News Briefs
Providers Could Lose $32B in Revenue From Expiring ACA Subsidies
President Donald Trump's plan to let the Affordable Care Act's premium tax credits expire will significantly cost healthcare providers, according to a new analysis from the Urban Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. This loss of insurance coverage will significantly disadvantage healthcare providers, with the loss of premium tax credits alone leading to revenue losses of $32.1 billion and $7.7 billion in additional uncompensated care costs in 2026.
(Source: Tech Target, 2025-09-25)
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Medical Groups Warn H-1B Visa Fees Will Exacerbate Doctor Shortage
The American Medical Association and scores of specialty groups are urging the Trump administration to exempt foreign doctors from steep new fees for H-1B visas, saying the charges will exacerbate physician shortages, worsen patient care, and drive up healthcare costs. Doctors from abroad make up nearly one quarter of the physician work force in the United States, and they provide much of the staffing in rural and underserved areas of the country, and many fill positions in important areas of medicine that are often shunned by U.S.-trained physicians, like primary care, psychiatry, and pediatrics.
(Source: The New York Times, 2025-09-26)
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Lawmakers Introduce Bill Creating H-2C Visa for LTC Workers
A new temporary visa, H-2C, would be created for foreigners who work in long-term care and some other fields under legislation reintroduced by Reps. Lloyd Smucker (R-PA) and Henry Cuellar (D-TX). The Essential Workers for Economic Advancement Act (HR 5494) would open up a new category for certain nonseasonal, nonagricultural work that doesn't require a college degree, including work in long-term care.
(Source: McKnight's Long-Term Care News, 2025-09-25)
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Pilot Program Will Allow AI to Decide Medicare Approvals
Taking a page from the private insurance industry's playbook, the Trump administration will launch a program next year to find out how much money an artificial intelligence algorithm could save the federal government by denying care to Medicare patients. The pilot program, designed to weed out wasteful, “low-value” services, amounts to a federal expansion of an unpopular process called prior authorization, which requires patients or someone on their medical team to seek insurance approval before proceeding with certain procedures, tests, and prescriptions.
(Source: KFF Health News, 2025-09-25)
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Administration Could Propose GLOBE Drug Pricing Model
The Trump administration may propose a regulatory process to force drugmakers to cut U.S. prices to the lower levels in other wealthy countries, according to a notice that was posted on a federal website. The notice, which was published, then deleted for several hours, and then republished, refers to a "proposed rule" and a "global benchmark for efficient drug pricing (GLOBE) model" under the Department of Health and Human Services.
(Source: The New York Times, 2025-09-25)
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PBMs Moving to Get in Front of Potential Reform Efforts
Industry groups representing pharmacies are expressing concern about a new media report that suggests pharmacy benefit managers are looking to get out ahead of potential reform efforts. Proposals include increased payments to rural and independent pharmacies, a larger focus on the use of lower-cost biologics, and steps to ensure patients' costs aren't higher than cash-pay rates, per the report.
(Source: FierceHealthcare, 2025-09-25)
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Administration Investigation Could Lead to Medical Device Tariffs
The Trump administration has launched investigations into imports of robotics, industrial machinery, and medical devices, opening the door to new tariffs as President Donald Trump seeks to expand his trade agenda. The new probes broaden the scope of industries potentially subject to tariffs as Trump looks to encourage U.S. manufacturing by raising the cost of foreign-made goods.
(Source: Medical Economics, 2025-09-25)
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HHS Asks Courts to Dismiss Appeals of Nursing Home Staff Minimums
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has withdrawn legal appeals in the Fifth Circuit and the Eighth Circuit defending federal minimum staffing requirements in nursing homes. HHS' submissions for dismissal mark the last stages of a 16-month legal battle between HHS and nursing home industry stakeholders, including the American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living and LeadingAge, the two largest nursing home provider associations.
(Source: Skilled Nursing News, 2025-09-24)
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States Stepping Up to Increase Spending on Primary Care
For decades, primary care physicians have warned that the field is underfunded, especially when compared to specialty care. A new viewpoint in JAMA Health Forum highlights how several states are now attempting to change that equation by requiring insurers to allocate a larger share of healthcare dollars to primary care.
(Source: Medical Economics, 2025-09-23)
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P.E. Firms Continue to Acquire Physician Practices, GAO Finds
Fewer doctors are employed by independent physician practices as offices are acquired by health systems, insurers, private equity firms, and other companies, according to a review of studies published by the Government Accountability Office. For example, about 47 percent of physicians worked for or were affiliated with hospital systems last year, compared with less than 30 percent in 2012, according to a study by the American Medical Association cited in the report.
(Source: Healthcare Dive, 2025-09-24)
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Hospices Concerned HOPE Tool Will Impact Finances
The forthcoming transition to the Hospice Outcomes and Patient Evaluation (HOPE) tool could have a ripple effect on hospices' financial sustainability, an issue of mounting concern when it comes to patient access. Despite growing calls for a delay, implementation of the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) HOPE tool begins on Oct. 1.
(Source: Hospice News, 2025-09-26)
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