News Briefs
More States Taking Steps to Control P.E. in Healthcare Settings
An increasing number of states are looking to control private healthcare operations transactions, even as the Trump administration appears likely to step back from a recent nursing home ownership transparency push and other efforts to limit mergers in the healthcare space. California, Indiana, Minnesota, New Mexico, and Oregon currently have programs that directly or indirectly regulate healthcare private equity, and Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York legislators are working on the issue.
(Source: McKnight's Long-Term Care News, 2025-02-10)
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Tariffs Could Increases Costs for Hospitals, Disrupt Supply Chain
Tariffs imposed by the Trump administration are expected to place additional financial pressure on hospitals and health systems, affecting supply chain expenses and procurement. Providers that haven't planned for possible tariffs will have to act swiftly to mitigate rising costs, which have the potential to further restrict hospital margins.
(Source: HealthLeaders Media, 2025-02-07)
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Hospital Association Seeks Exemptions Amid Trump Tariff Threats
The American Hospital Association has sent a letter to the Trump Administration urging it to consider exceptions to the proposed tariffs on medical devices and pharmaceutical products from China, Canada, and Mexico. These products, the AHA said, are essential to maintaining safe and effective care in the nation's hospitals and clinics.
(Source: Healthcare Finance News, 2025-02-07)
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Hospitals' Financial, Operational Performance Improved in 2024
Hospitals' financial and operational performance showed continued stability in 2024, with increased outpatient revenue compared to 2023 and fewer patient observation days, the number of days patients spend under hospital monitoring without formal admission, according to Kaufman Hall’s National Hospital Flash Report. While expenses continued to rise throughout 2024, they did not outpace inflation on a volume-adjusted basis.
(Source: Medical Economics, 2025-02-07)
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Federal Appeals Court Rejects $650M Judgment Against Pharmacies
A federal appeals court axed a $650 million judgment and corresponding injunction against CVS Pharmacy, Walgreens Boots Alliance, and Walmart stemming from a lawsuit filed by two Ohio counties in 2018. A federal jury in Cleveland concluded in November 2021 that an oversupply of addictive pain pills and the diversion of those opioids to the black market created a public nuisance in the counties and that the pharmacies helped cause it, as Reuters reported.
(Source: FierceHealthcare, 2025-02-04)
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Funding Freeze Already Impacting Heath Clinics Across U.S.
President Donald Trump's executive orders have begun to disrupt patient care in the United States, as some providers cannot access essential federal funding, according to interviews with a dozen healthcare providers and policy advocates. Facilities in Virginia and West Virginia told Reuters they were forced to shutter primary care clinics or lay off staff, while other community health clinics in California and Virginia said they received notices of termination for federal grants that support HIV prevention care.
(Source: Reuters, 2025-02-10)
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Poll Finds Rural Providers Optimistic About Financial Viability
A new survey of rural healthcare providers suggests a spot of optimism among care organizations that often skirt the line of financial sustainability. Responding to a poll from advisory and accounting firm Wipfli, nearly all 75 responding rural care organizations -- predominantly critical access hospitals -- said they were either cautiously optimistic (72 percent of respondents) or completely optimistic (24 percent) about their organization's current financial viability.
(Source: FierceHealthcare, 2025-02-04)
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Ambient AI Could Play Key Healthcare Role, But it Has Challenges
As healthcare organizations seek solutions to address physician burnout and documentation burden, ambient artificial intelligence is emerging as a promising technology. By automatically capturing and processing clinical conversations, ambient AI aims to free providers from manual documentation tasks, but the technology's implementation comes with both opportunities and challenges that healthcare organizations must carefully navigate.
(Source: Medical Economics, 2025-02-10)
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Study Finds Patient Engagement Tools Don't Increase Doctors' Time
Data from the Patient Digital Engagement Index tool in use with athenahealth electronic health records showed healthcare practices with higher patient digital engagement experience improved financial performance and saw a reduction in time spent on after-hours documentation, the company said. Despite the common perception that higher patient digital engagement and rising patient expectations could lead to more pajama time for doctors, athenahealth researchers said clinicians working for practices with higher PDEI scores spent, on average, less of their documentation time after hours.
(Source: Healthcare IT News, 2025-02-10)
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Hospitals May Be Upcoding to Higher Severity Levels, Study Finds
Upcoding is one of the biggest bones of contention between U.S. payers and providers, which in this context are mainly hospitals. Payers say providers upcode to higher severity levels with little, if any, medical justification as a way to increase payment levels, while providers counter that the patients who they are taking care of are sicker and that coding at a higher severity is warranted.
(Source: Managed Healthcare Executive, 2025-02-06)
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HHS Report Criticizes Role of Private Equity in Healthcare
Private equity investment firms have been slammed for their role in the declining healthcare quality and access, as well as the rising costs for patients, in a recently released report from the Department of Health and Human Services. Market consolidation and private equity investment can have deadly consequences in the healthcare industry, says the report, which dropped mere days before Donald Trump retook the Oval Office.
(Source: The Guardian, 2025-02-06)
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