Category: Health Industry

Fighting Staff Shortages With Scholarships, California Bill Aims To Boost Mental Health Courts

A new bill would create a scholarship program for students who agree to work with specialized courts in California to get patients into treatment, but some people argue the state shouldn’t restrict scholarship aid to a new, untested program given broader behavioral health workforce shortages.

Cyberattacks Plague the Health Industry. Critics Call Feds’ Response Feeble and Fractured.

Health care weathered more ransomware attacks last year than any other sector, and that was before a debilitating February hack of payments manager Change Healthcare. Executives, lawyers, and policymakers are worried the federal government’s response is underpowered, underfunded, and too focused on hospital security.

Tennessee Tries To Rein In Ballad’s Hospital Monopoly After Years of Problems

Ballad Health, a 20-hospital system with the nation’s largest state-sanctioned hospital monopoly, serves patients in Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky, and North Carolina.

Decades of National Suicide Prevention Policies Haven’t Slowed the Deaths

Despite years of national strategies to address the suicide crisis in the U.S., rates continue to rise. A chorus of researchers and experts say the interventions will work — but that they’re simply not being adopted by state and local governments.

US Uninsured Rate Was Stable in 2023, Even as States’ Medicaid Purge Began

About 8% of Americans lacked health insurance in 2023, the Census Bureau announced. But its report doesn’t capture the effect of states winnowing their Medicaid rolls by millions of people since the pandemic emergency ended.

ACA Enrollment Platforms Suspended Over Alleged Foreign Access to Consumer Data

Federal regulators provided more specifics about why they suspended two private sector Affordable Care Act enrollment sites, including concerns about potential overseas accessing of consumer data and suspicions of involvement in Obamacare enrollment and switching schemes. The companies reject the assertions.

Errors in Deloitte-Run Medicaid Systems Can Cost Millions and Take Years To Fix

As states wait for Deloitte to make fixes in computer systems, Medicaid beneficiaries risk losing access to health care and food.

Boom, Now Bust: Budget Cuts and Layoffs Take Hold in Public Health

State leaders are cutting public health spending and laying off workers hired during a pandemic-era grant boom. Public health officials say the bust will erode important advancements in the public health safety net, particularly in rural areas.

An Arm and a Leg: Don’t Get ‘Bullied’ Into Paying What You Don’t Owe

In this episode of “An Arm and a Leg,” host Dan Weissmann speaks with Caitlyn Mai, a woman in Oklahoma who received a six-figure bill for a surgery her insurance promised to cover. This episode is an extended version of the “Bill of the Month” series, produced in partnership with NPR.

Feds Killed Plan To Curb Medicare Advantage Overbilling After Industry Opposition

A private 2014 decision by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services faces new scrutiny in a multibillion-dollar Justice Department fraud case against UnitedHealth Group.