Nikhil Gaikwad

Health systems are paying twice for the same clinical talent. Most have not figured that out yet. At large academic medical centers, hundreds of clinical students rotate through hospitals and outpatient sites every year. They work beside nurses, therapists, and pharmacists. They are evaluated daily by preceptors who form fast,…

At least 15 rural hospitals have closed in the last year. Hundreds more are operating under sustained financial pressure from Medicaid cuts, reimbursement gaps and a workforce market that increasingly tilts toward larger systems. For the executives running small community hospitals, financial survival has become a daily discipline requiring thoughtful…

Fremont, Calif., ranks as the city with the lowest health and safety stress, while Memphis, Tenn., is the most stressed, WalletHub found.  WalletHub compared 182 cities, including the 150 most populated U.S. cities plus at least two of the most populated cities in each state. Each city was compared across…

The nursing home workforce gained 3,300 jobs in June, bringing the total number of workers up to 1,586,600, the American Health Care Association said in a July 6 news release shared with Becker’s. The association used the Bureau of Labor Statistics to find current nursing home workforce statistics. Here is…

For years, labor dominated the hospital expense conversation. Staffing shortages, travel nurse premiums and wage competition consumed the attention of CFOs and operations leaders across the country. Recent data from Kaufman Hall shows times have changed. Labor costs have stabilized into a relatively predictable range while drugs, supplies, purchased services…

Healthcare added 21,500 jobs in June, slowing down from the average monthly gain of 38,000 over the past year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Here are four things to know from the July 2 jobs report: 1. Hospitals added 9,200 jobs in June, up from a revised…

The nation’s age-adjusted death rate fell 4.6% in 2025 to 689.2 deaths per 100,000 people — the lowest rate ever recorded in the U.S. — according to provisional CDC data published July 2. An estimated 3,094,593 people died in the U.S. in 2025, according to the report from the CDC’s…

There’s a widening gap between what a nursing degree certifies and what a hospital unit actually demands in practice, nursing leaders say. New nurses are arriving on the job less prepared for the nuances and complexity of clinical care, leaving hospitals and health systems to increasingly shoulder the additional training…

Two Chicago-area safety-net hospitals have closed within a year of each other — both owned by Princeton, N.J.-based Resilience Healthcare — and no health system, buyer or partner has publicly committed to reopening either. Chicago-based Weiss Memorial Hospital, a 239-bed acute care facility, closed Aug. 8, 2025, as CMS moved…

Young adults are far less likely than older generations to maintain an ongoing relationship with a primary care physician, a new survey shows. The poll was commissioned by Columbus-based OSU Wexner Medical Center and conducted by the survey and market research firm SSRS. The survey includes responses from 1,006 U.S.…

While 2026 kicked off with fewer hospital closures compared to the same period in 2025, three hospitals in three states are on the verge of closing, and their situations mirror what many facilities across the country are facing. In Chicago, Roseland Community Hospital has negative 65 days cash on hand,…

When the COVID-19 pandemic receded, clinical workers expected three things: sustained recognition for what they had endured, a period of respite and a return to some version of normalcy. Most got none of them. Instead, they returned to waiting rooms full of patients who had deferred care for years and…

Rawlins, Wyo.-based Memorial Hospital of Carbon County, has grown its days cash on hand from 3 days to 25 days between January 2025 and June 2026, marking a significant financial recovery for the 25-bed critical access hospital. The turnaround also includes a reduction in outstanding payables from more than $9…

Health system chief marketing officers say marketing is most effective when it helps shape strategy instead of simply promoting it. As executives face growing pressure to demonstrate measurable business results, Becker’s asked marketing leaders to share a campaign or initiative that moved the needle on revenue and what it revealed…

From restructuring leadership teams to limiting hiring and adjusting compensation, health system leaders are making difficult workforce decisions that require balancing organizational priorities, financial realities and employee needs.  While the circumstances vary, those decisions often require balancing several competing priorities at once. Becker’s asked three health system leaders: What is…

Many of the 519 hospitals that drew federal price transparency warning letters from the Trump administration said the citations stemmed from minor technical or formatting errors in their data files — not a failure to disclose pricing — and that the problems were corrected within days of notification. The Associated…

A wave of new research is expanding what clinicians and health system leaders know about GLP-1 medications — covering new territory from liver disease to male fertility to a blood pressure safety signal.  Here are eight recent findings: GLP-1 medications did not harm male hormones or fertility after long-term use…

Workforce spending remained hospitals’ top expense in 2025, representing 60% of total expenses, according to the American Hospital Association.  Workforce costs rose 5.6% in 2025 as hospitals continued increasing wages and investing in recruitment and retention efforts for nurses, physicians and other staff, according to the AHA’s 2026 “Cost of…

Nationally, roughly 1% of U.S. physicians have opted out of Medicare entirely, according to 2025 data from KFF.  While 1% appears to be a marginal number upon first glance, a closer look at where those exits are happening, and what is accelerating the trend, tells a more consequential story for…

My mom was a nurse. Some of my most vivid childhood memories are of accompanying her on house calls, where she taught husbands and wives how to give insulin injections using an orange for practice. Growing up in Bayonne, N.J., my mother was the trusted soul of our community and…

Cambridge, Mass.-based Harvard University was ranked the top university for radiology, nuclear medicine and medical imaging — both globally and in the U.S. — as part of U.S. News & World Report’s “2026-2027 Best Global Universities” rankings. Harvard University also earned the top spot for overall best global university, according…

Valdosta, Ga.-based SGMC Health has appointed Sarah Durden, BSN, RN, as director of nursing for acute care. In the role, Ms. Durden oversees nursing operations across 3 West, 4 South and virtual nursing program, according to a June 15 hospital news release. Ms. Durden brings more than 16 years of…

Virtual nursing for hospital discharge was associated with sharply lower 30-day emergency department readmissions across nine hospitals in a major Southeastern U.S. health system, according to a study published in npj Digital Medicine. Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill compared 4,662 discharges handled by remotely located…

S&P Global Ratings’ preliminary 2025 medians show nonprofit hospitals and health systems posting positive but still-thin operating margins, stronger debt-service coverage and growing reserves, with performance varying across credit tiers. Hospitals enter the back half of 2026 managing elevated labor and drug costs, an eroding payer mix and the looming…