Kristin Kuchno

Six healthcare organizations — including one health system — have been recognized on LinkedIn’s list of the 50 best U.S. employers to grow careers. The LinkedIn Top Companies 2026 list features organizations that provide employees with skill-building and advancement opportunities, according to an April 28 LinkedIn News post. It is…

Physicians are increasingly uncertain if their career choice was worth the debt they took on for training — and some of them would not choose medicine again under new federal caps on student loans, according to new data from Panacea Financial shared with Becker’s. The survey included responses from 270…

Hospitals are bracing for a cascade of financial pressures as rising insurance costs, Medicaid restrictions and a growing number of uninsured patients threaten to reshape patient behavior and erode margins in the years ahead, according to a new Moody’s Healthcare Quarterly report. From declining elective procedure volumes to worsening payer…

Revenue cycle leaders are facing a national coder shortage, intensifying payer complexity and tighter margins. In this environment, AI has become an operational necessity, not a strategic option. But the differentiator isn’t tool selection; it’s whether leaders have reframed workforce and governance for a technology that now arrives continuously, not…

Maine is the best state for nurses to practice in 2026, according to WalletHub’s annual ranking, which evaluates opportunity, competition and working conditions.  To determine the best and worst states for nurses, the personal finance company evaluated all 50 states across two two dimensions: opportunity and competition, and work environment.…

WalletHub released its 2026 ranking of the best and worst entry-level jobs April 27, and certified nursing assistants in nursing homes claimed the No. 3 spot — driven by a 2.9% unemployment rate, high job availability, and one of the lowest chances of being replaced by automation.   To identify the…

Nurse shortages and mounting labor costs remain among health system CEOs’ top concerns, and the newest NSI survey puts fresh numbers on the financial risks hospitals face from vacancies and churn. The 2026 NSI National Health Care Retention & RN Staffing Report features input from 527 hospitals in 40 states…

Nurses’ assessment of staffing adequacy is a more accurate predictor of patient falls on medical surgical units than traditional data, a recent study found.  The study was conducted by Philadelphia-based Penn Nursing’s Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research, and was published in the May/June 2026 issue of Nursing Outlook.…

Florida has the highest number of “best” senior living communities, while three states — Alaska, Montana and North Dakota — have no top-ranked communities, according to an April 14 U.S News & World Report ranking.  In its 5th annual Best Senior Living ratings, U.S. News honored a total of 1,614…

In 2024, the uninsured rate grew for the first time since 2019, according to an April 9 KFF issue brief. KFF reviewed data on uninsured trends and demographics in recent years, focusing on individuals under 65 years old. Following a pandemic-era rollback of redeterminations, people eventually began facing eligibility checks after Medicaid’s continuous…

With the United States facing an estimated deficit of more than 250,000 registered nurses by 2028, the nursing shortage is seemingly hard to escape right now: It is dominating headlines, part of policy debates and seen in the lived experiences of anyone who has waited for hours in an understaffed…

Health systems and specialty practices are under increasing pressure to accelerate patient access to therapies. Fragmented workflows, disconnected systems and administrative work continue to slow that process. During a recent webinar hosted by Becker’s Healthcare and CoverMyMeds, leaders from CoverMyMeds and Ontada explored how integrated technology and AI-powered automation can…

Per-person healthcare spending among people with employer-sponsored insurance averaged $6,711 nationally in 2022, though this figure varies significantly by geography, according to an April 9 report from the Health Care Cost Institute.  To compile the report, the nonprofit research institute analyzed spending data across 269 individual metro areas in 45…

More hospitals and health systems are leaning on discharge lounges to decongest EDs and improve patient experience, but there are no industrywide procedures for setting up a lounge. The first lounges were piloted around 2020 and have gained popularity over the last few years. Palos Heights, Ill.-based Northwestern Medicine Palos…

About one-third of Americans say they get health information from social media, while a smaller but growing share turn to artificial intelligence chatbots, according to an April 7 analysis from Pew Research Center. The findings, based on a survey of 5,111 adults conducted in October 2025, highlight how digital platforms…

In a reversal of a three-year trend, job satisfaction among nurses is declining and more are considering leaving the profession, according to a recent survey of 2,090 nurses.  Nurse.org, a news and educational website focused on the nursing profession, surveyed its audience of active nurses and nursing students in February…

So far in 2026, The Joint Commission — the oldest and world’s largest standard-setting and accrediting body in healthcare — has launched two outcomes-driven certifications and condensed serious safety event lists.  Here are four updates the accrediting body has announced since January, starting with the most recent: 1. The organization…

Massachusetts is the best state for children’s healthcare, WalletHub found. The personal finance website compared the 50 states and District of Columbia across three dimensions: kids’ health and access to healthcare; kids’ nutrition, physical activity and obesity; and kids’ oral health. Each state was evaluated using 33 metrics, which was…

U.S. News & World Report published its 2026 best medical schools list April 7 as part of its Best Graduate Schools rankings. Medical schools were ranked on a four-tier system, with overall scores calculated based on percentile performance compared to all rated schools. U.S. News created two separate lists —…

U.S. News & World Report released its 2026 rankings of the nation’s best graduate nursing programs April 7, with Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and Emory University in Atlanta topping the lists for Master of Science in Nursing and Doctor of Nursing Practice programs, respectively. The rankings are part of…

Madison, Ga.-based Morgan Medical Center has kicked off a $2 million capital campaign after it received a $1 million matching challenge grant from an anonymous donor. The “Growing for You” campaign will fund expansions and upgrades at the 25-bed critical access facility to keep residents from having to travel outside…

Plentiful job openings and potential six-figure incomes are drawing young Americans to nursing, while prospects in other fields are declining, The Wall Street Journal reported April 1. While factory work and office jobs were once the most reliable path to the middle class in the U.S., automation, globalized manufacturing and,…

The return on investment conversation for health technology and AI-powered applications has evolved over the years. Initially a sticky subject without a true answer, IT leaders in many organizations have been able to prove the value of soft ROI and lean into the discomfort of making big investments that indirectly…

Seventeen healthcare organizations landed on Fortune’s 2026 list of the “100 Best Companies to Work For.” Fortune partnered with Great Place to Work, a people analytics firm, to create the list. The firm surveyed employees at various organizations, gathering qualitative and quantitative feedback about workplace culture by asking them to…