Fitch Ratings has upgraded the outlook on the U.S. nonprofit hospital sector from negative to stable for 2020, as it expects hospitals and health systems to adapt to industry pressures.

Seven hospitals and physician groups agreed if their costs surpass a specific target, they will pay the difference back to Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan under a new risk-sharing program, the organizations said Dec. 11.

Boca Raton, Fla.-based Cancer Treatment Centers of America agreed to pay $5 million to Georgia to fund indigent care, according to NPR affiliate WABE.

In the commercial sector, most physician and hospital payments are being made through alternative payment methods — but nearly all of those methods are built on fee-for-service functions, according to a report from the nonprofit value-based care organization Catalyst for Payment Reform.

The following six health systems recently released their financial statements for the three, nine or 12-month periods ended Sept. 30:

Davita and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals were the top healthcare performers on the S&P 500 Index in November, according to S&P's essential healthcare report. 

Today’s healthcare consumers are paying close attention to their insurance plans and medical coverage. Per a recent TransUnion Healthcare consumer survey, 62% of patients indicated that knowing their out-of-pocket expenses in advance impacted the likelihood of pursuing care. It’s hard for anyone to keep track of changes in their plans and weigh the benefits of high deductible plans amid increased denials. Despite these influences, the cost of care continues to rise.

Ellwood City (Pa.) Medical Center has closed its doors a week after laying off nearly 100 workers and a day after its CEO resigned, according to the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

Below are 10 hospitals and health systems that recently posted job listings seeking CFOs.

For the first time, Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island created a bundled payment arrangement for outpatient joint replacements.

It is the duty of physician companies — not Congress — to end surprise billing, Ashish Jha, MD, a health policy professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, wrote in an op-ed for The Boston Globe.

In the past year, a fourth of Americans say they or a family member delayed treatment for a serious medical condition because of cost — a new record in Gallup's trend.

Recent studies have found consolidation among healthcare providers is linked to higher prices nationally. But that's not the case in Vermont, Stephen Leffler, MD, the interim president of the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington, wrote in a Vermont Business Magazine op-ed.

In 2016, leaders at Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Novant Health understood that it was time for revenue cycle improvement.

Newton (Mass.)-Wellesley Hospital offered early retirement buyouts to about 550 employees in May, and about 300 accepted the offer, according to The MetroWest Daily News.

Cumberland River Hospital in Celina, Tenn., was tentatively slated to reopen Jan. 1, 2020, roughly 10 months after it shut down. However, the reopening timeline has been pushed back because the hospital does not have a Medicare provider number, according to TV station WTVF.

Moody's Investors Service changed its outlook to stable from negative on the nonprofit healthcare and hospital sector for 2020. The outlook revision reflects Moody's expectation that nonprofit hospitals' revenues will increase.

Glacier County commissioners are planning to suspend ambulance service to Browning, Mont.-based Blackfeet Community Hospital over a payment dispute, according to the Great Falls Tribune.

Connecticut hospitals have reached an agreement with the state, ending a four-year legal battle over the provider tax imposed on hospitals in 2011, according to The CT Mirror.

Health First, a Rockledge, Fla.-based hospital system and insurer, reached an eleventh-hour agreement with Florida Blue to contract for services, according to Florida Today.