News Briefs
Major Visa Delays Continue Impacting Hospitals' Nursing Shortages
The U.S. is in the midst of a visa retrogression, when a surge in demand collides with annual caps, jamming up the processing queue. The delays are particularly bad for the main visa category that hospitals use.
(Source: The Seattle Times, 2023-12-18)
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Nursing Homes Face Significant Headwinds with Labor Shortages
As the skilled nursing industry heads toward a new year with continued labor shortages and reimbursement gaps, service repositioning and closures among operators are expected trends for the space. And although there are signs of positivity in the form of increased Medicaid reimbursement in some states, extensive rural closures are creating "nursing home deserts" and up to 450,000 nursing home residents are still at risk of displacement without a sufficient workforce.
(Source: Skilled Nursing News, 2023-12-12)
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CMS Says Final Proposed Nursing Staff Rule Could Take Three Years
Federal regulators concede it may take up to three years to finalize a proposed nursing home staffing rule, according to an extensive document that lays out administration rule-making plans for 2024 and beyond. The Fall 2023 Unified Agenda sets September of 2026 as the deadline to finalize the "Minimum Staffing Standards for Long-Term Care Facilities and Medicaid Institutional Payment Transparency Reporting" proposed this September.
(Source: McKnight's Long-Term Care News, 2023-12-12)
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Healthcare Cyberattacks Impacted 106 Million Individuals in 2023
It appears that 2023 will be the worst year ever for cyberattacks aimed at healthcare organizations. About 106 million individuals have been affected by cyberattacks involving healthcare organizations, says John Riggi, national advisor for cybersecurity for the American Hospital Association, pointing to federal data on breaches of health data.
(Source: Chief Healthcare Executive, 2023-12-18)
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Drug Firms Face Penalties if Prices Rise Faster Than Inflation
Medicare enrollees next year could save on dozens of medications under a federal law that penalizes pharmaceutical companies if they raise prices faster than the rate of inflation, the Biden administration announced. Officials with Medicare, the federal health program for adults 65 and older, issued a list of 48 drugs including blood thinners, antibiotics, and cancer medications administered at a doctor's office, clinic, or hospital, saying that potential savings on these "Part B" medications would range from $1 to $2,786 per dose, beginning Jan. 1, depending on an individual's coverage.
(Source: USA Today, 2023-12-14)
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Healthcare Companies Commit to White House AI Risk Plan
Twenty-eight healthcare companies, including CVS Health, are signing U.S. President Joe Biden's voluntary commitments aimed at ensuring the safe development of artificial intelligence, a White House official said. The commitments by healthcare providers and payers follow those of 15 leading AI companies, including Google, OpenAI, and OpenAI partner Microsoft to develop AI models responsibly.
(Source: Reuters, 2023-12-14)
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ONC Finalizes Requirements for Interoperability, AI Transparency
The federal government's healthcare tech arm finalized a sweeping regulation that requires new technology upgrades while also advancing interoperability and transparency in predictive decision support tools. The regulation establishes first-of-its-kind nationwide requirements for transparency around AI and algorithms used in health IT, ONC said in a press release.
(Source: FierceHealthcare, 2023-12-13)
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Most Patients Concerned About How Doctors Use Generative AI
The vast majority of American patients are wary of how their doctor may use generative AI to help treat them, according to a new Wolters Kluwer Health survey. Roughly four in five say they have concerns about their provider using generative AI to make diagnoses or set treatment, with the vast majority saying that's because they don't know where the information the tech uses comes from or why it should be trusted.
(Source: Axios, 2023-12-13)
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Google Unveils New Generative AI Models for Health Sector
Google revealed a new group of generative artificial intelligence models geared toward the healthcare sector, the latest in a series of developments for the new technology. MedLM is a family of foundation models, or systems built on broad datasets, which can be used for a number of general tasks, which are "fine-tuned" for the healthcare industry, according to a blog post.
(Source: Healthcare Dive, 2023-12-13)
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Medical Schools Saw 4.7 Percent Decline in Number of Applicants
Medical schools saw some progress in the diversity of first-year students in 2023, but there were some declines as well, according to data by the Association of American Medical Colleges. This year, there were 52,577 applicants, a 4.7 percent decline compared to 2022-23, and it's the second consecutive year medical schools saw a drop in applicants.
(Source: Medical Economics, 2023-12-18)
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Kroger Tests Primary Care Clinics Aimed at Senior Market
Kroger is piloting value-based primary care clinics as it joins a growing list of retailers looking to cash in on the booming sector of senior-focused medical care. The grocery chain has teamed up with Better Health Group, a provider network, to shift some of its in-store clinics, called The Little Clinic, into primary care centers for seniors, in addition to offering regular services.
(Source: FierceHealthcare, 2023-12-18)
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