This past February, the OR Business Management Conference, held in Phoenix, Arizona, brought together business managers of all walks of life. The intimate event was once again a symbiotic blend between financial- and business-centric education and high-quality networking. The education offered for seasoned and new business leaders alike, perhaps more…

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Editor's Note The healthcare spending burden of Medicare households was double that of non-Medicare households in 2022, according to an analysis published by KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation) on March 14.  Using data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey, KFF found that average health-related expenses made up 13.6% of Medicare households’ total…

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Editor's Note The recent cyberattack on Change Healthcare created a financial impact for the lion’s share of US hospitals surveyed recently by the American Hospital Association, with more than half reporting “significant or serious” impact and three of every four also reporting direct impacts on patient care. These data reflect…

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Editor's Note Making good on plans announced by the Biden administration in December, federal agencies have launched a public inquiry into how private equity mergers and acquisitions impact patient outcomes, worker safety, and healthcare access and costs, including costs to taxpayers.  As reported by Dotmed Healthcare Business News on March…

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Editor's Note In a March 9 Press release, CMS announced it will offer emergency funding for healthcare providers experiencing continued disruptions in the wake of a February 21 cyberattack on Change Healthcare, a subsidiary of UnitedHealthGroup and a major processor of medical claims. According to the release, CMS will extend…

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Editor's Note Spine surgeons are sounding the alarm about high numbers of unnecessary fusion surgeries, according to a March 5 report in Becker’s Spine Review. Unnecessary surgeries refer to any surgical intervention that is not needed or in the patient’s best interest. A recent report from Forbes finds that 50%…

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Editor's Note Quality of care drops when hospitals move from public to private ownership, according to review published in the March issue of the Lancet Public Health. The meta-analysis uses evidence from 13 longitudinal studies across the United States, Canada, Croatia, England, Germany, Italy, South Korea, and Sweden. Researchers evaluated…

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Editor's Note Addressing pressure on margins, inconsistent processes, and staffing issues are top priorities for healthcare supply chain leaders recently surveyed by symplr, a provider of enterprise healthcare operations software. Published February 27, the State of Healthcare Supply Chain Survey offers insight from nearly 100 VPs of Supply Chain, Chief…

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Editor's Note The ransomware group behind a recent cyberattack on one of the nation’s largest health systems has its sights set on hospitals, the FBI and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) warned February 27. According to a report in Chief Healthcare Executive one day later, systems were…

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Editor's Note More CEOs are considering rural emergency hospital (REH) designation, according to a February 12 article in Becker’s Hospital CFO Report. In January 2023, REH was established as a new Medicare provider type to enable struggling rural hospitals to continue operating with outpatient and emergency services only, instead of…

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