News Briefs: The expiration of the COVID-19 PHE brings an end to key provisions
The termination of the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) on May 11 meant providers lost many of the accommodations and regulatory flexibilities that were in place since Jan. 31, 2020. For example, Medicare’s 20% add-on payment for treating COVID-19 cases in the inpatient setting no longer is available. With reported cases and hospitalizations steadily trending…
The COVID-19 public health emergency is over: Here’s what healthcare providers should know
An era ends for the U.S. healthcare industry with the termination of the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) at the close of the day on Thursday, May 11. The termination means providers are losing many of the federal waivers and flexibilities that have been in place for all or most of the PHE, which took…
Creative solutions to tackling top challenges in healthcare: 3 key insights
In this roundtable, several healthcare leaders shared lessons they learned navigating through major challenges due to COVID-19 including data security concerns, high rates of burnout and workforce shortages.
5 issues that are keeping healthcare compliance professionals up at night
Rarely has the compliance landscape been more muddled or presented more of a challenge for healthcare organizations. “I’ve been a compliance officer for about 20 years now, and I’ve been in healthcare forever,” said Kirsten Wild, RN, a nurse by background who now owns a healthcare compliance consultancy. “But the volume and the pace of…
Hospitals are facing a long slog to return to pre-pandemic normalcy, panelists say
The logjam of patients who cannot be seen expeditiously at hospitals is becoming an entrenched problem with no imminent solutions, a CMS leader said this week. “The data tells us healthcare services, particularly for the Medicare population, have not come back to pre-pandemic levels,” said Jonathan Blum, principal deputy administrator and COO with CMS. “We’re…
Best practices for relieving unprecedented cost pressures facing healthcare providers
Due to labor cost increases, inflation, declining Medicare reimbursements and other reasons, health systems across the nation are feeling a new financial strain after the height of the pandemic.
Here comes the Medicaid unwinding: The healthcare industry braces for coverage disruptions
A potentially tumultuous period for revenue cycle teams in particular and the U.S. healthcare system in general begins April 1, with the phasing out of a three-year run of Medicaid continuous enrollment. The so-called Medicaid “unwinding” originally was connected to end of the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE), which is scheduled for May 11. But…
New ways of working spur updated training, automation
Learn how changes implemented during the pandemic are transforming multiple healthcare finance executives' workplaces and driving them to rethink how work gets done.
Vaccination: Good for the community, the industry and your bottom line
Jacob Braude, a principal at ZS, returns to the podcast to discuss his firm's latest research on vaccine hesitancy.
Healthcare News of Note: Is a public health crisis looming for the generation born during the pandemic?
Infants born during the pandemic, regardless of maternal SARS-CoV-2 status, scored significantly lower on the gross motor, fine motor and personal-social subdomains of the Ages & Stages Questionnaire, 3rd Edition when compared with a cohort born pre-pandemic at one hospital. Opioids were prescribed at discharge during fewer emergency department (ED) visits in 2019-20, compared with…