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South Dakota was found to be the least stressed state, while Louisiana was the most stressed, according to WalletHub’s annual ranking. WalletHub compared all 50 states across 4 key dimensions — work-related stress, money-related stress, family-related stress, and health- and safety-related stress — which were evaluated using 40 metrics, ranging…

Federal budget policies could put the nation’s nursing faculty workforce under great strain, according to a March 20 JAMA Health Forum viewpoint by two leaders at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  Proposed changes to the U.S. federal budget emphasize short-term recruitment of clinical nursing staff “without thoughtful…

CMS has finalized a rule to phase out faxing and mailing for healthcare claims documentation. Four things to know: 1. The Administrative Simplification; Adoption of Standards for Health Care Claims Attachments Transactions and Electronic Signatures Final Rule is projected to save the healthcare industry roughly $781 million annually by establishing…

As rural hospital leaders guide their organizations through  2026, they are juggling the financial pressure of federal Medicaid changes while looking to state legislatures for tools to stabilize their organizations.  From Nebraska’s Medicaid work requirements to New Mexico’s updated physician loan forgiveness initiative, the policy landscape is reshaping how rural…

Of the 50 states and Washington, D.C., the nation’s capital is the most innovative, according to a ranking from personal finance website WalletHub. The March 18 list evaluated all 50 states and Washington, D.C., using 25 indicators of “innovation friendliness,” including share of STEM professionals and concentration of technology companies.…

A federal judge’s March 16 ruling blocking much of HHS’ recent vaccine policy overhaul is raising new questions about access to respiratory syncytial virus preventive shots for infants.  In the decision, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts invalidated actions taken by members appointed to the CDC’s Advisory…

Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare’s executive compensation structure underscores a clear industry reality: financial performance — particularly EBITDA — remains the dominant driver of leadership pay. According to HCA’s 2025 proxy report, published March 13, 80% of executive incentive compensation is tied to EBITDA performance, with the remaining 20% linked to…

A rising demand for adequate nurse staffing is pushing some hospitals to expand their recruitment strategies to nurses who had left the bedside. Adequate staffing made national headlines during the COVID-19 pandemic, and has been a core issue for many hospitals ever since. But in the last year, its importance…

Hospitals in Vizient’s top tier for quality performance reported an average operating margin of 6.3% in late 2025, while hospitals with the lowest quality posted a -3.6% operating margin, according to a Vizient study published March 16.  To examine how quality rankings correlate with financial performance, Vizient analyzed data from…

Montana is the best state for physicians to practice in 2026, a recognition it has retained for several consecutive years as part of WalletHub’s annual ranking. New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island were deemed the worst states to practice, according to the 2026 ranking, published March 17. The personal…

The Lown Institute, a nonpartisan healthcare think tank, has named eight New York hospitals and four in Texas in its annual ranking of top 20 U.S. hospitals for community benefit.  To evaluate an organization’s community benefit spending, the institute equally weighed available metrics on financial assistance, Medicaid patient revenue and…

Healthcare support workers and physician assistants are projected to have the lowest vulnerability to artificial intelligence among roles in the field, while medical secretaries and administrative assistants may face higher vulnerability, The Washington Post reported March 16. The predictions come from researchers at GovAI, which studies technology policy, and Brookings…

The recent cyberattack on medtech company Stryker must serve as a “wake-up call” about hackers’ evolving tactics, even as it illustrates a “new normal” in healthcare, health system leaders told Becker’s. Hackers disrupted the firm’s internal Microsoft environment March 11, causing health systems to evaluate their exposure and, in some…

Nearly half of healthcare employees report a low perception of safety culture, according to Press Ganey’s “State of Healthcare Safety 2026” report. The report draws on 2025 data from 1.3 million healthcare workers — including nurses, physicians, security professionals and managers from 225 health systems and 3,846 facilities — as…

As patients increasingly turn to AI tools to interpret their health data, nurses are encountering new challenges at the bedside, according to a March case study in Nursing Outlook. The paper describes a chemotherapy patient who used ChatGPT to interpret her lab results before an infusion appointment, creating confusion when…

While cross-market mergers are becoming more common in health system growth across the U.S., some CEOs are more focused on expanding access within their existing markets. Organizations that acquire or merge with hospitals in regions outside their core footprint may see benefits in payer leverage or risk diversification. However, for…

Discontinuing GLP-1 treatment does not always cause significant weight gain, as many patients transition to other obesity or diabetes treatments, according to a Cleveland Clinic study published March 12 in Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism.  One year after discontinuation, 19.6% reinstated the same GLP-1 and 35.2% received an alternative obesity treatment,…

Hospitals and health systems had a rocky start to 2026. Patient demand and revenue growth slowed while expenses intensified, leading to an operating margins dip, according to Strata’s Monthly Healthcare Industry Financial Benchmarks report. The firm gathered data from more than 1,900 hospitals across the U.S. and identified financial and…

A decline in employment among occupations most exposed to artificial intelligence is hitting younger workers hardest, according to a study from three Stanford (Calif.) University researchers. However, in roles such as nursing, psychiatric and home health aides — occupations considered less exposed to AI — employment among younger workers has…

One in 3 Americans have made trade-offs  —such as prolonging a prescription or skipping a meal —to afford healthcare, according to a March 12 article from Gallup. The insights come from surveys of 19,535 U.S. adults conducted by the West Health-Gallup Center on Healthcare between June 9 and Aug. 25.…

The Georgia Senate has passed a bill that would ban AI tools from being used independently to make coverage decisions. The bill, which passed the chamber unanimously in February, would require a clinician to make the final decision on coverage denials. Insurers could still use AI to automate administrative tasks…

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission estimated Medicare Advantage payments will be 14% greater than fee-for-service Medicare in 2026, according to a March 12 report from the congressional agency. That 14% equates to an extra $76 billion for MA, with the increase attributable to favorable selection and coding intensity. MedPAC has…

Access to affordable healthcare has become the defining concern of leaders in rural America. Sixty-three percent of rural physicians identify it as the top issue policymakers should address, according to athenahealth’s 2026 Physician Sentiment Survey; that’s 12 points higher than their urban and suburban counterparts, and a figure that has…

Hospice nurses in Wyoming and California spent the longest time with patients during weekend visits between Jan. 1, 2023, and Dec. 31, 2024, according to CMS data published Feb. 18. CMS collects skilled nursing visit data, submitted directly by hospice providers, from Medicare hospice claims, and from the Hospice Consumer…