Business Intelligence

Providers utilize business intelligence to monitor referral patterns and collaborate with clinicians who order their services. Such analytics tools have also been deployed in the specialty to improve productivity, track patient satisfaction and bolster quality.

Investor-bought PCPs carry on like nothing much has changed—with caveats
Private-equity acquisitions of primary-care provider practices neither alter hospitalization rates nor affect acute-care outcomes, according to new research out of Brown University.
12 of the top technology vendors serving children’s hospitals
Epic makes the list with its enterprise inpatient EHR and related platforms. So does PCC, aka Physician’s Computer Company, which supplies pediatric-specific ambulatory EHR and practice-management products and services.
Weight loss drugs are hiking employer healthcare prices, with 87% saying they expect costs to only go up
In a survey, employers told the Business Group on Health that they aren’t yet seeing evidence of long-term health benefits from taking GLP-1s for weight loss, leaving them unsure how to manage costs while continuing to cover them.
Former healthcare CEO sentenced to 5 years in prison for role in $212M fraud conspiracy
Parmjit “Paul” Parmar, 55, from New Jersey has also been ordered to pay $125 million in restitution. The scheme to defraud investors was uncovered in 2017.
Analysis: The public may not be wrong to think of the ED as the ‘front door’ of the hospital
The perception is probably more pronounced in community hospital EDs than their academic counterparts.

Healthcare private equity reporting act signed into law by Mass. governor

The new law will require private equity firms to make disclosures related to organizational structure and finances if they intend to operate a medical facility or provider organization in the state.

Industry Watcher’s Digest

Is AI adoption a marathon or a sprint?

Healthcare systems set up at the ACC.24 career fair in hopes of filling open positions, including a large and growing number of general cardiologist positions. Photo by Dave Fornell #ACC24 #ACC2024

Healthcare, AI top list of fastest growing jobs

While artificial intelligence engineers and consultants took the top two spots, physical therapists and advanced practice providers also landed among the 25 fastest growing jobs in the U.S.

$49B in medical debt to be erased from credit reports

A new final rule from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau bans reporting agencies from including medical debts on credit reports or factoring them into credit scores.

$3.3B merger of UnitedHealth and Amedisys delayed by DOJ lawsuit

The new deadline for the deal to be finalized is Dec. 31, 2025. However, the ultimate fate of UnitedHealth's acquisition of Amedisys will be decided in a federal court.

artificial intelligence AI infrastructure

Industry Watcher’s Digest

New Year’s Day brought the go-live for California’s new law forbidding the use of AI to deny health insurance claims.

FDA AI enabled medical devices approval clearance

FDA to hopeful marketers of AI-equipped medical devices: Think beyond your initial approval

Some FDA-approved medical devices age more safely than others. That’s no less true of AI-enabled technologies than of any others. The agency spells out the ramifications in draft guidance issued this week.

Mayo Clinic sues insurer over $740K in medical bills for patient

The nonprofit health system accused Sanford Health Plan of failing to pay for a patient’s 52 days of treatment, despite approval and authorization.

Business Intelligence

Investor-bought PCPs carry on like nothing much has changed—with caveats

12 of the top technology vendors serving children’s hospitals

Weight loss drugs are hiking employer healthcare prices, with 87% saying they expect costs to only go up

Former healthcare CEO sentenced to 5 years in prison for role in $212M fraud conspiracy

Analysis: The public may not be wrong to think of the ED as the ‘front door’ of the hospital