The 25-bed hospital in Crockett, Texas, abruptly closed its doors in 2017, joining the ranks of nearly 100 rural hospitals that have shut down in the past decade. But the community kept the faith and several doctors reopened the facility this year.
In 2018, the Trump administration offered insurers and states extra tools to sidestep the Affordable Care Act. As costs and new competition rose, insurers sought courtships that further blurred the lines between payers and providers.
In 2018, as a lawsuit to overturn Obamacare simmered in the courts, the Trump administration charted its course on a healthcare overhaul. Hospitals and drug manufacturers were the main targets.
Interoperability remained top of mind in 2018, with players big and small, entrenched and untraditional, joining the cacophonous call for a health system in which patient data can move between providers and, sometimes, even move via the patients…
Repeal was replaced for much of 2018, but then December came along. A dozen states advanced plans to impose new enrollment mandates on Medicaid beneficiaries. Deaths mounted from opioids and gun violence, and consumer-facing companies continued…
Risk was the buzzword for healthcare quality and safety in 2018. The CMS strongly pushed value-based payment and downside risk on providers, but the agency was largely silent on patient-safety issues.
The Republican state attorneys general challenging the Affordable Care Act urged a federal judge in Texas to let Democrats immediately appeal his ruling striking down the law.