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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…

Nearly 1 in 5 people who turn to Microsoft Copilot for health information discuss personal symptoms or conditions, the tech giant found. Microsoft analyzed more than 500,000 deidentified health-related conversations to reveal what people are aiming to find out. Nationwide, consumers are increasingly seeking medical advice from AI chatbots, while…

Generation Z nurses require more frequent one-on-one interaction with managers and leaders than prior generations to maintain similar levels of engagement and retention, according to a March 25 report from Laudio and the American Organization for Nursing Leadership.  “Engaging and Retaining Gen Z Nurses: Trends and Strategies” draws on data…

In conversations with healthcare executives nationwide, I’m hearing a consistent theme: their organizations are investing heavily in AI to address capacity constraints and improve care quality, but getting clinical teams to use these tools effectively remains one of their biggest hurdles. Not the technology itself—the workforce’s readiness to leverage it. We wanted to understand if this was systemic. So, we developed the Covista Care…

Health IT leaders increasingly see vendor consolidation as central to achieving interoperability, but most organizations lack the tools to fully realize it, a March 24 survey from CliniComp found. The findings are based on a survey of CIOs conducted by the CHIME Foundation and released by CliniComp. The survey examined…

Artificial intelligence is expected to disproportionately affect routine, clerical and administrative roles, while having a limited near-term impact on overall employment, The Wall Street Journal reported March 24.  The Journal cited findings from a working paper recently published on the National Bureau of Economic Research website. The study, produced with…

Across five health systems, behavioral health leaders are seeing a fundamental shift in how integration is financed: moving from siloed service lines and short-term funding toward enterprisewide cost strategies.  Rather than treating behavioral health as a standalone service, leaders said systems are embedding it across care settings and budgets, reflecting…

Alpharetta, Ga., is the best small U.S. city for careers, according to a Jan. 13 ranking from CoworkingCafe. The ranking was developed by analyzing 298 U.S. cities with populations below 250,000. CoworkingCafe evaluated several key metrics on a 100-point scale, including salary, income, cost of living, job market strength, access…

Birmingham, Ala.-based UAB Health System is planning a third freestanding emergency department, this time in Oxford, Ala. UAB St. Vincent’s St. Clair has filed a letter of intent with the Alabama State Health Planning and Development Agency to seek a certificate of need for the project. The proposed freestanding ED…