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
Breaking down Medicare’s controversial physician payment update for 2023
With 2023 Medicare regulations potentially inflicting significant financial constraints on physician practices, advocates are calling on Congress to implement a fix before Jan. 1. CMS’s final rule for Medicare physician payments set the conversion factor at $33.06, a reduction of $1.55 — or 4.5% — from 2022. The decrease stems from a statutorily required update of 0%…
News Briefs: TMA returns to court over concerns about the No Surprises Act’s arbitration process
The Texas Medical Association has gone to court for a second time in less than a year over the independent dispute resolution process that’s part of the No Surprises Act.
Final regulations for rural emergency hospitals set the stage for first year of eligibility
REHs will be reimbursed for providing emergency care and outpatient services and must abide by terms and conditions that include limiting average length of stay to 24 hours.
10 Steps Toward Health Equity
The push to achieve equity in health and healthcare is daunting. It’s a multifaceted societal quest in which the goal is to fix disparities that have been entrenched throughout U.S. history. HFMA’s 2022 Thought Leadership Retreat brought together stakeholders from across healthcare Sept. 15-16 in Washington, D.C., to advance the dialogue in this effort. Although…
Changes to reimbursement for 340B drugs reverberate in the 2023 final rule for Medicare outpatient payments
The Medicare payment rate for hospital outpatient services will increase significantly in 2023, but the net gain will be quite a bit less than is apparent at first glance.
When it comes to healthcare price transparency regulations, questions abound
A new era for healthcare price transparency has been underway for almost two years, but the potential impact remains murky. Price transparency requirements for hospitals were drafted by CMS during the Trump administration and went into effect Jan. 1, 2021. A companion rule for health plans was set to begin a year later, but the…
Reeling hospital industry shouldn’t anticipate a turnaround anytime soon
Amid persistent financial and operational turbulence for hospitals, it appears unrealistic to expect significant improvement in the near future.
CMS continues to relax enforcement of COVID-19 vaccination requirements
CMS has revised its guidance to state survey agencies regarding assessment of healthcare provider compliance with COVID-19 vaccination requirements for staff.
Pandemic brought increases in the number of patients leaving the ED without being seen
Deferred care appeared to become more widespread in the emergency department amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a study.
No Surprises Act regulations remain a moving target for compliance
Amid all the rules stemming from the No Surprises Act, a looming mandate for providers to send cost estimates to health plans looks like the biggest stress inducer.