News Briefs
Judge Rejects FTC Regulation Requiring Pre-Merger Information
A federal judge struck down a Federal Trade Commission regulation that required companies, including healthcare firms and hospitals, to provide more information to the agency ahead of mergers and acquisitions, likely slowing down dealmaking. The rule, finalized in 2024 under the Biden administration, exceeds the FTC's statutory authority because the agency wasn't able to show benefits from the regulation would outweigh its "significant and widespread costs," Judge Jeremy Kernodle of Texas' Eastern District wrote in the ruling.
(Source: Healthcare Dive, 2026-02-18)
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To Speed Approvals, FDA to Require Only One Study for New Drugs
The FDA plans to drop its longtime standard of requiring two rigorous studies to win approval for new drugs, the latest change from Trump administration officials vowing to speed up the availability of certain medical products. Going forward, the FDA's "default position" will be to require one study for new drugs and other novel health products, FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, MD, MPH and a top deputy, Vinay Prasad, MD, MPH, wrote in a New England Journal of Medicine piece.
(Source: MedPage Today, 2026-02-19)
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Healthcare Civil Fraud Recoveries More Than Tripled in 2025
Civil fraud recoveries from the healthcare sector more than tripled between 2024 and 2025, signaling that the Trump administration will continue to press hard for provider investigations and financial penalties. After brief relief in 2024, skilled nursing operators -- long a target of whistleblower-led False Claims Act cases -- also were subject to more traditional liability claims last year.
(Source: McKnight's Long-Term Care News, 2026-02-18)
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Alliance Aims to Execute Spending of $50B Rural Healthcare Program
Arcadia, Castlight Health, Covista, Mission Mobile Medical, Telemedicine.com, TruBridge, and Walgreens have come together in an alliance to help state and local markets execute the spending of $50 billion in the Rural Health Transformation program. The companies are part of the Alliance for Advancing Rural Healthcare, which was formed by Science Applications International Corp.
(Source: Healthcare Finance News, 2026-02-20)
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State Lawmakers Consider Bills to Boost Number of Foreign Doctors
Lawmakers in at least 16 states are considering bills that would make it easier for foreign-trained doctors to get medical licenses. The bills, which span states as politically distinct as New Jersey and Georgia, enjoy unusually broad support, including from conservative free-market groups, business associations, and left-leaning immigration advocates.
(Source: Arizona Capitol Times, 2026-02-20)
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States Seek to Rein in Wage Garnishment for Unpaid Medical Debt
Lawmakers in at least eight states this year are aiming to reel in wage garnishment for unpaid medical bills. This latest push for patient protections comes as the Trump administration has backed away from federal debt protections, healthcare has become more costly, and more people are expected to go without medical coverage or choose cheaper but riskier high-deductible insurance plans that could lead them into debt.
(Source: KFF Health News, 2026-02-20)
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Real Estate Study Reports Hospitals Expanding Outpatient Care
A new real estate study confirms the trend hospitals are taking toward outpatient care. Occupancy in outpatient healthcare real estate remains extremely strong, exceeding 92 percent in many major markets, according to information gleaned by Colliers from the 2026 Revista Medical Real Estate Investment Forum held in Palos Verdes, California. Colliers specializes in commercial real estate, and Revista focuses on data in medical real estate.
(Source: Healthcare Finance News, 2026-02-19)
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Older Medicare Patients Relying on Telehealth, Analysis Finds
A new analysis published in Annals of Internal Medicine finds that nearly half of Medicare mental health visits happen over video or phone, and millions of older adults are using telehealth to manage routine chronic conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure. Approximately one in six Medicare beneficiaries between 2021 and 2023 used telehealth at least once, and tens of millions of virtual visits each year were for non-mental health conditions, including diabetes, hypertension, and COVID-19.
(Source: Medical Economics, 2026-02-20)
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Analysis Finds Rural Health Transformation Program Insufficient
America's rural health safety net is in much deeper trouble than the Rural Health Transformation (RHT) Program's federal investment may suggest, according to analysis from Chartis. The RHT Program, established under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act with roughly $50 billion in federal funding over five years, was marketed as a major stabilizing force for rural hospitals. But the healthcare advisory services firm warns that the investment, while historic, is not sufficient to counter structural financial pressures facing rural providers, particularly from pending Medicaid reductions.
(Source: HealthLeaders Media, 2026-02-19)
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Primary Care Telehealth Use Stable at Six Percent of Visits
Telehealth use in primary care has held fairly stable in recent years, suggesting the sector has reached an equilibrium after a boom in virtual care amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to an analysis by Epic Research. Telehealth visits accounted for over eight percent of primary care encounters in July 2022, according to the research. By October 2025, telehealth made up just under six percent of visits -- a roughly 30 percent decline.
(Source: Healthcare Dive, 2026-02-19)
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Study Finds Nurses Match or Outperform Doctors on Some Services
Nurses perform some healthcare services just as well as doctors, and in some cases, they outperform physicians, according to results of a new meta-analysis of hospital care. The authors of “Substitution of nurses for physicians in the hospital setting for patient, process of care, and economic outcomes,” analyzed 80 studies covering 28,041 patients.
(Source: Medical Economics, 2026-02-17)
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