Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Foundation Health Plan faces a complaint alleging it used an autonomous digital system to triage and refer behavioral health patients in Northern California without oversight from licensed clinicians. The complaint, submitted to the California Department of Managed…
Care Coordination
Deferred elective surgery was a through-line of second-quarter earnings calls at four of the country’s largest for-profit hospital operators. But their executives do not agree on what is driving the slowdown, or whether it represents lost demand at all. Nashville,…
As a practicing radiologist, I never expected healthcare marketing to become one of my primary areas of focus. Yet the more I think about patient access, the more difficult it becomes to separate the two. Helping patients access care has…
A team at Marietta, Ga.-based Wellstar Kennestone Regional Medical Center safely transferred 44 neonatal intensive care patients to the hospital’s new patient tower. More than 100 Wellstar physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists and caregivers participated in the transfer, according to a…
Cleveland Clinic has established an enterprise Center for Trauma and named longtime MetroHealth trauma leader, Jeffrey Claridge, MD, to lead it as the system pursues level 1 verification for its main campus. Dr. Claridge, who will serve as enterprise medical…
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West Reading, Pa.-based Tower Health has begun an affiliation with Philadelphia-based Jefferson Health to expand regional care. “We are pleased to begin an affiliation with Jefferson Health, built on our shared commitment to expanding access to high-quality care close to…
HCA Healthcare’s acquisition of Valesco was initially a financial drag. Now, executives say the physician platform is stabilizing costs, strengthening payer negotiations and giving the company greater control over services central to hospital operations. Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA fully acquired Valesco,…
Endeavor Health Elmhurst (Ill.) Hospital opened a 16-bed patient observation unit July 16 to ease emergency department crowding. The patient observation unit is an extension of the existing surgical observation unit, and is a dedicated space for patients who may…
HCA Healthcare’s Memorial Health Meadows Hospital in Vidalia, Ga., has paused most services due to flooding. The emergency room, women’s center and The Tommy and Shirley Strickland Cancer Center remain open, a health system spokesperson said in a July 21…
For CMS’ 2026 final rule, the agency broadened who can bill Medicare for patient navigation services. While the agency’s reimbursement pathway is still less than three years old, U.S. health systems have used patient navigators to help people move through…