H-1B Visa Fee Strains the Healthcare Workforce and Hospital Finances
The Trump administration’s 2025 policy imposes a $100,000 fee on each H‑1B visa application, up from a few thousand dollars. Hospitals, especially rural and safety‑net facilities, say the cost is unsustainable and is already forcing them to halt or limit foreign clinician recruitment. A recent American Hospital Association survey shows 64% of members plan to pause H‑1B hiring, while legal challenges argue the fee functions as an unauthorized tax. The fee threatens to deepen nurse and physician shortages, particularly in underserved areas that rely on J‑1 waiver physicians.
HFMA Members Urged to Evaluate and Reply to Prospective New GASB Statement
The Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) is urging its members to review the Governmental Accounting Standards Board’s proposed Statement No. 103, which provides new guidance on classifying and treating subsidies in governmental accounting. The draft guidance, released as an implementation guide,...
FastFinance: Health System Capex Plans; Medicare IPPS Impacts
HFMA’s FastFinance newsletter has launched a podcast hosted by Rich Daly, highlighting key healthcare finance trends. Hospitals and health systems are scaling back capital expenditures in 2026, reallocating funds to different priorities. Rural hospitals remain under pressure, with 34.9% operating...
Growth Projects Lead Amid Reduced Capex
Health system executives report a slowdown in overall capital spending, with nearly half planning cuts of 10% or more for 2026. Despite tighter budgets, revenue‑growth initiatives have become the top priority, rising to 46% of capital plans, while patient acquisition...
Hospitals See Danger to SDPs in Fraud Fight
Hospital advocates have raised alarms that the Trump administration’s upcoming anti‑fraud regulations, outlined in the CMS CRUSH RFI, could target Medicaid state‑directed payments (SDPs) and the intergovernmental transfers (IGTs) used to fund them. Groups such as America’s Essential Hospitals, the...
Predict, Prevent, Perform: The AI Evolution of Denials Management
Healthcare providers are grappling with denial rates near 12% in 2025, translating into millions of dollars of delayed revenue per percentage point. Legacy manual processes can’t keep pace with AI‑driven payer adjudication that rejects claims for minor errors. Providers are...
Fee-for-Service Payment Approach Creates Obstacles to AI Adoption by Physicians
A new NEJM Catalyst report finds that the fee‑for‑service (FFS) reimbursement model discourages physicians from adopting clinical AI because efficiency gains shrink billable time. When AI halves a visit, doctors see a proportional drop in revenue, creating a misaligned incentive....
The KPIs that Define Revenue Cycle Excellence
Healthcare revenue cycle leaders face shrinking reimbursements, higher denial rates, and growing complexity, prompting a shift from intuition to data‑driven management. The HFMA MAP Keys provide an industry‑standard framework of 29 KPIs across five domains, delivering a shared language for...
FY 2027 Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility PPS Proposed Rule Summary
On April 2, 2026, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a proposed rule (CMS-1845-P) to update the Medicare Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility prospective payment system (IRF PPS) for fiscal year 2027. The proposal adds new therapy documentation standards,...
In a First, a Drugmaker’s Lawsuit Challenges HRSA’s 340B Patient Definition
AbbVie Inc. has filed a lawsuit in Washington, D.C. challenging the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) 30‑year‑old guidance on who qualifies as a “patient” under the 340B drug pricing program. The drugmaker argues the guidance is overly broad, allowing...
Next Reconciliation Bill to Target Healthcare
Congressional leaders are drafting a new budget reconciliation bill, slated for possible enactment by July, that will target healthcare spending to help fund roughly $64 billion for the Department of Homeland Security and $200 billion for the ongoing Iran conflict. The bill...
A Key Antitrust Case Against Providers, Plus the Marriage of Patient Experience and AI
In a recent HFMA podcast, senior editor Erika Grotto and FinThrive’s Jonathan Wiik dissect a high‑profile antitrust lawsuit targeting alleged price‑fixing among hospital providers. The discussion also explores how artificial intelligence can be woven into the patient‑experience journey to boost...
Healthcare Affordability Requires a Collective Effort, Industry Leaders Say
At the ViVE health‑tech conference, HFMA‑led panelists warned that healthcare affordability is an urgent, collective challenge. A Gallup poll shows 29 % of Americans now view cost as the top concern, up from 23 % a year earlier. Providers plan to spend...
Chapter Partnership with OU Drives Student Engagement
Over the past two years, the HFMA Oklahoma Chapter partnered with the University of Oklahoma Hudson College of Public Health to embed HFMA certifications into the MHA curriculum. The collaboration has led 54 students to earn the Certified Specialist in...
FastFinance: Hospital Non-Patient Revenue; ACA Plan Changes
HFMA’s FastFinance newsletter has launched a podcast, offering finance leaders a new audio format for industry updates. A recent HFMA analysis reveals that non‑patient‑care services now generate the majority of hospital revenue, with patient‑care share varying widely by hospital type....
