Nick Hut
About the Author
Nick Hut is a former newspaper reporter with more than a decade of experience at HFMA. His HFMA Daily reporting is considered a top benefit of membership as members have come to rely on Hut’s daily insights on policy, legal and business developments. He has been at the forefront of major industry news, garnering a following from national media. Nick has earned multiple national awards, including two first-place honors in 2024 from the American Society of Business Publication Editors for excellence in analysis and reporting.
Latest Work
Hospitals targeted in healthcare affordability debate on Capitol Hill
Large employers are looking to put much of the impetus for improving healthcare affordability on hospitals, according to congressional testimony Wednesday. “Many of the biggest cost increases are driven by hospitals and health systems and can be addressed today,” Elizabeth Mitchell, president and CEO of the large-employer coalition Purchaser Business Group on Health (PBGH), said…
Panel: AI can improve prior authorization in healthcare but won’t solve all the issues
New approaches to prior authorization are crucial to improve a process that remains essential to supporting healthcare quality, according to a subject matter expert. “Prior auth exists because there’s a bell curve of care in the United States,” said Jeremy Friese, MD, founder and CEO of Humata Health, referring to substantial variability “from a safety…
CMS details implementation of Medicaid 6-month eligibility checks under the OBBBA
CMS has issued guidance on how Medicaid expansion states should implement the higher-frequency eligibility redeterminations as required under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). Starting in 2027, states must conduct eligibility checks of most adults in the expansion population every six months, up from annually (the guidance refers to the 2025 law as the…
Hospitals urged to strengthen cybersecurity amid rising Iran-linked threats
March 16 update During the week of March 9, the Michigan-based medical equipment manufacturer Stryker reported being hit by a cyberattack. Per various news reports, the attack was perpetrated by a hacking group linked to Iran. The company says operations ranging from manufacturing to processing and shipping are being impacted, but products in the field…
Hospitals can use 2026 to prepare for CMS TEAM bundled payment risk
In what amounts to a dress-rehearsal year, hospitals participating in CMS’s mandatory Transforming Episode Accountability Model (TEAM) should take the opportunity to prepare for the high stakes that loom. TEAM, a five-year bundled payment model that is obligatory for nearly 750 hospitals in 188 selected markets, is upside-only in its first year. The ante rises…
Medicare claims processing modernization gains urgency at CMS
In 2025, the newly created U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was associated with the large-scale culling of staff and a proposed restructuring at HHS, along with substantial reductions in personnel at many other departments. These days, in addition to releasing a massive file of provider-level Medicaid billing data, DOGE is placing its healthcare focus…
DOGE releases (then removes) Medicaid billing data to expand fraud oversight (updated)
The Trump administration’s ongoing push to address fraud in government healthcare programs includes the release of a massive data set showing Medicaid billing patterns of individual providers. With more than 227 million rows of Medicaid fee-for-service and managed-care billing data and roughly 1.8 million national provider identifiers (NPIs), the file shows the NPI for each…
Study details how OBBBA Medicaid cuts will restructure state budgets
A handful of states may gain financially because of the Medicaid provisions legislated in the 2025 reconciliation bill known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), according to a new study. Results of an analysis by RAND Health include the finding that state Medicaid budgets will fall by $664 billion between 2025 and 2034,…
GAO examines No Surprises Act payment and network trends
Recent trends seen as a consequence of the No Surprises Act (NSA) include a moderate increase in the share of providers going in-network for some services, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Such a development was a secondary goal of the 2020 year-end legislation and could belie concerns that the large…
Medicare GME funding reform debate focuses on rural hospitals
Better-targeted funding is essential to ensure the clinical talent pipeline meets the needs of hospitals in rural and underserved areas, according to insights at a recent congressional hearing. Phelps Health, a rural Missouri hospital, has benefited from federal and state planning and development grants that enabled the launch of a family medicine residency with enhanced…