scheduled to open in October 2023 and replace the current medical center at 24th Street and Roosevelt in Phoenix, which opened in 1971.
Valleywise Health, Maricopa County’s public teaching health care system is excited to showcase its new facility and the...
Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center's new, colorful mobile mammography unit is designed to connect with women in underserved and outlying communities.
Easy access to mammograms—known to reduce breast cancer deaths by 30% to 40%—is critical.
Nationwide, one-third of insured women and more than two-thirds of uninsured women do not...
Excess deaths among Black, American Indian/Alaskan Native (AI/AN), and Latino men and women in the United States were more than double those reported among Whites and Asians during the COVID-19 pandemic, new research finds.
A surveillance study published by the National Cancer Institute in Annals of Internal Medicine calculated...
There were 2,319 new cases of COVID-19 reported on October 13 in Arizona, and no new deaths. The percentage of vaccinated Arizonans is 58%. Nearly 1,800 intensive care unit beds are currently in use by COVID-19 patients, leaving 8% of ICU beds available statewide.
The Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) has updated its...
Cases of COVID-19 appear to be on the downward trend nationally, as the number of new cases on October 12 falls to 111,707. Last month at this time, the surge related to the Delta variant of COVID-19 was at its worst with a seven-day average of over 175,000 new cases per day. There were 1,938 new deaths related to the coronavirus on...
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released its star ratings for Medicare Advantage Part C and Part D star ratings last Thursday, ahead of Medicare open enrollment, which begins October 15. Medicare Advantage (MA) plans get a star rating from one to five each year based on performance metrics including patient...
Healthcare workers are much more likely to be victims of aggravated assault than workers in any other industry. The COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated the problem.
While the early days of the pandemic were marked with regular celebrations of front-line health care workers, those same workers are now plagued by regular violence...
The pandemic put a damper on merger and acquisition (M&A) activity among hospitals. Now, looking forward, the question is whether such activity is a lifeline for a reeling industry or a greedy practice bad for everyday patients.
The consulting firm Ernst & Young’s (EY) Global Capital Barometer found global M&A...
Throughout September and well into October, a large number of Medicare and Medicaid related fraud cases have come to public light. This week, it's time to double back on cases that have stayed in the wings for the past two months.
In late September, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced criminal charges for 42 providers...
Rich has moved up from her role as president and CEO of TMC HealthCare and will now be system president and CEO with a focus on continued growth during an exciting and challenging time for regional health systems.
TMC HealthCare has grown to include three hospitals, a robust outpatient division, a primary and specialty medical...
The Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association (AzHHA), which advocates for hospitals and healthcare partnerships throughout Arizona, published its 2021 Legislative Report this week.
The report highlights the healthcare and hospital-specific bills passed by the state legislature, including funding through the Arizona Health Care Cost...
Developed by ADHS and MTX Group and using Google Cloud, the system is one of 38 projects selected from among hundreds of entries worldwide for a Google Cloud Customer Award focusing on innovation and execution.
Patients used the tool to book vaccination appointments at state-run sites and many other sites across Arizona.
The...
Under the regional organization Contexture, Denver-based CORHIO and Phoenix-based Health Current serve 1,800 healthcare organizations across Colorado and Arizona.
The rigorous certification process required years of work from both organizations and involves 19 assessment domains, including third-party management, password...
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