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In recent years, a swell of states has adopted laws to lessen the requirements for foreign-trained physicians to join the U.S. workforce.   The laws aim to combat the nation’s growing physician shortage, which is becoming more urgent as patient acuity rises, more physicians approach retirement age and a plethora of…

Nearly 15,000 nurses at hospitals in New York City went on strike Jan. 12 after months of negotiations, marking the largest nurses strike in the city’s history. Six things to know: 1. The New York State Nurses Association has been negotiating contracts that would guarantee safe staffing, healthcare benefits and…

Rural hospital leaders are raising concerns that some of the new federal rural health transformation funding could flow through state governments without ever reaching the hospitals the program was designed to support. CMS awarded $50 billion across all 50 states through the Rural Health Transformation Program, a five-year initiative running…

The majority of primary care physicians report that drug shortages affect the quality of patient care and increase administrative burdens, according to new research published in JAMA Network Open. The cross-sectional survey, conducted by researchers from the American Medical Association, collected responses from 902 U.S. primary care physicians between July…

AI scribes most help physicians who document more to begin with, according to research in the American Journal of Managed Care. Here are five takeaways from the Jan. 8 study by researchers affiliated with University of California San Francisco and UCSF Health: 1. Most physicians (86.5%) felt that using an…

Flu activity remained elevated nationwide during the week ending Jan. 3, with pediatric deaths and overall hospitalizations continuing to climb, according to recent data from the CDC.  The latest flu report comes as some hospitals have begun postponing procedures and pharmacies face spot shortages of Tamiflu — developments that reflect…

Hospital and health systems are reimagining paid time off not simply as a benefit, but as a proactive tool for combatting burnout, retaining talent and fostering a healthier workplace culture. While PTO is typically positioned as offering employees flexibility, some organizations have found traditional models may have the opposite effect…

Since December 2025, the following hospitals and health systems have said they plan to raise their workers’ pay.  Editor note: This webpage was created Jan. 9, and will continue to be updated regularly. January 1. Members of the Maine State Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee at Portland-based Maine Medical Center…

Healthcare employment continued to grow in December, with the industry adding 21,100 jobs, according to the latest report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. BLS released the December jobs report Jan. 9. Here are three more takeaways: 1. December’s healthcare job growth fell below the industry’s average monthly gain…

States are beginning to sketch out plans to deploy billions of dollars in new federal funding aimed at stabilizing and transforming rural healthcare, but early signals point to wide variation in approach and persistent uncertainty for rural hospitals waiting to understand when, how and whether funds will reach local providers.…

The United Health Foundation released its 2025 “America’s Health Rankings Annual Report,” Jan. 8, presenting a wave of optimistic health signals, but disparities persist. The organization analyzed 99 measures from 31 sources, relying on the most recent data, as of Oct. 17, 2025, except for data from the National Survey…

Women account for 50.2% of all U.S. medical residents, achieving a majority share for the first time, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges’ 2025 “Report on Residents.” Women make up the majority of residents in obstetrics and gynecology at 88.8%, pediatrics at 75.8%, family medicine at 56.3% and…

The healthcare sector is facing a decisive moment. While nursing shortages continue to dominate national conversations and pressure patient care teams, an equally destabilizing challenge sits upstream: instability within the clinical faculty model responsible for preparing the next generation of nurses. As clinical complexity accelerates and instructional capacity is strained,…

As the U.S. confronts one of its most severe flu seasons, Tamiflu, a common antiviral medication to treat influenza, is in shortage in pockets across the country, Bloomberg reported Jan. 7.  In Utah, where flu activity is high, pharmacists are not yet reporting supply issues. But in Georgia, where flu…

San Diego-based Rady Children’s Health has created its own private generative AI platform to answer questions and perform administrative tasks for employees. For example, a staffer might write, “I need to take these two days off,” and the GPT would complete the PTO request in Workday. The hope is to…

Two healthcare roles made LinkedIn’s 2026 “Jobs on the Rise” list, which highlights the fastest-growing jobs across the U.S. Healthcare reimbursement specialists ranked No. 6, while psychiatric nurse practitioners came in at No. 19. Several other roles on the list are also found within hospitals and health systems, including fundraising…

Honolulu is 2026’s best city for an active lifestyle, while Garland, Texas, is the worst, according to an annual WalletHub analysis published Jan. 7. The personal finance company compared the 100 most populated U.S. cities across two dimensions: budget and participation, and sports and outdoors. WalletHub examined these dimensions using…

ChatGPT is rapidly emerging as a new waypoint in the patient journey, with millions of Americans using the generative AI tool to research symptoms, prepare for appointments, navigate insurance and seek answers when providers are unavailable. More than 40 million people in the U.S. now use ChatGPT daily for healthcare-related…

Marietta, Ga.-based Wellstar Health System has named a COO for its new $272 million hospital set to open in August. Nelson So was appointed COO of Wellstar Columbia County Medical Center in Augusta, Ga.,  in September. A retired colonel with the Army Medical Service Corps, he brings more than 25…

Jacksonville, Fla.-based Nemours Children’s Health Executive Vice President and CFO Caswell Samms III is urging hospital and health system financial leaders to evolve beyond their traditional roles in 2026 as the industry navigates increasingly challenging circumstances.  “I don’t think we can continue to operate as financial scorekeepers,” he said during…

New Jersey has forgiven more than $86 million in medical debt for more than 53,000 residents, marking the sixth round of relief under the state’s partnership with national nonprofit Undue Medical Debt. Six things to know: 1. The state used about $600,000 in American Rescue Plan funds to facilitate the…

The New York State Nurses Association delivered 10-day strike notices Jan. 2 to 12 hospitals in New York City. Here are seven things to know: 1. If agreements are not reached, as many as 20,000 nurses could strike Jan. 12. This would mark the largest nurse strike in city history,…

Health system C-suites across the U.S. are targeting ambulatory care expansion for 2026 as pressure mounts to lower cost of care and deliver on value-based promises. Even the nation’s largest health systems are strengthening their ambulatory footprints. Chicago-based CommonSpirit Health, which operates in 28 states, is focused on outpatient growth.…

Patients in Washington, D.C., had the highest median time spent in the emergency department, while patients in North Dakota had the lowest, CMS data shows. The agency’s “Timely and Effective Care” dataset, updated Nov. 26, tracks the average median time patients spend in the emergency department before leaving. The measures…