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Two-thirds of workplace leaders cite meetings as the No. 1 thing they spend too much time on, according to a Feb. 10 Korn Ferry article.

The figure stems from surveys of executives from Fortune and Korn Ferry’s 28th annual list of the World’s Most Admired Companies — on which six health systems, including Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare and King of Prussia, Pa.-based Universal Health Services, earned a spot.

To counter meeting fatigue, Korn Ferry recommends organizations set clear expectations, including ground rules for length and participation. Meeting-free Fridays and daily windows for focused work time are also common across industries.

Hospital and health system leaders shared their strategies for managing meeting load with Becker’s. Intentional time management is key, according to Cliff Wilson, president and CEO of Albuquerque, N.M.-based Lovelace Health System.

“One thing I’ve learned as a leader is that if you’re not intentional with your time, your calendar will run your day,” Mr. Wilson told Becker’s. “In a virtual‑first environment, meetings can multiply quickly, so I focus my schedule on the goals that matter most and regularly evaluate what truly drives impact.”

Mr. Wilson treats one-on-one time with direct reports as nonnegotiable, as those conversations create alignment and support.

“I also protect time with frontline team members,” he said. “Being present in our facilities provides insights you can’t get from dashboards and helps build trust with the people caring for patients every day.”

He also periodically reviews his calendar to clear out low-value or outdated commitments.

“AI has been helpful in highlighting patterns and surfacing opportunities to reclaim time for strategic work,” he said. “Intentional time management isn’t just a habit, it’s a leadership discipline.”

Other health system leaders have eliminated redundant meetings to make better use of time. For example, Bob Duncan, executive vice president and COO of Hartford-based Connecticut Children’s, told Becker’s in June that the system replaced a one-hour report-out with a focused 30-minute huddle, prioritizing key themes and next steps. Carol Dozier, CEO of North King’s Daughters’ Health in Madison, Ind., also consolidated meetings to make better use of leaders’ time.

“Combining topics has enhanced the meeting content so we feel we have more meaningful discussions with different perspectives,” Ms. Dozier said.

The post How health system leaders combat ‘meeting overload’ appeared first on Becker’s Hospital Review | Healthcare News & Analysis.

Nearly half of hospital executives said patient experience is their top priority for the next two years, according to a recent survey. However, scores have steadily declined since 2019.

In 2020, 14% of executives said patient experience was their top strategic initiative. In 2025, that rose to 49%. However, patients’ “likelihood to recommend” scores have declined 2.2 points since 2019 — the only setting to see a decline. The corresponding scores have improved 2.8 points for medical practices, 1.7 points for ASCs and 0.5 points for emergency departments.

Becker’s asked nine leaders what levers hospitals can pull this year to have the greatest impact on patient experience. A single theme emerged: clear communication with patients.

Note: Responses have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Jen Bayersdorfer. Chief Quality Officer at Providence St. Joseph Health (Renton, Wash.): The single greatest lever hospitals can pull is making coordination of care reliable and visible at the bedside. When patients clearly understand who is caring for them, what the plan is, what happens next and how transitions will occur, experience improves across multiple domains simultaneously, including nurse communication, discharge information, care transitions and overall rating. Standardizing practices such as bedside shift report, interdisciplinary rounding, purposeful hourly rounding and proactive discharge planning creates consistency in the patient journey rather than isolated service behaviors. This is all possible with a renewed focus on team-based, human-centered care.

Theresa Brennan, MD. Chief Medical Officer at University of Iowa Health Care (Iowa City): It is important to clarify the connection between patient experience, staff engagement and quality outcomes. This shifts the conversation toward measurable results rather than perception alone. We know that higher staff engagement and a strong culture of safe, high-quality care are directly associated with better patient satisfaction. 

An exceptional patient experience happens when everyone involved in a patient’s care consistently communicates clearly and leads with empathy. Given the complexity of care, many people interact with patients during their encounters. Getting everyone on the healthcare team aligned with the patient’s needs and these expectations of every patient, every time, can be a challenge. There is increasing recognition of the impact patient experience has on overall quality outcomes, making it a priority for improvement efforts. Across the country, organizations are implementing operational changes such as structured bedside handoffs and nurse leader rounding to strengthen communication and enhance the patient experience.

Chris Cable, MD. Clinical Lead for Risant Health (District of Columbia): Across the healthcare industry, patients encounter significant variability in emergency department boarding times based on when they seek care — what day of the week or what week of the year they happen to need our help. This cannot be the case if we want our patients to have the best experience and outcomes in our hospitals.

Risant Health is focused on eliminating inconsistency in ED boarding and is already making progress with our Care Without Delay system. By adjusting how we do things behind the scenes, like staffing plans and rounding routines, we can make a big impact on how patients move into, through and out of our emergency departments. Not only is this a major driver of patient experience, we also know from evidence that quality outcomes are higher when patients spend less time waiting in the ED and more time in the hospital, where a full array of services are available. Since implementing Care Without Delay at Geisinger Community Medical Center a year ago, ED boarding hours have decreased by 55%, or more than 5,600 hours per month compared with the baseline.

Flavia Diaz-Hays, MSN, APRN. Vice President of Quality and Patient Safety at El Paso (Texas) Children’s Hospital: The biggest lever that hospitals can pull this year to improve patient experience is doubling down on the reliability and consistency of communication throughout the patient’s journey. In our opinion, patient experience boils down to how informed, respected and emotionally connected patients and families feel during their care journey. Of course clinical outcomes matter, but often patients and families determine if they received high-quality care by if the staff listened to them, explained things in a way that they could understand, and worked together like a team. If hospitals hardwire the discipline of standardized interdisciplinary bedside rounding, leader visibility and service recovery done in real time, we can create much more reliable and consistent experiences for our patients and families. When we focus less on “Is Sally a good communicator?” and more on “Did we communicate with Sally at the expected times throughout her stay?” we will see patient trust and experience increase.

There are a few things that have changed that allow us to leverage improvement in patient experience: 1) We, as executives and board members, understand that patient experience is not a variable to safety and quality — it is safety and quality. 2) We have real-time data available to us now to identify gaps in experience and intervene before they become system problems. 3) We are investing more than ever in our workforce to understand that employee engagement directly correlates to patient experience. 4) We are embracing high reliability principles, leadership rounding and accountability structures that force us to focus on the patient experience as part of our daily operations.

Alexander Greengold. Senior Vice President and Chief Consumer Experience Officer at Memorial Hermann Health System (Houston): When hospitals make the patient experience predictable, transparent and human, trust follows. At Memorial Hermann, we see the strongest impact from “ease of visit” behaviors like clear arrival guidance, proactive communication and consistent follow-through. By combining AI, real-time operational data and a deep understanding of the patient journey, we’re shifting from reacting to problems after they occur to predicting and preventing them. 

Historically, the patient experience was treated as a survey score rather than an operational system. Feedback arrived weeks or months after the encounter — far too late to drive meaningful change — while accountability was fragmented, with no clear owner of the end-to-end journey. Experience improvement is more achievable now because data and technology have finally converged at the point of care. Hospitals can combine operational, digital and experience signals — not just lagging surveys — to predict dissatisfaction and intervene in real time, during the stay, rather than after the fact. At the same time, digital tools such as mobile check-in, real-time messaging, smart rooms and integrated rounding dashboards are embedded directly into care workflows, allowing teams to remove friction. At Memorial Hermann, this has enabled a shift from reactive service recovery to predictive, system-level experience design — allowing us to focus on the moments that matter most and scaling what works across our care delivery sites.

Lorie Rhine, MSN, RN. Chief Nursing Executive at UNC Health (Chapel Hill, N.C.): The most powerful lever is integrating patient experience with safety and quality, treating them as inseparable outcomes of reliable care. At UNC Health, our goal is to establish 100% trust with our patients, just as we strive for zero harm. When patients consistently feel safe, heard and cared for, their experience improves naturally.

At UNC Health, progress has accelerated through our proprietary care delivery model, Carolina Care, and the implementation of a standardized Nursing Bundle focused on safety and reliability. This bundle includes consistent interval nursing rounds, patient-engaged bedside report, and nurse and hospital leader rounding. Through these practices, nurses and leaders intentionally convey a clear message of safety and presence to patients. We support this work with standardized tools, leader education and clear accountability processes to ensure high fidelity across the system. Importantly, we measure not only process adherence through observation and validation, but also patient perception. We assess whether patients experience these safety-focused practices through nursing bundle questions on the HCAHPS survey and have recently added a systemwide patient-reported safety question to better understand whether patients feel safe while in our care.

Kristie Rozands, BSN, RN. Senior Director of Operations at Manning Family Children’s (New Orleans): The biggest lever for patient experience is communication with patients and families. Hospitals must ensure that families understand how to navigate the hospital environment, including outpatient services, inpatient care, diagnostic testing, discharge planning and billing processes. Clear, proactive communication reduces anxiety, builds trust and improves overall satisfaction. When families feel informed and supported, their experience improves — even during complex or stressful situations.

Historically, patient experience improvement has relied heavily on survey feedback. Many  families are overwhelmed after hospitalization and may choose not to complete surveys,  resulting in low response rates. This limits actionable data and often delays identification of communication gaps. Hospitals now have better tools, data visibility and structured processes to proactively engage families rather than relying solely on post-discharge surveys. By standardizing communication expectations and reinforcing accountability across teams, meaningful improvement is more attainable than ever.

Maureen Sullivan, BSN, RN. Vice President of Patient Experience and Service Excellence at MetroHealth (Cleveland): We lost some ground in consistently demonstrating our best practices [for patient experience] during the pandemic, and it takes time, focus and sustained effort to rebuild them. At MetroHealth, we’ve seen patients respond positively to our human‑centered training, particularly the emphasis on empathy. For example, historically the emergency department has been one of the most challenging care settings to consistently exceed patient expectations, and we’ve seen a steady improvement that has been sustained for the past year. What has made the greatest impact, however, is the commitment of clinical leadership to fostering a culture of excellence and accountability. This focus supports not only exceptional care for patients but also a positive, engaging and supportive environment for the staff who deliver that care.

Barbara Vazquez, DNP, RN. Chief Nursing Officer for Christus Children’s Hospital (San Antonio): The biggest opportunity we have right now is to give our caregivers more time to be fully present with patients and families. Competing demands such as documentation, technology, operational pressures often pull caregivers away from the bedside. Even the most dedicated team can struggle to deliver the kind of calm, consistent communication families deserve when the system makes it hard to do so. When nurses and care teams can slow down enough to listen, explain, and connect, everything about the experience improves. It’s not a new idea, but it’s the one that consistently makes the most meaningful difference.

The post The next phase of patient experience appeared first on Becker’s Hospital Review | Healthcare News & Analysis.

Hospitals are reaching a breaking point as demand and competition for healthcare workers pushes wages ever higher.

Labor and expenses per calendar day grew 5% from 2024 to 2025, and 12% from 2022, according to Kaufman Hall’s “National Hospital Flash Report” and the growth may not be done. Fitch forecasts staffing costs will rise in the mid-single-digit rates, while medical professional fees could increase by around 10%, a change from last year’s tailwinds as health systems reduced reliance on temporary staffing. The pressure stems from a fundamental tension: increased competition for a finite pool of qualified workers, compounded by a generational shift in workforce expectations, is forcing hospitals to rethink their compensation strategy from the ground up.

Nowhere is that rethinking more visible than in California, where legislation passed in 2024 raised the minimum wage for healthcare workers to $25, phased in over three years. The mandate doesn’t just affect entry-level roles; it elevates the pay scale for positions throughout the system, creating a cascade effect that strains already tight budgets.

For hospitals, especially rural and community organizations operating on thin margins, the pressure is spurring a search for new revenue-adding services and more creative ways to make ends meet.

“One of the most pressing workforce challenges we anticipate in 2026 is the continued increase in mandated minimum wages for healthcare workers in California,” said Marie Langley, CEO of Desert Valley Medical Group in Victorville, Calif. “While raising wages are necessary to keep pace with the region’s escalating cost of living and to provide meaningful opportunities for individuals entering the workforce, they also create significant wage compression for experienced staff who have invested years in developing their skills and expertise.”

Ms. Langley said the salary increases impact almost all entry-level positions and create a complex challenge for leadership to balance fairness, retention and morale for the more tenured employees. She also sees compensation expectations shifting and the pressure mounts as professional reimbursement rates stagnate or decline.

“To address this, we are proactively reviewing compensation structures, investing in career progression and professional development opportunities and identifying operational efficiencies to help offset rising labor expenses,” she said. “Our goal is to remain competitive, equitable and financially sustainable while continuing to support and invest in our workforce.”

California hospitals aren’t the only ones giving steep pay increases. In the last year, Becker’s recorded 44 hospitals and health systems that increased pay for some or all employees in clinical and non-clinical roles. In January, Charlotte, N.C.-based Advocate Health reported investing $776 million in workforce compensation this year, including a unified $18.85 minimum wage across all hospitals. Renton, Wash.-based Providence also committed $600 million in merit and market adjustments for staff this year as part of a strategic overview.

Jenny Collopy, vice president and chief marketing and communications officer of The Christ Hospital Health Network in Cincinnati, sees a growing disconnect between the cost of care delivery and what hospitals are paid for care.

“Wages for healthcare workers must continue to increase so team members can keep up with inflation, support their families and manage the rising cost of living,” she said. “At the same time, inflation continues to outpace what payers are willing to reimburse for healthcare services. That imbalance puts real pressure on health systems and forces difficult tradeoffs.”

The Christ Hospital is making adjustments through the Forward 2.0 operational improvement plan, focused on improving performance, eliminating inefficiencies and redesigning care so our teams can work at the top of their license. Then, the organization can reinvest in the workforce without negatively impacting access or quality of care.

The hospital’s Team Member Value Proposition focuses on ensuring team members have “everything it takes for everyone to thrive.”

“That means creating an environment where team members feel valued, have clear pathways for growth and mobility, are recognized and rewarded for excellence, and feel genuinely connected to our mission,” said Ms. Collopy. “Building a strong culture of engagement and loyalty is one of the most important drivers of retention, and it’s a commitment we take seriously as we navigate the workforce challenges ahead.”

Hiring healthcare workers is more competitive; health systems are investing in education pipelines, but that takes time and organizations are seeing an immediate need to increase compensation packages to maintain or expand access to care today. Physicians and nurses entering the workforce are seeking additional schedule flexibility, faster career growth tracks and more work-life balance.

Erika Werner, MD, president of the physician organization at Boston-based Tufts Medical Center, said historically hospitals expected 50-plus hour work weeks that could stretch all seven days of the week, and clinicians requested less time off for illness or family leave. In the academic setting, research and committee work were performed outside regular hours and considered “privileged pursuits.”

That’s not the case today.

“Not only are new hires challenging these historic healthcare norms, but seasoned clinicians are seeking culture change as they see their age-matched peers in other professions having increased schedule flexibility,” said Dr. Werner. “While this evolution has enormous potential to result in a happier, healthier workforce, reductions in clinician effort without congruent decreases in compensation risk further increases in labor costs, the main driver of ever escalating healthcare costs. Our health system is navigating these competing interests through honest, direct discussions between clinicians and administrators.”

The clinical and administrative leaders are developing a framework of understanding about how clinical and non-clinical time drives healthcare forward and delivers value. Together, the group is increasing transparency about the value of future investments.

“We are evolving our employment model so that clinicians can titrate time and compensation to best fit their individual needs,” said Dr. Werner. “Only with partnership, transparency and flexibility can we meet workforce and financial demands of 2026 and beyond.”

The post What’s next for hospital wages? appeared first on Becker’s Hospital Review | Healthcare News & Analysis.

For many chief medical information officers, technology investments are no longer framed solely as operational upgrades. Increasingly, they are being discussed in the context of clinician recruitment, retention and burnout mitigation.

Becker’s asked CMIOs whether EHR platforms and newer AI tools are influencing their ability to attract and retain clinicians — and whether those technologies are making a measurable difference in workforce stability.

Several leaders pointed first to documentation burden and inbox overload as defining pressure points.

“Our EHR and newer AI tools are increasingly important to both recruiting and retention because they influence what matters most to clinicians in their daily work: time spent on documentation, inbox overload and how easily teams can work together,” said Usman Akhtar, MD, CMIO of VHC Health in Arlington, Va.

That emphasis on documentation time has fueled rapid expansion of ambient AI tools across health systems. At Norfolk, Va.-based Sentara Health, for example, leaders piloted a large language model to generate discharge summaries using episode-of-care data — a project that required retraining to eliminate early hallucinations before scaling systemwide. After rollout across 12 acute facilities, adoption surpassed 75%, driven largely by physicians who said the tool gave them meaningful time back.

For Joseph Evans, MD, vice president and chief health information officer at Sentara, those types of deployments now shape recruitment conversations.

“Our technology strategy has shifted from a purely operational focus to a primary lever for retention, where candidates now view relentless devotion to human-centered design and EHR usability as a proxy for how we value clinician time,” he said.

He added that ambient intelligence has rapidly evolved from novelty to “table stakes” as clinicians seek to minimize after-hours charting and administrative friction.

Other CMIOs said clinicians are watching not just for AI adoption, but for sustained signals that leadership understands burnout at a structural level.

“When physicians see a credible commitment to reducing inbox burden, streamlining workflows and reinvesting reclaimed time into patient care, it signals that leadership understands burnout and is willing to act on it,” said Amer Saati, MD, CMIO at Roseville, Calif.-based Adventist Health.

In some cases, that signal begins with infrastructure decisions rather than advanced AI. Adventist Health committed to a systemwide Epic transition in 2024 after a multiyear evaluation, underscoring how EHR environment and workflow cohesion are increasingly treated as strategic levers.

At Valley Health System in Paramus, N.J., clinician frustration with fragmented data and manual reconciliation prompted a move toward a unified platform.

“This decision was based on overwhelming feedback from our clinicians, who have been struggling with multiple sources of clinical data and having to manually reconcile data from within our own network each time they open a patient’s chart,” said CMIO K. Nadeem Ahmed, MD.

“It is unclear how this may help retain or attract clinicians; however, we are confident it will improve the overall experience for all our healthcare professionals in providing high-quality care to our patients,” he said.

Valley Health System’s broader digital strategy has also tied technology investments to measurable clinical outcomes. Its new hospital’s smart rooms integrate EHR data with AI-powered fall prevention alerts, reducing falls by 10% to 30% during pilot phases — an operational improvement leaders say reduces staff disruption and workflow strain.

CMIOs described a consistent pattern: Clinicians are evaluating employers not on whether they “have AI,” but on whether digital tools tangibly reduce cognitive load. Adoption rates, workflow integration and measurable time savings matter more than feature launches.

In that environment, technology investments are becoming less about innovation branding and more about daily usability — visible evidence that leadership is attempting to restore time to patient care.

The post EHR strategy becomes a recruitment lever for health systems appeared first on Becker’s Hospital Review | Healthcare News & Analysis.

One in 5 children aged 2 to 19 in the U.S. are living with obesity, marking the highest rate ever recorded, according to newly published data from the CDC.

The agency published two reports Feb. 25 examining obesity prevalence in the U.S. — one focused on children and adolescents and another on adults 20 and older. The estimates are based on measured height and weight data collected through the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between August 2021 and August 2023.

Five things to know:

1. About 21.1% of children and teenagers ages 2 to 19 are living with obesity, including 7% with severe obesity, according to the new data. By comparison, during the 1971-1974 survey cycle, 5.2% of children had obesity and 1% had severe obesity, underscoring the sharp rise over the past five decades.

2. Nearly 23% of adolescents ages 12 to 19 were classified as having obesity in the most recent survey, the highest prevalence among pediatric age groups. Among children ages 2 to 5, 14.9% were classified as obese.

3. About 40.3% of adults ages 20 and older met criteria for obesity in the 2021-2023 survey period. Of those, 9.7% had severe obesity, while 31.7% of adults were classified as overweight. The latest figure represents a substantial increase from 1988-1994, when 22.9% of adults had obesity, 2.8% had severe obesity and 33.1% were overweight.

4. In 2017-2018, 42.4% of adults were classified as having obesity — the highest level ever recorded in the survey. The decline to 40.3% in the most recent cycle suggests the rapid rise seen in earlier decades may be slowing, though experts told ABC News it is too early to determine whether the shift represents a sustained downward trend.

5. Public health experts say a combination of factors could be contributing to the leveling off among adults, including increased awareness of nutrition and physical activity, policy interventions and the growing use of GLP-1 drugs. 

The post Child obesity rates hit record high: 5 notes appeared first on Becker’s Hospital Review | Healthcare News & Analysis.

Proposed changes to federal student loans threaten to shrink the nursing workforce when we can least afford it.

Our nation is in the throes of a health care crisis, and we should be doing everything possible to support nurses and attract new ones to the profession. Yet, the Department of Education has officially proposed new rules that will limit access to federal loans for graduate education and exclude nursing from a list of “professional degree” programs eligible for higher financial support. This proposal risks making our crisis even worse.

By 2028, the U.S. is expected to be short more than 100,000 health care workers needed to provide essential care. Simultaneously, health care demand is accelerating due to an aging population and the growing prevalence of chronic diseases. This growing gap between workforce supply and patient need is already straining Americans’ access to timely, quality care.

If adopted, this change would sharply limit federal loan amounts and loan forgiveness pathways for post-baccalaureate nurses including our Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs), our nurse faculty, nurse leaders, researchers, scientists and other frontline providers. It’s a misguided move that would hurt not only current and future nurses, but patients and families across the country – at the exact moment our country can least afford it. 

The Department of Education’s definition of “professional degree” for these loan caps includes disciplines we’d all expect and support: medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, optometry, and law, to name a few. Yet somehow, their approach overlooks nursing – even though nurses are, in many instances, the sole providers of essential health care services for patients and communities.

If federal policymakers leave nursing off the list of “professional degree,” nurses pursuing master’s or doctoral degrees would have access to roughly half as much federal student loan aid as other recognized professional degrees. Post-baccalaureate nursing students’ aggregate borrowing will be capped at $100,000, compared to $200,000 for degrees deemed professional. The annual borrowing limit would be just $20,500 for nursing, compared to $50,000 for recognized professional degrees. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, graduate nursing programs cost an average of more than $33,000 per year, already exceeding the proposed federal cap. Recent studies also show the average cost to be closer to $38,542. Many nurses interested in pursuing advanced roles and leadership positions will either be priced out of this educational pathway or will have to take out private loans which have higher interest rates. It also creates barriers, not only for nurses from rural, underserved or low-income backgrounds, but for the patients that rely on high-quality nursing care in communities across the country. 

Each year, thousands of nurses depend on federal student loans to pursue advanced degrees to become nurse practitioners, certified registered nurse anesthetists, certified nurse midwives and clinical nurse specialists. These professionals are essential to broadening access to primary care, supporting rural hospitals and ensuring the stability of the health care workforce.

The ripple effects extend even further. In 2024 alone, U.S. nursing schools had 1,693 full-time faculty vacancies. Imposing these graduate loan caps would only deepen this faculty shortage by discouraging nurses from earning the degrees required to teach our next generation of nurses. We desperately need more new nurses entering the field. Without them the consequences will be evident across every setting where patients seek health care. 

In a recent letter to the Department of Education, a bipartisan, bicameral group of more than 140 lawmakers urged the inclusion of nursing on the list of professional degrees eligible for full federal loan benefits, emphasizing the field’s critical contribution to the health care system. And more than 245,000 nurses and patients across the country have signed our petition calling on the Department of Education to reverse course.This is not just a trivial policy change. It will have enormous consequences, not only for the nursing profession but for all of us who will need nurses’ care. The Department of Education public comment period is now open. We urge all Americans, who have relied on the care of our nation’s nurses, to submit comments to regulations.gov urging the Department of Education to include post-baccalaureate nursing degrees (MSN, DNP, Ph.D.) explicitly in the list of “professional degrees.”  Our nation’s health depends on it.

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Job-switching rates among U.S. radiologists increased by 61% between 2013 and 2022.

After adjusting for radiologist and practice characteristics, researchers found odds of practice turnover, or the phenomenon of leaving one organization to join another, were about twice as high in 2020-2022 compared to 2013, according to a Feb. 24 study from the Harvey L. Neiman Health Policy Institute. The analysis examined 39,439 radiologists across 280,692 practice years.

Turnover rates were 6% higher among women than men, 12% higher in metropolitan areas, and 9% lower among academic radiologists than their nonacademic counterparts. Researchers also found a relationship between workload and turnover, with rates declining with increased work relative value units (wRVUs) up to a threshold before rising again.

That tipping point was 12,940 wRVUs overall, 8,820 for academic radiologists and 13,380 for nonacademic radiologists.

Researchers said the findings offer insight for health systems facing workforce shortages and rising burnout and attest to the importance of balancing workload with retention efforts.

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As hospitals nationwide contend with margin pressure and persistent workforce shortages, 56 health systems were named to Forbes‘ annual list of America’s Best Large Employers.

Leaders from several of those organizations told Becker’s they have deliberately protected — and in some cases expanded — investments in leadership development, career pathways, employee well-being and benefits, even as labor costs rise. 

Nationwide, labor expresses are increasing across nearly every region and hospital size, rising 5% year over year, according to a Nov. 12 Kaufman Hall report. 

Rather than scaling back workforce spending, the executives described doubling down on internal talent pipelines, burnout prevention, employee recognition and programs designed to strengthen retention and engagement.

Below, leaders from 13 of the organizations featured on Forbes‘ list described the workforce investment they refused to cut in a year defined by financial headwinds.

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

Alan Kaplan, MD. CEO of UW Health (Madison, Wis.): Our UW Health team provides remarkable care. With demand for our care always growing against a backdrop of national staffing shortages, we realize that following conventional wisdom in workforce development just isn’t enough. We’ve created an innovative set of “earn as you learn” apprenticeship programs we call our career pathways program. Through partnerships with local colleges, community groups and state government, we’ve created apprenticeship programs across key roles like registered nurse, respiratory therapist, medical assistant, nursing assistant, pharmacy technician and ophthalmology technician. Most of these programs were either first of their kind in the nation or first of their kind in Wisconsin, and they enable existing staff to further their careers while still working and at no cost to themselves. They also present an appealing entry point to careers in clinical care for new team members. Despite the national healthcare worker shortage, we’ve seen our retention rates benchmark at the 90th percentile in part due to these innovative programs. Despite the margin pressures faced across the healthcare sector, we’ve continued to invest in these programs, recently launching new apprenticeships for key surgical tech and MRI tech programs, further developing a model for success in a challenging labor market.

Beth Green. CHRO of Cooper University Health Care (Camden, N.J.): In healthcare, financial pressure is real — and that’s exactly why continuing to invest in leadership development matters. When times are hard, strong leadership isn’t a “nice to have,” it’s a necessity.

We know from experience that well‑prepared leaders drive engagement, retain talent, manage resources more responsibly, and keep teams focused on patients — even during uncertainty. Cutting back on leadership development may look like short‑term savings, but the long‑term costs — turnover, disengagement, slower decision‑making and burnout — are far greater.

That’s why we continue to invest in our leaders through formal leadership development programs, individual development plans, leadership assessments such as 360[-degree] feedback and other executive assessment tools and coaching. While we partner with external coaches for our executives, we’ve also built an internal leadership coaching program to support leaders at all other levels — ensuring access to development across the organization.

The return on investment is clear. Leaders who understand financial decision‑making, can adapt to new technology like AI, and know how to lead people through change make better choices every day. Those choices directly affect quality, safety, experience and financial performance.

At Cooper, investing in our leaders is one of the most effective ways to protect our future. When we support leaders, they support their teams — and that’s how we remain strong, resilient and focused on our mission, even in challenging times.

Calvin Allen. Executive Vice President and CHRO of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia: We believe retention is our best recruitment strategy. When staff feel valued and supported, they become true ambassadors for our mission. During challenging financial times, it may be tempting to cut spending on programs that don’t show immediate returns. However, we see well-being and employee development as essential investments — integral to quality care, safety and our long-term financial health.

Instead of scaling back, we preserved and strengthened our well-being initiatives, with special attention to preventing burnout. Burnout and fatigue, especially among medical staff, lead to higher turnover and disengagement, which ultimately affect patient outcomes. Eliminating these supports might offer short-term relief, but would undermine our stability in the long run. We have clearly signaled to our workforce that their well-being is non-negotiable.

We also safeguarded programs that enrich the employee experience, such as tuition assistance, internal mobility and leadership development. Rather than relying on external hires, we invest in developing internal talent — creating clear career pathways for all employees. This approach boosts engagement, improves retention and reduces reliance on contract labor and expensive recruitment cycles. 

By remaining committed to people-focused investments, we ensure a stable, engaged workforce dedicated to exceptional care and service.

Cliff Megerian, MD. CEO of University Hospitals (Cleveland): Despite ongoing margin pressures and rising labor costs, we made a deliberate decision not to cut investment in direct patient care. Protecting the teams who deliver care at the bedside remains our top priority, because maintaining quality, safety and patient experience is foundational to our mission.

Instead of reducing headcount, we formed revenue and expense cabinets that focused on identifying where we were not being reimbursed appropriately for the high‑quality care we provide. This work allowed us to capture revenue we had previously earned but not received. On the expense side, the teams concentrated on eliminating waste, inefficiencies, outdated processes and unnecessary spending that enabled us to keep our workforce intact.

We also accelerated the use of technology to streamline operations and bring work back in‑house, reducing or eliminating reliance on third‑party vendors. These strategies helped us protect critical clinical roles while still strengthening financial performance.

Duane McFadden. CHRO of Children’s Hospital Colorado (Aurora): Children’s Hospital Colorado recognizes the significant pressures created by rising labor costs, talent shortages in key specialty areas and the growing expectations placed on leaders in a highly volatile labor market. Despite these challenges, we believe this is not the time to divest in how we support our workforce. Instead, we have intentionally increased our investment in areas we believe strengthen engagement, retention and long‑term sustainability.

Growing our own talent pipeline: We have expanded programs that reach high schools, colleges and universities, and trade schools to build strong partnerships and create early pathways into our organization. Once team members join us, we support them in defining clear career paths and provide training, education and financial assistance to help them grow within our system.

Leadership development: We believe leadership capability is a critical differentiator in the team member experience. We have increased leadership development opportunities to ensure leaders are equipped not only to manage teams, but to lead in ways that are inspiring, values‑driven and deeply connected to our mission.

Benefits and well‑being: We’ve expanded our benefits portfolio while, in many cases, reducing premiums and out‑of‑pocket costs for team members. These investments are already delivering meaningful improvements in satisfaction and engagement.

Jim VanderSteeg. President and CEO of Covenant Health (Knoxville, Tenn.): When hospitals face financial pressure, it’s tempting to pull back on workforce development. We did the opposite.

Over the past 12 months, we protected our investments in employee growth and career development. We didn’t touch them — because cutting now would cost us the next generation of caregivers.

As a not-for-profit healthcare system, our measurement of success is the pursuit of our mission. Every dollar we save goes back into care. We believe the quality of care depends entirely on the quality of the people delivering it. Every dollar we spend developing our team is a dollar that keeps an experienced caregiver here, growing their skills, instead of leaving.

Laurie Bennett. Vice President of Human Resources at Sarasota (Fla.) Memorial Health Care System: We protected three non-negotiable priorities:

1. Employee engagement and recognition

We continued to invest in programs that reinforce appreciation and belonging, including: Annual service anniversary celebration, honoring milestone work anniversaries starting at five years up to 50 years; dinner program with entertainment and presentation of jeweled pins; monthly excellence recognition, with proclamation and award gifts; employee birthday cards, with coupons to spend at hospital eateries; food truck events, with free meals for all employees; and free tickets to seasonal circus, baseball and other community events.

These initiatives strengthen culture, connection, and retention of our highly skilled team members.

2. Growth and development: We expanded on- and off-site childcare and maintained our tuition reimbursement program, ensuring employees can learn, grow and build long-term careers within our system.

3. Retention of high-performing talent: With nearly 11,000 employees and a growing network of hospitals, specialty care centers and outpatient services, Sarasota Memorial is the region’s largest employer. By prioritizing engagement and development rather than short-term cost reductions, we supported stability across our workforce during a challenging financial environment. 

Our commitment to people remains a strategic advantage — not an expense.

Lorina Wise. CHRO of Nationwide Children’s Hospital (Columbus, Ohio): Our continued investment in employee benefits reflects our hospital’s commitment to supporting our workforce. Over the past few years, we have reduced deductibles, minimized increases to employee premiums, and expanded our time-off programs — including PTO, caregiver leave and bereavement leave. We also remain focused on offering competitive wages, and have enhanced our employee assistance program to further support the emotional well-being of our staff and their families.

We continue to invest in events that celebrate our collaborative culture and honor the extraordinary dedication our employees demonstrate every day in caring for our patients and families. This includes employee recognition events, special traditions such as our holiday celebration and hospital birthday celebration, as well as targeted morale‑boosting activities and ongoing culture‑building initiatives. Together, these efforts help create an environment where our team can excel and deliver exceptional care.

Marc Boom, MD. President and CEO of Houston Methodist: Despite all the external turbulence facing healthcare, Houston Methodist is in an excellent financial position to withstand those headwinds. We steadfastly maintain our commitment to supporting our employees. We have robust programs where employees can pursue leadership training, ongoing clinical education and career development opportunities. We want our employees to maintain their purpose and passion for what they do because when they are fulfilled, patients benefit. Protecting these programs strengthens our culture and ensures that we continue providing high-quality patient care.

Mickey Foster. CEO of FirstHealth of the Carolinas (Pinehurst, N.C.): At a time when many healthcare organizations nationwide are facing margin pressure and rising labor costs, FirstHealth views investment in workforce well-being not as an expense, but as a strategic imperative. Supporting our team is essential to sustaining high-quality care for the communities we serve.

Through the Reid Center for Well-Being, we take a comprehensive approach to workforce development by supporting employees’ financial, physical, emotional, spiritual and community well-being. We offer robust retirement plans with matching contributions, on-demand pay through DailyPay and free fitness memberships for all employees. Our WellnessFirst program provides personalized health coaching and financial incentives for achieving wellness goals. Employees also have access to free, confidential counseling from a dedicated staff well-being team that also provides deployable wellness support across the organization. 

From financial security, to fitness, to initiatives like partnering with Caring Hearts for Canines to bring adoptable dogs on-site, we are intentional about creating an environment where our team feels valued and supported. When we care for our people, they are better equipped to care for our patients — fulfilling our core purpose “To Care for People.”

Mitchell Rosner, MD. CEO of UVA Health and Executive Vice President for Health Affairs at the University of Virginia (Charlottesville): At UVA Health, workforce investment is not discretionary. It’s central to continuously delivering exceptional patient care and has been a core priority in our strategic plan for several years. Successfully recruiting, retaining, and developing our people is directly tied to patient safety and access and long-term stability, so our focus has been on building talent from within and aligning training with real care needs.

Even while facing margin pressure and rising labor costs, we protected and continued expanding programs that strengthen our workforce pipeline, from entry-level healthcare careers through leadership development. Our nationally recognized “earn while you learn” program provides paid, benefitted pathways into high-demand clinical and technical roles. These program graduates have filled hundreds of positions that have helped stabilize staffing in key areas. Parallel to that, our Health Leadership Institute prepares physicians, nurses, and operational leaders to lead increasingly complex health systems. Together, these efforts help us build a more stable workforce internally rather than relying solely on external hiring in a highly competitive market.

Myra Gregorian. Senior Vice President and Chief People and Transformation Officer at Seattle Children’s: At Seattle Children’s, we know that every person on our team — from our volunteers to our nurses and doctors — are a vital part of delivering healthcare. Despite the financial pressures facing healthcare today, we continue to make investments in our employees. We look at every workforce investment through the lens of our mission: providing hope, care and cures. This past year, we stood firm on investing in employee appreciation, competitive wages, mental health resources and comprehensive benefits, and technology that reduces administrative burden. When our team members feel seen and supported, they bring a level of empathy and excellence to our patients that is unmatched.

Tammy Peterman, MSN, RN. President of the Kansas City (Mo.) Division and Executive Vice President, COO and CNO at The University of Kansas Health System: More than 25 years ago, we developed our guiding formula to focus on quality, people and service. We believe when you have the best and right people supported in the best and right way, good things happen. Our quality outcomes and growth continue to show this is true.

At The University of Kansas Health System, we focus on culture and investment in our people, despite challenging economic conditions in healthcare. We created well-being programs designed to acknowledge the challenges of healthcare and to support mental and physical well-being. Our Employee Support After a Violent Event (E-SAVE) program is a Daisy Award winner for the team’s efforts to provide comprehensive resources to staff after a violent encounter.  We have worked to provide additional meaningful benefits, including an additional discretionary holiday.

We created programs to invest in our team’s career development. Our GED program pays for school for eligible team members, gives them time during work hours for study and access to an executive mentor as they work toward a high school diploma. To support nursing, we have several programs including a nurse residency program, an ICU pathway program, and an ambulatory fellowship program. We have also provided a Thanksgiving gift card for all employees.

The post The workforce investments health system execs refuse to cut  appeared first on Becker’s Hospital Review | Healthcare News & Analysis.

Telehealth is about five times less expensive than in-office care for common conditions that can be treated by both types of visits, according to a new study from Philadelphia-based Penn Medicine.

The researchers analyzed over 160,000 visits — both virtual and in-person — billed to insurers across four months in 2024, focusing on 10 common conditions such as COVID-19, respiratory symptoms and anxiety. Initial telehealth visits were billed at an average of $400 less ($509 vs. $96 for in-office), and also resulted in fewer follow-up appointments (three vs. four), per the February study in JAMA Network Open.

Federal lawmakers recently extended pandemic-era telehealth flexibilities for Medicare beneficiaries, but only through 2027. Approximately 4-6% of healthcare visits are conducted virtually, another recent Penn Medicine study found.

“If telemedicine is allowed to revert to the more limited model that existed before COVID, the cost savings we identified could disappear,” said Kevin Mahoney, CEO of University of Pennsylvania Health System and a study co-author, in a Feb. 24 news release. “At a moment when hospitals and health systems face serious financial headwinds, those savings are vital. They enable us to reinvest in patient care and fuel innovation.”

The pricing gaps differed by condition, with telehealth visits for respiratory symptoms being about $800 cheaper on average and behavioral health costs roughly the same. The researchers noted that some of the in-person appointments were more serious and couldn’t be treated through telemedicine, but they adjusted their analysis to compare like patients across visit types as best they could.

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Willingness among older adults to drive more than an hour for medical care varies by social demographics, according to a study published Feb. 23 in JAMA Network Open. 

Researchers from Los Angeles-based University of Southern California surveyed 2,650 adults ages 65 and older through a nationwide internet-based survey called the Understanding America Study between April 23 and June 8.

Here are three things to know from the study:

1. Among all survey respondents, the median willingness to travel times were:
   • 67.5 minutes for primary care
   • 127.5 minutes for specialty care 
   • 112.5 minutes for one-time diagnostic appointments
2. The percentage of respondents willing to travel at least one hour to receive care were:
   • 60.3% for primary care
   • 84.4% for specialty care
   • 82.5% for one-time diagnostic care
3. Respondents willing to travel longer durations:
   • Had higher incomes
   • Greater educational attainment
   • Were racial or ethnic minority individuals
   • Typically drove themselves to appointments

     Respondents unwilling to travel longer durations:

   • Lived in metropolitan areas
   • Reported being in fair or poor health
   • Reported experiencing difficulty traveling for past medical appointments

Read the full study here. 

The post How far are older adults patients willing to travel for care?: Study appeared first on Becker’s Hospital Review | Healthcare News & Analysis.

Workflow optimization is the fastest-growing skill in healthcare, according to a Feb. 24 LinkedIn News post.

LinkedIn News analyzed year-over-year growth in skills based on skill acquisition — the growth of a given skill being added to LinkedIn user profiles — and hiring success — the growth of a given skill possessed by users who have been hired in the past year. Growth rates were measured by comparing LinkedIn data from Dec. 1, 2024, to Nov. 30, 2025, with the same period in the year prior.

Here are the 10 fastest-growing skills in healthcare, per LinkedIn:

1. Workflow optimization

2. Cross-functional communication

3. Clinical monitoring

4. Standards compliance

5. Neurology nursing

6. Client relationship management

7. Clinical laboratory testing

8. Long-term care nursing

9. Nursing research

10. Report preparation

The post 10 fastest-growing skills in healthcare  appeared first on Becker’s Hospital Review | Healthcare News & Analysis.

Among U.S. cities, the hardest-working Americans live in Cheyenne, Wyo., according to an analysis by personal finance website WalletHub. 

To determine the hardest-working cities, WalletHub compared 116 of the most populated cities across two dimensions, direct and indirect work factors. Analysts evaluated those dimensions using 11 metrics, ranging from average workweek hours to the share of residents who participate in local groups or organizations.

Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with 100 representing the hardest-working; cities’ weighted averages determined overall scores. More information about the methodology is available here. 

Note: WalletHub used data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Travel Association, Gallup, Social Science Research Council and Corporation for National & Community Service to create the ranking. Data for some metrics were only available at the state level.

The hardest-working cities in America, according to the analysis:

1. Cheyenne, Wyo.

2. Anchorage, Alaska

3. Washington, D.C.

4. Sioux Falls, S.D.

5. Irving, Texas 

6. Nashville, Tenn.

7. Dallas

8. San Francisco

9. Denver

10. Austin, Texas

The cities at the bottom of the list, according to the analysis:

1. Burlington, Vt. 

2. Detroit

3. Buffalo, N.Y.

4. Newark, N.J.

5. Toledo, Ohio

6. Bridgeport, Conn.

7. Columbia, S.C.

8. Providence, R.I.

9. Cleveland

10. Fresno, Calif.

The post 10 hardest-working US cities appeared first on Becker’s Hospital Review | Healthcare News & Analysis.

Enhabit, a home health and hospice provider with 249 home health locations and 117 hospice locations across 34 states, has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by private equity firm Kinderhook Industries in an all-cash transaction valued at about $1.1 billion.

Five things to know:

1. Under the terms of the agreement, Enhabit stockholders will receive $13.80 per share in cash, representing a premium of about 24.4% to the company’s closing stock price Feb. 20, the last full trading day before the transaction was announced. The offer also reflects a 33.8% premium to Enhabit’s 60-day volume-weighted average share price for the period ended Feb. 20.

2. Upon completion of the transaction, Enhabit’s common stock will no longer be listed on the New York Stock Exchange and the company will become privately held. Enhabit will continue operating under its existing name and brand.

3. The acquisition was unanimously approved by Enhabit’s board of directors and is expected to close in the second quarter, subject to stockholder approval, regulatory approvals and other closing conditions. Certain Enhabit executive officers have entered into voting and support agreements to vote in favor of the transaction at a special meeting of stockholders.

4. Barb Jacobsmeyer, president and CEO of Enhabit, said the transaction positions the company for long-term growth. “Under Kinderhook’s ownership, Enhabit will benefit from additional resources and expertise that will support long-term investments in our people, clinical excellence and innovation without the short-term pressures of the public markets,” Ms. Jacobsmeyer said in a Feb. 23 news release. 

5. New York City-based Kinderhook focuses on middle market businesses in healthcare services, environmental and industrial services, and light manufacturing and automotive sectors. The firm has raised more than $10 billion in committed capital and has completed more than 500 investments and follow-on acquisitions.

The post Private equity firm to acquire home health, hospice company in $1.1B deal — 5 things to know appeared first on Becker’s Hospital Review | Healthcare News & Analysis.

California has the most top-rated home health programs, according to U.S. News and World Report’s inaugural ranking. Three states and Washington, D.C., do not have any.

U.S. News evaluated more than 12,000 Medicare-certified home health agencies across the country using CMS data. Home health programs were rated based on quality and patient experience measures, including timely initiation of care and outcomes, and preventable hospitalizations. To be eligible for rating, home health agencies had to have a CMS certification number, and reported quality of patient care star rating, patient survey rating or both. U.S. News used an independent methodology, resulting in some of its ratings differing from the CMS rating program. Read more about the methodology here.

Just over 1%, or 1,319, of home health agencies earned the Best Home Health distinction for exceeding expectations in care quality and patient experience. Agencies with this designation began care on time for 99% of patients, compared to the national average of 94%. Among patients in top-rated agencies, 93% saw an improvement in walking and moving, compared to 83% nationwide. These patients were also more likely to get better at getting out of bed, bathing themselves and taking medications correctly.

Here are the states ranked by how many top-rated home health agencies they have:

California: 151

Texas: 133

Florida: 105

Louisiana: 77

Alabama: 73

Tennessee: 62

Illinois: 61

Pennsylvania: 53

North Carolina: 50

Ohio: 50

Kentucky: 44

Oklahoma: 39

Missouri: 38

Michigan: 34

Arkansas: 33

South Carolina: 32

Indiana: 30

Virginia: 29

Mississippi: 28

Massachusetts: 27

Georgia: 26

Wisconsin: 22

Minnesota: 21

New York: 21

West Virginia: 21

Arizona: 20

Iowa: 19

Colorado: 18

Kansas: 17

New Mexico: 15

Utah: 14

South Dakota: 12

Maryland: 11

Idaho: 10

Nevada: 9

New Jersey: 8

Maine: 7

Delaware: 6

New Hampshire: 6

Rhode Island: 6

Connecticut: 5

Nebraska: 5

Washington: 5

Oregon: 4

Wyoming: 3

North Dakota: 2

Hawaii: 1

Alaska: 0

District of Columbia: 0

Montana: 0

Vermont: 0

The post States with the most top home health programs: US News appeared first on Becker’s Hospital Review | Healthcare News & Analysis.

If Mark Cuban bought a hospital, he says he would run it like a startup: eliminate unnecessary overhead, prioritize radical transparency, pay physicians well and use AI to root out inefficiencies.

Speaking on “The Healthcare Bridge” podcast with Nathan Kaufman, managing director and founder of Kaufman Strategic Advisors, Mr. Cuban — co-founder of Cost Plus Drugs Co. — discussed how he believes hospitals could be operated differently.

“You’ve got to be able to get down like any other startup,” he said. “You’ve got to think of your hospital as a startup, and your first doctors as your first employees or your partners.”

Mr. Cuban questioned traditional hospital cost structures, pointing to what he sees as unnecessary spending.

He said he would design a hospital with minimal overhead: no lavish amenities, fewer consultants and no unnecessary administrative layers. Instead, he suggested a lean model that avoids expensive infrastructure, relies on essential technology and outsources services when necessary.

The foundation of his approach would focus on simplifying operations, eliminating ancillary services and building trust. 

“It is the same with Cost Plus Drugs. Our margins are only 15% but I know that the key element for me is how I build trust, and the way to build trust is by having a set margin,” Mr. Cuban said. “If I did buy a hospital … I would get rid of all the ancillaries and market it much like we do Cost Plus Drugs and pay my doctors more. We don’t have many employees, but we pay them well.”

Transparency would also be critical to the model. Rather than treating pricing and physician compensation as confidential business information, he argues that making the hospital’s costs and reimbursements fully visible would offer it a competitive advantage.

“I would put out there and market, look, here’s what we pay our doctors. Here’s our overhead — down to the penny — so that you can see what it costs. And here’s what we get reimbursed by Medicare, and we’ll charge you the same, and we’ll grow,” he said. “I know that practice would grow, because even though basic Medicare doesn’t make you much money, the people who have real issues, you can make money from.”

He framed hospital economics as largely dependent on market leverage, arguing hospitals typically fall into one of two categories. In his view, negotiating power — not necessarily operational efficiency — often determines financial success.

“One, I have market dominance, and I get to say, ‘f— you,’ to everybody and the insurance companies, right? I don’t need you, because I’m going to get my own patients too,” Mr. Cuban said. “Two, I don’t have enough patient flow, so I need you insurance companies to send me patients, and so I’ll do the deal that you want me to do, because otherwise I don’t have a patient funnel.”

He also argued that hospital executive incentives often drive expansion for scale rather than long-term sustainability.

“I think part of the challenge is [how] most CEOs are rewarded. Hospital CEOs are rewarded by revenues and scale, and so they default to more buildings,” he said. “If this 100-bed hospital is not my final destination, I want to be the 60-hospital, 6 zillion beds, because that’s where I’m making $10 million a year.”

Mr. Kaufman noted that consolidation can provide negotiating leverage with payers but cautioned that scale alone is insufficient.

“If you have beds [but] insurance companies aren’t paying anything, you have no negotiating cloud at all,” Mr. Kaufman said. “So you do need to consolidate to get big, but you have to know how to run that business.” 

Mr. Cuban pointed to AI as a major opportunity, particularly in contract and revenue oversight.

“One of my clients just acquired a 250-bed hospital. It was bankrupt, owned by a [private equity] firm, but that hospital had over 3,000 contracts,” Mr. Kaufman said. “That’s not a 600-bed hospital. It’s a 250-bed private hospital, so that just gives you some idea of the magnitude of management that needs to occur.”

Mr. Cuban said automation could quickly and effectively solve that complexity.

“Imagine all those processes associated with all those contracts could be automated with AI agents, because there’s nobody verifying all the financial information associated with transactions from each one of those contracts,” he said. “No chance you can’t hire enough people to do that.

“That’s what agentic AI is really going to do for hospitals and clinics and practices’ low hanging fruit.”

Ultimately, Mr. Cuban said his approach would center on a simple entrepreneurial question.

“I put my entrepreneur ‘Shark Tank’ hat on … [and ask], ‘What would it take to get people to choose me?’”

Click here to listen to the full episode of the podcast.

The post ‘Think of your hospital as a startup’: What Mark Cuban would do if he bought a hospital appeared first on Becker’s Hospital Review | Healthcare News & Analysis.

When Michael Kupferman, MD, became CEO of Hershey, Pa.-based Penn State Health in late June 2025, he brought a special background that not all health system executives have: decades of work as a physician. 

Dr. Kupferman began practicing medicine in 1999, and is a trained head and neck surgeon. In his new role, he works with clinical colleagues one to two days monthly while maintaining his CEO responsibilities. 

“It keeps me grounded being able to be part of day-to-day patient care,” Dr. Kupferman told Becker’s. “It’s what I’ve always loved to do. It’s why I became a physician. Even though I don’t get to spend as much time with patients directly, I feel like my role is to empower our caregivers to do their best work so that they can provide exceptional patient care.”

Dr. Kupferman also splits his time across Penn State Health’s hospitals and clinics each week, meeting with colleagues, patients and their families. It’s through these interactions that he is able to more deeply understand any pain points at the system and address them accordingly. 

“The best ideas come from the front lines, [they don’t] come from the C-suite,” he said. “The best initiatives, the most foundational ideas really come from our physicians, our nurses and our team members. They’re the ones who we engage with in this process.”

Along with creating a strong front-line presence with employees, Dr. Kupferman is also leading Penn State Health through an Epic integration to improve clinician and patient experience.

The six-hospital system began implementation of the new EHR in June, and plans to go live with it in the fourth quarter of 2026. 

“Everything’s going quite well,” Dr. Kupferman said. “We are making the hard decisions around systemness, and that’s what the Epic implementation entails. Bringing the broad array of stakeholders together to align around how, for example, our laboratories are going to run, how our imaging centers are going to run, how we’re going to manage our operating rooms and what that patient experience looks like when they check in at the front door.”

Penn State Health is also working to integrate its academic and community physicians into a single unified medical group, further cementing its identity as the only integrated academic health system in the region.

“We cover the entire waterfront,” he said. “The integrated medical group creating systemness is going to enhance that exceptional patient experience, that exceptional patient access that we continue to promise and deliver in this region.”

The post ‘The best ideas come from the front lines’: Why Penn State Health’s CEO still practices medicine appeared first on Becker’s Hospital Review | Healthcare News & Analysis.

As funds begin flowing to states through the five-year, $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program, hospital leaders are confronting a central question: Will the initiative meaningfully stabilize struggling providers — or will it fall short of offsetting an estimated $137 billion in Medicaid cuts to rural communities over the next decade?

The program, enacted in July as part of HR1, is designed to support broader health system transformation in rural areas. But its structure — including limits on direct patient-care payments and significant state discretion — has raised uncertainty about how much the program will ultimately benefit rural hospitals. 

Here are three major questions surrounding the program: 

1. How much will rural hospitals actually receive? 

Unlike previous federal relief programs, this one does not provide direct payments to rural hospitals. Instead, states applied for and are managing the funds. States are not legally required to allocate money to rural hospitals specifically.

CMS stipulates that direct payments to hospitals and other providers for patient care cannot exceed 15% of total funds, though providers could benefit through other means, such as infrastructure investments (capped at 20%). 

State applications varied in detail, but common themes emerged, such as workforce development, telehealth, partnerships and network development, interoperability, and preventive measures promoting healthier lifestyles, according to Chartis. 

KFF said in a January report that it is unclear how much of the money will benefit rural hospitals either directly or indirectly and the extent to which this will offset hospitals’ losses under the reconciliation bill.

Damond Boatwright, CEO of Springfield, Ill.-based Hospital Sisters Health System, sees the program as a significant opportunity to reverse the long decline of rural healthcare, but the majority of the funds must flow directly to rural providers and not be diverted toward nonclinical or private equity and venture capital-backed enterprises. 

“The majority of RHT funds must reach rural providers who deliver care, sustain access and anchor their communities,” Mr. Boatwright recently wrote for Becker’s. “Strengthening rural hospitals, clinics and caregivers — while simultaneously investing in workforce development, broadband, economic revitalization, transportation and social determinants — creates a resilient ecosystem where rural Americans can thrive.”

The sentiment is shared by Texas Hospital Association President and CEO John Hawkins. 

“The proof will be in the details,” he said in a statement shared with Becker’s. “The dollars need to be focused on hospitals, which took the brunt of the Medicaid cuts. They need to come quickly without unnecessary administrative hurdles. They need to be self-sustaining, flexible and not create new burdens.”

2. What will future funding rounds look like? 

When CMS announced the first-year funding amounts in December, variation in funding per-state was relatively narrow. Texas received the most first-year funding with $281.3 million and New Jersey received the least with $147.3 million. 

Half of the program’s funds are being distributed equally to each state, meaning that $100 million is allocated from 2026 through 2030 to all 50 states. The other half involves a formula that factors in a state’s rural score — which considers rural population, number of facilities, land area and the share of hospitals receiving disproportionate share hospital payments — as well as technical scoring for project proposals, KFF News reported Jan. 14. 

Texas’ first-year funding includes $105.1 million in rural funding and $76.2 million in technical funding, according to KFF News’ analysis of data from the University of North Carolina’s Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research. New Jersey’s rural funding was $22.8 million and its technical funding was $24.5 million.   

Mark Holmes, director of the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research, told KFF News that the technical score is a crucial consideration because those funds can be redistributed and potentially clawed back in future years.  

“We can be fairly certain that every state will get at least a slightly, if not a vastly, different amount next year based on this re-pooling and reallocation piece,” Mr. Holmes told the news outlet. 

3. Can struggling rural hospitals keep their doors open? 

Forty-one percent of rural hospitals are operating at a loss and 417 are vulnerable to closure, according to a Feb. 10 report from Chartis. 

Chartis said that while state initiatives have the opportunity to positively affect healthcare in rural communities, the program may be too late to prevent more hospitals from closing their doors or removing service lines. Since 2010, there have been 206 rural hospitals that have either closed or converted to models that exclude inpatient care, such as the Rural Emergency Hospital Model. 

The firm’s analysis found that more than 10 million rural Americans rely on Medicaid. At the median rural hospital, Medicaid represents nearly 10% of total revenue. Chartis said the Medicaid-related cuts outlined “will severely impact cash-strapped rural hospitals.”

“The Medicaid cuts that take effect in 2027 will intensify efforts to stabilize the financial viability of rural hospitals,” Chartis said. “Rural hospitals need to plan for those cuts while using RHT funding at the state level to deliver the maximum benefit from those programs and initiatives to the communities they serve.” 

The post 3 big questions surrounding the Rural Health Transformation Program appeared first on Becker’s Hospital Review | Healthcare News & Analysis.

Healthcare wage growth weakened in the six months leading up to December across most categories analyzed, according to a Feb. 20 research brief from Indeed’s Hiring Lab.

Here are six things to know from the fourth-quarter healthcare labor market update:

1. Wage growth in most healthcare categories — including personal care and home health, dental, childcare and therapy — exceeded the overall labor market average of 2.1% in December, based on year-over-year, three-month average posted wages on Indeed. Medical technician and nursing roles fell below the overall average, at 2% and 1.2%, respectively.

2. All categories in the report saw declining wage growth in the six months leading up to December, except dental, which remained flat. Over that period, wage growth declined by 1.2 percentage points for medical technicians and 0.9 percentage points for nursing roles.

3. In the fourth quarter of 2025, Indeed job posts fluctuated between 2% and 6% above its Feb. 1, 2020, baseline. As of Jan. 23, U.S. job postings were 4.4% above the pre-pandemic baseline and had declined 5.9% from Jan. 23, 2025.

4. As of Jan. 23, 2026, therapy and physicians and surgeons roles were up 88.4% and 84.1%, respectively, from the Feb. 1, 2020, baseline. Year over year, those categories were down 0.5% and 0.9%, respectively.

5. Pharmacy was the only category with increased job postings over the past year, up 4.2%, and postings were 27.6% above the Feb. 1, 2020, baseline. Medical technician roles were down 9.3% year over year and remained 23.7% above the pre-pandemic baseline.

6. Nursing job postings were down 9.8% year over year and were 7.6% above the Feb. 1, 2020, baseline.

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Medical experts believe measles-related hospitalizations in South Carolina are significantly higher than reported, since the state does not require hospitals to report admissions for the virus, ProPublica reported Feb. 20. 

South Carolina is experiencing the nation’s largest measles outbreak since the virus was declared eliminated in 2000. More than 970 cases have been confirmed in the state since late October, the majority of which have occurred among unvaccinated individuals, according to data from the state’s health department.

Hospitals in the state have reported 20 measles-related admissions since the outbreak began in the fall, indicating a 2% hospitalization rate. That is likely a significant undercount, with only a handful of hospitals in regions affected by the outbreak having reported hospitalizations, experts told the news outlet. 

“A hospitalization rate at 2% is ludicrous,” Paul Offit, MD, an infectious disease physician and director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, told ProPublica. “It’s vast underreporting,” he said. “Measles makes you sick.”

Officials with the state health department are urging hospitals to report all measles-related admissions, though cannot force them to do so. The Department of Public Health said it has not added hospitalizations as a reporting requirement for infectious diseases since the primary purpose of public health surveillance is to understand transmission patterns, rather than track complications.

However, physicians say not having an accurate picture of hospitalizations and complications can make the outbreak appear less severe than it is and hinder efforts to clearly communicate the risks to the public, particularly for young children and unvaccinated individuals.

“It’s a very big disservice to the public not reporting complications we are seeing in hospitals or even ERs,” Leigh Bragg, MD, a pediatrician in South Carolina, told ProPublica. 

Three more updates on measles outbreaks in the U.S.:

1. Less than two months into the year, case counts are already nearing 1,000. As of Feb. 19, there have been at least 982 confirmed cases of measles in the U.S., according to the latest CDC data. At the current pace, 2026 could far outpace 2025, when 2,280 cases were reported nationwide for the full year.

2. South Carolina has been the hardest hit, with 632 cases confirmed so far this year, according to CDC data. Overall, 26 states have reported measles cases in 2026. Outbreaks are also growing in Utah, Florida and Arizona.

3. As measles outbreaks expand, more hospitals are grappling with exposure incidents, triggering infection prevention protocols and public health notifications. In recent weeks, facilities in Oregon, North Carolina, the District of Columbia, New Jersey, Utah and South Carolina have been identified by state and local health departments as potential exposure sites.

The post South Carolina measles admissions ‘vastly underreported’: ProPublica — 3 updates appeared first on Becker’s Hospital Review | Healthcare News & Analysis.

Health systems are responding to fragmented behavioral healthcare delivery in different ways: expanding telepsychiatry in rural states, building pediatric health hubs that integrate mental and physical health on one campus, launching behavioral health urgent cares, and investing in navigators and data infrastructure to keep patients connected after discharge.

In West Virginia, the access challenge is especially stark. 

Keri Law, MD, a child and adolescent psychiatrist and vice chair of clinical services at WVU Medicine in Morgantown, W.Va., told Becker’s that 50 of 55 counties are federally designated mental health professional shortage areas. As a result, some families must travel two to four hours for specialty behavioral healthcare — if it is available at all.

Over the last three years, virtual care has become a critical strategy for improving access. 

“In terms of just our volumes, the number of total patient visits that we’re seeing virtually in our clinic, within the department of behavioral medicine and psychiatry, are still lingering a little over 50%,” she said. “And that’s with having about 100,000 patients per year, and with kids they’re a little bit less, but still at around a third of our children are seen virtually.”

Dr. Law said virtual visits have helped improve access, shorten time to first appointment, and strengthen continuity of care, particularly for pediatric patients and those in remote areas. No-show rates are often lower for virtual visits, especially in rural populations, where transportation and weather can be major barriers, she said.

Building shared data networks

At the national level, children’s hospitals are also collaborating to address fragmentation through shared data and infrastructure. 

A behavioral health leadership collaborative within the Children’s Hospital Association has joined forces with a youth suicide prevention initiative to form a network of 30 hospitals focused on the advancement of pediatric behavioral health through data-sharing and evidence-based models, Stacy Drury, MD, PhD, psychiatrist-in-chief at Boston Children’s, told Becker’s. 

Fragmented data is a common challenge in behavioral health. By connecting systems and standardizing processes, hospitals can avoid building programs in silos. 

For example Columbus, Ohio-based Nationwide Children’s operates its own behavioral health transport to more efficiently transfer children from the emergency department to inpatient care. 

“[Nationwide Children’s] had all of the policies and procedures already in place,” Dr. Drury said. “They knew how to make the car, and they built it again at Cincinnati Children’s, so now we have one and there’s another one on the north shore in Boston.’”

EMR integration to bridge physical and mental healthcare

At Cincinnati Children’s, leaders are also working to decrease barriers between physical and mental healthcare through data integration, Laurel Leslie, MD, director of the hospital’s mental and behavioral health institute, told Becker’s.

“We’ve found a way for outpatient mental health providers that are not in [Cincinnati] Children’s to be able to link into our EMR, and then they can track if kids have come into the emergency department, if they’ve been hospitalized,” she said. “We can also see if they have openings available.”

In addition to improving coordination through data, some systems are investing in physical integration. 

Boston Children’s Hospital is developing a $640 million pediatric psychiatric hospital on Franciscan Children’s campus aimed at integrating mental health across pediatric medicine, Stacy Drury, MD, PhD, psychiatrist-in-chief, told Becker’s.

The project will include 116 inpatient beds and a day hospital with 24 slots for partial hospitalization and intensive outpatient programs, as well as a 14-bedroom, community-based acute treatment program. The building will house a dental suite, a surgical suite with four operating rooms and 10 preparatory and post-recovery slots, a pharmacy and an outpatient rehabilitation space.

Patients and their families are able to shift between partial-hospitalization programs and outpatient services or connect with a higher level of care, she said.

“To have that capacity in the same building is huge. Families don’t have to choose between getting their dental care and getting their mental healthcare,” Dr. Drury said. “I think being very intentional about the medical complexity kids with neurodevelopmental disorders really need to be within the same place.”

Providing navigators to support patients after discharge

Health systems are also addressing fragmentation in the transition from acute care to the community. 

Behavioral health and substance use navigators connect patients to aftercare services following discharge from the emergency department — a point at which many patients disengage from care, Itai Danovitch, MD, chair of the department of psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences at Los Angeles-based Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, told Becker’s. 

Navigators help link patients to the resources they need to remain connected to substance use disorder services and their communities. They do not provide psychotherapy. Instead, they serve as nonclinical, peer-based supporters focused on engagement and trust building. 

“It takes time to engage a patient who’s been traumatized, or feels stigmatized or embarrassed and ashamed of some of their behaviors,” Dr. Danovitch said. “These are roles that can help with some of the soft skills that are so important to engaging individuals who have had negative experiences with hospitals in the past.”

Strengthening the health system workforce pipeline

Fragmentation also exists within health system workforces. 

New York City-based NYC Health + Hospitals, the largest provider of behavioral health services in the city, has focused on closing gaps in its behavioral health workforce through a strategic recruitment and retainment plan. With 11 acute care facilities and more than 30 community health centers, fragmentation can happen at both the departmental and system levels. 

When human resources, finance and program leadership are not aligned, initiatives can stall and responsibilities can fall between departments, Omar Fattal, MD, system chief of behavioral health, told Becker’s. Fragmentation can also emerge between individual facilities and system leadership.

To address this, the system brought leaders together around a shared strategic plan, aligning objectives and preparing departments for upcoming changes.

“What we’ve done is really centralized the scaffolding, support and structure, but not the people, in the sense that we definitely standardized data,” Dr. Fattal said. “You cannot do this work without data. You cannot fly this plane completely blind. And you really need to know how many vacancies you have. For every program that we have, you have to keep track of, ‘Is it working? Is it not working?’” 

The system has since adopted a data infrastructure that tracks programs, vacancies and open positions to better support retention and workforce planning. 

Another strategy to reduce fragmentation is diverting appropriate patients away from the emergency department. 

St. Louis-based SSM Health has adopted a behavioral health urgent care separate from the emergency department. The facility is staffed by psychiatric nurse practitioners, nurses and social workers, and provides care for patients who have run out of medication or could not secure a timely psychiatrist appointment, Becky Dvorak, MSN, RN, regional vice president of behavioral health, told Becker’s.

“Getting into a psychiatrist could take months,” she said. “This helps meet the need early on instead of waiting four months and turning it into a crisis that ends up in the hospital.”

The system is working to ensure EMS providers are comfortable transporting patients directly to the urgent care rather than the emergency department. Through county grants, EMS providers can be reimbursed for transporting certain patients to urgent care, helping support the shift in care pathways. 

The post How health systems are tackling behavioral health fragmentation appeared first on Becker’s Hospital Review | Healthcare News & Analysis.

The largest nurses strike in New York City has ended after 41 days, with the final group of striking nurses voting to ratify a contract with NewYork-Presbyterian.

The final group of nurses voted Feb. 21 to ratify a new three-year contract and began returning to work Feb. 23, according to a news release from the New York State Nurses Association. The group of approximately 4,200 nurses reached a tentative agreement Feb. 19.

“We are pleased to share that we have a new ratified contract with the New York State Nurses Association and look forward to our nurses’ return to the hospital,” a NewYork-Presbyterian spokesperson said in a Feb. 21 statement shared with Becker’s. “The new contract reflects our respect for our nurses and the critical role they play as part of our exceptional care teams.”

Approximately 15,000 nurses went on strike Jan. 12 at Montefiore Health System, Mount Sinai Health System and NewYork-Presbyterian. Nurses at Montefiore and Mount Sinai reached tentative agreements Feb. 9 and ratified them Feb. 11.

The ratified contracts feature salary increases of more than 12% over the three-year deals, improved safe staffing standards, protections to healthcare benefits and safeguards against artificial intelligence. They also include protections from workplace violence and protections for immigrant patients and nurses, the release said.

“We are so happy with the wins we achieved, and now the fight to enforce these contracts and hold our employers accountable begins,” NYSNA President Nancy Hagans, BSN, RN, said in the news release. “NYSNA nurses showed what it means to advocate for patients, and this moment will go down in history as a win for our communities, in the fight for healthcare justice, and for the labor movement.”

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Challenges such as emerging technology, government regulations, workforce shortages and increasing labor costs have driven a number of health system strategic leaders to pivot their approach for 2026.

Faced with these challenges, leaders are creating new ways to empower frontline staff and upgrade patient care while trying to increase system efficiency and profit margins.

Becker’s asked six health system strategic leaders about the leadership lessons that shaped their operational approach for this year.

If you are a COO or strategic leader in healthcare and are interested in joining Becker’s Healthcare COO + Strategic Leader virtual community, please contact Scott King at sking@beckershealthcare.com. 

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

Question: What leadership lesson has shaped your operational approach for 2026? 

Bryan Croft. Executive Vice President and COO, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center (Los Angeles): Given the operational challenges facing healthcare, I would advise leaders to get out of your office and walk the halls. See and talk to patients. See and talk to your people, your caregivers and get to know what motivates them to come in and deliver care, and help your institution put its best foot forward. I think you will find it not only rewarding but it will help ground you in the sacred mission of helping people navigate some of the most trying times of their lives.

Brian Evans. CEO, Optim Health System (Savannah, Ga.): “Control what you can control.” It’s advice I’ve heard time and time again. But with shifting payer mixes and the rising costs of labor and supplies, margin goals are increasingly difficult to reach. In 2026, my focus is sharp: I am prioritizing the variables within my scope to cut costs, maximize efficiency and aggressively drive revenue.

Dawn Thompson. Chief Strategy Officer, Advanced Diagnostics Healthcare System (Houston): Healthcare operations improve when leaders design systems that make the right thing the easy thing to do. Operations must be designed around systems — not individual heroics.

Doug McGill. Vice President of Quality Strategy and Operations, Emory Healthcare (Atlanta): One leadership lesson stands out most for me: strategy only creates value when it shows up reliably at the frontline of care. Emory Healthcare’s new tagline, “The frontline of care. The forefront of discovery,” captures that tension well. Discovery and strategy matter, but they only make a difference when they are translated into consistent, executable practice.

That belief has shaped my operational approach for 2026. Advisory influence alone isn’t sufficient. The work has to be embedded through clear standards, empowered accountability and dependable data so that high performance is designed into everyday operations, not reliant on extraordinary effort to overcome system gaps. That’s how we’ll lead well and transform care delivery – by making excellence reliable at the frontline.

Matthew Timmons. COO, LCMC Health (New Orleans): As our senior leadership team was developing goals and priorities for 2026, a clear theme arose from our discussions: meaningful and intentional prioritization. As we have now moved into the first part of the year, our approach is being driven by a clear, narrowed focus on a smaller number of priorities. Instead of spreading out our effort across a laundry list of organizational needs, we have prioritized our initiatives around patient care, patient and team experience, and long-term access and growth. We are confident this approach will enable us to align our actions and energy, which will ensure we achieve extremely successful and sustainable results.  

Kelli Novant. Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer, Novant Health (Winston-Salem, N.C.): My operational approach for 2026 is fundamentally shaped by the understanding that how I engage my team matters as much as the decisions I make. I’m focused on fostering collaborative, candid conversations that build trust and encourage thoughtful dialogue. By modeling openness and inviting feedback, I help create a culture that brings forward multiple perspectives, leading to more well‑rounded recommendations and decisions. Building and maintaining trust – both within my team and across the organization – is essential because investing in people and relationships leads to stronger decision‑making and more sustainable long‑term outcomes.

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The hardest work ahead for CFOs isn’t finding opportunities for growth. It’s narrowing them.

In a recent conversation with “Becker’s Healthcare Podcast,” Sophia Holder, executive vice president and CFO of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, described the next phase of leadership as one defined by discipline and discomfort.

“Our hardest work ahead is continuing to make disciplined and really sometimes uncomfortable decisions while staying grounded and anchored in our mission,” she said. “That includes likely saying no to investments that do not clearly advance access, quality and sustainability, and pushing ourselves to rethink legacy structures and our ways of working.”

Many finance leaders are confronting a similar balance between team performance in the near-term and long-term capability building. Headwinds including labor shortages, increasing costs and reimbursement pressure are making a huge impact on hospitals’ bottom lines, while the dearth of technology and AI-driven platforms can easily become expensive solutions in search of a problem.

“We are in an increasingly complex healthcare landscape. How do we grow and innovate in a sustainable way?” Ms. Holder said. “For us, this means having more honest conversations, making really clear choices, really tuning into our prioritization framework and aligning our resources with what matters most for children and families. The result was not only to improve financial performance, which I was really grateful for as CFO, but create stronger organizational alignment and a clear connection between the financial decisions and patient impact.”

Hospital C-suite executives are accountable for balancing near term performance with long-term capacity building. Given the uncertainties in healthcare today, many are taking a more conservative approach and forgoing investments they may have made in the past, even if those investments have marginal returns.

“We are focused on sustaining financial performance in an environment of continued labor pressures, reimbursement dynamics and ongoing volatility in volumes,” she said. “At the same time, we are prioritizing long term capability building.”

That includes workforce optimization, revenue cycle resilience and capital discipline. It also means the leadership team is zeroing on responsible deployment of automation and AI to reduce administrative burden and improve data-driven decision-making.

“The challenge is balancing near term performance with these longer term investments so that we do not compromise access, do not compromise growth in our longer strategic objectives, or we do not compromise innovation for children and families,” she said.

CHOP’s leadership team has a strong growth mindset and sees the best opportunities at the intersection of mission and discipline, Ms. Holder said. In the coming year, the organization plans to expand access through ambulatory and virtual models, strengthen partnerships regionally, nationally and internationally, and add services that will differentiate outcomes for patients.

Internally, growth means adding capabilities and developing leaders.

“We are focused on modernizing our operating models, and as the CFO, we are also focused on embedding this notion of financial stewardship into everyday decision making,” said Ms. Holder. “It’s not a one-off; it’s ingrained in our culture. When we do that well, growth becomes sustainable, not just bigger. We’re not just bigger, but stronger. This is an exciting time for us at CHOP, ripe with opportunities despite the changes that are surrounding the entire healthcare landscape.”

The post The ‘uncomfortable decisions’ ahead for hospital CFOs appeared first on Becker’s Hospital Review | Healthcare News & Analysis.

Medicare Advantage now covers about 55% of eligible beneficiaries nationwide — more than 35 million people — but health systems are confronting a question that until recently felt almost taboo: What happens when participation in the country’s fastest-growing Medicare program no longer makes financial sense?

Over the past three years, Becker’s has reported on roughly 90 hospitals and health systems that have terminated some or all of their commercial Medicare Advantage contracts. In 2026 alone, at least 15 systems have gone out of network with one or more Medicare Advantage plans, and the trend is showing no signs of slowing down. 

This year, 1 in 10 Medicare Advantage enrollees — about 2.9 million people — will be forced to disenroll from their plan following a spike in plans exiting the market, according to a Feb. 18 study published in JAMA.

Behind many of those decisions lies what Scripps Health CFO Brett Tande describes as a classic “sunk-cost” dilemma: after years of building infrastructure, staffing and strategy around Medicare Advantage, can systems realistically walk away — even when contracts are losing money?

For a growing number of health systems, the answer is becoming clearer.

Becker’s connected with executives from Providence, Scripps Health, Ascension, MemorialCare and Mayo Clinic to understand how they are reassessing their participation in Medicare Advantage and what that shift could mean for providers, payers and patients.

When the math no longer works

San Diego-based Scripps Health made headlines Jan. 1, 2024, when it exited nearly all of its commercial Medicare Advantage contracts, affecting roughly 32,000 beneficiaries across five health plans.

“It was a tough decision to make,” Scripps President and CEO Chris Van Gorder told Becker’s. “But we were losing about $75 million a year on those contracts, and the payers weren’t willing to negotiate the changes we needed — not just higher reimbursement, but addressing prior authorization issues and paying us what they were contractually obligated to pay.”

More than two years later, executives say the decision paid off.

Since exiting Medicare Advantage, Scripps has not reported a quarterly loss, according to Mr. Tande. Ratings agencies that downgraded Scripps in late 2023 have since signaled potential upgrades. While there was some ambulatory volume softness, inpatient volumes largely held steady. Many patients ultimately switched back to traditional Medicare with a supplemental plan to maintain access.

“A lot of things have changed since then,” Mr. Tande said. “But that’s an important data point.”

Scripps’ experience challenges a core assumption underpinning many systems’ Medicare Advantage strategies: that exiting contracts will trigger catastrophic volume loss. For systems with strong market positions, that risk may be less severe than feared.

But not every organization has Scripps’ leverage.

“For the average hospital, that’s a much scarier proposition,” Mr. Tande said. “But I still think you’re going to see more systems exit, because continuing to absorb losses isn’t sustainable. At some point, the decision has to change.”

The structural flaw providers underestimated

Beyond individual contract disputes, some leaders argue that Medicare Advantage has a structural flaw that providers have long underestimated.

“Insurance is actually a low-margin business,” Mr. Tande said, citing public filings from national payers. “Medicare Advantage insurance is, at best, a 2% to 3% margin business — and that’s when you run it with prior auth and other practices many of us find caustic.”

The more profitable segments for diversified insurers often lie in adjacent businesses — pharmacy benefit management, physician services or analytics subsidiaries — rather than in the Medicare Advantage insurance product itself.

Health systems, by contrast, lack the national scale and diversified revenue streams to subsidize thin Medicare Advantage margins, according to Mr. Tande. 

“One of the reasons health systems got into MA was to gain market share,” he said. “But you can’t make money on traditional Medicare, and you certainly can’t make money on Medicare Advantage, which ultimately pays less. Yet systems have built very expensive infrastructure around MA and are afraid that if they exit, volume will go elsewhere.”

That dynamic — heavy upfront investment combined with fear of losing patients — creates what he calls a “sunk-cost fallacy.”

“Organizations have positioned themselves so they feel they have to keep hospitals full — and they’re doing it with MA payers that are terrible,” he said. “They’re stuck between two bad decisions.”

Providence CEO calls for a Medicare Advantage ‘reset’

Renton, Wash.-based Providence has not exited Medicare Advantage wholesale, but it has taken a firmer stance in negotiations. Last month, Providence Clinical Network — which includes 15 hospitals in California — went out of network with UnitedHealthcare MA.

Erik Wexler, president and CEO of Providence, called for a broader “reset” of the program in a January interview with Becker’s.  

“If we are not seeing fair performance in how we are paid for the care we provide — and if denials and delays are not within a reasonable sphere of performance — then we are not going to continue working with that commercial payer,” Mr. Wexler said. “It’s time for us to reset the way the program works.”

Providence’s internal data highlights the pressure. 

Compared to traditional Medicare, Medicare Advantage plans are 70% more likely to deny claims due to incomplete medical records and twice as likely to deny based on medical necessity, according to Mr. Wexler. Requests for additional documentation are 7.5 times higher, and the system has seen a 73% increase in payment denials and underpayments.

“Even before H.R. 1 came to life, the deterioration in commercial payer performance on Medicare Advantage was substantial,” he said.

Providence leaders argue that this level of friction diverts resources from patient care and imposes hundreds of millions of dollars in administrative burden. Mr. Wexler has called for stronger federal oversight, including support for the Medicare Advantage Prompt Pay Act, which would require MA plans to pay most clean claims within defined timeframes.

Mayo Clinic’s selective strategy

Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic has also adopted a more selective approach. In January, it ended contracts with most Humana and UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage plans.

“There’s been a significant amount of peer and network disruption in the Medicare Advantage space, and Mayo Clinic is taking a fairly aggressive approach,” CFO Dennis Dahlen said Nov. 5 during a fireside chat at Becker’s CEO+CFO Roundtable. 

Mayo’s strategy is not an outright rejection of Medicare Advantage, but a recalibration.

“We’re being very selective about which Medicare Advantage plans we contract with,” Mr. Dahlen said. “But for those that we’re not in network with, patients likely won’t be able to get an appointment unless it’s clinically significant or we can make an exception.”

For every network decision, Mayo has built in clinical safety nets to preserve continuity for patients undergoing active treatment. But Mr. Dahlen warned that the current trajectory — marked by annual network disruptions and contract terminations — is unsustainable.

“Seniorhood is when we need healthcare the most,” he said. “That should be the last point in life where you’re at risk of losing network access.”

Ascension taking a closer look at Medicare Advantage

St. Louis-based Ascension, a 90-hospital system, is also scrutinizing Medicare Advantage more closely.

Eduardo Conrado, president and CEO, believes the program has drifted far from its original purpose.

“Congress created Medicare Advantage to deliver better benefits, broader coverage and lower costs for seniors,” Mr. Conrado told Becker’s. “Too often, that is not what patients experience.”

Like Providence, Ascension’s data show Medicare Advantage plans are 70% more likely than traditional Medicare to deny claims due to incomplete medical records and twice as likely to deny based on medical necessity. Most denials are eventually overturned, but only after time-consuming appeals.

“That process creates unnecessary stress for patients and delays in care,” Mr. Conrado said. “It also pulls doctors and nurses away from patient care and into administrative back and forth with insurers.”

Ascension has gone out of network in certain markets before returning to the table under revised terms. For example, Ascension Wisconsin recently went out of network with UnitedHealthcare before reaching a new deal in October

As contracts come up for renewal, Mr. Conrado said the health system is prepared to hold firm on expectations around timely payment, reduced administrative burden and patient access.

“We will focus on payers willing to work with us to support sustainable care for Ascension’s patients enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans,” he said. 

What Medicare Advantage breakups mean for patient care

As more systems exit or narrow participation in the program, the implications for patients are becoming more visible.

For relatively healthy seniors, Medicare Advantage can offer lower premiums and additional benefits. But when patients develop complex or high-acuity conditions, narrow networks and prior authorization requirements can become barriers.

When Scripps exited Medicare Advantage, some patients expressed frustration. Others switched coverage to maintain access.

However, moving back to traditional Medicare is not always simple. 

Barry Arbuckle, PhD, president and CEO of Fountain Valley, Calif.-based MemorialCare Health System, told Becker’s seniors who attempt to buy Medigap coverage after leaving Medicare Advantage may face medical underwriting, higher premiums or denial altogether — particularly if they have multiple chronic conditions.

For providers, the risk is that escalating contract disputes create instability at the very moment seniors need predictable access to care.

“If the end of the food chain isn’t compensated appropriately, providers will either close or exit those contracts — and the cycle will start all over again,” Mr. Van Gorder said.

That cycle could leave patients caught between network disruptions and rising out-of-pocket costs.

A tipping point?

Medicare Advantage is unlikely to disappear. Enrollment continues to grow — though at a slower rate — and bipartisan political support remains strong.

But the economics for providers are under strain.

Hospitals are facing what Providence leaders have dubbed a “polycrisis“: rising labor costs, inflation in supplies and equipment, looming Medicaid cuts and reimbursement pressures from traditional Medicare and commercial payers.

In that context, absorbing consistent Medicare Advantage losses becomes harder to justify, no matter how much infrastructure has already been built.

“The misguided belief among health systems is that you can make money providing Medicare Advantage as insurance,” Mr. Tande said, adding that neither the data nor Scripps’ experience supports that conclusion.

For many systems, the question is no longer whether Medicare Advantage is philosophically aligned with value-based care. It is whether the financial model — as currently structured — works.

If it does not, more providers may confront the same “sunk-cost” dilemma Scripps faced in 2024: stay in a system that erodes margins, or take the short-term pain of exit in pursuit of long-term stability.

As Mr. Dahlen put it, the current trajectory is unsustainable. 

“While I don’t know exactly how this will play out, the current path — where there’s massive annual disruption around network participation, plan exits and coverage drivers — is one that can continue,” he said.

Whether through federal reform, payer recalibration or providers stepping back, something will have to give.

The post Medicare Advantage’s ‘sunk-cost’ problem appeared first on Becker’s Hospital Review | Healthcare News & Analysis.

After exiting the World Health Organization in January, the Trump administration is proposing to spend $2 billion annually on a U.S.-run replacement, The Washington Post reported Feb. 19.

The effort would replicate systems provided by the WHO, including laboratories, rapid-response systems and data-sharing networks, three administration officials briefed on the proposal told the Post.

“HHS is working with the White House in a deliberative, interagency process on the path forward for global health and foreign assistance that first and foremost protects Americans,” HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon said in a statement shared with Becker’s on Feb. 19. HHS did not confirm the proposal.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January 2025 to withdraw the U.S. from the WHO effective Jan. 22, 2026, citing the global agency’s “mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic” and other global health crises. However, the administration has not met one exit requirement: paying outstanding dues. The U.S. does not plan to pay the $278 million it owes for the 2024-25 period, NPR reported Jan. 20.

The alternative under consideration would cost about three times what the U.S. paid to the WHO annually, according to the Post. 

“This $2 billion in funding to HHS is to build the systems and capacities to do what the WHO did for us,” one official told the newspaper.

Public health experts said the replacement likely would not match the WHO’s reach. The global agency provides access not offered to the U.S., such as to China and Russia, which do not typically share health information directly with the U.S., Atul Gawande, MD, the assistant administrator for global health for the U.S. Agency for International Development from 2022 to 2025, told the Post.

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The American Hospital Association is suggesting that hospitals and health systems consider deploying “zero trust” architecture to improve their cybersecurity.

The National Security Agency recently released implementation guidelines for zero trust, a strategy that assumes no users or devices are safe and they must always be verified, according to a Feb. 19 AHA news release. The strategy, however, is expensive and may be cost-prohibitive to some organizations.

“With cybersecurity threats and attacks continuing to target the healthcare sector, adopting zero trust can help hospitals and health systems further reduce their cyber risk through a structured process,” stated Scott Gee, AHA deputy national advisor for cybersecurity and risk. “The NSA guidance is very detailed, and, while not tailored to healthcare, the process can be adapted to meet the needs of hospitals and health systems.”

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Jason Caron, MD, has stepped into his role as president and CEO of Sanford Health in Bemidji (Minn.).

“After more than 20 years in this hospital, one thing remains clear: rural health care works best when the community and the hospital support each other,” he wrote in a Feb. 13 LinkedIn post. 

Dr. Caron joined Sanford Bemidji Medical Center as a physician in 2004 and became CEO in January, according to his LinkedIn profile.

He succeeded Karla Eischens, who retired at the end of 2025 after 21 years with Sioux Falls, S.D.-based Sanford Health, including serving as CEO since 2022, according to a July 28 health system news release. Under her leadership, Sanford Bemidji expanded access to behavioral health with the region’s first crisis center and expanded its heart and vascular center.

The post Sanford Health regional CEO takes helm appeared first on Becker’s Hospital Review | Healthcare News & Analysis.

New York City-based NYC Health + Hospitals/Jacobi | North Central Bronx unveiled a new $2 million MRI suite at its North Central Bronx campus.

The upgrade includes renovated rooms and new MRI machines, which the system said offer faster scan times and clearer, more distinct images to improve diagnostic capabilities and reduce patient wait times, according to a Feb. 19 news release. The machines also feature video projection to provide a calming virtual experience and technology designed to reduce scanner noise.

Leaders said in the release that the new MRI system is part of the hospital’s effort to enhance imaging services and improve productivity and imaging quality.

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Walgreens is laying off hundreds of employees in two states as its new private equity owner looks to cut costs, Bloomberg reported Feb. 19.

The company is eliminating 469 jobs in Illinois, where it is based, and plans to cut another 159 positions in Texas, where it is closing a distribution center. The figures were disclosed in letters sent to the states earlier in February, the report said.

Walgreens was acquired in August by Sycamore Partners after years of declining profitability. In a letter to the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, a Walgreens representative said the company is reorganizing areas of the business “to best position the company for growth and deliver results where they matter most: in our stores and with our customers and patients.”

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The Lown Institute Hospitals Index named the top 10 hospitals for cost efficiency.

The institute used clinical outcomes and cost Medicare fee-for-service claims for patients hospitalized from 2020 to 2022. The cost efficiency metric includes sub-metrics for 30- and 90-day cost efficiency, and measures risk-standardized hospital mortality rates against cost of care for Medicare patients. Hospitals with the lowest mortality and costs received the best scores in cost efficiency. Patients who were transferred, had COVID-19 or whose primary payer was not Medicare were excluded. Read the full methodology here.

The average mortality rate for all acute care hospitals was 9.5% and the average payment amount was about $17,500, according to a Feb. 19 institute news release. 

The top 10 acute care hospitals had average risk-adjusted 30-day mortality rates under 7% and payments under $16,000. The lowest average mortality rate was 4.88%, and the lowest average payment was $11,366; these measures were not from the same hospital.

Here are the top 10 acute hospitals for cost efficiency.

1. Davie Medical Center (Bermuda Run, N.C.)
2. Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest (Ill.) Hospital 
3. Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital (Boston)
4. Northwestern Memorial Hospital (Chicago)
5. Kuakini Medical Center (Honolulu) 
6. Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital (Creve Coeur, Mo.)
7. UC Health Highlands Ranch (Colo.) Hospital 
8. Houston Methodist Hospital
9. MultiCare Covington (Wash.) Medical Center
10. Alta View Hospital (Sandy, Utah)

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NYC Health + Hospitals has appointed Svetlana Lipyanskaya as the next CEO of Maimonides Health, pending formal approval of the partnership between the two New York City-based health systems.

Ms. Lipyanskaya has served as CEO of NYC Health + Hospitals/South Brooklyn Health since 2020 and is part of the leadership team overseeing the integration of the two systems, according to a Feb. 19 NYC Health + Hospitals news release.

Manjinder Kaur, DNP, RN, would become CEO at South Brooklyn Health. She has served as the hospital’s COO since June 2024 and has been with NYC Health + Hospitals since 2006.

Maimonides Health and NYC Health + Hospitals are finalizing terms of a partnership supported by $2.2 billion over five years from New York state to protect safety-net healthcare in Brooklyn. Under the partnership, Maimonides would bring its three hospitals and more than 80 care sites under the public health system.

Ken Gibbs has served as president and CEO of Maimonides Health since 2022 and previously led Maimonides Medical Center since 2016. He has collaborated with Ms. Lipyanskaya on the partnership and leadership transition, he said in the release.

“It is a privilege to welcome Svetlana to the Maimonides family,” Mr. Gibbs said. “… I have known her for years and, most recently, we have been working together to bring Maimonides into NYC Health + Hospitals and lay the foundation for a successful transition and launch to further serve our communities and support the outstanding Maimonides team.”

During her tenure at South Brooklyn Health, Ms. Lipyanskaya oversaw the opening of a $923 million inpatient care facility in 2023 and led efforts that improved South Brooklyn Health’s The Leapfrog Group grade from a “D” to a “B.” 

NYC Health + Hospitals operates 11 hospitals and employs more than 46,000 people.

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Members of the California Nurses Association have called off their one-day strike planned for Feb. 19 after reaching a tentative labor contract with AHMC Seton Medical Center in Daly City, Calif.

The union — which represents about 300 nurses at the hospital, according to a Feb. 18 CNA news release — said the agreement addresses the issues nurses were set to strike over, namely safe staffing, and recruitment and retention.

“The nurses made it clear what needs to be done in order for us to provide optimal care for our patients and our community,” Michelle Kubota, RN, said in the release. “We are encouraged that our solidarity resulted in a tentative agreement. We will now put this tentative agreement to a vote.”

Becker’s has reached out to Seton and will update this story if a comment is received.

Contract talks began in January 2025. Nurses voted to authorize a strike in December.

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Shelly Schorer, California CFO at Chicago-based CommonSpirit Health, has accepted a role as the system’s South region CFO, effective March 1, according to a Feb. 19 LinkedIn post.

CommonSpirit South Region comprises 42 acute care, specialty and critical access hospitals and spans across Arkansas, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, North Georgia and Texas. It has ambulatory surgery centers, imaging centers urgent care sites and cancer centers with more than 31,000 employees, Ms. Schorer said in the post.

“My time in California for the last 9 years has been so wonderful and I have grown and learned so many things and had so many wonderful experiences and built a great team,” She said. “I am excited for the new challenges ahead and will miss my colleagues and friends in California.”

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Nearly 90% of healthcare organizations say they must modernize operations to keep pace with mounting clinical, regulatory and financial pressures, according to a new survey of healthcare technology leaders.

The 2026 Leadership Pulse Survey from the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives, conducted by RLDatix, found broad concern that fragmented technology systems and disconnected data environments are hindering organizational performance and, in some cases, creating patient safety risks.

Here are six key findings from the survey:

1. Respondents signaled that modernization is no longer optional. Nearly 90% said their operations must evolve to address rising complexity, and 80% identified interoperability as a baseline expectation for coordinated execution.
2. The survey also highlighted operational strain caused by what many leaders describe as tool sprawl. Seventy-six percent of respondents reported that managing too many point solutions makes operations more difficult. Some organizations said they operate more than 100 tools across the enterprise, including 10 to 20 systems dedicated to safety, compliance, provider management and patient experience.
3. More than three-quarters of respondents said working across multiple tools is central to their challenges. When issues stall during handoffs between systems and teams, they remain unresolved longer, increasing risk across safety, compliance, provider management and patient experience functions.
4. Interoperability is increasingly shaping technology decisions. Eighty percent of respondents said it is a top priority, and 74% said integration with existing systems, including the electronic health record, is a key factor in selecting future platforms. Leaders also are evaluating whether data can remain standardized and accessible during system transitions or downtime.
5. Financial pressures are influencing modernization strategies as well. Eighty-five percent of respondents cited budget constraints as the leading barrier to change. At the same time, 70% said reducing total cost of ownership is a key consideration in platform selection, and 31% said they are actively exploring vendor consolidation.
6. Rather than adding more systems, leaders are focusing on simplifying their environments by reducing coordination burden, retiring legacy platforms without losing historical records and strengthening accountability across workflows.

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San Diego-based Scripps Health recorded an operating income of $52.2 million (4.1% operating margin) in the first quarter of fiscal 2026, down from an operating income of $67.3 million (5.5% margin) during the same period last year. 

Scripps reported total operating revenue of $1.3 billion for the three months ended Dec. 31, up from $1.2 billion during the same period last year. Patient service revenue was $1.1 billion, up from $1 billion. Scripps did not record California Provider Fee income in the first quarter due to the delay in program approval for calendar years 2025 and 2026. The system reported $42.8 million in provider fee revenue during the first quarter last year. 

Total operating expenses were $1.22 billion, up from $1.16 billion during the same quarter last year. Wages and benefits totaled $522.5 million, up from $492.5 million, primarily driven by staffing increases. Supply expenses were $244.1 million, up from $215.1 million. Scripps did not record a provider fee expense in the first quarter of 2026 due to the delay in program approval, but recorded an expense of $35.9 million during the first quarter last year. 

Scripps had 420 days cash on hand as of Dec. 31, up from 418 on Sept. 30. 

The system reported a net income of $118.3 million in the first quarter of 2026, up from $4.8 million last year. 

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McLaren Central Michigan in Mount Pleasant has named Kelly DeBolt, BSN, RN, chief nursing officer.

Ms. DeBolt will lead a team of more than 100 nurses at the hospital, according to a news release shared with Becker’s Feb. 19. She joins Grand Blanc, Mich.-based McLaren Health Care from Select Specialty Hospital in Saginaw, Mich., where she spent the past four years as CEO. 

Ms. DeBolt’s career in healthcare began more than 20 years ago as a bedside nurse. She has since served in leadership roles ranging from clinical support to risk management and operations. 

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Krista Curell, RN, was appointed president of the University of Chicago Medical Center, effective late 2025.

Ms. Curell will continue serving in her prior roles as president of UChicago Medicine Crown Point (Ind.) and executive vice president and system COO at UChicago Medicine, according to a Feb. 19 health system news release.

In her new role, she will also lead day-to-day operations and strategy for the academic medical center and oversee more than 14,000 employees and 2,400 clinicians across the health system’s hospitals, clinics and physician practices in Chicago, its suburbs and Northwest Indiana. She will continue reporting to Tom Jackiewicz, president of UChicago Medicine, who previously held the Medical Center president title in addition to leading the health system.

Ms. Curell also oversees several major initiatives, including a 575,000-square-foot cancer pavilion slated to open in 2027, a forthcoming clinical laboratory and education center in Washington Park in partnership with City Colleges of Chicago, and UChicago Medicine Crown Point, the release said.

She was appointed executive vice president and system COO in 2023. Before that, she served as executive vice president and chief integration and transformation officer beginning in March 2021.

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Recently, payers and providers have been engaging in a slew of transparency campaigns, with some aiming to “expose” pricing and denial concerns.

For example, Hospital Watch has come to the forefront, shifting blame to hospitals.

“Hospital Watch is a watchdog group dedicated to shining a light on corporate hospitals as the top culprit in driving up U.S. healthcare costs — exposing corporate hospitals’ monopolistic practices in price gouging patients with excessive markups and hidden fees with no transparency while forcing patients and employers to pay more for their care,” the group’s website says.

While Hospital Watch said its focus is corporate hospitals, a map showing payment incidents across the U.S. also features nonprofits and academic medical centers. Better Solutions for Healthcare — which includes the BCBS Association and AHIP as members — oversees the project, and former congressional staffer Adam Buckalew advises.

BCBS Vermont was behind the Vermont Affordable Care campaign, consisting of a website and local ads. The initiative focuses on comparing pricing at academic medical centers and independent facilities. A spokesperson for BCBS of Vermont previously said the effort aims “to educate.”

Insurers are not the only ones launching such campaigns. The Indiana Hospital Association’s Access Denied initiative focuses on care denials and intends “to expose abusive insurer practices.” IHA President Scott Tittle advocated for legislative reform, pointing to a state bill that would prevent imposing penalties on facilities using out-of-network providers, as well as another that would restrict downcoding, block retroactive payment rate reductions and limit clawbacks.

Despite IHA’s efforts, Elevance Health — one of the campaign’s main targets — said it is engaging in “collaborative work with providers” to lower costs.

In an interview with Becker’s, BCBS Vermont President and CEO Beth Roberts said she admires her team’s consumer awareness work, which predates her appointment. While Lebanon, N.H.-based Dartmouth Health told Becker’s it did not know about the campaign at the time, Ms. Roberts said she has been in affordability talks with University of Vermont Health CEO Stephen Leffler, MD. The campaign claimed UVM Medical Center was the most expensive listed facility as of Oct. 1, followed by Dartmouth Health.

Becker’s contacted Mr. Buckalew’s strategic advisory firm, ALB Solutions, and will update this story if more information becomes available.

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Nurses at St. Mary Medical Center in Langhorne, Pa., have ratified a three-year labor contract, according to a Feb. 18 news release from the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals, which represents the workers.

The agreement covers 630 registered nurses at the 373-bed hospital. Union officials said 94% of participating nurses voted in favor of ratification.

Under the contract, staffing grids are locked in through Dec. 31, 2027, with no changes permitted, according to PASNAP. The agreement also includes base wage increases of up to 17% over three years and higher shift differentials for evening, night, weekend and pool nurses.

“Highly skilled, experienced nurses are the backbone of healthcare, bringing to the bedside well-honed intuition, leadership and institutional knowledge,” Debbi Bozeman, RN, a nine-year St. Mary nurse, said in the release. “We need seasoned nurses; our patients need seasoned nurses. And this contract respects the expertise seasoned nurses bring to the bedside and rewards the essential role we play in patient care.”

The hospital is part of Trinity Health Mid-Atlantic, based in Newtown Square, Pa., a regional division of Livonia, Mich.-based Trinity Health.

In a statement shared with Becker’s, St. Mary said, “[T]he contract, which includes competitive wages and continued investment in a positive working environment, reflects our shared commitment to delivering high-quality, compassionate care to the patients and communities we serve.

“We are proud to reach an agreement that is in the best interest of our colleagues and patients — with a focus on supporting our nurses in their essential role — while helping to ensure that St. Mary continues to deliver exceptional patient care in support of our mission to serve as a compassionate and transforming healing presence within our communities.”

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Providence, R.I.-based Care New England has partnered with Rhode Island College in Providence to create a pipeline of digitally educated, EHR-trained nurses and healthcare administrators, Tomas Gregorio, CIO of the health system, told Becker’s.

The partnership, announced Feb. 5, aims to build a pipeline of nurses and healthcare technology professionals trained in cybersecurity, AI, data analytics and digital health. Under the partnership, Care New England will work with the college to enhance existing academic programs and develop new clinical and healthcare management degree programs, professional certifications and workshops.

“It will allow us, as we start to recruit and grow Care New England, to build a certified and trained group of individuals who come in with education on how Care New England works — how a hospital works, how administration looks at dashboards to make critical operational decisions,” he said.

As health systems continue to face significant nursing shortages, Mr. Gregorio said organizations should build closer relationships with nursing schools. However, this partnership goes further. A key element of the collaboration includes integrating Epic EHR training into Rhode Island College’s nursing and health sciences curricula.

Care New England will provide access to an Epic academic license, allowing students to gain hands-on experience with the EHR platform. The partnership also includes the creation of internship and cooperative education opportunities for Rhode Island College students, which could lead to full-time employment with Care New England.

“We want those nurses to have an idea of what the EHR looks like before they join us,” Mr. Gregorio said.

He added that the Epic experience will help students enter internships or co-ops with an understanding of real software dashboards that show what running a hospital or hospital department looks like, expediting onboarding for Care New England and other organizations that may hire them.

“Getting talent early, teaching them how Epic works and ensuring that when they become part of your organization they already understand how to do the work — that’s extremely important,” he said. “Through internships and co-ops, you can test individuals, see how they function in the environment and make better hiring decisions.”

As for the end goal, Mr. Gregorio said he hopes the partnership strengthens Rhode Island’s health IT presence.

“That’s the bigger goal. Rhode Island College specializes in workforce development, and we believe this partnership creates a strong transition from education into the workforce,” he said. “They need to educate students, and we need to hire them — especially as we continue growing the workforce.”

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Two Connecticut cities filed federal lawsuits against Cigna, CVS Health and UnitedHealth Group — targeting their pharmacy benefit managers — over an alleged “insulin pricing scheme,” according to January filings in the U.S. District Court for the state.

Along with Express Scripts, Evernorth, CVS Caremark and Optum Rx, Norwalk and New Haven’s lawsuits focus on drug manufacturers Eli Lilly and Co., Novo Nordisk and Sanofi, as well as group purchasing organizations.

The cities characterize themselves as operators of self-funded plans and said they were “significantly overcharged” for insulin. The complaints accuse parties of fraudulent activity and violations of federal anti-racketeering laws, and state and federal antitrust laws. Norwalk and New Haven are seeking monetary damages, restitution, attorney fees and injunctions to halt this conduct.

“Pharmaceutical companies alone are responsible for the prices they set in the marketplace for the products they manufacture. Nothing in our agreements prevents drug manufacturers from lowering the prices of their insulin products, and we would welcome such an action,” a CVS Caremark spokesperson said in a statement shared with Becker’s. “Allegations that we play any role in determining the prices charged by manufacturers for their products are false, and we intend to vigorously defend against this baseless suit.”

A statement from Optum Rx echoed this, adding the PBM “has aggressively and successfully negotiated with drug manufacturers and taken additional actions to lower prescription insulin costs for our health plan customers and their members.”

“PBMs, like Optum Rx, are the key counterweight to pharmaceutical companies’ otherwise unchecked monopoly power to set and raise drug prices,” the company said.

Novo Nordisk, however, also called the allegations “meritless.”

“We intend to vigorously defend against these claims,” a spokesperson said in a statement. “While we will not comment further about pending litigation, we recognize that not all patient situations are the same and we have a number of different insulin affordability offerings available through NovoCare. Importantly, we continually review and revise our offerings as well as work with diverse stakeholders to create solutions for differing patient needs.”

The lawsuits were filed shortly before the Federal Trade Commission reached a settlement with Cigna’s Express Scripts, aiming to lower out-of-pocket costs for drugs like insulin by $7 billion over a decade. The Labor Department had also pushed for greater transparency between PBMs and self-insured group health plans through proposed regulation.

Becker’s contacted Cigna, Eli Lilly and Sanofi and will update this story if more information becomes available.

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Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems has divested around 35% of its portfolio since 2019, but net revenue has stayed relatively the same, shifting slightly from approximately $13 billion in 2019 to $12.5 billion in 2025.

“The EBITDA is also relatively close, even though we have 35% fewer facilities,” Kevin Hammons, CEO of CHS, said in a Feb. 19 earnings call. 

CHS reported an operating income of $450 million (14.5% margin) in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, 2025, up from a $279 million (8.5% margin) in the same quarter last year. Total revenue for CHS was $3.1 billion in the fourth quarter, down from $3.3 billion over the prior-year period and total expenses were $2.7 billion, down from $3 billion in the same quarter last year. 

CHS completed seven hospital divestitures in 2025, with deals closing at regular intervals throughout the year. Three involved partial ownership sales, including 50% stakes in two facilities and an 80% stake in a third, while four others were sold outright. It also sold certain ambulatory outreach laboratory assets in December to LabCorp for $194 million and received an additional $91 million in October related to its August 2024 divestiture of Tennova Healthcare-Cleveland. 

The health system then sold three Pennsylvania hospitals to Tenor Health Foundation for $33 million in cash, including a $15 million promissory note, which closed Feb. 1, 2026. It also off-loaded Tennova Healthcare-Clarksville (Tenn.) to Nashville, Tenn.-based Vanderbilt University Medical Center on Feb. 1, 2026, for $623 million and signed a $450 million deal in January 2026 to sell Crestwood Medical Center in Huntsville, Ala., to Huntsville Hospital Health System.

“As we divest facilities and reduce the number of transactions we’re processing, we can scale those accordingly,” Mr. Hammons said. “Keep in mind, we’ve been adding significant numbers of beds to our existing hospitals, even though we’ve been divesting some hospitals with our capital projects over the last several years.”

Mr. Hammons said CHS has added 500 to 600 beds to its core portfolio over the last three to four years, including freestanding emergency departments, surgery centers and clinics.

The operational moves appear to be paying off on the system’s balance sheet. Jason Johnson, executive vice president and CFO of CHS, said during the call that the health system’s net debt has also fallen from $11.4 billion at the end of 2024 to a projected $9.2 billion once the Alabama sale closes, a more than $2 billion reduction in just over a year.

Following its divestitures, CHS has not completely ruled out other sales.

“We still have some inbound interest as we continue, and probably will always have some inbound interest because we have some very good markets,” Mr. Johnson said. “There are a couple transactions right now that we are in some early stages of discussions, but we are not sure yet whether those will proceed or whether we will be able to get those across the finish line. I would say, in terms of what we have, the interest in selling is certainly dwindling.”

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Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare’s Alaska Regional Hospital in Anchorage has named four new leaders.

The appointments come less than a year after the hospital named five new C-suite leaders, including a new CEO.

Melissa Butler was named COO, according to a Feb. 5 hospital statement shared with Becker’s. She brings more than 20 years of healthcare experience, including nine years with HCA Healthcare. She previously held leadership roles within the system’s Gulf Coast Division and at Corpus Christi (Texas) Medical Center.

Yvonne Schofield was appointed vice president of operations. She brings more than 20 years of nursing and healthcare leadership experience to the role and most recently served as director of surgical services at Corpus Christi Medical Center.

Mike Davis, MSN, was named vice president of quality. He joined the hospital four years ago as a clinical quality coordinator and was later named stroke program coordinator.

Montana Miller was appointed vice president of human resources. She previously led human resources at Anchorage-based North Star Behavioral Health and has experience in healthcare and other industries.

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Optum has launched Value Connect, an AI-powered platform designed to help payers and providers operationalize value-based care models by combining clinical, operational and financial data into a single system.

The platform uses AI across quality measures, utilization patterns and risk indicators to flag patients who need intervention and route next steps directly into care team workflows. It is powered by more than 1,600 models, including Optum’s generative AI capabilities, and is designed to replace manual processes like spreadsheets and handoffs by embedding actionable steps into existing workflows, according to a Feb. 18 news release.

Optum said customers using Value Connect are seeing a 35% reduction in medical spending, 17% reduction in pharmacy costs, 29% fewer emergency room visits, 28% fewer preventable hospital readmissions and more than 20% improvement in care gap closure. The company did not specify how many customers the figures are based on or against what baseline the reductions were calculated.

The new platform is the latest in a series of AI-enabled products from Optum. Recent launches include prior authorization tools, a real-time claims validation platform, and a predictive analytics tool for operating room scheduling. 

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Michael Porter defined value as outcomes divided by cost¹. Healthcare embraced the equation quickly but applied it unevenly. For decades, nurses have been treated primarily as a cost to be managed rather than as the people and capability that make outcomes possible. They are bundled into room charges, excluded from RVUs, and discussed more often as labor expense than as strategic assets. Yet nurses remain the largest segment of the healthcare workforce and the primary drivers of inpatient care, safety, and patient experience.²  

For years, nurse leaders have asked how to assign value to nursing. The more urgent question today is simpler and more uncomfortable: how can healthcare be governed without nurses at the table?

Boards exist to steward trust, oversee risk, and ensure long-term viability. That responsibility becomes compromised when boards govern abstractions rather than the work itself. A healthcare board without nursing expertise is not balanced; it is incomplete.  Most hospital and state healthcare association boards currently lack nurses as voting members of the board.  Even when Chief Nursing Officers (CNOs) and Registered Nurse (RN) executives are present, formal governance power remains concentrated among Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and other executive leaders.  Representation without governing and voting authority creates an uneven table.  The 2025 National Governance Report by the American Hospital Association states that the actual number of clinicians on hospital boards has decreased from 29% in 2014 to 26% in 2024.  Physicians still make up most clinicians on hospital boards, but their proportion fell from 20% in 2014 to 16% in 2024.   Nurses make up only 5% of clinicians on hospital boards and this is unchanged from 2014.³  This is not about representation. It is about whether governance reflects how care is actually delivered.

The breakdown becomes most visible around measurement. Leadership often says it wants better data on nursing. Nurses often resist being measured. The reason is not technical or ideological. It is trust. Trust that is visible and mutual.

Historically, healthcare made nurses’ work harder while removing the supports that once made the job doable. Unit clerks disappeared. Transport and ancillary roles thinned. Tasks that were never designed as nursing work were pushed onto nurses simply because someone had to absorb them. At the same time, patient acuity increased, technology proliferated, and documentation demands expanded relentlessly. Time-motion and EHR studies consistently show that nurses now spend roughly a third of their shift documenting care.⁴ That time does not replace patient care; it stacks on top of it.

This accumulation created a job that is no longer realistically finishable. The pandemic did not cause this. It exposed it.

In that context, resistance to measurement is rational. When visibility has historically preceded cuts rather than improvement, measurement feels like threat, not learning. The dominance of staffing ratios reflects this reality. Ratios are not what nurses want. They are the only measure nurses trust. They are blunt, incomplete, and insufficient—but they are defensible in a low-trust system. Ratios are not a solution; they are a symptom.

This is not a nursing failure or a leadership failure. It is a relationship failure, and therefore a governance failure. Measurement without trust is experienced as control. Measurement with trust becomes learning. And healthcare will not get better data, better workflows, or better outcomes until trust is addressed first.

That is precisely why nurses on boards matter.

As a nurse with more than four decades of experience across clinical care, administration, academia, and industry, I have focused this chapter of my career on bringing the nursing lens into governance. When I joined the Board of Directors at Children’s Mercy  in Kansas City, MO, I was the only nurse and one of only a small number of clinicians. The response from nursing leaders was immediate. They did not experience it as symbolic. They experienced it as practical. For the first time, they believed decisions affecting their work would be shaped by someone who understood the realities they lived every day.

From the board side, the shift was equally tangible. Discussions about quality, safety, experience, and workforce sustainability became more grounded. Metrics were interrogated differently. Risks surfaced earlier. Strategy became more executable because it was anchored in how care actually happens, rather than how it is assumed to happen.

From a CEO perspective, this is not optional. Governing healthcare without nursing expertise is no longer defensible. A nurse on the board makes one governance question unavoidable: who was part of this decision? That question matters because the tradeoffs facing healthcare today are real and consequential. When nurses are part of governance, decisions become rounder and more credible. Consequences are anticipated rather than explained after the fact. And because nurses trust nurses, decisions shaped with nursing input land differently inside the organization.

The evidence supports what experience makes obvious. Higher patient-to-nurse ratios are associated with increased mortality, higher failure-to-rescue rates, and greater nurse burnout.⁵ Stronger nursing work environments are associated with better patient outcomes and improved retention.⁶ Missed nursing care is consistently linked to adverse outcomes.^7,8 If boards care about outcomes, they must govern the conditions under which those outcomes are produced.  One of the key tenets of high reliability is deference to expertise.  Highly reliable organizations value expertise over authority and governance must reflect this principle.⁹  

The important point is this: this is fixable. The AHA postulates that fewer clinicians on hospital boards may be the result of the difficulty in recruitment of clinical expertise outside of their own organizations.³  However, a large number of clinicians and nurse leaders specifically are in academia, self-employment, industry, and retirement.  Perhaps recruitment needs to expand to these areas.   But the first step is not a new metric, a new dashboard, or another performance initiative. The first step is trust. Trust is what allows transparency. Transparency allows learning. Learning allows redesign. Without trust, every attempt to “measure nursing better” will be interpreted as preparation for further extraction.

Boards helped create the conditions that made nursing work undoable. Boards therefore have a responsibility to help redesign it. That work cannot be done without nurses as full participants in governance.

This is now the baseline for competent healthcare governance.

References

1. Michael Porter and Elizabeth Olmsted Teisberg, Redefining Health Care (Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2006), 4.
2. American Association of Colleges of Nursing. Nursing Workforce Fact Sheet. 2024.
3. American Hospital Association (2025).  2025 National Governance Report
4. Bakhoum N, et al. Time and motion analysis of nurses’ EHR use.
5. Cho H, et al. Nurses’ documentation burden and workflow.
6. Aiken LH et al. Hospital nurse staffing and patient mortality, burnout, and job dissatisfaction. NEJM.
7. Lake ET et al. Nurse work environments and patient outcomes.
8. Nantsupawat A, et al. Missed nursing care and adverse outcomes.

“High Reliability,” Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, updated July 2016, https://psnet.ahrq.gov/primers/primer/31/high-reliability.

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Healthcare remains a focal point for work stoppages, despite a broader national decline, as hospital and health system employees continue to cite pay and staffing concerns. 

Union activity in 2026 has already seen notable labor actions, such as the largest nurses strike in New York City history and an open-ended walkout by 31,000 United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals members at Kaiser Permanente facilities. In total, Becker’s has reported on nearly a dozen strikes since the beginning of 2026 and nearly 40 in 2025.

New data, released Feb. 18, from the Labor Action Tracker’s “Annual Report 2025,” published by Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations and the University of Illinois’ School of Labor and Employment Relations, show a substantial increase in work stoppages in the healthcare and social assistance sector from 2024 to 2025. The tracker compiles publicly reported strikes and lockouts using verified media, database and social media sources. 

The report found that, while overall U.S. work stoppages declined nearly 16% over the past year, healthcare and social assistance saw a 58.3% increase in work stoppages and a 151.9% increase in the number of workers involved during the same period — the largest increase of any industry.

The report also found that healthcare and social assistance work stoppages increased from 36 involving 46,369 workers in 2024 to 57 involving 116,826 workers in 2025. The industry accounted for 40.3% of all striking workers, ahead of public administration at 29.6%, and ranked first in strike days with 1,213,703 — nearly double manufacturing’s 684,773.

Across all industries, the top reasons for work stoppages were pay (195), followed by first-contract negotiations (70) and healthcare benefits (66).

Healthcare strikes in 2025 were largely driven by pay and staffing concerns, Johnnie Kallas, PhD, who launched the Labor Action Tracker in 2021 and is an assistant professor at the University of Illinois School of Labor and Employment Relations, told Becker’s. Of the 54 strikes that began in 2025, staffing was a major demand in 34 and pay in 32.

“This is also important because strikes declined broadly in 2025 but increased considerably in healthcare,” Dr. Kallas said. “The number of strikes increased by 58.3%, and the number of workers involved in healthcare strikes increased by 151.9% from 2024 to 2025.”

“Healthcare workers continue to face inflationary pressures and a lack of respect on the job, while hospitals face financial pressures tied to inadequate reimbursement rates from public and private payers,” he added.

Hospital executives have described that same dynamic as a delicate balancing act. Greg Till, chief people officer of Renton, Wash.-based Providence, told Becker’s in October that systems are trying to “thread the needle” between managing tighter budgets and addressing rising labor costs and workforce expectations.

“We want to ensure we offer market-competitive pay and benefits for our caregivers while preparing for the financial pressures ahead,” Mr. Till said.

Dr. Kallas said early evidence from 2026 suggests the trend may continue, pointing to 15,000 New York State Nurses Association nurses in New York City and 31,000 Kaiser Permanente healthcare workers along the West Coast who have walked off the job this year.

As of Feb. 18, nurses at Montefiore, Mount Sinai Hospital and Mount Sinai Morningside and West have ratified new three-year contracts covering about 10,500 nurses across those systems. Roughly 4,200 nurses at NewYork-Presbyterian remain on strike, and the Kaiser Permanente strike that began Jan. 26 remains ongoing.

Dr. Kallas noted another major distinction with the recent actions: several have been open-ended rather than of a fixed duration.

“Most healthcare strikes are of a fixed duration,” he said. “The fact that we’re seeing more open-ended strikes indicates that workers are ready to fight for strong contracts despite a more hostile political environment for organized labor.”

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A new national coalition of health systems and strategic partners has launched to address worsening shortages in access to medical specialists in rural areas and underserved urban communities across the United States.

The National Specialty Care Access Coalition — a collaboration of more than 20 major U.S. health systems — aims to advance multispecialty, technology-enabled specialty care models designed to scale nationally and move beyond isolated pilot programs, according to a Feb. 18 press release announcing the group’s formation.

The coalition is convened and chaired by Chethan Sathya, MD, vice president of strategic initiatives at Northwell Health in New Hyde Park, N.Y., and Raj Narula, MD, founder and CEO of Sevaro. The coalition’s founding health systems collectively deliver care across rural regions and high-need urban communities nationwide.

The group’s launch comes as policymakers and health systems face intensifying pressure to rethink how specialty care is delivered, particularly with the introduction of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Rural Health Transformation initiative and more than $50 billion in new federal and state investment, the press release said.

The coalition said it will focus initially on three priorities: standardizing multispecialty care pathways for rural hospitals and high-need urban health systems; producing a white paper with recommendations for CMS and state Medicaid agencies; and accelerating real-world implementation through shared learnings and pilots in high-impact specialties.

The press release said additional thought partners include former CMS leaders, the Children’s Hospital Association, state hospital associations and the Center for Telehealth and eHealth Law. Technology collaborators named in the release include T-Mobile, Sevaro Health and Samsung, though the coalition said participation does not imply endorsement of any single technology platform.

The National Specialty Care Access Coalition said it will begin formal work in early 2026 and plans to invite additional health systems to submit expressions of interest as it expands.

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Swainsboro, Ga.-based Emanuel Medical Center is notifying patients of a May 2025 hacking incident.

On May 22, the hospital detected suspicious activity on its computer systems and took steps to secure its network and investigate, according to the Feb. 17 notice. Emanuel Medical learned that an unauthorized party gained access to its systems, which contained patients’ personal and protected health information, from May 21-24.

“Once we identified the potentially affected files, we promptly engaged a data-review firm to determine what information was contained in those files,” the hospital stated. “We recently received the results of that review, and we have been working since that time to compile contact information for notifying impacted individuals.”

The breached data may have included names, dates of birth, Social Security or driver’s license numbers, health insurance information, and medical records.

The post Georgia hospital reports 2025 hacking incident appeared first on Becker’s Hospital Review | Healthcare News & Analysis.

Thomas Kruse was appointed executive vice president and chief strategy and growth officer of Marietta, Ga.-based Wellstar Health System, effective March 30, according to a health system news release shared with Becker’s.

In his new role, Mr. Kruse will lead enterprise-level strategy and transformation, evaluate market expansion and affiliation opportunities, and drive initiatives to support the system’s long-term growth, the release said.

Most recently, he served as an independent health industry advisor and consultant for regional health systems, community hospitals and nonprofit organizations.

Previously, he was senior vice president and chief strategy officer for the Northwest Region of Chicago-based CommonSpirit Health and Tacoma, Wash.-based Virginia Mason Franciscan Health, where he led long-range strategy and partnership efforts. Earlier in his career, he served as chief strategy officer for Edison, N.J.-based Hackensack Meridian Health.

Wellstar is an 11-hospital system with more than 34,000 employees.

The post Wellstar names chief strategy and growth officer appeared first on Becker’s Hospital Review | Healthcare News & Analysis.

So far in 2026, about half a dozen U.S. hospitals and health systems have said they plan to expand rehabilitation services as organizations aim to ease capacity strains and meet rising demand. 

In January, Springfield, Ill.-based Hospital Sisters Health System and Brentwood, Tenn.-based Lifepoint Health said they are partnering on a 40-bed inpatient rehabilitation hospital under construction in Howard, Wis. The freestanding facility will double inpatient rehabilitation capacity currently at HSHS St. Vincent Hospital in Green Bay, Wis., allowing the hospital to repurpose its existing rehab unit to support acute care demand. 

A few weeks later, Birmingham, Ala.-based Encompass Health said it is planning a freestanding 50-bed inpatient rehabilitation hospital in Flowood, Miss., set to open in 2027. With 173 hospitals across 39 states and Puerto Rico, Encompass is the largest owner and operator of rehabilitation hospitals in the U.S. 

Other health systems that have recently opened or announced plans to expand rehabilitation services include Jacksonville, Fla.-based Baptist Health, Birmingham, Ala.-based UAB Medicine, Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente, Sarasota (Fla.) Memorial Health Care System and Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Novant Health. 

Relieving hospital capacity pressure

Many of these projects are tied to broader operational challenges, as hospitals report elevated inpatient volumes and longer lengths of stay, driven in part by higher-acuity patients and limited post-acute capacity. Skilled nursing facilities in many markets remain constrained by workforce shortages, reducing discharge options for patients who no longer require acute care but need intensive therapy.

Expanding inpatient rehabilitation facilities allows systems to move appropriate patients out of acute beds more efficiently while keeping them within their networks. In some cases, as with HSHS St. Vincent Hospital, rehab expansion enables hospitals to convert space back to higher-demand acute services.

Growing clinical demand

Demand for rehabilitation services is also increasing. 

Industry projections show the global rehabilitation market is expanding, driven by population aging and a growing number of patients with neurological, musculoskeletal and cardiologic conditions.

Additionally, advances in stroke, trauma and cardiac care mean more patients are surviving complex events but require intensive care from health systems. 

A market-specific strategy

Not all hospital systems are expanding their rehabilitation footprint, though. Kaleida Health’s Buffalo (N.Y.) General Medical Center, for example, plans to reduce beds in its medical rehab unit from 34 to 16 as part of a broader $200 million strategic plan. 

“The remaining 18 beds from the MRU will be repurposed to much-needed inpatient capacity,” Kaleida Health said in a statement. “Patients who require MRU-level care beyond the remaining 16 beds have access to several other MRUs within the community, ensuring continuity of care.”

The variation underscores that rehabilitation strategy depends on local market dynamics. In markets facing post-acute shortages and rising acuity, however, inpatient rehab is increasingly viewed as both a clinical necessity and an operational pressure valve.

The post What’s driving system investments in rehab care? appeared first on Becker’s Hospital Review | Healthcare News & Analysis.

California and Nevada hospice providers had the lowest care-quality scores despite spending the most per beneficiary to provide care between Jan. 1, 2023, and Dec. 31, 2024, according to CMS data released Feb. 18.

Rhode Island and West Virginia had the highest hospice care quality scores during the data collection period. 

CMS’ Hospice Quality Reporting Program includes data submitted directly by hospice providers, from Medicare hospice claims, and from the Hospice Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey.

Here are the hospice care quality scores and per-beneficiary spending amounts by state between Jan. 1, 2023, and Dec. 31, 2024, according to CMS:

The post Hospice spending, care quality scores by state appeared first on Becker’s Hospital Review | Healthcare News & Analysis.

Grand Blanc, Mich.-based McLaren Health Care has launched a cardiovascular screening program in partnership with Bunkerhill Health.

The program applies Bunkerhill Health’s AI platform to clinical data from patients’ routine chest CT scans previously performed for other medical reasons, according to a Feb. 18 news release from the health system. The platform’s FDA-cleared algorithms detect and measure incidental coronary artery calcium and aortic valve calcium — indicators of coronary heart disease and aortic stenosis.

McLaren is the first Michigan health system and one of five in the nation to deploy AI-powered aortic valve calcium detection on routine chest CT scans. Bunkerhill Health’s aortic valve calcium algorithm is the first FDA-cleared solution for detecting and evaluating aortic valve calcium in routine chest CT scans, according to the release.

McLaren has begun scanning routine chest CT scans from the past 12 months. The health system said the approach allows it to identify and notify patients for follow-up and preventive care without requiring additional specialized imaging.

The post Michigan system taps AI to flag heart disease risk appeared first on Becker’s Hospital Review | Healthcare News & Analysis.

The North Carolina Department of Justice and North Carolina Department of Insurance alerted pharmacy benefit managers Feb. 17 that the state’s SCRIPT Act is now in effect, and said they are prepared to enforce the law.

Attorney General Jeff Jackson and Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey said their offices will work together to ensure fair drug prices and uphold the legislative mandate of the General Assembly, according to a Feb. 17 news release.

The North Carolina General Assembly passed the SCRIPT Act in 2025. The law requires PBMs to allow any pharmacy to participate in their networks and permit patients to use the pharmacy of their choice, pass on most of the savings they negotiate with drugmakers directly to patients, submit annual reports to the North Carolina Department of Insurance and more fairly reimburse independent pharmacies.

The law also gives the Department of Insurance stronger regulatory and enforcement authority and provides the Department of Justice additional authority to enforce North Carolina’s Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act against PBMs. A few PBMs control more than three-fourths of the nation’s 6.6 billion prescription drugs, according to the release.

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CVS Health has launched a $5 million scholarship program to support students pursuing a Doctor of Pharmacy degree at Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans or the University of Louisiana at Monroe.

The scholarship will open in the 2026-27 academic year, according to a Feb. 18 news release. CVS Health said the scholarship aims to strengthen the pharmacy workforce and expand access to care across the state.

The initiative builds on CVS Health’s broader pharmacy workforce investments. In April 2024, the company unveiled a tuition assistance program allowing PharmD graduates who intern with CVS Pharmacy to apply for up to $20,000 toward their final year of tuition, with plans to expand eligibility to interns in their final two years of pharmacy education. Through a partnership with the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, CVS Health also created a community pharmacy health equity scholarship that grants $20,000 to 21 pharmacy students nationwide.

In February 2025, CVS Pharmacy and Duquesne University in Pittsburgh also launched a program offering a 50% tuition scholarship for eligible CVS employees pursuing a Doctor of Pharmacy degree through Duquesne’s online pharmacy program.

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