News Briefs
House to Consider 19 Bills That Will Impact Healthcare System
The House of Representatives will consider 19 bills that affect various aspects of the U.S. healthcare system. The House Energy & Commerce Committee voted to advance various draft legislation for consideration by the full chamber.
(Source: Medical Economics, 2023-12-08)
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Lawmakers Launch Probe into Hospital Private Equity Ownership
Two U.S. senators have launched a bipartisan investigation into secretive and powerful private-equity firms' involvement in healthcare in the nation. They are demanding documents and information from executives associated with two hospital systems to assess how much profit they have generated through their complex financial arrangements and whether the deals harmed patients and clinicians.
(Source: NBCNews.com, 2023-12-06)
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HHS Outlines Steps to Advance Healthcare Cyber Resiliency
The HHS released a working paper that outlines its strategy to support cybersecurity in healthcare, including proposing hospital cybersecurity requirements through Medicare and Medicaid and beginning to update the HIPAA rule. The paper details steps to improve resilience among healthcare organizations, like establishing voluntary cybersecurity goals for the sector, working with Congress to receive new authority and funding, and adding goals into existing regulations and programs.
(Source: Healthcare Dive, 2023-12-07)
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AHA Says HHS Cyberattack Penalties Could Be Harmful
The American Hospital Association says the newly released U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' healthcare sector cybersecurity strategy paper, which outlines the agency's "ongoing and planned steps to improve cyber resiliency and protect patient safety," would have counterproductive consequences on hospitals after cyberattacks. In its strategy paper, HHS calls for new cybersecurity requirements for hospitals and outlines voluntary healthcare-specific cybersecurity performance goals.
(Source: Healthcare IT News, 2023-12-08)
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Hospitals Continue to Feel Impact of Rising Ransomware Attacks
A series of ransomware attacks targeting hospitals could be especially destabilizing for rural providers and their patients, whose alternatives are often limited. Hospitals across the United States have been hit by ransomware attacks that have disrupted emergency operations, insurance billing and, in at least one case, pushed a struggling hospital to close its doors.
(Source: NewsNation, 2023-12-07)
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Three Out of Four Patients Don't Trust AI in Healthcare Setting
Three out of four U.S. patients don't trust AI in a healthcare setting, and nearly four out of five patients report not knowing if their provider is using AI, a new study by Carta Healthcare found. While most respondents don’t know whether their healthcare providers use AI, they are torn about whether they would be comfortable with it -- 49 percent say yes, and 51 percent say no -- even if it would help improve diagnostic accuracy (51 percent say yes, 42 percent say no).
(Source: DailyNurse, 2023-12-07)
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Deloitte Expects Hospitals to Increase Outsourcing in 2024
Many health systems continue to deal with modest or weak operating margins, and hospitals could engage in more outsourcing in the coming year, Deloitte projects. Facing growing cost pressures, more hospitals are likely to look at outsourcing some functions, such as revenue cycle management, billing, finance, and other areas, according to Deloitte.
(Source: Chief Healthcare Executive, 2023-12-11)
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Review Finds Live Video Telehealth as Effective as In-Person Care
A sweeping review of research on telehealth shows that live video telehealth is as effective as in-person care in treating certain conditions, like mental health conditions, but there is a concerning lack of research on disparities in telehealth-enabled care. The research reviewed shows that most modalities and services result in similar health outcomes compared with in-person care.
(Source: mHealthIntelligence, 2023-12-07)
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Lawmakers Introduce 2024 Medicare Physicians Fee Schedule
A bipartisan group of representatives has introduced a bill into the House that would undo a 2024 physician pay cut finalized last month by the Biden administration. The 2024 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule final rule included a decrease in the conversion factor, which is used to calculate Medicare payments to doctors, that translated to a 3.37 percent pay decrease from 2023.
(Source: FierceHealthcare, 2023-12-08)
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More Medical School Students Earning Advanced Business Degrees
More physicians and medical school students are earning advanced business degrees to work the business side of the booming healthcare industry. Just over 60 percent of medical schools now offer dual MD-MBA programs, more than twice the number two decades ago, a recent study shows, and researchers estimate the number of dual-degree graduates has nearly tripled.
(Source: KFF Health News, 2023-12-11)
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