• Emergency Out-of-Network Payments Were Twice the Benchmark Level (Medscape)

• Comparison of Estimated No Surprises Act Qualifying Payment Amounts and Payments to In-Network and Out-of-Network Emergency Medicine Professionals (JAMA Forum)

• ‘The Hell That They Put Me Through’: Nursing Homes Are Suing Caregivers for Debts They Don’t Owe, Regulator Says (Barrons)

• Hospitals Divert Primary Care Patients to Health Center ‘Look-Alikes’ to Boost Finances (California Healthline)

• Amazon Care is shutting down at the end of 2022. Here's why (Fierce Health)

• Amazon’s Health Care Ambitions (Washington Monthly)

• Private equity bought a nursing home, leading to staff cuts and a decline in care (Marketplace)

• Atlanta Medical Center closure: What you need to know (Beckers)

• Major Atlanta hospital announces closure, drawing mayor’s ire (MPT/PBS)

• AI predicts demand for hospital beds for patients coming through emergency department (Medcial Xpress)

• Hospital margins worse than when pandemic began, report says (Healthcare Dive)

• National database for showing nursing home ownership has gaps, report says (Axios)

• How Can We Improve the Hospital Discharge Process?(Medpage)

• New rural hospital model draws interest — and questions (Crains)

• Buy and Bust: Collapse of Private Equity-Backed Rural Hospitals Mired Employees in Medical Bills (KHN)

• Colorado's new hospital price transparency law adds 'real teeth' to weak federal enforcement, experts say (Fierce Health)

• New Medicaid study: Expanding insurance coverage for adults also helps enroll children (EurekaAlert!)

• Nursing home operator American Senior Communities to pay $5.5 million over Medicare fraud (Indianapolis Star)

• Two western Pennsylvania health care facilities indicted in health care fraud case (MSN)

• Novant Health applies again for hospital in North Carolina county (Beckers)

• Scrutiny of nursing home corporate ownership fires up again on multiple fronts (McKnights)

• Owners of nearly half of Indiana’s nursing homes sued over refusal to share financial information (Mcknights)

• Hospices Have Become Big Business for Private Equity Firms, Raising Concerns About End-of-Life Care (KHN)

• Study:Growing Need for Primary Care Physicians Caring for Cancer Survivors (JABFM)

• Highest healthcare spending and highest burden for most, an increase in spending per case was associated with an increase in disability-adjusted life-years averted per case (RevCycle)

• Study: Health Care Spending Effectiveness: Estimates Suggest That Spending Improved US Health From 1996 To 2016 (Health Affairs)

• Why insurers are weighing double-digit ACA premium hikes for 2023 (Fierce Health)

• Report: These are the factors impacting individual, small group premiums in 2023 (Fierce Health)

• Streamlining eligibility and enrollment processes, such as ex parte renewals, could help seniors and people with disabilities maintain Medicaid coverage after the public health emergency ends (Health Payer)

• Annual Report of the Departments of Health and Human Services and Justice: Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Program (OIG)

• Health costs associated with pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum care (Peterson-KFF Health SystemTracker)

• Marketplace insurers denied 18% of in-network claims in 2020, data shows (HealthCareDive)

• Report:Claims Denials and Appeals in ACA Marketplace Plans in 2020 (KFF)

• High use of telemental health services by patients with serious mental illness (SMI) who live in nonmetropolitan US counties is associated with improvements in key outcomes (Medscape)

• How Much Health Insurers Pay for Almost Everything Is About to Go Public (KHN)

• Hospitals with more nursing home beds nearby readmit fewer patients: study (McKnights)

• Examination of Potential Industry Conflicts of Interest and Disclosures by Contributors to Online Medical Resource Databases (JAMA NO)

• CMS insurer price transparency rule has taken effect. Signs are good for compliance (HealthCareDive)

• Opinion: The Fatal Flaw in Hospital Price Transparency Rules (Medpage)
• Hospital Price Transparency Higher in Less Competitive Markets (RecCycle)

• ED Visits, Hospitalizations 22% Higher Among Cannabis Users (AJMC)

• How Pfizer Won the Pandemic, Reaping Outsize Profit and Influence (KHN)

• Mid-Missouri hospital closures raise concerns about private equity in healthcare (KBIA)

• High Court backs federal formula for reimbursing safety-net hospitals (Courthouse News Service)

• US Supreme Court Rebuffs UnitedHealth Group Challenge on Medicare Overpayments (Medscape/Reuters)

• FTC notches another antitrust win as HCA Healthcare, Steward Health Care call off 5-hospital sale (Fierce Health)

• Medicare, Beneficiaries Saw Higher Prices at Provider-Based Facilities (Rev Cycle)

In the News

Blogs We Follow

Popular Site Destinations

Job Bank

No current postings at AHPA

Federal Agency Blogs

COVID-19 Information

Starting Points:

• U. S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC)
• Cases, Data & Surveillance
• Covide Science Updates (Weekly)
• State Health Departments
• NACCHO Directory Local Health Departments
• CMS Nursing Home Covid Data
• GAO Coronavirus Oversight

Guides & Resources for Workspaces:

• Kaiser Permanente Articles & Business Resources
• CDC Workplaces and Businesses
• Summary of CDC guidelines on reopening businesses after the pandemic (Tech Republic)

Additional Resources:

• Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform (CHQPR) Report Summary on Pandemic and Rural Hospital Closure Risk
• Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) (Medscape)
• CDC’s COVID-19 Vaccination Program Interim Playbook for Jurisdiction Operations
• The Costs of Coronavirus (JAMA Network)
• Largest COVID-19 contact tracing study to date finds children key to spread, evidence of superspreaders (Princeton)
• Evidence-Based Practice for Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response (National Acadamies 2020)
• National Insitutes of Health
• John Hopkins ABX Guide: Coronavirus COVID-19
• The Covid Tracking Project (Tracking ended 3/7/2021):
• University Of Minnesotta CIDRAP Covid Resources
• JAMA Sponsored Live Stream Q & A with CDC
• Kaiser Family Foundation COVID-19 News and Reports
• NEJM : A collection of articles and other resources on the Coronavirus (Covid-19)
• Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME): COVID-19 Resources
• Penn Center for Research on Coronavirus and Other Emerging Pathogens Webinars (You Tube Channel)

Older News Items Can be found here