A rise in union activity also may persist as the sector continues recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic. by Hailey Mensik The nation’s healthcare workforce still is trying to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic nearly three years after it began as labor shortages stress hospitals and clinicians, spurring increased burnout among staff ranging from nurses to executives. In… Read more
by Mark Pratt, AP Millions of Americans mired in medical debt face difficult financial decisions every day — pay the debt or pay for rent, utilities and groceries. Some may even skip necessary health care for fear of sinking deeper into debt. To address the problem, an increasing number of municipal, county and state governments… Read more
by Josh Boak, Associated Press The number of people with medical debt on their credit reports fell by 8.2 million — or 17.9% — between 2020 and 2022, according to a report Tuesday from the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. White House officials said in a separate draft report that the two-year drop likely stems… Read more
Adriel Bettelheim, Axios More than two-thirds of health care providers are still using pandemic waivers and flexibilities that are due to expire when the COVID public health emergency ends in May, according to an analysis by the group purchasing organization Premier. Why it matters: The health care system will undergo a major shift as hospitals, health systems… Read more
Rebecca Pifer, Healthcare Drive Agency officials said they’re putting the market on watch with the action against GoodRx. The Federal Trade Commission is penalizing GoodRx for sharing users’ sensitive health information with advertisers, in the agency’s first enforcement action under the Health Breach Notification Rule. The FTC filed an order with the Department of Justice on… Read more
by Hannah Norman, Kaiser Health News The same devices used to take selfies and type out tweets are being repurposed and commercialized for quick access to information needed for monitoring a patient’s health. A fingertip pressed against a phone’s camera lens can measure a heart rate. The microphone, kept by the bedside, can screen for… Read more
by Erica Carbajal, Becker’s Hospital Review Thirty-eight percent of Americans said they put off medical treatment in 2022 because of the cost, according to a Gallup poll published Jan. 17. This marks a 12 percentage point increase from those who said the same a year earlier, and the highest since Gallup began tracking the question in 2001. … Read more
By Ben Leonard, Erin Schumaker, and Ruth Reader at Politico Black and Hispanic patients were less likely than white patients to be offered and use online patient portals, a new study from HHS’ Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT found. The disparities persisted even when adjusting for age, education and other factors in the data for… Read more
A privacy expert breaks down the top HIPAA compliance challenges coming out of 2022, including the Dobbs decision, third-party risk, and the increasing interconnectedness of healthcare. In the years since HIPAA was first enacted in 1996, technological and societal developments have left covered entities with no shortage of compliance challenges. This year was no exception…. Read more
by Andrew Joseph, STAT When Michael Odell, an intensive care nurse, died by suicide a year ago this month, it thrust attention on all that nurses had endured during the pandemic. Odell’s death also motivated his friends in the field as well as other nurses to build on that attention and his legacy. In the year since,… Read more
