Operating margins improved 1.4% in September over the same month in 2022, continuing a general trend in recent months, but health systems must take action against persistent labor pressures, Kaufman Hall said in two separate reports.

San Antonio-based Peripheral Vascular Associates plans to lay off employees and close multiple offices, according to WARN notices filed Oct. 31 with the Texas Workforce Commission. 

CMS issued its final rule for updating Medicare payment policies and rates for home health agencies Nov. 1. Here are five things to know:

R1 RCM posted revenues of $572.8 million in the third quarter of 2023, up 15.5% from the same period last year, according to the company's Nov. 2 earnings report. 

Cobleskill (N.Y.) Regional Hospital, part of Cooperstown, N.Y.-based Bassett Healthcare Network, has received a $600,000 bequest, its largest ever gift.

Toledo, Ohio-based ProMedica, a 12-hospital system, has completed the sale of its home health, palliative and hospice business to Gentiva Health Services, a hospice company backed by Humana and private equity firm Clayton Dubilier & Rice.

Evanston, Ill.-based NorthShore-Edward-Elmhurst Health has struck a partnership with value-based care company Lumeris. 

The "old style" of healthcare private equity investment that relied heavily on "financial engineering and cost-cutting" is fading away, according to an Oct. 31 report from Pitchbook.

Portland, Ore.-based Legacy Health has been downgraded from "A" to "A-" as the health system deals with sustained operating losses resulting in fewer days' cash on hand, S&P Global said Nov. 1.

From Olive AI announcing it is shutting down, to Tenet's CEO calling payer denials "excessive and inappropriate," here are eight revenue cycle management updates Becker's reported in October: 

Last year, the average net worth of American families surpassed $1 million for the first time, The Wall Street Journal reported Oct. 27. 

Healthcare payment technology provider Waystar is acquiring Olive AI's clearinghouse and patient access business units following Olive's Oct. 31 announcement that it is shutting down. 

Executives at some of the big for-profit health systems were not shy about discussing "increasingly aggressive behavior" from insurers during recent financial results calls.

CVS Health posted $2.3 billion in net income in the third quarter and revenue growth across its core lines of business in insurance, care delivery, pharmacy and retail, according to the company's earnings report published Nov. 1.

Charleston, W.Va.-based Vandalia Health reported operating income of $72.2 million for the first half of 2023 on revenues of $1.2 billion.

Investing in technology is the top way healthcare finance leaders are looking to cut costs, according to an Oct. 17 report compiled by U.S. Bank.

Sachin Jain, MD, has a message for Medicare Advantage critics: You're right.

Medicaid expansion in Montana is set to sunset in 2025, and removing that coverage could limit affordable healthcare in the state, Logan Health President and CEO Craig Lambrecht, MD, said in an Oct. 31 Daily Inter Lake report.

Southwestern Health Resources, a 31-hospital joint venture, will conduct a mass layoff affecting nearly 300 employees by year's end. 

Hospitals nationwide reported a 1.6% median operating margin in September, the seventh straight positive monthly figure, according to data from Syntellis Performance Solutions.