May 6, 2024 - Hospital profitability has hit a snag after a relatively strong first quarter, according to the latest data from healthcare consulting firm Kaufman Hall. The April 2024 “National Hospital Flash Report” reports a 0.2 percentage point drop in Kaufman Hall’s calendar-year-to-date operating margin index. The index came in at 3.9% in...

May 2, 2024 - There has been a large focus on how market consolidation among hospitals and health systems, including physician practice acquisitions, affects competition, pricing, and access to care. However, new data from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) shows that health payers are actually more consolidated than health systems. The data...

April 23, 2024 - A new final rule from CMS establishes minimum staffing standards for nursing homes at a national level for the first time in history. The rule states that nursing homes participating in Medicare and Medicaid must provide residents with a minimum of 3.48 hours of nursing care per day. The new staffing standard includes at least 0.55 hours of care...

April 23, 2024 - A new online portal allows the public to report any anti-competitive behaviors they see in the healthcare sector that may be impacting quality of care and affordability. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Justice Department, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) launched the portal HealthyCompetition.gov on April 18th to...