News Briefs
Massive Cyberattack Could Spur Movement in Healthcare Industry
As the disruption caused by the cyberattack at Change Healthcare stretches beyond its tenth day, cybersecurity experts say the incident could spur greater emphasis on enhancing protocols -- and greater oversight from the feds. Addressing ransomware, or attacks where critical data or technology are extracted and then encrypted to be held for a ransom, needs to be a key focus for healthcare cybersecurity leaders, as they're frequent targets of these hackers given the data at stake.
(Source: FierceHealthcare, 2024-03-01)
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Doctors Fighting Back Against Hospital Noncompete Agreements
A handful of doctors are fighting back in court against the increasing prevalence of noncompete agreements, which often prevent a doctor from seeing patients for one to two years within a geographic region if they are fired or quit their job. While employers say the agreements are necessary to protect the investment they make in recruiting, marketing, and supporting their doctors, physicians argue the provisions can harm patients by restricting access to care and risk discouraging doctors from speaking out about unsafe or unethical conditions.
(Source: Yahoo News, 2024-03-03)
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Federal Judge's Ruling Upholds Medicare Drug Price Negotiations
A federal judge in Delaware upheld a law that requires some drugmakers to negotiate prices with the U.S government's Medicare health insurance program, rejecting a challenge by AstraZeneca, to one of Democratic President Joe Biden's signature initiatives. "Today's ruling offers more reason for optimism that we will drive down the cost of prescription drugs in America," U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra said in a statement.
(Source: Reuters, 2024-03-01)
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CFPB Moves to Ban Medical Debt From Consumer Credit Reports
In the past two years, the CFPB has penalized medical debt collectors, issued stern warnings to healthcare providers and lenders that target patients, and published reams of reports on how the healthcare system is undermining the financial security of Americans. In its most ambitious move to date, the agency is developing rules to bar medical debt from consumer credit reports, a sweeping change that could make it easier for Americans burdened by medical debt to rent a home, buy a car, even get a job.
(Source: KFF Health News, 2024-03-01)
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Only 34.5% of Hospitals Compliant with Price Transparency Laws
Hospitals are backsliding on compliance with federal price transparency laws, according to a February analysis from Patient Rights Advocate. Only 34.5 percent of 2,000 hospitals reviewed by the nonprofit watchdog organization were deemed fully compliant with price transparency rules as of January, while 36 percent of hospitals were in full compliance as of a July 2023 review.
(Source: Healthcare Dive, 2024-03-04)
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OIG Outlines Steps to Improve Nursing Home Workforce Shortages
Steep challenges faced by nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic continue to hinder their ability to provide quality care and adequate staffing, according to new report findings from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General. The federal watchdog outlined five steps regulators should take to help providers going forward, leaving providers hopeful but wary.
(Source: McKnight's Long-Term Care News, 2024-03-01)
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Health Groups Back Immigration Bill to Reissue Unused Visas
The National Center for Assisted Living has joined other groups in backing a proposed immigration bill that seeks to reissue unused visas to healthcare professionals. NCAL and the American Health Care Organization were among 52 signatories on a letter sent to bill sponsors in the House of Representatives and the Senate, stating their support for HR 6205 / S 3211, the Healthcare Workforce Resilience Act, which was reintroduced in November.
(Source: McKnight's Senior Living, 2024-03-04)
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Congress Urged to Block Proposed Nursing Home Staffing Mandate
The nation's two largest long-term care provider associations and more than 1,100 cosigners threw their support behind a federal bill that would block the nursing home staffing mandate proposed in September by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The groups -- including at least 16 national organizations, dozens of state organizations, rural provider advocacy groups, and hundreds of individual providers -- made their appeal in a joint letter to the Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Ways and Means Committee, urging the lawmakers to support HR 5796, known as the Protecting Rural Seniors' Access to Care Act.
(Source: McKnight's Long-Term Care News, 2024-03-01)
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75% of Health Professionals Believe AI Will Be 'Widespread'
Three-quarters of healthcare providers and pharmaceutical professionals think artificial intelligence-related technologies will be "widespread" in the next three years, according to a new survey from consultancy Berkeley Research Group. However, only about 40 percent of surveyed professionals said their organizations reviewed or planned to review AI regulatory guidance.
(Source: Healthcare Dive, 2024-02-29)
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Health Systems Hope AI, Tech Will Help Ease Clinician Burnout
AI took center stage at the ViVE 2024 conference, and health systems across the country are deploying the tech to tackle issues from easing the drudgery of medical documentation to making it easier for patients to get information about their medical care. As clinician burnout levels continue to rise, health systems are eager to try out tech tools like voice-enabled ambient listening to help draft doctors' notes during patient exams.
(Source: FierceHealthcare, 2024-02-28)
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Healthcare Boardrooms Still Failing to Meet Diversity Needs
Black representation in the boardrooms of healthcare organizations remains insufficient to help meet the needs of the communities they serve despite modest progress made in recent years, according to a new analysis from the nonprofit Black Directors Health Equity Agenda. Black individuals recently made up only 12 percent of board members based on a scan of the 50 largest provider organizations by annual revenue, according to the report -- close to but still shy of the 14 percent Black representation in the U.S. population.
(Source: U.S. News & World Report, 2024-03-04)
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