The insurance giant has been piloting a program to speed up reimbursement to hospitals in 10 states, reducing delays by roughly 50%. Now, the company said it will work to lift prior authorization barriers on patient care delivery. The intent is to roll out these changes nationwide by the end of 2026, UnitedHealthcare confirmed.

By and large, U.S. hospitals and health systems do not have an AI adoption problem. But many—if not most—have an execution problem: They struggle to turn a set of installed AI tools into a measurable operational value. 

Family physicians and other primary care providers don’t mind being held to account for care quality by healthcare administrators. The rub is that multiple other stakeholders often demand similar levels of answerability, pulling the doctors in different directions at once. 

The Society of Thoracic Surgeons put together an expert committee to examine the prevention and treatment of new-onset postoperative atrial fibrillation after cardiac surgery. The group shared recommendations for before, during and after treatment.

Pharmaceutical companies are spending close to $10 billion per year on direct-to-consumer advertising in the U.S. Only the entertainment industry spends more. Is that a good thing? 

Heart Rhythm 2026 in Chicago will include a total of 18 late-breaking clinical trials—and that is just the beginning. The four-day event kicks off April 23.

Of all lawsuits filed against patients in 2024 in one U.S. state, physician practices and other non-hospital healthcare entities accounted for 80% of cases. That’s a complete inversion from just six years prior.  

In the three or so years since it burst into healthcare, ambient AI scribe technology has run away with the win in the market-uptake race. What has been the return on investment in all those software packages?