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Arkansas’s new med school waives tuition for 1st student cohorts
Bentonville, Ark.-based Alice L. Walton School of Medicine welcomed its inaugural cohort of students this month, NBC affiliate KNWA reported July 14.
Here’s what to know:
1. The school’s four-year medical curriculum integrates traditional medical training with arts, humanities and whole health principles, according to its website.
2. The school is waiving tuition for its first five cohorts of students. The first cohort of 48 students will graduate in 2029.
3. The school was founded in 2021 and was granted preliminary accreditation status from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education in October 2024.
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Senator introduces bill to reverse Medicaid cuts he voted for
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., has introduced legislation to roll back some of the Medicaid changes that he had voted for in the recently signed One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Five things to know:
1. Mr. Hawley’s bill would repeal the provider tax moratorium and the future reduction of provider tax authority in the reconciliation bill, according to a July 15 news release from his office. He said this would “restore a key aspect of Medicaid funding that states rely on to finance their programs.”
2. The legislation would also repeal provisions in the reconciliation bill related to state-directed payments that could reduce Medicaid reimbursements.
3. He is proposing to double the total investment in the Rural Health Transformation Fund to $100 billion and extend the life of the fund from five years to 10 years. The fund was included in the reconciliation bill at his request and aims to support rural healthcare systems.
4. After voting for the passage of the bill on July 1, Mr. Hawley said that he will “continue to do everything in my power to reverse future cuts to Medicaid. If Republicans want to be the party of the working class, we cannot cut health insurance for working people.”
5. “President Trump has always said we have to protect Medicaid for working people,” Mr. Hawley said in the July 15 news release. “Now is the time to prevent any future cuts to Medicaid from going into effect … I want to see Medicaid reductions stopped and rural hospitals fully funded permanently.”
Read the full bill here.
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CMS’ $7.8B hospital clawback plan ‘illegal and unwise’: AHA
The American Hospital Association voiced strong concerns following the July 15 release of CMS’ proposed rule for the 2026 hospital outpatient prospective payment system.
Four things to know:
1. The proposal includes a net 2.4% rate increase — a 3.2% market basket update reduced by a 0.8 percentage point productivity cut. Ashley Thompson, AHA senior vice president of public policy analysis and development, called the update “inadequate,” particularly for hospitals in rural and underserved communities facing significant financial strain.
2. CMS also proposed phasing out the inpatient-only list over three years, starting with 285 mostly musculoskeletal procedures, and expanding site-neutral payment policies, including a 40% OPPS rate for drug administration services in grandfathered off-campus hospital outpatient departments. Ms. Thompson said both policies “fail to account for the real and crucial differences” between hospital outpatient departments and other care settings.
3. The agency is also accelerating a repayment plan requiring hospitals to return $7.8 billion in overpayments related to 340B non-drug services. Instead of 0.5% annual cuts over 14 years, CMS has proposed 2% cuts annually through 2031.
“It is important to remember that this clawback punishes 340B hospitals for the agency’s own mistake in implementing a policy that a unanimous Supreme Court held to be unlawful,” Ms. Thompason said in a statement. “Doubling down on that unlawfulness, the proposed recoupment is both illegal and unwise, and it should not be finalized.”
4. CMS also proposed a new drug acquisition cost survey, quality reporting changes for outpatient, ASC and rural emergency hospitals, and updates to the hospital price transparency rule. Public comments will be accepted for 60 days.
“We look forward to reviewing these proposals in more detail and participating in the comment process with the agency,” Ms. Thompson said.
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HCA Alaska hospital taps CEO, 4 other leaders in 2025
Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare’s Alaska Regional Hospital in Anchorage has appointed five new C-suite leaders in 2025, including a new CEO.
Mark Roberts was named CEO in June, according to the hospital’s website. He joined HCA Healthcare in 2011 and most recently served as COO of Corpus Christi Medical Center in Texas. He previously held the COO role at Memorial Satilla Health in Waycross, Ga.
Paul Durkee was named CFO in May. He previously served as CFO at HealthTrust, HCA Healthcare’s supply chain and performance improvement organization, where he oversaw the financial health of supply chain programs across 19 hospitals.
Laura Magstadt, PhD, RN, became chief nursing officer in February after serving as assistant CNO since late 2024, a hospital spokesperson confirmed to Becker’s. Dr. Magstadt also previously served as CNO at Cache Valley Hospital in North Logan, Utah, which is also part of HCA Healthcare.
Serene Perkins, MD, joined the hospital as chief medical officer in June, the spokesperson said. She previously served as CMO of Providence Medical Group-Alaska, according to her LinkedIn page.
Todd Gilbert, RN, was promoted to assistant CNO in April, according to the hospital’s website. He joined Alaska Regional Hospital in 2024 as director of emergency services and has held nursing leadership roles in acute inpatient care and emergency services since 2012.
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CFO joins California system following CEO transition
Santa Barbara, Calif.-based Cottage Health, a five hospital system, has appointed Matt Morgan senior vice president and CFO, effective August 19.
Mr. Morgan has more than 20 years of healthcare financial leadership experience and most recently served as vice president and CFO of Montage Health in Monterey, Calif.
He has a Master of Business Administration degree from California State University Northridge and is a fellow of the Healthcare Financial Management Association and the American College of Healthcare Executives.
Mr. Morgan’s appointment comes shortly after Cottage Health named Scott Wester president and CEO.
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Arizona system CEO steps down
Jeff Comer, PsyD, is stepping down from his role as CEO of Show Low, Ariz.-based Summit Healthcare due to personal health reasons related to high altitude, the health system said in a July 14 Facebook post.
Billy Gardner, MSN, RN, the system’s chief clinical officer, will serve as interim CEO.
Summit Healthcare provides inpatient services at its main campus and outpatient services at its urgent care locations.
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New Orleans nurses strike for 4th time in less than 1 year
Nurses at University Medical Center New Orleans began a two-day strike July 15, the fourth at the hospital in less than a year.
The strike involves approximately 600 members of the National Nurses Organizing Committee, an affiliate of National Nurses United, according to the union.
Nurses say they are striking against what they describe as disciplinary retaliation against pro-union nurses. They specifically pointed to the termination of Mike Robertshaw, RN, and recent disciplinary action against another nurse.
“Singling out pro-union nurses shows that LCMC is using discipline to retaliate against us,” Dana Judkins, RN, said in a July 11 NNOC/NNU news release. “We’re striking to let them know we won’t tolerate retribution for advocating for ourselves and our patients.”
Mr. Robertshaw’s actions, which involved medication safety, would normally receive a low-level warning, if any action were to be taken at all, the union said, according to Verite News.
Mr. Robertshaw told the publication July 15 that the union “understand[s] that this is not about me, this is about all of us. We have been in an environment where nurses are now scared to do their jobs for fear of retaliation, and that makes patients less safe.”
University Medical Center disputed the union’s claim regarding Mr. Robertshaw’s termination.
“The union has claimed that UMC has discriminated and retaliated against a nurse,” the union said in a statement shared with Becker’s. “That is simply not true. The actions of the nurse were not only an LCMC Health policy violation, but also a reportable offense to the Louisiana State Board of Nursing and a serious breach of safe nursing practice. Additionally, the nurse had completed medication safety training shortly before the incident.”
University Medical Center, part of LCMC Health, employs 2,779 people and has been in negotiations with the union since March 2024. UMC nurses went on strike in October and again in February and May.
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Brown U Health hospital taps president, chief medical officer
Newport (R.I.) Hospital named Tenny Thomas, MD, president and chief medical officer.
Dr. Thomas stepped into his role at the hospital, part of Providence, R.I.-based Brown University Health, July 14, according to a system news release. Previously, he served as chief medical officer at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Plymouth (Mass.) since 2018.
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Urgent care operator pays $3M to settle billing fraud allegations
Urgent care center operator Bloom Care has agreed to pay $3 million to settle allegations that it submitted false claims to federal healthcare programs for medically unnecessary testing and inflated the extent of services performed.
What happened?
Bloom Care operated urgent care centers in Idaho and New Mexico throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a July 15 Justice Department news release.
The department alleged that the company knowingly used the pandemic as an excuse to bill medically unnecessary streptococcus and influenza tests for asymptomatic patients.
The company also allegedly submitted claims for high-level evaluation and management services for COVID-19 patients that it knew should have been billed at a lower level of service. To justify the high reimbursement claims, Bloom allegedly exaggerated the time spent with COVID-19 patients or the complexity of the evaluation required to care for them.
The claims resolved in the settlement are allegations only, and there has been no admission or determination of liability.
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Read MorePatients encounter inaccurate MyChart information: Report
Dozens of Cleveland-area patients claim they have encountered inaccurate information on their MyChart accounts, News 5 Cleveland reported.
Patients of Cleveland-based University Hospitals and Cleveland Clinic told the news outlet and responded to a social media callout that their patient portals have included diagnoses that weren’t theirs and treatments they never had, according to the July 14 story.
“Apparently, another person had gone to the main campus of University Hospitals and they made some kind of a clerical error and logged her in under my record,” patient Deb Sweat told the news outlet.
A University Hospital spokesperson told News 5 Cleveland it couldn’t discuss any specific patient because of HIPAA but that the issue has been resolved and it was “not aware of any similar complaints.”
“If a patient notices any incorrect information in their health records, we encourage them to exercise their rights under HIPAA,” a Cleveland Clinic spokesperson told Becker’s. “They can complete the Request for Amendment of Health Information form either on paper or through their MyChart account. After the request is submitted, we will follow the process to allow their provider to review it and respond to the patient within the regulatory required timeframe with the outcome.”
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