Mississippi Hospital Could Close June 15
Greenwood's Leflore Hospital issued a WARN notice indicating a possible permanent shutdown on June 15 unless it can stabilize operations. The facility recently cut 86 jobs, about 17% of its staff, and eliminated several service lines while grappling with Medicaid overpayment recoupments totaling $7.5 million. A temporary court‑ordered pause on repayment gives the hospital time to explore a takeover by the University of Mississippi Medical Center, which signed a 180‑day letter of intent. The hospital is also weighing a Chapter 9 bankruptcy filing to keep services running during negotiations.
Will AI Finally Free Clinicians From the Keyboard?
Health‑system CIOs say AI will fundamentally reshape electronic health records by automating documentation and processing, allowing clinicians to work without keyboards or mouse clicks. Ambient AI, voice activation and smart‑room cameras are already being piloted, with Penn Medicine planning a...
9 Healthcare Strikes in 2026
Healthcare unions have staged nine strikes across the United States in early 2026, affecting hospitals in California, Washington, Nevada, New York and beyond. The actions involved more than 30,000 workers, from nurses and technicians to pharmacy and lab staff, and...
CMS Proposes Mandatory Hospital-Bundled Model for Joint Replacements
CMS has proposed a mandatory, nationwide bundled payment model called CJR‑X for joint replacements, slated to start on Oct 1 2027. The model holds hospitals accountable for Medicare spending on knee, hip and ankle surgeries and the first 90 days of recovery,...
CMS Pitches 2.4% Hospital Pay Bump, Mandatory Joint Replacement Model: 7 Things to Know
CMS released its FY2027 Inpatient Prospective Payment System proposal, featuring a 2.4% Medicare payment increase for acute and long‑term care hospitals, estimated to add about $1.4 billion in payments. The rule also introduces CJR‑X, a mandatory, nationwide episode‑based model covering hip,...
Mayo Clinic Enhances Imaging Test with AI
Mayo Clinic researchers applied artificial intelligence to standard coronary artery CT scans, extracting measurements of pericardial fat that markedly improve long‑term cardiovascular disease risk prediction. The findings, published March 24 in the American Journal of Preventive Cardiology, demonstrate that a metric...
Christus Health to Open Texas Multi-Specialty Clinic
Christus Health announced that its new 22,000‑square‑foot multi‑specialty clinic will open on April 13 in Mount Pleasant, Texas, adjacent to the recently launched emergency center. The facility features 36 exam rooms, on‑site laboratory and imaging services, and will offer cardiology, electrophysiology,...
CMS Proposes Extension of Prior Authorization Rule to Cover Drugs: 6 Notes
CMS has issued a proposed rule that would extend its 2024 prior‑authorization interoperability framework to include prescription drugs. Starting Oct 1 2027, Medicaid, CHIP, and ACA plans would be required to support three pharmacy data standards, enable real‑time formulary checks, and submit...
Penn Medicine, Epic Lean Into EHR ‘Nudges’
Penn Medicine is partnering with Epic to embed a larger suite of behavioral nudges into its electronic health record, aiming to shift clinicians and patients toward evidence‑based decisions. The collaboration, discussed at a recent Philadelphia workshop, focuses on expanding default...
AdventHealth Breaks Ground on $27M Freestanding ER
AdventHealth broke ground on a new freestanding emergency department in New Port Richey, Florida, with a construction cost of $27 million. The 13,000‑square‑foot facility will house 12 patient beds, on‑site imaging including X‑ray and CT, a dedicated lab, three treatment bays...
Henry Ford Hospital Strike Enters 7th Month: 6 Notes
Nurses represented by Teamsters Local 332 have been on strike at Henry Ford Genesys Hospital for over seven months, beginning on September 1. The hospital’s negotiating team met with union leaders for the 87th time in April 2025, while the union insists...
Texas Launches Rural Hospital Leadership Academy
Texas State University will spearhead the Texas Rural Hospital Officers Academy, a program created by HB 18 in the 2025 legislative session. The academy will deliver more than 100 hours of specialized training each year to leaders of rural hospitals and...
Children’s Minnesota Staff Email Account Compromised
Children’s Minnesota disclosed that a staff email account was compromised on April 9. An unauthorized actor accessed the account and sent phishing emails with subjects like “Sponsorship Document.” The hospital warned recipients not to click links or open attachments and advised...
Healthcare Remains Top Cybercrime Target: FBI
The FBI’s 2025 Internet Crime Report shows healthcare and public health faced the most cyber incidents of any critical‑infrastructure sector, with 642 events recorded. Ransomware dominated, accounting for 460 attacks, while 182 data breaches placed the industry third in breach...
Rochester General Technical Workers Vote to Unionize
Technical workers at Rochester General Hospital voted 145-54 to join the Rochester Union of Nurses and Allied Professionals, covering nearly 300 roles such as respiratory therapists, radiology technologists, and licensed practical nurses. The new bargaining unit aims to leverage collective...
FDA Denies Exemption Request for Radiology AI Devices
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration denied a petition seeking partial exemption of radiology artificial‑intelligence devices from 510(k) premarket review. The request, filed in October 2025, aimed to waive requirements for computer‑aided detection, diagnosis, triage and notification software. After reviewing...
Florida International U, Medical School Land $30M Gift for Medical Center
Philanthropists Helen and Jacob Shaham have pledged a $30 million gift to Florida International University’s Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine. The donation will underwrite the construction of a new seven‑story academic medical center on FIU’s Miami campus, to be named the...
Stanford Health, Alameda Health System Partner to Support California Hospital
Stanford Health Care and Alameda Health System announced a strategic collaboration to expand care at St. Rose Hospital in Hayward, California. The partnership will allocate skilled‑nursing facility beds for Stanford referrals, create a community‑based inpatient psychiatric unit, and lease medical‑surgical...
UMass Memorial Health Expands Epic EHR to Milford Regional
UMass Memorial Health expanded its Epic electronic health record system to Milford Regional, which went live on April 1. The integration follows Milford’s 2024 affiliation with UMass Memorial and a 2025 implementation effort that included extensive staff training. A single, uniform...
Parkland Health Taps Chief Legal Officer
Dallas‑based Parkland Health announced that Brad Nitschke has been promoted to executive vice president and chief legal officer. Nitschke, who joined the system in August 2021 as associate general counsel for operations and regulatory matters, previously served as a trial and...
Michigan Hospitals Cut Pediatric X-Rays for Respiratory Illnesses by 40%
Michigan hospitals participating in a statewide quality‑improvement collaborative cut chest X‑ray use for pediatric respiratory illnesses by nearly 40 %. The program, launched in 2019 and funded by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Blue Care Network, analyzed 114,238 emergency‑department...
ED Strategy Redesign Aims to Improve Dementia Patient Outcomes
Memorial Sloan Kettering researchers have devised an emergency department (ED) redesign aimed at improving outcomes for patients with dementia. The intervention combines targeted problem‑identification tools, psychosocial considerations for patient‑caregiver‑clinician triads, and structured post‑discharge follow‑up. A concise, one‑hour training curriculum equips...
Acting Attorney General Forms National Fraud Enforcement Division
Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the creation of the National Fraud Enforcement Division (NFED) to combat fraud in taxpayer‑funded programs, a move spurred by rising Medicaid fraud concerns in Minnesota. The division consolidates oversight of existing fraud units,...
High-Dose Wegovy Debuts at $399 for Self-Paying Patients
Novo Nordisk has launched Wegovy HD, a 7.2‑mg semaglutide injection, priced at $399 per month for self‑paying patients. The FDA approved the higher‑dose formulation in March, expanding the company’s weight‑loss portfolio beyond the previous 2.4‑mg limit. The new price is...
13 Health Systems Seeking Revenue Cycle Vice Presidents
Thirteen hospitals and health systems have posted senior‑level openings for revenue cycle leadership. The positions, ranging from vice president of revenue cycle management to associate vice president of revenue cycle systems, are located across a broad geographic spread including Missouri,...
Why More Americans Are Leaving the Workforce
The U.S. labor force participation rate slipped to 61.9% in March, the lowest level since 1977 when the pandemic is excluded. The decline is driven primarily by accelerating retirements among baby‑boomers and tighter immigration flows, which together shrink the pool...
11 Hospitals, Health Systems Adding New C-Suite Roles in 2026
In 2024, eleven hospitals and health systems announced inaugural C‑suite roles slated to begin in 2026, covering positions such as chief clinical officer, chief health AI transformation officer, chief nursing executive, and chief digital and information officer. The appointments span...
UNC Health, UNC-Chapel Hill Debut Platform for AI Development
UNC-Chapel Hill and UNC Health have launched SHIRE, a secure cloud‑based platform that lets credentialed researchers access curated electronic health record data for AI development. The system, built by the NC TraCS Informatics team, offers scalable computing power while maintaining...
Imaging Delays Surge as Radiology Workforce Hits Limits: Study
Imaging interpretation turnaround times for Medicare fee‑for‑service patients have more than doubled between 2014 and 2023, rising from roughly 2.2 hours to 4.6 hours on average. The slowdown is especially acute for advanced modalities, with CT scans experiencing a 318%...
Minnesota System CEO to Retire
Astera Health CEO Joel Beiswenger announced his retirement effective July 1, ending an 18‑year tenure that began as CFO in 1998 and as CEO since 2008. Under his leadership, the system completed a merger to form Astera Health, partnered with Wadena...
DEA Issues Emergency Suspension to Tennessee Pharmacy
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration issued an Immediate Suspension Order against A+ Pharmacy in Chattanooga, Tennessee, revoking its authority to handle controlled substances. The action resulted from a joint investigation with the Tennessee Board of Pharmacy that uncovered violations of...
EHR Giant Convenes App Developers with Open@Epic
Epic is hosting its second annual Open@Epic conference in Verona, Wisconsin, in October, inviting app developers to expand its connected health data ecosystem. Since the inaugural event, monthly patient‑directed data exchanges via Epic APIs have climbed from roughly 3.1 billion to...
Premier Health Launches 2 Clinical Decision-Support Tools
Premier Health, a five‑hospital system in Dayton, Ohio, is deploying two AI‑driven clinical decision‑support tools across its network. The first, UpToDate Expert AI, merges evidence‑based medical content with advanced artificial intelligence and has received approval from the system’s AI governance...
Pharmacist-Led Discharge Programs Show No Overall Benefit: 4 Study Notes
A randomized trial at Cedars‑Sinai evaluated pharmacist‑led transition‑of‑care programs for adults 55 and older on multiple or high‑risk medications. Across 6,478 hospitalizations, the intervention did not significantly lower 30‑day overall or same‑hospital utilization compared with usual care. However, among patients...
Children’s Minnesota Resumes Gender Health Services After Pause
Children’s Minnesota, the only pediatric‑only health system in the state, has resumed all services in its Gender Health program after a temporary pause that began on Feb. 27. The pause was lifted following a March federal court ruling that invalidated...
UPMC Hospital Union Decertification Bid Dismissed
The National Labor Relations Board dismissed a petition to decertify SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania as the bargaining representative for roughly 290 service and maintenance workers at UPMC Washington Hospital. The board ruled that a collective bargaining agreement ratified on February 10 2025, and...
Kansas Law Trims Requirements for Nursing Instructors
Kansas Senate Bill 334, now law without Governor Laura Kelly's signature, eliminates the requirement that nursing faculty hold a credential one level higher than the program they teach. The change targets the chronic shortage of nursing educators by allowing instructors...
BJC Executives: Key Questions Shaping Value-Based Care Strategy
BJC Health System, now a 24‑hospital, $10.7 billion organization after its 2024 merger with Saint Luke’s, is deepening its value‑based care strategy across a continuum that links clinical, operational and financial teams. Executives highlighted lessons from pioneering an ACO in 2012,...
Rhode Island Hospital Birthing Center to Remain Open Amid Funding Push
Newport Hospital’s Noreen Stonor Drexel Birthing Center will stay open only if it secures roughly $4.9 million in additional annual funding from the state and private donors. An independent Kaufman Hall review confirmed the center’s high‑quality, around‑the‑clock obstetric, pediatric and anesthesia...
OHSU CEO Out After 3 Months
Oregon Health & Science University announced that CEO Tarek Salaway, who took the helm in mid‑December, has been terminated after just three months. The university said his dismissal stemmed from his concerns about bias and resource waste being dismissed. Chief...
Arkansas System Names CEO
Arkansas’s Mississippi County Hospital System has appointed Lacey Carter, MSN, as its new chief executive officer, effective immediately. Carter joins from Ozarks Healthcare in Missouri, where she served as chief operating officer, chief nursing officer and executive director of nursing....
Sanford Health CIO Steps Into New Role
Brad Reimer has been elevated from CIO to chief technology and digital officer at Sanford Health, the 58‑hospital system based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. After nearly four years overseeing the network’s IT operations, he will now steer digital transformation,...
More Medical Schools Swap Lectures for Active Learning
U.S. medical schools are increasingly adopting flipped classroom active learning. The approach gives students material before class and uses in‑person time for discussion, problem‑solving, and hands‑on exercises. A 2025 study showed higher knowledge‑based test scores at schools using active learning....
Buffalo Bills, Kaleida Health Extend Naming Rights Partnership
Buffalo Bills and Kaleida Health have renewed their partnership, granting Kaleida naming rights to the team’s training complex, now called the Kaleida Health Performance Center. The agreement keeps Kaleida as the Bills’ official health‑care provider and expands joint community‑health initiatives...
HCA Houston Healthcare Hospital Taps New CFO
HCA Houston Healthcare Tomball announced Francis Tezanos as its new chief financial officer, effective Jan. 12. The 350‑bed facility, part of the Nashville‑based HCA Healthcare system, expects Tezanos to steer budgeting, revenue‑cycle management and strategic financial planning. Previously, he served as...
How the $100K H-1B Visa Fee Will Affect Hospitals: AHA
The Trump administration’s September executive order raised the H‑1B petition fee from roughly $3,500 to $100,000, targeting specialty‑occupation visas used by hospitals for physicians, nurses and technicians. The American Hospital Association (AHA) warns that the fee will deepen the current...
19 Health Systems Dropping Medicare Advantage Plans | 2026
Nineteen hospitals and health systems are terminating contracts with Medicare Advantage (MA) plans in 2026, citing chronic prior‑authorization denials and delayed reimbursements. The exits span major networks such as UnitedHealthcare, Humana, Aetna, and Anthem, affecting institutions from Mayo Clinic to...
Meta Gets Into Health Wearables with AI Glasses
Meta announced AI-powered smart glasses that now support prescription lenses and include a hands‑free food‑tracking feature. Users can log meals by speaking a command or snapping a photo, with the device extracting nutritional information and syncing it to the Meta...
UT Southwestern, Children’s Health Land $100M Gift for Dallas Pediatric Campus
UT Southwestern Medical Center and Children’s Health received a $100 million gift from the Stephens Greth Foundation to advance their $5 billion joint pediatric campus in Dallas. The campus, scheduled to open in 2031, will feature Moody Children’s Hospital with 552...
131 Hospitals Sue HHS over DSH Cuts: 5 Notes
More than 130 hospitals have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, challenging a 2023 CMS rule that changes how disproportionate share hospital (DSH) payments are calculated. The rule counts Medicare Advantage Part C patient...