Jeff Lagasse

Author's posts

Florida sues to block HHS rule on sex-based discrimination in healthcare

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, along with the Catholic Medical Association, is suing the Department of Health and Human Services over a new rule under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act meant to protect against discrimination against LGBTQ…

Joint Commission to accredit rural health clinics

Rural health clinics seeking Medicare reimbursement can now do so via a new accreditation program from the Joint Commission.
The Joint Commission was granted the authority by CMS this week.

Outpatient settings need to be safer, study finds

Patient safety events, which are adverse events that could have been prevented, are altogether common in outpatient settings and speak to the need for improving safety in these settings, according to a new study in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Outp…

Hawaii tops list of 10 best states for healthcare

Hawaii ranks number one overall among all U.S. states when it comes to healthcare, according to new rankings by U.S. News and World Report.

Hospital Insurance Trust Fund extended 5 years to 2036

It’s now projected that the Hospital Insurance Trust Fund will be able to pay 100% of total scheduled benefits until 2036, five years later than reported last year, finds an annual Medicare Trustee report.
At that point, the fund’s reserves will become…

Nurses see little improvement in 2024, survey finds

At 80%, a significant majority of nurses think 2024 will be either no better or worse for them  than 2023, according to a new survey by AMN Healthcare.
Forty-two percent said 2024 will be the same for nurses as 2023 and 38% said it will be worse, while…

States show significant variation in Medicaid redeterminations

There’s significant variation among states when it comes to the ongoing Medicaid disenrollment process. A new Robert Wood Johnson Foundation analysis has found that while enrollment in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) decline…

Final rule expands healthcare access to DACA recipients

The Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has finalized a rule expanding healthcare access for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients, with the goal of ensuring they’ll no longer be…

University of Kansas Health System acquires Missouri hospital

For an undisclosed sum, The University of Kansas Health System has acquired Liberty Hospital in Liberty, Missouri, the health system’s first expansion into that state, with the definitive agreement signed this week.
Liberty Hospital’s decision to becom…

CDC: Hospitals no longer required to report COVID-19 data

Beginning Wednesday, hospitals are no longer required to report COVID-19 hospital admissions, hospital capacity, or hospital occupancy data to the Department of Health and Human Services, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.