Breaking News

The FDA is reevaluating GlaxoSmithKline’s blood cancer drug Blenrep following mixed results from two phase 3 trials and mounting concerns about eye-related side effects and dosing. 

The agency is meeting with its Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee July 17 to discuss whether the drug’s proposed doses are appropriate given the high rates of ocular toxicity seen in the clinical trials, according to a briefing document. The studies tested Blenrep in combination with standard therapies for relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. 

Though Blenrep combinations improved progression-free survival for multiple myeloma patients, more than 75% of patients experienced severe eye toxicity, including blurred vision and corneal damage. 

The panel will weigh whether revised dosing schedules could improve safety without compromising efficacy. 
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CMS has reached agreements with drug manufacturers to provide gene therapies to treat sickle cell disease to Medicaid recipients under a new outcomes-based model. 

A total of 33 states, including the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, have joined a program that ties Medicaid payments to patient outcomes, according to a July 14 news release shared with Becker’s. Under the arrangement, drugmakers will provide discounts and rebates if the treatments do not achieve expected results. 

This marks the first time the federal government has negotiated these contracts on behalf of state Medicaid programs. The participating states account for about 84% of Medicaid enrollees living with sickle cell disease. 

The program provides up to $9.55 million per state with flexible start dates beginning January 2025, the release said.
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Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic is adding improv comedy classes to its medical residents’ training to improve the physician-patient relationship, NPR reported July 16.

The improv workshop teaches skills that can’t be learned from a textbook, a participating resident told the news outlet.

Here’s what to know:

1. The workshop uses improv theater techniques to help residents feel comfortable expressing humor, curiosity and empathy. The skills learned help these physicians think on their feet in evolving situations.

2. One game called “loser ball” played at the workshop involves tossing an imaginary ball around. In many cases, participating residents are told they cannot catch the ball or fail to do so. Games like this help residents have fun failing, according to the report.

3. Other exercises include mirroring each other’s movements and the “yes and” game, both of which can help open the conversation with patients, help residents pay closer attention to patients’ body language and improve communication. 
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Murray-Calloway County Hospital in Murray, Ky., has named Brian Craven CFO. 

In his new role, Mr. Craven, who has more than 25 years of financial healthcare experience, will lead financial operations for the hospital, including budgeting, financial reporting and revenue cycle management, according to a July 7 hospital news release shared with Becker’s. 

Prior to his new role, Mr. Craven served as CEO of Ironwood Healthcare Solutions, a CFO provider for rural hospitals, according to his LinkedIn page.
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In May, New York City-based Mount Sinai established the Steven S. Elbaum Family Center for Caregiving, a support center dedicated to the psychological needs of caregivers.

The center, made possible by a gift from Trudy Elbaum Gottesman and Robert Gottesman in memory of Ms. Gottesman’s brother, is being led by Allison Applebaum, PhD, a professor of geriatrics and palliative medicine at New York City-based Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

Dr. Applebaum spoke to Becker’s about her top priorities for the program, and shared the ripple effects seen in care quality and outcomes when health systems prioritize caregiver support. 

Editor’s note: Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length. 

Question: How does the Steven S. Elbaum Family Center for Caregiving plan to reshape how U.S. caregivers are supported in their roles? What role does national policy play in that effort?

Dr. Allison Applebaum: Our [center] has four different components to it, one of which is our clinical care model, the Caregivers Clinic. This is modeled after the service that I established at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in 2011, which was the first targeted psychosocial care program for family caregivers in any U.S. cancer center. 

We’ve now launched a similar Caregivers Clinic here at Mount Sinai. This is a mental health clinic staffed by psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, psychiatric nurse practitioners and other mental health professionals providing care specifically to parents, partners, children, siblings and friends of patients within the health system. One of the important parts of the clinical model is that caregivers become a unique patient of the healthcare system with their own medical record and their own medical record number. We bill their unique insurance for the care. One of the primary goals of our Center for Caregiving is to disseminate this model of care and to ensure that in the next 10 years, every cancer center in the United States has a Caregivers Clinic like the one that I established at Sloan Kettering. And ideally within the next 25 years, all healthcare systems will have Caregivers Clinics. That’s really one of our primary goals.The establishment of these clinical services is not contingent on our public policy landscape and that’s really one of the strengths of the model. All you need to start is one mental health professional who has the ability to bill for services. With that one person, you can grow from there.

Q: What might this care model look like in practice? 

AA: There are so many examples I can come up with. We have a cancer center here at Mount Sinai. Let’s say there’s a patient newly diagnosed with an advanced pancreatic cancer and their spouse is visibly distressed during the first few visits with the oncologist. The oncologist is aware of our Caregivers Clinic and makes a referral. We would ensure their insurance has coverage for mental health care and register them to become a patient of Mount Sinai in the Caregivers Clinic. 

They would meet with a clinical psychologist initially and have what we call a psychodiagnostic interview. We would also identify what specific challenges they are having. For example, early on in a caregiving journey, one might be really overwhelmed with the anxiety and trauma that comes with a life-altering diagnosis like pancreatic cancer. They may also be struggling to communicate effectively with their spouse and children about what’s happening. After that initial visit, we would develop a treatment plan to help target her ability to sit with uncertainty, to manage anxiety and to have effective conversations.

I say all this because the care is really tailored to the specific needs of the caregiver and those can change. During the course of care, we re-evaluate whether goals are being met and if there are new goals that need to be addressed, especially because caregiving changes over time, and what might be causing caregivers distress could change as well. 

Q: In what ways can supporting caregivers improve patient outcomes and overall care quality within a hospital or health system?

AA: I was at Sloan Kettering for 15 years. We worked with thousands of caregivers there. I am very, very convinced that when caregivers feel supported — when their distress is addressed, when they’re getting support for trauma they might have — they are better able to provide care for patients. There’s actually a growing body of literature that says that, but I’m just saying anecdotally, caregivers report to us in the clinic that they feel more confident and competent. A well-supported, educated, trained caregiver whose distress is lower is more likely to feel confident to handle a medical emergency or even avoid taking a care partner to the hospital than one who’s highly distressed.

We know that when caregivers’ anxiety, depression and trauma are lowered, it translates into better outcomes for patients: better quality of life, symptoms, less hospitalizations, shorter hospitalizations and even improved overall mortality. To me, one of the reasons why this work is so important, and what differentiates it from other types of support out there, is it is explicitly focused on mental health. Yes, it’s important to provide caregivers training on the medical and nursing tasks. Its critical caregivers understand the financial side of care and how to navigate case management responsibilities. Historically, what has been left unaddressed is mental health.

So it’s time that we really put mental health at the forefront of our care. That’s really my goal and my mission.

One of the other reasons why these programs are so important, is that caregiving can also provide caregivers with an opportunity to connect to meaning and purpose, to learn new things about themselves, and to experience what we call benefit finding or post-traumatic growth. But they can’t get those benefits if they are drowning in distress. The type of support we provide not only addresses distress, but actually helps them to cultivate their strengths.

Most of us don’t choose to become caregivers. But if caregivers are going to be in it, and they’re going to experience all the distress, then let’s also help them to get some of the benefits. That’s sort of woven into what we do as well.

Our model basically addresses what we would call an existential question, which is: Am I worthy of care? When we say, “You are a patient here. You are the focus of care,” we are saying “You’re not only worthy, you are critical to the care.”

Q: Are there any operational or cultural challenges hospitals and health systems typically face when trying to implement caregiver support programs?

AA: Where we are today in 2025 is very different from where I was in 2009. When I started doing this work, I felt like I had to fight to really convince administrators, not just within my own institution but across the country, that the caregivers mattered. There was a basic argument there — that people were not buying at the time but I think now many people agree — that caregivers are critical members of the healthcare team. That’s the cultural shift itself we’re seeing, which is really wonderful because it’s enabling the development of support programs for caregivers.

There are many caregiving programs popping up across the country. One of the main challenges that we face as hospitals and healthcare systems are issues of staffing. It can be a challenge to convince health system leaders to support one individual with their effort to devote to caregivers. But once that one person begins, the benefits are going to become so clear.

Additionally, we may start with one full-time psychologist, for example, but we then have lots of clinical psychology, social work and nursing trainees who come rotate, and give their time and effort, which is wonderful for their training and wonderful for us. So the model is not only an opportunity for us to deliver care to more caregivers, but we’re actually building up the workforce of those folks who are going to support caregivers at the same time as well.

Q: What are your top priorities as the center gets off the ground?

AA: No. 1 is really disseminating this model of care through a variety of avenues. We’re waiting on NIH funding, which would allow us to start by training 200 cancer centers to develop Caregiver Clinics, which would be incredible. Really, the goal is to be able to do so independent of NIH funding because this really is a model that we want to get out there.

The second goal is training, education and really building up the workforce in what we call caregiving science. There are 20 or 30 of us across the country who are really steeped in this work from a research, clinical and advocacy perspective, but we need to train the next generation of caregiving scientists. We currently have one fellow in our postdoctoral fellowship program and we’re going to be starting to bring in two at a time next year. I hope our center becomes a national center of training for folks who are really interested in this area.

More broadly, one of our longer-term goals is to shift graduate medical education and for there to eventually be a family caregiving course, or at the bare minimum a module, that all medical students will have to take. I think that we can make a very significant impact from the ground up. 

It’s a lot more difficult when a physician has been out in the field for 30 years to change the way that they practice. But if you have just begun your career in medicine and you’re already learning how important that family caregiver is, it’s going to shift how you approach care, and the care will become, ultimately, family-centered.
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The automotive industry’s roadmap to autonomy offers a blueprint for healthcare AI that creates value across the entire healthcare ecosystem.

As rapid advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI) helps develop lower-cost, increasingly efficient workplace solutions, workers across all industries face concerns about the “human impact” on long-held positions. Software engineers, call center employees, technical support professionals, and administrative staff wonder what AI means for their careers—not just in coming years, but in the months ahead.

Healthcare is not immune to these concerns. Leaders obsess over whether AI will replace doctors, nurses, and hospital staff. But they’re asking the wrong question.

Dr. Chetan Rao, a cardiologist in Houston, spends 3 hours daily on documentation—time stolen from patient interactions. When doctors are buried in paperwork, patients wait longer and receive rushed consultations while operations suffer from inefficient workflows and staff burnout.

The real question is: How can healthcare follow the automotive industry’s proven automation playbook to restore the joy of practicing medicine while creating transformational value across the entire healthcare ecosystem?

The Automotive Blueprint That Works

The automotive sector didn’t jump to fully self-driving cars. Instead, it created a six-level framework progressing methodically from driver assistance to full autonomy. Today’s real innovations happen in Levels 1-4, not Level 5.

Consider the numbers: Road accidents kill 1.2 million people annually, mostly due to human error. Cars sit idle 95% of the time. These pain points mirror healthcare’s challenges perfectly. Level 1-2 automotive solutions—like Tesla’s Autopilot and Waymo’s autonomous taxis—already deliver measurable safety and efficiency gains.

The lesson? You don’t need full autonomy to create transformational value.

The Hidden Crisis: Medicine’s Ecosystem-Wide Joy Deficit

Healthcare faces a purpose crisis affecting everyone. Physician burnout rates hit 63% in 2022, with administrative burden as the primary culprit.

The stark numbers:

4.5 million global nursing shortage by 2030 (WHO)

124,000 physician shortfall by 2034 in the U.S. alone (AAMC)

Administrative and non-patient-facing tasks consume 33%+ of physician time

Patients wait an average of 26 days for new appointments—up 24% since 2004, and the story even worse when you look at several specialties and markets

Burnout costs the U.S. healthcare system $4.6 billion annually, with each departing physician costing $500,000-$1 million to replace

Dr. Rao entered cardiology to save lives, not navigate insurance pre-authorizations. “I became a doctor to heal people,” he says, “not to be a data entry clerk.”

His patient, Maria Rodriguez, feels the impact: “Dr. Rao used to spend 20 minutes listening to me. Now he’s typing the whole time.”

The Healthcare Automation Levels

Level 1 (Basic Assistance): AI suggests diagnoses, assists with prescriptions. Smart spell-check for medical decisions.

Level 2 (Partial Automation): Da Vinci surgical robots enhance precision, automated scheduling optimizes operations. AI handles specific tasks under human supervision.

Level 3 (Conditional Automation): Virtual assistants manage routine interactions, AI-driven clinical decision support handles standard cases with physician oversight for complex situations.

Level 4 (High Automation): Autonomous surgical robots for specific procedures, AI manages chronic disease protocols with minimal human intervention.

Level 5 (Full Automation): Fully autonomous hospitals—still theoretical and arguably unnecessary if Levels 1-4 restore medicine’s fulfillment.

Where the Real Value Lives

Most healthcare systems operate between Levels 1-2 today—exactly where automotive found massive value creation opportunities.

Immediate wins for providers:

Administrative automation freeing up 40+ hours per physician weekly

Ambient listening technology eliminating typing during patient encounters

AI-powered clinical documentation generating visit notes automatically

Revenue cycle optimization through automated coding and prior authorization

AI-powered diagnostic assistance reducing error rates by 20-30%

Immediate wins for patients:

Reduced wait times through AI-optimized scheduling

24/7 access to care via AI-powered virtual assistants

Personalized care plans from continuous remote monitoring

Simplified financial experience with upfront cost estimation and consolidated billing

Immediate wins for operations & administrative teams:

Augmenting supply chain contracting and management predicting inventory needs, intelligent request for proposal (RFP) and contracting automation

Intelligent workforce scheduling matching staffing to patient volumes

Streamlined prior authorization with AI-powered submission tracking

Intelligent denials management automating appeals and preventing rejections

Dr. Rao’s hospital recently implemented Level 2 automation. “I’m spending 90 minutes more daily with patients,” he reports. “I’m remembering why I fell in love with cardiology.” Maria notices: “Dr. Rao looks me in the eye again.”

Mid-term opportunities (3-7 years): Conditional automation in emergency triaging, AI-assisted surgical planning, and integrated care coordination that eliminates fragmented communication while providing seamless patient transitions and real-time operational visibility.

Long-term vision (7+ years): Autonomous chronic disease management freeing physicians for complex care, self-optimizing hospital operations achieving maximum efficiency, and comprehensive predictive health modeling powered by digital twins that shifts medicine from treatment to prevention.

Implementation Reality Check: Current barriers mirror automotive’s early challenges—education and change management, regulatory uncertainty around FDA approval processes, data interoperability requiring FHIR standards, trust concerns, and HIPAA compliance. These are solvable engineering and policy problems, not fundamental barriers.

The Strategic Imperative

Healthcare leaders should ask: “How do we systematically move from Level 1 to Level 4 automation while making care easy to access for patients and restoring what makes medicine meaningful for clinicians?”

The winning strategy:

Master Level 2 automation in administrative workflows—immediate physician satisfaction gains while reducing patient wait times and streamlining operations 

Pilot Level 3 solutions in controlled clinical environments while preserving physician agency in complex decisions

Invest in workforce development emphasizing augmentation, not displacement, while educating patients about AI-enhanced care and upskilling operations teams for technology-enabled workflows

Build trust through transparency and measurable outcomes that demonstrate enhanced rather than diminished medical practice 

The Enterprise Advantage: Scaling Across Health Networks

The real competitive advantage comes from implementing this roadmap at enterprise scale. Health systems with multiple facilities can:

Standardize automation platforms across locations, reducing complexity and costs

Share predictive models trained on network-wide data for more accurate insights

Create centers of excellence for advanced automation pilots

Leverage purchasing power while ensuring interoperability

Build network-wide patient flow optimization

The Bottom Line

Healthcare’s automation journey should follow automotive’s proven path: gradual, systematic progression that restores the joy of practicing medicine while creating transformational value for providers, patients, and operations.

The industry that learns this lesson first—that Levels 1-4 are where physicians rediscover their purpose while creating massive business value—will capture the majority of healthcare AI’s $150+ billion market opportunity.

Dr. Rao’s transformation tells the story: “Automation gave me back my medical practice. I’m solving diagnostic puzzles again instead of fighting with software.” The operations director adds: “Staff satisfaction is up 40%, overtime down 60%, patient throughput improved 25%. This is what healthcare transformation looks like.”

The question isn’t whether healthcare will automate. It’s whether your organization will lead the transformation or be disrupted by those who do.

Author Bios:

Feby Abraham, PhD, Executive Vice President, Chief Strategy and Innovations Officer
Memorial Hermann Health System Dr. Feby Abraham joined Memorial Hermann Health System in 2020 as Executive Vice President, Chief Strategy and Innovations Officer.  In his role, Dr. Abraham is responsible for leading strategic planning initiatives for the organization to drive its strategic investments and partnerships (including in several AI companies), corporate development, strategic market insights and innovation efforts.  In 2023 and 2024, Dr. Abraham was named as one of Modern Healthcare’s “Top 25 Innovators to Know.” In 2024, Dr. Abraham was recognized by Becker’s Hospital Review as a “Chief Strategy Officer to Know,” an honor he received in 2023 and 2022, as well. Dr. Abraham serves on multiple boards across diverse health care and technology sectors.  Prior to joining Memorial Hermann, Dr. Abraham served as a partner at McKinsey & Co. Dr. Abraham holds a doctorate in mechanical engineering from Rice University, and a Bachelor of Technology from the Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai, India.

Venkat Mocherla is the Co-Founder of Midstream Health, an enterprise AI company focused on enhancing financial operations for some of the world’s largest healthcare delivery organizations. He previously served as an Operating Partner at Andreessen Horowitz  (a16z) on the Bio/Healthcare team. At a16z, he led the founding team of the Bio/Healthcare GTM group and advised portfolio companies on GTM strategy, business development, sales and product marketing. Prior to joining Andreessen Horowitz, Venkat has a track record of scaling early stage companies such as Qventus and Paladina Health (now part of Marthon Health). He also previously served in various strategy and commercial operations roles in  organizations such as DaVita and The Advisory Board Company. 
The post Healthcare’s Self-Driving Moment: Why Automation Could Restore Joy of Medicine for Everyone appeared first on Becker’s Hospital Review | Healthcare News & Analysis.

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As financial pressures mount and adjacent markets become saturated and/or highly regulated, a growing number of health systems are rethinking the geographic boundaries of traditional mergers and acquisitions — sparking renewed debate over the strategic value of noncontiguous transactions.

While some leaders argue that expansion beyond a system’s immediate footprint dilutes cultural cohesion and operational synergies, others see opportunity: greater scale, diversified risk, and expanded access to capital and talent. 

For systems like Kaiser Permanente and Prime Healthcare, strategic moves into new regions and non-adjacent markets reflect a deliberate shift toward value-based care and scalable operating models. But many executives remain cautious, insisting that deeper integration and community connection remain best achieved within contiguous regions.

So what would it take to compel a health system to pursue a merger or acquisition with a geographically distant partner? Will noncontiguous M&As become more common — or remain the exception? Seven health system leaders shared their perspectives with Becker’s.

Editor’s note: Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length. 

Question: What are the primary factors that would compel your health system to pursue a merger or acquisition with a geographically distant partner? 

Brett Tande. Corporate Executive Vice President and CFO, Scripps Health (San Diego): Quality and resources. For a merger or acquisition to be worthwhile over the long term, it must offer a clear pathway to elevate the quality of care across both organizations while expanding the combined entity’s access to resources (e.g., cash). Health systems have a duty to their communities to continually enhance clinical outcomes and achieving that often requires ready access to financial resources.

If a partnership allows Scripps to improve care delivery at both our facilities and the partner’s without diluting the resources Scripps has, that could represent a compelling opportunity. That said, pursuing M&A purely for top-line growth feels tone-deaf in today’s environment. Given that federal and state legislation will reduce profitability over the next decade, many health systems will be contemplating some very tough strategic and operational decisions. A transaction lacking clear benefits in quality or resource access risks weakening both organizations. For organizations that will struggle under the deteriorating reimbursement environment we are entering, my advice would be for them to consider strategic alternatives before resources dwindle… give your organization the benefit of striking a deal from a position of strength.

Jeff Costello. CFO, Beacon Health System (South Bend, Ind.): Our strategic focus as a regional health system remains on strengthening our presence within our core geographic markets. We would not be compelled to pursue geographically distant partnerships, as our growth strategy centers on deepening our footprint in northern Indiana and southwest Michigan, where we can leverage operational synergies, maintain care continuity for patients and build upon our established community relationships. Our recent acquisition of Ascension Southwest Michigan exemplifies this approach and enhances our ability to serve patients across the region.

John Orsini. Executive Vice President, CFO of Northwestern Medicine (Chicago): I find geographically distant mergers challenging as synergies from IT and managed care contracting are difficult to obtain. The potential partner would need to be a significant provider in its market and also have either scalable capabilities that would add value to us or capabilities we could bring to bear that would help them advance their strategic goals. 

Joseph Cacchione, MD. CEO, Jefferson Health (Philadelphia): We actually believe that having a strong regional presence is a benefit to our patients, students and health plan members. We pursued our combination with Lehigh Valley Health Network last year because joining together strengthens access and care for patients. By creating an integrated regional system, we offer broader networks of specialists, expanded services and advanced treatments closer to home.

Strategically, acquiring or merging with partners in contiguous or adjacent markets also allows us to better serve the communities between our current service areas where access to care may be limited. By expanding our footprint in this way, we can create a more seamless regional system of care, improving access for broader communities and reaching populations we could not as effectively serve independently.

It also enhances our research, education and health plan offerings — helping us attract top talent, improve affordability and better serve vulnerable populations. Ultimately, our combination with LVHN allows us to enhance delivery on our mission to provide accessible, high-quality, patient-centered care to all the communities we serve.

Nick Barcellona. CFO, WVU Medicine (Morgantown, W.Va.): We’ve nearly tripled in size in the last four years from a revenue perspective, north of $7 billion now and 25 hospitals. We’ve experienced quite a bit of M&A, which has been contiguous from a geographic market perspective. I think because of all the external pressures out there, you’re going to see an acceleration in M&A. I think that’s the reality of what’s happening. You’re probably hearing and reading a lot about this related to the Big, Beautiful Bill and the potential implications to Medicaid funding and the number of hospitals that will close or systems that will come under significant financial stress. 

I think that’s accurate, but specifically related to non-contiguous M&A … I think when you get into those times of great stress, more organizations are sort of raising their hands and asking for help or seeking out partners. That’s certainly been true for folks talking to us as well. You have to have your strategy defined, and your methods and metrics that you evaluate when answering or responding to those types of questions, you have to be aligned on that. 

Sam Glick. Executive Vice President of Enterprise Strategy and Business Development, Kaiser Permanente (Oakland, Calif.): Kaiser Permanente has operated successfully for 80 years with a noncontiguous footprint, so we understand well the opportunities and challenges that serving geographically distant communities presents. We believe that value-based care — as Kaiser Permanente defines it — is the future of healthcare. Kaiser Permanente currently touches more than 13.1 million lives across 10 states and [the District of Columbia]. We know there is a great desire from our members and customers to have our unique value-based care in more places across the country. We are working to meet that need, and that includes a focus on communities where the country is growing and people are moving, regardless of whether a community is contiguous with our current states. And our mission compels us to share our expertise in delivering this care with even more people.

Steve Aleman. CFO, Prime Healthcare (Ontario, Calif.): The main factors that would compel our health system to pursue an M&A with a geographically distant partner:  

1) A facility with strong volume that would benefit from implementation of Prime’s proven operating model.

2) The ability to expand market presence or a system in a new market that already has an established market concentration.

3) A transaction that can be executed at appropriate market value.

Prime has stated for some time now that future acquisitions would either be a tuck-in/add-on into an existing market or a cluster acquisition into a new market. This is important because it is a very challenging environment currently for hospital providers and you need to have the strength and flexibility of scale to adapt. Prime is unique from other providers in that our strength has always been the ability in our operating discipline to be able to pivot accordingly to the everchanging macro environment. It is the clear understanding of our operating metrics, performance drivers, service lines, market headwinds and tailwinds and fiscal conservatism that allows us the opportunity to manage and pivot as needed depending on changes that come our way.

Q: Do you expect more health systems to pursue noncontiguous transactions in the future? Why / why not? 

Brett Tande. Corporate Executive Vice President and CFO, Scripps Health (San Diego): Yes. For the past two decades, health systems have largely pursued M&A within adjacent geographies, but many of those opportunities have now been exhausted. At the same time, both the FTC and various state regulators have stepped up scrutiny of mergers within the same or nearby markets, making those deals harder to complete. Despite these hurdles, the economic reality for many health systems is a need for significant cost reduction, and overhead costs play meaningfully into this problem. If two noncontiguous health systems are truly committed to operational integration (sharing a single EHR, using a single ERP platform, standardization across supply chain and corporate infrastructure, etc.), and demanding exceptional performance out of areas such as revenue cycle, then the rationale for partnership remains strong.

Jeff Costello. CFO, Beacon Health System (South Bend, Ind.): While some health systems may explore noncontiguous transactions, we believe the trend will likely still favor regional consolidation. Health systems are increasingly recognizing that geographic proximity enables better operational integration, more efficient resource sharing and stronger community connections.

Joseph Cacchione, MD. CEO, Jefferson Health (Philadelphia): I think health systems will increasingly look at the local and regional approach as the more effective strategy. True economies of scale aren’t just about size on paper — they’re about operational alignment, shared infrastructure, a unified culture, and clinical integration that improves access to care and reduces costs. By focusing on a closely connected geographic region, you can develop better care coordination, stronger local partnerships, improved recruitment and retention, and supply chain efficiencies.

John Orsini. Executive Vice President, CFO of Northwestern Medicine (Chicago): I think the multi-state health systems will continue to grow. They will continue to round out in their geographies and likely expand from there.

Nick Barcellona. CFO, WVU Medicine (Morgantown, W.Va.): We are of the opinion, and I don’t want to speak for everyone, but I think Albert [Wright, WVU Medicine CEO] would agree that we don’t see the value in these noncontiguous M&A deals that you’re seeing, certainly for nonprofit healthcare and mission oriented organizations like ours. Yes, there’s scale. Yes, there are other potential benefits you bring to the table. 

For us, we have a lot of pride and passion in our brand. We have a lot of appreciation and depth of support from our region, from a geographic perspective, and certainly in an environment of uncertainty related to Medicaid. Medicaid, whether we like it or not, is a very local business. You have to work very closely with your state or surrounding states that you are in and establish those relationships and work together, because these are very challenging problems to solve, and they’re not going to be solved overnight. For us, the pros do not outweigh the cons; we see a lot of value in contiguous geographic growth and expansion.

Sam Glick. Executive Vice President of Enterprise Strategy and Business Development, Kaiser Permanente (Oakland, Calif.): When we decided to form Risant Health to expand and accelerate the adoption of value-based care in diverse, multi-payer, multi-provider environments, geography was not a limitation. Through such initiatives, we can unite like-minded nonprofit, community-based health systems to expand value-based care, improve outcomes, make health care more accessible and affordable, and enhance the care experience. 

Risant Health and its current and future health systems — including Geisinger and Cone Health — together with Kaiser Permanente, will continue to build the value-based platform, working with clinicians, to provide solutions that enable health systems to improve care and experience for patients, members, and clinicians. There are clear criteria for health systems that become a part of Risant Health, including recognized quality outcomes, sustainable standalone financials, a leading reputation in their geography, and a demonstrated commitment to value-based care. The interest continues to be robust. It is our intention to grow to five or six systems in our first five years.

Steve Aleman. CFO, Prime Healthcare (Ontario, Calif.): I anticipate in an environment of reimbursement cuts and rising cost pressures, systems will look for diversification to mitigate those risks. That diversification drive will lead health systems to pursue acquisitions that diversify their business segment portfolio and or expand to new markets that can help diversify the risk related to state specific concentration risks.
The post Why some systems say ‘yes’ to distant M&As — and others say ‘never’ appeared first on Becker’s Hospital Review | Healthcare News & Analysis.

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Altamonte Springs, Fla.-based AdventHealth named Bela Nand, MD, its first regional chief medical officer for its mid-America region.

Dr. Nand, who stepped into her new role June 29, will serve as the primary CMO for Merriam, Kan.-based AdventHealth Shawnee Mission while also supporting quality, safety and physician engagement across the mid-America region, according to a July 7 system news release. She will also provide CMO support to AdventHealth Ottawa (Kan.).

She most recently served as CMO at UChicago Medicine AdventHealth’s facilities in Hinsdale, Ill., and La Grange, Ill.
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Nursing doesn’t look like it did five years ago. Today’s workforce wants more control over when, where, and how they work, and many are willing to leave roles that don’t accommodate those preferences. Rigid scheduling models make it harder to recruit and easier to lose good nurses. Too often, staffing decisions still rely on assumptions that no longer reflect how the workforce actually wants to work. 

For the first time, flexibility has overtaken pay as one of the top drivers of nurse satisfaction. In response, many hospitals are experimenting with new workforce models that blend core roles with more flexible or external options, but making flexibility work at scale takes more than just offering new shift types.It requires thoughtful implementation, strong operational buy-in, and a willingness to continuously evaluate what’s motivating the workforce. 

Technology plays a key role in that process. Digital platforms give leaders visibility into workforce dynamics. They enable more responsive scheduling, reveal patterns across units and markets, and help identify where adjustments are needed. Flexibility alone doesn’t guarantee better outcomes, but paired with the right data and feedback, it gives health systems the ability to adapt with purpose.
The post What It Takes to Build a Flexible and Data-Driven Nursing Workforce appeared first on Becker’s Hospital Review | Healthcare News & Analysis.

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Electronic health records, once viewed largely as digital filing cabinets, are now being reimagined as strategic tools to improve care delivery, reduce clinician burden and enable AI.Hospitals and health systems across the country are piloting new ways to optimize EHR use. From ambient voice technology to AI-assisted documentation, organizations are working to streamline workflows and enhance clinical decision-making.

Stanford Health Care, based in California, for example, is testing an internally developed, AI-backed software designed to revolutionize clinician interaction with the EHR. The software enables clinicians to ask questions, request summaries and pull specific information from a patient’s medical record. ChatEHR is built directly into Stanford’s Epic EHR to maximize clinical workflow.

“This is a unique instance of integrating large language model capabilities directly into clinicians’ practice and workflow,” said Michael Pfeffer, MD, chief information and digital officer at Stanford Health Care and School of Medicine in a Stanford news release. “We’re thrilled to bring this to the workforce at Stanford Health Care.”

Several health systems are also testing AI use within the EHR, with many piloting—and in some cases scaling—ambient AI technologies throughout their organizations. At Iowa City-based University of Iowa Health Care, the health system has been using an ambient AI tool for clinical documentation systemwide since September 2024. Users report an average weekly savings of 2.6 hours on after-hours documentation.

This effort to reimagine the EHR through AI comes as hospitals and health systems across the U.S. continue to report clinician burnout, much of it tied to EHR-related tasks. Several health IT leaders have told Becker’s that ambient documentation, generative AI and automation can help reduce that burden.

EHR vendors are also responding to this trend by integrating more automation features, forming partnerships with tech companies focused on AI and releasing their own AI capabilities. Epic and Oracle Health have both launched generative AI tools in recent months aimed at simplifying clinical documentation.

While these AI-enabled EHR features are still in their early stages, hospital executives told Becker’s that they are optimistic about transforming the EHR into a more connected, intelligent and user-friendly system.
The post How the EHR is evolving appeared first on Becker’s Hospital Review | Healthcare News & Analysis.

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