Category: Modern Healthcare

Joint Commission will require hospitals to screen for suicide risk

The added requirements, which will go into effect July 1, include hospitals screening patients with behavioral health conditions for suicide ideation.

Provider with ties to lab scheme shutters Texas clinic

Little River Healthcare, the bankrupt company that’s poised to shutter two hospitals, closed a primary- and specialty-care clinic in Temple, Texas.

Idaho Medicaid expansion heads to state Supreme Court

Idaho’s highest court will hear arguments in January in a lawsuit seeking to block the state’s voter-approved Medicaid expansion.

Verma touts MyHealthEData at White House interoperability forum

The White House gathered a group of interoperability boosters on Tuesday for its Forum on HealthCare Data Interoperability, where the CMS and others pushed for greater data exchange, including for patients.

Tenet Healthcare finally sheds its health insurance business

Tenet Healthcare Corp. sold its small Medicare Advantage plan serving California seniors—marking the Dallas-based hospital system’s exit from the health insurance business, first announced in 2016.

Many of Idaho’s chronic opioid users prescribed unsafe drug combos

Nearly 1 in 4 chronic opioid users in Idaho were at risk of overdosing due to unsafe prescription combinations in 2017, and a study questions whether efforts to improve prescribing practices are working.

Hospitals sue over site-neutral payment policy

Two major hospital groups and three health systems sued the Trump administration over the site-neutral payment policy due to go into effect Jan. 1.

CHI and Dignity name executive team for CommonSpirit Health

The California Justice Department conditionally approved the merger Nov. 21, which means the deal has met all necessary state, federal and Catholic regulatory approvals and is on track to close by Dec. 31.

CityMD may soon be out-of-network for UnitedHealthcare members

UnitedHealthcare has sent letters to members, advising them that the company has yet to extend its contract with urgent-care chain CityMD, and the current agreement is set to expire Dec. 31.

Most ACA exchange plans feature a narrow network

The trend toward narrow-network plans has persisted since the inception of the Affordable Care Act exchanges in 2014. While it seems to have leveled out for 2019, it’s unlikely that narrow networks will become less popular anytime soon.