News Briefs
New Foreign Nurse Visas Frozen by State Department
The State Department has essentially frozen foreign nurse visas for the rest of the fiscal year amid high demand, and health groups are warning it threatens to further a staffing strain on hospitals, nursing homes, and other major health employers. The agency, in its July Visa Bulletin, announced that nearly all the available green card slots for which nurses are eligible had been filled.
(Source: The Hill, 2024-06-17)
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Pharmacists Struggle to Keep Drugs in Stock Amid New Program
Months into a new Biden administration policy intended to lower drug costs for Medicare patients, independent pharmacists say they're struggling to afford to keep some prescription drugs in stock. The new system means less money for pharmacies that acquire and stock medications, pharmacists say.
(Source: KFF Health News, 2024-06-11)
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OMB to Review DEA's Telemedicine Prescribing Rule
The Drug Enforcement Administration's long-awaited second attempt at a telemedicine prescribing rule has been handed off to the Office of Management and Budget for review. The rule is a major issue for telehealth companies that allow for the prescription of controlled substances, such as Adderall for ADHD, testosterone for transgender men, and buprenorphine for opioid use disorder.
(Source: FierceHealthcare, 2024-06-14)
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Regulatory Landscape Proving Challenging for Hospice Providers
Hospice providers are navigating a minefield in today’s regulatory environment to avoid getting caught up in the mix of fraudulent activity in the space. The current state of hospice regulations has providers walking compliance tightropes, according to Patrick Harrison, senior director of regulatory and compliance at the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization.
(Source: Hospice News, 2024-06-14)
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High Court Will Review Case Challenging DSH Payments
The U.S. Supreme Court will revisit a case seeking greater clarity on how HHS calculates Medicare Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) payments for certain hospitals. In a 2022 decision, the Supreme Court sided with the government challenging a multi-billion dollar cut to Medicare DSH payments after HHS altered the formula for determining the payments to qualifying hospitals.
(Source: RevCycle Intelligence, 2024-06-12)
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AI-Generated Alerts Significantly Improve Care, Outcomes
A study done at Mount Sinai Hospital and reported in Critical Care Medicine found that AI-generated alerts significantly improve patient care and outcomes. The study found that hospitalized patients whose care teams received AI-generated alerts about adverse changes in their health were 43 percent more likely to receive timely escalated care and significantly less likely to die.
(Source: Medical Economics, 2024-06-14)
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Venture Capital Investments in Healthcare AI Companies Soaring
AI deal activity is dominating healthcare investment with one in four dollars invested in healthcare going toward companies leveraging AI, according to a new report. Venture capital deal activity in AI in healthcare has surged the past five years, with the rate of deals growing twice as fast as the tech industry overall, Silicon Valley Bank, a division of First Citizens Bank, reports.
(Source: FierceHealthcare, 2024-06-12)
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Social Media Keeping People From Pursuing Nursing Careers
Social media, which has become a primary source of information for many Gen Z individuals, is emerging as an influential factor in whether people decide to become nurses -- and according to research from workforce technology company ShiftKey, social media outlets such as TikTok are creating a branding problem for the profession, and dissuading new nurses from entering the field. Social media is the top source of information in future nurses' career decisions -- 66 percent use social media for career research, and 16 percent rate it as their most influential source of work information.
(Source: Healthcare Finance News, 2024-06-13)
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Funding Depleted for Program That Brings Doctors to Underserved
Primary care residents being trained through the Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education program treat patients in federally qualified health centers and community clinics in medically underserved rural and urban areas around the country. Despite bipartisan support, it will run out of funds at the end of December unless lawmakers vote to replenish its coffers -- no easy task in the current divided Congress in which gaining passage for any type of legislation has proved difficult.
(Source: KFF Health News, 2024-06-13)
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LTC Providers Adopting EHRs in Slower Numbers, Report Finds
In a "concerning trend," providers of aging services such as skilled nursing have stalled in their progress toward adopting advanced electronic health record technology, according to a newly released annual report from LeadingAge's Center for Aging Services Technologies. The report tracked what percentage of providers fall into each of the seven stages of EHR capability as defined by LeadingAge CAST.
(Source: McKnight's Long-Term Care News, 2024-06-13)
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Senators Introduce 'My Corporate Crimes Against Health Care Act'
U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Ed Markey, D-Mass., both progressive members of the Senate, have introduced legislation they say is intended to root out corporate greed and private equity abuse in the healthcare system. The Corporate Crimes Against Health Care Act would seek to create a new criminal penalty of up to six years in prison for executives who "loot" healthcare entities like nursing homes and hospitals if it results in a patient's death.
(Source: Healthcare Finance News, 2024-06-14)
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