Below are 10 hospitals and health systems that posted job listings seeking CFOs during the past week.

HHS is ahead of schedule for reducing the backlog of Medicare appeals at the administrative law judge level, according to a recent status report obtained by the American Hospital Association.

The University of Louisville (Ky.) has a backup plan if its plan to buy Jewish Hospital and KentuckyOne Health's other Louisville assets falls apart, according to Louisville Business First.

The following nine hospital and health system credit rating downgrades occurred between Aug. 26 and Oct. 15. They are listed below in alphabetical order:

Sen. Bill Cassidy, MD, R-La., said he thinks federal surprise-billing legislation will pass Congress by the end of 2019.

Medical group practices ranked prior authorization requirements as their top regulatory burden, followed by Medicare's Quality Payment Program, according to new survey results released Oct. 14 by the Medical Group Management Association.

Georgia is requiring executives and board members at 59 rural hospitals to take financial management classes and receive other training to improve rural healthcare, the Georgia Hospital Association confirmed.

Patients with low incomes may have a hard time getting free or discounted care at nonprofit hospitals because they don't know about the help available to them, according to The Washington Post.

Three major for-profit hospital operators saw their stock prices rise last week.

Lawmakers in Illinois called on the state attorney general to investigate the "morally wrong and reprehensible" closure of MetroSouth Medical Center in Blue Island, Ill., according to The Chicago Sun Times. 

The following hospitals and health systems posted job listings for a billing specialist in the last week:

Patients costs increase in hospital-owned physician practices compared to physician-owned groups, but the quality of care is not necessarily better, according to a Rice University study in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

HHS has endorsed a Medicare alternative payment model focused on emergency physicians, according to the national medical society that developed the model.

A Hawaii man is working with a national nonprofit to erase medical debt for hundreds of residents in his state, Texas and Florida, according to news website Honolulu Civil Beat. 

Lynchburg, Va.-based Centra Health has resumed billing patients at locations using its new Cerner EHR, after it shut down the process for three months due to errors and delays, according to The News & Advance.  

Voters in Arkansas are backing a tax that will go toward building a new hospital in Sevier County, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Johnson City, Tenn.-based Ballad Health opened an urgent care center in Lee County, Va., as it gears up to fully reopen Lee County Hospital, reports The Roanoke Times.

At the end of fiscal year 2019, NYC  Health + Hospitals reported that it was able to close 65 percent of its $1.8 billion budget gap.

The CEO of Fulton (Mo.) Medical Center said the hospital owes the IRS $3 million, a debt that will "tank" the hospital if it can't pay it off, according to the Fulton Sun.

Richmond-based Virginia Commonwealth University Health System said it will stop filing lawsuits against patients to collect debt and make it easier for patients to receive financial assistance, according to Kaiser Health News.