About health insurance/insurers
CMS pitches inpatient payment rule for 2025: 8 things to know FYI from CMS
About hospitals and healthcare systems
M&A Quarterly Activity Report: Q1 2024 “With 20 announced transactions, Q1 2024 showed a significant uptick in M&A activity and represents the strongest Q1 we have seen since 2020.
Of the 20 announced transactions, four were “mega mergers” (transactions in which the smaller party has annual revenues of $1 billion or more).This is one of the highest numbers of mega mergers we have seen and contributed to average seller size and total transacted revenue figures that remain at historically high levels.Academic health systems also had an active quarter, acting as the acquirer (or larger party) in six of the 20 announced transactions.”
User Information Sharing and Hospital Website Privacy Policies “In this cross-sectional analysis of a nationally representative sample of 100 nonfederal acute care hospitals, 96.0% of hospital websites transmitted user information to third parties, whereas 71.0% of websites included a publicly accessible privacy policy. Of 71 privacy policies, 40 (56.3%) disclosed specific third-party companies receiving user information.”
One Year After Medicaid Unwinding Began, Community Health Centers, Their Patients, and Their Communities are Feeling the Impact “This analysis confirms that consistent with the nationwide unwinding process, patient disenrollment is experienced by virtually all community health centers. An estimated one in four health center patients has lost coverage to date…
If these coverage loss estimates (disenrollment of 1 in 4 health center patients) remain consistent as unwinding continues into 2024, CHCs can expect that more than 3.5 million patients will experience coverage disruptions. Similarly, if the low reenrollment rate seen here remains constant, then three-fourths of all patients losing Medicaid will remain disenrolled, leading to disruption not only in coverage but in care itself, along with substantial revenue loss that will further affect ongoing CHC operations. Most concerning, perhaps, is disruption in pediatric coverage…”
State public option plans don't reduce premiums, result in low enrollment: industry-backed study “Instead of enacting public option plans, states should target reinsurance programs, a new report from the Partnership for America's Health Care Future argues…
States with public options fail to curb premium spending and fail to meet reimbursement rate targets, the analysis contends.
Public option advocates believe widespread implementation will reduce premiums and expand coverage. State public option plans rely on insurers to administer plans.”
About the public’s health
Recent increase in measles cases threatens elimination status in the US, CDC says “More than 100 cases of measles have been reported in the United States since the start of the year, and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns that a rapid rise in cases — significantly more than in recent years — poses a renewed threat to the country’s disease elimination status.”