Kristin Kuchno

Two-thirds of workplace leaders cite meetings as the No. 1 thing they spend too much time on, according to a Feb. 10 Korn Ferry article. The figure stems from surveys of executives from Fortune and Korn Ferry’s 28th annual list of the World’s Most Admired Companies — on which six…

Nearly half of hospital executives said patient experience is their top priority for the next two years, according to a recent survey. However, scores have steadily declined since 2019. In 2020, 14% of executives said patient experience was their top strategic initiative. In 2025, that rose to 49%. However, patients’…

Hospitals are reaching a breaking point as demand and competition for healthcare workers pushes wages ever higher. Labor and expenses per calendar day grew 5% from 2024 to 2025, and 12% from 2022, according to Kaufman Hall’s “National Hospital Flash Report” and the growth may not be done. Fitch forecasts…

For many chief medical information officers, technology investments are no longer framed solely as operational upgrades. Increasingly, they are being discussed in the context of clinician recruitment, retention and burnout mitigation. Becker’s asked CMIOs whether EHR platforms and newer AI tools are influencing their ability to attract and retain clinicians…

One in 5 children aged 2 to 19 in the U.S. are living with obesity, marking the highest rate ever recorded, according to newly published data from the CDC. The agency published two reports Feb. 25 examining obesity prevalence in the U.S. — one focused on children and adolescents and…

Proposed changes to federal student loans threaten to shrink the nursing workforce when we can least afford it. Our nation is in the throes of a health care crisis, and we should be doing everything possible to support nurses and attract new ones to the profession. Yet, the Department of…

Job-switching rates among U.S. radiologists increased by 61% between 2013 and 2022. After adjusting for radiologist and practice characteristics, researchers found odds of practice turnover, or the phenomenon of leaving one organization to join another, were about twice as high in 2020-2022 compared to 2013, according to a Feb. 24…

As hospitals nationwide contend with margin pressure and persistent workforce shortages, 56 health systems were named to Forbes‘ annual list of America’s Best Large Employers. Leaders from several of those organizations told Becker’s they have deliberately protected — and in some cases expanded — investments in leadership development, career pathways,…

Telehealth is about five times less expensive than in-office care for common conditions that can be treated by both types of visits, according to a new study from Philadelphia-based Penn Medicine. The researchers analyzed over 160,000 visits — both virtual and in-person — billed to insurers across four months in 2024, focusing…

Willingness among older adults to drive more than an hour for medical care varies by social demographics, according to a study published Feb. 23 in JAMA Network Open.  Researchers from Los Angeles-based University of Southern California surveyed 2,650 adults ages 65 and older through a nationwide internet-based survey called the…

Workflow optimization is the fastest-growing skill in healthcare, according to a Feb. 24 LinkedIn News post. LinkedIn News analyzed year-over-year growth in skills based on skill acquisition — the growth of a given skill being added to LinkedIn user profiles — and hiring success — the growth of a given…

Among U.S. cities, the hardest-working Americans live in Cheyenne, Wyo., according to an analysis by personal finance website WalletHub.  To determine the hardest-working cities, WalletHub compared 116 of the most populated cities across two dimensions, direct and indirect work factors. Analysts evaluated those dimensions using 11 metrics, ranging from average…

Enhabit, a home health and hospice provider with 249 home health locations and 117 hospice locations across 34 states, has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by private equity firm Kinderhook Industries in an all-cash transaction valued at about $1.1 billion. Five things to know: 1. Under the…

California has the most top-rated home health programs, according to U.S. News and World Report’s inaugural ranking. Three states and Washington, D.C., do not have any. U.S. News evaluated more than 12,000 Medicare-certified home health agencies across the country using CMS data. Home health programs were rated based on quality…

If Mark Cuban bought a hospital, he says he would run it like a startup: eliminate unnecessary overhead, prioritize radical transparency, pay physicians well and use AI to root out inefficiencies. Speaking on “The Healthcare Bridge” podcast with Nathan Kaufman, managing director and founder of Kaufman Strategic Advisors, Mr. Cuban…

When Michael Kupferman, MD, became CEO of Hershey, Pa.-based Penn State Health in late June 2025, he brought a special background that not all health system executives have: decades of work as a physician.  Dr. Kupferman began practicing medicine in 1999, and is a trained head and neck surgeon. In…

As funds begin flowing to states through the five-year, $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program, hospital leaders are confronting a central question: Will the initiative meaningfully stabilize struggling providers — or will it fall short of offsetting an estimated $137 billion in Medicaid cuts to rural communities over the next…

Healthcare wage growth weakened in the six months leading up to December across most categories analyzed, according to a Feb. 20 research brief from Indeed’s Hiring Lab. Here are six things to know from the fourth-quarter healthcare labor market update: 1. Wage growth in most healthcare categories — including personal…

Medical experts believe measles-related hospitalizations in South Carolina are significantly higher than reported, since the state does not require hospitals to report admissions for the virus, ProPublica reported Feb. 20.  South Carolina is experiencing the nation’s largest measles outbreak since the virus was declared eliminated in 2000. More than 970…

Health systems are responding to fragmented behavioral healthcare delivery in different ways: expanding telepsychiatry in rural states, building pediatric health hubs that integrate mental and physical health on one campus, launching behavioral health urgent cares, and investing in navigators and data infrastructure to keep patients connected after discharge. In West…

The largest nurses strike in New York City has ended after 41 days, with the final group of striking nurses voting to ratify a contract with NewYork-Presbyterian. The final group of nurses voted Feb. 21 to ratify a new three-year contract and began returning to work Feb. 23, according to…

Challenges such as emerging technology, government regulations, workforce shortages and increasing labor costs have driven a number of health system strategic leaders to pivot their approach for 2026. Faced with these challenges, leaders are creating new ways to empower frontline staff and upgrade patient care while trying to increase system…

The hardest work ahead for CFOs isn’t finding opportunities for growth. It’s narrowing them. In a recent conversation with “Becker’s Healthcare Podcast,” Sophia Holder, executive vice president and CFO of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, described the next phase of leadership as one defined by discipline and discomfort. “Our hardest work…

Medicare Advantage now covers about 55% of eligible beneficiaries nationwide — more than 35 million people — but health systems are confronting a question that until recently felt almost taboo: What happens when participation in the country’s fastest-growing Medicare program no longer makes financial sense? Over the past three years,…