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The CDC on Feb. 4 published a new framework for hospitals aimed at reducing missed, delayed and incorrect diagnoses, positioning diagnostic excellence as a patient safety priority alongside efforts such as antibiotic stewardship. The framework, titled “Core Elements of Hospital Diagnostic Excellence,” outlines key actions hospitals can take to improve…

Nurses’ clinical intervention and barcode medication scanning emerged as the two biggest safeguards preventing patient harm in intensive care units at Los Angeles-based Cedars-Sinai, according to a study published in The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety. Researchers analyzed 288 near misses reported in 2024 from inpatient critical…

Eighteen attorneys general are urging HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz, MD, to reinstate minimum staffing requirements for skilled nursing facilities. The minimum staffing requirements, along with other protections, were established by the Nursing Home Reform initiative. These include set minimum staffing standards for nursing…

Health systems are increasing their expectations for nurse managers without proper support, which risks workforce stability, according to a Feb. 5 article from Vizient and Kaufman Hall.  The position “has become increasingly unsustainable” because of elevated turnover and growing scopes of control, with 1 in 4 nurse managers overseeing more…

With health systems now controlling the majority of U.S. hospital beds, mergers often promise better care. However, a paper published in September 2025 in Social Science & Medicine by University of Pennsylvania researchers Mark Pauly, PhD, and Lawton Burns, PhD, found the claims do not hold up. The paper, obtained…

As the fastest-growing U.S. state, South Carolina’s population growth is prompting health systems to expand and strengthen their workforce to meet rising demand for care.  Driven by a net domestic migration increase of 66,622, the state’s population grew 1.5%, or by 79,958 residents, between July 1, 2024, and July 1,…

As U.S. immigration officials receive access to Medicaid beneficiary data, hospitals and states are unsure whether to warn patients who are immigrants, according to a Feb. 6 KFF Health News report.  Healthcare facilities are facing a dilemma: Telling patients the Department of Homeland Security may access their personal information could…

The White House launched TrumpRx.gov Feb. 5, a federal direct-to-consumer platform offering discounts on 40 high-cost prescription drugs. The site was first announced in September when the administration began negotiating most-favored-nation pricing agreements requiring drugmakers to match U.S. prices to the lowest paid in other developed countries. As of February,…

Clinical leaders across the country are well aware of the challenges individuals face when they are uninsured: delays in care and worsening health conditions, which ultimately lead to more complex and costly treatment. The prospect of a widening pool of uninsured is increasingly an imminent reality. Millions of people are…

For nurses at Houston-based University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, tech adoption hinges on one question: Does it improve patient care? “Nurses have long memories,” said Lavonia Thomas, DNP, RN, chief nursing informatics and innovation officer of MD Anderson. If a technology fails — especially as a result of…

Hospital supply chain leaders say the playbook that worked just a few years ago no longer holds.  Global economic instability, fragile supplier networks, pricing pressures and uneven clinical purchasing patterns inside hospitals are converging at the same time health systems are demanding greater savings from supply operations — leaving leaders…

President Donald Trump signed the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Appropriations Act into law Feb. 3 after the House voted 217-214 to approve it, ending a three-and-a-half-day partial government shutdown. The vote saw 21 Republicans reach across party lines to vote no and 21 Democrats vote…

Massachusetts has the most hospitals per 100,000 rural residents while Delaware has the fewest, according to a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill report. The Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at UNC-Chapel Hill used CMS’ rural health transformation program data to determine the number of healthcare…

Research College of Nursing — a private institution in Kansas City, Mo., that is affiliated with Research Medical Center and part of Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare — is launching a new accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing pathway. Approved by the Missouri State Board of Nursing, the 12-month program is…

While U.S. population growth slowed significantly between 2024 and 2025, five states recorded population growth rates of at least 1%, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau released Jan. 27. Here are four things to know: 1. U.S. population growth increased 0.5%, or 1.8 million people, between July 1,…

Many U.S. emergency departments operate “good enough,” and this level of performance is harming patients, margins and morale, according to a Jan. 29 report from Kaufman Hall.  “Average ED performance is not neutral. It is a decision to tolerate risk, leakage, patient dissatisfaction and variable quality of care,” the report…

As rural hospitals face the brunt of workforce shortages, their CEOs are taking a more proactive — and creative — approach to recruitment and retention. Recruitment has become a greater strategic focus for Rozanna Penney, CRNA, president and CEO of Heywood Healthcare in Gardner, Mass., over the past year. While…

In healthcare organizations, office politics are often misunderstood. They’re usually assumed to  be about power, intent, or personal agendas. But in most cases, politics don’t begin that way.  They start as an adaptation.  Hospitals and health systems are complex, high-stakes environments. Decisions are  interconnected, timelines are compressed, and the cost…

Researchers forecast the national prevalence of obesity to rise from 42.5% of the U.S. adult population in 2022 to 46.9% by 2035, according to a study published Jan. 28 in JAMA.  In the U.S., approximately 20% of children and 40% of adults have obesity, according to the CDC. 2035’s The…

Nearly 23 million people have enrolled in ACA marketplace plans for 2026, down from 24.2 million in 2025, according to the latest data from CMS published Jan. 28. For the 30 HealthCare.gov states, the data is through Jan. 15. For the 20 state-based exchanges plus D.C., the data is through…

U.S. life expectancy at birth reached 79 years in 2024, an all-time high, according to data from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics. Four notes: 1. The death rate for the U.S. population declined by nearly 4% in 2024, according to a Jan. 29 news release from the center. …

Over the past year, healthcare supply leaders say their most critical supplier relationships have shifted from transactional purchasing arrangements to deeper, more strategic partnerships — often with new expectations, governance demands and operational complexity. Rather than pointing to a single indispensable vendor, some leaders emphasized the growing need to maintain…