Hospital margins and revenues improved in August as patient volumes subsided, according to recent analysis. Perhaps most notably, there are some indications that hospital labor volatility is stabilizing.
The Fitch Ratings analysis included jobs...National Reports & Surveys
New analysis from Ernst and Young (EY) for the American Hospital Association (AHA) shows that non-profit hospitals provide benefits to their community at a rate an order of magnitude higher than what they're exempt from paying in taxes.
The analysis covered 2020 and includes data that "reflects the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic."...National News
This week, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released its report on the Acute Hospital Care at Home Initiative (AHCAH) and found that while the program was popular for both patients and providers, improvements in other areas were few.
The AHCAH initiative allowed certain Medicare-participating hospitals to treat patients...National News
The Biden administration's Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced this week that 54 drugs will be less expensive for Medicare Part B enrollees from October 1 until the end of the year.
The price cut is provided as part of the Medicare Prescription Drug Inflation Rebate Program which was authorized in the Inflation...National News
On Monday, pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson notified the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that it would pause its new rebate policy following threats to its participation in the 340B drug discount program by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).
Last month, Johnson & Johnson (J&J)...National News
CVS Health may be looking to split its retail and insurance branches following pressure from investors to improve performance. The company is also facing a hefty bill from an audit by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) that found it owes millions in overpayments.
CVS's profit margins at...
Medicaid is America's largest maternal health care payor, and most pregnant enrollees are covered by managed care organizations (MCOs). The Office of Inspector General found states are not leveraging managed care provider coverage requirements and network adequacy standards to promote access to maternal healthcare. The U.S. is...
On October 1, the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS) officially launched the Housing and Health Opportunities (H2O) program, which aims to provide housing services for AHCCCS members experiencing homelessness.
The innovative program targets AHCCCS members with a serious mental illness (SMI) who also face housing...
The Affordable Care Act is nearly 15 years old, has survived an onslaught of attacks in that time and remains fundamental policy that shapes regulation of the insurance industry. And yet, Republicans continue to try to undermine and overturn the law whenever possible.
The Biden administration's Justice Department filed a petition with...
The Arizona for Abortion Access campaign for Proposition 139, which would allow abortions up to 24 weeks in Arizona, is going strong in the weeks preceding election day.
The campaign is now spending more than $15 million on a targeted ad blitz this week on television and streaming platforms across the state, according to KJZZ. The...
One of the main provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act's Medicare reform package directly lowers out-of-pocket costs for beneficiaries by capping total individual spending at $2,000 per year. This is causing some issues in practice, which conservatives are seizing upon to criticize the program.
It also instructs insurers to cover...
Health data company Particle Health has filed an antitrust suit against Epic Systems, the largest electronic health record (EHR) vendor in the United States. Epic produces the software that manages the medical records of most Americans.
The lawsuit was filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and...
On September 15 the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) published its 2024 ratings based on plans' combined HEDIS and CAHPS scores and NCQA Accreditation status. In Arizona's commercial market, Aetna (PPO/EPO), Banner|Aetna (PPO), Cigna (HMO/POS) and UnitedHealthcare (PPO/POS) all received 3.5 stars - or a tad better than...
Arizona's healthcare worker shortage is dire, and the state's rural regions are the hardest hit. This week, Governor Katie Hobbs took steps to address the issue.
Every county in Arizona is short on primary care physicians, and rural health centers are increasingly relying on flying in specialty doctors from California and Colorado to...
This week, the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) announced a partnership with the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS) to support participants in the Targeted Investments (TI) 2.0 Program.
The partnership pledges to support health equity accreditation by addressing health disparities on the population...
Mark Garvin has joined Banner Health as senior vice president for partnership and new venture development. In this role, Garvin will be charged with leading enterprise growth and venture development. Erika Wier is now the CFO in Sierra Vista at Canyon Vista Medical Center.
Previously COO of United Surgical Partners International,...
Gold Kidney's Arizona and Florida operations serve about 1.5 million MA members and the startup SNP plan is now expanding its Arizona footprint from four counties in 2024 to eight in 2025. In Florida, the health plan will increase its 2025 footprint from 9 to 22 counties during the upcoming Medicare annual enrollment period beginning...
How much more will it cost plans to deliver healthcare benefits in 2025? For open access PPO/POS Plans expect the per-person cost trend to increase by nearly 8%. The survey reports respondents’ 2025 trend projections for medical, prescription drug, dental and vision coverage.
This summer the consulting firm Segal surveyed managed...
"U.S. children are not well." A new report from the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine argues America faces "grave economic, social and health-related risks" as child health and well-being scores lag behind other industrialized countries. The report identified five goals and four key levers of change to set America...
More insurers are planning to jump the Medicare Advantage ship, or at least scale back program participation in 2025.
It's anticipated that next year will bring fewer MA plans and supplemental benefit offerings following increased oversight by the Biden administration on overpayments to MA companies, which will lead to a projected...
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services did not come to play this week when they filed 75,000 pages of records in response to a lawsuit brought against the nursing home staffing mandate.
This was the opening move by CMS since the American Health Care Association (AHCA) filed suit against the mandate earlier this year. According...
A Republican-controlled Congress coupled with a second Trump presidency could spell Medicaid cuts and bigger barriers to Medicaid access.
After the second presidential debate, KFF couldn't help but notice that the future of Medicaid was never raised in a question to either former President Donald Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris....
Industry interest in genome-based research is rapidly growing nationwide, placing Phoenix in a unique position as a location that invested early on in supporting genomic research.
Phoenix has long been a leader in bioscience research and is outpacing the nation in life science employment growth, AZCentral reports. NIH funding to...
Steward CEO Ralph de la Torre could face two charges of contempt of Congress after failing to attend a U.S. Senate hearing.
De la Torre was subpoenaed to appear before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, according to Associated Press. After failing to show, HELP Committee Chair Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)...
Following a contentious summer between regulators and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), the Cigna subsidiary ExpressScripts has now sued the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and demands it retract a July report that found the three largest PBMs place profits over patients.
The FTC report, which is the culmination of a federal probe into...
CMS Rules
